From May of the first year of Tang Wude (618), Li Yuan proclaimed himself emperor in Chang'an, and the Tang Dynasty was formally established. It can be said that the glorious cause of the Tang Dynasty and the basic outline of the Tang Empire were all bought by countless Tang army soldiers with blood and lives. If it weren't for the heads and blood of these Tang Dynasty soldiers, the Tang Dynasty would have unified the world, perhaps for more than ten years.

In the past ten years, the nascent Li Tang Dynasty has experienced countless ups and downs and setbacks. For example, from July to November of the first year of Wude (618), Li Tang was in a duel with the father and son of the Xue family of Western Qin, and it can be seen that at the beginning of the founding of the Tang Dynasty, the road to unifying the world was not easy.

First of all, at that time, the Tang Dynasty had just been founded for less than a year, and among the many separatists at the end of the Sui Dynasty, its strength was not very strong. Therefore, only two months after the founding of the country, the Li Tang Dynasty encountered a very serious military crisis and encountered an attack from the father and son of the Xue clan of Western Qin.

Xue Ju and Xue Rengao father and son were indeed the two most formidable opponents encountered in the Tang Dynasty. Both the Xue father and son once caused the Tang Dynasty to suffer heavy losses. In July of the first year of Wude (618), Xue Ju, the overlord of Western Qin, took the lead in challenging the Tang Dynasty and invaded Jingzhou, an important town in the northwest of the Tang Dynasty. Regarding Xue Ju's invasion, Tang Gaozu Li Yuan took Li Shimin, the king of Qin, as the marshal of the west, and led the main force of 40,000 Tang troops to resist Xue Ju. The first battlefield duel between Li Tang and Western Qin kicked off.

Of course, the results of this battle have already been described above. Because Li Shimin was suffering from malaria and could not command the battle, Liu Wenjing and Yin Kaishan violated the military order without authorization and attacked rashly, and the Tang army was negligent in deploying defenses; In the end, the Battle of Shallow Water Plains caused 30,000 Tang troops to be buried in their homeland, and the Tang Dynasty ended in a crushing defeat in the first duel with Western Qin.

The Tang army's crushing defeat in the shallow water plain caused a serious gap in the Tang Dynasty's northwest defense line. Therefore, in the two months after the Battle of Qianshuiyuan, that is, from August to September of the first year of Wude (618), Xue Rengao led the Western Qin army to carry out an autumn wind sweeping attack on the northwest border town of the Tang Dynasty.

Objectively speaking, although Xue Rengao attacked the northwest, he failed to achieve his goal. However, the losses of the Tang Dynasty were also quite huge. Liu Gan and other important border generals were defeated and died, Chang Da was captured, and the situation in Jingzhou has reached the point where it is difficult to support alone. As long as Xue Rengao increases the siege of the city, the city of Jingzhou will be broken, but it will be a matter of time sooner or later. Therefore, the Xue family and his son did make the Tang Dynasty a serious threat.

However, good luck will not always exist, and Xue Rengao's good luck will eventually come to an end. As mentioned earlier, Xue Rengao's successive victories in the Northwest Battlefield were only tactical victories, not strategic victories. In the nearly month-long military operation, Xue Rengao never captured Jingzhou, and from beginning to end, he could only wander around Jingzhou, falling into the dilemma of not being able to advance or retreat.

Not only that, but because the Tang Dynasty's northwestern frontier army struggled to block, it effectively delayed the advance of the Western Qin army, and firmly pinned Xue Rengao in Jingzhou, making it mired in war. At the same time, the hard resistance of Liu Gan, Chang Da and others also won precious time for the arrival of Li Shimin's army.

After a series of unfavorable military setbacks, the Li Tang Dynasty finally survived the most difficult period and began to usher in a turning point in the Northwest War. Li Shimin led the main force of the Tang Army and reached Gaojaw as scheduled, marking the imminent reversal of the situation in the northwest.

As mentioned above, in August of the first year of Wude (618), a month after the Battle of Shallow Water Plain, Xue Ju fell ill and died. Because of Xue Ju's sudden death, Western Qin's plan to attack Chang'an could only be put on hold for the time being. In this way, the Tang Dynasty had a chance to breathe, and Li Tang seized this short opportunity to recover and strengthen the military as soon as possible.

Therefore, Tang Gaozu Li Yuan took advantage of Xue Ju's illness and death, Xue Rengao's new establishment, and the political situation in Western Qin was unstable, and before Xue Rengao launched an attack, he strengthened the northwest border defense in time to prevent the invasion of Western Qin. Therefore, in August of that year, Tang Gaozu once again appointed Li Shimin, the king of Qin, as the marshal, led the Tang army, and launched the second western expedition to fight against Xue Rengao. Tang Gaozu Li Yuan took Li Shimin in command for the second time, and the purpose was twofold:

First, Li Shimin was appointed to take command of the second expedition to the west, hoping that Li Shimin, in his capacity as commander, would stabilize the situation in the northwest and strengthen the border defense and combat readiness in the northwest. Before Xue Rengao's army attacked, deal with the chaos in the northwest due to the defeat of the shallow water plain, and make preparations for the decisive battle with Western Qin.

Second, Li Shimin led the westward expedition for the second time to fight against Xue Rengao, on the one hand, in order to block the Western Qin army on the front line of Gaojaw; On the other hand, it was also to find fighters and conduct a decisive battle with Xue Rengao's main force, and then pacify Western Qin and recover Longxi in one fell swoop. Therefore, this is Li Yuan's ultimate goal.

So, did Li Shimin live up to his father Li Yuan's expectations? At this time, the old opponent Xue Ju is dead, how should Li Shimin deal with the new opponent Xue Rengao? In the end, how did Li Shimin lead the soldiers of the Tang Army to defeat Xue Rengao in one fell swoop, and complete his efforts in one battle to recover the Longxi region for the Tang Dynasty?

In August of the first year of Wude (618), Li Shimin was once again worshiped as a marshal and led the main force of the Tang army to carry out the second military campaign of the westward expedition to Xue Rengao. After a three-month long march, in November, the main force of the Tang Army led by Li Shimin finally successfully reached the periphery of the Supreme Jaw.

It can be said that the vigorous resistance of Liu Gan and Chang Da opened up an extremely favorable situation for Li Shimin. After a month of tug-of-war, Xue Rengao's military strength was almost consumed. Therefore, next, the protagonist of this scene is Li Shimin, the king of Qin. In the Northwest Battlefield after that, it was completely a head-to-head duel between Li Shimin and Xue Rengao, Li Tang's army and the Western Qin army.

In fact, Li Shimin and Xue Rengao are rivals, and the two have fought head-to-head on the battlefield. At the beginning, in the "Battle of Fufeng" in December of the first year of Yining (617), Li Shimin and Xue Rengao fought on the battlefield for the first time, and as a result, Xue Rengao was defeated by Li Shimin and lost more than 10,000 soldiers. By coincidence, following the "Battle of Fufeng", Li Shimin and Xue Rengao met again on the battlefield.

It stands to reason that Xue Rengao was once a defeated general under Li Shimin, and Li Shimin must be familiar with him when dealing with him, so he doesn't need to spend too much energy. However, it is not so simple. Although Li Shimin once defeated Xue Rengao on the battlefield, he never underestimated this opponent and never had the heart to underestimate the enemy. Because, Li Shimin has never forgotten the lesson of the defeat of the shallow water plain a few months ago.

In Li Shimin's view, Xue Rengao is not what it used to be. Through his offensive in the northwest, it is not difficult to see that this person is no less strange than his father Xue Ju. Even, Xue Rengao is more difficult to deal with than his old son Xue Ju. For such a cunning opponent, Li Shimin, who has experienced a hundred battles, naturally cannot be taken lightly, but must attach great importance to it; At the same time, Li Shimin also had to come up with a thorough and proper strategic plan to meet Xue Rengao's army.

Xue Rengao is not a soft persimmon, and to deal with him, he must be up to twelve points. So, how did Li Shimin deal with Xue Rengao, a difficult and powerful enemy? This time, Li Shimin decided to repeat the old trick and continue to adopt the tactic that was not implemented in the last "Battle of Shallow Water Plain": the strategy of exhausting the enemy.

In the "Battle of Shallow Water Plain" in July of the first year of Wude (618), the defeat of the Tang army was not a mistake in Li Shimin's tactical policy, but that Liu Wenjing and Yin Kaishan did not implement it well, did not obey military orders, and attacked without authorization. If Li Shimin's strategy could be resolutely implemented at that time, perhaps, the Tang Dynasty would not have to carry out the second western expedition, and at that time, the Western Qin problem would have been solved.

Therefore, from beginning to end, Li Shimin believed that his plan to exhaust the enemy was feasible. Moreover, at this moment, Li Shimin is also keenly aware that the interior of Western Qin has long been strong from the outside and from the middle. Due to the war of attrition in the previous month, Xue Rengao's military strength was seriously attritional, and he barely supported it at the end of the strong crossbow. At the same time, because of Xue Rengao's domineering and domineering character, people in the Western Qin regime were panicked, and many generals were quite dissatisfied with him.

Such a situation is just conducive to Li Shimin's plan to exhaust the enemy. According to Li Shimin's plan, at the end of Xue Rengao's strong crossbow, the military strength was greatly damaged, as long as the Tang army could calm down at this time, it would completely consume the only remaining sharp energy of the Western Qin army; When the Western Qin army completely loses its combat power, the Tang army is attacking in a big way, and it will definitely be able to win by surprise and defeat Xue Rengao. What's more, eat a trench and grow a wisdom. With the lesson of the defeat of the shallow water plain, Li Shimin will be even more cautious in the next use of troops, and will not make the slightest mistake of underestimating the enemy's rash advance.

At the beginning of November, Li Shimin led the Tang army, and after arriving in the area of Zhigaoja, he began to implement his own plan to exhaust the enemy. Therefore, Li Shimin ordered all the troops of the Tang Army to build a barrier and build fortifications on the periphery of Gaojiao, and put on a posture to fight a protracted battle with Xue Rengao. However, Li Shimin adhered to the principle that no matter how provocative the Western Qin army was, the officers and men of the Tang Army could not go out of the camp to meet the enemy, let alone attack without authorization, and they should not hold out.

I have to admit that Li Shimin's tired plan really hit Xue Rengao's weakness, and he ate Xue Rengao's shortcomings thoroughly. Why? At that time, Xue Rengao had more than 100,000 troops, and in terms of the number of troops, the Western Qin army was far superior to the Tang army. However, the Western Qin army had a fatal shortcoming: lack of grain and grass. There was an extreme shortage of food in the army, and it could not be sustained for too long.

It was precisely because of this defect that Xue Rengao would sweep the northwest so frantically in the first place, with the purpose of feeding the war with war and making up for the lack of grain and grass. Therefore, the current Xue Rengao is eager to fight a quick battle, and is very eager to fight a decisive battle with the main force of the Tang Army and end the war in the northwest as soon as possible.

It's a pity that Xue Rengao's opponent is Li Shimin. Li Shimin is worthy of being an excellent military strategist, and this is a military commander who does not follow the usual path. Li Shimin had already figured out Xue Rengao's bottom line and noticed his shortcomings, since there was an extreme shortage of food in the Western Qin army, and Xue Rengao was eager to fight; He prefers to do the opposite, stick to the barriers, and refuse to fight. Li Shimin's purpose in using troops in this way was to wear out Xue Rengao's last sharp spirit, so that the Western Qin army completely lost its fighting spirit.

Sure enough, Li Shimin's plan to exhaust the enemy really worked, and Xue Rengao panicked. In the face of Li Shimin's insistence on tactics, Xue Rengao obviously couldn't sit still. Anyone with a discerning eye can see that Xue Rengao has no patience at all, and he has no time to continue to consume with the Tang army.

First of all, the grain and grass in the Western Qin army were in an emergency; Secondly, after a month of hard fighting in the northwest, Xue Rengao's military strength was greatly depleted, and it gradually showed a trend of being unable to do so, and the morale and morale of the army were much worse than before. Therefore, if it continues to be consumed like this, the Western Qin army may be defeated without a fight.

In order to get out of the current stalemate, Xue Rengao planned to take the initiative to take measures to lure the Tang army out of the camp, and then fight a decisive battle with it, encircling and annihilating it. Therefore, Xue Rengao sent Zong Luohu, the general of Western Qin, to lead a group of soldiers and horses to lure the Tang army into battle. Zong Luohu led the army and repeatedly challenged in front of the Tang army's camp, in an attempt to force the Tang army to fight out of the camp.

However, Li Shimin was determined to fight a protracted war with Xue Rengao this time. Therefore, no matter how Zong Luohu scolded and provoked, Li Shimin was always unmoved, sticking to the barrier, that is, not going out of the camp to fight a decisive battle with the Western Qin army. It can be said that the radical method of the Western Qin army, in Li Shimin's place, is not easy to use at all, and it can only be in vain.

But the problem is that the Western Qin army is constantly challenging outside the camp, and many generals in the Tang army can't hold back. Most of these generals were the main generals of the Tang Army who followed Li Shimin and experienced the "Battle of Shallow Water Plain". The fiasco in the Battle of Shallow Water Plains made these people hold back a lot of strength in their hearts, bent on washing away the shame of defeat. In response to Zong Luohu's several provocations, these Tang army generals couldn't help but become restless, and asked the king of Qin to fight one after another, hoping to fight to the death with the Western Qin army.

At this time, Li Shimin, as the commander-in-chief, maintained the absolute sanity of a military strategist. Seeing the generals under his command asking for help, Li Shimin was not hot-headed and high-minded, but still followed the original strategy and stuck to it. However, in order to appease the generals who were in high spirits, Li Shimin calmly analyzed the military situation of both the enemy and the enemy to them, and explained to the generals the reasons why he could not hold out:

Our army is newly defeated, morale is depressed, thieves are proud of victory, and they have a light heart, so it is advisable to close the base and wait for it. He is proud of me, but he can overcome it in a fight. (Information Governance Guide)

This analysis of the military situation of both the enemy and us is still very accurate. In Li Shimin's view, since the "Battle of Shallow Water Plain", Xue Rengao could not help but become arrogant, and naturally had a mentality of despising the Tang army. And the Tang army has just been newly defeated, and the morale is just when it is depressed, and at this time it is not very likely to win a decisive battle with Western Qin. You might as well use Xue Rengao's heart to despise the spirit of the Western Qin army. Wait until the soldiers of the Western Qin army are exhausted, and then launch a general attack, and the first battle can be a great cause.

Under such a situation, it was impossible for Li Shimin to take the initiative to go out of the camp to fight, but to continue to adopt the strategy of exhausting the enemy. As a result of learning the lessons of the last defeat, this time, Li Shimin's regulations on the implementation of military orders were even more strict. Out of consideration for fighting against the enemy, Li Shimin gave a stern military order to the officers and men of the whole army during the period of holding the camp - "Those who dare to speak up will be killed!" This undoubtedly sends a signal to the whole army: no unauthorized attack.

In the last "Battle of Shallow Water Plain", it was precisely because Liu Wenjing and Yin Kaishan attacked without authorization that the Tang army was defeated. Therefore, this time, the generals of the Tang Army learned to be obedient. After Li Shimin issued the military order, all the ministries strictly obeyed the decree of the King of Qin and never violated the military order without authorization.

After stabilizing the internal affairs of the Tang Army and unifying the command of all units of the Tang Army, Li Shimin formally implemented his tactics of exhausting the enemy and fought a protracted battle with Xue Rengao. Speaking of which, Li Shimin is really calm, Xue Rengao has provoked many times, he is not arrogant or impatient, calm and calm, and he can't stick to it. According to the "Old Tang Dynasty Book: Taizong Benji":

Taizong was also the marshal to attack Rengao, holding on to the broken city, and the deep ditch and high base for more than 60 days. There are more than 100,000 thieves, and the soldiers are very sharp, and they are challenged, and Taizong is frustrated by the armor.

Whether it is Li Shimin, the king of Qin, or the generals of the Tang army, they all understand that what they are competing with the Western Qin army now is patience, and whoever can survive to the end will be the final winner. Li Shimin knew very well that Xue Rengao could not afford to fight a war of attrition, and he wanted to urgently fight a quick victory. It is precisely because of this that Li Shimin made full use of this, made full use of his strengths and avoided his weaknesses, adopted the tactics of clearing the wilderness with strong walls, recuperating his strengths, and began a tug-of-war with Western Qin.

In this way, under Li Shimin's deployment, the main force of the Tang Army and the 100,000 Western Qin army began to confront each other in Gaoqi. In addition, the Tang army built strong fortifications in deep ditches and high fortifications around the high jaws, and was ready for battle. During this period, Xue Rengao sent troops to attack and harass many times, in order to lure the Tang army into battle.

However, in the face of Xue Rengao's many challenges, Li Shimin still pursued his previous tactics, held on, and focused on defense. In the face of the attack of the Western Qin army, he only repelled it, but never took the initiative to attack. In this way, they attacked and defended each other, and the two armies held each other for more than 60 days.

Although Xue Rengao is brave and good at fighting and is very good at using troops, in the face of Li Shimin's leaky deployment, Xue Rengao has nothing to do. Li Shimin fortified the wall and cleared the wilderness, and fought a war of attrition with the Western Qin army. If it goes on like this, for a day or two, Xue Rengao can barely support it. However, if this battle is fought indefinitely, Xi Qin will not be able to hold it sooner or later. Finally, under Li Shimin's tired enemy tactics of fortifying the wall and clearing the wilderness, Xue Rengao really did not hold on.

What's going on? It turned out that the two armies of Li Tang and Western Qin held each other in Gaoqian for more than 60 days, which was protracted. Soon, in the Western Qin army, the grain and grass ran out, and it completely fell into the military dilemma of cutting off supplies. As mentioned earlier, the Western Qin army was extremely short of food and grass, so it was urgent to seek a quick battle. It was precisely because Li Shimin grasped this defect of Xue Rengao that he boldly implemented the strategy of exhausting the enemy and consumed the grain, grass and military strength of the Western Qin army. Now, the Western Qin army has run out of grain and grass, and Li Shimin's strategic goal has been achieved.

The exhaustion of grain and grass also symbolizes that Xue Rengao's military spirit began to gradually disintegrate, and the internal division trend of the Western Qin army has emerged. Due to the lack of military rations, many generals and subordinates in the Western Qin army surrendered to Li Shimin and surrendered to the Tang army. For example, the important generals under Xue Rengao, Mu Juncai and Liang Hulang, led the people of their subordinates to join Li Shimin. It can be said that this situation formed a chain reaction in the Western Qin army, and groups of people surrendered to the Tang army.

In the Western Qin army, people kept coming to surrender, and Li Shimin understood that Xue Rengao was already a candle in the wind, and he was at the end of the road, and the Xue group had also fallen apart at this time. Therefore, Li Shimin, as the commander of the Tang Army, believed that the time was ripe for a decisive battle with Xue Rengao, and the Tang Army could counterattack in a big way. Therefore, Li Shimin began to dispatch troops and distribute troops, preparing to launch a counteroffensive against Xue Rengao.

When many generals and subordinates in the Western Qin army came to surrender, Li Shimin already planned to take the initiative to attack and fight a decisive battle with Xue Rengao's main force. At that time, Li Shimin said to the generals of the Tang Army: "He is declining, I should take it." "It means that the morale of the Western Qin army has been weakened to the extreme, and if you attack at this time, you will definitely be able to win a big victory.

After some discussion, Li Shimin and the generals unanimously decided to conduct a decisive battle with Xue Rengao and strive to calm the war in the northwest in a war. However, the decisive battle against Xue Rengao was not an easy task. Although Xue Rengao was exhausted at this time, "a hundred-legged insect is dead but not stiff". After all, Xue Rengao still has an army of 100,000 in his hands, and he has an absolute advantage in terms of numbers, far more than the number of Tang troops.

So, how did Li Shimin deal with the Western Qin army, which was several times his size? This time, Li Shimin formulated a thorough battle plan. Prior to this, Li Shimin had always adopted the strategy of exhausting the enemy by clearing the wilderness and consuming the enemy's vital strength. After this strategic goal was achieved, Li Shimin immediately changed his tactics. This new tactic, summed up, is two words: lure the enemy. That is to say, lure the main force of Western Qin to the preset ambush location, and then annihilate it in one fell swoop.

How to lure the enemy? Li Shimin dispatched Liang Shi, the head of the march, to lead the soldiers and horses of his headquarters to lure the enemy out of the camp. After Liang Shi received the order of the king of Qin, he immediately led his troops to open up, moved the camp to the shallow water plain, and set up camp in the area of the shallow water plain. The shallow water plain was the place where the Tang army was defeated a few months ago. At the beginning, the Tang army was defeated in the shallow water plain; Now, in order to defeat Xue Rengao, Li Shimin still chose the ambush location in the shallow water plain.

Li Shimin placed Liang Shi's soldiers and horses in the shallow water plain, just to attract Xue Rengao's main force to come, and then catch turtles in the urn, surround and annihilate them. Sure enough, Li Shimin's prediction was good, and this trick to lure the enemy really played a major role. Soon, the main force of the Western Qin army walked into the encirclement of the Tang army and came to the shallow water plain.

The Tang army garrisoned the shallow water plain, and the Western Qin general Zong Luohu, who was responsible for attacking the Tang army's camp, was overjoyed. Previously, Xue Rengao ordered Zong Luohu to lead the army and lure the Tang army into battle. However, no matter how provocative Zong Luohu was, Li Shimin always refused to fight. Now, the Tang army took the initiative to move troops to the shallow water plain, and Zong Luohu couldn't ask for it. He didn't know that this was a trap set by Li Shimin, and this was his plan to lure the enemy in.

It is estimated that Zong Luohu's mentality at this time is the same as Xue Rengao's. He didn't want to continue to consume the Tang Army, he was eager to fight a quick battle, and he didn't care if it was a trap. It can be seen that at this moment, from the emperor to the senior generals in Western Qin, they are already in chaos and acting very irrationally.

Driven by this irrational mentality, Zong Luohu decided to take the initiative to attack the Tang army. As a result, Zong Luohu personally led the main elite and launched a fierce attack on Liang Shi's department. In the face of the frantic attack of the Western Qin army, Liang Shi defended the danger and resisted with the help of favorable terrain.

But, to be precise, the battle was fought extremely hard. Because the shallow water plain where the Tang army was stationed, the terrain was too high, and there was no water source in the camp, and the officers and men of the Tang army could not drink water for several days. Despite such difficult conditions, Liang Shi still fought to the death, desperately blocking Zong Luohu's attack.

After several days, Zong Luohu attacked several times in a row, but there was no progress; On the contrary, his soldiers were exhausted and gradually lost their fighting spirit. At this time, Li Shimin felt that he could start a counteroffensive on all fronts, and said to the generals: "You can fight!" ”

In the early morning of the next day, Li Shimin personally led the main force of the Tang Army to attack on all fronts and march to the shallow water plain. First of all, Li Shimin sent Pang Yu, the general of the Right Martial Guard, to lead the forward soldiers and horses, and took the lead in Chen Shui Yuan. The reason why Pang Yu was allowed to go first and Chen Bing Qianshuiyuan was that Li Shimin had two considerations. First, Pang Yu led the army to flank the main force of Zong Luohu, trying to relieve the frontal pressure on Liang Shi's department; Second, Pang Yu took the lead in attacking, but also to attract the main force of Western Qin and gain valuable time for the final attack of the Tang army.

Pang Yu led the Tang army to the front and suddenly attacked the main force of Western Qin from the flank. Zong Luohu had to turn his gun and temporarily abandon attacking Liang Shi's department and attack Pang Yu instead. As a result, the soldiers and horses of Pang Yu and Zong Luohu launched a bloody battle, and the battle was extremely tragic. Because Pang Yu is alone and does not have many troops, he is gradually at a disadvantage, and he is about to be unable to support it. At the last moment, the main army led by Li Shimin arrived at the battlefield in time.

When Pang Yu led the army and Zong Luohu to fight fiercely, regardless of whether they were up or down, Li Shimin led the main force of the Tang cavalry and suddenly appeared on the high ground north of the shallow water plain. I saw that under the order of Li Shimin, the king of Qin, the Tang army's iron cavalry shook the sky and the earth, and stabbed the main force of Western Qin. There was no way, Zong Luohu had to command the army again to meet Li Shimin's main army.

At this time, the cavalry of the Tang Army, under the leadership of Li Shimin, was like a tiger descending from the mountain, like a bamboo, and killed the phalanx of the Western Qin army. The two armies of Li Tang and Western Qin launched an unprecedented battle in the shallow water plain. According to the records of the "Zizhi Tongjian", the scene was particularly fierce at that time:

Shimin Shuai rode dozens of horses to trap Chen first, Tang soldiers fought the surface, and the cries were moving, and the Rahu soldiers were defeated, beheading thousands of people.

Li Shimin, the king of Qin, as the supreme military commander of the Tang army, took the lead in the fiercest battle, personally led dozens of cavalry, and rushed into the enemy formation. Because Li Shimin took the lead, the morale of the Tang army was high, and they rushed out from all directions to attack the main army of Western Qin, and the sound of killing shook the sky. The fierce attack of the Tang army smashed the phalanx of the Western Qin army to pieces. Zong Luohu finally couldn't parry, and the whole army was defeated. The Tang army took advantage of the situation to counterattack and beheaded thousands of people, and the Western Qin army threw itself into the valley and died.

Zong Luohu and the main army of Western Qin suffered heavy losses in the shallow water plain, killing thousands of men and horses, and could only retreat all the way back. The Western Qin army retreated after a great defeat, and Li Shimin believed that this was a golden opportunity to level the Western Qin in one fell swoop, and decided to take advantage of the victory to pursue. Therefore, Li Shimin immediately gathered more than 2,000 elite cavalry, ready to smash Xue Rengao's lair in one go, and strike a thunderous blow at the dying and struggling Western Qin army.

Just when Li Shimin was about to lead the army to set off, Dou Liang, an important general of the Tang Army and one of the "Eight General Managers", actually stopped in front of Li Shimin's war horse and tried hard to advise Li Shimin, the king of Qin. Dou Liang hoped that Li Shimin could suspend the pursuit and take a look at the changes in the enemy situation before making a decision:

Renguo is still based on the strong city, although it is broken, it can not be lightly entered, please watch it according to the soldiers. (Information Governance Guide)

Dou Liang's opinion is that although the Tang army broke through Zong Luohu in the shallow water plain and defeated the main force of the Western Qin army, the Xue regime was also gone, and its vitality was greatly damaged. However, after all, Xue Rengao's foundation is still there, and now he is guarding the fortified city. After fierce fighting, the Tang army consumed too many troops, and if it forcibly attacked the city, it might cause great casualties. Therefore, Dou Liang suggested that it is better to let the troops rest for a while, stand still, and wait and see what happens.

We can't say that Dou Rail's suggestion is not good, at least it is a safe policy. Moreover, in terms of seniority, Dou Liang is the brother-in-law of Tang Gaozu Li Yuan, and his sister is Li Shimin's mother, Queen Taimu Dou. Therefore, according to his seniority, Li Shimin should call Dou Liang his uncle. Dou Liang is not only one of the "eight general managers", a high-ranking general of the Tang Army, but also Li Shimin's uncle, and Li Shimin should accept his opinion.

Unexpectedly, Li Shimin did not agree with Dou Liang's proposal that he could not be defeated, he thought that time was running out. So, Li Shimin said to Dou Rail:

I've been thinking about it for a long time, and I can't lose it, so don't say anything about it. (Information Governance Guide)

Li Shimin's consistent principle of fighting a war can be summed up in four words, and the soldiers are noble and fast. In his opinion, the main force of Western Qin was defeated, and the entire army was in a state of collapse of military morale, while the Tang army was like a rainbow at this time. Therefore, the more this time, the more we should go all out and pursue the victory, not giving Xue Rengao a chance to breathe. Once Xue Rengao had a chance to breathe, if the Tang army wanted to eliminate him, he was afraid that he would pay a considerable price.

Immediately afterwards, Li Shimin overrode public opinion, personally led the main force of the Tang cavalry, chased the dead and chased the north, and rushed to the foot of the city. The Tang army approached the city, and Xue Rengao led the army out of the city to meet the battle, wanting to fight to the death. Li Shimin waved his army to the city of Zheqiang, lined up on the other side of the Jing River, and confronted the Western Qin army across the river.

At this point, Western Qin had no chance of winning, so Xue Rengao planned to break the net with the Tang army. But the problem is that the military spirit has been dispersed, Xue Rengao wants to break the net, and his subordinates don't want to die with him. Just when the two armies of Li Tang and Western Qin were facing each other across the river, one of Xue Rengao's commanded generals was a general, with several subordinates, rode horses to the Tang army and surrendered to Li Shimin in public.

Seeing this situation, Xue Rengao was afraid. He understood that now his subordinates were unwilling to fight, and if they continued to confront the Tang Army outside the city, it would not be a matter of minutes before they were eliminated. So, Xue Rengao hurriedly withdrew his army into the city, closed the city gate, and defended the infant city.

In the evening, the main infantry of the Tang army also rushed to the foot of the city and joined the cavalry. After the whole army was assembled, Li Shimin immediately deployed all units of the Tang Army, surrounded the city of Zhedu, and prepared to launch a general attack on Xue Rengao. However, before Li Shimin launched a general attack, Xue Rengao actually took the initiative to go out of the city and surrender.

The reason why Xue Rengao retreated to the city was to rely on the advantages of the strong city to resist stubbornly. His idea was that even if the Tang army finally broke through the city, it would make the Tang army pay a heavy price. However, at this time, the Western Qin army had long lost its fighting spirit and did not want to fight anymore. In the middle of the night, I saw that at the head of the city, there were constantly Western Qin soldiers using ropes to descend the city tower and surrender to the Tang army. It can be said that Xue Rengao was really a loner at this time.

This once invincible little overlord of Western Qin, at this point, finally understands that the general trend has gone, and there is no need to make senseless resistance. In desperation, the next morning, on the eighth day of November in the first year of Wude (618), Xue Rengao took the initiative to surrender out of the city, and the Tang army successfully entered the city. In this battle, the Tang army captured a total of more than 10,000 elite soldiers of Xue Rengao, and obtained a male and female population of 50,000.

At this point, the Tang army, under the leadership of Li Shimin, the king of Qin, completely defeated the strong enemy of the Xue clan and eliminated the Western Qin regime that once dominated the world. In fact, from Li Shimin's second western expedition, to the defeat of the main force of Western Qin in Qianshuiyuan, and then to the final defeat of Western Qin in one fell swoop, and the capture of Xue Rengao. In this process, the young Qin King Li Shimin showed his perfect military talent and military command art to the fullest.

For example, it is enough to see from an incident after the war. After pacifying Western Qin and capturing Xue Rengao, the generals of the Tang Army came to congratulate one after another, and at the same time, they also expressed their doubts to Li Shimin and Pan. What are the doubts? Why did Li Shimin insist on pursuing the victory despite the opposition of the generals after defeating the main force of Western Qin, and finally won the victory:

The first king of the field to break the thief, its lord is still to protect the strong city, the king has no attack tools, light cavalry chasing, do not wait for the infantry, the path is thin under the city, the salt is suspicious, and actually go down, why not? ("Old Tang Dynasty Book: Taizong Benji")

In the face of the generals' puzzles, why with a small number of elite cavalry, they were able to drive straight into and take the impregnable fortified city of the Xue family and his sons? How did Li Shimin answer the doubts of the generals? As the commander-in-chief of the three armed forces, Li Shimin keenly answered the questions of the generals:

This is forced by the right to make it too late, so that it can be restrained. Rahu relied on the victories of previous years, and recuperated for a long time, and saw that I didn't come out, which was intended to be light. Today, I am happy to come out, and all the troops come to fight, although they are broken, and they are captured and killed. If you don't rush and go to the city, Rengao will take it and take care of it, then you won't be able to get it. And all its soldiers are Longxi people, a defeat and retreat, no time to review, scattered outside Longwai, then the fall of the self-defeat, our army is forced to follow, so fear and surrender. This can be said to be a success, and all the kings will not see it? ("Old Tang Dynasty Book: Taizong Benji")

After listening to Li Shimin's penetrating and in-depth analysis, all the generals admired: "This extraordinary person can do it." "They were indeed impressed by the superior military prowess of the King of Qin. Now, we should know why there are so many "hardcore generals" who willingly follow him in the process of Li Shimin's conquest of the Quartet, it is because they all obey Li Shimin.

After nearly half a year of bloody battles, the Li Tang Dynasty finally defeated the powerful enemy in the northwest, the Xue regime, and recovered the land of Longxi, realizing the key step of the Tang Dynasty to unify the northwest. Xue Rengao surrendered, and Li Shimin completely overthrew the Western Qin regime. However, he couldn't rejoice too soon. Defeating the Xue clan was only a military victory. The aftermath of the aftermath is obviously more important than fighting a war.

After achieving such a brilliant record, Li Shimin was not carried away by the victory, and at this time, he still maintained a clear head. Li Shimin knows very well that although the Xue family has fallen, the situation in Longxi is still complicated. If not properly disposed of, Xue's remnants may resurge. Then, all the horse leather shrouds and bloody battlefields of the Tang Army soldiers before will be in vain.

Therefore, after the war, the focus of Li Shimin's next step was to shift from military to political to stabilize the situation in Longxi and make it truly subordinate to Li Tang. On how to stabilize the complex situation in Longxi, Li Shimin has his own set of ideas. To sum up, his strategy is four words: appeasement and gentleness. Facts have proved that these four words have indeed played a positive role in stabilizing the complicated political and military situation in Longxi.

If we want to implement the policy of appeasement and tenderness, first of all, a top priority is how to deal with the old Xue clan who returned to Shun, as well as the troops and generals of Western Qin. This is a problem that must be solved first and unsolving. Therefore, how to deal with the old troops of the Western Qin Dynasty was naturally placed in front of Li Shimin.

In the process of pacifying the Western Qin, the Tang army surrendered and captured a large number of Western Qin troops and generals. In particular, Xue Rengao surrendered the city, and after the Tang army entered the city, a total of more than 10,000 elite soldiers of the Western Qin Dynasty were captured. In the face of tens of thousands of Western Qin prisoners of war, how to deal with it is a big matter, and if it is not handled well, it is very likely to trigger a military mutiny. Even, it will make Longxi, which is hard to get it, fall back into the war.

As we all know, the tyranny and murder of Xue Ju and Xue Rengao's father and son have always been famous. As mentioned above, the Xue father and son went out to fight, but whenever they conquered a city and a place, bloody massacres often occurred. It was precisely because of the brutality and inhumanity of the Xue father and son that the Western Qin regime gradually fell apart. Even later, Li Shimin besieged the city on a large scale, and people in the Western Qin army continued to surrender to the Tang army, causing Xue Rengao to become a lonely family and could only open the city and surrender.

As the fierce rival of the Xue father and son, Li Shimin witnessed the defeat of Western Qin and witnessed how the Xue regime went from being invincible to declining. Therefore, the past does not forget the teacher of the future, and Li Shimin will naturally not repeat the mistakes of the past. In dealing with the issue of Western Qin's surrenders and prisoners of war, Li Shimin's approach was quite wise, showing the tolerant mind of a victor and the great power bearing of the Li Tang Dynasty:

The people of the world were surrendered, and the Renguo brothers, Zong Luohu, Zhai Changsun and other generals shot and hunted with them, and there was no doubt. The thieves are afraid of the grace of the throne, and they are willing to die. (Information Governance Guide)

After Xue Rengao surrendered the city, almost all the Western Qin tribes gave up resistance and surrendered to the Tang army. Therefore, Li Shimin surrendered tens of thousands of Western Qin soldiers in one go. Treating so many prisoners of war, Li Shimin was still very tolerant and generous. He did not wield a butcher's knife at these prisoners of war who had laid down their arms; They were also not imprisoned in prisoner-of-war camps and abolished the army, but adopted a strategy of pacification.

The so-called appeasement is to ignore the previous suspicions. Li Shimin retained the establishment of the rest of the Western Qin Dynasty and incorporated it into the Tang Army sequence. At the same time, for the surrendered Western Qin generals, including the Xue Rengao brothers, the generals Zong Luohu, Zhai Changsun and others, they were still entrusted with important tasks, so that they could continue to command their original troops and horses. Moreover, in order to show magnanimity, Li Shimin and these Western Qin generals often went out hunting together, and they were intimate, and they did not treat them as prisoners at all.

Li Shimin's broad-mindedness, tolerance and generosity finally moved many generals of Western Qin. They felt that this Qin King of the Tang Dynasty not only fought hard and used soldiers like a god, but also had an extraordinary bearing, which was in stark contrast to the intolerance and tyranny of Xue Ju and Xue Rengao's father and son.

In this way, all the generals of the Xue clan willingly surrendered to the Tang Dynasty and volunteered to serve desperately under Li Shimin. Therefore, Li Shimin's pacification policy in dealing with the old Western Qin Department played a good role in stabilizing the morale of the army; At the same time, it has also played a positive role in stabilizing the situation in Longxi.

In addition to actively pacifying the surrender of troops and generals in Western Qin, Li Shimin also made an important measure to stabilize the situation in Longxi, that is, Corporal Lixian, highlighting the importance and respect for talents. Soon after the pacification of Western Qin, Li Shimin, with the respect of the king of Qin, personally visited a famous celebrity.

This famous celebrity is none other than Chu Liang, the squire of the Yellow Gate under Xue Ju before. Regarding Chu Liang, I mentioned it earlier. This is a famous Confucian intellectual in the late Sui and early Tang dynasties, famous for his talent and knowledge, and once served as a waiter of the Yellow Gate under Xue Ju.

After the First Battle of Fufeng, Chu Liang tried to persuade Xue Ju to recognize the situation, raise the land of Longxi, and attach himself to Li Yuan. However, due to Xue Ju's short-sightedness and obsession, coupled with Hao Jin's instigation and agitation. In the end, Xue Ju did not accept Chu Liang's suggestion, but chose to divide the side and continue to confront Li Tang.

It can be seen that Chu Liang is a very far-sighted person. He clearly realized that although the Tang Dynasty was a nascent regime, the courage, courage, and wisdom of the Li family's father and son were incomparable to other reckless heroes. Therefore, Chu Liang concluded that the Tang Dynasty shouldered the historical mission of unifying the world and ending the troubled times, and would be the future lord of the world. It should be said that Chu Liang's venture capital is the right bet.

If the Tang Dynasty wanted to completely recover the hearts and minds of the people in Longxi and stabilize the situation in Longxi, it must not only appease the military morale of the old Xue clan, but also gain the support of the local intellectual class. And Chu Liang is the one who must be fought for. Therefore, Li Shimin made up his mind to show the sincerity of looking at the thatched house.

In fact, Li Shimin has long heard of Chu Liang's name and has admired him for a long time. After defeating Xue Rengao and taking Longxi, Li Shimin personally came to the door and went to visit Chu Liang. Seeing Chu Liang, Li Shimin did not hold the frame of the commander of the three armies of the Tang Dynasty at all, behaved very humbly and politely, and said politely to Chu Liang:

The widow was ordered to come, and he was honored with virtue. There is no way to do things for a long time, and you have to work hard? (The New Tang Dynasty Book: The Biography of Chu Liang)

The weight of these words is very heavy, and it is obvious that Li Shimin is "wearing a high hat" for Chu Liang. In Li Shimin's view, the biggest gain of sweeping the Xue family and recovering Longxi this time was not a military victory, but a talent of Chu Liang. Moreover, Li Shimin also said that Chu Liang has full ambition and talent, but he is committed to an unscrupulous tyrant like Xue's father and son, and he must have suffered great grievances.

Sure enough, Li Shimin's sensationalism made Chu Liang so moved that he felt that he had finally met his soulmate. Moreover, Chu Liang himself has the heart to return to Li Tang, and he has long heard of Li Shimin, the king of Qin, who is a martial artist, and has the posture of a dragon and a phoenix. After listening to Li Shimin's compliments and praises, Chu Liang immediately "pounced" and knelt down, kept kowtowing to thank him, and also made a "commercial blow" to Li Shimin, saying:

I don't know the mandate of heaven, resist the king's division, and now 100,000 soldiers are added to his neck, and the king is not punished, how can he be more evil? (The New Tang Dynasty Book: The Biography of Chu Liang)

After Chu Liang finished speaking, Li Shimin was overjoyed, and immediately rewarded him with four horses and 200 pieces of cloth, and appointed him as the literature of the Qin Palace. Since then, Chu Liang has been under the command of Li Shimin and served in the palace of Li Shimin, the king of Qin. Later, Chu Liang became one of the famous "Eighteen Bachelors of Qinfu" and one of the core members of Qinwang Group. Every time Li Shimin went out to fight, Chu Liang was in the army, giving advice to Li Shimin.

After Tang Taizong Li Shimin ascended the throne, he entrusted Chu Liang with important tasks. In the middle of Zhenguan, Chu Liang was promoted to a casual cavalry attendant, and became the Marquis of Yangzhai County, and soon returned home. In the twenty-first year of Zhenguan (647), Chu Liang died of illness at the age of eighty-eight. After Chu Liang's death, Tang Taizong posthumously presented him as Taichangqing, nicknamed "Kang", and allowed him to accompany the burial of Zhaoling.

Of course, Chu Liang's return to Tang is undoubtedly a huge gain for Li Shimin. In addition, Li Shimin also has an unexpected gain, that is, Chu Liang's son - Chu Suiliang.

Chu Suiliang is the son of Chu Liang, who is well-versed in literature and history, and works in calligraphy. In the last years of the Sui Dynasty, Chu Suiliang worked for Xue Ju together with his father Chu Liang and served as a general secretary. This time, Chu Liang was attached to the Tang Dynasty, and Chu Suiliang also joined Li Tang together, and was appointed by Li Shimin to join the army as the armor of the Qin Palace, and the father and son served together in Li Shimin's Qin Palace.

Since Chu Liang and Chu Suiliang's father and son entered the Tang Dynasty, Li Shimin has regarded this father and son as his right-hand men. For example, after Chu Suiliang returned to the Tang Dynasty, he successively served as a counselor, a waiter at the Yellow Gate, and a Zhongshu order. In the twenty-third year of Zhenguan (649), Tang Taizong entrusted Gu on his deathbed and arranged for Chu Suiliang to be one of the ministers of Gu Ming together with the eldest grandson Wuji and others. Therefore, Chu Suiliang later became a famous prime minister through the Tang Taizong and Tang Gaozong dynasties, and an outstanding politician and calligrapher in the early years of the Tang Dynasty.

In the nineteenth year of Zhenguan (645), Li Shimin, Taizong of the Tang Dynasty, personally led a large army and went on an expedition to Goguryeo. At that time, because Chu Liang was old, he could not go out with the army. Therefore, Chu Liang stayed in Chang'an, and Chu Suiliang followed Taizong's eastward expedition. On the way to the army, Tang Taizong issued an edict to Chu Liang who stayed in Beijing to show his concern:

The Japanese division brigade, Qing is not not in the middle, and now I am thin, and you are old. Pitching the years, and thirty years, when it comes to this, how do I work! Today, I want to do a good job, and I want you to spare a son in my ear. Good living and eating. (The New Tang Dynasty Book: The Biography of Chu Liang)

In short, after Li Shimin pacified the Western Qin, he politically implemented a series of prudent policies of pacification and gentleness. Through the measures to stabilize the old department of the Xue clan and encircle the literati class, the political situation in Longxi after the war was quickly stabilized in a short period of time. Because of Li Shimin's efforts, the Tang Dynasty completely controlled the entire Longxi region, achieved political and military victories, and won the first great victory in the unification war in the early Tang Dynasty.

It is worth mentioning that the pacification of Western Qin was the first important unification campaign carried out by this nascent dynasty after the establishment of the Tang Dynasty. In this important battle of unification, it was not only Li Shimin's first appearance after the establishment of the Tang Dynasty, but also the first time he emerged in the unification war in the early Tang Dynasty. Because of the victory of this war, Li Shimin's name also shook the entire land of China; This twenty-year-old young commander instantly became the focus of attention of the world's leaders.

Moreover, it was also this war to pacify the Western Qin Dynasty that also made Li Shimin's war horse famous in history. This famous war horse in history is one of the famous "Six Horses of Zhaoling" of Tang Taizong,—— "White Hoof Wu". This "white-hoofed black" happened to be Li Shimin's mount in the war to pacify the Western Qin.

As everyone knows, Li Shimin joined the army at the age of sixteen, followed his father Li Yuan at the age of eighteen, raised troops in Jinyang, and became the commander of the Tang Army at the age of twenty, leading the army and leveling the Xue family in one fell swoop. It can be said that Li Shimin spent the first half of his life on horseback. Therefore, Li Shimin is not only excellent in martial arts, but also has an indissoluble bond for war horses.

In the tenth year of Zhenguan (636), Li Shimin, Taizong of the Tang Dynasty, began to build Zhaoling. In front of the Zhaoling Tomb of Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty, there is a stone carving of six horses. These six horses are all Li Shimin's former mounts, and they followed Li Shimin in different periods of pacifying the world and made great achievements for the Tang Dynasty. This is the famous "Zhaoling Six Horses", and the "White Hoof Wu" is one of them, which is Li Shimin's mount in the Dangping Xue War.

Why is this horse called "White Hoof"? Li Shimin once wrote an article "Six Horses Tuzan" for his "Six Horses of Zhaoling". In this article, Li Shimin gives a detailed account of the six horses, including their physique, which battles they rode in, and what kind of great feats they have made. Among them, Li Shimin described in detail the appearance of the white-hoofed black in the article "Six Horses Tuzan":

Pure black, all four hooves are white, and it is ridden by Xue Rengao.

The reason why it is called "white hoof black" is because this war horse is black all over, and only four hooves are snow-white, which is quite similar to the "snow stepping on the black horse" of Xiang Yu, the overlord of Western Chu. Moreover, from the stone carving of "Zhaoling Six Horses", it can be seen that the white hoof black skeleton is strong, the four hooves are galloping, showing the shape of galloping and jumping, and it is a good horse that has been on the battlefield for a long time. Therefore, the "Six Horses of Zhaoling", the white hoof is one of them.

Through the above introduction, the most critical and decisive victory in the overall campaign to pacify Western Qin was, of course, the second "Battle of Shallow Water Plain". In the Battle of Shallow Water Plain, Li Shimin personally led the cavalry of the Tang Army to break the main force of Western Qin, completely reversing the situation on the battlefield and occupying the initiative on the battlefield.

At that time, Li Shimin rode this "white hoofed black", led dozens of cavalry, entered the enemy formation, and defeated the main force of Zong Luohu; Then, he rode the "White Hoof Wu" to pursue the remnants of the Western Qin on the Loess Plateau, and the troops were on the verge of breaking the city, uprooting the foundation of the Xue regime in one fell swoop. Therefore, this white-hoofed black horse has made immortal feats in the process of pacifying Western Qin. In the article "Six Horses Tuzan", Li Shimin praised the white hoof:

Leaning on the sky with a long sword, chasing the wind and riding feet. Shrugging Pinglong, back to Saddle Dingshu.

Indeed, the pacification of Western Qin was a key battle for the rise of the Li Tang Dynasty in the East. If it hadn't been able to defeat the Western Qin and the Xue family, perhaps, the Tang Dynasty would not have become a great empire like it was later. For example, Liu Zongyuan, one of the "Eight Great Masters of the Tang and Song Dynasties", described the first battle of the founding of the Li and Tang dynasties in one of his own poems, "Twelve Songs of Tang Cymbals and Drumming Songs: The Fourth":

Jing water yellow, long wild. Negative too white, Tengtian wolf.

There are birds standing with their wings spreading. Before the hook beak is decided, the big one.

Angry and hungry, you can't do it. The old male died, and the son recovered.

Chaoqi drinks Wei and soars. Suddenly, the heavens are raised.

The column is missing the banner, and it is swaggering. Ghosts and gods come to help, Meng Jiaxiang.

The brain is painted in the wilderness, and the spirit is flying. The stars are restored, and one side is restored.

So far, whether in terms of military or political aspects, the Tang Dynasty at this time has completely controlled the Longxi region. Now, there is only one last thing that has to be done, that is, how to deal with Xue Rengao, the number one war criminal of the Tang Dynasty, and his cronies.

At first, regarding how to deal with Xue Rengao and his henchmen, Tang Gaozu Li Yuan was mixed with personal emotions, and almost made a big mistake because of his will. Li Yuan has no good impression of Xue Ju, Xue Rengao and his son, not only does he not have a good impression, but he can even be said to hate them to the core.

Since the official war between Li Tang and Western Qin in July of the first year of Wude (618), Xue's father and son have killed many Tang army soldiers and countless Tang army soldiers at the hands of Xue. In particular, in the first "Battle of Shallow Water Plain", 30,000 Tang troops were annihilated. After the war, Xue Ju was even more frenzied, and used the bones and heads of the dead Tang soldiers to build a "Jingguan". As for Xue Rengao, not to mention.

After Xue Ju's death, from August to September of the first year of Wude (618), during this period, Xue Rengao led the Western Qin army to carry out a frantic sweep and attack on the northwest defense line of the Tang Dynasty. In the past month, countless Tang Army officers and soldiers have been lost in the hands of Xue Rengao.

For example, Liu Gan, a hussar general of the Tang Dynasty who guarded Jingzhou, was brutally killed by Xue Rengao. Therefore, the hands of the Xue father and son were stained with the blood of the Tang army and soldiers, and they had a deep blood feud with the Tang Dynasty. In the face of such a national shame and hatred, Tang Gaozu could not let go of it no matter what. After pacifying the Western Qin, Tang Gaozu Li Yuan specially sent a special envoy to the Longxi army to convey his edict to Li Shimin:

Xue Ju's father and son killed more of my soldiers, and they will punish their party to thank their souls. (Information Governance Guide)

What Li Yuan meant was that the Xue father and son had killed countless Tang soldiers, and they had a lot of blood debts, and not killing them was not enough to comfort the fallen soldiers. Therefore, Tang Gaozu Li Yuan ordered Li Shimin to immediately kill the culprit Xue Rengao and the rest of the party members to pay tribute to the dead of the Tang army.

The edict of his father Li Yuan undoubtedly caused a problem for Li Shimin. It is not difficult to kill a Xue Rengao, Xue Rengao is brutal by nature and narrow-minded, and he has always been unpopular in Longxi. Killing Xue Rengao will not cause too much fluctuation in the old department of Western Qin. However, Xue Rengao has a lot of minions, and once he kills them, it will definitely cause unrest among the troops and generals of Western Qin, and even cause a mutiny, causing big trouble.

You must know that Li Shimin took a lot of hard work to defeat Xue Rengao, pacify Western Qin, and finally implement the policy of appeasement and gentleness to stabilize the situation in Longxi. Now, if this knife is really cut, all the hard work will be in vain. Obviously, Li Yuan has some elements of arrogance at this time.

However, at the critical moment, someone stopped Li Yuan's willfulness in time, who was it? Li Mi. As mentioned above, in October of the first year of Wude (618), Li Mi was severely damaged by Wang Shichong's troops in the battle of Beibi Mountain in Luoyang, and almost all of the 100,000 Wagang troops were wiped out. In desperation, Li Mi had to lead 20,000 remnants of the army, enter Guanzhong in the west, and defect to Li Tang.

Li Mi led his troops to join the Tang Dynasty, and Tang Gaozu Li Yuan attached great importance to it and constantly sent envoys to comfort him. Later, after Li Mi entered Chang'an, Li Yuan seemed to be good to him on the surface, and he was courteous, and appointed Li Mi as Guangluqing and named Xing Guogong. Therefore, Li Mi was a courtier of the Tang Dynasty at this time, and for Tang Gaozu's decision to kill Xue Rengao and his minions, Li Mi promptly admonished Gaozu:

Xue Ju tortured and killed innocents, so why did he die, why did Your Majesty complain! The people of obedience must not be caressed! (Information Governance Guide)

After listening to Li Mi's advice, Tang Gaozu felt that it was very reasonable. At this time, Li Yuan also regained his due sanity and maintained the calmness of a politician. As a result, Tang Gaozu Li Yuan ordered Li Shimin to execute the main culprit war criminal, and the rest of the people were all pardoned, and no one was implicated. In this way, with the full cooperation of the Li family father and son, the Tang Dynasty finally completed the finishing work after the pacification of the Western Qin.

On November 22 of the first year of Wude (618), Li Shimin, the king of Qin, led the Tang army, triumphantly returned to Chang'an, and offered victory in Taimiao. Soon, Xue Rengao and dozens of his main generals were all beheaded in the city. At this point, the Xue regime officially came to an end.

After that, Tang Gaozu Li Yuan began to reward meritorious deeds, feast on soldiers, and reward the meritorious ministers who pacified the Western Qin. Because Liu Wenjing and Yin Kaishan followed Li Shimin to pacify Western Qin this time, they made military exploits, so their merits were offset by their demerits. Within a few days, Liu Wenjing was worshiped as the secretary of the Ministry of Civil Affairs, and led the left servant of the Shaanxi East Road to shoot; Yin Kaishan was restored to the title. Moreover, after the Tang army returned to Beijing, once, Li Yuan summoned his ministers and took the fall of the Xue family as an example, and said something like this:

If the world is peaceful, you can protect the wealth and nobility. So that the king is full of ambition, how can there be a kind of public! If Xue Renguo is a monarch, how can he not think that he is a precedent! (Information Governance Guide)

In fact, the first contribution to pacifying Western Qin and recovering Longxi this time naturally belongs to Li Shimin, the king of Qin. Li Shimin is the supreme military commander of the Tang Army, and the battle on the Western Front, if it were not for Li Shimin's proper deployment, insisting on the strategy of exhausting the enemy, and consuming the enemy's sharp energy, the Battle of Shallow Water Plains would not have broken the main force of the Western Qin army in one fell swoop; Similarly, if it weren't for Li Shimin's decisive attack after breaking the main force of Western Qin, and his troops would not have finally broken the fighting spirit of the Western Qin army and forced Xue Rengao to surrender.

Moreover, after pacifying the Western Qin and achieving brilliant military achievements, Li Shimin was not complacent and was carried away by the victory. On the contrary, Li Shimin actively adopted a political strategy of appeasement and gentleness, and quickly stabilized the situation in Longxi after the war, making the Longxi region completely subordinate to the Tang Dynasty. Therefore, whether militarily or politically, Li Shimin is a well-deserved soul figure in the pacification of the Western Qin War, and he is worthy of the name.

Therefore, Tang Gaozu Li Yuan talked about meritorious deeds, and the first thing to be rewarded was, of course, his own bloody and meritorious Erlang. Soon after Li Shimin returned to Beijing in triumph, his father Li Yuan's reward followed. This time, Tang Gaozu granted Li Shimin a series of important military and political positions.

Due to the great military exploits of pacifying Longxi, Tang Gaozu Li Yuan added worship to Li Shimin as the Tai Lieutenant, the Shaanxi East Dao Xingtai Shangshu Ling, the Zuo Wuhou General, the Liangzhou Governor, and guarded the Changchun Palace. In other words, all the troops and horses of the Tang Dynasty in the Kwantung region were all under the control of Li Shimin, the king of Qin.

In May of the first year of Wude (618), Li Yuan was proclaimed emperor in Chang'an, and when the Tang Dynasty was established, Li Shimin's political identity was the king of Qin, Shang Shuling, and the general of Youwu Hou. Until July of the first year of Wude (618), Li Shimin led 40,000 Tang troops for the first time to fight against Xue Ju, and was awarded the title of Yongzhou pastor.

At that time, Li Shimin, although he made great contributions to the establishment of the Tang Dynasty. But at that time, Li Shimin was just a fledgling, less than 20 years old young hero, just a newborn milk tiger. Therefore, Li Shimin was only showing his edge at that time, and in the eyes of the world's heroes, he was not as famous as he was later. Therefore, in the Tang Dynasty, Li Shimin's status is not particularly prominent.

However, this great victory on the Western Front made Li Shimin miraculously emerge. The twenty-year-old King of Qin, with the record of pacifying the Xue family and recovering Longxi, proved his strength to his father, the people of the Tang Dynasty, and the heroes of the world with real military exploits. Everyone understands that from now on, with such an unborn "military god and war spirit" as Li Shimin, the pace of the Li Tang Dynasty to dominate the world will be unstoppable!

Similarly, the complete victory in pacifying Western Qin also made Li Shimin's position in the Tang Dynasty court become pivotal. Through the great victory on the Western Front, Li Shimin gradually came to the forefront of the Tang Dynasty's politics and military, and began to take charge of the Tang Dynasty's military power step by step, becoming a veritable military leader of the Tang Dynasty.

More importantly, the pacification of the Western Qin Xue clan was the first important battle that Li Shimin personally commanded during the unification war in the early Tang Dynasty. Because of the victory in this war, Li Shimin also greatly enhanced his prestige and accumulated strong political and military strength. With such strong political and military capital, Li Shimin and the entire Qinwang group dared to challenge the prince group in the later stage of Wude and compete with his eldest brother Li Jiancheng for the position of prince.

With Li Shimin's triumphant return to Beijing and Xue Rengao's killing, the Tang Dynasty's military campaign to pacify the Western Qin Dynasty lasted half a year, and finally ended successfully. The pacification of Western Qin and the elimination of the Xue clan officially opened the prelude to the unification of the world by the Tang Dynasty.

Soon after the elimination of the Western Qin regime, the Tang Dynasty continued to intensify its military efforts in the northwest. In May of the second year of Wude (619), the Tang Dynasty sent troops to eliminate the Li Rail regime in Hexi. At this point, the Li Tang Dynasty officially realized the unification of the northwest region.

From November of the first year of Wude (618) to May of the second year of Wude (619), the newly born Li Tang Dynasty carried out two major military campaigns in succession, and successively eliminated the two major separatist regimes in the northwest region - the Xue regime of Western Qin and the Li Rail regime of Hexi. Since then, the two strategic places of Longxi and Hexi have been incorporated into the territory of Li Tang. After many difficulties and dangers, the Tang Dynasty finally unified the northwest region.

The unification of the northwest region was of great significance to the Li Tang Dynasty.

First, by eliminating the Western Qin and Liang states, the Li Tang Dynasty successfully removed the military threat from the northwest, providing the Tang Dynasty with a stable strategic rear. From then on, the Tang Dynasty no longer had any worries, and could confidently and boldly expand eastward, competing with the two strong enemies of Wang Shichong and Dou Jiande in the Central Plains.

Second, the unification of the northwest further expanded the territory of the Tang Dynasty and further enhanced the national strength of the Tang Dynasty. At this time, the Tang Dynasty was no longer the nascent regime of May of the first year of Wude (618). Today, the Li Tang Dynasty sits on Guanzhong, Hedong, Longxi, Hexi, and Bashu, and the world has won four of them, and its national strength is getting stronger and stronger. Therefore, Datang is now different from what it used to be, and has enough strength and capital to compete for the world.

At the beginning, in order to unify the world, Tang Gaozu Li Yuan formulated a strategic plan to consolidate Guanzhong, conquer the Central Plains in the east, and re-level the south of the Yangtze River. First of all, the Tang Dynasty had to stabilize the security of the Guanzhong region and eliminate the separatist forces entrenched in the northwest, so as to defend Chang'an and remove their military threat to Guanzhong.

Now, after nearly a year of bloody battles, the Tang Dynasty finally unified the northwest, eliminated the two major separatist regimes of Western Qin and Liangguo, and successfully connected Longxi and Hexi with Guanzhong and Hedong. In this way, the Li Tang Dynasty successfully achieved a key step in consolidating the strategy of Guanzhong.

The unification of the northwest region enabled the Tang Dynasty to obtain a stable rear and sweep away the worries from the northwest. Next, the Li Tang Dynasty will begin the second phase of military operations, implementing the next and final strategic plan to consolidate Guanzhong. The strategic plan for this step is to go all out to deal with Liu Wuzhou in Shanxi, stabilize the military situation in Taiyuan, and completely eliminate the separatist forces that threaten Chang'an.

However, before the Tang Dynasty officially started a war with Liu Wuzhou in Shanxi Province and started the next stage of military operations, a major event occurred in the Tang Dynasty. What's the big deal? It turned out that Li Mi, who had just been attached to Li Tang for less than a year, suddenly rebelled against the Tang Dynasty and fled, intending to break away from the Tang Dynasty and make a comeback.

So, why did Li Mi suddenly rebel against the Tang Dynasty, and what little-known insider stories are hidden in this? In the face of this sudden change, how will Tang Gaozu Li Yuan, as the emperor of the Tang Dynasty, respond? Li Mi, the once dominant generation of heroes, what is the final outcome of his life? As the hero alliance leader who responded to every call in the past, why did Li Mi end up capsizing in the small gutter and ended up with a tragic ending of being ruined and ruined?