A.D. 619, that is, the second year of Tang Wude, was the second year of the founding of Li Tang. At the same time, this year was also a year of crisis for the Tang Dynasty. In August of that year, under the powerful offensive of Liu Wuzhou, Taiyuan was lost. The Tang Dynasty suffered an unprecedented military crisis since the founding of the People's Republic of China, and lost the land of Longxing, which was regarded as its foundation.

After the fall of Taiyuan, Liu Wuzhou's troops quickly swept the land of Sanjin; In addition, a series of military mistakes in the Tang Dynasty, Jinzhou, Longmen, Huzhou and other places were occupied by Liu Wuzhou one after another. The Hedong battlefield was scorched by war, and Shanxi, the stronghold of the Li and Tang dynasties, was in danger of a complete fall, and the situation was very dangerous. If Li Tang loses the land east of the river, then he will no longer be able to dominate the world, and it may even be short-lived.

Fortunately, Tang Gaozu Li Yuan made amends in time, followed Li Shimin's advice, and decided to recover Taiyuan. Therefore, Li Yuan, with Li Shimin as the commander, led all the main forces of the Tang Army in the Guanzhong region to the Hedong front line to crusade against Liu Wuzhou. In this way, a counterattack battle of the Tang Dynasty against Liu Wuzhou has since begun! In this counterattack battle, the leading figure of the Tang Dynasty was none other than the mighty Qin King Li Shimin.

So, as the supreme commander of the Tang Army, how did Li Shimin, the king of Qin, lead the soldiers of the Tang Army to win a surprise victory and get out of the current military predicament? Moreover, in this great battle against Liu Wuzhou, how did Li Shimin display his outstanding military talents, and finally completely eliminate Liu Wuzhou's regime, recover Taiyuan, and achieve a great victory in Hedong, making another contribution to the unification of the Tang Dynasty?

No matter from the political, economic, and military point of view, Taiyuan was of great significance to the Li Tang Dynasty. First of all, in terms of politics, Taiyuan is the land of the Tang Dynasty's Longxing and the foundation of Li Tang. The loss of Taiyuan also means that the Tang Dynasty is about to lose the foundation of its original beginning. Even the foundation has been lost, and the Tang Dynasty is afraid that it will not be too far from the day of collapse, which is undoubtedly a painful blow to politics.

At the same time, the loss of Taiyuan was also a major economic loss for the Tang Dynasty. According to Li Shimin, "Hedong is solid and Jingyi is capitalized". The Shanxi region has a developed economy and abundant products, before the Tang Dynasty did not unify the northwest and seize Longyou and Hexi. The material supply of Chang'an and Guanzhong mainly came from Hedong. But now, Taiyuan has fallen, the situation in Shanxi has suddenly changed, and the Li Tang Dynasty has lost this important "strategic granary".

Even more dangerous is the enormous threat posed by the military. What does the loss of Taiyuan mean in military terms? It meant that the Turkic forces began to infiltrate Shanxi. Liu Wuzhou captured Taiyuan, the entire Hedong area was defeated, and the defense line of Pujin Ferry was completely torn apart. If Liu Wuzhou crossed the Yellow River from here with the Turks, it would directly threaten the hinterland of Guanzhong. When the time comes, the situation will only get worse.

Therefore, no matter from which aspect, Taiyuan cannot give up easily, and Hedong must not give it away. Once the Tang Dynasty lost Taiyuan and Hedong, after that, the Tang Dynasty will inevitably suffer a great loss of vitality and will no longer be able to dominate the world. Therefore, it is imperative for the Tang army to recover Taiyuan, like an arrow on the string, and it has to be sent.

In October of the second year of Wude (619), under the extreme predicament of the loss of Taiyuan and the emergency of the Hedong front, Tang Gaozu Li Yuan accepted the suggestion of Li Shimin, the king of Qin, and decided to fight against the water and launch a counterattack to recover Taiyuan. So, Tang Gaozu activated Li Shimin and ordered him to lead the elite Tang army in Guanzhong to go to Hedong to conquer Liu Wuzhou. This time, the entire Tang Dynasty pinned all its hopes on Li Shimin.

At that time, the battle situation on the Hedong front was already urgent. After the loss of Taiyuan, Jinzhou, Longmen, Huzhou and other places were occupied by Liu Wuzhou. The Tang Dynasty lost nearly half of the cities in Shanxi, and the Yellow River crossing was opened. Liu Wuzhou's army, in the Shanxi region, is basically rampant.

For Li Shimin, such an unfavorable war situation is both a challenge and an opportunity. Why opportunity? Because, since April of the second year of Wude (619), Liu Wuzhou invaded Taiyuan on a large scale, nearly half a year of battle, he almost triumphed all the way, and did not encounter stubborn resistance. It can be said that from the invasion of Taiyuan to the final capture of Taiyuan, Liu Wuzhou was smooth sailing, and rarely encountered military setbacks.

There were no setbacks and smooth sailing, which was not a good thing for Liu Wuzhou. The extraordinary success of the capture of Taiyuan made Liu Wuzhou commit a taboo in soldiers: underestimating the enemy. Therefore, Liu Wuzhou had a miscalculation, and in his opinion, the combat effectiveness of the Tang army was nothing more than that. Liu Wuzhou conceitedly believed that Taiyuan had been captured, and with the support of the Turks, the occupation of the whole of Shanxi seemed to be just around the corner.

Liu Wuzhou's light enemy helped Li Shimin a lot. Li Shimin is very good at capturing the enemy's weaknesses and finding a breakthrough to defeat the enemy. At the beginning, Li Shimin took advantage of Xue Rengao's eagerness to fight quickly, skillfully implemented the strategy of exhausting the enemy, and finally destroyed Western Qin in one fell swoop and took Longxi. Similarly, this time, according to Liu Wuzhou's psychology of underestimating the enemy, Li Shimin will naturally formulate corresponding tactics and tactics and put him to death with one blow.

So, in what way and under what circumstances did the decisive battle between Li Shimin and Liu Wuzhou open the curtain of war? Li Shimin, the genius who was not born in China's military history, adopted what kind of strategy to use troops, so that he killed the invincible Liu Wuzhou without leaving a piece of armor, panicking like a lost dog?

When Li Shimin led the main force of the Tang army to the expedition, it was late October in the second year of Wude (619), and it was winter. When the news reached Shanxi, Liu Wuzhou panicked.

Don't look at Liu Wuzhou's sweep of Hedong in the past few months, it seems invincible. This is just a superficial phenomenon, in fact, Liu Wuzhou has not yet met a real opponent. Li Shimin led the army to Hedong, which suddenly made Liu Wuzhou feel unprecedentedly nervous.

Liu Wuzhou knew that the previous Li Yuanji, Pei Lin and others were simply insignificant, and Li Shimin was the strongest opponent. As long as Li Shimin led the Tang army and arrived at the Hedong battlefield, it would be a big battle with unpredictable victory and defeat to meet Liu Wuzhou.

Therefore, Liu Wuzhou must do something before Li Shimin arrives in Hedong, launch a new round of military offensives, seize the opportunity, and disrupt the deployment of the Tang army.

So, on November 14 of the second year of Wude (619), Liu Wuzhou led his army to invade Haozhou again. Previously, in July of the second year of Wude (619), Liu Wuzhou had attacked Haozhou for the first time. But soon, he led his troops to retreat. This time, Liu Wu attacked Haozhou on Tuesday, the purpose was very simple, it was nothing more than to capture Haozhou before Li Shimin's arrival, so as to block the Tang army's offensive, so that Li Shimin had no place to stay.

The calculation is good, but the problem is that Li Shimin will certainly not let his conspiracy succeed. During the march, Li Shimin received the news that Liu Wuzhou had attacked Haozhou. At this moment, time is life, and what is fighting with Liu Wuzhou now is speed. Liu Wuzhou's actions are quick, and he has to be more quick than him.

Because he wanted to rush to the front line in time, Li Shimin ordered his troops to speed up the march. It just so happened that it was the middle of winter, the weather was cold, and the surface of the Yellow River was basically frozen in ice. Therefore, Li Shimin led the Tang army to cross the river from Longmen by stepping on the ice, and stationed the army in Baibi, northeast of Longmen, and confronted each other with the Song Jingang Department.

When Li Shimin first arrived at the Hedong front, he encountered a thorny problem before he officially started fighting with Liu Wuzhou and Song Jingang. What's the problem? The issue of military rations. According to historical records, at that time, the situation in various parts of Hedong was extremely complicated, and how to raise military rations was the first difficult problem in front of Li Shimin:

At that time, Hedong County, after the capture and plunder, there was no warehouse, and the people were disturbed, gathered in the castle, and there was no income from the conquest, and there was no food in the army. (Information Governance Guide)

Due to the long-term war in the Hedong region, coupled with Pei Lian's policy of clearing the wilderness, the local people were full of high vigilance against the Tang Dynasty troops coming from afar. Therefore, the people of the prefectures and counties in Hedong hid in Tibet and secretly hid their grain. For a time, the Tang army had difficulty raising food and fell into a serious food shortage crisis.

Unable to raise food, the logistics supply of the Tang army was difficult to guarantee; The feeding of tens of thousands of troops has become a huge problem. Moreover, Li Shimin could not plunder and forcibly requisition grain, which would only provoke a popular uprising. Faced with such a thorny situation, how should Li Shimin raise food for the army? Soon, Li Shimin thought of an excellent way, that is: to appease the people and dispel the doubts in their hearts. According to the record of the "General Guide to Governance":

The people of the world sent a message to the people, and the people heard that the people of the world came for the commander, and they did not want to belong to them, from near and far, and there were many people who arrived, and then gradually collected their food, and the army was fed with food.

Li Shimin understood that the local people in Hedong were frightened by Pei Lian's strong wall Qingye. Therefore, the top priority is to appease the people and let them let down their guard against the Tang army. Therefore, Li Shimin issued a decree and sent envoys to the people everywhere, patiently explaining to them, saying that he would not engage in Pei Lian's trick.

After all, Hedong is the birthplace of the Tang Dynasty, and the Li family has been running it for many years. Moreover, at this time, the people in the Hedong region learned that it was Li Shimin, the king of Qin, who led the troops this time, and the god of war of the Tang Dynasty came, and it seemed that some of the battles were fought. So, after Li Shimin's pacification, many people joined one after another, and more and more followed. At the same time, they also took the initiative to offer food to Li Shimin. In this way, Li Shimin successfully solved the military food crisis of the Tang Army.

Military rations have been replenished in a timely manner, and there are no longer problems with logistical supplies. Next, Li Shimin will begin to arrange troops and deploy tactics against Liu Wuzhou and Song Jingang. This time, Li Shimin still showed his housekeeping skills - a plan to exhaust the enemy.

At this time, Liu Wuzhou and Song Jingang were almost the same as Xue Rengao's mentality. Since Li Shimin led the army to Hedong, Liu Wuzhou has been in some chaos. Otherwise, why Liu Wuzhou was so eager to attack Haozhou was to seize the opportunity and cut off the military artery of the Tang army's advance before Li Shimin arrived.

However, Liu Wuzhou never expected that Li Shimin's speed was beyond his expectations. Li Shimin took advantage of the freezing of the Yellow River in the middle of winter, led the Tang army, marched rapidly overnight, crossed the river from Longmen on ice, and soon garrisoned Baibi to confront the Song Jingang Department.

Li Shimin's troops were stationed in Baibi, so that Liu Wuzhou's attempt to contain the Tang army's offensive unexpectedly failed. Therefore, when Liu Wuzhou continued to attack Haozhou, he lost his military significance.

Li Shimin garrisoned Baibi and put on a posture of long-term confrontation with Liu Wuzhou and Song Jingang. In this way, Liu Wuzhou was even more anxious. His goal is to occupy the entire east of the river as soon as possible, and then compete for world dominance.

However, Li Shimin's arrival disrupted all his plans. If you want to occupy Hedong, you must first defeat the Tang army and solve the strong enemy Li Shimin. However, Li Shimin is not an idle person, how can he be so easy to deal with?

Because of this, Liu Wuzhou became more and more anxious for a quick victory and wanted to fight a decisive battle with Li Shimin. However, the more Liu Wuzhou wanted to fight a decisive battle, the less Li Shimin would fall into the trap and would not let him get his wish. In fact, Li Shimin also discovered Liu Wuzhou's psychology. Therefore, in order to defeat Liu Wuzhou, Li Shimin decided to repeat the old trick and adopt the usual strategy of using troops: the strategy of exhausting the enemy, fighting a war of attrition with the enemy until they were brought down.

However, it is different from commanding the campaign to pacify Western Qin. Last time, Li Shimin strictly ordered the officers and men of the Tang Army to stick to the camp and not to leave the camp without authorization to engage the Western Qin army. This time, in the confrontation with Liu Wuzhou and Song Jingang, Li Shimin slightly adjusted the tactical arrangement of the enemy's tired strategy:

It is a truce of soldiers and horses, but the favor is plundered, and the army is strong without fighting, so the thief is declining. (Information Governance Guide)

On the one hand, Li Shimin ordered the main army to stick to the camp, recuperate, and wait for work; On the other hand, Li Shimin sent a small force to attack from all sides, harassing the armies of Liu Wuzhou and Song Jingang, and plundering their grain routes. Li Shimin hoped that through this tactic, Liu Wuzhou's vital force would be consumed step by step until it was finally completely eliminated.

Sure enough, Li Shimin's "guerrilla tactics" did play an important role, and Liu Wuzhou's army was exhausted.

First of all, Li Shimin held the barracks, and Liu Wuzhou was unable to break through the Baibi from the front and conquer the Tang army camp. Secondly, the small forces of the Tang army constantly attacked and harassed Liu Wuzhou's army. Such a two-pronged tactic precisely grasped Liu Wuzhou's military weakness.

Therefore, Liu Wuzhou had to attack Baibi from the front on the one hand, and on the other hand, he had to deal with the harassment of a small force of the Tang army. As a result, Liu Wuzhou was under the pressure of fighting on two fronts, making him exhausted.

Therefore, Liu Wuzhou's entire army was exhausted and very embarrassed. Therefore, Li Shimin's strategy to exhaust the enemy did play an important role in depleting Liu Wuzhou's troops and morale in the early stage of the campaign.

It is worth mentioning that in this process, there was also an extremely exciting and thrilling scene. For Li Shimin, this is definitely a thrilling battlefield adventure. It can even be said that Li Shimin almost threw his life away on the battlefield. Fortunately, in the end, Li Shimin relied on his superior martial arts skills to successfully turn danger into disaster and turn evil into good fortune. Regarding Li Shimin's battlefield adventure this time, there is a detailed record in "Zizhi Tongjian":

The people of the world tried to ride the enemy with handsome light horses, and the horses were scattered, and the people of the world slept alone with a first-class soldier on the hill. Russia and thieves and soldiers, the first sense, there will be snakes chasing rats, touching the face of the armor, the armor is shocked, then Bai Shimin, all on the horse, galloping more than 100 steps, for the thief to reach, the people of the world with a big feather arrow to shoot its general, the thief riding is retreating.

Li Shimin has one characteristic of fighting wars: he takes the lead in the war. Every time there was a war, Li Shimin always said that the brothers would follow me, not that the brothers would give me up. In this way, the officers and soldiers of the Tang army were willing to follow the king of Qin. At the same time, Li Shimin's military physique and martial arts are outstanding. Every time he goes out to fight, Li Shimin, as the commander of the three armed forces, can always show that he is the first to take the lead, regardless of himself, and always rush to the forefront of the army.

Therefore, such a phenomenon can always be seen on the battlefield, as the supreme commander of the Tang Army, Li Shimin, the king of Qin, often wears armor, wields swords, and holds bows and arrows, leading the elite cavalry under his command to fight bravely with the enemy. It can be seen that Li Shimin never likes to sit in command of the big tent of the Chinese army when he fights, he prefers to rush to the front-line position at the forefront and live and die with the front-line soldiers.

This kind of combat style of taking the lead has also made Li Shimin develop a habitual behavior. That is, whenever the military situation was critical, Li Shimin often took more than a dozen of his own soldiers to the front-line positions in person to look out at the enemy camp and spy on the military situation. However, Li Shimin's behavior of often leading a small number of guards and going to the front line in person also put Li Shimin in danger several times on the battlefield. And this confrontation with Liu Wuzhou is naturally no exception, and it is the first battlefield adventure in Li Shimin's military career.

What's going on? It turned out that Li Shimin garrisoned Baibi, formulated tactics to exhaust the enemy, and fought a protracted battle with Liu Wuzhou and Song Jingang. In order to understand exactly the true situation of Liu Wuzhou, Li Shimin, as the commander of the Tang Army, decided to go deep into the tiger's den, explore the enemy camp, and find out the truth of Liu Wuzhou.

Once, Li Shimin personally led a small number of light cavalry of the Tang Army out of the camp to reconnoitre. When he was about to reach the vicinity of the enemy's camp, Li Shimin ordered the light cavalry to scatter and move separately to avoid gathering together, because the target was too obvious and could be easily discovered by the enemy. And Li Shimin himself, with a personal armor soldier, climbed a hill to look out at the enemy camp. It was this move that once put Li Shimin in danger.

It may be that he was too tired from fighting for days, and after a while, Li Shimin and the armor soldier fell asleep unconsciously. At this moment, Song Jingang's department under the mountain found that there was something unusual on the opposite hill. So, Song Jingang sent an army and prepared to surround that hill. If Song Jingang's conspiracy had succeeded this time, perhaps there would have been no Li Shimin's later great achievements. However, the god of luck can always favor Li Shimin all the time.

While the enemy soldiers at the foot of the mountain were slowly encircling, Li Shimin was still asleep and did not notice it. At this time, a snake was chasing a mouse and passed by the two of them. When the snake crawled over the soldier's cheek, the armorer woke up instantly. As a result, when the armor soldier woke up, he found that the enemy had surrounded him from all sides. The situation is critical, and King Qin, as the commander of the three armies, must not make any mistakes. Therefore, this armor soldier hurriedly woke up Li Shimin.

When Li Shimin woke up, he also found himself surrounded by enemy troops. However, after all, Li Shimin has been on the battlefield for a long time, so he made a decision and turned over with the armor soldier. Then, Li Shimin and the armor soldier rode their horses and whips and broke through from a gap in the enemy's encirclement.

The group of enemy troops, when they saw Li Shimin breaking through the encirclement, naturally refused to give up, so they chased after them. Seeing that the pursuers were getting closer and closer to him, he couldn't get rid of them if he wanted to. Simply, Li Shimin turned his heart sideways, planning to give it a go and confront this group of enemy soldiers.

I saw that Li Shimin turned his horse's head and faced the chasing soldiers behind him. Suddenly, Li Shimin took out a feather arrow from the quiver, bent his bow and set up an arrow, and shot out with a "whoosh" arrow, and a member of the enemy army on the opposite side was shot under the horse by an arrow. Seeing the scene in front of him, the originally aggressive pursuers were intimidated by Li Shimin's superb archery skills, and they did not dare to step forward, so they quickly led the troops to retreat. Li Shimin seized this opportunity, took advantage of the situation to get out of trouble, and returned to the Tang Army camp.

Throughout Li Shimin's military career for half of his life, this battlefield adventure was one of his several battlefield distress experiences. In the end, Li Shimin successfully turned the danger into a disaster with his outstanding archery skills and superior martial arts. It can be seen that in addition to courage and boldness, Li Shimin's luck is also unique.

Continuing to return to the battle on the Hedong front, since Li Shimin led the army to the Shanxi battlefield, the decline of the Tang Dynasty's Hedong rout has gradually shown a trend of improvement.

First of all, Li Shi's militia was extremely fast, and with an extremely fast marching speed, they garrisoned Baibi and disrupted Liu Wuzhou's strategic intention to attack Haozhou. Then, Li Shimin adopted the strategy of exhausting the enemy and sent a small force to attack and harass the enemy army, which made Liu Wuzhou's soldiers tired and the morale of the army fluctuated. Therefore, the main force of the Tang Army led by Li Shimin has made certain substantial progress.

However, the Tang Army on the other road was obviously inferior to Li Shimin. As mentioned above, due to Pei Lian's erroneous policy of clearing the wilderness, the local people in Hedong were provoked. Lu Chongmao, a person from Xia County, who claimed to be the king of Wei, gathered people to make trouble, echoed with Liu Wu and Zhou Yao, and jointly attacked the Tang army.

The battle situation in Hedong deteriorated suddenly, and because of Pei Lian's repeated defeats, the Tang army lost its troops. There was no way, Tang Gaozu Li Yuan had no choice but to change generals, transfer Pei Lin away from the front line, and recall him back to Chang'an. Immediately afterwards, Li Yuan dispatched several large armies to aid Hedong, and ordered Li Xiaoji, the king of Yong'an, Dugu Huaien, the secretary of the Ministry of Industry, Yu Yun, the governor of Shaanzhou, and Tang Jian, the servant of the internal history, to lead the army and crusade against Liu Wuzhou.

Soon, Tang Gaozu accepted Li Shimin's suggestion and decided to recover Taiyuan. Therefore, Li Yuan appointed Li Shimin to command all the main forces of the Tang Army in the Guanzhong area, go to Hedong, and take full responsibility for recovering Taiyuan and eliminating Liu Wuzhou's war.

That is to say, the Tang Dynasty's troops were divided into two routes, one was led by Li Shimin, the king of Qin, and faced the main forces of Liu Wuzhou and Song Jingang; The other way was led by Li Xiaoji, Dugu Huaien and other clan generals, as partial teachers, to respond to Li Shimin's power.

As mentioned above, Li Shimin's Tang Army, which fought steadily and steadily and advanced step by step, should be said to have achieved considerable results and ideal strategic intentions. However, the other Tang army, led by Li Xiaoji and Dugu Huaien, did not progress smoothly, suffered heavy casualties, and suffered major military defeats.

In December of the second year of Wude (619), Yu Yun, the governor of Shaanzhou of the Tang army, thought that the soldiers were fast and should take advantage of the unstable foothold of Lü Chongmao's rebels, and quickly fight to destroy Lü Chongmao in one fell swoop. Therefore, Yu Yun made a suggestion to Li Xiaoji, the king of Yong'an, and suggested that he quickly send troops to attack Xia County and pull out this nail.

At first, Li Xiaoji, the king of Yong'an, was deeply convinced of Yun's plan and prepared to send troops to attack Xia County. However, the general Dugu Huaien disagreed, he believed, "Please become an attack tool first, and then enter." You should first build siege equipment and then send troops to Xia County.

Li Xiaoji's mind was hot, and he actually agreed to Dugu Huaien's request, and spent several days making siege equipment. In this way, the best time to attack Xia County was delayed in vain.

Taking advantage of this gap, Lu Chongmao hurriedly asked Song Jingang for help. Because when Lu Chongmao rose up, he formed an alliance with Liu Wuzhou to flank the Tang army.

Therefore, when the Tang army attacked Xia County, Song Jingang was reasonable and should send troops to rescue. Once the Tang army conquers Xia County, the next target must be Liu Wuzhou and Song Jingang. After weighing the pros and cons, Song Jingang sent two powerful generals under his command, Chi Jingde and Xunxiang, to lead the army and advance into Xia County.

Regarding Wei Chi Jingde, it is worth mentioning. As mentioned in the previous chapter, in the process of pacifying Liu Wuzhou and Song Jingang, Li Shimin subdued a brave and warlike general, and his addition made Li Shimin's Qinwang group like a tiger. This fierce general is none other than Wei Chi Jingde.

In the stormy era of the late Sui and early Tang dynasties, Wei Chi Jingde was a famous heroic general, and he was the famous founding tiger general of the Tang Dynasty. In the unification war in the early Tang Dynasty, Wei Chi Jingde followed Li Shimin, the king of Qin, fought in the south and the north, and made great contributions, and even saved Li Shimin's life single-handedly.

After Tang Taizong Li Shimin ascended the throne, Wei Chi Jingde was ranked as one of the "Twenty-four Meritorious Heroes of Lingyan Pavilion", and he was named the Duke of Hubei and was a well-deserved founding father of the Tang Dynasty. Not only that, in folk art, Wei Chi Jingde and Qin Qiong and Qin Shubao are also the two "door gods" worshiped by every household.

Such a fierce general of the Tang Dynasty with outstanding achievements and brilliant achievements was still an enemy general under Li Tang's enemies Liu Wuzhou and Song Jingang at that time. Moreover, in the early days of the Tang Dynasty's battle with Liu Wuzhou and Song Jingang, Wei Chi Jingde once made the Tang army suffer a lot of losses. So, what is so special about Wei Chi Jingde?

Wei Chi Jingde, the name Gong, the word Jingde, Shanxi Shuozhou Shanyang people's clan. Therefore, he is also called "Wei Chigong". However, usually people will call him by his words. According to the record of "Old Tang Book: The Biography of Wei Chi Jingde", Wei Chi Jingde's early experience is as follows:

At the end of the great cause, he joined the army in Gaoyang, hunted for a group of thieves, and was known for his martial arts, and was awarded the title of Chaosan doctor. Liu Wu Zhou, thinking that he was a partial general, invaded the south with Song Jingang, and trapped Jin and Hun two states.

In the last years of Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty, Wei Chi Jingde enlisted in the army and served in the army in Gaoyang. Because at that time, the smoke was everywhere, and peasant uprisings in various places were one after another. Therefore, Wei Chi Jingde participated in the suppression of the peasant uprising. During the battle, due to Wei Chi Jingde's bravery and repeated military exploits, he was soon promoted to Chaosan Doctor.

In March of the thirteenth year of the Great Cause (617), Liu Wuzhou launched a mutiny in Mayi, killed Wang Rengong, the Taishou of Mayi, and officially raised an army against Sui. Liu Wuzhou had already heard of Wei Chi Jingde's bravery, so he recruited him to his command and served as a partial general. Therefore, in the beginning, Wei Chi Jingde served under Liu Wuzhou.

Later, in March of the second year of Wude (619), with the instigation and support of the Turks, Liu Wuzhou invaded Taiyuan on a large scale, and Wei Chi Jingde also participated in the war against Taiyuan. After Liu Wuzhou occupied Taiyuan, Wei Chi Jingde followed Song Jingang all the way south to invade and conquered Jinzhou and Huzhou one after another.

Therefore, this generation of fierce generals who made great achievements for the Tang Dynasty initially stood in the hostile camp of the Tang Dynasty and worked for Li Tang's enemies. At that time, Wei Chi Jingde, in the eyes of the Tang Army, was a difficult enemy general; However, in the eyes of Liu Wuzhou and Song Jingang, Wei Chi Jingde is a fierce general who bravely crowns the three armies. Because of this, this time to support the Lu Chongmao Department of Xia County, Song Jingang naturally came up with the "killer feature" of Wei Chi Jingde.

As mentioned above, Li Xiaoji, the king of Yong'an, made a mistake in decision-making, adopted the advice of the general Dugu Huaien, and spent several days to make siege equipment. Wait for the siege equipment to be built, and then send troops to attack Xia County.

However, at this moment, the Tang army had missed the best opportunity to attack Xia County. At the same time, Song Jingang seized this excellent fighter opportunity and sent his generals Chi Jingde and Xun Xiang to lead the army to support Xia County.

It is conceivable that the Tang army wasted an excellent fighter in vain, and the defeat seemed to be a certainty. Sure enough, Wei Chi Jingde and Xunxiang led the army to Xia County, and attacked back and forth, and the Tang army was caught off guard by the enemy, and almost the whole army was wiped out. Li Xiaoji, Dugu Huaien, Yu Yun, Tang Jian, and Liu Shirang, the head of the march, and other important generals of the Tang army, were all captured, and the Tang army suffered another major defeat.

The defeat of Xia County was the worst defeat suffered by the Tang Dynasty since the Battle of Dusuoyuan and the loss of Taiyuan. Another reinforcement of the Don Army was almost completely annihilated, and several generals were captured.

Moreover, after these Tang generals were captured, Li Xiaoji, the king of Yong'an, once planned to escape from the enemy camp, but unfortunately the news leaked out, and Li Xiaoji was killed by Liu Wuzhou. In the war between the Tang Dynasty and Liu Wuzhou, the Li Tang royal family lost a prince of the clan.

At the same time, the defeat of the Battle of Xia County also brought about a vicious circle. Originally, the Tang Army led by Li Xiaoji, Dugu Huaien and others was used as a partial division to respond to Li Shimin's forces. At that time, Li Shimin commanded the elite troops of the Tang Army, garrisoned Baibi, and confronted the main force of Song Jingang.

But now, Xia County has been defeated, and the Tang Army's partial division has been wiped out all the way, causing a serious consequence, what consequence? The main force of the Tang Army led by Li Shimin undoubtedly became a lone army. Tens of thousands of troops are stationed in Baibi, and it can really be said that they are fighting alone, alone, and no reinforcements can help. Therefore, Li Shimin is very likely to be surrounded by Liu Wuzhou and Song Jingang, which is definitely an unprecedented crisis for him.

The battle ahead was unfavorable, and the reinforcements sent by the Tang Dynasty suffered defeat one after another. Tang Gaozu Li Yuan, who was in Chang'an, obviously couldn't sit still. If this trend continues, the fall of the entire territory of Shanxi will only be a matter of time or later.

Therefore, Li Yuan decided to go to the front line in person and go to the banks of the Yellow River to inspect the military situation. The purpose of Tang Gaozu's trip was twofold: first, to understand the specific situation on the front line; Second, take this opportunity to boost the morale and fighting spirit of the officers and men of the Tang Army.

At this time, a good news came from the Hedong front, which provided a good opportunity for Tang Gaozu to inspect the defense line along the Yellow River.

In the first month of the third year of Wude (620), the Tang general Qin Wutong led an army to attack Pu Han, and the enemy general Wang Xingben stationed in Pu Han went out of the city to meet the Tang army and was defeated by the Tang army. In the end, in a desperate situation where the food in the city was exhausted, the reinforcements outside the city were hopeless, and he could not break through, Wang Xingben was forced to open the city and surrender.

Originally, Wang Xing's headquarters was a remnant military force of the Sui Dynasty. However, Wang Xingben occupied Pusaka, and it was precisely the choke point of the Pujin Ferry that he firmly controlled. Moreover, after occupying Pusaka, Wang Xingben took the initiative to get in touch with Liu Wuzhou. In this way, it is equivalent to directly sending the Yellow River ferry to Liu Wuzhou. As for Liu Wuzhou, he was able to cross the Yellow River directly from here, go deep into the hinterland of Guanzhong, and threaten Li Tang's foundation.

Now, the Tang army has recaptured Kasaka, which has made the situation shockingly reversed. The capture of Kasaka meant that the ferry port of Pujin was returned to the hands of the Tang Dynasty. Liu Wuzhou's attempt to break through the Yellow River defense line and penetrate deep into Guanzhong failed to materialize. Therefore, the return of the Pujin ferry port is, of course, a major gain for the Tang Dynasty.

Under such circumstances, Tang Gaozu felt that it was an opportunity to take advantage of this opportunity to inspect the banks of the Yellow River and boost the morale of the soldiers on the front line.

So, on the seventeenth day of the first month of the third year of Wude (620), Tang Gaozu came to Puzhou in person. After arriving in Puzhou, Gao Zu didn't say a word, and beheaded the enemy general Wang Xingben to show the public. Knowing that his father's chariot was stationed in Puzhou, Li Shimin, the king of Qin, who was far away in Baibi, immediately set off on a light horse and went to Puzhou to meet his father Li Yuan.

At this point, Tang Gaozu Li Yuan officially began to inspect the banks of the Yellow River and inspect the military situation on the front line. However, Tang Gaozu would never have thought that this visit to the front line could be described as full of danger and full of gunpowder. This inspection of the banks of the Yellow River almost caused Tang Gaozu to suffer a catastrophe; As the emperor of the Tang Dynasty, Li Yuan almost went and lost his life.

All of this that caused Li Yuan to almost face annihilation was really not from the hostile forces of Liu Wuzhou and Song Jingang, but from within the Tang Army and from the camp of the Tang Dynasty. This person is none other than an important general of the Tang Army - Dugu Huaien.

During Tang Gaozu's inspection of the banks of the Yellow River, Dugu Huaien conspired to launch a rebellion, intending to wipe out Li Yuan, Li Shimin's father and son, and attempted to dedicate the entire land east of the river to Liu Wuzhou. Fortunately, in the end, Tang Gaozu noticed his conspiracy and took decisive measures in time to nip Dugu Huaien's conspiracy in the bud.

So, who is Dugu Huaien? As a general of the Tang Army with a heavy army, why did Dugu Huaien have bad intentions, risk killing his head and exterminating his clan, collude with foreign enemies, and attack the Tang Emperor? How did Tang Gaozu Li Yuan, who was in the tiger's den in Longtan, finally see through Dugu Huaien's conspiracy and take timely action to extinguish this attempted military coup and eliminate a major hidden danger from within the Tang army?

Speaking of which, this Dugu Huaien is still related to Tang Gaozu Li Yuan, and is a relative of the Tang Dynasty. Dugu Huaien's father, Dugu Quan, served as the Taishou of Zhuojun during the reign of the Sui Dynasty. Moreover, Dugu Huaien's father, Dugu Quan, and Li Yuan's mother, Queen Yuanzhen Dugu, are sisters and brothers. In other words, Dugu Huaien is the son of Li Yuan's uncle, and he is an aunt and cousin of Tang Gaozu Li Yuan.

Not only that, Dugu Huaien also made certain contributions to the establishment of the Tang Dynasty. In the Sui Dynasty, Dugu Huai'en was appointed as the commander of Ju County. Later, Li Yuan raised troops from Taiyuan and conquered Chang'an all the way, and Dugu Huaien was awarded the post of Chang'an Order.

According to the records of "Old Tang Dynasty Book: Biography of Foreign Relatives", during Dugu Huaien's tenure as Chang'an Ling, he had quite a lot of political achievements and a very good reputation, "he was strict in his post and won a good reputation". Therefore, after Li Yuan became the emperor, he was a great vassal, and Dugu Huaien was promoted to the secretary of the Ministry of Industry.

Some people may have doubts that Dugu Huaien is not only a relative, but also a cousin with Tang Gaozu Li Yuan; He is also an important minister of the imperial court, with a high and powerful position, and he should be dedicated to serving the country, why did he have different ambitions and embark on the road of no return to rebellion? The reason is very simple, Dugu Huaien has a deep grudge with Tang Gaozu, and he has a grudge against Gaozu.

Tang Gaozu and Dugu Huaien, although they are cousins; However, Dugu Huaien always felt that Li Yuan looked down on himself in his bones. This dissatisfaction with Tang Gaozu Li Yuan, after the accumulation of time, finally prompted Dugu Huaien to decide to launch a mutiny. So, what kind of contradiction exists between the two?

For example, after the establishment of the Tang Dynasty, once, Dugu Huaien was ordered to supervise the attack on Puzhou. However, due to Dugu Huaien's lack of command, Puzhou could not be attacked for a long time, and the Tang army suffered heavy losses. In this regard, Tang Gaozu Li Yuan was very angry and issued an edict several times, reprimanding Dugu Huaien. Since then, Dugu Huaien has gradually become dissatisfied with Li Yuan:

Shi Yuzhou assassinated Shi Wei Yijie and attacked Yaojun in Puzhou, and the Yijie scribes were cowardly and unfavorable in frequent battles. Gaozu sent Huai'en to represent the people. Wynne oversaw the soldiers under the city, but was rejected by the thieves, and the frequent battles were unfavorable. Gaozu cut it, because of resentment. ("Old Tang Dynasty Book: Biography of Foreign Relatives")

In addition, there was another thing that made Dugu Huaien even more dissatisfied with Li Yuan. This incident, although it seemed to be just a joke of Tang Gaozu, deeply stung Dugu Huaien's weakness and became the lead for Dugu Huaien's rebellion. Regarding this matter, there is a clear record in the "Old Tang Book: Biography of Foreign Relatives":

Gao Zu tasted the drama and said: "My brother and sister-in-law are all the sons of heaven, and the second is my brother-in-law?" Huai En then thought that he was a fate, and every time he choked his wrist, he said: "Is my family rich and noble?" "It's a bad plan.

As we all know, in the Sui and Tang dynasties, the Dugu family was a very remarkable family. This family has produced three queens, and they are queens across the Northern Zhou, Sui, and Tang dynasties. They are Empress Ming Jing of Emperor Yu Wenyu of the Northern Zhou Dynasty, Empress Yuanzhen, the mother of Tang Gaozu Li Yuan, and Empress Wen of Sui Emperor Yang Jian.

Regarding Dugu Xin, it was mentioned in the first chapter. He was a generation of famous generals during the Northern and Southern Dynasties, one of the "Eight Great Pillar Kingdoms" of the Western Wei Dynasty and the Northern Zhou Dynasty, and an important member of the Guanlong aristocratic group. Dugu Xinrong Ma has made outstanding achievements in his life, and has pacified Sanjing, recovered Hongnong, conquered Shayuan, and guarded Longyou for nearly ten years, with remarkable political achievements. After the establishment of the Northern Zhou Dynasty, Dugu Xin was promoted to the title of Duke of Weiguo. Later, Emperor Wen of Sui Emperor Yang Jian commented on his father-in-law Dugu Xin like this:

The wind is high, the only person is beautiful, the wise man is in the house, and the Qing Yu is in the world. Hongmo's long-term strategy, the Tao is based on harmony; Weiyi Jingren, things are deeper than life. Fangdang Xuanfeng Corridor Temple, bright steps, and the world is difficult, and the merit is rewarded. The words are fanned, and the matter is heartfelt.

Why is Duguxin a legendary historical figure? Not only because of his outstanding military strategy and outstanding military exploits; There is a more important point, that is, the identity of Dugu Xin. For example, Duguxin had three empress daughters and two emperors' sons-in-law: Emperor Yu Wenyu of the Ming Emperor of the Northern Zhou Dynasty and Yang Jian of Emperor Wen of the Sui Dynasty; Two emperors' grandsons: Yang Guang, Emperor Yang of Sui, and Li Yuan, Gaozu of Tang. From Dugu Xin's body, it can be seen that the legendary experience of the Dugu family.

However, the Dugu family is well-known and seems to be all female members of the Dugu family. Compared with the women of the Dugu family, the men of the Dugu family, except for Dugu Xin, appear to be unknown.

Therefore, this matter is a hard wound in the hearts of all the men in the Dugu family, and it is also a hard wound in Dugu Huaien. However, Li Yuan inadvertently tore open Dugu Huaien's scar, and finally angered Dugu Huaien.

Once, Tang Gaozu deliberately joked with Dugu Huaien and teased him: "The sons of my aunt are all already the sons of heaven, and the second should be the son of my uncle?" The implication of this sentence is that the sons born to the women of your Dugu family have all become emperors, when will it be the turn of the men of your Dugu family?

This was originally a joke, Li Yuan may have just said it casually, and then forgot about it. However, the speaker has no intention, but the listener has a heart. Dugu Huaien himself is a multi-hearted person, and he feels that Li Yuan is deliberately sprinkling salt on his wounds. In addition, he lost the previous attack on Puzhou and was reprimanded by Gaozu. New hatred and old hatred surged into his heart, and Dugu Huaien's dissatisfaction with Li Yuan became more and more intense. What's more, Dugu Huai'en is in a high position, has always been pretentious, and has also thought about being an emperor, and often sighs: "Is my family a daughter? ”

Driven by this desire, Dugu Huaien decided to rebel and betray Li Tang. However, Dugu Huaien also has his own ideas. Since he wanted to rebel, he wanted to completely overthrow the rule of the Tang Dynasty. Therefore, Dugu Huaien has been waiting for the opportunity, waiting for a suitable time. Finally, this opportune time has come!

In October of the second year of Wude (619), after the loss of Taiyuan, Liu Wuzhou and Song Jingang soldiers pointed out that they successively captured Jinzhou, Huzhou and other places. Soon, Lu Chongmao of Xia County gathered a crowd to make a rebellion, proclaimed himself the king of Wei, and colluded with Liu Wuzhou. In order to save the Tang Dynasty from the crisis in the Hedong battlefield, Tang Gaozu sent Li Xiaoji, Dugu Huaien and other generals to lead the army to Hedong to crusade against Liu Wuzhou and Lü Chongmao's rebels.

Among the generals sent to the front line by Tang Gaozu, Dugu Huaien was among them. In this way, Dugu Huaien felt that the opportunity to rebel had come, at least he had soldiers in his hands and the capital to start an incident, and he could completely turn the situation in Hedong upside down. As a result, Dugu Huaien conspired with his two henchmen: Xie County Ling Rongjing and Yuan Junbao, the former head of Wuyuan County, to rebel against the Tang Dynasty.

The detailed plan of Dugu Huaien's conspiracy is not clearly recorded in the "Zizhi Tongjian". However, in the "Old Tang Book: Biography of Foreign Relatives", the specific plan of Dugu Huaien's conspiracy is recorded in detail and how it was implemented. The detailed process of this conspiracy is as follows:

Huai En then conspired with Xie County Ling Rongjing and Yuan Junbao, the former chief of Wuyuan County, to lure Wang Xing's soldiers and Wu Zhou to make peace, and robbed Yongfeng Cang with bandits and cut off the Baibi grain road, and cut the east of the river to kill Wu Zhou.

Not long after Li Xiaoji, Dugu Huaien and others came to Hedong, Li Shimin, the king of Qin, was ordered to go on an expedition and led the main force of the Tang army in Guanzhong to Hedong to fight against the army of Liu Wuzhou and Song Jingang. From this period on, Dugu Huaien began to brew his own conspiracy step by step. The target of this conspiracy is none other than Li Shimin, the king of Qin. Dugu Huaien, who had ill intentions, shot a cold arrow at Li Shimin.

At that time, Li Shimin was stationed in Baibi. In the area of Nanshan in Yuxiang, bandits are rampant, and green forests gather. Therefore, Dugu Huaien's plan is like this, uniting the headquarters of the Pusaka Wangxing, as well as Liu Wuzhou's soldiers and horses, and teaming up with local bandits, to capture Yongfengcang and cut off the Baibi grain road. In this way, Li Shimin will definitely collapse without a fight and the whole army will be annihilated; After defeating Li Shimin's forces, Dugu Huaien got in touch with Liu Wuzhou again and ceded the land east of the river to Liu Wuzhou.

Therefore, everything can be explained now, why did Yu Yun suggest that when Li Xiaoji quickly sent troops to attack Xia County, Dugu Huaien obstructed it in every possible way, and refused to send troops under the pretext of making siege equipment? Most likely, it is buying time for the implementation of its own conspiracy.

If Dugu Huaien's conspiracy is really implemented, Li Shimin is likely to face the danger of annihilation, and the Tang Dynasty will also suffer a catastrophe. However, the situation changed unexpectedly. Dugu Huaien's mutiny conspiracy went through several twists and turns, but finally did not succeed until Huangliang's dream was shattered.

Without waiting for Dugu Huaien to unite with Liu Wuzhou and jointly attack Li Shimin, between the Tang Army and Liu Wuzhou, the "Battle of Xia County" began. Song Jingang sent the generals Chi Jingde and Xun Xiang to lead the army to support Lu Chongmao in Xia County. As a result, in the first battle of Xia County, the Tang army was defeated, several Tang generals were captured, and Dugu Huaien was also captured. Dugu Huaien was captured, and his plan to try to flank Li Shimin could not be implemented, and Li Shimin narrowly escaped.

However, Dugu Huai'en is not dead, even if he is in the enemy camp, he still does not forget to subvert Li Tang. After thinking about it, Dugu Huaien was looking for an opportunity to escape from the enemy camp. It just so happened that at this time, Li Shimin commanded the Tang army and defeated Wei Chi Jingde's troops at Meiliangchuan, Liu Wuzhou and Song Jingang suffered heavy losses, and the army's morale fluctuated. Taking advantage of the lax defense of the enemy army, Dugu Huaien seized this fleeting vitality, escaped from the enemy camp alone, and returned to the Tang army.

Some people may wonder that previously, Li Xiaoji, the king of Yong'an, had planned to escape from the enemy camp, but unfortunately failed and was killed. Even Li Tang clansmen like Li Xiaoji could not escape from the enemy camp; What kind of ability does Dugu Huaien have to escape from the enemy camp easily?

might as well boldly speculate, perhaps during the period of capture, Dugu Huaien had formed an alliance with Liu Wuzhou and Song Jingang, and the two sides colluded together. Therefore, it is very likely that Liu Wuzhou deliberately let go of Dugu Huaien and used him as a pawn planted in the Tang Army.

After Dugu Huaien escaped from the enemy camp and returned to the Tang army, Tang Gaozu remembered that the two were related and did not hold him responsible for the defeat. Li Yuan continued to let him lead his troops into battle, and ordered Dugu Huaien to lead an army to attack Puzhou. At this time, Wang Xingben, the enemy general of Pusaka, went out of the city to surrender to Tang, and the Tang army recovered the Pujin ferry. Since the enemy army in Puzhou surrendered, Dugu Huaien seized the opportunity and led his troops to enter Puzhou City.

Stationed in Puzhou, Dugu Huai's mind of rebellion began to come alive again. He was ready to continue to implement the plan that had not been implemented before, unite with Liu Wuzhou, and flank the forces of Li Shimin, the king of Qin. At this time, Tang Gaozu personally went to the front line to inspect the deployment along the Yellow River. Moreover, at this moment, Li Yuan did not know Dugu Huaien's conspiracy, and planned to cross the Yellow River and go to Dugu Huaien's Puzhou military camp.

Originally, Dugu Huaien's plan was only to eliminate Li Shimin and cede the land east of the river to Liu Wuzhou. But now, the situation has changed, and Tang Gaozu is about to cross the river and go to Puzhou Daying. In this way, Dugu Huaien suddenly blossomed and felt that he had caught a big fish. If the emperor can be captured alive, it will undoubtedly be a huge gain. As a result, Dugu Huaien set up an ambush in the Puzhou military camp, and once Li Yuan arrived, he immediately forcibly controlled it.

It can be said that Li Yuan's fate is hanging by a thread now, and he still has no idea about Dugu Huaien's conspiracy. As long as Tang Gaozu crossed the Yellow River and walked into Dugu Huaien's military camp, he would be like a sheep in the mouth of a tiger, powerless to return to the sky. However, there is no end to the sky. Whenever the Li Tang Dynasty was in danger, it could always counterattack in a desperate situation and turn the danger into a disaster. When the butcher's knife of the rebel general approached step by step, the god of luck once again favored Tang Gaozu Li Yuan.

What's going on? Dugu Huaien carefully laid a net of heaven and earth, thinking that it was seamless. Unexpectedly, the seemingly well-thought-out mutiny plan still leaked the rumors. In the end, Tang Gaozu made a decisive decision and took decisive measures to smash Dugu Huaien's conspiracy. The reason for this is that the news of Dugu Huaien's rebellion was accidentally leaked. Subsequently, the generals of the Tang Army, who were in the enemy camp, hurriedly reported to Li Yuan.

The person who leaked the news was one of Dugu Huaien's henchmen, Yuan Junbao, and he leaked it out unintentionally. At the beginning, when Dugu Huaien planned to unite with Liu Wuzhou to capture Yongfeng Cang and cut off the Baibi grain road, it was decided by discussing it with his two henchmen Rong Jing and Yuan Junbao. However, Ling Dugu Huaien would never have thought that the one who finally sent him to a dead end was also his henchman Yuan Junbao.

Here's what happened, the Tang army was defeated in the battle of Xia County, and Yuan Junbao and Dugu Huaien were captured by the enemy. After being captured, Yuan Junbao and other Tang army generals were locked up together. It is estimated that at this time, Yuan Junbao felt that it was impossible for him to escape. Therefore, he explained Dugu Huaien's plan to a member of Tang Jianghe, who is it? Inner history squire Tang Jian. Once, while chatting with Tang Jian, Yuan Junbao unintentionally blurted out:

Dugu Shangshu is planning a big thing recently, if he can make an early decision, how can it be so humiliating! (Information Governance Guide)

Although Yuan Junbao did not say it explicitly, Tang Jian could hear that Dugu Huaien and his henchmen must be planning some ulterior conspiracy. In fact, Yuan Junbao had already revealed Dugu Huaien's plan to collude with Liu Wuzhou and attempt to flank King Qin to Tang Jian. Later, Dugu Huaien returned to the Tang Army and led the army to attack Puzhou. After learning the news, Yuan Junbao seemed to see hope, and deliberately showed off to Tang Jian and said:

Dugu Shangshu was pulled out and returned to Pusaka, which can be described as the king immortal! (Information Governance Guide)

Of course, Yuan Junbao's original intention was not to betray Dugu Huaien, but to have a good time. However, Yuan Junbao was happy, but Tang Jian was anxious. Tang Jian is different from Dugu Huaien, this person is the founding father of the Tang Dynasty, when Jinyang raised troops, Tang Jian actively participated and made great contributions to the Tang Dynasty. Later, Tang Jian was ranked as one of the "Twenty-four Heroes of Lingyan Pavilion".

Therefore, Tang Jian naturally couldn't watch as Gao Zu walked into the traitor's trap step by step. Tang Jian knew very well that once Dugu Huai'en's conspiracy succeeded, murdering or controlling the emperor, the Tang Dynasty would be in jeopardy. Therefore, at this critical moment, Tang Jian must take action and report to Tang Gaozu.

But the trouble is that Tang Jian is now in the enemy camp, how can he pass on the news? At a critical time, Tang Jian was in a hurry, since he couldn't get out of the enemy camp, he would find someone to help spread the news for him. So, Tang Jian decided to attack the enemy, and he picked one person: Wei Chi Jingde.

Wei Chi Jingde is a powerful general under Liu Wuzhou and Song Jingang, and he is the enemy of the Tang army, will he help Tang Jian with this? Everyone thought it was no fun, but Tang Jian did it. According to Tang Jian's epitaph "Epitaph of Tang Jun of the Tang Dynasty Ancient Kaifu Yi Tong Sansi Special Household Department Shangzhu Guoju Guogong Tang Jun", Tang Jian successfully persuaded Wei Chi Jingde to agree to help during his time in the prisoner of war camp:

The general Yong'an Wang's whole army was trapped, and the public envoy arrived, so he didn't have it. It is to observe all the thieves and marshals, all of them are mediocre, but Wei Chi respects virtue and knowledge, and says that he chooses the master and understands his heart. So Dugu Huai'en plotted to rebel with the crowd, and sent the envoy to connect Wu Zhou, still waiting for Taizong to enter the city, and insisted on surrendering the thief. The public wrote a letter to the prison to report the change, the counterplot was launched, and the culprit was ambushed.

Although Wei Chi Jingde is a military general, he is not a complete rough man. He sees the current situation very thoroughly. In Wei Chi Jingde's view, Liu Wuzhou and Song Jingang are by no means Li Shimin's opponents, and the war will end soon. So, you should leave yourself a way back.

However, at this moment, Wei Chi Jingde has not yet made up his mind about whether to surrender to the Tang Dynasty. Faced with such a difficult choice, Wei Chi Jingde decided to bet on both sides, on the one hand, to remain silent and continue to work for Liu Wuzhou; On the other hand, it was on the line with Tang Jun and reached a slight consensus. Therefore, when Tang Jian lobbied, Wei Chi Jingde thought for a short time, why not push the boat down the river and do Tang Jun a favor. Therefore, Wei Chi Jingde agreed to help.

persuaded Wei Chi Jingde, and the next thing was much easier. With the help of Wei Chi Jingde, Tang Jian could easily pass on the news. How to pass it on? Wei Chi Jingde naturally couldn't open Tang Jian publicly, after all, Tang Jian was the main general of the Tang Army, and his rank was too high. If Tang Jian is let go rashly, it will be too eye-catching, but it will make the original plan fall short, and it will even affect Wei Chi Jingde.

After thinking about it, only by letting a Tang general, who is not too noticeable, go back to report the news, can he ensure that nothing goes wrong. Looking at the captured Tang generals, there is only one person who meets this standard, who is it? Liu Shirang, the head of the march. First of all, Liu Shirang's level is not high, and he escaped from the enemy camp and will not attract too many people's attention. Secondly, Liu Shirang is loyal to Li Tang Jiangshan, and if he reports the news, he can definitely complete the task smoothly.

Therefore, Tang Jian instructed Wei Chi Jingde to let Liu Shirang go back to report the news. So, Wei Chi Jingde opened the net and deliberately let Liu Shirang go. When Liu Shirang received the order, he naturally did not dare to slack off. After escaping from the enemy camp, Liu Shirang ran wildly all the way without making any stops. Because, if you take a little slower, Tang Gaozu will be more dangerous, and Datang will gradually get closer to danger. Therefore, Liu Shirang is now a race against time.

Sure enough, hurry up and hurry, or let Liu Shirang catch up. When Liu Shirang rushed to the banks of the Yellow River, the most thrilling scene was being staged since the founding of the Tang Dynasty. At that time, Li Yuan was preparing to board the imperial boat, cross the Yellow River, and go to the Puzhou military camp. As everyone knows, Dugu Huaien has already laid an ambush on the other side of the Yellow River, just waiting for Gaozu to arrive and capture it in one fell swoop. At the last moment, Liu Shirang arrived in time.

When Liu Shirang arrived, Tang Gaozu boarded the imperial boat and was about to cross the river. Therefore, Liu Shirang hurriedly stopped the emperor and informed Dugu Huai'en of the conspiracy in detail. After listening to Liu Shirang's information, Tang Gaozu was suddenly shocked into a cold sweat. If Liu Shirang hadn't arrived in time, he would have been in a different place and would have become Dugu Huaien's prisoner. In addition to being frightened, Li Yuan breathed a long sigh of relief, it seemed that the sky was endless, and he couldn't help but sigh with emotion: "I am exempt, isn't it heaven!" ”

Now that he has learned of Dugu Huaien's conspiracy, he must take measures quickly. After finding out the details of the rebels, Li Yuan urgently deployed counterinsurgency matters and prepared to quickly extinguish the mutiny. So, Tang Gaozu remained silent and summoned Dugu Huaien to cross the river to see him, one was a temptation, and the other was to invite you into the urn.

Receiving the emperor's will to summon him, Dugu Huaien was a little stunned. However, he didn't know that Li Yuan had already seen through his tricks. What's more, Dugu Huaien, as the leading general, was summoned by the Son of Heaven, and if he insisted on not going, it would be a crime of resisting the order. When the time came, it just gave Li Yuan an excuse to start. Therefore, in order to paralyze Li Yuan, Dugu Huaien took a light boat and swaggered to the other side.

As a result, as soon as Dugu Huaien came ashore, Tang Gaozu's personal guards rushed up and captured Dugu Huaien on the spot. Then, Tang Gaozu sent an army to the Puzhou camp and arrested all the henchmen and accomplices of Dugu Huaien in one fell swoop. In the end, Dugu Huai'en and his henchmen were killed together at the age of Chinese New Year's Eve, and at the same time, they lost their families. A terrifying attempted mutiny, under the thunderous means of Tang Gaozu Li Yuan, was quickly extinguished invisibly.

In quelling the Dugu Huai'en Rebellion, the Tang Dynasty successfully eliminated a military hidden danger from within, and the situation along the Yellow River defense line gradually stabilized. Soon after, on the 29th day of the first month of the third year of Wude (620), Tang Gaozu set off to return to Chang'an, ending his trip to inspect the banks of the Yellow River. As for the battle on the Hedong front, it continued to be handed over to Li Shimin, the king of Qin, for unified command. The burden of fighting Liu Wuzhou and Song Jingang completely fell on Li Shimin's shoulders.

Although Dugu Huai'en was pacified, the Tang Dynasty was in danger and avoided a catastrophe. However, the war situation of the Tang Army on the Hedong front is still not optimistic. According to the previous deployment, the Tang Dynasty sent two large armies to aid Hedong. One route is Li Shimin to lead the main army, facing Liu Wuzhou and Song Jingang from the front; The other way was led by Li Xiaoji and other generals, as a partial division, pinning down the enemy army and responding to the main force of King Qin.

However, in the battle of Xia County, the Tang Army, which was a partial division, suffered a major defeat, the whole army was annihilated, and several generals were captured. After that, there was a case of Dugu Huaien's rebellion. In this way, the original two Tang armies marched hand in hand, cooperating with each other and fighting together, but now, it has become Li Shimin's lone army, leading tens of thousands of Tang troops alone, facing Liu Wuzhou, Song Jingang, and Lu Chongmao.

It can be said that as the supreme military commander of the Tang Army, Li Shimin is facing unprecedented challenges. At that time, Li Shimin's hands were just a lone army, and he had to face three enemy forces at the same time. Therefore, in the eyes of most people, Li Shimin is more than lucky in this battle.

However, Li Shimin is an unborn military genius, and the more dangerous he is, the more he can win by surprise and turn decay into magic. To everyone's surprise, in just five months, Li Shimin, with his outstanding military wisdom, reversed the situation of the battle in Hedong in one fell swoop, causing Liu Wuzhou and Song Jingang to collapse, and finally decapitated.

Under the extremely unfavorable disadvantage, how did Li Shimin command the officers and men of the Tang Army, skillfully use troops, and take them by surprise to completely defeat the main forces of Liu Wuzhou and Song Jingang, and pull out the foundation of their power in Shanxi? What is the great significance of the elimination of Liu Wuzhou's regime to the unification of the Li Tang Dynasty?