From March to April of the fourth year of Wude (621), Li Shimin led 3,500 elite Xuanjia troops to launch a protracted resistance battle with Dou Jiande's more than 100,000 Xia army at Tiger Prison Pass, a dangerous fortress east of Luoyang. In front of the two armies, each for its own master, the battle was inextricable.

After more than a month of fighting, interception and attrition, Dou Jiande lost his troops, the grain road was attacked, and the army was sluggish in the Tiger Pass, making it difficult to move an inch. The Xia army suffered setbacks one after another, their morale was low, and they thought about returning. In this case, in order to avoid the desperate situation of hundreds of thousands of troops, Dou Jiande was determined to take risks, end the war as soon as possible, rush to Luoyang, and take the initiative to fight a decisive battle with Li Shimin.

Similarly, through more than a month of attrition, Li Shimin also saw that the Xia army was at the end of its strength, and at this moment, the decisive battle would definitely be won in one battle.

Therefore, Li Shimin and Dou Jiande are both looking for opportunities for a decisive battle. In this way, the key battle that affected the Battle of Luoyang, the "Decisive Battle of Tiger Prison Pass", is about to officially start.

So, in this crucial decisive battle of Tiger Pass, how did Li Shimin skillfully use his troops, relying on the elite of the Xuanjia army of less than 4,000 people, to defeat the Xia army several times his own in one fell swoop, capture Dou Jiande, the king of Xia, and win the final victory for the Battle of Luoyang? And what important impact did the unprecedented victory of capturing Luoyang and destroying Zheng and Xia have on the great cause of the Li Tang Dynasty to dominate the world?

First of all, it is necessary to briefly introduce the general background of the entire Luoyang battle situation and the confrontation between the two armies on the eve of the decisive battle of Tang and Xia Hu.

I said it in the previous two chapters.

In July of the third year of Wude (620), Tang Gaozu Li Yuan appointed Li Shimin, the king of Qin, as the commander, led 100,000 Tang troops to conquer Luoyang and attack Wang Shichong's Zheng regime in order to compete with Wang Shichong of Henan and Dou Jiande of Hebei for the position of overlord of the Central Plains and realize the grand wish of the Tang Dynasty to set the Central Plains in the Tang Dynasty.

In the early days of the war, in just a few months, Li Shimin led the Tang army, which was like a bamboo, and Wang Shichong suffered defeats one after another, losing tens of thousands of elite soldiers, and Henan prefectures and counties fell one after another. Soon, Li Shi's militia came to the city and stormed Luoyang. Wang Shichong, who was trapped in the lonely city of Luoyang, could only ask for help from Dou Jiande, the overlord of Hebei. Dou Jiande, out of consideration for the death of his lips and teeth, personally led more than 100,000 Xia troops to aid Luoyang and flank the Tang army.

In the face of the military pressure of the two-front battle, Li Shimin did not throw himself into a disorderly position, but made a quick decision and decided to divide the troops into two routes and take a two-pronged approach. On the one hand, Li Shimin ordered Li Yuanji, the king of Qi, and Qu Tutong, a veteran general, to command the main force of the Tang army, continue to besiege Luoyang, and prevent Wang Shichong from leaving the city to join the Xia army; On the other hand, Li Shimin personally commanded the elite of the 3,500 Xuanjia Army, rushed ahead of Dou Jiande, seized the Tiger Prison Pass, and intercepted Dou Jiande's army.

After confronting Dou Jiande at Tiger Prison Pass for more than a month, Li Shimin skillfully combined the tactics of guerrilla warfare and sports warfare and adopted the strategy of entanglement. As a result, Dou Jiande and his more than 100,000 troops were led by the nose by the Xuanjia Army, which was less than 4,000 people under the command of Li Shimin, and they were exhausted and gradually lost their fighting spirit.

Therefore, until April of the fourth year of Wude (621), the war-weariness among the Xia army was becoming more and more pervasive, and everyone was unwilling to continue fighting. In this case, the decisive battle is imperative, and Dou Jiande has no choice. If it did not fight a decisive battle with the Tang army, the Xia army would be trapped in the Tiger Prison Pass, with insufficient food and grass, and the army's morale would not be strong. Sooner or later, one day, an army of more than 100,000 people, even if they are not defeated by Li Shimin, will automatically collapse from within, or even be defeated without a fight.

Dou Jiande desperately hopes for a decisive battle, which is exactly what Li Shimin has been looking forward to. Li Shimin has been planning for this big battle for a long time, for this moment. In Li Shimin's view, after more than a month of fighting, more than 100,000 Xia troops have already become unmotivated and will have no fighting spirit.

It can be said that the current Dou Jiande army is a sick tiger; And Li Shimin and his Xuanjia army are a group of wild wolves with their mouths wide open. The so-called "tigers are difficult to beat wolves", let alone a group of sick tigers.

Therefore, the decisive battle against the Tiger Prison Pass is also Li Shimin's heart's desire. Because at this moment, the time for a decisive battle is ripe. Dou Jiande was impatient and rash, while the soldiers of the Xia army were exhausted and demoralized. Taking advantage of this opportunity, Li Shimin deployed the Tang Army, adapted measures to local conditions, set up layers of ambushes, and counterattacked, which would definitely defeat Dou Jiande's main force in one fell swoop. At the same time, it can also solve the two fierce rivals of Dou Jiande and Wang Shichong once and for all.

The "decisive battle of Tiger Prison Pass", which is related to the final victory or defeat of the Battle of Luoyang, is coming. Both Tang and Xia were prepared for the war, and even prepared for the worst. This war has a bearing on the future direction of the world and on the life and death of their respective regimes. The winning side will become the lord of the world; The defeated side will die without a place to be buried, let alone command the world and pacify the four seas.

For the decisive battle, Dou Jiande is still very confident. Although, after fighting against Li Shimin in the Tiger Prison Pass for more than a month, Dou Jiande lost again and again, and did not get any bargains. However, after all, Dou Jiande has an advantage in troops, and he has more than 100,000 troops under his command. On the other hand, Li Shimin, the soldiers and horses he can mobilize are only less than 4,000 Xuanjia troops. Therefore, in terms of the comparison of troops, Dou Jiande has an overwhelming advantage over the Tang army.

Although, in several outpost battles, Li Shimin continued to win and won a lot; But if he really wants to fight a decisive battle with the Xia army, his troops are still too small. With a huge disparity in strength and outnumbered enemies, it is still unknown whether the Xia army can be successfully defeated in this case.

However, this is nothing to Li Shimin. Judging from Li Shimin's previous combat experience, whether it is the defeat of Xue Rengao in the Battle of Shallow Water Plain and the pacification of the Western Qin regime; or to recover the lost territory in Hedong and eliminate the forces of Liu Wuzhou and Song Jingang; Including this time, Chen Bing was under Luoyang City, and the Beibi and Qingcheng Palaces defeated Wang Shichong's main force in several battles. Which battle is not to win more with less and create miracles. Therefore, more than 100,000 Xia Jun, in Li Shimin's eyes, is not a problem at all.

What's more, Li Shimin has the belief and certainty of victory. In terms of pure comparison of forces, the Tang army was indeed small in number and at a disadvantage. However, if we talk about the strength of the two armies, the Xia army was unstable and undisciplined at this time, and it was completely a tired division; The Tang Army is different, the Xuanjia Army, under the leadership of Li Shimin, is the strongest army in itself, plus waiting for work at ease, the morale of the whole army is high, and the sword is sharpened.

A bad army, a strong army, in comparison between the two, who wins and who loses, seems to have been predestined in advance. Therefore, Li Shimin's self-confidence is not arrogance, but his self-confidence capital. Not to mention that Dou Jiande has an army of more than 100,000 people, even if he has millions of people, Li Shimin is still calm and fearless, how many come, how many are destroyed.

The decisive battle is about to break out, Li Shimin and Dou Jiande are both full of energy, and they both want to eat each other in one bite, so we have to see who is better. In fact, Li Shimin had long discovered that Dou Jiande had gone to an extreme, desperately seeking war regardless of the cost. Since this is the case, Li Shimin simply played with him, hung Dou Jiande's appetite, set up a bigger game for him, and firmly lassoed Dou Jiande.

What is this bigger game? As mentioned at the end of the previous chapter, Dou Jiande was induced to take the initiative to fight.

On the first day of the fifth month of the fourth year of Wude (621), Li Shimin led his army to cross the Yellow River in the north, forced Guangwu in the south, explored the enemy's situation, and took the opportunity to leave more than 1,000 war horses, pretending to graze on the banks of the Yellow River, and luring Dou Jiande to take the bait. Then, that night, Li Shimin returned to the Tiger Prison Pass. So, was Dou Jiande fooled? Fooled.

As mentioned more than once above, Dou Jiande's psychology at this time is nothing more than to immediately fight a decisive battle with Li Shimin, break through the Tang army's tiger prison defense line, and quickly rush to Luoyang to flank the main force of the Tang army. Perhaps, Dou Jiande knew that the more than 1,000 war horses on the bank of the Yellow River were the bait thrown by Li Shimin. However, he still didn't want to think about it, so he bit the bait without hesitation and fell into the trap dug by Li Shimin.

On the second day of the fifth month of the fourth year of Wude (621), that is, on the second day of Li Shimin's horse grazing on the Yellow River, Dou Jiande led the main force of the Xia army to pour out of the nest, all of them pulled out of the camp, and fought a decisive battle with the Tang army. According to historical records, the Xia army's dispatch this time was particularly powerful, just as it had rushed from Hebei to Luoyang:

Jiande fruit came to the crowd, from Banzhu out of the cow's mouth to place Chen, the north is far from the big river, the west is thin water, the south belongs to the magpie mountain, twenty miles, the drum marches. (Information Governance Guide)

At that time, Dou Jiande led all the main forces of the Xia army, poured out the nest, attacked with all his might, from Banzhu out of the Niukou, arranged the troops, north of the Yellow River, west of Bishui, south of Queshan, the formation stretched for 20 miles from north to south, the sound of drums shook the heavens and the earth, all the way to the west.

The purpose of the more than 100,000 Xia troops was to deter the Tang army and form a large force pressure on the Tang army.

Xia Jun is menacing, looking at the posture, it is to fight hard with Li Shimin. Although by this time, the generals of the Tang Army who followed Li Shimin to the Tiger Prison Pass were ready to fight a tough battle; However, they had never seen so many Xia troops, roaring over. Therefore, the generals of the Tang Army couldn't help but feel a little frightened in their hearts, not knowing how to fight this battle, and everyone was afraid, as if they were facing a great enemy.

In the face of the pressure of the soldiers and the critical juncture when the generals were afraid, Li Shimin was not afraid of danger and once again showed his leadership charm. I saw that Li Shimin led several personal cavalry to climb a hill and look out for the enemy. After a while, Li Shimin turned around and patiently analyzed the generals, which was actually the final pre-war mobilization:

The thieves rose from Shandong, but did not see a great enemy. Today, there is no government decree; Forcing the city to fight, there is a light heart. If I don't come out, he will be weakened, and he will be hungry for a long time, and he will retreat and chase him, and he will be invincible. Our covenant with the public will be broken after noon. ("Old Tang Dynasty Book: Taizong Benji")

In this passage, Li Shimin put forward his own strategy for dealing with the enemy. He accurately judged that since Dou Jiande rose in Hebei, he has been invincible and has hardly encountered a big opponent. In this way, it will inevitably make Dou Jiande's eyes empty and his eyes above the top; Now, Dou Jiande poured out of the nest and led the crowd to attack, but there was no more noise in the army. It can be seen that among the Xia army, there is no government order, and discipline can be spoken. Moreover, the Xia army formed a formation when it approached the city, which can better illustrate their desire to underestimate the enemy.

In view of the Xia Army's lax military discipline and arrogance and contempt for the enemy, Li Shimin believed that the most prudent tactic of the Tang Army at present was to stand still and not act rashly. The Tang army stood still, and waited for the battle, and gradually wore away the arrogance of the Xia army. When the momentum of the Xia army is exhausted and the soldiers are hungry, they will take the initiative to retreat. At that time, the Tang army will follow the pursuit in a big way, and at noon, it will definitely be able to break the Xia army.

Sure enough, as Li Shimin expected, Dou Jiande did not take this Tang Xuanjia army of less than 4,000 people in his eyes at all. In his opinion, he has more than 100,000 soldiers and horses, has an absolute advantage, Mount Tai is overwhelming, if the Tang army wants to resist, it is simply a grasshopper shaking the tree, and he is not self-sufficient.

However, Dou Jiande ignored an important issue. The Xia army had many soldiers, as big as an ox; The Tang army had few soldiers and was as small as a nail. The cow collides with the nail, but it may not hit the nail. Besides, underestimating the enemy is a taboo for soldiers. Dou Jiande despises his opponent like this, and he will eventually pay the price.

Soon, Dou Jiande, who was light on the enemy, took the initiative to attack the Tang army. What's going on? Dou Jiande gathered 300 cavalry in the army, led by him personally, crossed the river, and entered the Tang army camp, which was only one mile away from the Tang camp, and it was only a few hundred meters away. Immediately afterwards, Dou Jiande sent an envoy to the Tang Army camp to meet Li Shimin, make an appointment with him, and asked Li Shimin to also select hundreds of sharp soldiers and fight with his own real swords: "Please choose hundreds of sharp soldiers to play with him." ”

Li Shimin is no one, he is not frightened. With only three hundred Xia army cavalry, it is impossible to deter him, the god of the Tang Dynasty. Li Shimin looked at it, okay, if you want to fight, let's fight. So, Li Shimin sent his general Wang Junkuo to lead 200 long lance soldiers out of the camp to meet the battle.

Wang Junkuo led 200 elite soldiers to meet Dou Jiande's 300 cavalry and confronted him head-on. The battle was extremely stalemate and fierce, and the Tang army advanced and retreated, almost in close contact with the Xia army. The two sides played inextricably and did not distinguish between winners and losers. The battle between the two armies ended in a draw, and it was difficult to destroy each other for a while, so they each withdrew their troops and led the army to retreat.

It stands to reason that the combat effectiveness of the Xuanjia Army should not be like this. At the beginning, under the city of Luoyang, in the battle of Qingcheng Palace, Wang Shichong's tens of thousands of Jianghuai troops were killed by only a few thousand elite soldiers of the Xuanjia Army, and almost no armor remained; Similarly, in the first battle when he first arrived at the Tiger Prison Pass, Li Shimin also rode with 500 Xuanjia troops, set up ambushes layer by layer, won more with less, and penetrated the elite cavalry of the Xia army of 5 or 6,000 people in one fell swoop, beheading more than 300 ranks.

Why did the Xuanjia Army, which had been brave and good at fighting and invincible in this battle, go against the norm and even fight a draw with the mere 300 Xia Army? Obviously, Li Shimin did it on purpose, and this was his trick. If you really want to fight, with the combat effectiveness of the Xuanjia Army, let alone the three hundred Xia Army, even if it is the Three Thousand Xia Army, it will not be a problem.

However, this is not Li Shimin's strategic intention. Previously, as for how to deal with the menacing main force of Dou Jiande, Li Shimin had already set a principle, not moving, and wearing down the spirit of the Xia army. Therefore, Li Shimin instructed the general Wang Junkuo to let the Xuanjia Army deliberately show weakness and not show its true strength. In this way, Dou Jiande had an illusion that the Tang army had reached its limit, so he was careless and relaxed his vigilance, which was conducive to the Tang army launching a full-front counterattack and completely defeating the main force of the Xia army.

The Tang and Xia armies, in the outpost of the decisive battle of the Tiger Pass, fought a draw, regardless of victory or defeat, and each of them paid their troops. At this moment, in front of the two armies, an unexpected situation occurred, which immediately gave Dou Jiande and the soldiers of the Xia army a blow to the head, which caused their morale to suffer a heavy setback.

Although the two armies temporarily withdrew their troops, at this time and now, in front of the Xia army, there is a person who is still showing off his might, who is it? Wang Shichong's nephew Wang Wan. Some people may have questions, why did Wang Shichong's nephew Wang Wan appear in Dou Jiande's army if he didn't stay well in Luoyang City?

As mentioned above, the main force of the Tang Army, under the leadership of Li Yuanji and Qu Tutong, besieged Luoyang, and Wang Shichong was trapped in a lonely city, unable to break through the outer blockade of the Tang Army, and his heart was extremely anxious. Moreover, Dou Jiande's hundreds of thousands of Xia State reinforcements were dragged by Li Shimin in the Tiger Prison and could not get out.

In desperation, Wang Shichong had no choice but to cast a rat trap and sent two messengers, Wang Wan and the eldest grandson An Shi, to go out of the city overnight and go to the camp of the Xia army in the Tiger Prison, asking Dou Jiande to quickly fight a decisive battle with the Tang army and rush to Luoyang. Among them, Wang Shichong's nephew Wang Wan is one of the two messengers.

After Wang Wan and the eldest grandson An Shi came to the Xia army, at that time, Ling Jingzheng offered Dou Jiande a plan to "encircle Wei and save Zhao", bypassing Li Shimin's elite, crossing the Yellow River, attacking the east of the Li Tang River, and pressing the Guanzhong defense line. Therefore, Wang Wan and the eldest grandson An Shi worked up and down, spent a lot of money, and bribed the important generals of the Xia army. Therefore, the generals of the Xia army unanimously excluded Ling Jing and instigated Dou Jiande to send troops for a decisive battle. Under the prodding of the generals, Dou Jiande's mind was hot and he decided to fight a decisive battle with Li Shimin.

Because of this, Wang Wan appeared in the Xia army and participated in the decisive battle with the Tang army. After all, Zheng and Xia are currently allies in the same boat. Although, Zheng Guo did not have the ability to send troops to cooperate with Dou Jiande's battle. However, the face project still has to be done, and Wang Wan's stay in the Xia army is just a superficial appearance of Zheng Guo, proving the sincerity of the two countries to form an alliance with the Tang Dynasty.

Therefore, when the two armies withdrew their troops, Wang Wan still showed off his might in front of the battle and did not go back for a long time. The problem is that Wang Wan's behavior is too public. The war horse under his crotch was the imperial horse of Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty in the past, tall and mighty, with strong bones. Moreover, the armor worn by Wang Wan is also very glamorous. This outfit is particularly easy to become the target of the Tang Army. Sure enough, Wang Wan's bad luck soon came.

The Tang army collected its troops and returned to the camp, and after a while, Li Shimin accidentally went out of the camp to inspect and observe the enemy's military situation. As a result, Li Shimin saw Wang Wan who was showing off in front of the battle at a glance, and he was very unhappy. In particular, the BMW under Wang Wan's crotch attracted Li Shimin's attention. You must know that Li Shimin especially loves BMW horses, and when he saw Wang Wan's mount, he couldn't help but be a little moved, and said casually: "The horse he rides is really good." ”

This may be just Li Shimin's casual remarks and exclamations, and he didn't take it to heart. However, the speaker has no intention, the listener has a heart, and someone cares about it. Fierce General Chi Jingde. At that time, Li Shimin went out of the camp to inspect, and Wei Chi Jingde accompanied him to protect the safety of King Qin.

Hearing Li Shimin blurt out, that guy is really a good horse. Wei Chi Jingde immediately came to be interested, geared up, eager to try, and immediately took the initiative to ask Li Shimin for help, patted his chest and promised, the king, please rest assured, the last general will go immediately to help you take the BMW over.

Seeing that Wei Chi Jingde was about to go to seize the horse, Li Shimin reacted and hurriedly stepped forward to stop him, saying, "How can you lose a warrior with one horse?" "Meaning, I just said casually, a thousand troops are easy to get, but one will be hard to find. No matter how good the horse is, it is not as important as a general who has won the three armies. As the commander of the three armies of Datang, how could I let a general die for no reason because of a mere horse!

This is really not Li Shimin's unfounded worries, his worries are justified, why? Because Wang Wan is in the front line, behind him is the main force of the Xia army. If Wei Chi Jingde rushed straight over, he alarmed the Xia army in the enemy camp and attracted the opponent's crazy counterattack. At that time, not only will Wei Chi Jingde give his life in vain, but the entire Tang Army front will also be impacted, which will disrupt Li Shimin's battle plan and military deployment.

Who knows, the more Li Shimin said this, the more he could arouse Wei Chi Jingde's competitive heart, and he even wanted to take the horse and sacrifice it to King Qin. Therefore, Wei Chi Jingde did not listen to Li Shimin's advice, and his two assistants, Gao Yongsheng and Liang Jianfang, rode horses and whips, and the three horsemen rushed to kill, and went straight to Wang Wan.

Due to Wang Wan's proximity to the front line, the position was relatively prominent, and Wei Chi Jingde suddenly rushed in, so Wang Wan was naturally defenseless. In addition, Wei Chi Jingde is such a heroic general, how can Wang Wan be his opponent. Therefore, before Wang Wan came back to his senses, what happened was that he was pulled off the horse by Wei Chi Jingde and captured on the spot. Then, Wei Chi Jingde wrapped Wang Wan in his arms, took the horse, and drove away and returned to the Tang camp.

Wei Chi Jingde's series of actions stunned all the Xia soldiers. His speed was too fast, and he didn't have time to send troops to intercept him, so he could only watch, and Wei Chi Jingde left in the dust, capturing Wang Wan alive and returning to the camp. Seeing Wei Chi Jingde's victorious return, Li Shimin finally breathed a sigh of relief, and then appointed Wei Chi Jingde to go to the north bank of the Yellow River to collect the more than 1,000 horses left there. After Wei Chi Jingde returned, Li Shimin ordered the whole army to go into battle.

So, why did Wei Chi Jingde insist on capturing Wang Wan alive and seizing the good horse, and even didn't listen to Li Shimin's advice? It's not just a simple hero, but a personal force value. More importantly, it is to destroy the enemy's courage and severely demoralize the enemy's army!

As everyone knows, no matter how many enemy troops are captured or wounded by the two armies, there is no more direct blow to the enemy's morale than to capture or kill the enemy's main general. The so-called "shoot the man before the horse, capture the thief before the king", and take the head of the enemy among the millions of troops, it is precisely this reason.

Although Wang Wan is not a general in the Xia army's camp, he is Wang Shichong's nephew after all, not to mention that he is in the summer camp at this time, and he can be regarded as a member of the Xia army. Therefore, Wang Wan's capture was a particularly heavy blow to the Zheng and Xia coalition forces, especially to the morale of the Xia army. Originally, the Xia army was already a tired division at this time, but now that it has been hit by such a heavy blow, the frustration of the whole army can be imagined.

On the eve of the decisive battle of Tiger Pass, the Xia army lost the outpost battle and drew with the Tang army, with no progress; The Allied generals were again captured alive and their morale suffered. The development of the battlefield situation became more and more unfavorable to the Xia army. However, having said that, despite this, Dou Jiande still has an absolute advantage, he has a strong army in his hands, and a large number of soldiers are pressing the border, forcing the Xuanjia army of less than 4,000. As long as he fights patiently with Li Shimin, Dou Jiande may not be unable to win.

However, in response to the sentence, "The road is one foot high, and the magic is one foot high." Li Shimin's Taoism is still deeper than Dou Jiande. He had already found a trick to deal with Dou Jiande, and he would never let Dou Jiande be proud for too long. It's just that the time is not yet ripe, once it is ripe, Li Shimin will close the net in one fell swoop, hit with one blow, completely destroy all the main forces of Dou Jiande's elite soldiers, and end the Xia State regime in the Tiger Prison.

Finally, the real decisive battle of the Tiger Prison Pass finally began. This chess game against Dou Jiande has also come to an end.

Li Shimin insisted on standing still, did not confront the main force of the Xia army, and deliberately hung Dou Jiande. In this way, Li Shimin insisted on not fighting, and Dou Jiande would not be able to fight a decisive battle with the Tang army, nor could he quickly break through the Tiger Prison Pass from the front, get rid of Li Shimin's entanglement, and rush to Luoyang. What is even more crucial is that the battle at Tiger Pass cannot be dragged on any longer, and if we continue to work with the Tang Army at Tiger Pass, the morale and morale of the army will inevitably be completely exhausted, and we will completely lose our combat effectiveness, and defeat will be a matter of time before we fail.

From rushing to the Tiger Prison to start fighting, until now the official decisive battle, Li Shimin is very calm and patient, and is not in a hurry to fight with Dou Jiande for a long time. Li Shimin has been on the battlefield for a long time, and with his past experience, he knows very clearly that the stakes are very high in this battle, and whoever can hold out to the end will be the final winner.

This decisive battle has reached the most critical moment. Therefore, Li Shimin is patiently waiting, waiting for the opportunity, a good opportunity for a decisive battle. In the end, all the effort was worth it. The timing of this decisive battle still made Li Shimin wait. According to the historical records:

Jiande lined up, from dawn to noon, the soldiers were hungry and tired, they all sat in columns, and they fought for drinking water, and they wanted to retreat. (Information Governance Guide)

Dou Jiande led the army, poured out of the nest, and approached the Tang army camp layer by layer. More than 100,000 Xia soldiers and horses, which is almost all of Dou Jiande's family background, lined up in front of the Tang camp and kept clamoring for battle. The Xia army began to line up and provoke from the morning until noon. No matter how the Xia army shouted and challenged outside the camp, the officers and men of the Tang Army just didn't go out of the camp to fight, and they didn't hear it at all, if you like to scold you, I won't fight, what can you do with me! As the saying goes, let him besiege him for thousands of years, and I will not move.

After coming and going, the soldiers of Xia were like deflated balls, and their morale collapsed by half. From morning to noon, the Xia army was so tired that it was about to fall apart, but as a result, the Tang army's camp did not move at all. With the constant shouting and provocation, the Xia soldiers were tired, hungry, and exhausted. Plus at that time, midsummer came, and the weather was hot. In the Xia army, the soldiers were all dry-mouthed, so they sat on the ground in groups of three or five to rest, and their guards gradually relaxed.

At this moment, Li Shimin stood on the high platform of the Tang camp, looked down at the enemy's situation, and suddenly found that there was an abnormality within the Xia army. What's going on? It turned out that many Xia soldiers, unable to bear their thirst, left the ranks one after another, rushed to the rear front, and rushed to drink water. As a result, the formation of the Xia army began to loosen, and the army of more than 100,000 horses had no order, military discipline, and even orders at all.

Li Shimin, the king of Qin in the Tang camp, was overjoyed when he saw this situation. The long-awaited decisive moment has finally arrived. The current Xia Army, with loose military discipline and lax battle formations, is already a complete straggler. If a surprise attack is launched at this time and a large-scale counteroffensive is launched, the Xia army will definitely be defeated. The fighter plane is fleeting, and Li Shimin will not be able to let it go easily, and he must firmly seize this only decisive opportunity.

Obviously, Li Shimin is ready to do it. Since it was decided to raid the Xia army and conduct the final decisive battle, it was necessary to be foolproof. Even if he made up his mind, Li Shimin had to dispel the last doubts and prove whether his judgment was accurate. How to prove it? Li Shimin sent a small force to spy on the reality of Dou Jiande's army.

Therefore, Li Shimin ordered Yu Wenshi, the hussar general of the Qin Wangfu, to lead 300 cavalry of the Xuanjia Army to bypass the Xia army from the front, pass through the west of the enemy formation, and advance to the south, keeping parallel to the Xia army. In fact, Li Shimin sent Yu Wenshi and led his troops to the south to let him explore the reality of the Xia army.

To digress a little, Yu Wenshi and this person are the youngest son of Yu Wenshu and the younger brother of Yu Wenhua; At the same time, he was also the son-in-law of Emperor Yang of Sui and married Princess Nanyang, the daughter of Emperor Yang of Sui. After the establishment of the Tang Dynasty, Yu Wenshi and then entered the Li Tang Dynasty and served under the command of Li Shimin, the king of Qin.

Yu Wenshi and this time, on the order of Li Shimin, led 300 cavalry to the south to spy on the enemy. Before leaving, Li Shimin gave thousands of instructions and instructions, warning Yu Wenshi and that if the enemy army did not move, you would lead the troops to withdraw; As soon as there was a commotion in the Xia army, the army immediately attacked the enemy from the east:

If the thief does not move, he should lead him back, and if he moves, he will lead the army eastward. (Information Governance Guide)

After receiving the task assigned by Li Shimin, Yu Wenhua naturally did not dare to slack off, and immediately led the army to the south, avoiding the enemy in front of the Xia army, and came to the front of the battle. Sure enough, after careful observation, Yu Wenshi found that there was an abnormal commotion in the Xia army's formation, and soldiers kept leaving the team. It can be seen from this that the Xia army was obviously lax in military discipline and it was difficult to restrain the troops under its jurisdiction, and it was a good time for the whole army to attack and break the enemy in one fell swoop.

Immediately, Yu Wenhua immediately sent someone to inform King Qin that he could send troops. After Li Shimin got the news, he was simply overjoyed, and made a decision on the spot, saying: "It's okay!" At this time, Wei Chi Jingde went to the north bank of the Yellow River, gathered more than 1,000 herding horses, and happened to return to the Tang army camp. Therefore, Li Shimin quickly sent an order and ordered all units of the Tang Army to attack on all fronts and fight against Dou Jiande.

The decisive battle of Tiger Prison Pass has officially begun, and the war drums of the Tang Army have been beating. It should be said that in this decisive battle against the Xia Army, Li Shimin's elite force, the Xuanjia Army, played a huge role. In this final battle, almost all the elites of the Xuanjia Army went into battle collectively to kill the enemy.

In order to completely defeat the main force of the Xia army, Li Shimin acted vigorously and quickly, dividing the Xuanjia army, which was less than 4,000 men, into two groups. Li Shimin himself personally led a team of light cavalry to attack first; The army then followed, wading east into the water, rushing directly to the enemy's formation, and storming the soldiers and horses of the Xia State.

When the Tang army launched a general offensive, Dou Jiande did not command the battle on the front line, but held a court meeting in the rear camp to accept the courtiers' courtiers. Although the war was imminent, Dou Jiande still held a court meeting as usual to meet with the ministers. In other words, most of the important generals of the Xia army were not in the front-line troops at this time. In other words, the forward troops of the Xia army, which were leaderless and lacked unified command, were particularly vulnerable to being fatal by a single blow.

I have to admit that Li Shimin is indeed an outstanding military commander, and the timing of his choice of sending troops for a decisive battle is really too accurate. If the Tang army seized this opportunity and stormed the Xia army, it would definitely be able to completely wipe it out.

However, surprisingly, Li Shimin did not attack the front-line troops of the Xia army, but took a more unique move. This more unique move can not only get twice the result with half the effort, but also quickly defeat Dou Jiande and achieve the final victory. In short, eight words can be summed up: the center blossoms, the decapitation operation. That is, Li Shimin personally led the elite light cavalry, single-handedly attacked, bypassed the main force of the Xia army, directly attacked Dou Jiande's Chinese army camp, and captured Dou Jiande alive.

This is the genius of Li Shimin's soldiers, rather than fighting desperately and bloody with the main force of the Xia army and paying a greater price, it is better to directly end the enemy's command center. To raise the soup to stop boiling, it is better to draw salary from the bottom of the kettle. Grasp the flaws in the Xia army's defense and completely defeat it.

The reason why he wanted to bypass the main force of the Xia Army on the front line and choose to directly attack the camp of Dou Jiande's Chinese army was that Li Shimin had carefully considered, and there were two main considerations.

First, most of the main forces of the Xia army were on the front line, and the middle battalion in the rear was empty, and there were not many elite soldiers to escort them. Dou Jiande definitely never imagined that Li Shimin would bypass the front-line troops, make a detour to the rear, and attack his own Chinese army camp. Therefore, directly taking Dou Jiande's central army is a great chance of victory for Li Shimin.

Second, capture the thief and capture the king first. Dou Jiande is the soul of more than 100,000 Xia troops, once he breaks through the camp of the Xia army, kill or capture Dou Jiande alive; In that way, hundreds of thousands of Xia troops will become a headless giant, completely losing their fighting spirit and being vulnerable. Maybe at that time, Li Shimin doesn't even have to fight, and the Xia army troops in front will obediently give up resistance and surrender to the Tang army.

As mentioned above, when Li Shimin led his army across the river and attacked Dou Jiande's central army, Dou Jiande was holding a court meeting to accept the worship of his ministers, and he would not have thought that the Tang army would dare to come and attack. As a result, the entire army was very lax in its defenses and was basically in a state of undefense.

Just when Dou Jiande was still in the upper court, a group of Xuanjia Army cavalry suddenly broke through the Xia army camp, and came to cover up. At that time, Dou Jiande was accepting the worship of the ministers, and the Xuanjia army had already killed outside the camp gate. Faced with the sudden arrival of the Tang Army's iron cavalry falling from the sky, Dou Jiande was stunned and did not react for a while. The ministers around him also looked at each other and gathered towards Dou Jiande.

The Tang army raided the camp, and the monarchs and ministers of the Xia State panicked, what should I do? The situation was extremely critical, and Dou Jiande also let it go, hurriedly mobilized the cavalry guards, and ordered them to block the attack of the Tang army. However, he never expected that the ministers were separated in the middle of the road, and Dou Jiande's cavalry guards could not pass through at all.

So, Dou Jiande personally ordered the ministers to disperse and let the guards pass. In the chaos, the Tang cavalry was already close at hand and rushed in front of Dou Jiande. Seeing the Tang army rushing over, the cavalry guards of the Xia army desperately covered Dou Jiande and withdrew to Dongpi. As soon as he took a breath, Dou Kang, the general of the Tang Army, led troops to attack. The guards resisted hard, and only then did they temporarily block the advance of the Tang army.

Not long after, Li Shimin led the elite light cavalry of the Xuanjia Army and personally rushed into the summer camp. After rushing into the enemy camp, Li Shimin immediately commanded the Xuanjia Army and stormed the Xia army. Under the leadership of Li Shimin, the king of Qin, the officers and men of the Xuanjia Army all bravely killed the enemy, and everyone fought hard to be the first, invincible, and unstoppable. They all know that the winner is in this battle, as long as Dou Jiande is won, Datang will be the ultimate winner.

In particular, Li Shimin's cousin, Li Daoxuan, the king of Huaiyang, behaved extremely bravely and set a good example for the officers and men of the Tang Army.

Li Daoxuan, the king of Huaiyang, was the cousin of Li Yuan, the ancestor of Tang Gaozu, the cousin of Li Shimin, the king of Qin, and his father was Li Zhen, the king of Henan, who was only seventeen or eight years old at the time. In the first year of Wude (618), when the Tang Dynasty was established, Li Daoxuan was named the king of Huaiyang and was awarded the post of right Qianniu.

Don't look at Li Daoxuan's young age, but he is a rare young hero in the Li Tang clan, brave and good at fighting, experienced in battle, and a clan general who has experienced life and death on the battlefield. Li Daoxuan's life, the most admired cousin Qin King Li Shimin, at the age of fifteen followed Li Shimin to the birth and death, broke the main force of Song King Kong Yu Jiexiu, took the lead in the city and fell into battle, and was appreciated by Li Shimin, and after the war, he rewarded thousands of pieces to show his praise.

In this attack on Luoyang, Li Daoxuan also went out with the army and won many battles. Later, Li Shimin personally led 3,500 Xuanjia troops to the Tiger Prison Pass to intercept Dou Jiande's main army, and Li Daoxuan followed left and right. In the first battle of Tiger Prison Pass, Li Shimin lured the enemy with light cavalry, and led an ambush with Li Daoxuan Chen Yudaozuo, waiting for the Xia army to enter, and attacked in a big way to break the enemy soldiers. It can be seen that although Li Daoxuan is a member of the Li Tang clan, he is also a heroic general.

This time, Li Shimin led the elite cavalry of the Xuanjia Army to attack the main camp of the Xia Army. The soldiers of the Tang Army fought bloody battles against the Xia army, and almost everyone regarded death as home, brave and fearless. However, among them, the most heroic person is none other than Li Daoxuan, the king of Huaiyang:

Huaiyang Wang Daoxuan stood up and trapped Chen, straight out of the back, re-emerged Chen and returned, and then in and out, the flying arrows gathered his body like hedgehog hair, courage did not fade, shooting people, all in response to the string. The people of the world give them a horse, so that they may obey themselves. So the armies fought, and the dust rose to the sky. (Information Governance Guide)

During the fierce battle between the two armies, Li Daoxuan, the king of Huaiyang, stepped forward to kill the enemy, hit the back of the Xia army, and then turned back to kill, and then broke in again, and then entered and exited again, like a white-robed young general, brave, galloping, no one could stop him, and he came and went freely in the Xia army's formation.

According to historical records, when the battle was at its fiercest, the armor worn by Li Daoxuan was full of feather arrows, as dense as hedgehog hair. Fortunately, the Mingguang armor of the soldiers of the Tang Army was of excellent texture and extremely hard, and ordinary arrows could not shoot through it at all. Although Li Daoxuan was hit by several arrows, he was not seriously injured. But on the other hand, it can also be seen that Li Daoxuan fought very hard.

Despite this, Li Daoxuan's courage remained undiminished, bending his bow and arrows, and shooting down several enemy soldiers in succession. Seeing that Li Daoxuan was so brave, it was estimated that Li Daoxuan's war horse was seriously injured at that time, so Li Shimin gave his deputy horse to Li Daoxuan, and asked him to follow him closely, and the two brothers fought side by side.

At this moment, the main forces of the Tang and Xia armies arrived one after another. Dou Jiande's Chinese army camp became the focus of the war. The two sides launched an unprecedented battle and bloody battle, fighting each other fiercely. For a time, the battlefield was dusty and dusty, and it was difficult to distinguish which side was the Tang Army and which side was the Xia Army. It can be seen that the situation on the battlefield has become completely chaotic, even to the point where we do not distinguish between friend and foe.

Taking advantage of this opportunity when the smoke and dust were filled and the enemy was unclear, Li Shimin led several generals such as Shi Daqi, Cheng Yanjin, Qin Qiong, Yu Wenxin, and an elite Xuanjia army, rolled up the battle flag, avoided the frontal troops of the Xia army, and quietly went around to the back of the Xia army's battle formation. Why roll up the battle flag? One is to conceal and prevent being discovered by the Xia army; The second is also to surprise and better launch a surprise attack on the Xia army.

Arriving behind the enemy's phalanx, Li Shimin suddenly gave an order, and the officers and men of the Tang Army unfurled the battle flag. Suddenly, the flag covered the sky and waved in the wind. Because it was dusty at that time, they couldn't see anything clearly, and the soldiers of the Xia army only saw the banners of the Tang army everywhere, thinking that the Tang army had outflanked them from all directions and surrounded them. In this way, the mentality of all the people in the Xia army completely collapsed, completely lost their fighting spirit, and instantly scattered as birds and beasts, scattered and fled:

Shimin Shuai Shi Daqi, Cheng Zhijie, Qin Shubao, Yu Wenxin and others rolled in, out of its Chen, Zhang Tang banner, Jiande soldiers Gu Zhizhi, collapsed; chased thirty miles and beheaded more than 3,000 people. (Information Governance Guide)

Only now, the tide of battle has finally turned in a stunning way. Originally, the Tang and Xia armies were fighting fiercely, and there was no difference between victory and defeat. However, no one expected that Li Shimin would act treacherously and attack the back of the Xia army, causing the entire front of the Xia army to collapse, and in an instant, it turned into a big rout.

The Xia army was defeated and scattered and fled, which was the perfect opportunity to defeat the Xia army in one fell swoop, how could Li Shimin easily let it go? When it comes to the mouth, the lamb meat is naturally to be eaten. So, Li Shimin gave an order, commanded the Tang army to pursue the victory, rushed into 30 miles, beheaded more than 3,000 levels, and completely broke the elite main force of the Xia army. In this battle, Dou Jiande and the Xia army lost, and they lost miserably.

So, the main force of the Xia army was defeated like a mountain, and the whole army was basically wiped out, and what will be the fate of Dou Jiande? In a word, Dou Jiande is now the general trend has gone, and he has collapsed for thousands of miles, as the so-called "under the nest, there are no eggs". The hundreds of thousands of troops under his command who relied on the capital have all collapsed, and those who die and flee have fled, what else can he do? So in the end, Dou Jiande could not escape the fate of being defeated and captured.

In the melee, Dou Jiande was stabbed by the Tang army's lance and was seriously wounded, and then fled desperately all the way to Niukouzhu. Regarding the place of Niukouzhu, Dou Jiande hated it deeply. Because, on the way to the march, Dou Jiande heard a local nursery rhyme singing: "Beans into the mouth of the cow, it will not last long." Therefore, Dou Jiande believes that Niukouzhu is an ominous place. Unexpectedly, Dou Jiande ended up dying in Niukouzhu.

Dou Jiande fled in a hurry, but the Tang army's pursuers were in hot pursuit and refused to let him go. Two Tang Army generals: Che Cavalry General Bai Shirang and Yang Wuwei, fought hard to hunt down Dou Jiande. In a panic, Dou Jiande accidentally fell off his horse. Seeing Dou Jiande fall off the horse, Tang General Bai Shirang suddenly became interested, holding a long lance, ready to stab Dou Jiande to death on the spot, seeing that Dou Jiande's life was hanging by a thread.

Just when the tip of the lance slowly stabbed at Dou Jiande, perhaps it was the desire to survive that prompted Dou Jiande to live. I saw that Dou Jiande, who was like a lost dog, suddenly shouted at Bai Shirang: "Don't kill me, my Xia Wang can also be rich and noble." "Meaning, don't kill me, I am Dou Jiande, the king of Xia, if you arrest me and dedicate it to your royal highness the King of Qin, I will definitely give you a glory and wealth.

As soon as he heard this, Bai Shirang stopped. Subsequently, another Tang general, Yang Wuwei, dismounted and captured Dou Jiande, pressed him on his horse, and escorted him to meet Li Shimin. Seeing Dou Jiande, who was tied up with all kinds of flowers, Li Shimin questioned Dou Jiande in a tone of a victor and conqueror, and reprimanded him for the crime of raising troops to cross the border:

I begged Wang Shichong for myself, what did I do to you, and I came across the border and offended my soldiers! (Information Governance Guide)

Li Shimin asked Dou Jiande, I led the army to attack Wang Shichong, and I didn't hinder you in anything, why did you stick a pole horizontally, cross the border, and block my Tang army. In fact, anyone with a discerning eye can see that Li Shimin is knowingly asking why Dou Jiande led the army here. It's just that now, Li Shimin is the victor, and how to interrogate depends entirely on his own wishes.

At this point, Dou Jiande also recognized the situation, he is no longer the commanding Xia King, but just a prisoner. Therefore, Dou Jiande no longer wants to dominate the world, and it is important to save his life to achieve those illusory things in the imperial industry. So, in front of Li Shimin, Dou Jiande immediately lowered his posture, groveled, and no longer regarded himself as the lord of a country.

There is another point, Dou Jiande estimated that Li Yuan, Li Shimin's father and son would not kill him. Why? Although, in the decisive battle of Tiger Pass, the Tang army won a complete victory, defeated the main force of the Xia army, and captured the Xia king Dou Jiande. However, the Hebei region was still under the control of the Xia State and had not yet been attached to the Li Tang Dynasty.

If the Tang Dynasty wanted to take all the land of Hebei, it had to stabilize the hearts of the people in Hebei. In this way, Dou Jiande has become an important chess piece. Based on this alone, the Li family's father and son can't kill Dou Jiande for the time being, at least not for now, he still has a certain use value.

In the face of Li Shimin's questioning, Dou Jiande cautiously replied with eight words: "If you don't come from now, I'm afraid you will be troubled and take it from afar." "If I don't take the initiative to come to Luoyang, I'm afraid that Wang Shichong will be finished, and the next one to suffer will be my Dou Jiande. As soon as he saw that Dou Jiande had relented, Li Shimin immediately ordered Dou Jiande to be imprisoned. After breaking Luoyang City and taking Wang Shichong, they were escorted back to Chang'an.

In the final decisive battle of Tiger Prison Pass, Li Shimin led the soldiers of the Xuanjia Army, which was less than 4,000 men, fought against the water, fought back against the water, and fought a big victory, a big victory. In this battle, Li Shimin personally led the Tang army, broke through the enemy formation, chased the dead and chased the north, and broke the main force of Dou Jiande's Xia army in one fell swoop, beheading more than 3,000 people. As for the other Xia army sergeants, most of them had already scattered and fled in the melee.

In this battle, the Tang army achieved brilliant results, defeated the main force of the Xia army, captured the Xia king Dou Jiande, and captured 50,000 horses of Dou Jiande's troops. For these 50,000 Xia army prisoners of war, Li Shimin did not kill them all, but pursued a generous "prisoner policy" and "humanitarian policy". In order to show the courage of the victors, on the same day, Li Shimin ordered that all the 50,000 Xia soldiers be dismissed, and they were allowed to return to their hometowns and reunite with their families. This move has played a positive role in stabilizing the morale of the Hebei military.

After the victory of the Battle of Tiger Prison Pass, the old minister Feng Deyi came specially to congratulate Li Shimin. You must know that before the battle of Tiger Pass, there were serious disagreements within the Tang Army on how to conduct the next operation. Some people advocated that the soldiers should make dangerous moves, lead an elite army, seize the Tiger Pass, and intercept Dou Jiande's main army; There are also some people who advocate temporarily leading troops to retreat, wait and see what happens, and then try to forge ahead.

And Feng Deyi is the representative who advocates the withdrawal of troops. Therefore, seeing Feng Deyi coming to the camp to congratulate, Li Shimin couldn't help but feel a little "childlike", laughed and ridiculed the old minister Feng Deyi, and said: "You don't need to say anything, you have to have today." A wise man thinks a thousand times, and he can't help but make a mistake! After listening to the joke of Li Shimin, the king of Qin, Feng Deyi looked ashamed, although he did not reach the point of being ashamed of himself, he was also a little embarrassed.

In addition, the main force of the Xia army was annihilated, and after Dou Jiande's army was defeated and captured, his wife Cao Shi and Zuo Servant shot Qi Shanxing and the two, with hundreds of remnants of cavalry, fled back to Zhouzhou. At this point, the Dou Jiande military group, which once dominated Hebei and dominated the world, completely withdrew from the historical stage in the late Sui and early Tang dynasties. The Battle of Tiger Prison Pass ended successfully with the complete victory of the Tang Dynasty.

In the fourth year of Wude, in May 621 AD, the Tang and Xia armies launched the ultimate decisive battle at the dangerous pass - Tiger Prison Pass. In the end, under the command of Li Shimin, and after the bloody battle of the Tang Army, Li Shimin only relied on the elite of the 3,500 Xuanjia Army to successfully achieve a counterattack on the battlefield, defeated the main force of more than 100,000 Xia troops in one fell swoop, captured Dou Jiande, the king of Xia, and won a complete victory in the Battle of Tiger Pass!

The complete victory in the Battle of Tiger Pass was not only a major military victory for the Tang army. More importantly, the victory of Tiger Prison Pass played a crucial and decisive role in the final victory of the entire Battle of Luoyang. At this moment, taking Luoyang City is already a matter of victory for Li Shimin.

The Tang army besieged Luoyang for a long time, and Wang Shichong was trapped in a lonely city. Therefore, he pinned his last and only hope on Dou Jiande's hundreds of thousands of Xia troops. Now, Dou Jiande was wiped out in the Tiger Prison Pass, and he was defeated and captured, which undoubtedly cut off Wang Shichong's last life-saving straw. At this time, Wang Shichong really reached the desperate situation of exhaustion of mountains and rivers, and it was only a matter of time before Luoyang broke the city.

After defeating Dou Jiande's more than 100,000 Xia army, Li Shimin completely grasped all the odds of victory in the war. Next, things were much simpler, Li Shimin turned his gun, commanded the main force of the Tang army, and prepared to launch a final blow on Luoyang and completely eliminate Wang Shichong's Zheng regime.

So, in the final stage of the attack on Luoyang, how did Li Shimin capture Luoyang without bloodshed and without spending a single soldier, forcing Wang Shichong to surrender out of the city? After capturing Luoyang, how did Li Shimin go all out in one go, collect all the lands of Henan and Hebei like a storm, realize the grand wish of the Tang Dynasty to enter the Central Plains, and draw a successful end to the battle of Luoyang, which lasted for ten months?