At the beginning of November of the fifth year of Wude (622), Tang Gaozu Li Yuan issued an edict and ordered the crown prince Li Jiancheng to take command and go to Hebei to conquer Liu Heimin's rebels. Li Jiancheng led the army to conquer in person, officially opening the second journey of the Li Tang Dynasty to fight against Hebei. The second contest between the Tang Dynasty and Liu Heimin kicked off!

So, will the second rebellion of the Li Tang Dynasty be as smooth as the first time? The answer is yes. Purely from a military point of view, Li Jiancheng's personal expedition to Hebei was completely to pick peaches and pick ready-made. Li Shimin cleaned up all the military problems for him.

Previously, Li Shimin led the army to quell the rebellion for the first time, although he did not completely stabilize the situation in Hebei at the political level, which led to the resurgence of Liu Heimin and his comeback; However, at the military level, Li Shimin has been quite successful. In the "Battle of the Water", Li Shimin commanded the Tang Army, which severely damaged Liu Heimin's main force in one fell swoop, basically wiped out the new force that Liu Heimin relied on to start, and greatly damaged his vitality.

It can be said that Li Shimin's previous efforts paved the way for Li Jiancheng's personal expedition to Hebei. Li Jiancheng led the army to Hebei, but he was only responsible for receiving the fruits of victory. Similarly, the fiasco of the "Battle of the Water" was also a devastating blow to Liu Heimin. In the battle of the water, Li Shimin dug the weir dam, flooded the enemy camp, Liu Heimin was defeated, and the main force of more than 10,000 rebels was annihilated. In other words, Liu Heimin has almost lost the elite of the main battle.

Therefore, Liu Heimin rebelled for the second time, and his momentum and offensive were obviously not as arrogant as the first time. It's very simple, in the battle of Lishui, Liu Heimin was defeated by the hands of Li Shimin, the king of Qin, and the elite was almost wiped out. Therefore, the armies of Liu Heimin's second rebellion were all temporarily armed by the Turks, and there were not many troops belonging to their own descendants, which were typical of "pulling tiger skins and pulling big banners" and pretending.

From this point of view, the military problems that Li Jiancheng had to face in his personal expedition to Hebei were not complicated, and the situation on the battlefield was greatly beneficial to the Tang army. As long as Li Jiancheng commanded properly and advanced steadily, within a few months, he would be able to turn the tide of the battle and defeat the rebels. Sure enough, before Li Jiancheng reached the front line, good news kept coming.

Before Tang Gaozu decided to appoint the crown prince Li Jiancheng to personally conquer, because Li Shimin, the king of Qin, had returned to Beijing, he could not rush to the front line quickly, but the front line could not be commanded by anyone. Therefore, Li Yuan temporarily ordered Li Yuanji, the king of Qi, to command the Tang army and let him act for a period of time. At this time, Li Yuanji was still acting in command.

Li Jiancheng was on the seventh day of the 11th month of the fifth year of Wude (622) and set out with his army. At the end of that month, on November 22, the fifth year of Wude (622), Li Yuanji took the initiative to send a group of troops and horses to attack Weizhou and attack the headquarters of the rebel Liu Shishan (Liu Heimin's brother). Due to the surprise attack launched by the Tang army, the rebels were taken by surprise and were taken by surprise. The Tang army broke Liu Shishan's department, made quite a success, and temporarily won a small victory.

The Tang army raided Weizhou and defeated the rebel Liu Shishan's troops, winning for a while. After suffering a defeat, Liu Heimin had no choice but to change the direction of his march, support his troops to the south, and conquer the city all the way, trying to regain some face. At first, Liu Heimin used troops to the south, and the effect was good at first. Most of the prefectures and counties north of Xiangzhou have been falling one after another, and the rebels' southward advance seems to be unimpeded. However, when he attacked Weizhou, Liu Heimin hit a nail.

Liu Heimin invaded the south on a large scale, and almost all the surrounding states and counties were afraid of the rebels' strength and surrendered one after another, without effective resistance at all. There is only one person, who is different and chooses to resist, who is it? Tian Liu'an, the governor of Weizhou. This person was born in the Wagang Army, and in the face of the menacing Liu Heimin rebels, Tian Liuan was not afraid, and he defended the city of Weizhou to resist the rebels' attacks. Under Tian Liu'an's insistence, Liu Heimin finally failed to capture Weizhou.

Tian Liu'an used the strength of the army and people of Weizhou to block Liu Heimin's attack. The attack on Weizhou was frustrated, and Liu Heimin was unwilling, so he led his troops south to capture Yuancheng. Then, Liu Heimin turned his gun again and continued to attack Weizhou. Soon, on the 11th day of December in the fifth year of Wude (622), Liu Heimin led his army to capture Hengzhou and killed the Tang Dynasty Hengzhou Assassin Wang Gongzheng. Two days later, Luo Yi, the governor of Youzhou and the king of Yanjun, led his troops to recover Lian and Dingerzhou.

In this process, the contest between Tang Jun and Liu Heimin had mutual wins and losses. However, on the whole, the scale of Liu Heimin's offensive, including the results achieved, has obviously shrunk or even greatly reduced. On the other hand, on the Tang Army, the situation changed greatly, and it began to gradually repel the rebel attacks and regain lost ground little by little. It can be said that the offensive and defensive posture of the Tang army and the rebel army has changed invisibly.

Since Liu Heimin first raised troops against the Tang Dynasty and set off two rebellions in Hebei, Liu Heimin has encountered a total of two "Waterloos". One was the "Battle of the Water", which was flooded by Li Shimin's water into the enemy's camp, and the army was defeated, and the main force suffered all casualties; Another time, it was from this time that Liu Heimin's life began to memorize the words, until it was completely destroyed in the end.

Soon, Liu Heimin suffered another defeat, and the Tang army won another victory. This victory is equivalent to Li Jiancheng's entry into Hebei and a good outpost battle.

In December 17, the fifth year of Wude (622), Tian Liu'an, the general of the Tang Army, led his army to take the initiative to attack Liu Heimin. Previously, Tian Liu'an was stationed in Weizhou and held the city, and because of proper scheduling, he repelled Liu Heimin's attack. Therefore, Liu Heimin was once a defeated general under Tian Liuan. Unexpectedly, these two people met again on the battlefield. It's just that this time it was Tian Liuan who took the lead in attacking.

The result can be imagined, Tian Liuan led the army to attack the rebels, broke Liu Heimin's troops, captured the rebel general Xinzhou assassin Shi Mengzhu, and captured 6,000 generals and soldiers. 6,000 people were captured just by capturing prisoners, and it is not difficult to imagine how heavy Liu Heimin's losses were in this battle.

At the beginning, at the beginning of Liu Heimin's rebellion, many local heroes in Hebei and Shandong killed local officials in the Tang Dynasty in response to Liu Heimin's rebellion. Therefore, the officials of the Tang Dynasty in Hebei were suspicious of each other, and the people were also panicked all day long. However, Tian Liuan is the only exception.

Tian Liuan has always treated the officials and people under his jurisdiction with sincerity, openness and honesty, and has never concealed anything. Every time, as long as someone comes to report to work, whether it is relatives or scholars, Tian Liuan will invite them into the bedroom to talk in detail. Moreover, Tian Liuan often preached to his subordinates like this:

I and Er Cao are both thieves of the country, and it is advisable to work together, and I will want to abandon the obedient and rebellious, but I will be beheaded. (Information Governance Guide)

Obviously, Tian Liu'an is sending a voice to everyone to put death and come back to life. Moreover, he hopes that all the soldiers and civilians can work together with him to resist the rebels. Seeing Tian Liu'an so righteous and awe-inspiring, frank and selfless, everyone admired it very much, and reminded and encouraged each other in private:

Tian Gongtui treats people with sincerity, and when he tries his best to repay him, he must not bear it. (Information Governance Guide)

In this way, Tian Liu'an, through his personal courage, quickly rallied the hearts of the people, making the soldiers and civilians of Weizhou hate the same enemy, swear not to surrender, and fight to the death with the rebels. Sure enough, not long after, Tian Liuan's approach received good results. This effect is not obtained militarily, but in the dismantling of the inner fortresses of the rebels.

At that time, there was a person named Yuan Zhulin, who was originally a henchman of Liu Heimin, and he had always harbored different aspirations and secretly opposed the Tang Dynasty. Yuan Zhulin secretly plotted to cooperate with Liu Heimin and attack Weizhou City. Unexpectedly, Tian Liuan had already noticed it, but he was silent, did not startle the snake, and decided to plan it. Tian Liuan continued to keep Yuan Zhulin by his side, and let him be in charge of the key, showing a very trusting appearance.

After a long time, Yuan Zhulin was moved by Tian Liu'an's trust, and immediately abandoned the darkness and turned to the light, drew a clear line with Liu Heimin, and switched to Tian Liu'an. Therefore, Tian Liu'an used a little trick and did not use any means of violence and coercion, and successfully rebelled against a rebel who infiltrated the Tang army, solved the hidden dangers from within Weizhou, disintegrated the rebels' "spy" force, and staged a Tang Dynasty version of "Infernal Affairs". Afterwards, Tian Liu'an was awarded the title of Duke of Daoguo by the imperial court because of his outstanding achievements in defending Weizhou:

Those who have a bamboo forest, the party of this black man, have potential ambitions. Stay in peace and know, don't do anything, lead the left and right, and entrust the key; The bamboo forest was grateful, so he returned to his heart and accepted it. Meritorious entry into the Dao Guogong. (Information Governance Guide)

For Liu Heimin, the battle with the Tang Army during this period undoubtedly entered a very difficult "bottleneck period". There was no progress in military affairs, and there were repeated setbacks, and for a while I did not know what to do, whether to continue the fight or stop there. At this time, Liu Heimin was exactly the same as Liu Wuzhou's situation at the beginning, and he was quite embarrassed to ride a tiger.

At the same time, as far as Li Tang is concerned, Tian Liu'an was stationed in Weizhou, making the defense of Weizhou impregnable, and Liu Heimin could not overcome it for a long time. To a certain extent, it greatly restrained Liu Heimin's main force, consumed the vital strength of the rebels, and bought valuable time for Li Jiancheng's army to enter Hebei. Everyone knows that as soon as Li Jiancheng arrives in Hebei, the end of Liu Heimin will come. The decisive battle between the two sides is inevitable.

Sure enough, it didn't take long for the main army led by Li Jiancheng to come to Hebei as scheduled. Last time, in the "Battle of the Water", Liu Heimin was killed and wounded by Li Shimin; This time, Li Jiancheng took command to conquer Hebei in person, and there must be another tough battle to be fought, and Liu Heimin will be unlucky next.

On December 18 of the fifth year of Wude (622), the crown prince Li Jiancheng and the king of Qi Li Yuanji led the main force of the Tang army to Changle and entered Hebei, directly into the hinterland of Liu Heimin. Li Jiancheng's soldiers pressed the border, and Liu Heimin had to deal with it. So, Liu Heimin personally led the troops to resist the Tang army and confronted Li Jiancheng in formation. The problem is that now, the rebels' internal morale is fluctuating, and they have no intention of fighting again, and they have lined up twice in succession, but they have stopped without a fight.

Li Jiancheng led the army into Hebei, and next, he had to face the stubborn enemy Liu Heimin alone. So, how should the newly arrived prince Li Jiancheng deal with Liu Heimin until he completely destroys the rebels and quells the rebellion? As for how to deploy counterinsurgency, Li Jiancheng has his own ideas. To sum up, it's just four words: two-pronged. What is a "two-pronged approach"? It is to grasp both politics and military affairs.

Li Jiancheng understood that the key to fighting the chaos in Hebei was not only in the military conquest and attack, but more importantly, in four words: to appease people's hearts. Previously, Li Shimin led his army to crusade against the rebels and adopted a tough military suppression, ignoring the strategy of pacification and softness. Although he achieved a great victory in the "Battle of the Rivers", he severely damaged the main force of the rebels; But the good times did not last long, and because he failed to appease the situation in Hebei in time, Liu Heimin made a comeback, and the Hebei rebellion restarted.

Therefore, Li Jiancheng learned the lesson of Li Shimin's emphasis on military means and neglected political pacification, and adjusted his counterinsurgency strategy in a two-pronged manner. On the one hand, it won the hearts of the people, actively pacified the ordinary people in Hebei and Shandong, as well as the rebel henchmen, divided the rebel army, and prompted the people of Hebei to return to the Tang Dynasty; On the other hand, we must not show mercy on Liu Heimin, the culprit of the war, and resolutely strike at him militarily and completely eliminate him. In other words, it is "three parts military, seven points political".

As mentioned above, before Li Jiancheng set out for Hebei, the problems faced by the Tang army in the Hebei battlefield were actually not terrible. The "Battle of Lishui" initiated by Li Shimin dealt a heavy blow to Liu Heimin's rebel forces, greatly damaged the vitality of the rebels, and paved the way for Li Jiancheng's personal expedition to Hebei. According to the record of "The Old Tang Book: The Biography of Liu Heimin", after Li Jiancheng led the army into Hebei, he "won great victories in frequent battles". It can be seen from this that military problems are no longer the main problems faced by the Tang Army.

Since there are no major problems militarily, the main problem he faced after Li Jiancheng came to Hebei was to pacify the situation in Hebei. Calming the situation and winning people's hearts is the most important thing at the moment. On the other hand, Li Jiancheng's pacification strategy was also a "psychological warfare" against the rebels. As long as the chaos in Hebei can be settled down as soon as possible, the rebels will inevitably panic and will surely collapse without a fight.

As for how to envelop and appease the hearts of the people in Hebei, Li Jiancheng adopted the suggestion of the strategist Wei Zheng and decided to implement the gentle strategy of healing the wounds of the war and gathering the hearts of the people. Indeed, this initiative, beyond the military level, has had an unexpected effect. Wei Zheng gave advice to the crown prince Li Jiancheng in this way:

Before breaking the black man, his generals were all executed by hanging their names, and his wife was taken prisoner; Therefore, when the king of Qi came, although there was an edict to pardon his party and its crimes, he did not believe it. Now it is advisable to release his prisoners and send them to comfort them, and then they can sit back and watch them disperse! (Information Governance Guide)

Wei Zheng suggested to Li Jiancheng that the current situation was that Liu Heimin was in a difficult situation both internally and externally, the rebels were disheartened, and war-weariness was high, which was an excellent opportunity to divide and disintegrate the rebels and carry out internal rebellion. As a result, Li Jiancheng listened to Wei Zheng's advice and implemented a divisive plan against the rebels.

Whether it was Li Shimin's previous "Battle of Lishui" or Li Jiancheng's personal expedition to Hebei, the Tang army captured many rebel troops, including both ordinary soldiers and high-ranking generals. Unexpectedly, as soon as Li Jiancheng arrived in Hebei, he directly ordered that all these prisoners of war be released and let them go home to reunite with their relatives. Moreover, for some of these high-ranking rebel generals, Li Jiancheng comforted them and encircled them honestly, so that these people let down their guard against the Tang Army, and did not have Li Shimin's hard-line style at all.

There is no doubt that Li Jiancheng's approach has played an excellent role in instigating against the enemy army. By releasing prisoners of war and pacifying the enemy generals, Li Jiancheng's approach was to create a public opinion offensive against the rebels, intensify the panic and anxiety within the rebels, disintegrate their fighting spirit, and completely disintegrate them.

At that time, the veterans of Liu Heimin's rebel division were tired, the grain and grass were almost exhausted, and they basically lost their fighting spirit. And Li Jiancheng's strategy of rebellion and discord put the rebels in an extreme predicament. From this moment on, a large number of soldiers began to flee among the rebel army. At the same time, the rebels captured the lower prefectures and counties, and the local people tied up the rebel Qu Shuai one after another and attached themselves to Li Tang. The entire rebel army of Liu Heimin gradually tended to fall apart.

Things have developed to this point, and Liu Heimin has no choice. Now, there is only the opportunity to look for an opportunity to have a decisive battle with the Tang army. Even if Liu Heimin understands that this battle will undoubtedly be lost, he must fight hard, take a risk, and maybe win the bet! After all, Liu Heimin felt that his opponent was Li Jiancheng, not a ghost like Li Shimin, and fighting with Li Jiancheng was at least not as hard as fighting with Li Shimin, and maybe there was a chance of winning.

Prior to this, Liu Heimin's siege of Weizhou was blocked and could not be attacked for a long time. At this time, Li Jiancheng led the main force of the Tang Army and had penetrated deep into the hinterland of Hebei. Therefore, Liu Heimin was very worried, afraid that the Tang Dynasty defenders stationed in Weizhou would echo Li Jiancheng's main force from afar, attacking back and forth, forming a situation of encirclement against himself. After thinking about it, at present, it is still to preserve the strength, and while Li Jiancheng has not yet arrived, he will withdraw the army overnight, and then look for fighters in the future.

On December 25, the fifth year of Wude (622), the crown prince Li Jiancheng and the king of Qi Li Yuanji led the main force of the Tang army and encountered Liu Heimin's troops in Guantao. At the beginning, Liu Heimin evacuated from Weizhou and traveled to Guantao, intending to pass through the Yongji Canal and get rid of the pursuit of the Tang army. However, the pontoon bridge on the Yongji Canal has not been built for a long time, and it cannot ensure the safe crossing of the river by the rebels. There was no way, Liu Heimin had to line up in Yongji Canal, preparing for a decisive battle with the Tang army, in order to delay time.

Until this time, the offensive and defensive posture on the battlefield has completely changed. On the Tang army's side, because the crown prince was in command of the expedition, the morale was high, and the enemy was hated together, and the lost territory was recovered all the way, and the battle was victorious; On the other hand, Liu Heimin, at this moment, the general trend has gone, and it has become the end of a strong crossbow, the entire army is exhausted, and the fighting spirit is gradually exhausted. Therefore, Liu Heimin's formation in Yongji Canal was completely desperate and forced to fight.

At this time, Liu Heimin knew very well in his heart that the final result of this battle, there was no doubt that he would definitely lose. Therefore, Liu Heimin began to calculate in his heart, the thirty-six plans are the best, saving his life is important, and taking advantage of the chaos on the battlefield, he broke through and escaped. However, from this incident, it is enough to see that Liu Heimin's character is very inauthentic. Liu Heimin felt that if he fled with a large army, it would obviously be a burden. So, Liu Heimin wanted to leave the army behind and flee for his life alone.

Soon, Li Jiancheng and Li Yuanji led the Tang army to arrive at Guantao, and Liu Heimin held on to the Yongji Canal of Guantao, and the decisive battle was about to break out. In order to flee desperately, Liu Heimin decided to let the main force act as "cannon fodder" to block the attack of the Tang army, so that he could take advantage of the chaos to escape. So, Liu Heimin ordered his general Wang Xiaohu to lead the army to meet the attack and engage the Tang army. At the same time, Liu Heimin ordered people to step up the construction of pontoon bridges. When the pontoon bridge was repaired, Liu Heimin immediately crossed the river and fled.

Liu Heimin fled like this, and immediately caused chaos within the rebels. The current situation of the rebels is especially similar to the situation of the Tang army in the previous battle of Xiabo. In the Battle of Xiabo, Li Daoxuan, the king of Huaiyang, was killed, and Liu Heimin turned to attack Shi Wanbao's Chinese army. The Tang army, which lost its commander, had no fighting spirit, and in an instant, it was crushed, and Shi Wanbao fled back to Chang'an alone. The same fate, this time, was repeated in the Hebei rebels.

You must know that the rebels are extremely war-weary, and the reason why they fought against the Tang Army is entirely for the sake of Liu Heimin's face, and that is because Liu Heimin is still there. Now, Liu Heimin didn't even want a fig leaf, so he openly abandoned the troops and fled for his life. Then think about it, how can the rebels still have the heart to continue fighting. Suddenly, the rebels collapsed, scattered and fled, and some of those who had no time to escape directly threw down their weapons, took off their armor, and surrendered to the Tang army on the spot.

It is equivalent to saying that in the entire process of the Tang Army's operation, it basically eliminated the main force of the rebels without bloodshed and without spending a single soldier. After defeating the main force of the rebels, Li Jiancheng thought that he should strike while the iron was hot, catch the culprit Liu Heimin, and no longer let this traitor escape.

Therefore, Li Jiancheng ordered the Tang cavalry to cross the river along the pontoon bridge and pursue Liu Heimin. However, countless cavalry of the Tang Army were crowded on the narrow pontoon bridge, and the pontoon bridge could not withstand the gravity of so many men and horses. Therefore, more than a thousand cavalry of the Tang Army just passed, and the pontoon bridge collapsed. As a result, the main force of the follow-up Tang Army could not cross the river in time and was blocked on the opposite bank. Seizing this opportunity, Liu Heimin hurriedly took hundreds of cavalry and fled away:

The black man feared that the soldiers in the city came out, and attacked the army on the surface, so he fled at night. To the museum pottery, the Yongji Bridge has not been completed, and it is not possible. Ren Shen, the crown prince, the king of Qi to the army, the black black to make Wang Xiaohu back to the water, self-regarded as a bridge, that is, to cross the bridge west, the crowd was defeated, and the battle came to surrender. The army chased the black man on the bridge, and the one who rode more than a thousand horses, and the bridge was broken, so the black man had to die with hundreds of horses. (Information Governance Guide)

In the Battle of Guantao, the Tang army successfully forced and defeated most of the main forces of Liu Heimin's rebels through a bloodless way and without spending a single soldier, forcing Liu Heimin to flee in a hurry. It can be said that the victory of the Battle of Guantao is comparable to the victory of the "Battle of Zhushui", which is the key turning point of the Tang Dynasty's second rebellion in Hebei. The victory in this battle fundamentally changed the situation on the battlefield in Hebei.

At this point, the Li Tang Dynasty's pacification of the Hebei rebellion seems to be a sure thing. Although, in the battle of Guantao, Liu Heimin's main force was annihilated, and a large number of old troops surrendered to the Tang army. However, the leader of the rebels, Liu Heimin, took advantage of the chaos to flee and threw off the pursuit of the Tang army. Tang Jun could only watch Liu Heimin run away, and there was nothing he could do. This time, we must not let Liu Heimin go, and we must catch him.

Li Jiancheng believes that as long as Liu Heimin is still alive in the world, with his innate rebellious gene of rebellion in the back of his head, he will definitely make a comeback and become a permanent enemy of Datang. For the long-term stability of Hebei and the rule of the Tang Dynasty, even if you dig three feet into the ground, you have to pull out Liu Heimin. Therefore, Li Jiancheng formulated the next battle plan, at all costs, to pursue the remnants of the rebels, and strive to capture or kill Liu Heimin.

After Liu Heimin fled, Li Jiancheng never stopped pursuing him. At that time, Li Jiancheng ordered the general Liu Hongji to personally lead the cavalry troops of the Tang Army to cross the Yongji Canal and pursue the remnants of Liu Heimin. At this time, the strong desire to survive inspired Liu Heimin to flee with all his might day and night. Similarly, in order to be able to capture Liu Heimin alive, the Tang Army's pursuers were also chasing day and night, non-stop.

As the saying goes, you can't escape. The Tang army has already laid a net of heaven and earth, no matter how Liu Heimin escapes, he still can't escape from the Five Fingers Mountain of the Buddha. In the end, under the layers of round-up and pursuit by the Tang army, Liu Heimin still became a fish in Li Tang's net, and was betrayed by his trusted subordinates and dedicated to the Tang Dynasty.

In the blink of an eye, in the first month of the sixth year of Wude (623), after a long journey, Liu Heimin fled to Raozhou. At that time, Raozhou was still Liu Heimin's territory. Stationed in Raozhou is Liu Heimin's cronies - Raozhou Thorn Shi Zhuge Dewei. It was this Zhuge Dewei who finally ruined Liu Heimin's life.

To put it mildly, Liu Heimin at this time is actually no different from a lost dog. When Liu Heimin fled to Raoyang, there were only more than 100 remnants left around him, tired and hungry, and he had no ability to resist at all. Therefore, Liu Heimin urgently needs to find a place to settle down and take a good rest.

At this moment, Zhuge Dewei personally went out of the city to welcome Liu Heimin and his party into the city. However, Liu Heimin hesitated, he was not sure of Zhuge Dewei's loyalty, after all, he was now defeated. He was worried that Zhuge Dewei and the Tang Dynasty secretly communicated with each other, deliberately lured himself into the city, and then caught them all. Under hesitation, Liu Heimin maintained a high degree of vigilance, refused to enter the city for a long time, and stayed outside the city.

In order to dispel Liu Heimin's suspicions, Zhuge Dewei actually "wept and insisted on please", whimpering in public, crying and chirping to express his loyalty to Liu Heimin. In the end, Liu Heimin completely let down his guard and followed Zhuge Dewei into the city. When they walked to the market in the city, Liu Heimin and his party stopped to rest, and they couldn't walk anymore. For this reason, Zhuge Dewei specially gave them food. It seems to be caring, but in fact it is a hidden murderous motive.

It turned out that Zhuge Dewei had already made contact with the Tang Army and planned to trap Liu Heimin and give it to the Tang Dynasty as a meeting gift. Therefore, when Liu Heimin and others were eating, Zhuge Dewei gave an order, ambushed the soldiers in all directions, and then detained Liu Heimin and more than 100 entourages. Liu Heimin was caught off guard and became the turtle in his urn. Then, Zhuge Dewei raised the city to the Tang Dynasty, and at the same time, escorted Liu Heimin and other henchmen and cronies together and sent them to the crown prince Li Jiancheng:

When the prince sent Liu Hongji to chase the black man, the black man was forced by the officials and soldiers, and he could not rest when he ran away, and when he arrived in Raoyang, there were only more than 100 people from the servant, and he was very discouraged. Dulwich went out to welcome, and the black and black were not allowed to enter the city; Dulwich wept and persisted, and the black man followed. Rest in the city next to the city, Dulwich feeds food; Before the food was finished, Dwyler insisted on it, sent the prince, and his brother Shishan was beheaded in Zhouzhou. (Information Governance Guide)

In the end, the crown prince Li Jiancheng ordered Liu Heimin and his brother Liu Shishan to be escorted to Zhaozhou and beheaded for public display. In the end, Liu Heimin still couldn't escape the catastrophe, and ended up in a different place like the old master Dou Jiande. Before the execution, Liu Heimin let out a lament: "I am fortunate to be cooking at home, and I have been mistakenly made by Gao Yaxian!" "I used to grow vegetables at home to survive, if I wasn't picked up by Gao Yaxian and others, why wouldn't I be like this!

It must be admitted that Liu Heimin was the most tenacious enemy encountered by the Tang Dynasty on the road to dominating the world. He was good at seizing the opportunity, responding to every call, and twice raised troops against the Tang Dynasty, turning the calm Hebei upside down, and making the Li Tang Dynasty pay a huge price. In order to eliminate this stubborn enemy, Tang Gaozu Li Yuan successively appointed Li Shimin, the king of Qin, and Li Jiancheng, the crown prince, to take command of the expedition, which shows that Liu Heimin was a great threat to the Tang Dynasty; However, Liu Heimin was only a flash in the pan after all, and after the scenery, it was still difficult to escape the tragic fate of his demise. After experiencing the defeat of the Battle of Lishui and the Battle of Guantao, his vitality was greatly injured, and he collapsed, becoming a prisoner of the Li Tang Dynasty. In the "Old Tang Book", Liu Heimin's failure is commented on as follows:

Black and open, brave and unplanned, taking care of his teacher, only a madman, all killed by his subordinates, the way to control the crowd is absurd. ("Old Tang Book: The Biography of Liu Heimin")

In any case, with the beheading of Liu Heimin and Liu Shishan brothers in Zhaozhou, it marked that the most powerful rebel force in Hebei was completely uprooted. The Li Tang Dynasty rebelled in Hebei, won a decisive victory, and pacified the rebellions in Hebei and Shandong.

Although, Liu Heimin's soldiers were defeated and died, ending in death. However, this does not mean that the Hebei rebellion has been completely quelled. The elimination of Liu Heimin's rebel forces was only a decisive victory for the Tang Dynasty in quelling the rebellion in Hebei, not the final victory. At that time, there were three major anti-Tang forces in Hebei and Shandong, and Liu Heimin was the most powerful of them. In addition, there are two other anti-Tang forces: Xu Yuanlang and Gao Kaidao.

Therefore, if we want to completely put down the rebellion in Hebei, we must eliminate the other two rebel forces in one go. After the elimination of Liu Heimin, the Tang army's soldiers, naturally, aimed at Xu Yuanlang and Gao Kaidao. Among these two rebel forces, the first to be destroyed was the weaker Xu Yuanlang.

As for Xu Yuanlang, as mentioned above, he is a typical speculator. In the turbulent times of the late Sui Dynasty and early Tang Dynasty, Xu Yuanlang changed hands and met left and right. Later, Liu Heimin rebelled, and Xu Yuanlang immediately responded to the rebels and raised the banner of anti-Tang. For a long time, Xu Yuanlang has actively cooperated with Liu Heimin, responded to the main force of the rebels, and contained the Tang Army, and was Liu Heimin's number one accomplice and the first thug, which played a role in restricting the actions of the Tang Army.

During the entire Hebei rebellion, Xu Yuanlang had been making trouble in the rear of the Tang Dynasty, making some small moves to make the Tang Dynasty exhausted. Therefore, the Tang Dynasty has long regarded Xu Yuanlang as a thorn in the eye and a thorn in the flesh, and always wants to find an opportunity to clean up this guy who is not self-sufficient. It's just that in the situation at that time, the main energy of the Tang Dynasty was all on how to deal with Liu Heimin, and there was no time to take care of Xu Yuanlang, which made Xu Yuanlang more and more unrestrictive.

Soon, in the Battle of Lishui, Liu Heimin was defeated and was forced to flee to the Turks, and the Tang army finally freed up his hands to teach Xu Yuanlang a lesson. In July of the fifth year of Wude (622), Li Shimin, the king of Qin, personally led the Tang army, sent troops on a large scale, conquered Xu Yuanlang, and connected more than ten cities, and the sound shook Huai and Si. After this battle, Xu Yuanlang's rebel forces suffered heavy losses, and many of the territories under his jurisdiction were taken by the Tang army.

It should be said that since then, Xu Yuanlang has been declining day by day, and he no longer has the ability to organize a large-scale provocation against the Tang Dynasty, and he can only wait for death. Especially the defeat of Liu Heimin, the only protective umbrella that Xu Yuanlang relied on, collapsed with a bang. His end is also coming soon.

At the beginning, Li Shimin, the king of Qin, led his army into Caozhou and severely damaged Xu Yuanlang's main force, seeing that Xu Yuanlang was already difficult to achieve, he decided to return to the dynasty. Before Li Shimin's class, he left Li Shentong, the king of Huai'an, Ren Gui, the head of the march, and the famous general Li Shichang and others to continue to attack Xu Yuanlang and deal with this rebel army.

In the face of the Tang army's large-scale siege, Xu Yuanlang organized his troops several times to go out of the city to fight the Tang army, trying to break out. As a result, they were all defeated by the Tang army and returned home. At this time, the people in the city were panicked, and many people climbed over the city wall and surrendered to the Tang army. Under the betrayal of his relatives, Xu Yuanlang had no choice but to stay in the lonely city and struggle to survive. But he also understands that if it goes on like this, it won't last long.

In February of the sixth year of Wude (623), Xu Yuanlang knew that he was at the end of the road and was unwilling to sit still. So, Xu Yuanlang simply took advantage of the chaos to escape, led several cavalry, and abandoned the city. Xu Yuanlang, who thought he had picked up a life, never thought that on the way to escape, he would be recognized by the villagers on the road. These villagers rushed up and killed Xu Yuanlang on the spot. After Xu Yuanlang's death, the Tang army immediately annexed all of his territory.

In this way, the two major anti-Tang forces, Liu Heimin and Xu Yuanlang, were defeated and fell one after another. The rest of the group is only the Gao Kaidao force. Therefore, the last battle to quell the Hebei rebellion is also the final battle, which is to destroy the Gao Kaidao military group and truly restore the calm situation in Hebei.

At the time of the Hebei Rebellion, there were three giants in Hebei and Shandong, they were Liu Heimin, Xu Yuanlang, and Gao Kaidao. Like Xu Yuanlang, after Liu Heimin rebelled, Gao Kaidao also raised the anti-flag, responded to Liu Heimin, and formed an alliance with Liu Heimin. At that time, Gao Kaidao was mainly active in the Youzhou area, constantly attacking Youzhou, attacking the Tang Dynasty's Youzhou guard Luo Yi's department, and containing the Tang army, which made Luo Yi suffer a lot of big losses.

According to historical records, Gao Kaidao was fierce and cruel, and had a thirst for killing. This person's cruelty is not only extremely vicious to others, but also to himself, even to the point of shocking. For example, the history books record a story about the cruelty of Gao Kaidao:

There is an arrow in the cheek of the opening road, and the doctor is called out, and the doctor says: "The arrow is deep, and it cannot be released." "Open the way and be angry, cut it. Don't call a doctor, say: "I'm afraid of pain." "Slashed again. He even called a doctor, and the doctor said, "You can come out." "It is a chiseled bone, and a wedge is placed in the middle, and the bone is cracked by more than an inch, and it is out of its arrow; The prostitutes of the opening road did not stop eating. (Information Governance Guide)

This text records that when Gao Kaidao first raised troops in Youzhou and rebelled against the Tang Dynasty, he was shot through the cheek by an arrow from the Tang army during a battle. Gao Kaidao, who was seriously injured, called a doctor and asked him to pull out the arrow for him. However, the doctor looked at the injuries and said that the arrow had been shot too deep to be pulled. After hearing this, Gao Kaidao was furious and immediately beheaded the doctor. Then, another doctor was called. The doctor looked at it and said that if he pulled out the arrow, it would be extremely painful. Gao Kaidao didn't say a word, and beheaded the second doctor.

After killing two doctors in a row, Gao Kaidao called a third doctor. The third doctor, seeing the fate of the two peers in front of him, said tremblingly, he can pull it out. So, the doctor began to perform "surgery" for Gao Kaidao. I saw that the doctor cut Gao Kaidao's cheek, chiseled the bone, drove the wedge, and the bone cracked more than an inch, and took out the arrow alive. During the whole operation, Gao Kaidao's face did not change color and his heart did not beat, and he also enjoyed singing and dancing while eating with relish.

From this incident, it can be seen that Gao Kaidao's character is bloody, violent and cruel. Such a person, once the world is in turmoil, will be a demonic existence, millions of heads will fall to the ground, and lives will be ruined. Therefore, as the Li Tang Dynasty, which is about to enter the great unified empire, it must not allow such a person to continue to do whatever he wants.

Let's talk about Gao Kaidao.

Previously, when a large-scale military rebellion broke out in Hebei, Gao Kaidao colluded with Liu Heimin and Xu Yuanlang to form an anti-Tang front and form a "three-in-one" alliance. Now, Liu Heimin and Xu Yuanlang, among the three giants of Hebei, have both been defeated, and only Gao Kaidao is left alone.

At this time, the situation is already very obvious. If Gao Kaidao continues to resist stubbornly, he will definitely not have his good fruit to eat. Moreover, after the Tang Dynasty eliminated Liu Heimin and Xu Yuanlang, the next target must be the isolated Gao Kaidao. Therefore, for Gao Kaidao, the wisest choice is, of course, to give up resistance and take the initiative to surrender to Li Tang, perhaps to protect his own body and not lose his position as a prince.

The problem is that Gao Kaidao is stubborn and refuses to admit defeat. In his opinion, the reason why Liu Heimin and Xu Yuanlang were defeated was because they were useless, and if they were themselves, they would definitely not be like this. Therefore, after the successive defeats of Liu Heimin and Xu Yuanlang, Gao Kaidao continued to resist stubbornly against the central government of the Tang Dynasty. Not to mention, Gao Kaidao was really "strong" enough, and he resisted stubbornly until the beginning of the seventh year of Wude (624).

From May 28 to September 29 in the sixth year of Wude (623), during this period, Gao Kaidao often gathered nomadic tribes such as Turkic, Xi, and Yan to invade Youzhou and surrounding towns in the Tang Dynasty. Of course, at that time, the overall situation of the Tang Dynasty in Hebei had been decided. Gao Kaidao's small fights are obviously loud thunder and small raindrops. Therefore, Gao Kaidao invaded Youzhou several times, but was defeated by the defenders of the Tang Dynasty and made him disgraced.

Not surprisingly, Gao Kaidao's "death mode" finally "made" himself to death. Soon, in February of the seventh year of Wude (624), Gao Kaidao ushered in his end, and after all, he was still bound to perish. Moreover, his demise still came from the backlash of the internal generals.

In the seventh year of Wude (624), at this time, the trend of the Tang Dynasty dominating the world has become more and more obvious. Gao Kaidao is very clear that there is no point in resisting any longer. Therefore, for a period of time, Gao Kaidao once had the idea of descending to the Tang Dynasty. But soon, Gao Kaidao dispelled this idea. The reason is very simple, Gao Kaidao relied on the Turkic support behind him, and the Tang Dynasty didn't dare to do anything to himself, so he planned to resist to the end.

However, Gao Kaidao wanted to continue to resist stubbornly, but his subordinates had already been discouraged. Why? It turned out that most of Gao Kaidao's subordinates were from Shandong, and they were homesick at the moment and didn't want to fight. Under such circumstances, they are bound to contradict Gao Kaidao and regard Gao Kaidao as the biggest obstacle.

It didn't take long for the two generals under Gao Kaidao, Zhang Jinshu and Zhang Junli, to move in private. Among them, Zhang Jinshu is Gao Kaidao's henchman, and Zhang Junli is the original Liu Heimin's general, after Liu Heimin's death, he defected to Gao Kaidao's command. At this time, Zhang Junli saw that Gao Kaidao was the enemy of the Tang Dynasty, and it was clear that it was a moth to fight the fire. In order to leave a way back for himself, Zhang Junli privately united with Zhang Jinshu, and the two conspired to murder Gao Kaidao, and then surrendered to Li Tang.

Zhang Jinshu and Zhang Junli launched a conspiracy to get rid of Gao Kaidao. Since you want to kill Gao Kaidao, you must be foolproof. It just so happened that there was an opportunity at that time.

Gao Kaidao raised hundreds of private soldiers on weekdays, all of whom were strong in martial arts, brave and good at fighting, known as "fake sons", equivalent to Gao Kaidao's guards. Gao Kaidao trusts these hundreds of "fakes" very much, and often lets them enter the cabinet and be close to the guard. What's even more coincidental is that the leader of these "fake sons" is none other than Zhang Jinshu. Zhang Jinshu and Zhang Junli conspired to kill Gao Kaidao, so these "fakes" must be solved.

How can we get rid of these "fakes"? Zhang Jinshu thought of a way, he sent a few henchmen into the inner courtyard, and on the surface they talked and laughed with the "fake sons", so that they were paralyzed and careless. Behind the scenes, Zhang Jinshu's cronies are in full swing to prepare. They took advantage of the unpreparedness of the "fake sons" to break all the bowstrings of these people, and hid their sabers and lances under the beds, and no one noticed them.

After everything was ready, Zhang Jinshu and Zhang Junli decided to do it. One night, Zhang Jinshu led the crowd to storm Gao Kaidao's mansion. The "fake sons" were shocked and prepared to get weapons to resist the attack. As a result, I was surprised to find that all the bowstrings were broken, and the saber and lance were missing. Without weapons, the mentality of the "fakes" collapsed in an instant, and they surrendered to Zhang Jinshu one after another. At this time, Zhang Junli also raised a fire outside the city, echoing Zhang Jinshu inside and outside.

Until this time, Gao Kaidao completely understood that the general trend had gone, and he could not escape death today. So, Gao Kaidao sat majestically in the lobby wearing armor and holding weapons. Everyone knew that Gao Kaidao was brave and did not dare to step forward, but just surrounded him in the center of the lobby.

Immediately afterwards, Gao Kaidao played music and drank with his wives and concubines to make a final farewell. When it was almost dawn, Gao Kaidao stood up and hanged all his wives and concubines and all his sons. Then, Gao Kaidao committed suicide and ended his life. After Gao Kaidao committed suicide, Zhang Jinshu immediately crossed the river and demolished the bridge, turned his face, killed all the "dummies" of Gao Kaidao, and killed his ally Zhang Junli, and there were more than 500 dead.

After cutting the grass and eradicating the roots, Zhang Jinshu sent an envoy to the Tang Dynasty. The Tang Dynasty set up a prefecture in the old land of the original Gaokaidao, managed it, and appointed Zhang Jinshu as the governor of Northern Yanzhou. At this point, the Tang Dynasty completely annexed Gao Kaidao's sphere of influence. The last anti-Tang force in Hebei was completely wiped out:

When you open the way, you see that the world is decided, and if you want to descend, you think that you are repeated, and you don't dare; And the Turks had no intention of surrendering. Its generals are all from Shandong, homesick, salty and centrifuged. Hundreds of brave men were selected to open the way, called the false son, and often went straight to the cabinet, so that the golden tree led it. Therefore, Liu Heimin killed Zhang Junli in the opening of the road and conspired with Jin Shu to open the way. Jin Shu sent several people from his party into the cabinet, played with the dummy son, Xiang Xi, dived its bowstring, hid the knife lance under the bed, closed the twilight, hugged it out, Jin Shu Shuai and his party made a big noise, attacked the Dao Pavilion, the dummy son will be royal, and the bowstring is absolute, the knife and lance have been lost, and the fight to surrender; Junli also raised fire outside and correspondingly, disturbing inside and outside. Kaidao knew that it was inevitable, but he sat in the hall with armor and soldiers, played music and drank with his wife and concubine, and everyone was afraid of his courage and did not dare to force it. The sky is clear, and the wives and concubines and sons who open the way are committing suicide. Jinshu Chen Bing, all the fake sons beheaded him, and killed Jun Li, more than 500 people died. Send an envoy to surrender, and the edict will place it in Yanzhou. (Information Governance Guide)

The collapse of the Gao Kaidao military clique was actually the finishing work to quell the Hebei rebellion. The fall of Gao Kaidao marked the final and complete pacification of the Hebei rebellion, which lasted for several years; It also marked that the main secessionist regimes in the northern region were basically swept away by the Li Tang Dynasty. Of course, there are still some scattered small separatist forces still entrenched in the north, but in fact there is nothing to worry about. Overall, the Tang Dynasty achieved the unification of the north.

Of course, the elimination of the Gao Kaidao group took place in February of the seventh year of Wude (624). However, this is only the end of the counterinsurgency in Hebei. Since the defeat of Xu Yuanlang in February of the sixth year of Wude (623), the Li Tang Dynasty has won a complete victory in Hebei. As the commander of the Tang Army in Hebei for the second time, the crown prince Li Jiancheng returned to Beijing in September of the sixth year of Wude (623) after the victory of the counterinsurgency war, ending the second journey of counterinsurgency in Hebei.

The second rebellion in Hebei in the Tang Dynasty undoubtedly made the crown prince Li Jiancheng shine. For Li Jiancheng, there are at least two major gains in this expedition to Hebei.

First, it has established a certain prestige militarily.

As we all know, if it comes to military achievements, no one in the Tang Dynasty can be on the right side of Li Shimin, the king of Qin. In the eyes of everyone, the military talent of the crown prince Li Jiancheng is obviously not as brilliant as Li Shimin. However, this time the rebellion in Hebei made everyone look at Li Jiancheng with admiration.

No one thought that Li Jiancheng, the prince who had always been gentle and elegant and had not led troops for a long time, won a huge victory at a very small price, pacified Hebei in one fell swoop, eliminated the stubborn enemy Liu Heimin, and made a contribution to the Tang Dynasty's unification of the world. It is precisely because of the military exploits of quelling the rebellion in Hebei that Li Jiancheng has the capital and strength to compete with Li Shimin's Qinwang group in military terms.

Second, in the political aspect, it has cultivated forces belonging to the princely clique.

Before Li Jiancheng asked Ying to go to Hebei, Wei Zheng suggested to him that the advantages of taking command of Hebei are, on the one hand, being able to compete with Li Shimin's Qinwang group in terms of military merits; On the other hand, they can also take the opportunity to develop their own power and accumulate capital in order to confront Li Shimin, the king of Qin.

You must know that Li Shimin fought horses for half his life, covered the world, from Jinyang to command the unification war in the early Tang Dynasty, Li Shimin laid down half of the Tang Dynasty. Therefore, Li Shimin had absolute authority in the army and also gained power commensurate with his merits. For example, because of his perennial conquest and outstanding military achievements, Li Shimin took charge of the two major platforms of Shaanxi East Road and Yizhou Road, and managed Luoyang and Sichuan into his own Qinwang Group's sphere of influence.

Li Jiancheng has a deep understanding of this, and he also has to run his own sphere of influence. Therefore, Wei Zheng suggested that the crown prince Li Jiancheng take the opportunity of going to Hebei to make friends with Shandong Haojie and include the area east of Kunshan into the prince's party. In fact, Li Jiancheng did. During the expedition to Hebei, Li Jiancheng actively befriended Shandong Haojie, making the area east of Kunshan a base for Li Jiancheng's operation.

How so? One thing is enough to show that it can be seen how great Li Jiancheng's influence in Shandong is.

After Li Shimin killed his eldest brother Li Jiancheng and his fourth brother Li Yuanji, he conquered the opposition forces from the prince and the king of Qi through a series of political means. However, the area east of the old camp of Li Jiancheng is not peaceful. The area east of the Kunshan Mountains was the base area operated by Li Jiancheng when he pacified Liu Heimin. Although, Li Jiancheng is dead, and the prince group has been destroyed. However, the remnants of the East Palace in Shandong still exist, and they may attack Li Shimin at any time to avenge Li Jiancheng. Therefore, Li Shimin must set about stabilizing the situation in Shandong.

After thinking about it repeatedly, Li Shimin decided to appease the old prince in Shandong. So, Li Shimin handed over this task to Wei Zheng, the number one strategist of the original crown prince Li Jiancheng, who had just been appointed as a counselor, and asked Wei Zheng to appease Li Jiancheng's remaining party in Shandong.

On July 11, the ninth year of Wude (626), Li Shimin appointed Wei Zheng as a special envoy to the area east of Kunshan Mountain to appease the people of the Eastern Palace. Moreover, Li Shimin gave Wei Zheng a privilege, allowing him to act cheaply, and when necessary, he could act at the opportunity and make decisions on the spot.

Wei Zheng rushed to the Shandong region, and when he traveled to Cizhou, he happened to meet two old people: Li Zhi'an, the former crown prince, and Li Sixing, the protector of the Qi Palace. At this time, the two of them were being escorted by the local state and county and were about to be sent to Chang'an. Seeing this, Wei Zheng immediately announced the order of the new crown prince Li Shimin to forgive his political opponents:

On the day I was ordained, the front palace and the Qi Mansion were all pardoned; Now send the teacher to the line, etc., who does not doubt themselves! Though they send messengers, who believes them! I can't take care of my own hatred and don't worry about the country. And since he has been met by a national soldier, he dares not to repay him with a national soldier! (Information Governance Guide)

Then, Wei Zheng ordered that Li Zhi'an, Li Sixing and others be released. Of course, Li Shimin was very happy about this. Inspired by Li Shimin's policy of appeasement, the vast area east of the Kushan Mountains quickly stabilized. Just imagine, if Li Jiancheng failed to cultivate his own power in Shandong in the first place, why did Li Shimin go to such great lengths to appease the prince group when it had already collapsed?

As far as Li Jiancheng is concerned, this rebellion against Hebei can be described as fame and fortune. Similarly, for Li Shimin, the two counterinsurgency wars in Hebei also left a deep impression on his heart, and even significant significance. The Hebei rebellion taught Li Shimin many thought-provoking lessons, that is, it made him understand the importance of the people's support and understand that force is sometimes not omnipotent.

Over the years, Li Shimin has been invincible on the battlefield, like a bamboo, and many heroes in troubled times have been defeated at the hands of this King of Qin. Therefore, in this way, Li Shimin is too superstitious about force. In his opinion, on the road to the Tang Dynasty's domination of the world, there is no stone that cannot be smashed by itself. However, the suppression of the rebellion in Hebei really taught this invincible god of war a good lesson.

Originally, in the "Battle of the Flood", Li Shimin relied on his extraordinary military talent and used the strategy of flooding the enemy camp with water to defeat Liu Heimin's main force and achieve brilliant results. However, after the war, Li Shimin failed to pacify the situation in Hebei in time, resulting in the resurgence of Liu Heimin and the regeneration of rebellion in Hebei. All the efforts of the Tang Army in the "Battle of the Water" were all wasted. If Li Shimin had paid attention to appeasing people's hearts, the development of things might not have been like this.

It is precisely because of this that the Hebei Rebellion had an important impact on Li Shimin's life and career. This war made Li Shimin understand a truth: Force is the means to decide the war, but it is not the only means, and the will of the people is the key factor in determining the outcome of the war.

In particular, after Li Shimin became emperor, he paid special attention to the importance of the people to the country and the role of the people's will in maintaining the rule. What is commendable is that Li Shimin, Taizong of the Tang Dynasty, summed up the famous theory of governing the country, "water can carry a boat, but it can also overturn a boat", which has become the governing concept that he has always regarded as the guideline.

The eight words "water can carry a boat, but it can also overturn a boat" inspired Li Shimin to become a glorious generation of Ming Jun and create a famous "Zhenguan Rule" that will go down in history. This is closely related to his experience of countering the rebellion in Hebei when he was young. If there was no such special experience of war. Perhaps, Li Shimin will become the second Emperor Yang of Sui; Maybe Li Shimin himself will not become the Emperor of the Thousand Autumns Tang Taizong who will be admired by future generations!

All of the above is said that the pacification of the Hebei rebellion has different meanings for the brothers Li Jiancheng and Li Shimin. In addition, the victory of the Hebei Counterinsurgency War also had a far-reaching impact on the great cause of the Li Tang Dynasty to unify the world. At the very least, there are two important implications.

First, this is a special kind of war.

The two wars of Hebei were different from the previous wars of unification in the Tang Dynasty. In the past, the wars of reunification were all wars launched by Li Tang against a certain separatist regime. But this time it was different, it was a counterinsurgency war. To be precise, it was a war fought by Dou Jiande's old ministry against the Tang Dynasty and the Tang Dynasty quelled the rebellion.

It was precisely because of the particularity of this war that the Li Tang Dynasty adopted a special coping strategy for this purpose. It is necessary not only to focus on the use of force to requisit, but also to pay more attention to appeasing Huairou. Only by using force and appeasement can we end the war and stabilize the situation as soon as possible. Quelling the rebellion in Hebei played an important guiding role in the future unification war of the Li Tang Dynasty.

Second, it consolidated the position of the lord of the Central Plains of the Li Tang Dynasty.

The pacification of the Hebei rebellion was, in fact, a continuation of the Tang Dynasty's unification of the Central Plains. Previously, in the fourth year of Wude (621), the "Battle of Tiger Pass" initiated by Li Shimin, the king of Qin, broke the main force of more than 100,000 Xia troops of Dou Jiande, conquered Luoyang in one fell swoop, and flattened the two major separatist regimes of Zheng and Xia entrenched in the Central Plains, realized the grand wish of the Tang Dynasty to dominate the Central Plains, and completed a crucial step in the Tang Dynasty's strategy of unifying the world.

However, the sudden Hebei rebellion disrupted the original deployment of the Tang Dynasty and seriously threatened the rule of the Li Tang Dynasty over the Central Plains. In order to defend the fruits of the Tang army's victory in Luoyang's eastward expedition and consolidate the status of the lord of the Central Plains, the Tang Dynasty spent nearly two years mobilizing heavy troops, and successively appointed Li Shimin, the king of Qin, and Li Jiancheng, the crown prince, to take command of the expedition to conquer Liu Heimin's rebels, and finally put down the rebellion and exterminated the rebel forces in Hebei.

The significance of quelling the Hebei rebellion lies in the fact that it completely eliminated the three anti-Tang forces in Hebei, greatly encircled the hearts of the people in Hebei, and achieved a military and political victory. It should be said that the strategy of quelling the Hebei rebellion and the Li Tang Dynasty's entry into the Central Plains can be regarded as complete in the true sense.

Through two years of operations to quell the Hebei rebellion, the Tang Dynasty eliminated the three strong enemies from Hebei and Shandong in one fell swoop: Liu Heimin, Xu Yuanlang, and Gao Kaidao, consolidating the Tang Dynasty's rule over the Central Plains and successfully defending the fruits of the victory of the Eastern Expedition to Luoyang. Since then, the Central Plains has no worries.

At the same time, there is a more important meaning to quell the rebellion in Hebei. Since then, there has never been any military force in the north that can stop the pace of the Tang Dynasty's domination of the world. The important secessionist regimes in the northern region were basically swept away by the Li Tang Dynasty.

The annihilation of the northern separatist forces, and the obstacles on the road to Li Tang's reunification are becoming less and less. It can be said that the domination of the world by the Tang Dynasty has become an irresistible historical trend. Next, the Li Tang Dynasty will implement the last step of the strategy of unifying the world, send troops to the south, sweep away the heroes in the south of the Yangtze River, realize the unification of the north and the south, complete the national unification, and end the war and chaos since the end of the Sui Dynasty.

So, when the Tang Dynasty was fighting to the death with a strong enemy in the north, what was the situation in the southern region on the other side of the Yangtze River? In the face of the Jiangnan heroes whose strength should not be underestimated, what kind of strategy and tactics will the Li Tang Dynasty adopt to annex the southern separatist forces one by one? In the process of the duel between the Tang Dynasty and the Jiangnan heroes, what kind of game was staged between temples, battlefields, and diplomacy?