Since the end of the Sui Dynasty, the Central Plains and the north have been chasing each other, and the soldiers have been in trouble. At the same time, the Jianghuai region in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River is also in constant turmoil. The three heroes of Jianghuai, represented by Du Fuwei, Li Zitong, and Shen Faxing, fought to the death in order to compete for the Jianghuai region. It was not until the third year of Wude (620) that the situation gradually became clear.

Under the dark operation of the Tang Dynasty, Du Fuwei sent troops to break Li Zitong's department and capture his territory. Then, Li Zitong was unwilling to fail, and raised troops to defeat Shen Faxing, collected all the areas under Shen Faxing's jurisdiction, and made a comeback. As for Shen Faxing, after this defeat, there was no day to turn over, and finally fell to the end of the road and committed suicide.

In just a few years, the iron triangle of the Jianghuai region has been constantly fighting each other. In the end, Shen Faxing was the first of the "Big Three" to perish. This is also the law of troubled times when the weak eat the strong, and the capable prevail. Although, Shen Faxing was defeated and died. However, the situation of Du Fuwei and Li Zitong is not much better. The so-called killing of a thousand enemies and self-loss of eight hundred, the two have fought for so many years, and their respective losses are definitely not small, and neither of them has eaten each other.

Originally, Du Fuwei thought that if he defeated Li Zitong's main force, he would be able to complete it, and Li Zitong would definitely collapse. Unexpectedly, Li Zitong found another way, and then ended Shen Faxing, occupied Shen's hometown, and came back from the dead. This can give Du Fuwei a headache, it seems that this Li Zitong is really a difficult opponent. In such adversity, he can also turn the tables against the wind.

In any case, the defeat of Shen Faxing has changed the military posture of Jianghuai, from the original three-legged confrontation of Du Fuwei, Li Zitong, and Shen Faxing, to the confrontation between Du Fuwei and Li Zitong. Anyone with a discerning eye can see that there will be another decisive battle between the two sides after all.

As far as the Li Tang Dynasty is concerned, of course, it hopes that Du Fuwei and Li Zitong will fight as hard as possible. The two of them fought to the end, no matter who won or lost on both sides, it was what the Tang Dynasty wanted to see. If one can destroy the other, it is naturally best; Even if neither of them can destroy the other, it would be better to lose both. In this way, in the future, the Tang army swept the south of the Yangtze River, and it could also reduce a certain military pressure, which was the overall strategy of the Tang Dynasty.

Similarly, Du Fuwei and Li Zitong both understand that this decisive battle cannot be avoided. First of all, from Du Fuwei's point of view, he has always regarded Li Zitong as a thorn in his side and a thorn in his flesh, and he always wants to destroy this annoying rival. Secondly, since Li Zitong defeated Shen Faxing's forces, he has gradually recovered his vitality, and he has also gathered some troops and has a certain amount of capital, which can compete with Du Fuwei.

Just when Du Fuwei and Li Zitong were at a standoff in the Jianghuai region, in the north at this time, in the Central Plains battlefield, Li Shimin, the king of Qin, was leading the Tang Dynasty's eastward expeditionary army and fighting hard with Wang Shichong under the city of Luoyang. The time soon came to the fourth year of Wude (621), and in the first month of this year, Du Fuwei took the initiative to contact the Tang Dynasty.

At that time, Li Shimin, the king of Qin, was commanding the main force of the Tang army to storm Luoyang City. At this time, Du Fuwei, who was far away in Jianghuai, suddenly appointed his generals Chen Zhengtong and Xu Shaozong to lead 2,000 elite soldiers to Luoyang to join forces with Li Shimin and assist the Tang army in attacking Luoyang. With the help of 2,000 Jianghuai soldiers, it was undoubtedly a tiger with wings for Li Shimin's attack on Luoyang.

Of course, 2,000 soldiers and horses are not much. In doing so, Duvowe was at best a posturing. Although, Du Fuwei ostensibly surrendered to Li Tang and accepted the canonization of the Tang Dynasty. But, in fact, the relationship between the two sides is quite delicate. To be precise, the Tang Dynasty and Du Fuwei were in a relationship of mutual use. The Tang Dynasty needed to use the forces in Du Fuwei's hands to act as Li Tang's "thug" to pacify Jianghuai, and kill people with a knife; At the same time, Du Fuwei also needed to use the prestige of the Tang Dynasty to embolden himself, so as to completely eliminate his old enemy Li Zitong and wear the crown of the lord of Jianghuai.

Moreover, although Du Fuwei surrendered to the Tang Dynasty, both sides knew that this was only a superficial relationship between monarchs and ministers, and they looked like they were separated. Li Tang could not exercise effective control over Du Fuwei's territory; In the same way, Duvowe is only superficially subordinate, but in fact it is still the nature of a secessionist regime.

With Du Fuwei's strength, it is impossible to compete with the rising Tang Dynasty, which is about to enter the Central Plains, and Du Fuwei is still self-aware about this. Du Fuwei knew that once the Tang Dynasty entered the Central Plains and destroyed Wang Shichong and Dou Jiande, it would inevitably move south and pacify Jianghuai. Therefore, if he wanted to permanently sit on the Jianghuai, Du Fuwei had to show goodwill to the Tang Dynasty in advance, so he sent 2,000 elite soldiers to cooperate with the Tang army to besiege Luoyang.

After reaching some kind of consensus with the Tang Dynasty, the relationship between the two sides seems to be a little closer. The Tang Dynasty, on the surface, seemed to have acquiesced in Du Fuwei's attack on Li Zitong. Similarly, with the help of the prestige of the Tang Dynasty, Du Fuwei was ready to make a move against Li Zitong.

In November of the fourth year of Wude (621), Du Fuwei sent his number one general, Wang Xiongdan, to lead an army to attack Li Zitong. One thing that needs to be said is that in the past, whether it was a military operation against Li Zitong or Shen Faxing, Du Fuwei would appoint his friend Fu Gongqi to lead the troops. This time, Du Fuwei was unusual, and did not continue to let Fu Gongyi lead the troops into battle, but replaced Wang Xiong as the chief general of the unified army.

The reason for this is that in the last attack on Li Zitong, Fu Gongyi's performance was not good, and he shrank back, and Du Fuwei was a little dissatisfied with him and questioned his command ability. On the contrary, in the last battle, Wang Xiongdan's performance was particularly outstanding, not only brave and strategic, but also courageous. Therefore, Du Fuwei changed generals this time, and Wang Xiongdan replaced Fu Gongqi and sent troops to attack Li Zitong. Du Fuwei's approach also caused a rift between him and Fu Gongyi:

At the beginning, Fu Wei and Gong Yi fell in love with each other, Gong Yi was older, Fu Wei was every brother, and the army was called an uncle, and he was in awe and Fu Wei. Fu Wei was jealous, in order to sign his adopted son Kan Ling as the left general, Wang Xiong was born as the right general, and pushed the public as a servant, showing respect, and robbing his military power. Gong Yi knew what he meant, and he was upset, but he was far away from the old man Zuo Youxian pseudo-learning Dao Bigu. ("Old Tang Dynasty Book: The Biography of Fu Gong Yi")

Wang Xiongtan led the army to attack in a big way, and fought with Li Zitong's troops in Suzhou. In the face of the menacing Wang Xiongdan's army, Li Zitong hurriedly dispatched elite troops to defend a military fortress - Dusongling. Li Zitong used the elite Chen soldier Dusongling, trying to rely on the geographical advantage of Dusongling to block Wang Xiongdan's attack, drag him to death, and make him retreat in the face of difficulties, so as to defeat the opponent in one fell swoop.

However, Li Zitong's wishful thinking was wrong, and he was the first general in Du Fuwei's camp - Wang Xiongdan. Wang Xiongdan is resourceful and strategic. He knew that Dusong Ridge was surrounded by mountains on three sides, the terrain was steep, easy to defend and difficult to attack, and if he attacked Dusong Ridge from the front, it would definitely cause huge casualties, and maybe it would fall short. Therefore, Wang Xiongtan did not plan to attack, but adopted a roundabout tactic: so he set up a suspicious formation to confuse Li Zitong.

How do you set up doubts? Wang Xiongdan sent his subordinate general Chen Dang, led more than 1,000 troops, took advantage of the night, took advantage of the danger, and forced Li Zitong's department. In addition, Wang Xiongsheng ordered all the soldiers to put up more flags, tie torches to the trees, and spread them among the mountains. At that time, it was night, it was pitch black, looking from afar, I saw the flag covering the sun, the fire was soaring to the sky, there was quite a tendency of a large army to press the border, as if the mountains were full of Wang Xiong's army.

Seeing this situation, Li Zitong's mentality completely collapsed, thinking that he was surrounded by Wang Xiongdan. In the end, Li Zitong was ruthless, ordered to set fire to the camp, and led the army to withdraw to Yuhang. Wang Xiong saw that Li Zitong had run away, how could he let it go in vain, "It is advisable to chase the poor man with the remaining bravery", and pursued all the way until he reached the foot of Yuhang City. Immediately afterwards, the two sides started a big battle under Yuhang City, and Li Zitong was already disheartened at this time and was defeated.

After Li Zitong suffered a great defeat, he led the remnants and retreated to Yuhang City. Then, Wang Xiongdan gathered heavy troops, surrounded Yuhangcheng, and put pressure on Li Zitong to force Li Zitong to surrender out of the city. At this moment, Li Zitong completely understood that he was now gone, and if he continued to resist, it would be tantamount to hitting a stone with an egg and killing himself.

In the end, Li Zitong exhausted his strength and took the initiative to surrender, Du Fuwei accepted his surrender, and escorted Li Zitong to Chang'an with the left servant Le Botong, and handed it over to Tang Gaozu Li Yuan for disposal. At this point, the struggle of the "Big Three" of JAC for many years ended with Du Fuwei's complete victory:

Xiong Dan led the crowd to ask for it, Zitong guarded Dusong Ridge with elite soldiers, Xiong Dan sent his general Chen Dang to lead more than 1,000 people, unexpectedly, take the high risk, multiple flags, and the night is tied to the torch on the tree, full of mountains and rivers. Zitong was afraid, burned the camp and left, and kept in Hangzhou. Xiong Dai chased and defeated it, captured the son through the battle, and sent it to the Beijing Division. ("Old Tang Book: The Biography of Wang Xiong's Birthday")

After Li Zitong was escorted to Chang'an, Tang Gaozu's treatment of him was still relatively magnanimous. Gaozu did not investigate Li Zitong's crimes, but gave him a set of high-end mansions, five hectares of public land, and a number of rewards, countless. In fact, Tang Gaozu put Li Zitong under house arrest in disguise, preparing to let him live in Chang'an for the rest of his life.

It must be said that why did Tang Gaozu not kill Li Zitong, but gave him preferential treatment on the surface, but in fact put him under house arrest? The reason is simple. When Li Zitong's army was defeated and surrendered, Liu Heimin had already raised troops in Hebei to rebel, and the Tang Dynasty was making every effort to quell the Hebei rebellion, and it was estimated that Tang Gaozu would not have time to deal with Li Zitong. On the other hand, Li Yuan also wanted to show the world the open-mindedness of the Tang Dynasty through his tolerant treatment of Li Zitong.

After Li Zitong surrendered, Du Fuwei took all the territories occupied by Li Zitong in one fell swoop, and won a decisive victory in the battle for the lord of Jianghuai. At this time, for Du Fuwei, Shen Faxing and Li Zitong, two strong enemies who have been entangled with him for many years, one died, and the other surrendered. It seems that Du Fuwei has taken the entire territory of Jianghuai, and there is no decent strong opponent. Therefore, the next step was to eliminate the remaining small separatist forces in the Jianghuai region and completely purge the Jianghuai.

Needless to say, this task, Du Fuwei naturally handed over to the loving general Wang Xiongdan to complete, and Wang Xiongdan continued to lead the troops to sweep away the remaining Jianghuai separatist forces. From defeating Li Zitong, it is enough to see Wang Xiongdan's ability, and it is not easy to solve the remaining hills.

After Li Zitong's defeat, Du Fuwei purged Jianghuai and mainly faced two enemies, one was Wang Hua, a thief who occupied Shezhou (now Shexian County, Anhui), and the other was Sui'an, a thief who occupied Kunshan. First of all, Wang Xiongdan aimed the spearhead at Wang Hua, a thief in Shezhou, and was ready to attack him first.

Wang Hua occupies the land of Yi and She, and has been the king for more than ten years, although his strength is not as good as the "Big Three" of Jianghuai, but it is still not to be underestimated. After Wang Xiongtan defeated Li Zitong, he turned his gun and returned to his division to conquer Wang Hua. Wang Hua is not a vegetarian either, he personally led the elite armor warriors, and Chen Bing refused to fight with him at the entrance of Xin'an Cave.

In this regard, Wang Xiongtan immediately made arrangements. On the one hand, he ambushed a group of elite soldiers between the valleys, waiting for an opportunity to move; On the other hand, Wang Xiongdan sent thousands of old and weak soldiers to fight against Wang Hua. Not long after the battle, the thousands of old and weak soldiers feigned defeat and returned to the camp.

Seeing the enemy retreating, Wang Hua immediately led his army to attack the opponent's camp. Unexpectedly, this move was in Wang Xiong's arms. Therefore, Wang Xiongdan ordered the soldiers who stayed in the camp to fight desperately to resist Wang Hua's attack; At the same time, Wang Xiongdan quietly instructed a group of elite soldiers ambushed in the valley to quickly seize the entrance of Xin'an Cave and cut off the back road of Wang Hua's department.

As a result, Wang Hua stormed the camp and could not overcome it for a long time. When they returned to the army in the evening, they found that the entrance to the cave had been captured and the back road had been completely cut off. Therefore, Wang Hua fell into an embarrassing situation where he could not advance or retreat. In desperation, Wang Hua had no choice but to bind himself and surrender to Wang Xiongdan. In this way, Wang Hua's forces, which occupied Shezhou, were easily eliminated by Wang Xiongdan:

First of all, Wang Hua was called the king for more than ten years. Xiong was also attacked by the army, Hua refused to be at the entrance of Xin'an Cave, and the armor soldiers were very sharp. The majestic ambush elite soldiers in the valley, the handsome and weak thousands of prisoners of their Chen, the battle is combined, the yang is invincible, and the camp is returned; Hua attacked, can not be restrained, will be dusk, lead back, the ambush has been based on its hole, Hua can not enter, embarrassed to surrender. (Information Governance Guide)

After pacifying Wang Hua in Shezhou, Wang Xiong struck while the iron was hot, and the soldiers pointed directly at the Suzhou thieves who occupied Kunshan. Wenren Sui'an occupied Kunshan County for a long time, but he had no belonging, was not attached to any separatist regime, and was an independent armed force. At the beginning, when Shen Faxing was cornered, he once led the remnants and prepared to defect to Wenren Sui'an, but in the end he was defeated and committed suicide.

Therefore, after conquering Shezhou, Wang Xiongdan did not stop, led the army to Kunshan, and attacked Wenren Sui'an. After arriving in Kunshan, Wang Xiongtan carefully observed the terrain and found that the terrain of Kunshan was steep, easy to defend and difficult to attack, and it was difficult to win by force, and it would take troops and time to attack. After thinking about it, Wang Xiongdan was not ready to forcibly attack the city, but planned to surrender the soldiers without a fight, persuade the people to surrender, and take Kunshan without blood.

So, Wang Xiongdan rode alone to the city, shouted to Sui'an, the person in the city, and analyzed the current situation, "Chen Guoweiling, show good fortune and misfortune." After careful consideration, Wenren Sui'an understood that he was no longer Du Fuwei's opponent, and it was better to surrender in Kaecheng. Subsequently, Wen Ren Sui'an led the generals out of the city and surrendered. In this way, Wang Xiongdan did not spend a single soldier, recruited Wenren Sui'an, and took Kunshan.

Since before and after, Wang Xiongtan first led the army to defeat Li Zitong and flattened the number one hegemon in the "Big Three" of Jianghuai. Immediately afterwards, Wang Xiongtan sent troops one after another to pacify the two separatist forces of Wang Hua in Shezhou and Wenren Sui'an in Kunshan. Because of this series of military exploits, Wang Xiong was worshiped as the governor of Shezhou and was given the title of Duke of Yichun County. Of course, Wang Xiongdan accepted the canonization of the Tang Dynasty, after all, he was nominally fighting for the Tang Dynasty.

Similarly, with the successive defeats and surrenders of Li Zitong, Wang Hua, and Wenren Sui'an, the Jianghuai region was basically occupied by Du Fuwei. At that time, Du Fuwei's territory was full of Huainan and Jiangdong, and its sphere of influence was "south to the ridge and east to the sea". In other words, Du Fuwei achieved the military unification of the Jianghuai region, became a veritable lord of the Jianghuai region, and fulfilled the long-cherished wish that he had dreamed of for many years.

According to common sense, after several years of unremitting warfare, Du Fuwei finally swept away the heroes of the Jianghuai region and realized the military reunification of the Jianghuai region. Next, he should enjoy the hard-won fruits of victory, and from then on cut off Jianghuai, occupy one side, and claim the king. Basically, every hero in troubled times will have this kind of thought. Even if you can't dominate the four seas and become the lord of the world; It is also a good thing to be a local prince and divide one side.

However, what people never expected was that Du Fuwei purged Jianghuai in less than a year. In July of the fifth year of Wude (622), Du Fuwei actually took the initiative to go to Tang Gaozu and asked to join the court. You must know that once Du Fuwei enters the dynasty and comes to Chang'an, the capital of the Li Tang Dynasty, he will completely lose control of the Jianghuai region, and like Li Zitong, he will be monitored and placed under house arrest by Tang Gaozu in disguise. At that time, Du Fuwei was no longer the lord of Jianghuai on one side.

Some people may say, did Duvowe get water in his brain? It was not appropriate to let the good Jianghuai overlord go, and he actually took the initiative to throw himself into the net and willingly got into the "golden wire cage" of the Li Tang Dynasty. So, why did Du Fuwei ask to enter the DPRK when the Jianghuai was pacified and the situation was very good?

In fact, Du Fuwei invited himself to join the court, completely forced to be helpless, or rather, it was the trend of the times. Here we still want to introduce the changes in the relationship between the Tang Dynasty and Du Fuwei after the purging of Jianghuai.

Du Fuwei's sweep of the Jianghuai heroes can be said to be a mixed blessing for the Tang Dynasty. At this time, the Tang Dynasty had unified the Yellow River Valley, and leveled Wang Shichong and Dou Jiande, the two most powerful separatist forces in the Central Plains, and entered the Central Plains. At the same time, the Tang Dynasty rebelled against Hebei for the first time, and victory was about to be in sight. Therefore, the Tang Dynasty now began to gradually set its sights on Jianghuai Du Fuwei.

First of all, Du Fuwei leveled the Jianghuai heroes, and on the surface, he cleaned up the old enemies entrenched in Jianghuai for the Tang Dynasty, and did not let the Tang Dynasty bother much. Because before, Du Fuwei had already descended to the Tang Dynasty and accepted the canonization of the Tang Dynasty. Therefore, Du Fuwei's use of troops against the Jianghuai heroes is equivalent to the Tang Dynasty's use of troops against the Jianghuai heroes. From this point of view alone, it is indeed a good thing that the Tang Dynasty used Du Fuwei to sweep away the Jianghuai and use its strength to fight without using a single soldier of the Tang army.

At the same time, for Li Tang, there is also a trace of worry. From the beginning to the end, Du Fuwei only nominally surrendered to the Tang Dynasty, and the Tang Dynasty could not directly issue orders to Du Fuwei, nor could it exercise effective management of his territory. Over time, the Du Fu Wei Group has become an independent separatist regime attached to Li Tang, which is also one thing that Tang Gaozu Li Yuan has always been worried about.

With the entry of the Li Tang Dynasty into the Central Plains and the basic pacification of the north, the strategic vision of Li Yuan, the ancestor of the Tang Dynasty, gradually began to move south. As a result, Li Tang began to reconsider the Jianghuai issue and the relationship between the monarch and the minister with Du Fuwei. The Tang Dynasty, which was about to dominate the world, must not allow the emergence of the phenomenon of a country within a country. In the past, the Tang Dynasty had been busy with wars in the north and could only allow this phenomenon to develop. Today is different from the past, and the current Tang Dynasty must put an end to this phenomenon.

How can we put an end to the phenomenon of a nation within a state? Tang Gaozu decided that it was to let Du Fuwei take the initiative to hand over his military power and come to Chang'an to break away from the control of the Jianghuai region. So, how can Du Fuwei obediently hand over the military power? After all, Du Fuwei is a generation of heroes, and ordinary methods cannot make him conform at all; If the method is too extreme, it is very likely to make the Duvowe dog jump off the wall. After thinking about it, Tang Gaozu thought of a trick: knocking on the mountain and shaking the tiger.

At that time, the Tang Dynasty rebelled in Hebei for the first time, and Li Shimin, the king of Qin, commanded the Tang army to launch the "Battle of the Water", digging the dam of the water, flooding the enemy army, defeating the main force of Liu Heimin's rebels, and forcing Liu Heimin to go north to the Turks. The "Battle of Lishui" was won, and the Tang Dynasty achieved the first decisive victory in counterinsurgency in Hebei. After defeating Liu Heimin's main force, Li Shimin immediately sent troops again and aimed at another rebel force, Xu Yuanlang.

Li Shimin's crusade against Xu Yuanlang, on the one hand, was to plough the court and sweep the holes, and clear the rebel forces in Hebei and Shandong in one go; On the other hand, by attacking Xu Yuanlang, knocking on the mountain and shaking the tiger, Du Fuwei of Jianghuai was shocked, and forced him to make up his mind to enter the DPRK as soon as possible. This is actually what Li Yuan, Li Shimin's father and son planned before.

Xu Yuanlang is a person mentioned earlier. In the turbulent times of the late Sui and early Tang Dynasties, Xu Yuanlang changed his court several times and was a typical opportunist. Li Shimin conquered Luoyang, and Xu Yuanlang surrendered to Tang; Later, Liu Heimin raised troops in Hebei to make a rebellion, and Xu Yuanlang raised troops in response to Liu Heimin and betrayed the Tang Dynasty. Throughout the Hebei rebellion, Xu Yuanlang actively cooperated with Liu Heimin and kept making trouble in the rear of the Tang Dynasty.

In addition, the location of Xu Yuanlang's territory is also an extremely embarrassing position. His territory was exactly in the middle of the Tang Dynasty and Du Fuwei, with Li Tang's ruling area to the west, and Du Fuwei's territory in Jianghuai to the south, and Xu Yuanlang was caught between them. Therefore, Li Shimin sent troops to recruit Xu Yuanlang, firstly, to teach the capricious Xu Yuanlang a lesson, and secondly, to knock on the mountain and shock the tiger and deter Du Fuwei.

In July of the fifth year of Wude (622), after the victory of the "Battle of Lishui", Li Shimin immediately led a large army, set out from Liyang, gathered the main force of the Tang army, went straight to Jiyin, and attacked Xu Yuanlang on a large scale. Under the leadership of Li Shimin, the king of Qin, the Tang army was like a bamboo, connecting more than ten cities, and the sound shook Huai and Si, and Xu Yuanlang's forces suffered heavy losses. After that, Li Shimin saw Huai and Ji Liuding, leaving Li Shentong, the king of Huai'an, Ren Gui, the head of the march, and Li Shichang, the general of the army, to continue to lead the troops to attack Xu Yuanlang, and he returned to the dynasty with his own class.

Of course, the crusade against Xu Yuanlang is by no means Li Shimin's ultimate goal, Xu Yuanlang is just fish and meat on the chopping board of the Tang Dynasty, and the Tang Dynasty can slaughter it whenever it wants. Li Shimin's purpose was to attack Xu Yuanlang, deter Du Fuwei, and show Du Fuwei the military might of the Tang Dynasty.

Indeed, Tang Gaozu's move is really effective. Li Shimin hit Xu Yuanlang hard, and the sound shook Huai and Si, making a very big movement. Du Fuwei knew very well that Li Tang's attack on Xu Yuanlang was actually a "military exercise" aimed at himself. According to historical records, Du Fuwei was afraid:

The people of the world hit Xu Yuanlang, more than ten cities, the sound shook Huai, Si, Du Fuwei was afraid, please enter the court. (Information Governance Guide)

Du Fuwei could see that the strength of the Li Tang Dynasty was far from being comparable at the beginning of the founding of the country. Today's Tang Dynasty, which has entered the Central Plains, swept the north, and dominated the world is unstoppable. Although Du Fuwei had also swept away Jianghuai at this time, his strength was still not enough to compete with the Tang Dynasty.

Previously, the enemies that Du Fuwei faced were all local separatist forces like Li Zitong and Shen Faxing, and they were enemies at the same level as himself. However, Du Fuwei is not at the same level at all compared with the Tang Dynasty. If you think about it carefully, it is clear that the Tang Dynasty can defeat even strong enemies like Wang Shichong and Dou Jiande, let alone Du Fuwei. If he really wants to fight, Du Fuwei has to weigh carefully whether he can withstand the Tang Dynasty army that can fight well.

Moreover, Du Fuwei himself did not have the intention to dominate the Central Plains and become the lord of the world, as well as the strength he possessed. From beginning to end, Du Fuwei's ideal was just to be the lord of Jianghuai who was divided and dominated. Therefore, as soon as the Tang Dynasty crusaded against Xu Yuanlang and intimidated him militarily, Du Fuwei was immediately afraid. He understood that Li Tang's public demonstration was to warn himself that if the Tang Dynasty wanted to destroy him, it could destroy him at any time.

In this way, Duvowe was caught in a tangle and it was difficult to choose. First, after several years of hard work, he finally cleared the Jianghuai Dynasty and occupied the land of Huainan and Jiangdong, and finally laid this foundation. Now let him give up this inheritance, Du Fuwei is somewhat unwilling. However, the increasingly powerful Li Tang Dynasty can launch a thunderous blow to itself at any time. At that time, not only will the Jianghuai region be lost, but there may also be no place to die.

In the end, the lesser of two evils, Du Fuwei decided to minimize the loss after some inner struggle. When Li Shimin commanded the Tang army and dealt a heavy blow to Xu Yuanlang's forces, Du Fuwei went to the table and invited him to enter the court. Obviously, Du Fuwei was expressing his attitude to Tang Gaozu that he was willing to hand over his military power and go to Chang'an in person.

Du Fuwei applied to join the court, which was exactly what Tang Gaozu wanted to see, and readily agreed. Soon, Li Shimin also felt that the purpose of the battle had been achieved, and led the army to return to the court. The reason why Du Fuwei decided to enter the court also had his own calculations. Although he was in Chang'an, he handed over his military power. After all, Jianghuai still belongs to its own sphere of influence, and as long as most of its henchmen remain in the local area, maybe they will be able to go back in the future.

On the eighth day of the seventh month of the fifth year of Wude (622), Du Fuwei officially entered the dynasty, and the Tang Dynasty attached great importance to it. After coming to Chang'an, Tang Gaozu Li Yuan personally met with Du Fuwei and held a grand welcome ceremony for him. Even, Tang Gaozu pulled Du Fuwei and sat on the imperial couch with him, "extending the imperial couch" to show his favor. In addition to the high-level reception, Tang Gaozu also spared no effort to reward Du Fuwei.

Previously, Du Fuwei announced the surrender of Li Tang, Tang Gaozu issued an edict, worshiped Du Fuwei as the southeast road Xingtai Shangshu Ling, Jianghuai south of the pacification ambassador, Shangzhu State, into the king of Wu, gave the country the surname Li, the register was included in Zongzheng Temple, and his son Du Dejun was also named the Duke of Shanyang. It can be said that before this, Du Fuwei was already a unique king with a different surname in the Tang Dynasty, and he was still a feudal official who governed one side, and his status was respected.

This time when he entered the court, Tang Gaozu further rewarded him. For example, Tang Gaozu issued an edict to crown Du Fuwei as the crown prince Taibao, and still held the post of Taishang Shuling, staying in Chang'an, with a status above Li Yuanji, the king of Qi. is also in Chang'an, Li Zitong's treatment is far inferior to Du Fuwei.

At the beginning, Li Zitong was defeated by Wang Xiongdan in Yuhang, and was defeated and captured. After the war, Du Fuwei escorted Li Zitong and Le Botong to Chang'an together. Although Li Yuan was magnanimous and did not kill Li Zitong, it was not as grand as when Du Fuwei entered the court, not only holding ceremonies, but also adding officials to the knighthood to improve his status. treated Li Zitong, Tang Gaozu only rewarded him with a high-end residence, as well as a number of gold and silver treasures, and did not entrust him with a real job at all.

Compared with Du Fuwei, Li Zitong's treatment is simply one in the sky and one underground, and the judgment is like mud. In this way, Li Zitong's heart was extremely unbalanced. It was also once one of the "Big Three" of Jianghuai, why should the Tang Dynasty treat one differently and favor one over the other. In addition, after all, Li Zitong was once a powerful generation of heroes, he was unwilling to become Li Tang's prisoner forever, and always wanted to make a comeback one day.

Finally, Li Zitong's long-awaited opportunity came. When Du Fuwei entered the court, Li Zitong felt that this was an opportunity to make a comeback. Regarding the defeat to Du Fuwei, Li Zitong has always been very unconvinced. Now, Du Fuwei has openly entered the court, and the Jianghuai group has no leader, if he goes to the hometown of Jianghuai at this moment, as long as he raises his arms, he will definitely gather. So, Li Zitong discussed the escape with his confidant Le Botong:

Fu Wei has come, the east is not quiet, my troops, most of them are outside the river, and they can make great contributions to the world. ("Old Tang Book: The Biography of Li Zi")

Then, Li Zitong and Lebotong secretly escaped together. They planned to cross the Qinling Mountains and travel to the south, gathering the old troops in an attempt to make a comeback. However, man is not as good as heaven. After all, Li Zitong has gone and it is difficult to turn over. As soon as the two fled to Lantian Pass, they were captured by local officials and escorted back to Chang'an.

Tang Gaozu originally wanted to spare Li Zitong's life, but who would have thought that Li Zitong would be so stubborn that he no longer showed mercy to his subordinates, and ordered him to be executed together with Le Botong. In this way, Li Zitong in the "Big Three" of JAC did not escape the ending of being in a different place and ended miserably.

Until this time, Du Fuwei entered the court, and Li Zitong was ambushed. On the surface, the hostile forces of the Li Tang Dynasty in Jianghuai were basically resolved. In particular, when Du Fuwei entered the court, he took the initiative to give up his foundation business in Jianghuai for many years and stayed in Chang'an. As far as the Tang Dynasty is concerned, the soldiers took Jianghuai without blood. Moreover, Tang Gaozu is ready to let Du Fuwei stay in Chang'an for a long time, and such a troubled man will not let him go back.

The problem is that although Du Fuwei has already entered the dynasty and intends to stay in Chang'an for a long time. However, his army and territory are still in the hands of his old subordinates. Therefore, the Tang Dynasty only nominally owned the land of Jianghuai, but it was still unable to effectively manage it.

Sure enough, this kind of problem soon became apparent. Not long after Du Fuwei entered the dynasty, his former entrepreneurial friend Fu Gongyi openly played an anti-Tang banner in Jianghuai and established himself as the emperor, directly tearing his face with the Tang Dynasty. Fu Gongyi's anti-Tang Dynasty raised troops, causing the originally calm Jianghuai land to instantly stir up turbulent waves. In order to pacify Jianghuai in the true sense, the Tang Dynasty would never condone the forces of the auxiliary princes, and must resolutely eliminate them.

So, why did Fu Gongyi ignore the safety of his friend Du Fuwei and openly raise troops against the Tang Dynasty? What did he do to prepare for the army? Fu Gongyi's rebellion against the Tang Dynasty was completely his personal behavior, and Du Fuwei didn't know about it at all, but why did Du Fuwei suffer an injustice and die with hatred?

The pacification of the auxiliary Gongqi forces was a tough battle that the Tang Dynasty had to fight to unify Jiangnan, and it was also a crucial war. In the battle to pacify Jianghuai, who will Tang Gaozu Li Yuan choose to be the commander to go to Jianghuai and eliminate Fugongyi? What kind of bloody battles did the Tang army go through, and finally wiped out the strong enemy and included the Jianghuai region into the territory of the Li Tang Dynasty; What was the great significance of the victory of pacifying Jianghuai for the great cause of reunification of the Tang Dynasty?