How high was the prestige of the Tang Dynasty in the Western Regions of Central Asia during its heyday? The Battle of Talas , The army led by Gao Xianzhi came from various sources, the number of real Tang soldiers was only ten thousand, and the remaining tens of thousands were temporarily recruited from Western Regions countries during the march.
There is only one reason why these people from the Western Regions dared to follow the Tang army to fight temporarily, there is only one reason, and that is the war in the heyday of the Tang Dynasty. There is only victory, and every expedition is towards victory.
surrounding Tubo , Uighur , Turkic , etc. all surrendered to the mighty Tang Dynasty, but the wars among them were continuous. occasion.
The king of Tubo fell to the ground and cried just because he took one more look at the general of the Tang army. Not only did he not kill the general of the Tang army, but he also put him back.
Enemies of the Tang Dynasty
There were not many enemies during the heyday of the Tang Dynasty, especially after Li Shimin wiped out the Eastern Turks, the ethnic minorities in the entire northern region were gradually eliminated, and Turks, Uyghurs, etc. all surrendered to the Tang Dynasty. After
and Koguryo were destroyed, there were almost no enemies in the north of the Tang Dynasty. At that time, Japan, Silla, , and Baekje were all affiliated countries of the Tang Dynasty.
Therefore, there were very few enemies of the Tang Dynasty during this period, among which Tubo bore the brunt.
The reason why Tubo was able to compete with the Tang Dynasty relied on its special geographical location. The Tubo Dynasty was located on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau . The terrain was steep and there were few passages leading to the Tang Dynasty. .
The relationship between the Tang Dynasty and Tubo has always been in the alternation of peace and war. It is not that the Tang Dynasty does not want to attack Tubo, mainly because Tubo's region, religion, ethnicity and other issues are relatively special and independent.
For the Western Regions, the communication between the Western Regions and the Central Plains has a long history, so it is more convenient to rule, and the people of the Western Regions have a higher degree of recognition of the Tang Dynasty. As for Tubo, they are full of repulsion, so wars continue.
Although Li Shimin's period Princess Wencheng entered Tibet, the two sides were equivalent to a friendly alliance, but this friendship gradually began to fade with the passage of time and the growth of Tubo's strength.
Especially for the competition in the Western Regions. At that time, the conflict between Tubo and Datang was mainly concentrated in the Western Regions, and the ambitious Tubo also wanted to get a share of the Western Regions.
even joined forces with the Arab empire in West Asia to attack the Western Regions together. The most typical example was the Battle of Bahanna. At that time, Tubo and the Arab Empire jointly attacked Bahanna and formed a puppet regime here.
At that time, Bahanna was a vassal state of the Tang Dynasty. After hearing the news, the inspector censor Zhang Xiaosong and Anxi Governor Lu Xiu only relied on Anxi Governor's Mansion Anxi Army successfully recaptured Bahanna and defeated Tubo Allied forces with the Arab Empire.
In fact, during that period, the wars between Tubo and the Tang Dynasty were very frequent and large-scale, and it was one of the typical representatives during the time of Bahanna.
Today, I will take you to understand a dumbfounding battle. Tubo clearly won, but the king of Tubo knelt in front of the captured generals of the Tang Dynasty and cried loudly. In the end, he not only failed to kill the generals of the Tang Dynasty, but also returned them.
Wang Xiaojie
Many people are familiar with Tang Dynasty general Wang Xiaojie. In the historical suspense drama " Detective Di Renjie", Wang Xiaojie is portrayed as a loyal, brave and upright Tang general.
In history, Wang Xiaojie was also a wise and courageous general. He went through two generations of Gaozong and Wu Zetian . .
Wang Xiaojie was born near Chang'an , and his family was wealthy, so he practiced martial arts in his early years, and entered the army when he was young, fighting everywhere.
When Wang Xiaojie entered the army, it was the period of Gaozong's rapid expansion, so Wang Xiaojie can be said to be a truly experienced general with outstanding military exploits.
With the continuous accumulation of military achievements, Wang Xiaojie was appointed as the deputy general manager under the posthumous title of Tang Gaozong Yifeng in the second year, and he was already the leader of the local army.
At that time, the conflict between Tubo and the Tang Dynasty was serious, and it would be difficult to adjust for a while. Therefore, Tang Gaozong decided to use troops against Tubo, recruiting troops from Guannei and Hedong, and launched an attack on Tubo.
Li Jingxuan was the governor of Shanzhou and Wang Xiaojie was the vice-manager, and together they fought against the Tubo mercenaries, but the battle failed.
At the beginning of the war, Wang Xiaojie and Minister of Industry Liu Shenli lead troops forward to scout out the enemy's situation, but they met the first Tubo general Lun Qinling and were defeated.
Wang Xiaojie and others, as the vanguard, did not have an advantage in terms of strength. They encountered a sudden encounter and were quickly defeated.
At the rear, Li Jingxuan, the governor of Shanzhou, chose to withdraw his troops to defend because he was afraid to go to the rescue, and Wang Xiaojie and Liu Shenli were captured.
Liu Shenli died after being captured due to injury, and Wang Xiaojie, as a defeated general, naturally did not plan to live, but because of Wang Xiaojie's peculiar appearance, he saved his life.
Saved because of appearance
During this period, the leader of Tubo was Chidu Songtsan, whose father was Mansong Mangtsan, and Mangsong Mangtsan was the grandson of Songtsen Gampo.
As the great-grandson of Songtsan Gampo, Chidu Songtsan had a great vision of Songtsan Gampo in employing people. At that time, Lun Qinling, the first general of Tubo, was the only general in Tubo and the son of Lu Dongzan, the Tubo prime minister.
The defeat of the captive Wang Xiaojie was nothing more than a small battle in his life. On Qinling the pinnacle battle should be the Battle of Dafeichuan in 670 AD with the Tang Dynasty.
According to historical records, the two sides participated in the battle with as many as 600,000 troops. Tubo called on the ethnic minorities from all over the country to fight against the Tang army, and successively formed a coalition of 400,000 troops to fight against the 200,000 troops led by Xue Rengui who had set three arrows on the Tianshan Mountains.
Finally, in Dafeichuan , Lun Qinling avoided the truth, defeated the Tang army, and won the victory.
Chidu Songtsan is really good at employing people, but he is a little bit out of his mind. At that time, Wang Xiaojie and others were captured. According to the relationship between Tubo and the Tang Dynasty, it is basically impossible to release them back. The only thing waiting for them is die.
However, just before Wang Xiaojie was about to be beheaded, Chidu Songtsan had a whim and wanted to see Wang Xiaojie and others, but Chidu Songtsan was terrified when he saw it.
Because Wang Xiaojie looked like his father Mansong Mangzan, Chidu Songzan immediately knelt down in front of Wang Xiaojie and wept bitterly after seeing it.
Wang Xiaojie was also taken aback, obviously he was a captive, and the Tubo king knelt down to him. It was precisely because of Wang Xiaojie's unique appearance that Chidu Songtsan thought it was God reminding him not to kill Wang Xiaojie.
So Wang Xiaojie was released, but Wang Xiaojie was not killed.
Summary
It is precisely because Chidu Songtsan released Wang Xiaojie that Wang Xiaojie had a better understanding of the situation in Tubo. Not long after returning to the Tang Dynasty, he led the Tang army to launch an attack on Tubo again.
But this time, Wang Xiaojie did not fail, defeated Tubo, regained the four towns of Anxi one after another, and later defeated the coalition forces of Tubo and Turks. Green history.
