At the end of the Sui Dynasty , warlords separated the four sides, and the people were in dire straits. The continuous melee made the people unable to farm, and farmers everywhere raised troops to resist. Li Mi was one of the important leaders of the Wagang Uprising Army in the last years of the Sui Dynasty.
He was born into a noble family and was good at planning, both civil and military, and regarded saving the world and benefiting the people as his great responsibility. In his early years, he often distributed family property, helped relatives and friends, adopted retainers, and treated virtuous corporals, which earned him a good reputation among the people.
Li Mi showed extraordinary talent very early. He often rode an ox with a set of " Han Shu " hanging on its horns, and would just lie on the ox's back and read books. He especially likes military books and can even recite them. has extraordinary military talents at a young age.
In the ninth year of the great cause, Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty conquered Goguryeo. Yang Xuangan took advantage of Emperor Sui Yang's expedition to plan to raise troops, and secretly sent people to Chang'an to meet Li Mi and let him take charge of the planning work. From then on, Li Mi followed the army and became Yang Xuangan's military advisor. Unfortunately, Yang Xuangan was defeated soon, and Li Mi also began to flee the rivers and lakes, and went to Zhai Rang, the leader of the Wagang Army.
Zhai Rang admired Li Mi's talent very much, and kept him for reuse.
But for such a person with outstanding military ability, why, with the support of Qin Qiong and other powerful generals, not only did he not win the battle for hegemony, but he led the Wagang Army to destruction in just two years. Woolen cloth?
He was born into a distinguished family and showed his talent at a young age.
Li Mi's great-grandfather Li Bi made great achievements in the Battle of Sand Garden in the Northern and Southern Dynasties . became one of the eight generals of the Zhuguo Western Wei , and later became the Northern Zhou Dynasty. Taishi, Wei Guogong . Li Mi's grandfather Li Yao was the Taibao of the Northern Zhou Dynasty and Duke of Xing. Li Mi's father was a senior commander in the Sui Dynasty and was named Pushan County Duke.
Li Mi, who grew up in such a family, has been influenced by military theory since he was a child and has extraordinary talents.
At first, Li Mi served in the ceremonial guard of Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty. After seeing him, Emperor Sui Yang said to his general Yu Wenshu: "This man's demeanor is very unusual. Don't let him serve as a guard in the palace." Yuwenshu conveyed the meaning of Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty to Li Mi: "Your talents are so outstanding, you should not just serve as a small guard in the palace, but get an official position through talent and learning."
Soon Li Mi resigned due to illness and concentrated on Reading, and then embarked on a path of disputes.
After resigning and returning home, Li Mi lived in seclusion and studied books every day. One time, Yang Su, the Duke of Yue, passed by Li Mi's retreat and saw Li Mi concentrating on his studies. He curiously followed him with his horse, wanting to see what the young man was looking at.
After catching up with Li Mi, Duke Guo of Yue asked: "Why are scholars so eager to learn?" Li Mi knew Yang Su and hurriedly went to visit Yang Su politely. Yang Su saw Li Mi reading "The Biography of Xiang Yu" and felt that he was not an ordinary person. He was impressed by him and the conversation between the two was very pleasant.
Yang Su said to his son Yang Xuangan and others who were traveling together: "I think Li Mi's knowledge and magnanimity cannot be matched by any of you."
Yang Xuangan also admired this young man, so the two became very good friends. When Yang Xuangan was planning a rebellion, he regarded Li Mi as his military advisor and often asked him about strategies. However, Yang Xuangan and Li Mi could not reach a consensus on concepts, and many of Li Mi's strategies were not implemented.
After the failed rebellion, he defected to Wagang
After Yang Xuangan rebelled, Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty sent generals Yu Wenshu, Laihuer and others to lead the army to attack. Yang Xuangan did not listen to Li Mi's suggestion to retreat to Tongguan, so he forcibly besieged Hongnong Palace. As a result, he failed to capture it after three days of siege, so he could only lead his troops to the west in embarrassment.
arrived at Nexiang County , the pursuers caught up, and Yang Xuangan was defeated. Li Mi secretly entered Tongguan before, but unfortunately he was also caught by the pursuers. After Li Mi and his accomplices were arrested, they were about to be escorted to Emperor Sui Yang.
Thinking of his own situation, given Emperor Sui Yang's character, even if he begged for mercy, he would be killed and then killed. He told his accomplices that if we were sent to Emperor Sui Yang, he would chop us into pieces to vent his hatred. Our fate would be like the dew in the morning, which would dissipate as soon as the sun came up. Think of ways we can get through this.
Everyone agreed with his words. Most of them were wealthy people and brought a lot of gold with them, so Li Mi asked them to bribe the escorting officials in disguise, telling the officials that after their death, the money would be used for their own burials, and the rest would be theirs. .
The escort officials were lured with money and agreed to them. After leaving Tongguan, the guards of the officers and soldiers gradually relaxed. Li Mi and his accomplices pretended to be frustrated and sad, indulged in wine all day long, pretended to have no ambition to accept the reality, and was noisy and indulgent all day long.
After a long time, the escorting officer took it seriously and no longer kept strict supervision. Li Mi and the other seven people took the opportunity to dig through the wall and escape.
In the twelfth year of the great cause, Zhai Rang launched a peasant uprising and took Wagang Village in Weicheng as a base, so it was called the Wagang Army. Li Mi found out and defected to Zhai Rang. Many people in the Wagang Army knew about Li Mi and knew that he was Yang Xuangan's subordinate. In order to avoid angering the court, the generals of the Wagang Army privately encouraged Zhai Rang to kill Li Mi. Zhai Rang was very hesitant, so he imprisoned Li Mi in . Outside the military camp.
But Li Mi's extraordinary military talent soon became apparent. He suggested to Zhai Rang that while Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty was out on a tour, Luoyang was empty and captured in one fell swoop.
Zhai Rang respected and admired Li Mi very much after hearing his suggestion, and immediately released and reused him. Li Mi lived up to Zhai Rang's appreciation. The Wagang Army gradually grew stronger under the leadership of Li Mi.
Zhai made himself feel that his talents were not as good as those of Li Mi. He hoped that the Wagang Army would develop better and better, so he gave up the position of leader to an outsider like Li Mi.
It is a pity that Li Mi developed a suspicious character during his many years of wandering and defecting, which caused him to have bad consequences within the Wagang Army. Li Mi pays attention to talents and treats virtuous corporals, but he also pays special attention to people who report to him.
After he gained a foothold in the Wagang Army, the Wagang Army was divided into two camps. One was headed by Zhai Rang, and most of the personnel were veterans of the Wagang Army. They gave up the leadership to Zhai Rang. , was very dissatisfied;
On the other side were Li Mi's cronies. Most of them were from the ruling class. They regarded Zhai Rang as a thorn in his side and encouraged Li Mi to kill Zhai Rang to avoid future troubles. There was a rough fool under Zhai Rang who was very dissatisfied with Li Mi. He once said to Zhai Rang: "My lord, you should plan big things alone. Why should you give up your power? If you don't kill this person who hinders your great achievements, I will I will kill you!"
Zhai Rang laughed loudly and did not take this matter to heart. However, after Li Mi heard this, he not only hated the speaker, but also started to kill Zhai Rang. Heart. In 617 AD, Li Mi was granted the title of Duke of Wei, and soon after he killed Zhai Rang, he took over the power of the Wagang Army.
Losing military morale at one's own peril
Li Mi killed Zhai Rang and gained absolute leadership of the Wagang Army, but the strength of the Wagang Army was also severely damaged. Li Mi and Zhai Rang, the two leaders of the Wagang Army, went from being close to turning against each other. This was entirely due to Li Mi's suspicion and lack of loyalty.
Li Mi’s assassination of Zhai Rang is described in the history books like this: Li Mi invited Zhai Rang to drink, and in the middle of the banquet, he drove away Zhai Rang’s soldiers. He pretended to give Zhai Rang a good bow and asked him to test shoot it. .
Just when Zhai Rang turned around and drew his bow, the axeman arranged by Li Mi rushed in and chopped Zhai Rang down to death. A villain who killed his own brother first before the world was settled, and even attacked his benefactor, naturally could not make his brothers in the army follow him wholeheartedly. After Li Mi killed Zhai Rang, the morale of the army fluctuated and gradually went downhill.
Soon, Wang Shichong attacked Cangcheng, and Li Mi defeated him again.In this battle, Wang Shichong sent all his troops to attack Li Mi. In the first battle, Li Mi saw that the situation was not right and hurriedly retreated.
later led hundreds of lightly armed troops into battle to block Wang Shichong's offensive. Wang Shichong's thousands of troops were defeated, the army was in chaos, tens of thousands of people rushed to rush to the pontoon, and countless officers and soldiers were trampled to death.
It was snowing heavily at this time, and it seemed that God was helping Li Mi. Wang Shichong's army had no room to maneuver in this situation, and several of his generals also died on the battlefield.
At this time, the power of Emperor Yang of Sui Dynasty was getting worse and worse. Many officials of the imperial court defected to Li Mi one after another, looking for a new way out. Officials in various places also understood that the collapse of the imperial court was only a matter of time. Under the situation, they also surrendered one after another, attached themselves to Li Mi.
Li Mi's leadership reached a peak period, so Li Mi's officials all persuaded him to proclaim himself emperor immediately, but Li Mi said: "We cannot discuss this matter until Luoyang is pacified." Li Mi was still very wise at this time. , and did not get carried away because of the temporary victory.
But such smooth sailing days did not last long. Li Mi's actions in the Wagang Army in his early years ultimately paved the way for his failure. In 618 AD, Wang Shichong and Li Mi fought again. Li Mi had every chance of winning this battle. He set up his camp on Beimang Mountain, with a big river in front of it, so it was possible to defend the city.
According to the plan, he could hold on for ten days. When Wang Shichong failed to fight and his troops were exhausted, Li Mi could take it in one fell swoop. It is a pity that Li Mi underestimated himself at this time and thought he had defeated Wang Shichong, so he did not take him seriously.
At this time, Li Mi was proud and complacent. He no longer cared about the soldiers. He had little savings in the treasury. Even after winning the battle, Li Mi did not distribute the spoils to the soldiers. The generals of the Wagang Army felt chilled and dissatisfied.
The wise man who spoke out his advice not only failed to be reused by Li Mi, but was alienated; At the same time, Li Mi followed the mantra of the money-hungry Bing Yuan, which led to bad consequences.
His trusted generals were also proud and underestimated the enemy, and they all asked to take the initiative. Li Mi was also infected by this emotion and changed his previous strategy of defending the city and waiting. In the end, Li Mi was defeated in the battle of Beimang Mountain and fled west to Chang'an. Since then, the Wagang Army fell into pieces. The generals of the Wagang Army Qin Shubao , Xu Shiji, Luo Shixin , Cheng Yaojin , etc. also successively surrendered. Tang.
At the critical moment of the struggle for supremacy in the late Sui Dynasty, Li Mi trusted the money-greedy villain Bing Yuanzhen. Bing Yuanzhen was appointed as secretary and guarded Luocang. However, Bing Yuanzhen had already secretly surrendered to Wang Shichong. After Li Mi was defeated by Wang Shichong, Bing Yuanzhen was very angry. Kaicheng surrender soon. The army was defeated and lost its garrison and granary. Li Mi was furious but it didn't help. The morale of the
army collapsed, and in the end the Wagang army was completely defeated by Wang Shichong. In fact, from the moment Li Mi killed Zhai Rang, the morale of the Wagang army fluctuated, and his failure was doomed. The disengagement of soldiers was an important factor leading to Li Mi's defeat.
Although Li Mi has a lot of skills, he still lacks a lot in appointing talents and winning the hearts and minds of the people. Perhaps he was born into a noble family and had a smooth life, which made him too conceited.
As the leader of an army, he does not have a group of people with both ability and political integrity to advise him. This is not a failure. This was the knot and fate of Li Mi's defeat. Although the defeat of Li Mi and Wagang Village was sudden, it was inevitable.
He experienced the vicissitudes of life from a frustrated noble to an ordinary civilian, and also experienced a great change from an ordinary civilian to the leader of the Wagang Rebel Army.
Everyone who is lucky will have great luck. Unfortunately, Li Mi was not favored by God. Or maybe it is that his willfulness in the later period lost the support of the people. Even if God gave him a chance, no one would be willing to lend a helping hand to him.
Those who win the hearts of the people win the world. Only those who know how to be grateful and learn to be grateful can gain more opportunities. If Li Mi had not killed Zhai Rang and the Wagang army had united, perhaps the current history would be different.
Information reference:
- Li Mi’s knot and the defeat of Wagang Village - "Guoxue Pingshu"
- What is the tragedy of Li Mi - Long Liyun
- "Old Book of Tang"
- "New Book of Tang"
