Preface
Xue Rengui (614-683 AD), a native of Xiu Village, Longmen County, Hedong (now Xiu Village, Hejin City, Shanxi Province), and a famous general in the early Tang Dynasty.
At the end of Zhenguan, he joined the army and followed Emperor Taizong of Tang Li Shimin to conquer Goguryeo . Xue Rengui was appreciated and promoted by Li Shimin for his brave performance on the battlefield. After that, Xue Rengui started the cheat mode, defeated the nine surnames Tiel, defeated the Turkic , and pacified Goguryeo.
In the early 5th year of the Tang Dynasty, Xue Rengui's biggest characteristic compared to other famous generals was his bravery and strength. He often led by example in war, charged forward, showed strong single-handed combat ability, and often performed outstanding results of turning the situation around with his own strength.
has left legendary deeds such as "Three Arrows to Deter the Tianshan Mountain", "Shengyu Collection Liaodong ", "Take off the hat and retreat ten thousand enemies" in history. It can be said that in terms of courage, Xue Rengui ranked second, and no one dared to say first.
It was at its peak when it debuted: the children of a down-and-out family gave up their families to join the army, and fought against ten thousand, which shocked Goguryeo
614, Xue Rengui was born in the Xue family in Hedong, one of the six major surnames in Guanxi. His ancestors were the famous general of the Northern Wei Dynasty, Xue Andu. His great-grandfather Xue Rong, grandfather Xue Yan, and father Xue Gui successively served as officials in the Northern Wei Dynasty, Northern Zhou Dynasty, and Sui Dynasty.
However, shortly after Xue Rengui was born, Xue Gui died of illness. The Xue family lost its family. When Xue Rengui grew up a little, he could only make a living by farming. His family was already very poor and his life was very difficult.
The so-called poor change, Xue Rengui is unwilling to be with the status quo, and it coincides with Li Shimin preparing to conquer Goguryeo and recruit soldiers. Xue Rengui believes that this is an opportunity to make achievements, so he enlisted in the army and joined the account of Zhang Shigui, a famous general in the founding of the Tang Dynasty.
In February 645 AD, Xue Rengui followed Li Shimin to attack Goguryeo. The two armies were bayonets in Liaodong. The battle process was very tragic. Xue Rengui's boss, General Liu Junqiong, was besieged by the enemy and could not escape.
In a critical moment, Xue Rengui stood up alone, took the head of the opponent's general, and hung his head on the horse. The Goryeo army was frightened and hurriedly withdrew its troops. Xue Rengui used his own strength to lift the siege on the battlefield and became famous in the army since then.
In June of that year, the Tang army arrived in Anshicheng (now Haicheng, Liaoning) to confront Goguryeo's 250,000 troops. Li Shimin personally came to command the battle.
Xue Rengui was wearing a white dress, holding a halberd and a double bow on his waist, and charged towards the enemy. Xue Rengui's bravery greatly boosted the momentum of the Tang army. All the soldiers fought bravely to kill the enemy. Goguryeo fled in sight and was beheaded more than 20,000 people. The Liaodong garrison near
abandoned the city and fled, with the population cut off within hundreds of miles. The whole country of Goguryeo was shocked, and Xue Rengui's reputation also reached Li Shimin's ears. Soon Li Shimin summoned Xue Rengui, who was just an ordinary soldier, and promoted him to a guerrilla general.
In the following time, Goguryeo defended with a strong city and high walls. Tang army failed to defeat it for a long time, and the war fell into a stalemate. When winter came, heavy snow was everywhere, the temperature dropped sharply, and the Tang army had difficulties in the logistics of food and grass.
, in desperation, Li Shimin had to withdraw his troops. On the way back, Li Shimin said to Xue Rengui:
"My old generals are old and cannot bear the support of the outside world. Every time I want to promote the hero, there is no better than you. I don't like to win Liaodong, I am happy to win you." After
, he was promoted to the right-leading general and guarding Xuanwu Gate. This failed war became the starting point for Xue Rengui to start a glorious life.
Three arrows to determine the Tianshan Mountains, defeating the nine surnames Tiel
In 661 AD, nine nomadic tribes (Hui Tong, Pugu, Tongluo, Hun, Sijie, Bayegu, Qi, Abus , Gulunwu Gusi) living in the north of the Mongolian Plateau, that is, the nine surnames Tiel occupies Tianshan Mountains and rebels against the Tang Dynasty.
In order to solve the crisis in the northern border of the empire, Gaozong Li Zhi 5 ordered Xue Rengui to lead his troops to Tianshan to attack the Jiuxian Tiele.
Before leaving, Li Zhi gave him a banquet to see him off. During this period, Xue Rengui took a bow and arrow and pierced the five armors with one arrow. Li Zhi and others were shocked.
After Xue Rengui arrived in Tianshan, the nine surnames Tiele led an army of 100,000 and ordered dozens of cavalry to challenge and provoke the Tang army.
Although the number of Tang troops was small, Xue Rengui was not afraid at all. He showed his momentum in the battlefield of Goguryeo and rushed to the front of the formation alone. did not say anything, and set up a bow and arrow and shot three arrows to death. Xue Rengui's courage and powerful aura completely shocked the other cavalry, and the enemy dismounted and asked to surrender.
Xue Rengui took advantage of the opportunity to cover up the killing and defeated the nine surnames Tiele. Then, Xue Rengui became more and more brave and crossed the desert, chasing the defeated army of Tiele , annihilated the remaining main force, and captured the leader Ye Hu alive. At this point, the nine surnames Tiele's vitality was severely damaged and declining, and no longer posed a threat to Tang .
, and Xue Rengui became famous throughout the country after this battle. The army even sang: "The general was attacked by three arrows in Tianshan, and the heroes sang to Han Pass."
subdued Goguryeo and made a generation of killing god
In 666 AD, civil strife broke out in the upper ruling group of Goguryeo. Emperor Gaozong Li Zhi believed that the time to pacify Goguryeo was coming, and sent the Right Guard General Qieba Heli, General Pang Tongshan, General Yingzhou Governor Gaokan , and General Li Jie of Liaodong Road marching chief Li Jie also participated in the conquest.
667 In September 9667, various armies fought fiercely with Goguryeo. Pang Tongshan and Gao Kan were unfavorable and were repeatedly besieged. Xue Rengui stood up twice, led his army to rescue, rush to the enemy formation, and defeated the enemy. He killed more than 50,000 people in total.
Xue Rengui made a concerted effort and captured the three cities of Nansu (Fushun, Liaoning), Mudi (Muqi Town, Xinbin, Liaoning), and Cangyan (Western border of Ji'an, Jilin). His fame was greatly improved. Li Zhi personally wrote a letter to encourage Xue Rengui.
In February 668, Xue Rengui led 3,000 cavalry to attack Fuyu City (Siping, Jilin), a military city in Goguryeo. In this battle, Xue Rengui ignored the huge gap in military strength and boosted morale. He even led the way and took the lead in siege, and eventually wiped out more than 10,000 enemy troops and captured the city.
After this battle, the Tang army was very powerful, and more than 40 cities in Fuyuchuan were surrendered. After
, Xue Rengui sang all the way and met with Li Jie's main force in Goguryeo capital Pyongyang , forming a siege against it.
In September of that year, the city of Pyongyang, which was at its end of the country, was unable to defend anymore. Li Ji took advantage of the situation to attack and captured Pyongyang in one fell swoop. The Goguryeo, which was hostile to China for more than half a century, was declared destruction. After that, the Tang Dynasty set up the Anton Protectorate Office and to control the entire Goguryeo.
669, the court appointed Xue Rengui as the General of the Right Guard and the Procuratorate of Andong, leading 20,000 troops to stay in Pyongyang.
After Xue Rengui took office, he comforted the people, treated the elderly and the young, cracked down on thieves, and promoted talents from Goguryeo without any hesitation. For a moment, Goguryeo was very happy and completely surrendered to the Tang Dynasty.
Take off his hat and retreat from the Turks, and the 70-year-old veteran is in charge of the western front
From 670 to 680, Xue Rengui experienced ten years of lows in his life.
670, Xue Rengui became the chief general of the Lusadao march, leading 50,000 Tang troops to fight against the 400,000 Tubo army in Dafeichuan. As a result, he was defeated and Xue Rengui was dismissed for the people.
671, the remnants of Goguryeo joined forces with Silla to rebel. Xue Rengui was appointed as the general manager of Jilindao to suppress the rebellion, but was defeated by the Silla navy at Jinjiangkou. Xue Rengui was exiled to Xiangzhou until 680.
In 681 AD, the Western Turkic forces rose, the roads of Guazhou and Shazhou were cut off, and the situation in the northwest suddenly became tense. Xue Rengui, who had been silent for ten years, was once again activated by Li Zhi, and was appointed as the Chief Secretary of Guazhou, the General of the Right Guard, and the Governor of Daizhou.
At this time, Xue Rengui was sixty-seven years old. Although he was nearly 70 years old, he still resolutely wore armor and crossed war horses to the northwest frontline.
682 Turkic army invaded Yunzhou (Datong, Shanxi), Xue Rengui arrived at the place to block the enemy. When the two armies were facing each other, the Turks asked:
"Who is the general of the Tang army?"
replied:
"Xue Rengui."
Turks said:
"I heard that General Xue was dead in Xiangzhou, how could he be resurrected?"
Xue Rengui immediately took off his helmet when he saw it carefully. The Turks were shocked when they saw it carefully. They all dismounted and bowed, looked at each other, and fled in all directions.
Xue Rengui took advantage of the situation to pursue, defeated the enemy, killed tens of thousands of people, captured more than 20,000 people, seized more than 30,000 camels, horses, cattle and sheep, and won the Yunzhou victory, and the military threat in the northwest was lifted.
Xue Rengui completed the last military glory of his life at an age of nearly 70 years old and reached the end of his life. In 683, Xue Rengui died at the age of 69.
Gaozong was so sad that he gave him the title of General Zuo Xiaowei and the Governor of Youzhou. The government escorted the coffin back to his hometown. A generation of famous generals ended here.
summary
Looking at Xue Rengui's life, it is both ups and downs and full of legends. From being born into a famous family to falling into family, from farming farmers to joining the military.
Eight years have passed away the nine surnames of Turks, pacified Goguryeo, and made Mobei and Liaodong bow down and surrender. After ten years of exile, he came out again in his seventies in his late years, shocked the Turks with his strong aura.
As the evaluation of " Old Tang Book ": "Xue Rengui is brave and has a reputation that can revive the enemy."
