You may be familiar with ancient famous generals, such as Bai Qi of Qin State, Li Mu of Zhao State, Wei Qing and Huo Qubing of Han Dynasty, all of them have left a strong mark in history books.
Among them, Li Mu is quite special. He was the only good general who supported the endgame of the Zhao Kingdom. There was also such a famous general in the last years of the Sui Dynasty. He was compassionate to the people and loved soldiers like a son. This was Zhang Xutuo, the first general in the late Sui Dynasty.
At the end of the Sui Dynasty, the world was in turmoil. Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty rebelled against his relatives. Zhang Xutuo was a very rare loyal and good general. He had the courage to lead five cavalry to challenge the 20,000 peasant uprising army, and later annihilated the Sui Dynasty. A hundred thousand peasant uprising army.
For this reason, Zhang Xutuo was also praised by later generations as the life-saving straw of the Sui Dynasty. He was the one who supported the crumbling Sui Dynasty. Everyone may not be familiar with Zhang Xutuo. He does not have such a reputation as Qin Shubao and Luo Shixin. As everyone knows, Zhang Xutuo is the immediate boss of Qin Shubao and Luo Shixin.
Today, I will take you to learn about the life of Zhang Xutuo, the loyal and powerful general who saved the Sui Dynasty.
Zhang Xutuo who loves the people like a child
Zhang Xutuo was born in the fifth year of Baoding in the Northern Zhou Dynasty (565 AD). Today, he is a man of Lingbao, Henan, with a strong temperament, courage and strategy. The ancestor Zhang Wen was a minister under Sun Quan during the Three Kingdoms period. His grandfather served as Nanyang County Lord during the reign of the Northern Zhou Dynasty. His father was a small official, just a county magistrate.
Zhang Xutuo first served under Yang Xiu, the fourth son of Emperor Wen Emperor Yang Jian of the Sui Dynasty, and later he was awarded meritorious service for putting down the Qiang rebellion.
After Emperor Sui Yang ascended the throne, Zhang Xutuo followed Yang Su to quell the Han King Yang Liang's rebellion and made achievements.
In 611 AD, Emperor Yang of Sui sent one million troops to conquer Liaodong. A large number of young laborers went to the battlefield, causing the people to be unemployed, the land was barren, and the price of goods soared. The country was hungry and died everywhere. At that time, he was the leader of Qi County. Zhang Xutuo was about to open the granary privately to help the victims.
At this time, his officials all persuaded him to open the granary privately to decapitate the head, but to destroy the clan. Without the emperor’s edict, he could not open the warehouse for food.
Zhang Xutuo said that the emperor is far away in Liaodong. If we send someone to ask for his advice, it will take at least a year for the messenger to go back and forth. In that case, the common people are starving to death. If I am convicted of this, I Dead without regret.
So Zhang Xutuo ordered to open the warehouse to release grain to help the victims. After Sui Yang heard this, instead of blaming Zhang Xutuo, he rewarded him instead.
Zhang Xutuo was able to empathize with the suffering of the people and risk his life to maintain the national order. Compared with the corrupt officials of the Sui Dynasty, Zhang Xutuo stood out from the crowd.
When Emperor Sui Yang fought against Liaodong, the domestic civil riots were triggered. At that time, the local officials responsible for suppressing the rebels were timid and unable to suppress them. Zhang Xutuo was an exception. He had the courage to see others and must fight against the enemy. , Regard the country’s survival as more important than your own life. Moreover, he is good at leading troops, sympathetic to soldiers, and is very famous in the army. All lieutenants and soldiers are loyal to him, so Zhang Xutuo's army is amazing.
Be brave to suppress the uprising
After Emperor Sui Yang first defeated Liaodong, Wang Bo first raised the banner of anti-Sui Dynasty in Changbai Mountain. The people responded, and the team instantly grew to tens of thousands of people. Wang Bo led this one. The rebel army often robbed the territory of Qi County and defeated the official army several times.
After Zhang Xutuo heard that, he led the elite soldiers to defeat Wang Bo by the strategy of "surprise and attack the unprepared", and beheaded thousands of rebels. Wang Bo led the remnant soldiers to retreat north, Zhang Xutuo pursued the victory and beheaded the rebel five. More than a thousand people.
Wang Bo thought to himself that it would be better to attack Zhang Qiu if he couldn't take advantage of Zhang Xutuo's Qijun. However, what he never expected was that he encountered Zhang Xutuo who was difficult to deal with.
In the 9th year of the great cause (613), Wang Bo and the leaders of the rebel army, Hao Xiaode, Sun Xuanya, and others joined forces to attack Zhangqiu, with a force of more than 100,000. Zhang Xutuo led only 20,000 Sui troops to fight.
Zhang Xutuo first broke the bridge built by Wang Bo on the Yellow River, and then Zhang Xutuo led his army to challenge Wang Bo, Wang BolianThe army lost to the Sui army and began to retreat, but when they flee to the Jinliang Ferry, they were blocked. The navy army arranged by Zhang Xutuo had been ambushed here, and the Wang Bo coalition army was defeated. Emperor Yang of Sui was overjoyed after hearing this and gave Zhang Xutuo a great reward.
During the Second Expedition of Emperor Sui Yang to Liaodong, Yang Xuangan sent his troops against the Sui Dynasty. Since then, the contradiction between Guanlong Group and Emperor Sui Yang has completely intensified. Many local officials did not perform their duties to suppress the rebels and acted to resist. Or they surrendered without resistance, and some even abandoned the city and fled.
Zhang Xutuo is an exception, he puts the important task of defending the Sui Dynasty first.
Once Pei Changcai, Shi Zihe and others led 20,000 rebels to attack Licheng, Zhang Xutuo was too late to organize the army, he personally led five cavalry to challenge. Zhang Xutuo fell into a heavy siege, suffered a whole body injury, and almost lost his life. After he fought bravely, Pei Chang was defeated.
Because of Zhang Xutuo’s repeated military exploits, he was appointed by Emperor Sui Yang as the ambassador for arresting the twelve prefectures in Henan Province, in charge of the twelve prefectures in Henan Province (that is, today Shandong, most of Henan, Jiangsu, Anhui, Shanxi, Some areas in Hebei) personnel appointment power and military power.
Later, Zhang Xutuo brought his powerful generals Luo Shixin and Qin Qiong against Lu Mingyue’s hundreds of thousands of troops, while the Sui Army only had more than 20,000 people. Zhang Xutuo took the lead in attracting the main force. With Lu Mingyue's attention, Luo Shixin and Qin Qiong led more than a thousand cavalry troops to raid Lu Mingyue's base camp. The Sui army won a great victory, and the rebel army was almost wiped out. Only a few hundred people managed to escape. Qin Qiong became famous in the first battle.
Later Zhang Xutuo defeated Lu Xingxing, Shuai Rentai, Huo Xiaohan and other rebels, and Zhai Rang’s Wagang Army had more than 30 battles, winning every battle.
Zhang Xutuo was brave and good at fighting. He defeated hundreds of thousands of peasant uprisings from Shandong and Hebei before and after. He became famous and became the first general in the last years of the Sui Dynasty. Even Emperor Sui Yang couldn’t help himself. See Zhang Xutuo's heroic image in battle, and send a painter to paint his appearance.
The battle of Xingyang, the curtain call of a generation of famous generals
Following the fame of Zhang Xutuo, Luo Shixin and Qin Qiong spread to the north and south, many insurgents did not dare to fight Zhang Xutuo’s troops At that time, the Wagang Army, known as the strongest fighting force at the time, was also very afraid of Zhang Xutuo. As long as they saw the Zhang character banner, they trembled and ran away. They were beaten by Zhang Xutuo into startled birds.
However, a capable man named Li Mi came to the Wagang Army. In order to gain a foothold in the Wagang Army, he proposed to Zhai Rang to capture Xingyang, and Sui Yang Emperor was transferred to Zhang Xutuo after hearing this. To defend Xingyang, let him lead 20,000 elites to suppress the Wagang Army.
After hearing this, Zhai Rang was very scared and wanted to escape, but Li Mi, a military strategist, boasted and said: "I can defeat it in one battle." At that time, all the Wagang Army thought that Li Mi was not ashamed, so Zhai Rang took the attitude of giving it a try and adopted Li Mi's suggestion to face Zhang Xutuo's army.
In the twelfth year of the Great Yee (616 AD), Li Mi led more than a thousand cavalry in ambush in the dense forest north of Dahai Temple (now northeast of Xingyang), and Zhai Rang led the main force to face the enemy. Zhang Xutuo looked down on Zhai Rang, the former defeated man, and despised him very much, so he set up a square attack.
fought for a while and Zhai let pretended to retreat. Zhang Xutuo saw that the Wagang Army deserved to have a false name. Such fierce generals as Xu Shiji and Shan Xiongxin were timid and afraid to come out singled out. Zhang Xutuo despised Wa more and more. Guard.
So Zhang Xutuo took advantage of the victory and pursued all the way to the vicinity of Dahai Temple. Li Mi suddenly rushed out of the dense forest, raided the rear of the Sui army, and encircled Zhang Xutuo with Xu Shiji and Wang Bodang.
Zhang Xutuo was brave and good at fighting and broke out of the siege, but he looked back and found that few of his men had smashed the siege with him.
Knowing that Zhang Xutuo’s subordinates are famous, he naturally does not want to leave the army. In order to save his men, the prancing horse rushed into the encirclement and then broke out of the encirclement. Unfortunately, his men still did not break through. He succeeded, so he rushed into the encirclement again, and rushed back and forth several times. When he rushed into the encirclement for the fourth time, he found that Qin Qiong and Luo Shixin were not visible. At this time, Zhang Xutuo's internal strength was exhausted. We can imagine that the soldiers of the Sui Dynasty wear it. Jiawei was about 60 kilograms. Zhang Xutuo rushed back and forth several times. No matter how brave the soldiers were, Zhang Xutuo couldn't fight anymore. Finally, Zhang Xutuo died of exhaustion.At the age of 2, Qin Qiong and Luo Shixin were able to escape, and later took refuge in Sui general Pei Renji.
After Zhang Xutuo died in battle, his soldiers cried for several days. Emperor Sui Yang was heartbroken, as if he had lost his left and right arms. Zhang Xutuo’s death suffered heavy losses for the Sui Dynasty. , It was this loyal minister who supported the crumbling Sui Dynasty.
At that time, Emperor Sui Yang abused the power of the people, levied and levied excessively, and was unable to submit to the will of the people and the people. There were only a handful of fierce generals like Zhang Xutuo who were willing to serve the country. The soldiers under Zhang Xutuo were willing to defend the country because of him. Love soldiers like children, otherwise they would have been desperate to join the rebel army.
It can be said that Zhang Xutuo was the last pillar of the Sui Dynasty. His departure accelerated the demise of the Sui Dynasty.
