Why couldn't the Tang Dynasty defeat North Korea three times?

The first Crusade directly attacked the wrong fighter.

Korea, Baekje and Silla in the eastern part of the Tang Dynasty all sent envoys to pay tribute to the Tang Dynasty at the beginning of the Tang Dynasty and were crowned kings respectively. In November of the eighteenth year of Zhenguan (644), the coup of Gai Su-wen, the leader of the western part of Korea, was successful. He claimed to be a minister (equivalent to the post of Minister of War in Tang Dynasty), specializing in national politics, and frequently sent troops to attack Silla in the south to resist the western Tang Dynasty and act as the leader of the East. However, after the East Turkistan was destroyed, Emperor Taizong of Li Shimin had a plan to unify the whole of Asia, so he took advantage of Silla's resistance to Tang Tingzhi to announce the accusation of Su Wen, a beggar gang, and wanted to send troops to crusade.

In March of the 19th year of Zhenguan (645), Taizong went to Dingzhou (now Dingxian County, Hebei Province) and said to the courtiers earnestly, "Liaodong is the land of China, but the Sui family failed to get it four times. I'm going to the East today to avenge China's children and shame your father in North Korea. And the square angle is big, but it is not flat, so I am not old, and I will spare no effort to get it. I went to Luoyang spontaneously, just to have a bird's eye view of paella. Although the spring vegetables have not entered, I am afraid that they will disturb (the people). " He called courtiers and left-behind princes to explain things and strengthen the hearts of ministers; While visiting the sick foot soldiers, I entrusted them to the county for treatment. Therefore, the chief sergeant strives for conscription. Li Shimin set out from Dingzhou, kissed her bow and arrow, and tied her raincoat behind the saddle. And since Dingzhou, beacon towers have been set up along the way, every ten miles, reaching Liaodong City. And agreed with the prince, Liaodong, fire smell.

In the same month, Prince Li Shiji of Zhan led the main force to rush to Liaodong and launched an siege war in Liaodong City. When Li Shiqi set out from Liucheng (now Chaoyang County), he made a scene and drove straight into huaiyuan town (now southwest of Shenyang City), while the dive division went north to the tunnel (the pontoon bridge set up when the Sui Dynasty cut Liao, now northwest of Liaozhong County) and left North Korea unexpectedly. At the beginning of April, Li Shiji crossed the Liaohe River from Dingtong Town (now the north of Shenyang). North Korea was miserable and all the cities were closed. James Zhang, a pioneer, crossed the Liaohe River with Hu Bing as the pioneer, attacked Jian 'an City (now southeast of Yingkou City), defeated North Korean soldiers and beheaded thousands. In late April, Li Daozong, the king of Xiajiang, crossed the new city (now Haicheng County) and breached Gai City (now Gai County), capturing more than 20,000 people and 65,438 mangoku in grain. Sean led the boat division to cross the sea from Donglai, attacked the northern Shacheng (now northwest of Lushun), and captured more than 8,000 people. In May, Li Shiji attacked Liaodong City (now Liaoyang City), and Han sent 40,000 riders to help. When it passed through Moucheng, Li Daozong sent 4,000 riders to meet it and defeated the Korean army, thus achieving the task of resisting enemy reinforcements. In mid-May, Emperor Taizong of Li Shimin crossed the Liaohe River, led reinforcements to the front, and "kicked down the ladder" in the March to strengthen his foot soldiers.

Li Shiji attacked Liaodong City, and stormed day and night with a riprap car and a crash 12. South Korean soldiers built blocks in the city to resist. Li Shimin personally led the chosen men to attack the city several times, and the drums were deafening. On may 17, the south wind was very urgent. Emperor Taizong sent sharp troops to the extreme tail and burned its south tower. The fire spread to the city and all the houses were burned down. Unable to defend the enemy, North Korea broke the city, killing more than 10,000 people and capturing 40,000 people.

In June, Tang marched into Baiyan City (now south of Fushun City). Li Shiji attacked the southwest and Emperor Taizong attacked the northwest. Li Simo, the right-back general, was shot by an arrow. Emperor Taizong personally sucked blood for him, and the soldiers were very moved. The duke's grandson secretly sent his confidant to beg for surrender. He threw a knife and a lot of letters in the city and said, "I am willing to surrender, and there are still people in the city who don't obey." In view of this, he handed the Tang flag to the messenger and said, "If you must surrender, you must build a city." Sun planted the Tang flag at the head of the city. People in the city thought that Tang Bing had boarded the city and surrendered, so they pulled out Bai Yancheng. Emperor Taizong surrendered near the water, and in order to disintegrate the Korean army, he adopted the policy of giving priority to prisoners. Set Bai Yan as Yanzhou and Sun as the secretariat. Released to cities with more than 10,000 men and women, and given food and clothes; For the elderly over 80 years old, cloth is also given; For the foreign soldiers in Baiyan, I was told to give them a grain war and let them go, so all the soldiers who surrendered joined the army.

Since Bai Yancheng came down, the An-Shi War has started. On June 1 1 day, Emperor Taizong Li Shimin led an army to send troops to Liaodong, and on June 20th, he went to Anshicheng (now the south of Liaoyang) to attack the camp. The next day, Gao Yanshou, the commander-in-chief of North Korea, and Gao, the commander-in-chief of South Korea, led150,000 Korean soldiers to save Anyang. Emperor Taizong ordered left-back general Ashinasher to lead more than 1000 Turks to ride horses to lure the enemy. At first, the soldiers turned around and retreated, and the North Korean soldiers chased him. He was lured to the southeast of Anshi City, 8 miles away from the mountain. In this case, Emperor Taizong called the generals for advice. Sun Chang Wuji said: "When I hear that the enemy is going to fight, I must first observe the soldiers. When I passed the camp, I saw that the soldiers were all gearing up and beaming when they heard that the North Korean soldiers had arrived. This is also a victorious soldier. " Emperor Taizong and Sun Chang Wuji led hundreds of people across the mountains to observe the situation, analyze the areas where the enemy might ambush and the roads in and out, and saw that Korea was surrounded by soldiers, about forty miles long. At this time, Li Daozong put forward a plan: "With Korea's back to Julian Waghann, Pyongyang's defense will be weak. I am willing to borrow 5,000 soldiers to cover its roots, so hundreds of thousands of people can surrender without fighting. " Emperor Taizong did not listen, but made an annihilation arrangement: ordered Li Shiji to lead10.5 million troops to Xiling; Sun Chang Wuji led1.65,438+0,000 soldiers as raiders, walking out of the narrow valley in the north of the mountain and rushing back; Ride the drum horn flag at your own pace and climb the North Mountain; The main force concealed its position and attacked violently as soon as it heard the sound of the drums and horns. He also ordered the company to set up a surrender curtain on the court side for surrender.

Gao Yanshou and others saw that Li Shiqi was disposed of by one person, that is, the governor attacked. Emperor Taizong, who stood watching from a height, saw the dust of the infinite army in Sun Chang, which was being attacked by surprise, and judged that he had contacted the enemy. He ordered drums and flags to be raised in unison, so that all military forces and horses attacked in parallel, did not dare to prolong their lives, and wanted to divide their forces to resist, but the battle was chaotic. At this moment, Xue Yu, a soldier recruited by Tang Jun, made outstanding achievements and shouted his invincible from the front. Tang Jun took advantage of the situation and beat the Korean soldiers, beheading more than 20,000 people. Gao Yanshou gathered the rest of the people and consolidated himself on the mountain. Emperor Taizong besieged him, and Sun Chang withdrew from the bridge indefinitely, thus breaking his retreat. Gao Yanshou and Gao led their 36 thousand people to surrender, entered the military gate and knelt down to plead.

After the surrender of Emperor Taizong, he moved more than 3,500 chiefs from Dangsa to the mainland, and the remaining envoys returned to Pyongyang. In order to encourage surrender, Gao Yanshou and Gao were appointed as the secretaries of crack hon and sinong respectively. The released man bowed his head and knocked on the ground, and there were cheers for miles away. North Korea was shocked all over the country, and both the Imperial City (now Shenyang South) and Yin Cheng (now Tielingnan) retreated on their own.

On July 5th, Emperor Taizong moved to the Dongling of Anshi City to attack the city, and sent Sean to lead the water army to Jian 'an (now Qingshiguan in the northeast of Gai County, Liaoning Province) to stop the enemy from reinforcing Anshi City. Li Shiji's army attacked Anshi and let Gao Yanshou and other surrendered soldiers lure the enemy into the city at the gate, but Anshi was unmoved. Because there are soldiers in the city, especially the people in Anshi City are afraid of being trapped by Tang Jun and killed by Tang Jun, and they are determined to live and die with the city. Tang Jun couldn't attack for a long time, and Emperor Taizong was very angry, which made Li Daozong build a mound mountain in the southeast corner of the city and set up five wooden bridges to climb the city, but the enemy kept heightening the city wall and refused. Tang Jun's heaped-up mountain, overlooking the city, knocked down the city wall, and more than 0/000 people from North Korea/KLOC came out from the gap of the city wall and seized it. Tang Jun failed to recapture the attack for three days in a row. Soldiers fought several times, until September, Tang Jun still failed to capture. Li Daozong offered a humble apology, and Emperor Taizong said, "You deserve to die, but I killed Wang Hui with Hanwu, so it's better for Qin Mugong to use Meng Ming, and I will forgive you if I have broken Gai and Liaodong."

At this time, Gao Yanshou and Gao Gao said: "Since I am committed to a big country, I dare not be sincere. If I want the son of heaven to achieve great things, I have to see my wife. An Shi's people take care of their families and fight for themselves, which is not easy to pull out. Today, slaves lost more than 654.38 million flags in South China, and the people of South lost their courage. The old lady in Wugucheng can't hold on any longer, so it's time to move on. The rest were in the small town, hoping that the wind would collapse, and then they collected their wages and marched forward, and Pyongyang did not keep it. " People all think this is feasible. When Emperor Taizong was about to adopt it, Sun Chang Wuji stopped him and said, "There are still 654.38 million people in Jian 'an New Town today. If they go to Heigu, they will all follow me; It is better to break the city of An, take Jian 'an, and then make long-term progress. This is also a foolproof policy. " Emperor Taizong was persuaded, but in view of the early cold in Liaodong, the grass was frozen, and the horses would not stay long, and the food would be exhausted; However, Su Wen, a beggar gang in Korea, instigated Xue Yantuo to attack the Tang Dynasty with gifts in order to save the decline. Emperor Taizong decided to return to China on September 18.

The second crusade had no center of gravity.

Since the failure of Emperor Taizong's first expedition to the East, Su Wen, a beggar, became more arrogant, disdained the envoys of the Tang Dynasty, repeatedly disobeyed the imperial edicts of Emperor Taizong and invaded Silla. In the twentieth year of Zhenguan (646), Emperor Taizong issued a letter to prepare for another expedition to the East. In March of the following year, Emperor Taizong sent troops to crusade against North Korea for the second time.

In view of the lesson of the last crusade, Emperor Taizong called ministers to discuss countermeasures before sending troops. The DPRK believes that North Korea is surrounded by mountains and it is impossible to attack it unprepared. However, after the previous conquest, the farmland water conservancy in South Korea was destroyed in a large area, and the land could not be cultivated; Occupied cities and food supplies were also confiscated; Coupled with the severe drought, most Korean nationals are in a state of semi-starvation. If several divisions are sent today to change their battlefields, they will be exhausted, which is intended to delay their farming season. In a few years, South Korea will fall apart because of lack of food, so Tang Jun can win without fighting.

After discussion, Emperor Taizong of Li Shimin decided to take a long-term strategy of disturbing North Korea, and made Li Shiji the chief officer of Liaodong Road, with an army of 3,000 people, and joined hands with the state governors and soldiers to enter the new town. Niu Jinda, a general of Zuo Wuwei, was appointed as the head office officer of Qingqiu Road, with more than 10,000 soldiers, and entered by boat from Laizhou. Both the land and water forces are equipped with foot soldiers who are good at learning water and fighting.

Li Shiji led the army across the Liaohe River and burned down several cities such as Nansu (now the new recruits' well). Many defenders in South Korea refused to fight with their backs to the city, and Tang Jun destroyed it and returned in May.

Niu Jinda led more than 10 thousand people in the water army to invade North Korea. After 100 battles, all battles were won. In July, Shicheng (now northeast of Liaoyang) was breached and Liji City (now west of Pyongyang) was deeply infiltrated. More than 10,000 North Korean soldiers went into battle, and Tang Jun beheaded about 2,000 enemy troops before returning.

In August, Li Shimin, Emperor Taizong, appointed Song and Zhou as the secretariat of Wang Boli and others. And sent craftsmen from Xuannan, Runnan, Changzhou, Suzhou, Hangzhou, Viet Nam, Taiwan Province, Wu, Guo, Jiang, Hong and other states to build hundreds of large ships for the expansion of the water army.

There have been wars on the western border here, such as the conquest of Qiuci, Cuiwei, Yuhua and Yingshan. In addition, in 65438+February, King Koryo sent his son Moza to the Tang Dynasty to apologize, and Emperor Taizong did. In this way, in the absence of strategic focus, we followed the trend and the second crusade was endless.

The third Crusade was not completed, and the war continued.

In January of the 22nd year of Zhenguan (648), King Silla died of illness, and Emperor Taizong made his sister king of Le Lang. Emperor Taizong also ordered Xue Wanche, the right-back general, to be the chief of the March on the clear autumn road, led 30,000 troops to take a warship, then crossed the North Bay to attack North Korea, entered Pobo Shaokou (now near Sinuiju), and captured many people to prepare for the large-scale offensive operations in the following year.

In June, Emperor Taizong wanted to take advantage of Korea's lack, and next year he sent 300,000 troops to destroy it in one fell swoop. To this end, he once again called ministers to discuss countermeasures. The DPRK believes that there must be enough food for large-scale marching, and it is impossible to meet the demand by relying solely on animal-drawn vehicles. Large ships must be built for water transportation. In July, Emperor Taizong ordered Shi Qiangwei, the right governor, to chop wood and build ships on Jiannan Road. The ship is 33 meters long and 17 meters wide. The ship went down the river, from Wuxia to Jiangzhou and Yangzhou, and went to sea in Laizhou. In August, Emperor Taizong ordered Yuezhou Dudufu, Wu, Hong and other states to build sea-going ships and twin ships 1 100. "The governors of counties are in an emergency, and the people want to sell land houses, but their children can't provide them. Food prices are expensive and swords are arrogant. " The mountains of Ya, Qiong and Mei rebelled. Emperor Taizong also ordered Shaanxi secretariat to recruit soldiers, and Laizhou secretariat Li transported grain and equipment to Wuhu Island (now 250 kilometers northeast of Penglai County) for an eastward expedition.

When Emperor Taizong conquered Korea on a large scale, Fang said to his son before he died: "There is nothing today, and the ministers dare not remonstrate before the expedition to the East is completed. I will know without saying anything, and I am responsible for my death. " So he became ill and wrote: "Lao Tzu said,' Knowing it is not humiliating, knowing it is not dangerous'." Your majesty's fame and merit can also be sufficient; Open up the territory and open the border, and you can also stop. It is possible to punish Korea for violating the minister's day; Invade the people and destroy them; This may be a disaster for China, but it can be eliminated. Today, without these three things, if you grow up with China, you will take revenge on the previous generation and Silla outside. Didn't you say that you recovered very little and lost a lot? May your Majesty turn over a new leaf, burn Ling Bo's ship, stop recruiting people, and the natural society will be peaceful. "

The following spring, Emperor Taizong fell ill and died in May at the age of 53. The third crusade was not completed.