The famous Tubo general who had made Tang Dynasty fearful for thirty years: He once defeated Xue Rengui

When it comes to Tubo, people may first think of Jiumozhi, the Tubo national advisor in Jin Yong's novels, Princess Wencheng who once went to Tibet to marry, and Tubo Zanpu Songtsen Gampo and others. Due to the lack of historical data and the fact that Tubo was located in a corner, far away from the Central Plains dynasty, modern people know very little about this empire in the mysterious snowy land.

According to *** legend, around 127 BC, various tribes in Tubo welcomed Nie Trizanbu as king. By the time of Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty, Songtsan Gampo unified the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau and established the In 638, Lu Dongzan was sent to Chang'an to marry Princess Wencheng. After the death of Songtsan Gampo in 650, his grandson Mangsong Mangtsan succeeded to the throne, and Tubo was assisted by Ludongzan and his son. After that, Tubo began to expand externally, and wars between Tang and Tibet continued. During this period, Tubo had a famous general who defeated Tang Dynasty one after another. Xue Rengui, Wang Xiaojie, Lou Shide and other famous generals in the dynasty made the Tang Dynasty fear them for thirty years!

In the old and new Tang books, his name is called Lun Qinling. In fact, Lun is an official name. He is called Qi Zheng in "Zi Zhi Tong Jian", and his full Tibetan name is Gar· Qinling Zanzhuo (for convenience, this article will be referred to as Qinling). Qin Ling was born in the Gar family, a family of Tubo officials. He was the second son of Da Lun (equivalent to Prime Minister) Lu Dongzan. When he was young, Qin Ling was a hostage in Chang'an and was familiar with the national conditions and military strength of the Tang Dynasty.

Ludongzan died of illness in 667. Qinling's eldest brother Zanxiruo succeeded Da Lun and took charge of the state affairs, while the Qinling brothers controlled the military power in various places, among which Qinling was responsible for managing the Tuyuhun (Qinghai) area.

In 670, the Tubo army went north and captured the four towns of Anxi established by the Tang Dynasty in the Western Regions, driving the Tang Dynasty's forces out of the Western Regions in one fell swoop. Tubo occupied Tuyuhun in the east and the Western Region in the west, seriously threatening the Tang Dynasty's western border defense. For this reason, the Central Committee of the Tang Dynasty decided to take action. In April of the same year, Emperor Gaozong appointed the famous general Xue Rengui as the general manager of the Luosu Road march, and Guo Daifeng as the deputy general. In the name of escorting King Tuyuhun back to the country, he led 100,000 people (someone verified it was 50,000 ) tried to wipe out Tubo in one fell swoop.

Qinling adopted the strategy of clearing the wilderness with strong walls, luring the enemy deep, and waiting for work in leisure, making full use of the harsh natural conditions of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. Xue Rengui also knew that this battle would not be easy and that the difficulty in transporting grain needed to be resolved quickly, so he ordered his deputy general Guo Daifeng to lead 20,000 people to guard the baggage and build fortifications at Dafeiling. Xue Rengui led 80,000 people to attack and defeated a Tibetan army in the Hekou area. However, Guo Daifeng did not obey Xue Rengui's order and instead led his army to advance. As a result, they encountered Qinling's 200,000-strong army. The Tang army was defeated and all their supplies and food were lost.

After Xue Rengui learned the news, he had to lead his army to retreat to Dafeichuan, but was surrounded by 400,000 troops from Qinling. In the end, the entire Tang army was destroyed, except for Xue Rengui, Guo Daifeng, and Ashina Daozhen. The generals survived after making peace with Qinling. Qinling became famous from then on, and all three of Xue Rengui were demoted to civilian status. (The number of the Tubo army may be small, but it should be more than that of the Tang army)

Afterwards, taking advantage of the opportunity of Tibet to reorganize its internal affairs, the Tang army regained the four towns of Anxi. In 678, Emperor Gaozong of the Tang Dynasty appointed Li Jingxuan as the general manager of the Taohe Road March, and commanded An army of 180,000 troops was sent out to attack Tibet at the source of Heyuan, while Qinling led his troops to attack in the Qinghai Lake area. During the battle, Liu Shenli, the vanguard of the Tang army, started a fierce battle with the Tibetans. However, the general Li Jingxuan was so frightened that he stood still. Hearing that the vanguard had failed, he led his army to flee in panic, and was defeated by the Tibetan army on the way. Fortunately, the Tang general Hei Jichangzhi led his army to fight to the death. , Li Jingxuan was able to escape.

After that, Qin Ling led his army to reoccupy the four towns of Anxi. In 685, Qin Ling succeeded his brother as the great general. At this time, Tubo's national power was unprecedentedly powerful. Since the Han and Wei Dynasties, the prosperity of Xirong was unprecedented. also. . Wu Zetian, who took charge of the government in 689, was not willing to accept defeat. She sent Wenchang's right minister Wei Beipi as the general manager of the march to An'an Road, and Yan Wengu as the deputy general. He led the army to attack Tubo from the western regions. Lun Qinling led the army to fight at the Yinshijia River. After the initial victory, the Tang army was defeated. The deputy general Yan Wengu stayed away and the weather was cold, so the Tang army was defeated. Wu Zetian was so angry that Wei was exiled and Yan Wengu was beheaded.

After decades of war, although the Tubo state was unprecedentedly powerful, years of wars made some of Tubo's vassal states dissatisfied, and some tribes defected to the Tang Dynasty. Qinling was busy sorting out internal affairs and had no time to take care of it. Wu Zetian took the opportunity to send Wang Xiaojie, who was familiar with Tubo's national conditions, to lead an army to defeat the Tibetan army and regain the four towns of Anxi.

The great victory in the Western Region gave Wu Zetian the idea of ????defeating Tubo completely. In March 696, Wu Zetian appointed Wang Xiaojie as the general manager of Subian Dao, and Lou Shide as deputy general to lead the army to attack Tubo. Qinling and Zanpo (the third brother of Qinling, whose Tibetan name is Gar Zhengzanzangdun) led their troops to fight with the Zhou army at Suluohan Mountain in Taozhou (Lintan County, Gansu Province) (Wu Zetian had already proclaimed himself emperor at this time, Changing the name of the country to Zhou) launched a fierce battle, and the result was a complete victory for Tibet, and Qinling once again became famous. After this battle, Wu Zetian also gave up the idea of ????annihilating Tubo, and the two sides began to negotiate peace.

As the saying goes, great achievements will shock the master. At this time, Zanpu Chidusong (son of Mangsongmangzan) was also an adult. He was very suspicious of the Qinling brothers with outstanding achievements. In 698, Zanpu used hunting In this name, the Kuomintang army killed more than 2,000 Qinling gang members and summoned Qinling. Qinling knew that a disaster was coming, so he supported his troops and respected himself. In 699, Zanpu led an army to attack. As a result, Qinling's army was loyal to Zanpu and collapsed without fighting. In desperation, Qinling chose to commit suicide.

Like many famous generals in the Central Plains Dynasty, Qinling, the first Tibetan general, did not die by the enemy's sword, but died in the hands of his own people. It is worth mentioning that when Qinling ended his life tragically, his younger brother Pozan and son Lun Gongren (Tibetan name Mangbuzhi) defected to the Tang Dynasty.

Wu Zetian was overjoyed when she learned about this. She granted Zanpo the titles of Tejin, General of Fuguo, and Prince of Guide County, and granted Gongren the titles of General of Zuoyulin and Duke of Anguo. They all gave them iron stamps. He became Wu Zhou's capable general in the Western Regions. Lun Gongren's descendants changed their names to Chinese names and became the ancestors of the Lun surname. Since then, the Lun family's descendants have all been high-ranking officials, commanded the army, participated in wars such as pacifying the Anshi Rebellion and the Zhu Rebellion, and defended the precarious Tang Dynasty.

After the death of Qin Ling, Tubo had no advisers at home and no good generals outside. It lost several battles with Wu Zhou, and Songtsenpu, the red capital, had to ask Wu Zetian for peace. After that, Tang Zhongzong Li Xian was restored to power and married Princess Jincheng to Tubo Zanpuchidaizhudan (son of Chidesong) in 707. The relationship between the Tang Dynasty and Tubo eased again.