History of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms

Chapter 49: Breaking through Chang'an 3: Defense of Tongguan

【Battle of Tongguan】

After the collapse of the Mengshui defense line, Qi Kerang, the Taining Jiedushi who was in charge of the outer defense, led the remaining troops to retreat to Tongguan and urgently appealed to the court for help.

The imperial court sent Zhang Chengfan to lead 2,800 archers from the Shen Ce Army to rush to Tongguan to assist in the defense.

The Shen Ce Army was the main force of the Tang Dynasty's Central Imperial Army. It was established after the An-Shi Rebellion and was later controlled by eunuchs, becoming an important asset for the eunuchs' monopoly of power. At first, the Shen Ce Army was an elite force, but later it gradually became corrupt and its combat effectiveness declined sharply.

The salary of the Shen Ce Army was three times that of other troops, and there were extra generous rewards on holidays, amnesty, and the day of the new ruler's accession to the throne. Their main mission was to protect the capital, so they stayed away from the battlefield during peacetime.

Generous salary and benefits, stable organization, easy and leisurely work... the officers and soldiers of the Shence Army have all become "people with connections". Just like some career-based positions, you can't get in without some connections at home.

By the end of the Tang Dynasty, the powerful and wealthy bribed the eunuchs to register the names of young masters in the military register. They did not really need to be in the army, but they could receive salaries and rewards according to the roster, and they were blatantly drawing salaries without doing anything.

Normally, these young masters and lords wear brand-name clothes, ride tall and beautiful horses, and swagger through the streets, acting tyrannically. Once they really need to go to war, their wealthy and powerful parents will spend money to hire poor people to impersonate them. Most of these "mercenaries" are desperate vagrants, the elderly, the weak, and the disabled. Some of them can't even hold a weapon, and have never received any military training.

It is conceivable how poor the combat effectiveness of the so-called "Shenshe Army" is.

This was also Tang Xizong's initial concern, that the Shence Army was useless.

The imperial court selected 2,800 such archers from the Shence Army and handed them over to Zhang Chengfan, ordering him to guard Tongguan.

Zhang Chengfan almost cried when he saw these "elite archers" who couldn't even draw their bows. Emperor Xizong of Tang even came in person to practice for the army.

Zhang Chengfan hurriedly reported: "Your Majesty, the intelligence says that there are hundreds of thousands of Cao troops, and they are coming here in a big way. Qi Kerang led 10,000 remnants of the defeated army to defend outside Tongguan, and now I am asked to lead this bunch of bastards to station in Tongguan, and Your Majesty has not allocated food and money... Your Majesty, at least you should distribute food and money to them? More importantly, hurry up and send elite troops to reinforce them!"

Emperor Xizong of Tang said perfunctorily: "You go first, and the reinforcements will arrive soon."

Zhang Chengfan had no choice but to lead his troops to Tongguan. When he arrived in Huazhou, the governor of Huazhou had just left office, and the Huazhou government was temporarily in a power vacuum. All the soldiers and civilians in the city fled to the valleys for refuge, and the city was in ruins. Zhang Chengfan opened the granary and was delighted to find that there were more than 1,000 bushels of rice in it, enough to feed the army for three days.

It’s better than nothing, so take it with you.

After arriving at Tongguan, Zhang Chengfan launched a massive search for fleeing refugees. He captured more than a hundred villagers huddled together in the weeds and ordered them to carry stones, deliver drinking water, build fortifications, and do coolie labor.

Zhang Chengfan was ordered to garrison Tongguan, while Qi Kerang deployed an outer defense line outside Tongguan. The two armies responded to each other inside and outside. However, the food supply of the two armies had been cut off, and there was no follow-up supply or reinforcements. More than 10,000 hungry soldiers were about to face hundreds of thousands of aggressive Cao troops. The morale of the defenders was low and they had no fighting spirit.

On the day when the food supply was cut off, the vanguard of the Cao army arrived at Tongguan, and they hoisted white flags everywhere to create momentum. The white flags were all over the mountains and plains, stretching as far as the eye could see.

The Cao army wanted to scare off the government troops by bluffing.

Qi Kerang boosted morale, took the initiative to attack, fought against the vanguard of the Cao army, and won a small victory. The Cao army retreated backwards.

Although Qi Kerang was brave, he had very few soldiers and was hungry. Although he won, he did not pursue the enemy and still held his ground in the camp.

Facts have proved that Qi Kerang's decision not to pursue was correct, because this was a false defeat by the Cao army to lure the snake out of its hole.

At any time, attacking a city, pass, or camp by force is the worst strategy. Sending the vanguard to feign defeat, luring the defenders into our ambush, turning the tables, and waiting for the enemy to tire themselves out is the middle strategy. The best strategy is to defeat the enemy without fighting.

As soon as Qi Kerang withdrew his troops and returned to the camp, Huang Chao went to the front line in person to command the second wave of attack.

Huang Chao's arrival greatly encouraged Cao's army, who cheered loudly, shaking the mountains and rivers. The bandits rose up and rushed towards Qi Kerang's camp.

The fierce fighting lasted from noon to dusk. Qi Kerang put up a desperate resistance and the battlefield became stalemate.

However, Qi Kerang's soldiers were so hungry that they mutinied, burned the camp, and then fled. Qi Kerang escaped with his life and retreated to Tongguan.

Tongguan's outer defense line collapsed.

The defeat was overwhelming. Zhang Chengfan distributed all the supplies to the soldiers as a final reward, only asking them to defend Tongguan for the empire for a while longer. At the same time, he sent a letter to the court with an urgent memorial: "I have been away from Beijing for six days, and I have not seen any reinforcements, let alone a penny of military pay or a grain of rice. On the day our army arrived at Tongguan, we engaged in battle with Cao's army. Our army of 2,000 people faced Cao's army of 600,000 people! The friendly army outside the pass (Qi Kerang) has mutinied and collapsed... I heard that Your Majesty intends to inspect the work in Shu (cannot say "escape", too ugly), I risked my life to make a direct appeal - once you leave, Tongguan will immediately collapse, and the empire will immediately collapse! You must hold on, urgently mobilize all troops, and reinforce Tongguan. In this way, the foundation of Emperor Gaozu and Emperor Taizong may be preserved, and Huang Chao will perish after An Lushan. I would like to compare myself to Geshu Han and die gloriously for my country!"

【Enter the "Forbidden Valley"】

Tongguan, where one man can hold the pass against ten thousand, is an almost insurmountable natural barrier. Although the government troops only had a few thousand men, as long as they had sufficient food and grass and the generals were united, they could also withstand the hundreds of thousands of grass troops. Write a Tang Dynasty version of "300 Spartans".

Like Wenquan Pass, Tongguan is not perfect. There is also a valley path on its north side that leads to the interior of Tongguan.

Normally, civilians were prohibited from entering or leaving this road so that the government could set up checkpoints on the main road to collect taxes. Therefore, this path was called the "Forbidden Valley", which is what we often call a military restricted area today. Those who trespassed into the restricted area would be beheaded. Since almost no one walked around, this narrow valley was overgrown with weeds and vines. If someone in the know hadn't specifically looked for it, no one would have noticed that there was a path here. Over time, people really forgot about it.

Zhang Chengfan, who was in charge of guarding Tongguan, also forgot about it.

Zhang Chengfan cannot be blamed because he was temporarily stationed in Tongguan and was not the long-term garrison commander of Tongguan.

Zhang Chengfan forgot about this path, Qi Kerang forgot about it, Tian Lingzi forgot about it, and Emperor Xizong of Tang forgot about it...

If you forget everything, everything will be fine.

But Qi Kerang's defeated soldiers accidentally discovered this secret passage, so they rushed in, trampled the weeds, and cut the vines. Overnight, the "Forbidden Valley" became a flat road and appeared in front of the grass army.

All that’s missing is a wooden sign at the intersection, with an arrow drawn on it and “Tongguan, go ahead” written on it.

The Tongguan garrison was already stretched to the limit, and now they had to draw troops to urgently defend the "Forbidden Valley".

Huang Chao didn't give him much time.

At four o'clock in the morning, in the darkness before dawn, the Cao army launched a new round of attack.

Zhang Chengfan fought hard, and when he ran out of arrows, he threw stones.

The fierce fighting lasted from early morning to afternoon, and from afternoon to night.

Relying on their advantage in numbers, the Cao army could fight in rotation, while the defending army could only fight around the clock, suffering from hunger and fatigue and being terribly miserable.

There was a natural trench outside the pass, similar to a moat, but without water. At night, Cao's army drove more than a thousand nearby villagers to work as coolies, digging sand and filling the trench, and then rushed to the pass and set it on fire. The Tongguan tower was burned down by the fire and turned into ashes.

The eight hundred defenders of the Forbidden Valley were also defeated by the Cao army.

As the sun rose slowly, Tongguan was declared to have fallen.

Tongguan, which was strategically located, easy to defend but difficult to attack, and where one man could hold off ten thousand, was declared lost after a little over two days.

The last barrier of the empire and the last fig leaf of Chang'an were lifted by the Cao army.

Zhang Chengfan changed into ordinary people's clothes and escaped among the chaotic army; another general of the Shence Army, Wang Shihui, who was guarding Tongguan, committed suicide and died for his country.

Zhang Chengfan was halfway through his escape when he encountered reinforcements - 2,000 men from Fengtian (now Qianxian County, Shaanxi Province). Zhang Chengfan was extremely disappointed and sighed, "You are too late."

When they retreated to Weiqiao, they met new soldiers recruited by Tian Lingzi who came to reinforce the Shence Army.

Seeing that all the new recruits were wearing luxurious leather clothes, the defeated soldiers were furious and shouted, "You are well-paid and enjoy wealth without any merit, while we have to endure hunger and cold and fight the bandits. Why?"

The more they cursed, the angrier they became, and finally they all rushed forward and robbed these new soldiers. Afterwards, these defeated soldiers turned around and ran into the Cao army camp, defected to the enemy, and were willing to be "guides" for the Cao army, guiding them to attack Chang'an.

Thanks to the book friend "Feitian Shenlong Zhan" for the recommendation vote! Today, I will continue to update 10,000
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(End of this chapter)