100 Historical Stories That Unlock Teenage Wisdom

Chapter 41

Chapter 5 The philosophy of cognition How deep a person's cognition is, the road can be as long as possible.Whether we can judge the situation, look forward, and have the mind and tolerance of a wise man requires us to recognize and refine a large number of incidents, and deepen our ability to understand. Flow, so it can be deep.When you are no longer short-sighted, when you stand on the top of the mountain, thousands of scenery will be in your eyes. —— Difficulty is a double-edged sword
The harsh environment will bring us many unfavorable factors, but it also contains a positive side.

Chapter 51 Li Yanxue goes to Caizhou at night Among the feudal towns in the middle Tang Dynasty, Huaixi was a stubborn separatist force.In 814 AD, Wu Shaoyang, the governor of Huaixi, died, and his son Wu Yuanji became independent.Tang Xianzong sent troops to conquer Huaixi, but the commander he sent was either a corrupt bureaucrat or he had other plans.As a result, it took three full years of work and a lot of money, but all failed.The officials of the imperial court thought that the fighting could not continue, but the minister Pei Du thought that Huaixi was like a sore on his body, which must be cured.Tang Xianzong worshiped Pei Du as prime minister, determined to continue to conquer Huaixi.

In 817 A.D., the imperial court sent Li Yan as the envoy of Tangzhou (now Tanghe, Henan) and other three states, and asked him to attack Wu Yuanji's old nest Caizhou (now Runan, Henan).

The soldiers in Tangzhou fought for several years, but they were unwilling to fight again. They were a little worried when they heard that Li Min was coming.When Li Yan arrived in Tangzhou, he announced to the officials: "I am an incompetent person. The imperial court sent me here to establish local order. As for beating Wu Yuanji, it is none of my business."

The news reached Wu Yuanji.Wu Yuanji had won several battles, so he was already a little proud, but when he heard that Li Yan didn't know how to fight, he didn't take precautions to heart.

After that, Li Yan didn't mention the fight against Huaixi at all.There were many sick and wounded soldiers in Tangzhou City. Li Min's family came to condolences, and he had no official airs at all. The soldiers were very grateful to him.

Once, when Li Tan's soldiers were patrolling the border, they encountered a small group of Huaixi soldiers. The two sides fought for a while. The Tang army beat the Huaixi soldiers away and captured Ding Shiliang, an officer of the Huaixi army.

Ding Shiliang was a brave general under Wu Yuanji, who often broke into the area of ​​Tangzhou. Many people in the Tang army had suffered from him and hated him very much.This time he was captured alive, and everyone begged Li Yan to kill him to avenge his brothers who died in battle.

The soldiers escorted Ding Shiliang to Li Yan.Li Yan ordered the soldiers to untie him, and asked him nicely why he rebelled with Wu Yuanji.Ding Shiliang was not a Huaixi general, but was captured by Wu Yuanji. When he saw Li Yan treating him so leniently, he surrendered.

With the help of Ding Shiliang, Li Yan took down Huaixi's strongholds - Wenchengzha and Xingqiaozha, and successively subdued two surrendered generals, one named Li You and the other named Li Zhongyi.Knowing that these two men were courageous and resourceful, Li Yan trusted them with all his heart, and secretly discussed with them the plan to attack Caizhou, sometimes until midnight.The former generals under Li Yan were very unhappy about this incident, and there was a lot of discussion in the barracks, saying that Li You was sent by the enemy as an internal response.Some even said with evidence that the captured enemy spies also admitted that Li You was a spy.

Li Yan was afraid that these gossips would spread to the imperial court, making Tang Xianzong believe them, and he would not be able to protect Li You even if he wanted to protect Li You, so he announced to everyone: "Since everyone thinks Li You is unreliable, I will send him to Chang'an, please Your Majesty." Let it go."

He ordered the soldiers to put Li You in shackles and escort him to Chang'an. At the same time, he secretly sent someone to send a memorial to the court, saying that he had agreed with Li You on the plan to capture Caizhou. If Li You was killed, the plan to attack Caizhou It also blew.

Tang Xianzong received Li Yan's secret performance, ordered Li You to be released, and told him to return to Tangzhou to assist Li Yan.

When Li You returned to Tangzhou, Li Yan was very happy to see him. He held his hand and said, "It's a blessing to the country that you can come back safely." Then, he was immediately appointed as a military officer and asked him to carry weapons In and out of camp.Li You knew that Li Yan wanted to do everything possible to protect him, and was so moved that he secretly cried bitterly.

Li You suggested to Li Min: "Wu Yuanji's elite soldiers are all stationed in Huiqu (now southwest of Shangshui, Henan Province) and the borders on all sides. The ones guarding Caizhou are just old and weak soldiers. We seize his gap and attack Caizhou directly. It is no problem to capture Wu Yuanji alive."

Li Yan secretly sent someone to tell the prime minister Pei Du who came to supervise the battle of this plan.Pei Du also supported him, saying: "War is to win by surprise, you can figure it out."

Li Yan ordered Li You and Li Zhongyi to lead [-] elite soldiers to serve as the vanguard, and he himself led the central army and rear guards to set off one after another.Except for Li Yan and Li You, no one knew where they were going.Someone asked Li Min secretly, and Li Min said, "Just go east!"

After driving for sixty miles, I arrived at Zhangchai Village.The Huaixi soldiers guarding there were defenseless, and were all wiped out by the vanguard led by Li You.Li Yan occupied Zhangchai Village, ordered the soldiers to rest for a while, and then left a group of soldiers to guard Zhangchai Village and cut off the road leading to Huiqu.After everything was arranged properly, he ordered to continue marching overnight.

The generals asked Li Min again where to go, and Li Min announced: "Go to Caizhou and capture Wu Yuanji!"

Some of the generals were defeated by Wu Yuanji, and when they heard this order, their faces changed in fright.The eunuch overseeing the army was very timid, so anxious that he burst into tears and said, "As expected, we have fallen into Li You's scheme."

At this time, the sky is dark, the north wind is blowing harder and harder, and the snow like goose feathers is getting denser and denser.The road from Zhangchai Village to Caizhou is a trail that Tang Jun has never walked.Everyone complained secretly, but Li Min was very strict with the army on weekdays, and no one dared to disobey the military orders.

In the middle of the night, the soldiers traveled another seventy miles through the thick snow before reaching the edge of Caizhou City.There happened to be a pond near the city where geese and ducks were raised, and the cries of the geese and ducks covered the noise of the people and horses.

Li You and Li Zhongyi ordered the soldiers to dig ridges one by one on the wall of the outer city. They took the lead in climbing up the city by stepping on the ridges, and the soldiers followed suit.The Huaixi soldiers guarding the city were sleeping soundly. The Tang army killed them, leaving only one to beat the watch, and told him to beat the clapper to beat the watch.Then, open the city gate and let Li Yan's army enter the city.

When the army arrived in the inner city, they also successfully entered in this way, and the Huaixi army in the inner city did not notice it at all.

When the rooster crowed for the first time, the sky was getting brighter and the snow had stopped.Tang Jun has occupied Wu Yuanji's outer courtyard, and Wu Yuanji is still sleeping in the back room.A Huaixi soldier discovered Tang Jun and rushed into the back room to report to Wu Yuanji: "It's not good, the officers and soldiers have arrived."

Wu Yuanji lay lazily on the bed and didn't want to get up. He said with a smile, "The prisoners must be making trouble. I'll clean them up after dawn."

As soon as he finished speaking, another soldier rushed in angrily and said, "The gate of the city has been opened by the officers and soldiers."

Wu Yuanji felt strange and said, "Probably Huiqu sent someone to ask us for cold clothes!"

Wu Yuanji got up, only to hear the sound of yelling and ordering in the yard: "Changshi is delivering the order..." (Changshi is Li Min's official title) Then, thousands of soldiers responded.Only then did Wu Yuanji get scared, and said, "What kind of servant is this, why did he come here to deliver the order?" As he spoke, he led a few trusted soldiers to climb up the courtyard wall to resist.

Li said to the soldiers: "Wu Yuanji dared to resist because he still has [-] elite soldiers in Huiqu, waiting for rescue from there."

Dong Zhongzhi, the Huaixi general stationed in Huiqu, lives in Caizhou.Li Yan sent people to comfort Dong Chongzhi's family, and sent Dong Chongzhi's son to Huiqu to persuade him to surrender.Seeing that the general situation was over, Dong Zhongzhi rushed to Caizhou to surrender to Li Yan.

Li Yan ordered the soldiers to continue to attack the wall of Wu Yuanji's courtyard, smashed the outer gate, and occupied the armory.The next day, Li Yan set fire to the south gate of the courtyard wall.The people in Caizhou had had enough of Wu Yuanji's suffering, and they all came to help Tang Jun with firewood. The arrows shot by Tang Jun soldiers into the inner courtyard were as dense as hedgehog hairs.

When the sun went down, the inner courtyard was finally breached. Wu Yuanji had no choice but to beg for surrender.

Li Yan won a complete victory. While escorting Wu Yuanji to Chang'an in a prison cart, he sent someone to report the results of the battle to Prime Minister Pei Du.

The news that Pei Du and Li Yan pacified Huaixi and captured Wu Yuanji alive spread to Hebei, which shocked the Hebei feudal towns, and they all expressed their obedience to the government.The situation of the rebellion in the feudal towns of the Tang Dynasty finally stabilized temporarily.

Wisdom Interpretation:

The heavy snowfall in the sky is a big obstacle to the Tang army's actions, and it is very likely to lead to failure, but things always have their two sides, which can make the rebels careless at the same time.Sometimes we will be in a bad growth or living environment, which is a kind of pain for us, but at the same time it will temper our will, so that we will eventually break out of the cocoon and become a butterfly, and the pain will be rewarded.

(End of this chapter)