The best idlers of the Tang Dynasty

When Du Ruicai was famous in Chang'an, Suizhou, which was far away on the western border of the Tang Dynasty, experienced the biggest tragic defeat after the shame of Weiqiao.In May of the fourth year of Zhenguan, the Turkic Jieli Khan led an army of 20 to conquer the border. Since the Battle of Weiqiao in the ninth year of Wude, Jieli Khan also made great efforts to suppress some tribes who did not obey the rule. In the past four years, the Turkic Twisted into a rope, this time the invasion of the border is menacing, and they have made great efforts to flatten the Central Plains.

Suizhou, as an important border town of the Tang Dynasty, was already heavily surrounded by the Turkic army at this time, but what is surprising is that the Turkic people actually besieged and did not attack. Work hard.

Fan Xing, who is the prefect of Suizhou, was also surprised by this strange behavior of the Turks. He always felt that the Turks had some kind of conspiracy hidden in it.

When Fan Xing was young, he was just a horse slave of a rich family. Later, when Emperor Yangdi had no way, when the world was in chaos and his master’s family was ruined, he had no choice but to join the Tang army. Later, because of his bravery in battle, he made many military exploits He was promoted to Army Sima, but his background doomed him to further difficulties.

Later, Fan Xing came into Taizong's sight because of his meritorious service following Taizong Ping Wang Shichong. When Li Chengqian left the town of Zhongshan, he was sent there to serve as the long history of Li Chengqian's Zhongshan County Palace. Later, Li Chengqian moved into the East Palace. The old man in Qiandi was naturally promoted to a certain extent, and was sent to Suizhou as the governor.

At this time, the sky was getting late, the setting sun was like blood, and on the top of the messy Suizhou wall, a dilapidated battle flag of the Tang Dynasty was waving in the wind.Under the battle flag, a row of soldiers rested against the crenel. Their tattered clothes and dilapidated battle armor were stained with blood, and everyone looked tired.

A soldier with a white cloth wrapped around his head, with bloodstains still faintly visible along the white cloth, his dry lips slightly parted, and his eyes are somewhat hollow, this is a sign of extreme fatigue, and I don't know how long he hasn't gone down to the city to rest .

Suddenly, he felt a slight tremor, lost his mind, suddenly reflected, turned around and lay on the crenel, staring blankly at the front, his eyes opened wider and wider, and his face gradually turned into a look of panic.

"Enemy attack! Enemy attack!"

Following the warning from the small soldiers, countless Turkic soldiers below the city suddenly let out a burst of earth-shaking shouts, and rushed towards the city wall, and a bloody offensive and defensive battle began again.

The cumbersome ladder landed on the crenel of the city wall with a muffled sound, and the subordinates of the Turkic Erhan Tuli rushed towards the city head one after another.A pair of ladders climbed up the city wall, braved the feathered arrows that flew like locusts, and the soldiers held up their wooden forks and stretched out from between the two rattan plaques. Several Hu soldiers followed, a hole was torn open in the city wall, and the defenders suddenly fell into chaos.

At this critical moment, Fan Xing appeared in the retreating crowd and waved his sword and shouted: "No retreat, no retreat, no one is allowed to retreat, don't forget, behind you are your parents and wives, stop the opening!"

After shouting, he took the lead and led his own soldiers to fight up. With the heroic performance of the general, the morale of the Tang army also cheered up. The attacking Hu soldiers were repulsed and several prisoners were captured.

An old soldier looked at Fan Xing covered in blood, and said, "My lord! In the past ten years, Turkic people have harassed Suizhou seven times. Slaughter. But this time, everyone can see that you, Lord Prefect, are different from them, and you have made up your mind to guard this city wall for us!"

Fan Xing heard the words, and said with emotion: "Eat the king's salary, take care of the king's worries, this prefect hereby assures you that you will never take a step back, and will persist until the imperial court's rescue arrives!"

At this time, there was another deafening shout from under the city wall, and the Turkic people came to kill again.

Seeing this, the veteran shouted: "My lord, the enemy is about to attack the city again, and there is still a big leader there."

Fan Xing quickly lay down on the crenel to observe, and said: "That's the Turkic Erhan Tuli! Tell the whole army, the enemy is not good, so you must be careful!"

When the soldiers heard the order, they raised their rattan cards one after another, and Fan Xing drew his sword from his waist. The atmosphere in the city was extremely tense, and everyone held their breath, waiting for a thunderous attack.

But something surprising happened. The enemy's attack formation had just advanced more than 100 steps, but suddenly stopped, and after a while, the whole army turned back.

Fan Xing kept watch for a while, seeing that the enemy had no intention of attacking again, he left the crenel with a confused face.Go back to the prefect's office and call Zhao Gongcun, Cao Canjun, Suizhou Secretary, for a secret discussion.

Although this Zhao Gongcun is only a low-level official, he is one of the few officials in Suizhou City, and he is a local. He is familiar with side affairs and has a lot of wisdom.

To Zhao Gongcun, he expressed his doubts: "The enemy has tried to attack the top of the city with a dense formation, and if they come a few more times, the city wall will be taken down by them, but why did they suddenly stop attacking? "

Zhao Gongcun thought for a while and replied: "Well, I'm just guessing. There may be an explanation for this matter, that is, the Turkic raids did not come to capture Suizhou at all."

Fan Xing was surprised when he heard the words, and asked, "Why did you come here if you didn't want to attack Suizhou?"

Zhao Gongcun said: "I heard that Xieli used to be a famous hunter on the grassland!"

Fan Xing was startled: "You mean, he dropped the bait in Suizhou just to lure a big prey?"

Zhao Gongcun's words suddenly woke him up. The few captives captured at the top of the city just now had already spoken. Some of them confessed that the imperial court had sent three groups of people totaling 15 people to Suizhou day and night.The enemy slowed down their offensive knowing that the Tang army was rushing to help. This is enough to show that Xieli just wanted to lay a big trap under the city of Suizhou to lure and annihilate the more than [-] reinforcements.Thinking of this, Fan Xing couldn't sit still any longer, and hurriedly wrote a secret letter, selected ten soldiers with high martial arts skills, and asked them to leave the city with the letter and send it to Chang'an in the middle of the night.

The ten men were intercepted by the Tuli army all the way, nine of them were killed in battle, and only one ran back to the city covered in blood. The defenders lowered the rope and let him up.

Fan Xing personally asked the survivor about the deployment of the enemy troops outside the city, only to realize that Suizhou City had been surrounded into an iron barrel, and it was impossible to send this news out unless it grew wings!Fan Xing counted the days when his emergency letter was sent before the enemy closed the siege, and couldn't help but feel anxious: the army sent by the imperial court could reach the city of Suizhou in at most three days!

"We must try to stop them from moving forward!" Fan Xing knew the strength of the Tang Dynasty army very well. If these 10,000+ people were to die, it would undoubtedly be a disaster for the entire Tang Dynasty!

Fan Xing and Zhao Gongcun's judgments were not wrong. During the day, Tuli suddenly ordered to stop the siege because he had received an order from Jieli's son Shi Luodie.The reason why Shi Luodie did this was because his father made an explanation before leaving that it was not the goal to attack Suizhou, but to lure the main force of the Tang army to annihilate it.After Tuli's troops retreated, Shi Luodie was a little worried, so he simply let Tuli's 3 people rest for two days, and he and Zhi Shili led the people to continue the attack.

But that night, accidents happened one after another. First, in the middle of the night, a dozen Tang soldiers came down from the city to flee, but they were chased and killed by Tuli's troops.At the fourth watch, suddenly there was a wave of defenders rushing out of the east gate as if they were about to break through. Shi Luodie hurriedly led people to encircle him. As soon as the two sides fought, the Tang army who rushed out retreated. Shi Luodie's men chased them all the way to the city. Under the gate, there were only a few guards there, and the red-eyed Ashina cavalry swarmed in. Shi Luodiezhi couldn't stop, and even broke Suizhou.The men and horses in the battalions rushed in without knowing it, and rushed into the city, and the city of Suizhou suddenly became chaotic.

Zhao Gongcun was awakened by the sound of killing, and rushed to the Suizhou treasury to lead the Tang army guarding the treasury to make the final resistance.After a fight, most of his subordinates were killed, and he was forced to the door of the treasury by several spears.At this time Shi Luodie rushed to the horse, Zhao Gongcun stretched out his hands to protect the gate, and shouted angrily: "This is the forbidden area of ​​the Suizhou treasury of the Tang Dynasty, no one is allowed to enter!"

Shi Luodie glanced at the bloody Zhao Gongcun: "Who are you, aren't you afraid of death?"

Zhao Gongcun said proudly: "Suizhou Secretary Cao of the Tang Dynasty joins the army Zhao Gongcun!"

Shi Luodie laughed loudly: "It turns out that you are a small official who looks after the treasury, but you are a little bit courageous, just for this, as long as you hand over the key of the state treasury, I can spare you."

Zhao Gongcun firmly held the key, and said loudly: "Just take my life, the key must not be given!"

Shi Luodie ordered impatiently: "You guys go over and take the key for me!"

Several soldiers pulled Zhao Gongcun from the gate and tried to grab his key, but they couldn't get it off.When Shi Luodie saw this, he was annoyed, he drew out his knife, and cut off Zhao Gongcun's arm. Zhao Gongcun screamed and fell to the ground, gritted his teeth, and stared at the gate of the state treasury with wide eyes.

A Turkic soldier bent down to take the key off the broken arm, but the hand on the broken arm was tightly held, and still could not be removed. Hu Bing chopped it off with a knife, and picked up the key from the broken hand. cut off.

Seeing this, Shi Luodie scolded angrily: "You bastard! You can't even do this well!"

The Turkic soldier trembled in fright, knelt down, begged for mercy repeatedly, Shi Luodie kicked him somersault, and ordered the soldiers beside him: "Break open the gate for me!"

Dozens of soldiers picked up a log and slammed it into the gate.The wooden door made a heavy sound, and finally, the door was knocked open.Shi Luodie walked in, but the scene in front of him stunned him. A large room was empty, except for a wooden box in the corner.One of the attendants broke open the copper lock on the box and put his hand in, and there was only a copper coin inside.

Shi Luodie kicked hard on the box, walked out, looked at Zhao Gongcun who was in a pool of blood, and said with a puzzled expression, "You're desperately trying to get rid of it, just for this little money?"

Zhao Gongcun gritted his teeth and said nothing, the severe pain made him speechless, but the anger in his eyes clearly told Shi Luodie that he hated the Turks.

Shi Luodie originally thought of killing Zhao Gongcun, but after thinking about it, he decided to ask someone to bandage his wound temporarily, and planned to take him back to make Jieli feel sorry for him.

The raging flames that burned the city rushed straight into the endless darkness, dyeing the sky blood red!Soon, someone came to report that Fan Xing, the guard of the Tang Dynasty, had been captured at the Governor's Office.

Shi Luodie rushed to the Governor's Office excitedly. Although he just arrived today, he also heard about Fan Xing's deeds. Now that the plan to lure the Tang Dynasty's reinforcements has gone bankrupt, it may be that he was able to capture Fan Xing. The biggest achievement of their journey to the south this time was that halfway through, a group of hussars suddenly crowded out from the opposite side, and the leader of the group stared at him fiercely with a pair of wolf-like eyes.

Shocked, Shi Luodie stopped his horse, bowed and said, "Father Khan, you've arrived!"

But at this time, the joy of breaking the city could not be seen on Xieli's face at all.

A fast horse galloped up with a head and said, "I'm sweating profusely. The more than 1000 Tang troops who came out of Jingzhou have retreated. Our army only grabbed one tail and killed [-] Tang troops, but they cut down The head of the broken Tang general Dugu Yanyun."

Speaking of throwing the head on the ground, Shi Luodie stepped forward and took a look: "Father Khan, it's really Dugu Yanyun. Last year, when I went south to Bingzhou, I didn't suffer less from this old man."

Zhishi Sili also said at the side: "Khan, this is worthy of great celebration. The father of Dugu Yanyun and the Tang Dynasty's Supreme Emperor Li Yuan are cousins. He himself was the nine generals who followed Li Shimin in the Xuanwu Gate. One of them!"

Jieli said with a gloomy expression: "I deployed many suspicious soldiers, led the main force to detour for thousands of miles, crossed the river through the secluded path of Hetao in Suibei, and lay in ambush in this mountain forest for more than ten days. In the end, only one Tang general was killed. , and more than a thousand soldiers, is this still worth celebrating?"

Shi Luodie knew that it was all his fault, so he quickly comforted his father: "Father Khan, don't be too sad, maybe Li Shimin's anger is not exhausted?"

Jieli glanced at his son: "Aura, what is an aura, and who is in charge of this aura?"

Jieli roared, drew out his sword, pointed at the night sky and shouted: "My God, it is said that the emperor pays off those who wait and see. My heart is almost exhausted. Why do you still betray me? If you really If you want to be my enemy, come down and fight with me for [-] rounds, you will have a good time winning or losing!"

The sky was silent, a gust of wind blew past and shook Xieli's cloak wildly.Shi Luodie and Zhishi Sili looked at each other with horror.

After a long time, the sword fell from Jieli's hand.He turned around, and Shi Luodie found that his father seemed to be much older all of a sudden.He hurriedly stepped forward and said: "Father Khan, although the main force of the Tang army could not be encircled and wiped out, the battle in Suizhou was enough to make the Tang army terrified. Why don't we take advantage of the victory and send our troops south to take Chang'an?"

Jieli rolled his eyes at his son and said, "Thanks to you, you have read so many military books. Don't you know that the right time and place are the key to fighting? In spring and summer, the Jing and Wei Rivers in Guanzhong are high and the waves are rough. How to deal with a half-crossing and attacking, rushing south at this time, half the result with twice the result. Besides, attacking when you are unprepared is the essence of military art. After this battle, the Tang Dynasty has already prepared and blocked the passage to the south. If we How many soldiers and horses will be lost if we attack Chang’an by force? In the end, it’s not easy for others.”

After being reprimanded by his father, Shi Luodie was furious and cursed loudly: "It's all the fault of that bastard Fan Xing, come on, bring Fan Xing here and chop him up!"

But Jieli stopped him: "No, Fan Xing can't be killed! We still want to capture the Central Plains. If we kill every governor we catch, won't that force every Tang Dynasty guard in every city to fight us bloody to the end?"

Shi Luodie stomped his feet: "Then, is that so cheap for him?"

Jie Li sneered and said, "If we spare him, will Li Shimin spare him? Bring a pen, I want to write a letter and ask Fan Xing to take him back to Chang'an!"

The atmosphere in Chengqing Hall was heavy, and Emperor Taizong sat beside the desk in pain.These days, he has been deploying all his strength to rescue Suizhou, because Jieli's big banner has been in the cloud, he left Zhang Baoxiang there to monitor the other party, and Yuchi Jingde and others were all recalled by him. In addition, he also mobilized Chai Shao went north to Jingzhou, and even ordered Li Shiji to lead his troops out of Wucheng to the east.The reason why he put in so much effort is because he really cared about the people of Suizhou, and secondly, because of Fan Xing who was trapped in the city of Suizhou.For three years, he always felt in his heart that he owed this courtier, and besides, he really liked this man's talent.

Unexpectedly, just as the army was approaching, the city was broken. Tanma saw the flames of Suizhou City and sent an alarm to Yuchi Jingde. Fortunately, Dugu Yanyun led his troops to fight desperately to cover the whole army, but he himself died in battle.

Later it became clear that the one confronting Zhang Bao in Yunzhong was just a suspicious soldier. Jieli had already led the army to detour from a section of shallows in Suibei Hetao to ford the Yellow River secretly, and set up an ambush in the dense forest to the west of Suizhou.If the reinforcements of the Tang Dynasty went ten miles further, they would be surrounded and could not escape the fate of being wiped out.

Seeing such a defeat, Taizong couldn't help thinking of the alliance under the city in the summer of the ninth year of Wude, and he fell into deep self-blame: "It's another blood debt! It's because I didn't manage this country well and let the Turks bully me." For so many years, I, the emperor of the Tang Dynasty, can only watch the people being slaughtered, I really feel ashamed!"

In the Chengqing Hall, Li Chengqian, who was standing by the side, also got the news that Suizhou City was breached, and he was also worried. He was not worried as much as Emperor Taizong. He was only worried about one person, that is, he who once did his job in Zhongshan County. Fan Xing, the chief historian of the palace.

At the beginning of the Xuanwu Gate change, Li Chengqian was recalled from Zhongshan by Emperor Taizong, and was attacked by suspicious unknown people on the way. Fortunately, Fan Xing was by his side at that time, otherwise he might not be able to reach Chang'an, and he would die in Huangquan.

Hearing that Suizhou City was broken at this time, what he wanted to know most was Fan Xing's safety.