In the early days of the Tang Dynasty, there was a general on the Korean Peninsula who was not a citizen of the Tang Dynasty, but a military general of Baekje. After the Tang Dynasty occupied the Korean Peninsula, he chose to surrender to the Tang Dynasty, and fought on the battlefield of the Tang Dynasty for more than 20 years, making countless military exploits.
However, in the end, he was framed as a traitor and finally chose to end his life by hanging himself.
The general is often black-toothed, and his story is always curious. Why did he, who came from Baekje, fought bloodily for the Tang Dynasty, but was finally framed for rebellion and hanged himself? The reasons behind all this are actually not complicated, and they are caused by the unique national conditions of the Tang Dynasty.
The special environment of the Tang Dynasty made Heiya Changzhi willing to do his best for the Tang Dynasty although he was born in Baekje. His ending was also created by that special era. To answer these questions, we have to start with his story.
Black tooth Changzhi, the word Hengyuan, a famous general of the Tang Dynasty. In the fourteenth year of Zhenguan of the Tang Dynasty, Heiya Changzhi was born in the central region of the Korean Peninsula, when the Tang Dynasty was under the reign of Li Shimin, and the country was powerful.
In the same year that Heizhi Changzhi was born, the Tang Dynasty defeated the main force of the Eastern Turks, destroyed the Eastern Turk royal tent in World War I, and established the hegemony of the Tang Dynasty in East Asia.
However, the situation on the Korean Peninsula was more complicated, as it was in the period of the Three Kingdoms, with Baekje and Silla ruling in the south and Goguryeo in the north. Of the Three Kingdoms, Goguryeo was the strongest, while Baekje and Silla were slightly weaker.
When Tsuneyuki Black Tooth was born in Baekje, the country was in a period of chaos. King Fuyu Zhang's abuse of his cronies led to a miasma in the government. After the Tang Dynasty defeated the Eastern Turks and became the overlord of East Asia, the three kingdoms including Baekje submitted to the Tang Dynasty one after another.
However, there are very few historical records of Heiga's experience in Baekje. Because according to the tradition of Chinese historians, they usually only record the events after the surrender of the Tang Dynasty, and do not care much about the situation before his surrender.
The problem is that the history of a small country like Baekje is often incomplete.
Heizhi Changzhi was studious since he was a child, and at the age of eight he was familiar with the Central Plains history books such as "Spring and Autumn", "Historical Records", and "Hanshu". As an adult, he was not only brilliant but also brave and good at fighting, and finally rose to the rank of assassin.
It seems ironic that a Baekje man studied the history books of the Central Plains. But in fact, in ancient times, Chinese civilization has always been the leader in East Asia. For a long time, it was natural to study Chinese culture and receive education in Chinese civilization.
And those small countries or frontier regimes, due to the lack of a complete education system, can only imitate the Central Plains. In general, the early experience of Heiya Tsuneyuki was that of a general who grew up in Baekje but was completely influenced by Chinese civilization.
As Kuroka Tsuneyuki gradually grew up and rose to the top, relations between the Tang Dynasty and Baekje gradually became strained. The old emperor of Baekje died, and the new emperor tried to expand his territory by expanding Silla, and even planned to join forces with Goguryeo to carve up Silla.
Silla was a vassal state of the Tang Dynasty, which at this time was busy dealing with Goguryeo to the north. Baekje has always colluded with Goguryeo to confront the Tang Dynasty. This made the Tang Dynasty unbearable.
Originally, the Tang Dynasty had no intention of declaring war on Baekje, but a series of actions by Baekje angered the Tang Dynasty. At the same time, the Tang Dynasty needed to open a second battlefield in the rear of Goguryeo. In 660 AD, the Tang Dynasty sent the general Su Dingfang to lead an army into the Korean Peninsula to fight.
In the face of the powerful Tang army, Baekje was unable to resist and did not even hold out for a round, and was quickly annihilated by Su Dingfang.
Hei Tooth Tsuneyuki, a valiant general who persevered in the fight against the Tang army, led the nobles in the restoration movement even after the Baekje regime had fallen.
In this struggle, he fought fiercely with the Don army, but as the battle lengthened, he began to have doubts about his actions. What is he fighting for?
For the independence of Baekje? The ancestors of Baekje were part of the Central Plains ethnic group, and they were of the same origin. For the loyalty of the royal family? But the situation of the Baekje royal family is worrying.
For the happiness of the people of Baekje? However, the Tang army's attack was also because Baekje provoked them first, and the Tang army did not impose excessive punishment on the Baekje people, but quickly restored order after the war.
So why fight?
This problem not only troubled Kuroka Tsuneyuki, but also many leaders of the Baekje Restoration faction. As time passed, the Tang Dynasty's display of invincibility made them feel more and more desperate.
At the same time, the Tang Dynasty's administration of Baekje territory also led to the gradual discovery that the Tang Dynasty's governance was more effective than that of the previous Baekje court. Under the rule of the Tang Dynasty, Baekje became more prosperous instead!
That being the case, why keep fighting? Surrender directly! Thus, in 663 AD, the Baekje Restoration Movement finally ended in failure. In the same year, Heiya Tsuneyuki also began to formally surrender to the Tang Dynasty.
After the surrender of the Tang Dynasty, Heiya Tsuneyuki began to have a new battle goal. Because he found that the ethnic policy of the Tang Dynasty was a very inclusive one, and the more military exploits he made, the more benefits he could bring to the people of Baekje.
After surrendering to the Tang Dynasty, Heizhi Changzhi fought with all his might to gain more exploits. The Tang Dynasty high-level officials spoke highly of his heroic performance. In 664 AD, he was promoted to the rank of lieutenant of Jichong, where he continued to guard Baekje and won the affection of his soldiers for his strict military management.
In 672 AD, he was named a loyal general, and later gradually promoted to the assassin of Shapan Prefecture and became the Shangzhu State. Even Tang Gaozong himself praised him. The reason why Heizhi Changzhi was able to get promotion and trust after surrendering to the Tang Dynasty was mainly because the Tang Dynasty implemented an enlightened ethnic policy at that time.
After the Tang Dynasty unified the Central Plains, as a new unified dynasty, it began to face the threat of external enemies. At this time, the Tang Dynasty began to think about how to deal with foreign relations. The Tang Dynasty was built on the political legacy of the Sui Dynasty, so to a large extent, the Sui and Tang dynasties were an era.
And before the Sui and Tang dynasties, the last powerful unified Central Plains civilization was the Han Dynasty.
The Han Dynasty had a long-term confrontation with the Xiongnu in the north, and finally pushed the Xiongnu into a desperate situation, but this method could not fundamentally solve the problem, because after the defeat of the Xiongnu, nomadic regimes such as Xianbei and Turkic rose one after another, once again posing a threat to the Central Plains.
At the same time, the continuous wars also greatly reduced the national strength of the Han Dynasty, and the people lived in hardship. The Tang realized that they needed to find a better solution. Therefore, during the Zhenguan period, the Tang Dynasty put forward a new strategy: first, to divide and suppress the frontier regime to prevent it from posing a threat to the Central Plains; The second is to adopt an enlightened national policy, change from elimination to acceptance, and use the Central Plains civilization to influence and assimilate the enemy and make it a part of the Central Plains civilization.
In the early years of the Tang Dynasty, there were many excellent feudal generals, most of whom came from the conquered regimes of the Tang Dynasty, such as the Turks, Tuyuhun and Xue Yantuo. As long as they are loyal to the Tang Dynasty and willing to contribute to it, no matter what ethnic group they come from, they will be recognized by the Tang Dynasty.
In addition, the greater the contribution, the greater the benefits for the frontier peoples. Therefore, in the early years of the Tang Dynasty, many famous feudal generals appeared. For the next twenty years, Heizhi fought bloodily and established his own merits.
In 678 AD, the Tang Dynasty clashed with Tibet, and Heizhi Changzhi participated in the army to conquer Tibet. At that time, the commander in command of the Tang army had limited military talent and was suppressed by the Tibetan army on the plateau.
At the critical moment, Hei Zhi Changzhi led 500 guards to raid the Tibetan military camp, disrupting the deployment of Tubo, allowing the main force of the Tang Dynasty to retreat completely and avoid major losses.
Hei Yan Changzhi, a famous general during the Tang Dynasty, was famous for his bravery, good fighting, and resourcefulness. In 680 AD, he once again led his army to raid the Tibetan border, capturing and killing 2,000 enemy troops and capturing tens of thousands of cattle and sheep.
The following year, he again defeated the main force of Tubo in Qinghai and guarded the western front of the Tang Dynasty for seven years, so that Tubo was never able to step through his defense area. In 686 AD, Heizhi Changzhi was transferred to the north to fight against the Later Turks, and he personally led 200 elite cavalry to attack the Turkic 3,000 cavalry, and finally won the victory.
For more than a year, he fought in the north, quelled the Turkic rebellion, and made great achievements. Heizhi Changzhi's contribution is undoubtedly the protection and consolidation of the Tang Dynasty's frontier, and he used his courage and wisdom to write a glorious history.
Although Hei Tooth Changzhi was a domain general, his military exploits were comparable to those of the famous generals of the Tang Army. Especially in the later period when the veterans of the early Tang Dynasty withered, he was even more prominent. However, this general, who has fought for the Tang Dynasty for more than 20 years and made great achievements, unfortunately died in the hands of his own people.
In 689 AD, the cool official Zhou Xing falsely accused him of rebellion and arrested him and imprisoned him. In prison, he refused to endure the insults of the cool officials, and finally chose to commit suicide at the age of 60.
Black Tooth Changzhi, a heroic general who fought for the Tang Dynasty for more than 20 years, finally died at the hands of the cool officials. This is undoubtedly an irony of that era. However, this is not a problem of the Black Tooth Tsuneyuki himself, but a problem of the era.
At the same time as he committed suicide, an entire generation of military fierce men were suppressed by the cool officials. Therefore, the era of cool officials in the early Tang Dynasty is remembered by history for its notoriety. Looking back at the story of Hei Zhi Changzhi, it is not difficult to see that the reason why he can leave a deep mark on history is not only his outstanding military talent, but more importantly, the enlightened national policy implemented by the Tang Dynasty at that time.
Without such a policy, even if he is talented, he may not be able to play it.
One of the important reasons why the Tang Dynasty was able to reach the peak of prosperity was that it implemented an open and inclusive ethnic policy. This policy allowed the Tang dynasty to gather more forces, maintain its rule, and eventually reach the peak of prosperity.
This experience undoubtedly has far-reaching implications for us today.
In-depth analysis of the history and culture of the Tang Dynasty, taking you to explore the truth hidden behind history. The column "So You Are Such a Datang" brought to you by Deep Blue Demon Fire gives you a deeper understanding of the history of Datang with a unique perspective and in-depth explanation.