At the beginning of the Tang Dynasty, there were three people who were hacked very badly, they were Zhang Shigui, Li Daozong and Su Dingfang, and among the three, Su Dingfang was the worst hacked. The 23-year-old Luo Cheng was pierced through the heart by 10,000 arrows and died, which shocked people too strongly, and because of this, Su Dingfang became a big villain.
But romance is romance after all, in fact, Su Dingfang was a famous general in the early Tang Dynasty, and the exploits he established in his life were definitely among the top few among the famous generals in the early Tang Dynasty. He went on a crusade to the east and west"The three kingdoms were destroyed before and after, and their masters were captured alive. ”The territory of the Tang Dynasty has expanded to the west and east on a large scale, and it has become a rare general in the Tang Gaozong period.
However, these exploits established by Su Dingfang were all in the period of Li Zhi of Tang Gaozong, and they were established after he was over sixty years old, so some people may ask, why did such a great general make achievements in his later years, is he a late bloomer? No, he rose to prominence at the age of 15 and followed his father into battle, and after his father's death, he became a natural commander.
In the melee at the end of the Sui Dynasty, Su Dingfang followed Dou Jiande and became the adopted son of Gao Yaxian, Dou Jiande's subordinates, he was very desperate on the battlefield, and made a lot of achievements, and later Dou Jiande was executed by Li Yuan, and Liu Heimin was pushed to the position of the leader by Dou Jiande's old department, and then turned against the Tang Dynasty, Su Dingfang was also among them, and made a lot of military achievements, and after Liu Heimin's rebellion was pacified, Su Dingfang went home and lived in seclusion, and lived a few years of idle clouds and wild cranes in his hometown.
In the early years of Zhenguan, Li Shimin had just ascended the throne, and began to select talents on a large scale, and Su Dingfang was also enabled by the imperial court to become Kuang Daofu, according to Su Dingfang's performance on the battlefield, becoming a famous general in the Zhenguan period is just around the corner.
But the real situation is that he was not valued at all during the Zhenguan period, as if he was hidden in the snow and disappeared, and it was not until after Li Zhi ascended the throne that Su Dingfang really displayed his ambitions. So, what happened to him during the Zhenguan period that caused such a situation?
This brings us to the Tang War that began in 629 to destroy the Eastern Turks. The war between the Tang Dynasty and the Eastern Turks has never stopped, most of the time it is the Eastern Turks who invade the border every once in a while, so that the Tang Dynasty is overwhelmed, and Li Shimin's accession to the throne was even more ruthless, Jieli Khan led 200,000 soldiers to attack Chang'an, to the vicinity of Weishui.
At that time, Chang'an did not have many garrisons, and could not fight with the Turkic soldiers, Li Shimin had to sign an alliance with Jieli Khan at Weishui Bridge, and sent a lot of things to send away this plague god, which has always been a shame for Li Shimin, and he has been accumulating strength, hoping that one day he can destroy the Eastern Turks in one fell swoop.
In the winter of 629, this opportunity came, and Li Shimin did not hesitate to send the Sixth Route Army, which was carried out by the famous Tang general Li Jingjiedu, to carry out the task of destroying the Eastern Turks.
This time, Li Shimin is imperative, look at the generals he sent, you know, in addition to Li Jing, there are Zhang Gongjin, Li Tao, Chai Shao, Li Daozong, Xue Wanche, Wei Xiaojie, etc., of course, Su Dingfang, who has not yet established an inch for the Tang Dynasty, also participated in this battle, the "Old Tang Book" records:
"Jing envoy Dingfang led 200 horsemen as the vanguard, rode the fog, went to the thief for a mile, suddenly the fog stopped, saw his tooth tent, galloped to kill dozens of people. Jieli and Princess Sui dispersed in embarrassment, the rest of the people prostrate, and the Jing army arrived, so they surrendered. The army was returned, and the left military was awarded the general of Zhonglang. ”This is almost all of Su Dingfang's performance during the Zhenguan period, and it is also a very positive performance. The entire war against the Eastern Turks was also a complete victory, the Eastern Turks were destroyed, Jieli Khan was escorted to Chang'an, and Empress Xiao and her grandson Yang Zhengdao also returned to Chang'an. This battle was of great significance, and after the army returned to Beijing, Li Shimin held a grand banquet for them, and even the emperor Li Yuan attended the banquet.
But after the carnival, what awaited Li Jing was Li Shimin's severe reproach, because"The imperial historian Wen Yanbo harmed his merits, and the Jing army had no discipline, resulting in the capture of strange treasures scattered in the hands of the rebellious soldiers. ”
This matter can be big or small, or dispensable, it all depends on the mouths of civil officials. Of course, this is not to say that Li Jing is completely innocent, in fact, it is not uncommon to defeat the other party on the battlefield and rob the other party's property, on the contrary, it is a thing that everyone acquiesces in, and no one usually pursues such a thing.
And like Li Jing has made such a big feat, not to mention that there is no such thing, even if there is, it is impossible to be poked out, but someone just stood up for Li Jing. This actually has a lot to do with the environment at that time, and the living environment of the military generals during the Zhenguan period was far less than that in the Wude period.
This is not to say that Li Shimin's problem, but because the main task of the Wude period is to pacify the world, it is when the military generals are needed, even if the ministers have other thoughts, most of them will be suppressed, and the Zhenguan period is different, the world has been unified, it is the time of Yanwu Xiuwen, the status of the military generals gradually decreased, the contradiction between the military generals and the military generals gradually increased, and many military generals were excluded.
Li Jing, who is in the position of the secretary of the Ministry of War, is naturally no exception, he has made great contributions, and the ministers naturally can't get used to it, so they come out to do something. Moreover, there was an episode on the battlefield this time, in the middle, Jieli Khan had expressed to Li Shimin that he would return to the Tang Dynasty in order to gain respite, and Li Shimin also sent Tang Jian as an envoy to convey his condolences, wanting to lower Jieli Khan's defense.
This was the best time for Li Jing to attack, and when his deputy Zhang Gongjin proposed that Tang Jian and the others were still at Jieli Khan, Li Jing said
"This military plane is also not to be lost, so Han Xin broke Qi. Such as Tang Jian and others, what a pity. ”We don't know whether this incident made the civil servants more jealous, but it was certain that Li Jing was targeted by the civil officials after the war, so there was a ** thing. Li Shimin was furious, but he only verbally blamed Li Jing, and did not punish him, Li Jing was not punished, it does not mean that his subordinates were not punished, such as Su Dingfang, who made new military achievements.
We don't know whether Su Dingfang connived at his subordinates to loot property on the battlefield, but as Li Jing's subordinate, after Li Jing was **, it is impossible for him to be unharmed, but he will be targeted, which is also because of Su Dingfang's identity.
Su Dingfang was not an early person who voted for the Tang Dynasty, on the contrary, he was only enabled in the early days of Zhenguan, and he did not make an inch, it can be said that he was weak, and he was in the limelight in the battle, which was very eye-catching, and naturally it was easy to become the target of attack, so Su Dingfang must have been punished, and was even directly hung up by Li Shimin, in today's words, it is hidden in the snow.
This kind of snow hiding may be unintentional, Li Shimin hung him in order to gag the mouths of civil officials, so that they no longer have to blame Li Jing, in fact, Li Shimin understands very well that Li Jing is not wrong, he once said to Li Jing:"Someone slandered the public before, but now I have realized it, don't think about it. ”But this matter could not but give a little explanation to the civil officials, and Su Dingfang and others became Li Shimin's explanation.
Su Dingfang was hung for more than 20 years, until Li Shimin died, and Su Dingfang was never used, but fortunately, gold will shine in **, after Li Zhi ascended the throne, he used Su Dingfang again, and then there was a famous general Su Dingfang.