Defeated the Tang Dynasty in a battle, Chen Tao's fire bull became a laughing stock, and the coach was like Zhao Kuo
With the assembly of soldiers and horses in Hexi, Longyou, and Anxi, Tang Suzong had enough troops in his hands and began to gradually restore confidence.
Faced with the suspicion of illegal accession to the throne, Tang Suzong was under tremendous pressure. Although Tang Xuanzong has compromised, the former tiger power is still there, and the brothers everywhere are like wolves waiting for the throne.
Tang Suzong was well aware of his situation, if he could not successfully quell the rebellion, his fragile body would not be able to resist the invasion of the evil wolf. Even his younger brother Li Lan was disgruntled and built an independent force in Gangneung on his own.
Therefore, he needs a victory to justify himself and win the support of the people of the Tang Dynasty. However, Tang Suzong's experience was really fatal, and 180,000 of the empire's original 470,000 border troops had been pulled away by An Lushan, and 200,000 were lost in the Battle of Tongguan.
In order to gather the forces to quell the rebellion, Hexi, Longyou, and Anxi were almost hollowed out, and even the stragglers were included in the plan, so they barely managed to muster such a little strength.
The ancients said: "Something is better than nothing", and we can deeply understand this from the experience of Tang Suzong. When I went north to Lingwu, the attacks of thousands of stragglers and bandits were terrifying, but relying on a few hundred guards to resist it was already a "small asset".
However, in the face of the arduous task of counterinsurgency, Tang Suzong felt that he was beyond his strength. Faced with this predicament, Tang Suzong was like an old man who longed to get rich, holding the change in his hand, looking for new opportunities to get rich everywhere with excitement, expectation and nervousness.
Luckily, opportunities always come to those who are prepared. At this moment, an "investment god" descended from the sky, like Zhuge reincarnated, pointing out the way forward for Tang Suzong.
He is Fang Xuan, the prime minister sent by Tang Xuanzong to support Tang Suzong. With Fang Xuan's guidance, Tang Suzong had the confidence and courage to move forward firmly towards the goal of counterinsurgency.
Fang Xuan, the son of Fang Rong, the prime minister of the Wu Zhou Dynasty, could have entered the officialdom with family glory, but he chose a non-mainstream career. When he was a teenager, Fang Xuan took his own path and lived a reclusive life, isolated from the world for more than ten years, studying in Yiyang Mountain.
can't help but make people wonder, why did ancient parents care so generously for their children, and were they not afraid that their sons would run away from home? What's even more curious is why the little boy has the idea of escaping, isn't the warmth of the family enough?
Young people are always eager to climb the heights of their careers, and 27-year-old Fang Xuan is one of them. He amazed the literary leader Zhang Shuo with a "Feng Zen Book", was appreciated by Zhang Shuo, and began his officialdom career.
However, Fang Xuan's career was not smooth, and he always suffered setbacks when he was promoted to the "intermediate title". However, as soon as he arrived at the local county magistrate, he showed outstanding political achievements, proving that he was a person with limited talents, but he was comfortable with general affairs, but he was only a little incapable of handling complex government affairs.
Life's opportunities are often full of uncertainties, and Fang Xuan's experience is the best example. He went back and forth at the grassroots and middle levels, but suddenly jumped up due to the "Anshi Rebellion".
It was a morning in June of the fifteenth year of Tianbao, Fang Xuan, as a squire of the Constitutional Department, found that Chang'an was in turmoil and the palace was empty.
Except for a small number of royal children and important ministers, marginal figures like Fang Xuan can only become forgotten corners. Faced with this situation, Fang Xuan made a decisive decision, abandoning his family and determined to chase after Tang Xuanzong.
He kept moving forward, and finally caught up with Tang Xuanzong and his party in Pu'an County.
At that time, Datang's future was full of uncertainty. Even the prime minister and the concubine have taken refuge in An Lushan, and how many people are willing to follow the exiled emperor?
However, Tang Xuanzong made an unexpected decision: he canonized Fang Xuan as the prime minister, just like winning the lottery, this experience is really amazing. However, for Fang Xuan, this is just the beginning, and the next thing is even more fantastical.
A month later, Tang Xuanzong received good news from his son, saying that he had been crowned emperor. Hearing this news, although Tang Xuanzong felt heartache, he did not lose his mind.
He knew that he was no longer capable of dealing with national affairs, so he decided to send the three prime ministers, Fang Xuan, Wei Jiansu, and Cui Lian, to Lingwu together, so that they could continue to serve the country there.
Tang Suzong didn't have much expectations for the prime minister his father stuffed over, but Fang Xuan made his eyes light up, as if he saw his own Zhuge Liang. In the talks between the monarch and the minister, Fang Xuan showed excellent eloquence, and his words were gorgeous and fluent, which was impressive.
Tang Suzong treated him wholeheartedly because of this, and even entrusted some important affairs to him to handle. However, history does not record what kind of conspiracy Fang Xuan proposed, because the results show that his ideas were not put into practice.
He is just talking about theories, lacking practical actions, and even Zhao Kuo is not as good.
Tang Suzong handed over all his investments to Fang Xuan, but this became his biggest regret. Fang Xuan promised to recover the two capitals, which was exactly the project that Tang Suzong was most concerned about.
However, Tang Suzong lacked military knowledge, and the two "blind eyes" touted each other, and finally decided on this child's play plan to recover Chang'an. This result makes people sigh, and even Zhao Kuo, who has been talking about it on paper for decades, has to cry because of it.
Fang Xuan was awarded the title of Marshal of the World's Soldiers and Horses by Tang Suzong, and had the power to control and recruit soldiers and horses in Xijing and Putong to defend Putong, and had the right to choose his own assistant**.
As a result, some nerds entered Fang Xuan's account, including Deng Jingshan, Li Yi, Song Ruosi, Jia Zhi, Wei Shaoyou, Liu Zhi, and Wang Sili. Among these people, except for Wang Sili, who has many years of experience in the military camp, the others are only literati.
Even Wang Sili is not an excellent fighter. Facing the rebels' iron cavalry, Fang Xuan said confidently: "The Luoluo River is nothing, and Liu Zhi under my account is the real master." ”
Tang Suzong was confused by Fang Xuan's words, and the 50,000 army was thus led into the trap of death by Fang Xuan, and the battle of Chen Taoxian began.
Chen Taoxie, formerly known as "Chen Taoze", is located in the northwest of Chang'an, on the north bank of the Wei River, is a swamp. It is bordered by the middle bridge in the east and the west by the west bridge. Although the rebels had less than 10,000 troops, they had a famous general like An Shouzhong, who was one of the four fierce generals under An Lushan's tent.
When he learned that the Tang army was about to arrive, An Shouzhong immediately led his army to cross the Wei River from the Zhongbian Bridge and seized the favorable terrain of Chen Tao's slope. Fang Xuan divided his troops into three routes, Yang Xiwen led the southern army and marched from Yishou; Liu Yi led the Chinese army and marched from martial arts; Li Guangjin led the northern army and marched from Mukden.
The southern army was about 10,000 people, and the central army and the northern army were about 20,000 each.
Tang Suzong urged Fang Xuan to go to war, and he led the northern army and the Chinese army into the battlefield despite the fact that the southern army was not yet in place. However, when An Shouzhong saw Fang Xuan's tactics, he was almost stunned.
This is like traveling back to the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, Fang Xuan actually adopted the tactics of military vehicles that have been eliminated for thousands of years. The chariot tactic was a product of the lack of horses and outdated equipment, which was later replaced by the more mobile cavalry tactic.
However, Fang Xuan found inspiration in the pile of old papers and decided to resurrect the tactics of military vehicles. In addition to military vehicles, Fang Xuan also equipped 2,000 "heavy tanks" - ox carts in front of the battle, flanked by infantry and cavalry.
His tactic was to first dash with the "Bull Demon King" to disrupt the enemy's formation, then cover with military vehicles, and the infantry and cavalry on both sides were the last to attack and pick up the fruits of victory.
Although the original plan was to protect the animals, An Shouzhong violated the rules and even caused the Bull Demon King to go berserk. The Tang army also lost control because of this, and was trampled by his own fire bull array.
The rebels took the opportunity to attack and completely defeated the Don army using the superiority of cavalry. The 40,000-strong army was wiped out in half a day, and they could only watch themselves being slaughtered by the rebels.
Fang Xuan's command error in the Battle of Chen Tao led to a crushing defeat of the Tang army, which lost a large number of soldiers and horses. This war was a huge crisis for the Tang Dynasty, and Tang Suzong almost fainted when he received the battle report.
It is worth mentioning that these 50,000 soldiers and horses were put together from a patchwork, even counting crooked melons and cracked dates, which shows that Datang's military strength has been greatly weakened.
Who can withstand such a blow in a defeated battle? Some people may say, what about the Shuofang army led by Guo Ziyi and Li Guangbi? They fought a series of battles in Hebei and brought back some regiments for training, and now have about 50,000 soldiers and horses.
However, for Tang Suzong, Shuo Fangjun made him feel very troubled. What is the root cause of the "Anshi Rebellion"? That was the feudal town system. The envoys of Jiedu held the military, administrative, financial, and personnel powers, and formed an impregnable interest group that ignored the orders of the imperial court.
The original Shuofang army was a danger, because of a rebellion, other regions were forced to cease fighting, and they could only rely on it. This made the power of the Shuofang army more centralized, but it also worried the imperial court, both needing it and fearing it.
This ambivalence led to the later suppression of Guo Ziyi, Li Guangbi, Fugu Huaien and others, and after Guo Ziyi's death, the Shuofang army frequently rebelled.
The loss of control of Shuofang's army can actually be traced back to the defeat of Chen Tao's oblique battle. This battle allowed Tang Suzong to begin to suppress the Shuofang army, which also triggered an escalating feud between the imperial court and the Shuofang army.
As this grievance escalated, so did the danger of the feudal town. Therefore, Fang Xuan's scourge has not diminished.