The Flourishing Tang Dynasty: Beginning with Marrying Yang Yuhuan

Chapter 219 Chain Reaction
The Northern Army was defeated and the Tang Army completely lost the initiative on the battlefield. Nanzhao and Tubo joined forces to march south and besieged Li Lin's Southern Army outside Longwei City.

Li Lin led the southern army to break out, and with the support of He Fuguang who broke out from the north, Li Lin was able to escape successfully. He joined forces with He Fuguang and led the remaining 10,000 people to retreat.

Ge Luofeng led his troops in pursuit. Relying on his familiarity with the mountain terrain, he killed more than 5,000 Tang soldiers and captured more than 3,000 alive when they reached Shicheng. Li Lin fled north with the remaining 3,000 soldiers.

Geluofeng took advantage of the situation to capture Shicheng and executed Cuan Chongdao, who had defected to the Tang Dynasty, on the charge of killing Cuan Guiwang and Cuan Riyu. He then took control of the entire eastern Yunnan region.

After controlling the entire eastern Yunnan, Geluofeng did not choose to continue advancing northward, but instead re-governed eastern Yunnan on the spot.

After arranging matters in eastern Yunnan, Geluofeng returned to Nanzhao and then did three things.

The first thing was to erect a monument in the royal capital of Taihe City, engraved with stone to tell the reasons why he had to rebel against the Tang Dynasty.

The second thing was to order the gathering of the fallen soldiers of the Tang army and bury them on the bank of the Erhai River in Xiaguan, and to carve a stele with the inscription: The Tomb of the Soldiers of the Tianbao Period of the Tang Dynasty, later called the Tomb of Ten Thousand People.

On the day when the monument was completed, Geluofeng led the army and the people to pay tribute and personally delivered a eulogy:

"When the ruler is not upright, the government will be in chaos; when treacherous officials rise up and harm loyal and good people. Life is the beginning of disaster, and death is the end of resentment. Alas, how sad! The brothers of the Tang army died in battle!"

The third thing was that Ge Luofeng ordered people to salvage Li Mi's body and bury it in Xianhetang at the foot of Xieyang Peak of Cangshan Mountain, and build a shrine for General Li to enshrine the god.

Half a year later, Li Mi's family came to Nanzhao. Li Mi's granddaughter presented the Nanzhao Duoshao sword left by Li Mi to Ge Luofeng. Ge Luofeng was quite moved. He accompanied Li Mi's family to pay tribute to Li Mi and wrote a couplet in Li Mi's ancestral hall.

"A father is loyal and a son is filial, leaving behind a heroic spirit to warn future generations; a father is both righteous and loyal, leaving behind a thousand phosphorescent lights that make the Erhai River swallow him."

……

the other side.

Li Lin fled all the way to the foot of Rongde Mountain in Rongzhou. At this time, there were only two thousand soldiers left by his side, but he was temporarily safe.

After being safe, Li Lin had no time to grieve for the tens of thousands of soldiers who died, but instead thought about how to shirk responsibility.

In a dilapidated house.

Li Lin summoned He Fuguang and said, "General He, I ordered you to send people to persuade Tubo to join us in invading Nanzhao. Why did Tubo attack our army midway?"

Li Lin did send someone to lobby Tubo, but the person he sent was not He Fuguang, but his confidant Liu Julin.

This is also what Geluofeng mentioned when he listed Li Lin's crimes, that is, colluding with Tubo and attempting to annex Nanzhao.

He Fuguang had no idea about this and said in surprise: "Your Highness, you didn't..."

He Fuguang didn't finish his words because from behind him, Xue Liu stabbed him through the body with a knife.

He Fuguang simply couldn't believe that Li Lin would kill him like this. After he led his men to break out, he did not run away by himself, but turned south to meet up with Li Lin and support Li Lin's breakout.

He was so loyal, but he still couldn't escape Li Lin's murderous hands.
But this is no longer important.

He Fuguang only regretted not dying on the battlefield with Li Mi, but ended his life in this way.

For a good general, this is a great regret.

But he must leave forever with such regret.

Li Lin said, "Li Mi, as the commander, died for his country. How come you, as the deputy commander, are safe and sound? Because you colluded with the enemy and Tubo!"

Xue Liu cut off He Fuguang's head, walked out of the broken house, and said to the people outside: "He Fuguang colluded with Tubo, which caused the failure of this expedition. Just now, he tried to assassinate His Royal Highness Prince Yong, but was killed by this general."

After that, he handed He Fuguang's head to his guards and said, "Send the head to each army as a warning to others."

"Yes." The guard took the order and went away carrying He Fuguang's head.

……

…………

During the war between Nanzhao and Tibet, Tubo was also not idle.

Tubo gathered a large army and pretended to attack Jiannan. Jiannan asked for help, so the court arranged for Longyou to assist in the defense.

Then Tubo took advantage of the mobilization of Longyou and attacked Shibao City with an army of 400,000.

Wang Zhongsi was unwilling to sacrifice the lives of tens of thousands of soldiers to capture Shibao City, but Tubo was willing.

Trisong Detsen personally went to the front line to command the battle. With Wei Lunmangzhi Lalue and Shang Qixiner Bella, who were defeated by Li Heng last time, leading the left and right generals, he captured Shibao City at the cost of the sacrifice of 20,000 Tibetan soldiers.

When capturing Shibao City, Trisong Detsen also sent his subordinate Lumangqidon to advance to Jiannan Songzhou and cut off the main road between Jiannan and Longyou.

The news of Jiannan's defeat and Tubo's capture of Shibao City and Songzhou reached Chang'an at the same time.

The whole Tang Dynasty was shocked!

Li Longji quickly summoned all the ministers to discuss the matter.

Li Longji threw the memorial to the ground and angrily banged on the dragon table, saying: "Of the 60,000 soldiers, only 2,000 survived. How did Li Lin fight this battle?"

Li Longji mentioned the soldiers, not because he felt sorry for them, but because once these 60,000 soldiers died, it would be difficult for the Tang Dynasty to capture Nanzhao in a short period of time. The offensive and defensive positions of Jiannan and Nanzhao changed, and Jiannan became defensive.

Others did not dare to speak, Li Linfu stepped forward and said: "Saint, calm down. Although Nanzhao won this battle, they dare not advance to Jiannan. The most urgent task now is to focus on the situation in Longyou."

Li Linfu did not say this casually. Nanzhao did not dare to advance into Jiannan.

There were many reasons for the disastrous defeat in the battle with Nanzhao, one of which is easily overlooked, that is, the long expedition.

As the active attacking party, the logistical difficulties and combat difficulties it has to endure are not comparable to those of the defending party.

In addition, due to the terrain, although Nanzhao was good at mountain warfare, it was not good at plain army warfare or at conquering fortified cities.

Therefore, after Geluofeng captured Shicheng, he did not threaten Jiannan further, but wrote a letter to ask for peace again.

After two failures, Li Longji began to come to his senses.

If Tibet had not sent troops to assist this time, Li Lin would not have been defeated so badly. After all, Tibet was the biggest threat to the Tang Dynasty.

Li Longji looked bitter and felt a little regretful.

If he had trusted Li Heng a little more at the beginning, after Li Heng took Shibao City, he would not have recalled Li Heng, but let Li Heng continue to advance, take Qinghai Lake and the Nine Bends of the Yellow River, and drive Tubo out of Dayuechuan and Mohuanchuan. Then Tubo would not have dared to support Nanzhao easily, let alone counterattack Shibao City.

Li Longji calmed down and said, "According to the right prime minister's opinion, what should we do next?"

Li Linfu said: "First agree to Nanzhao's request for peace and form an alliance with Nanzhao. At the same time, prepare the army and retake Shibao City."

Li Longji thought for a while and said, "According to the right prime minister, who should Nanzhao send to negotiate the alliance?"

After Li Longji finished speaking, he looked at Li Heng.

Li Lin was recommended by Li Heng. Although Li Lin tried to shift the blame through some outrageous actions, Li Lin was the head coach after all. No matter how he shifted the blame, he was responsible.

Li Heng hated Li Lin for being such a waste, and said, "I recommended my sixteenth brother, but he failed this time. I am also responsible. Please punish me, father."

"We can talk about accountability later. The most urgent task is to stabilize the situation." Li Longji said in a cold tone.

　Brothers, let me add that Li Mi and Li Mi are two different people. Then I basically wrote about Li Mi according to history. If you go to Dali, Yunnan for tourism, you can also visit the mass graves of Tang army soldiers.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)