The Flourishing Tang Dynasty: Beginning with Marrying Yang Yuhuan

Chapter 398: Sending Troops to Nanzhao
Zhang Hao was stunned for a moment and said, "Emperor Taizong appointed Duke Li Wei as the commander and sent troops to attack the Turks."

"That's right." Feng Changqing continued, "Nanzhao occupied eastern Yunnan to the north and marched into Yaozhou, which was to seize the territory of our Great Tang. To the south, it occupied the vassal states of the Great Tang, such as Pyu and Zhenla, which was to bully our Great Tang. Now, Geluofeng only returned Yaozhou to us, so should we be grateful to him? Suppose the robbers occupied your family's land, and then returned the land to you, and asked to marry your daughter, and practice Xuli, would you agree?"

Zhang Hao's face turned red instantly and he was speechless.

Feng Changqing added: "If it were a common peasant, even he would not tolerate this, let alone our great Tang Dynasty!"

Feng Changqing turned to Li Heng, saluted and said: "I request to send troops to Nanzhao!"

Li Heng took out the petitions from Ma Lin, Li Sheng, Yang Xuanlu, Xin Yunjing and others, and asked the eunuch Baifu to pass them to everyone for reading. He said, "This is a petition from the generals requesting the destruction of Nanzhao. Nanzhao seized our Tang territory and betrayed the Tang first. The Tang must seek justice. I have made up my mind to send troops to Nanzhao!"

"Your Majesty is wise!" All the civil and military officials responded in unison.

In October of the fifth year of Ji De, Li Heng asked Li Bai to write a manifesto to attack Nanzhao, and then issued an imperial decree to send 100,000 troops to destroy Nanzhao.

Before sending out troops, Li Heng had discussed the marching route and specific tactics with Gao Xianzhi, Ma Lin and others.

In history, the two most famous battles to conquer the Nanzhao territory were during the Yuan Dynasty and the Ming Dynasty.

In terms of military operations alone, the Yuan Dynasty had the greatest difficulty in conquering the Nanzhao region.

The Yuan Dynasty conquered the Nanzhao area to pave the way for conquering the Southern Song Dynasty and attacking Annan.

At that time, the Yuan Dynasty could not cross the natural barrier of the Yangtze River in the Southern Song Dynasty, nor could it break through Sichuan and Shu, so it chose to make a roundabout move, intending to occupy the Nanzhao area, which was renamed Dali, and stab the Southern Song Dynasty in the back from the southwest.

The Yuan Dynasty, with Kublai Khan as the commander-in-chief, set out from Lintao in Longyou Road and attacked in three directions.

Wulianghetai led his troops in the west, passed through the snowy Aba, and went to Seda, Ganzi, Xinlong, Litang, Daocheng, Derong, crossed the Jinsha River, and then advanced to Lijiang, and attacked Longshou Pass, an important pass in the north of Dali City.

Kublai Khan led his troops in the middle, crossed the Dadu River from Aba, passed through Feiyueling, entered Mantuo City, and prepared to attack Lizhou of the Southern Song Dynasty.

At this time, the Western Army had already reached Longshou Pass in Dali, and Wulianghetai sent people to invite Kublai Khan to Dali to take charge.

So Kublai Khan left the baggage in Mantuo City, crossed the Dadu River, took the ancient Qingxi Road, walked south for more than 2,000 miles through the Anning River Valley to the Jinsha River, and from the Jinsha River, fought all the way to Dali City.

The eastern route went through Songzhou, Maozhou, Yazhou, and Lizhou, fighting all the way until we reached the Dadu River.

The Yuan Dynasty launched three expeditions, crossing the Sichuan-Tibet Line and the Southern Song border, marching thousands of miles, which can be called a reverse Long March. Their courage and strategy were unmatched by ordinary armies.

For the Yuan Dynasty, marching was more difficult than attacking a city. As long as they entered Dali, the war would be decided in one blow.

As for the Ming Dynasty's conquest of Nanzhao, it was simpler than that of the Yuan Dynasty.

In the 14th year of Hongwu, Zhu Yuanzhang appointed Fu Youde as the chief commander, Lan Yu and Mu Ying as deputy commanders, and led an army of 250,000 to conquer Yunnan.

Zhu Yuanzhang marched eastward from Nanzhao, first taking eastern Yunnan (Qujing area), then Kunming, and finally Dali.

Compared with the Yuan and Ming dynasties, the Tang army faced the least difficulty.

Because Annan was in the hands of the Tang Dynasty, although there were Nanzhao troops stationed in Yaozhou, it was a disputed area. Nanzhao was unable to govern Yaozhou, and it did not have complete control over the eastern Yunnan region.

Based on the Tang Dynasty's advantages, Li Heng advanced in two directions.

One group, led by Ma Lin and Li Sheng, started from Jiannan; the other group, led by Xin Yunjing and Hun Yu, started from Annan.

Both armies were under the command of Gao Xianzhi.

After leaving Jiannan, Ma Lin and Li Sheng split their troops into two groups. Li Sheng led one group into Yaozhou, while Ma Lin led the other group into eastern Yunnan.

Gao Xianzhi and Ma Lin were on the same trip.

The Annan side was also divided into two groups. One group, led by Xin Yunjing, went west from the northern part of Annan, crossed the Red River and advanced into Nanzhao; the other group, led by Hun Yu, went west from the southern part of Annan, passed Zhenla and entered the barbarian tribes such as Heichi.

During this march, Li Heng also equipped the soldiers with special sachets and water bottles.

The sachet is used to repel mosquitoes, and the kettle is used to hold boiling water.

Gao Xianzhi ordered that once they arrived in Nanzhao, they were not allowed to drink Nanzhao's raw water at will. Every time the army cooked, they had to boil water and bring it with them.

In addition, wild mushrooms, vegetables and other plants in Nanzhao are not allowed to be eaten by oneself. They must be checked by military doctors to be non-toxic before they can be eaten.

It was already October at this time, and with Li Heng's advance preparations, he had basically managed to avoid, prevent and treat miasma.

Li Sheng's marching route was the simplest. He would send troops from Jiannan Shezhou, cross the Jinsha River, and advance to Yaozhou.

The Tang army was well prepared, and Li Sheng marched at an extremely fast speed. Taking advantage of the darkness, he crossed the Jinsha River. At dawn the next day, he led his troops into Yaozhou, launched a surprise attack on the Nanzhao garrison at Hujin Pass, killing more than a thousand enemies, and then sent people to clear out the remaining forces of Nanzhao in the northern part of Yaozhou.

Yaozhou was originally the territory of the Tang Dynasty. When the government troops arrived, most of the officials and civilians surrendered.

And under Li Heng's management, the Tang army had become a benevolent and righteous army. Wherever they went, they did not disturb or cause chaos among the people, and the people all welcomed the royal army.

Li Sheng took over the northern part of Yaozhou and continued to advance southward. He used both suppression and appeasement along the way and basically encountered no resistance, and he recaptured Yaozhou.

Gao Xianzhi and Ma Lin led their troops across the Dadu River and marched into eastern Yunnan. They also used both suppression and appeasement against the various tribes. They first took Mangbu (now Zhenxiong, Yunnan), then took Zhuti (Zhaotong, Yunnan), and then pressed into Nanning Prefecture (now Qujing, Yunnan).

Nanning Prefecture is the last gate to eastern Yunnan. If Nanning Prefecture is lost, the Tang army will be able to march straight in.

Therefore, Ge Luofeng sent his trusted general Duan Zhongguo to garrison Nanning Prefecture.

Gao Xianzhi and Ma Lin took back the Cuan clan and other tribes that had been suppressed and relocated by Nanzhao before Long, and attacked Nanning Prefecture together.

In the northern part of Nanning Prefecture, there is a river named Baishi River.

The Tang army was stationed north of Baishi River, and the Nanzhao army was stationed south of Baishi River. The two sides confronted each other across the Baishi River.

Gao Xianzhi led a large army and pressed on the front line.

Nanzhao's chief general Duan Zhongguo thought that the Tang army was going to force a crossing of the river.

Because the Baishi River is shallow and it is early winter, the Tang army can even walk through the shallowest part, so Duan Zhongguo stationed all 30,000 troops on the banks of the Baishi River.

But the Tang army had anticipated this.

While Gao Xianzhi was attracting the attention of the Nanzhao army, Ma Lin led 3,000 elite troops to the lower reaches of the Baishi River, secretly crossed the river, and launched a fierce attack on the Nanzhao army from behind.

The key to a surprise attack is its strangeness and its quality, not its quantity. Ma Lin led 3,000 elite troops to go around the rear and immediately disrupted the Nanzhao army's formation.

Seeing that the Nanzhao army's formation was in disarray, Gao Xianzhi immediately led the front-line heavy troops to force a crossing of the Baishi River.

Wang Wujun and Luo Yuanguang, two of Gao Xianzhi's subordinates, led the charge and, after crossing the river, they led their cavalry to break through the central formation of the Nanzhao army.

Once the central army formation was broken, the Nanzhao army was immediately routed, the defeat was like a landslide, and the soldiers fled in all directions.

Duan Zhongguo did not expect that the Tang army would have such fighting power, and was completely stunned. The fighting power of the Tang army that came to attack Nanzhao this time was completely different from that of the Tang army led by Li Lin before. If they were not all wearing Tang army clothes, Duan Zhongguo would have found it difficult to connect them.

There are three main reasons why there is such a big difference in combat effectiveness between the Tang army led by Gao Xianzhi and the Tang army led by Li Lin before.

First, it is the preparation before the march.

When Li Lin attacked Nanzhao, he was arrogant and had basically no understanding of Nanzhao. Not only did he not think of any way to deal with Nanzhao's miasma and malaria, he had never even heard of them. As a result, when Li Lin led the Tang army into Nanzhao, many soldiers became sick, with nearly 10% dying of illness and nearly 20% becoming seriously ill. Their combat effectiveness was directly reduced by 30%.

In addition to the marching accidents caused by unfamiliar roads and deaths from ingesting poisonous food, the combat effectiveness was reduced by another 10%.

Li Heng was well prepared this time. He first dealt with miasma and malaria, and then continued to discuss tactics, determine the marching route, and understand the geographical terrain.

Second, there is the issue of the soldiers’ original combat effectiveness.

Li Lin led two expeditions to Nanzhao. Although he led Jiannan soldiers in the first expedition, he was outnumbered. The second time, he had more people, but most of them were newly recruited soldiers. There were also problems with the training of these new recruits, and when they were put together, they could even be described as a mob.

The troops led by Gao Xianzhi were elite soldiers who had experienced many battles and "new recruits" who had received strict training, so their combat effectiveness was very strong.

Third, there is the issue of generals.

The generals under Li Lin were good at power struggles, but they had never fought any major battles. They were okay at leading a small team of a hundred people, but if they were to command thousands of troops, they would definitely end up in trouble.

The generals sent by Li Ying this time not only had extremely high military qualities, but were also tempered in battle after battle.

Before Duan Zhongguo fought Li Lin, he doubted how the Tang Dynasty could dominate the world, but now, he saw the true combat effectiveness of the Tang army.

But he realized it too late.

While Duan Zhongguo was stunned, Ma Lin had already rode his horse towards him.

Duan Zhongguo's deputy Zhang Xiu led his personal soldiers to intercept and ordered Duan Zhongguo to break out from the flank.

Duan Zhongguo came to his senses, immediately jumped on his horse and prepared to break out.

However, just as he jumped onto the horse, he saw Ma Lin stabbing Zhang Xiu to death with a spear and then rushing towards him.

Duan Zhongguo was greatly shocked and realized that it was impossible to escape, so he rode his horse to fight Ma Lin.

Duan Zhongguo used the sword and Ma Lin used the spear. The two fought for thirty rounds in the chaos. Finally, Duan Zhongguo was defeated and stabbed in the right shoulder by Ma Lin's spear. He fell off his horse. The Tang army soldiers rushed forward and captured Duan Zhongguo.

Ma Lin was the governor of Jiannan, so Duan Zhongguo knew Ma Lin.

Duan Zhongguo said to Ma Lin, "Marshal Ma Jie is the governor of a frontier of the Tang Dynasty, and he actually led a special force to charge into battle?"

Ma Lin replied, "Your Majesty has personally taken many risks when you were marching in Longyou Road. Naturally, we, the ministers, should follow Your Majesty and charge into battle. Moreover, if the generals do not lead the troops, how can the soldiers march forward bravely?"

Duan Zhongguo was stunned, silent for a moment, and said: "I am convinced of my defeat this time, Marshal Ma Jie, please kill me!"

Ma Lin said: "Since you have been captured, it is not up to me to decide whether to kill you or not."

After that, he ordered Duan Zhongguo to be taken to see Gao Xianzhi.

Gao Xianzhi knew Duan Zhongguo's influence in Nanzhao, so he wanted to subdue him and use him for the Tang Dynasty, but Duan Zhongguo would rather die than obey.

Gao Xianzhi had no choice but to detain him temporarily.

After capturing Nanning Prefecture, Gao Xianzhi and his men rested in Nanning Prefecture for two days, and then continued southward and marched into Kunzhou (now Kunming).

When Wang Lekuan, the Nanzhao garrison commander of Kunzhou, heard that Nanningzhou had been defeated and Duan Zhongguo had been captured, his eyes turned dark.

Because he knew that once Nanning Prefecture was lost, it would be difficult to garrison Kunzhou, so he quickly led his troops to withdraw from Kunzhou and stationed in Jinning in the south of Dianchi Lake.

Gao Xianzhi and Ma Lin led the troops into Kunzhou, did not harm anyone, and pacified the people.

Five days later, Gao Xianzhi and Ma Lin led troops to attack Jinning.

Wang Lekuan retreated to Daliangzi Mountain in Jinning, preparing to use the mountain's terrain to attack the Tang army.

Gao Xianzhi and Ma Lin led their men to the foot of Daliangzi Mountain. While building fortifications for defense, they sent people to constantly test and attack Wang Lekuan's army in order to consume their weapons and food supplies.

The two sides were deadlocked at Daliangzi Mountain for half a month. No one came to help Wang Lekuan, so he had to go down the mountain and fight a decisive battle with the Tang army before his food and grass ran out.

Wang Lekuan led no more than 10,000 men, and when Gao Xianzhi and Ma Lin set out, they had only 30,000 men. However, they fought along the way and conquered various tribes, and received another 10,000 reinforcements, for a total of 40,000 troops.

The two sides lined up against each other. The Tang army crushed the Nanzhao army in the middle with absolute superiority and outflanked them with cavalry on both wings. The Nanzhao army was defeated and Wang Lekuan barely escaped and fled back to Taihe City.

Gao Xianzhi and Ma Lin captured Kunzhou and continued to move south, where they met Li Sheng at Longshou Pass in the north of Erhai Basin.

On the other side, Xin Yunjing subdued the Tangmo, Heman and other tribes, while Hun Yu recruited barbarian tribes such as the Zhenla Kingdom and the Jinchi Man along the way. The two armies joined forces in Weiyuan City and advanced towards Longwei Pass in the southern part of Erhai Basin.

In December of the fifth year of Ji De, two Tang armies surrounded Nanzhao in the Erhai Basin from the south and the north.

Previously, Li Lin led his troops to attack Nanzhao and reached the Erhai Basin, but he was unable to break through Nanzhao’s last line of defense.

A careful analysis of the reasons for Li Lin's failure shows that in addition to human factors such as generals and soldiers, geographical advantages were also a very important reason.

To the east of the Erhai Basin is the Erhai Lake, and to the west is the Cangshan Mountain. The entire Erhai Basin is sandwiched in the middle, forming a passage running from northwest to southeast between the mountains and the sea.

Starting from Taihe City, the capital of Nanzhao, there is Shangguan Longshou Pass in the north and Xiaguan Longwei Pass in the south. There is water in the east and mountains in the west. Generally, if one wants to destroy Nanzhao, one can only break through from Shangguan and Xiaguan, but these two passes are easy to defend but difficult to attack.

The last time, Li Lin planned to cross the Erhai Lake, but was ambushed by Wang Lekuan and had to attack Shangguan and Xiaguan by force, and was ultimately defeated.

In Taihe City, Ge Luofeng summoned all the generals to discuss matters.

Duan Quange said: "Although the Tang army is elite, they have come from a long expedition and lack siege equipment and food supplies. We just need to defend Longwei Pass and Longshou Pass until April next year. By then, the Tang army will be out of food supplies, and the weather will be hot and miasma will prevail, so they will retreat."

Wang Lekuan, who returned from a great defeat, said: "The Tang army that came this time is indeed more elite than the last time. We are no match for them in a field battle. However, if we defend the city, the Tang army will not be able to break through our defense line."

Other civil and military officials agreed. They all felt that they could hold on to Nanzhao's last capital just like they did last time.

Seeing that all the civil and military officials were not afraid of fighting, Ge Luofeng was very pleased. He took off his robe, put on his armor, asked someone to bring wine, and toasted with everyone, saying: "The survival of Nanzhao has come to a critical moment. Today, I put on my armor and will never take it off until the war is over! I hope you will work together with me to resist the foreign enemies! If we win, you will all enjoy wealth and glory for generations to come!"

All the civil and military officials said in unison: "Let us work together to resist the foreign enemies!"

Ge Luofeng and all the civil and military officials raised their glasses and drank it all in one gulp.

Then, Ge Luofeng led the team himself to guard the Xiaguan Longwei Pass, and asked his son Feng Jiayi to lead the team to guard the Shangguan Longshou Pass.

(End of this chapter)