Unofficial History of the Sui and Tang Dynasties

Chapter 53

Dou Jiande fought against the Tang soldiers and the king of Qin called Bei Ma, and tens of thousands of horses were ordered to rush forward, followed by Qin Qiong and Shi Danai.It was the summer moon, even if it was sunny and rainy, the Japanese and Chinese troops were afraid of the heat, thirsty and fighting for drinks, each of them had no fighting spirit, and they did not know how many soldiers there were.Xia Bing abandoned his horse and left, shouting loudly, drums and horns beeping, Xia Bing trampled on each other, and countless people died.The king of Qin wins, and he rushes away.

Behind him, the Jiande Department led Song Ming to kill him, just as Qin Qiong was holding a double mace and went straight to Song Ming.

Song Ming came to meet him with a gun, but when he closed it, he was chopped off by Qiong's mace.Later, when the Tang soldiers arrived, Xia general Cao Xiang came out with his spear, and fought with Qiong more than ten times. Qiong returned to his horse and walked away.Sergeant defeated.At that time Xia's generals Deng Mu and Hao Hai were still in the Seventh Battalion of Sishui. Knowing that Xia's army was defeated, Tang soldiers rushed up from behind, and all the armies were afraid.

Hao Hai said angrily: "The reward of eating the king will end with the king, not to mention the gang of thieves!" Then he got on his horse and led 1000 people to kill him.Seeing Hao Hai like this, Deng Mu also led his troops to fight with Tao Wuqin and you and me.Dou Jiande saw the arrival of Tang soldiers in Houzhai, so he led his own army to watch the battle. He saw Hao Hai and Shi Wanbao fighting together.Cheng Zhijie and Bai Shi sent two armies to surround Jiande in Gaixin.When the King of Qin saw Jiande surrounded at Gaofu, he saw that the two men were about to fight to the death. The King of Qin said, "Why don't you go in and break Jiande's brothers and feet and capture them?"Gong suddenly raised his whip and rushed into the army, breaking the Jiande soldiers in two.

But it is said that Cao Dan rushed out from the army to the slope, but Jiande was not seen, and then he returned to the horse and rushed in from the front of the battle. He asked the army: "Where is the master?" "The army pointed to the place where the soldiers and horses were thick, and once they stepped forward, they rushed in. Seeing Jiande, they asked, "My lord, why don't you go out with me?"Jiande and Dan rushed out.

Once down the slope, Jiande is nowhere to be seen when looking back.In the second encounter, Jiande was found again, and he said that there were too many bows and arrows to go out, so Dan said: "Your Majesty is in the front, and a certain person is in the back, so you can get out of the siege." Rescue Jiande to the bottom of the slope.Xu Tianran led the army to come, and Jiande said: "I got Cao Dan's second rescue, and I got out of the tiger's mouth. Hao Hai is in Gaixin, how can I get out?" Each will be seriously injured.Xu Tianran ordered random arrows to shoot the rear soldiers, and rescued all the generals to return to the formation.

But it is said that Deng Mu and Tao Wuqin fought, and Tao Wuqin drove him to the edge of the forest in the valley, but he was caught by the sleeve of his robe by the forest, so he was beheaded by Tao Wuqin.Seeing that Jiande had escaped, the King of Qin immediately seized the battle drum and beat it, and drove his troops down the slope to shoot at each other.Xu Tianran was in a panic when all his arrows were exhausted. Suddenly, a general surnamed Zhou named Xianfu led the army behind the hillside. He shot back and retreated twice.When Jiande saw Deng Mu's death, he was deeply saddened and emotional.

Later generations have poems praising Deng Muyun: fighting fiercely with Tang soldiers with bloody blades red, sacrificing themselves to serve the country and being lonely and loyal.

Although it is common for a general to die, he has done a thousand years of meritorious service by donating his life.

Jiande's defeated and remnant army retreated to the camp. The army was panicked, and most of the troops in the camps fled.Li Shiji offered advice to the King of Qin. Shiji said: "I expect Jiande to be defeated, so I will not follow the main road. The mountain road in the north is steep, so I will take this small road. First call Sun Yi to lay down five thousand elite soldiers twenty miles north of the city. , but there are enemy troops that cannot be attacked, so they can only cover them later. Their army has no desire to fight, and they will go to Niukou Valley, but Bai Shirang will also scatter [-] elite soldiers on the secluded path of Niukou Valley, and things will be done. I have also dispatched Dalu, and Jiande will go to the valley without any worries." The king of Qin said: "Jiande is newly defeated, and I am afraid that his army will not move." Shiji said: "You can pretend to dispatch troops and horses, and cross the river in separate routes, all the way. Take Hebei, but attack Leshou; go all the way to capture Quyang, and cut Jiande's way. If you understand this, Jiande will be panicked and divide your troops. When the troops are divided, you can capture Jiande with one blow." Qin Wang. With his plan, the beaten army threatened all over the place, so the Jiande army heard about it.

When the army came to the stronghold, it was reported that the king of Qin divided his troops into two groups, one for Leshou and the other for Quyang.General Yuan Liang was dispatched to rescue Leshou with [-] troops, and Lu Chao was dispatched with [-] troops to rescue Quyang. They set off overnight.The envoy of the king of Qin made careful inquiries and found out that Jiande's army was moving. The king of Qin divided his brigade into eight groups of troops and horses, and went straight to the summer camp.When the northern army launched, none of them had the will to fight, and they couldn't look at each other from head to tail. Xia's army was defeated.Jiande was not well armored, so he flew on his horse, Cao Dan and others followed.Jingde, Shubao, Shi Yue, and Wang Chang will lead more than [-] cavalry troops to rush Jiande across the river early, and join forces to attack each other.Jiande discarded all his books, carts, gold and silk, and ran away with heavy armor, covering him left and right.Tang Jun chased after him, and when he saw the things left on the road, he came to pick them up, so he had to walk into the valley.Later, Tang soldiers came back to capture Jiande, but his life is unknown.

General comment: Although Song Ming, the general of the Jiande Ministry, led troops to fight in Tang Dynasty, but Qin Qiong's holding Jiantuo almost took Song Ming and killed Cao Xiang.As for Zhijie and Shi Rangwei, who built virtue in Gaixin, if it weren't for Dan's several rescues, how could he get out of the tight encirclement and go down the slope?Who would have thought that Shiji would send out his men and horses to divert his force by pretending to be false, so how could Xia's army not be defeated?
(End of this chapter)