In November of the first year of Qianfu (874), Nanzhao made a comeback and once again invaded the southwest border of the Tang Dynasty, threatening Chengdu Prefecture. The defeat of the Xichuan Army could not be stopped.
Shilong was so proud that he sent a letter to the Xichuan Army. The wording was arrogant and full of threats.
The Xichuan Army spared two of the Nanzhao envoys who delivered the letter alive, and killed all the rest, letting the two buddies return to Nanzhao with the reply. In the reply, Xichuan Army listed various crimes of Nanzhao and insulted and abused them. Turtle son, come and play!
The imperial court issued an order to send troops to Hedong, Shannan West Road, and Dongchuan to support; it also transferred Tianping Army's military governor Gao Pian to Xichuan and made him the "commander-in-chief of aid to Shu", and then appointed Gao Pian as the military commander of Xichuan. , not only the troops assisting Shu were under his command, but the local troops in Xichuan also had to obey Gao Pian's dispatch. Gao Pian became a veritable commander-in-chief.
The last "Chengdu Defense War" was initiated by local officials of the Tang Dynasty. Although Nanzhao came with a fierce force, it came and went quickly. This time, Nanzhao was fully prepared, its strategic goals were clearer, and its offensive was sharper.
And Gao Pian was the mascot of the Tang Dynasty against Nanzhao and the nemesis of Nanzhao.
As early as 9 years ago (865) in the "Annan War", Gao Pian led his army to defeat Nanzhao, regain Annan, and killed Duan Zongbang, the commander-in-chief of Nanzhao's invading army, and gained a lot.
In that battle, Nanzhao was completely defeated and frightened. The beating made Nanzhao suffer from "acrophobia".
Now, if the children in Nanzhao are disobedient, it’s time to send Gao Pian to spank them.
Gao Pian marched to Jianzhou (today's Jiange County, Sichuan Province) and sent envoy Pegasus to inform Chengdu: open the city gates and lift the alert.
At this time, someone around him warned him that Nanzhao was already under Chengdu's nose, and we were still hundreds of miles away from Chengdu. You asked Chengdu to open the city gates now in case Nanzhao's army swarmed in. , wouldn’t Chengdu fall into the hands of its rivals in an instant?
After hearing this, Gao Pian laughed "haha", curled his lips, and stretched out his thumb to mark his nose, "When I was in Jiaozhi, I easily ate up their 200,000-strong army. As soon as they heard that I It’s too late to escape, so how dare you enter Chengdu? It’s spring now, hundreds of thousands of soldiers and civilians are crowded together in Chengdu, and the sanitary conditions are extremely poor, making it easy for the plague to break out. Open the city gates and release the refugees without delay.”
The envoy arrived in Chengdu quickly, opened the city gates, shops resumed business, companies resumed work and production, and the soldiers were able to take off their heavy armor. Everything was like in peacetime. The people rejoiced.
As expected by Gao Pian, when Nanzhao received the news that Gao Pian had entered Sichuan, his "fear of heights" immediately broke out, and he hurriedly sent an envoy to sue for peace and left the siege.
Chengdu soldiers and civilians all praised Gao Pian for his bravery, strategy, courage and knowledge. Gao Pian is simply the god of war descending to earth.
Gao Pian enjoyed all kinds of compliments and was beaming with joy. He immediately reported to the court: "Nanzhao barbarians and clowns are easy to deal with. There is no need to mobilize troops and go on expeditions. It's enough for me to be here alone. Why dispatch Zhenwu?" (Today’s Inner Mongolia), Fufang (today’s Shaanxi), and Hedong (today’s Shanxi) armies? It’s a waste of money, let them all go back.”
The imperial court only ordered the Hedong reinforcements to return.
Gao Pian arrived in Chengdu, and the next day he sent 5,000 infantry and cavalry to pursue the retreating Nanzhao invading army. Do you think this is a public toilet, and you can come when you want and leave when you want?
They chased them to the Dadu River and killed many of them. They captured dozens of Nanzhao generals alive and escorted them back to Chengdu.
Gao Pian stretched and yawned, "What's the use of keeping these bastards? I'll chop them all up." Outside Chengdu, Nanzhao prisoners discussed bloodletting.
Afterwards, Gao Pian renovated various passes and fortresses along the Dadu River. He also built a city on the main transportation route of Nanzhao's advance, named it "Pingyi City", and stationed thousands of troops. From then on, Nanzhao did not dare to take any further action.
After frightening Nanzhao, Gao Pian started internal rectification, summoned the officials who had returned from defeat on the border, and blamed him for his unfavorable battle, the loss of the Dadu River, the loss of troops, the loss of generals, the disgrace to the country, and the damage to the military prestige, and ordered him to be cut in half!
The internal and external affairs were all arranged, and Gao Pian made another memorial: I am willing to lead my troops and horses, together with the Tianping, Zhaoyi, and Yicheng armies, a total of 60,000 people, to launch a "self-defense counterattack against the barbarians" and counterattack into Nanzhao. Within the territory, just dig out its lair and destroy Nanzhao! Once and for all, the province will be harassed by it every year.
The imperial court did not approve his battle plan, but gave him an assignment to copy an article, sign it with Gao Pian's name, and send it to Nanzhao.
It turns out that the Nanzhao Kingdom frequently launched attacks on the Tang Dynasty, using both civil and military methods. On the one hand, it devoted all its national power to the repeated tug of war in Xichuan; on the other hand, it also continuously submitted letters of credence to the Tang Dynasty and engaged in diplomatic wars and public opinion wars. The letters sent were mostly filled with resentment and accusations, "We strongly condemn... We solemnly protest... ..." The Tang Dynasty did not answer this question silently.
Prime Minister Lu said: "It is true that the Southern Barbarians are confusing right and wrong and making unreasonable troubles. We in China do not bother to talk nonsense with them, so we remain silent. But in this way, these barbarians think that we are at a loss for words and have no excuse. Let's start from the beginning. In one stroke, I can count the kindness that the Celestial Empire has shown to their ancestors for ten generations, as well as their current ingratitude. Call him a white-eyed wolf and be speechless."
So, there is this article:
In 649 AD, Xinuluo claimed to be the "King of Nanzhao". In 653, he sent an envoy to pay tribute to the Tang Dynasty and expressed his willingness to submit to the Tang Dynasty. The then emperor Tang Gaozong Li Zhi named him the governor of Weizhou; the Tang Dynasty and Nanzhao established an ancestral relationship. Domain relationship; (first generation)
In 674, Xinu Luo died of illness, and his son Luo Shengyan succeeded to the throne; (second generation)
In 712, Luo Shengyan went to Chang'an in person to meet with Li Longji, Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty, who had just ascended the throne. He fell ill on the way and died of illness in Chang'an. His son Yange succeeded him; (three generations)
In the same year, Yange died and his younger brother Shengluopi succeeded him; (fourth generation)
Special note: Due to the short reign of Yan Ge, later scholars usually omit it and regard Sheng Luopi as the third Nanzhao king. In order to show the favor of the great country of China to them, I deliberately included him very rigorously to increase the number of generations.
In 728, Sheng Luopi died of illness, and his son Pi Luoge succeeded him; (Fifth Generation)
Piluoge was the most influential king of Nanzhao. It was he, with the support of the Tang Dynasty, who annexed the other "Five Zhaos" and completed the unification of the Erhai region, laying the foundation for the later Nanzhao Kingdom. He is equivalent to the Southern Barbarian version of Qin Shihuang.
In 748, Piluoge died of illness and his son Geluofeng succeeded him; (sixth generation)
In 779, Geluofeng died of illness, and his grandson Yimouxun succeeded him; (seventh generation)
In 808, Yimouxun died, and his son Xunge persuaded him to succeed him; (seventh generation)
In 809, Xunge Quan died, and his son persuaded Long Sheng to succeed him; (eighth generation)
In 816, Quan Long Sheng was killed, and his younger brother Quan Li Sheng succeeded to the throne; (ninth generation)
In 823, Quan Lisheng died, and his younger brother Quan Fengyou succeeded to the throne; (tenth generation)
In 859, Quan Fengyou died and his son Shilong succeeded him; (eleventh generation)
The above are the "ten generations of grace" mentioned by Prime Minister Lu Xie. Except for Shilong and his father who persuaded Fengyou to become enemies of the Tang Dynasty, their eight generations of ancestors had all been favored by the Tang Dynasty, and they all acted as vassals of the Tang Dynasty in a well-behaved and honest manner, paying tribute year after year. They are all good children when they go to court and pay tribute as ministers.
This kid Shilong has forgotten his ancestors! Without the support of the Tang Dynasty to their ten generations of ancestors, how could they have the Nanzhao Kingdom? Still have the nerve to issue a letter of credence to accuse Datang? Since we want to be reasonable, let’s talk about eight generations of their ancestors.
The imperial court believed that it was time to have a good break with Nanzhao.
Prime Minister Lu Xie made another report, saying that he could not reply in the name of the central court. That would be too shameful for them, raise their status, and tacitly acknowledge their political and diplomatic status as equal to that of the Celestial Empire. Hum, a small foreign country... Just send the draft to Gao Pian, the military governor of Xichuan, and Xin Chan, the military governor of Lingnan West Road, and ask them to copy it, and then ask them to send it to Nanzhao in the name of the local military governor.
Therefore, Gao Pian, who was on the front line in Chengdu, got this official letter.
Of course, the copying work was not done by Gao Pian himself. There was a dedicated person responsible for copying. Gao Pian looked sideways and couldn't help but nod his head in praise, "The Hanlin bachelors in Chaoli are still awesome! They don't even use curse words when swearing. Look at the people swearing in the street. 'It's so sad to say such things', four or sixty-eight sentences Damn, the dialogue is neat, the thimble continues, the parallel metaphors, the puns... It's so good that even the uneducated people may not be able to understand it..."
Since Nanzhao's nemesis Gao Pian entered Xichuan, Nanzhao temporarily stopped its military offensive, leaving the Xichuan area in a period of peaceful development.
