[Defense Battle of Tongguan]
After the Anshui defense line collapsed, Taining Jiedushi Qi Kerang, who was responsible for the peripheral defense, led the remaining troops to retreat to Tongguan and urgently requested help from the imperial court.
The imperial court sent Zhang Chengfan to lead 2,800 Shence Army archers to Tongguan to assist in defense.
The Shence Army was the main force of the Central Forbidden Army of the Tang Dynasty. It was established after the "Anshi Rebellion" and was later controlled by the eunuchs, becoming an important capital for the eunuchs' exclusive power. At first, the Shence Army was an elite ace division, but later it gradually became corrupted and its combat effectiveness dropped sharply.
The salary of the Shence Army is three times that of other troops, and there are extra rewards during holidays, holidays, amnesty, and the new master's enthronement. Their main task is to protect the capital, so they stay away from the battlefield during peacetime.
Generous remuneration, stable establishment, easy and leisurely work... The officers and soldiers of the Shence Army have become "connection households". Just like some career positions, it is impossible to squeeze in without some connections at home.
By the end of the Tang Dynasty, the dignitaries bribed eunuchs to register the names of young masters and princes in the military register. They did not really need to be in the army to receive salaries and rewards according to the roster, and they were blatantly free of charge.
Usually, these young masters and gentry brothers wear designer clothes and ride tall and beautiful horses, swaggering through the city and acting domineering. Once they really need to go to war, their rich and powerful parents will spend money to hire poor people to pretend to be them. Most of these "mercenaries" are homeless homeless people, the old, the weak, the sick and disabled. Some of them can't even hold weapons, and they have never received any military training.
One can imagine how poor the combat effectiveness of the so-called "Shen Ce Army" is.
This was also Tang Xizong's initial worry, that the Shence Army was useless.
The imperial court assigned 2,800 Shence Army archers to Zhang Chengfan and ordered him to guard Tongguan.
Seeing these "elite archers", some of whom couldn't even draw their bows, Zhang Chengfan almost cried. Emperor Xizong of the Tang Dynasty also came in person to practice for the army.
Zhang Chengfan hurriedly reported: "Your Majesty, the intelligence said that there are hundreds of thousands of grassroots troops, and they are coming with a lot of noise. Qi Kerang led 10,000 defeated remnants to set up defenses outside Tongguan, and now he asked me to lead these guys We are stationed in Tongguan, but His Majesty has not allocated rations and salaries... Your Majesty, at least you should issue military rations and military salaries? More importantly, seize the time to send elite troops for reinforcements!"
Tang Xizong said perfunctorily: "You go first, reinforcements will arrive soon."
Zhang Chengfan had no choice but to bite the bullet and lead his troops to Tongguan. When we arrived in Huazhou, it coincided with the resignation of the governor of Huazhou. The Huazhou government was temporarily in a power vacuum. The entire city's soldiers and civilians fled into the valley for refuge, and the city was devastated. Zhang Chengfan opened the granary and was delighted to find that there were more than 1,000 dendrobiums of rice inside, which could provide three days of rations for the army.
It's better than nothing, bring it.
After arriving in Tongguan, Zhang Chengfan conducted a large-scale search for the fleeing refugees and captured more than a hundred villagers shaking in a ball in the wild grass. He ordered them to carry stones, transport drinking water, build fortifications, and act as coolies.
Zhang Chengfan was ordered to garrison Tongguan, while Qi Kerang deployed a peripheral defense line outside Tongguan. The two armies responded internally and externally. However, the food supply of the two armies has been cut off, and there has been no follow-up supplies, let alone reinforcements. More than 10,000 hungry soldiers are about to face hundreds of thousands of menacing grass troops. The defenders were demoralized and had no fighting spirit.
On the day when food was cut off, the leading troops of the Grass Army rushed to Tongguan. They displayed white flags everywhere to create momentum. White flags are all over the mountains and plains, as far as the eye can see.
The Cao army wanted to scare off the officers and soldiers by bluffing.
Qi Kerang boosted morale, took the initiative to attack, counterattacked the vanguard of the grass army, and achieved a small victory. The grass army retreated backwards.
Although Qi Kerang was brave, he had few soldiers and horses, and was hungry. Although he was victorious and could not chase, he still held on to the camp.
Facts have proved that Zikerang was right in not pursuing. Because this was a false defeat by the Cao army, which lured the snake out of its hole.
At any time, it is a bad idea to attack cities, passes, and camps. It is the middle strategy to send a vanguard to feign defeat and lure the defenders into our ambush circle, mainly to turn against the guests and wait for work. The best strategy is to attack the enemy with troops and subjugate the enemy's troops without fighting.
Just as Qi Kerang withdrew his troops and returned to the camp, Huang Chao came to the front line in person to direct the second wave of attacks.
Huang Chao's arrival greatly encouraged the Cao army, and they cheered loudly, shaking the mountains and rivers. The thieves rose up and rushed towards Qi Kerang's camp.
From noon to dusk, Qi Kerang resisted desperately, and the battlefield fell into a stalemate.
However, Qi Kerang's soldiers were so hungry that they mutinied in front of the battle line, burned the camp, and then dispersed. Qi Kerang only escaped with his own body and retreated into Tongguan.
Tongguan's outer defense line collapsed.
After being defeated like a mountain, Zhang Chengfan distributed all the supplies to the soldiers as a final reward, asking them to guard Tongguan for a while longer for the empire. At the same time, he flew to the imperial court and wrote an urgent memorial:
"It has been six days since I left Beijing. Not a single reinforcement has been seen, not to mention a penny of military pay and a grain of rice for military rations. On the day our army arrived at Tongguan, it engaged the Cao Army. Two thousand of our army fought against the Sixth Army of the Cao Army. One hundred thousand people! The friendly troops outside the Pass (Qi Kerang) have mutinied and collapsed... I heard that Your Majesty intends to go to Shu to inspect the work (can't say "escape", it's too ugly), I risk my life to remonstrate - as soon as you leave, Tongguan will collapse immediately, and the empire will collapse immediately! You must hold on, urgently mobilize all armies, and reinforce Tongguan. In this case, the foundation of Gaozu and Taizong may be preserved, and Huang Chao will perish after Anlu Mountain. I would like to compare it to my brother Shu Han died gloriously for his country!"
【Enter the "Forbidden Valley"】
Tongguan is an almost insurmountable natural danger that can be blocked by one man and cannot be opened by ten thousand men. Although the official army only has a few thousand people, as long as there is sufficient food and grass and the generals work together, it is possible to withstand hundreds of thousands of grass troops. Write a Tang Dynasty version of "The Three Hundred Warriors of Sparta".
Like Wenquan Pass, Tongguan is not seamless. There is also a valley path to the north that leads to the interior of Tongguan.
This road is usually prohibited for civilians to enter and exit, so that the government can set up checkpoints on the main road to collect taxes. Therefore, this small road is called the "Forbidden Valley", which is what is often called a military restricted area today. If you trespass into the restricted area, you will be beheaded. . Because almost no one walks around, this narrow valley is overgrown with vegetation and covered with weeds and vines. If the insiders hadn't specifically looked for it, no one would have noticed that there is a path here. Over time, people really forget about it.
Zhang Chengfan, who was responsible for guarding Tongguan, also forgot.
Zhang Chengfan cannot be blamed, because he was temporarily transferred to Tongguan and was not a general guarding Tongguan for a long time.
Zhang Chengfan forgot this path, Qi Kerang also forgot, Tian Lingzi also forgot, Tang Xizong also forgot...
If you forget about it, it will be fine.
However, Qi Kerang's defeated troops accidentally discovered this secret passage, so they rushed in, trampled the weeds, cut off the vines, and overnight, the "Forbidden Valley" became a flat avenue. Appeared in front of Cao Jun.
All he had to do was put a wooden sign at the intersection, draw an arrow, and write "Tongguan, let's go."
The Tongguan defenders were already stretched thin, so at this time they had to mobilize troops to urgently defend the "Forbidden Valley".
Huang Chao didn't give him much time.
Four o'clock in the morning, darkness before dawn. The Grass Army launched a new round of attack.
Zhang Chengfan resisted vigorously. When the arrows ran out, he threw stones.
The battle raged from early morning to afternoon, and then from afternoon to night.
Relying on the advantage of their large numbers, the grass army could fight in turns, while the defenders could only rotate continuously, suffering from hunger and hardship.
There is a natural trench outside the pass, similar to a moat, but without water. At night, the Grass Army drove more than a thousand nearby villagers to work as coolies, digging sand and filling trenches, then rushed to the pass and set fire to the pass. The Tongguan City Tower was burned down by fire and turned into ashes.
The 800 defenders in the Forbidden Valley were also broken through by the Cao army.
When the sun rose, Tongguan declared its fall.
Tongguan, which had a dangerous terrain, was easy to defend but difficult to attack, and could not be opened by one man but ten thousand men, took more than two days to declare its fall.
The empire's last barrier, Chang'an's last fig leaf, was lifted by the Cao army.
Zhang Chengfan put on civilian clothes and escaped among the rebels; Wang Shihui, another Shence Army general who also guarded Tongguan, committed suicide and died for his country.
Zhang Chengfan fled halfway before encountering reinforcements - two thousand people from Fengtian (today's Qian County, Shaanxi Province). Zhang Chengfan felt extremely lonely and sighed: "You guys are too late."
When they retreated to Weiqiao, they met new recruits recruited by Tian Lingzi and came to reinforce the Shence Army.
When the defeated army saw that these recruits were all wearing luxurious leather clothes, they couldn't help but get angry and cursed: "You are usually well-paid and have no merit, but you enjoy glory and wealth, while we are starving, freezing, and fighting against the thieves. Why? "
The more they scolded, the angrier they became, and finally they all came together and robbed the new recruits. Subsequently, these defeated troops turned around, ran into the Grass Army camp, defected and surrendered to the enemy, willing to be the "leading party", serving as guides for the Grass Army, and guiding them to attack Chang'an.
