As we all know, in troubled times, relying on force to speak, famous generals emerge in large numbers. Many famous generals were also born during the Sui and Tang Dynasties in China. Maybe they are not so well-known in later romance novels, but they are indeed powerful generals. Because of them, the Tang Dynasty got the nickname "Giant Tang".
In the Tang Dynasty, a general was called a "famous general". If he had not destroyed an enemy country, he would not be ranked as such. For example, Qin Qiong and Yuchi Gong, such well-known generals, can only act as door gods. If they want to be ranked among the four famous generals in the early Tang Dynasty, they will not be able to take the turn. So who are the four famous generals in the early Tang Dynasty?
God of War Li Jing deserves to be first
In the early Tang Dynasty, there were only two people who could be called gods of war. One of them was Li Shimin, but he later became emperor. In the Tang Dynasty's campaign to unify the north and south, the northern region was conquered by Li Shimin, while the southern region was pacified by Li Jing.
Chairman Mao once commented that he highly affirmed Li Shimin's military talents. He said that among the emperors since ancient times, Li Shimin was the most powerful in fighting, followed by Zhu Yuanzhang . But Li Shimin highly praised Li Jing. It can be said that heroes cherish heroes.
Li Shimin once attacked Goguryeo in his later years. He thought he failed because he failed to achieve the strategic goal of destroying Goguryeo. After returning to the court, Li Shimin looked back on the battle situation and was very puzzled, so he asked Li Jing to discuss it.
Li Jing said bluntly: "Li Daozong has given you advice a long time ago." Li Shimin didn't remember what was going on. Li Jing continued: "He once suggested that you should take it by surprise and attack Goguryeo by surprise, but you ran all the way over and attacked the city according to the regular method.
Li Shimin suddenly understood and said with some annoyance: "It's all because there were too many things at that time. How could I forget such an important thing?" It can be seen from this record that Li Jing can point out the root cause of the failure of the war in one sentence. , and Li Shimin also agreed with this statement.
As the strongest general of the Tang Dynasty, Li Jing destroyed the Liang Kingdom of the Southern Dynasty in the south and defeated the Tang forces. In the north, he destroyed the Eastern Turks and pacified Tuyuhun and others. One person destroyed four hostile forces. Later generations did not list him as the God of War, but directly named him the God of War. As a military strategist, Li Jing also wrote "The Art of War of the Duke of Wei" which has been passed down to the world.
Li Xiaogong ranked second
Many people have never heard of Li Xiaogong's name, but he ranks second among the famous Twenty-Four Heroes of Lingyan Pavilion, and the first one is Changsun Wuji.
Li Xiaogong was a relative of the Li family, so Li Shimin had to call him his cousin. After Li Yuan raised his army, relatives in the clan also provided help. Li Xiaogong was the general who could stand alone among Li's relatives. After the Tang army captured Chang'an, he was sent to pacify Jingzhou, Bashu and other places.
There lives a madman named Zhu Can, who is the prototype of the cannibal in the novel. After Li Xiaogong took action, he quickly beat him down. At that time, everyone unanimously demanded that Zhu Can's men be killed.
Li Xiaogong did not agree with this approach. He said that killing people is so easy, but what we want is that this place is stable and the people's hearts are restored . Don't always think about killing, otherwise no one will surrender. So Li Xiaogong implemented the "pardon but not kill" policy and smoothly incorporated this area into the territory of the Tang Dynasty.
He is also credited with the Battle of Xiaoxian in Nanping. Li Xiaogong served as the commander-in-chief and Li Jing was his deputy. Of course, we cannot deny that Li Jing was the greatest contributor to this war, but Li Xiaogong's contribution cannot be erased either.
Li Xiaogong is a man of great wisdom. In his later years, he did not want to be said to be superior to others, so he began to pursue eating, drinking and enjoying himself. Before his death, he sold his big house, leaving only a small house for his descendants.
He thought that if his descendants were really capable, this small house would be enough for them. If they fail to live up to their expectations and are a prodigal, it will save them from ruining the big house.
Li Ji ranked third
Li Ji is Xu Maogong in "The Romance of the Sui and Tang Dynasties". He was originally called Xu Shiji and was one of the leaders of Wagang Mountain. He surrendered to the Tang Dynasty with his troops and city, and was given the national surname Li, so he was named Li Shiji. Later, in order to avoid the taboo of Emperor Li Shimin's name, he eventually changed his name to Li Ji .
Li Shimin valued him very much and admired his talents. He was compared with Li Jing , which shows how remarkable his military talents are.
Li Ji's most outstanding achievement was that he captured Xue Yantuo's 50,000 soldiers with 6,000 troops ! Beat Xue Yantuo's tribe into obedience. It is worth mentioning that Li Ji's battle took place after Li Jing destroyed the Eastern Turks. More than ten years ago, Li Ji followed Li Jing in leading troops to destroy the Eastern Turks, and was obviously influenced by Li Jing.
Li Ji's battle against Xue Yantuo clearly had Li Jing's fighting style, which was very similar to the tactics used to attack the Eastern Turks. Li Ji ranked third among the famous generals of the early Tang Dynasty because he had been defeated by Dou Jiande and Liu Heitai earlier.
Veteran Su Dingfang ranked fourth
Because Su Dingfang was described as having a feud with Luo Cheng's family for three generations in "The Romance of the Sui and Tang Dynasties", he not only shot Luo Yi with a hidden arrow, but also killed Luo Cheng outside Zijin Pass. Su Dingfang is a villain in the eyes of ordinary people.
The real Su Dingfang in history was the most important general of Emperor Gaozong of the Tang Dynasty . He single-handedly led troops to destroy three countries. He also captured all the kings of the enemy countries alive and brought them back to the Tang Dynasty to be handed over to Emperor Gaozong of the Tang Dynasty. Su Dingfang is the real battlefield veteran.
Su Dingfang initially followed Dou Jiande. After Li Shimin killed Dou Jiande, he ran to follow Liu Heitai. Liu Heitai was killed again. He was probably a little suspicious and started to rethink his life, so he lived in seclusion for a while.
After that, Su Dingfang came out again, this time he chose to defect to Datang. Li Shimin had many famous generals who could fight. Given Su Dingfang's previous experience, he was naturally not taken seriously. But Li Jinghui recognized a hero and admired him very much, so he chose Su Dingfang to be the forward in his team. It can be said that Su Dingfang, like Li Ji, is the disciple brought out by Li Jing.
In 655 AD, Su Dingfang, who was in his sixties, led by Cheng Yaojin, went to conquer the Western Turks. As a result, Cheng Yaojin failed in this battle, and Tang Gaozong issued another order, letting Su Dingfang take command. In this way, the prelude to the destruction of the Three Kingdoms by the famous Tang general Su Dingfang officially began.
"Old Book of Tang" records that Su Dingfang destroyed three countries one after another and captured all their kings alive, which was very rare in history. It took Su Dingfang a total of twelve years to achieve such a brilliant achievement.
In 667 AD, when the Tang Dynasty sent troops to conquer Tuyuhun, Su Dingfang died of illness at the age of 76. It was precisely because of Su Dingfang's successful conquest that the territory of the entire Tang Dynasty was the widest during the reign of Emperor Gaozong of the Tang Dynasty.
Summarize:
The Tang Dynasty was a glorious dynasty and the pride of our nation. In addition to their outstanding military talents, the several generals listed in this article who were good at conquering and fighting had a lot to do with the historical trends at that time. As the saying goes, times create heroes, and their historical achievements will be recorded in the annals of history forever.
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