Chapter 40 The Battle of Hulao Pass

Ming Dynasty, Hongwu Years.

Zhu Bai laughed out loud. He really didn't expect that Emperor Taizong of Tang's promise could be explained in this way. If you had to say it this way, it turned out that all of it was actually fulfilled.

The others couldn't help laughing, and some even felt like they had learned something.

[After this incident, the atmosphere within the Tang army did improve a lot. However, the atmosphere within Dou Jiande's army began to decline.

On April 30, Dou Jiande's grain and fodder transport troops were intercepted and killed by more than a thousand light cavalry led by Wang Junkuo, who was sent by Li Shimin. They suffered a disastrous defeat and even Dou Jiande's general Zhang Qingte was captured.

In response to this, the desire to retreat within Dou Jiande's army grew stronger.

In fact, Dou Jiande's army had similar problems to the Tang army before: they had already made considerable achievements and had Jizhou as their base, so it was no problem for them to retreat. But there had been no progress at Hulao Pass for a long time, so why did they have to stay here?

The counselor Ling Jing suggested to Dou Jiande that "the whole army should cross the Yellow River and head north, capture Heyang in Huaizhou, and arrange for the main general to guard it. Then lead a large group of troops to beat drums and raise flags, cross Taihang Mountain, and march into Shangdang County. It is a bluff to hide the purpose, and there is no need to bother with fighting. Speed ​​up to Hukou, gradually disturb Puzhou, and seize the land east of the Yellow River. This is the best strategy. There are three benefits to implementing this policy: first, the army will be infallible in an unguarded place; second, it will expand the territory and recruit soldiers; third, the Tang army will lift the siege of Wang Shichong by itself."】

The early years of the Han Dynasty.

"It's still Heyang and Huaizhou," Liu Bang said slowly, "These two places are indeed vital, and Shangdang area is indeed not to be lost to the Tang Dynasty." If Heyang and Huaizhou can really be captured, Dou Jiande's troops will survive, and according to the plan, if Shangdang is captured, Chang'an will indeed be unable to sit still.

No, if this continues, it’s hard to say what the Tang Dynasty will become.

"But Dou Jiande probably did not follow this suggestion." Although even if he really attacked Heyang and Huaizhou, it might not be successful, but it is more likely that Dou Jiande did not adopt this suggestion at all in the end.

After all, not to mention Li Shimin, there is also Wang Shichong, who is anxious and about to be doomed. Can he hold on until Dou Jiande captures Heyang and Huaizhou and then marches into Shangdang?
Obviously not.

Would his people let Dou Jiande take this path? Of course not.

Song Dynasty, the first year of Kaibao.

"However, it is indeed a problem that the generals are arrogant and unwilling to continue fighting because of their achievements and are unwilling to plan for the overall situation." At this time, the commander-in-chief can only rely on his own personal prestige and ability to suppress other opposition voices and control the army to continue fighting.

This is actually the same problem as those who want to take credit, because they cannot see the overall situation, or they can see the overall situation but are more concerned about their personal interests. At this time, if the coach cannot suppress them, the consequences will be disastrous.

Didn’t this kind of problem arise during Yongxi’s Eastern Army’s Northern Expedition?

[Dou Jiande was ready to adopt this suggestion, but Wang Shichong kept sending people to ask for help, asking Dou Jiande to rescue Luoyang as soon as possible. At the same time, he secretly spent a lot of money to bribe Dou Jiande's generals to speak for him.

However, after Wang Shichong's complaints and the support of a group of generals, Dou Jiande changed his mind and decided to continue attacking Hulao Pass.

Dou Jiande's wife Cao also advised him to adopt Ling Jing's opinion, but was also rejected by Dou Jiande, who believed that going to Heyang and leaving Hulao at this time was "fearing the enemy and abandoning trust."

So Dou Jiande continued to confront Li Shimin at Hulao Pass.

Unlike Dou Jiande, the Tang army had obtained another batch of troops at this time. On the first day of April, Dou Gui, the left servant of Yizhou Xingtai, led troops from Ba and Shu to join forces with Li Shimin.

The early years of the Han Dynasty.

Liu Bang did put himself in the battle of Chenggao City, but as he thought about it, he suddenly realized something: "Wang Shichong can't hold on any longer. If the siege of Luoyang is not lifted, he will surrender automatically. This is because of food and grass. So, does the Tang army at Hulao Pass have enough food and grass?"

Hulao Pass itself can store a certain amount of food and grass as a backup, but can the Tang army outside Luoyang City supply food to Hulao Pass at this time? Especially in this situation of confrontation between the two armies.

If the rear cannot provide a stable supply of food, Li Shimin will not have much time left.

[Since he had decided to continue through Hulao Pass, Dou Jiande naturally began to try his best to find out the situation of the Tang army in order to formulate a battle plan.

After more than 20 days of confrontation with the Tang army, Dou Jiande got a piece of information: the Tang army's horses and other livestock feed were almost finished and needed to go directly to the north bank of the Yellow River to graze. So, based on this information, Dou Jiande decided to take advantage of the fact that the Tang army was grazing on the north bank of the Yellow River and there were not enough horses in the army to attack Hulao Pass.

There is nothing wrong with this decision. After all, the role played by the Tang army's cavalry on the battlefield is obvious to all.

However, Dou Jiande did not do a good job of keeping the intelligence confidential, and his plan was soon discovered by Li Shimin's spies, who then told Li Shimin.

Li Shimin immediately realized that this was a good opportunity to break the deadlock completely, so he decided to use this bait to hook Dou Jiande.

On the first day of May, Li Shimin crossed the Yellow River to the north and went to Guangwu Mountain to investigate the enemy situation. At the same time, he placed more than a thousand horses on the shallows of the Yellow River to lure Dou Jiande.

Dou Jiande took the bait and led his army out in full force on the second day of May. He finally formed a battle array beside the Sishui River. Because of the large number of people, the battle array stretched for several miles, accompanied by the sound of drums and shouts, and was very impressive.

The early years of the Han Dynasty.

Liu Bang shook his head: "Dou Jiande is a little anxious." However, the two armies have been confronting each other for quite some time. Unlike the Tang army, they were the one that took the initiative to attack. In addition, Wang Shichong in Luoyang would probably have to open the city gate himself in the next moment, so it was normal for him to be a little anxious.

However, the confidentiality work was not done well, and such a key decision-making deployment was actually leaked to Li Shimin. This was a real big problem.

Xiao He also said: "Intelligence is of utmost importance. We will never let the Han Dynasty have such problems." Intelligence, in war, intelligence is really more important than human life to a certain extent. If our side can repeatedly uncover the enemy's intelligence like Emperor Taizong of Tang, then of course it would be great; but the fear is that we become the party whose intelligence is repeatedly leaked.

The enemy knows every step you take. Not only will you miss key opportunities, but you will also be attacked by the enemy in return...

It may not be easy to obtain enemy intelligence, but it is imperative to protect your own intelligence.

Han Dynasty, the fourth year of Yuanshou. Seeing that the intelligence was leaked, Liu Che brought himself into the Tang army, thinking that this was a great thing. Dou Jiande came out in full force this time, so it would be the first time to destroy the other side, and he could accomplish his goal in one battle.

But on the other hand, he couldn't help but think of the problem of intelligence leakage in the Han Dynasty - the Battle of Mayi in the second year of Yuanguang!

Don't talk about whether the Han Dynasty could achieve the goal of the battle plan after the Huns entered the encirclement. These are all things that happened after entering the encirclement. The key issue is that this matter, this plan to encircle and ambush the Huns, was leaked! The Huns ran away without entering the encirclement at all!

Afterwards, the Huns continued to plunder everywhere and take revenge on the Han Dynasty.

Ming Dynasty, Hongwu Years.

Speaking of intelligence, Zhu Di thought of the Song Dynasty, which was surrounded by many countries: "I remember that during the Song Dynasty, all kinds of spies were very active? Especially the transmission of intelligence between Song and Liao."

Zhu Gang nodded: "Yes, there were a lot of spies and intelligence transmissions at that time, and there were also many in Song and Jin. During the Southern Song Dynasty, there was a Liu Yungu."

[Faced with Dou Jiande's attacking army, many generals in the Tang army were afraid.

Li Shimin still led the cavalry to the heights to look at the enemy formations before the battle, and also counseled the Tang army generals: "The enemy started in Shandong, but we have not seen a strong enemy yet. Now they are making a fuss in the dangerous places, which means they have no government orders; they are besieging the city and setting up a battle formation, which means they underestimate us."

Although Dou Jiande's troops are numerous, they are just a mob that have never seen any serious enemy. Now they are forming a battle formation near the wall of Hulao Pass, which shows that they underestimate the enemy; they are still shouting and clamoring even after forming a battle formation, which is a manifestation of the lack of political orders and discipline and the disorganized army!
Why worry when facing such an enemy?

For an army like this, we need to sit still and keep our troops in place, otherwise they will create chaos and their morale will continue to decline. After a long time, the soldiers will become hungry and they will naturally retreat. At that time, our army will take advantage of the situation and pursue them, and we will be invincible.

The Tang army followed Li Shimin's plan and began to hold their ground, quietly waiting for the opportunity.

The early years of the Han Dynasty.

"Never seen a strong enemy?" Liu Bang smiled. The miracle did not mention much about Dou Jiande, but if it was true as Emperor Taizong of Tang said, most of Dou Jiande's troops had never experienced a large-scale battle with a truly powerful enemy, then they were indeed just a group of troops with little power.

For such an army, their strength lies in their large numbers and high morale, but their large numbers may also become a fatal weakness that leads to failure.

As long as their morale is low and their formation is disrupted, the Tang army may collapse on its own without having to do much.

"Morale and people's support are the key." Otherwise, why did Li Shimin always fight a battle to boost morale or seriously analyze the situation with his generals when the morale of the Tang army was low?
Dou Jiande didn't know whether he didn't notice or was unable to take into account the problem of morale. The army was strong at the beginning, but then it weakened and finally it was exhausted. If he continued to fight with the Tang army in the battle line outside the city, the morale would easily collapse.

Every time, Li Shimin was able to find a time and method to inflict the least damage to his own side while killing the greatest number of enemies. He eliminated the enemy without causing any damage to the Tang army, while still being able to continue to deal with new enemies.

[During the confrontation, there were also small-scale battles between the two sides.

Dou Jiande's army looked down on the Tang army, in fact, because Dou Jiande himself looked down on it. He sent 300 cavalrymen all the way to a place one mile away from the Tang army to challenge Li Shimin. Li Shimin asked Wang Junkuo to lead 200 long spear soldiers to fight the enemy. The two sides were evenly matched and finally withdrew.

Afterwards, Yuchi Jingde, Gao Zongsheng and Liang Jianfang rode their horses into Dou Jiande's camp, captured Wang Shichong's nephew Wang Wan alive, and returned to the Tang army with his horse.

The Tang army and Dou Jiande fought back and forth on a small scale. Dou Jiande could never make up his mind to attack Hulao Pass by force, so he could only continue the confrontation.

But his soldiers soon couldn't hold on any longer. From noon to noon, the soldiers were hungry and tired, sitting in the battle formation, scrambling for water, their will to fight had mostly disappeared, and they were increasingly thinking about withdrawing.

Such a chaotic situation in Dou Jiande's army naturally could not be concealed from the Tang army. Li Shimin felt that the time was right, so he sent cavalry to charge into the enemy camp to see how Dou Jiande's army would react.

As a result, when the cavalry rushed over, Dou Jiande's army was indeed shaken. Li Shimin judged that it was time to "attack"! So he personally led the light cavalry, took the lead, and rushed towards the enemy formation. 】

Sui Dynasty, the 18th year of Kaihuang.

Looking at the superb combat level of the Tang army's cavalry and infantry, Yang Jian suddenly thought of the elite soldiers of the Sui Dynasty who were now being killed by Yang Guang.

When he thought of this, his heart ached and bled. That was the wealth of the Sui Dynasty! That was the wealth accumulated by the Sui Dynasty, or rather, the wealth accumulated since the Northern Wei Dynasty!
Although it’s not impossible to train again, doesn’t it feel painful to lose all the original strength?
There is also Wang Wan in the sky curtain, who was easily captured alive by Yuchi Jingde and his men. His horse, with its physique and appearance, looks like an imperial horse in the royal palace of the Sui Dynasty.

Trash! He was riding such a good horse, but he was captured so easily!
Qin Dynasty.

"The army's morale is shaken and there is no order. Dou Jiande's troops are truly a motley crowd and have not met a strong enemy." Ying Zheng shook his head and expressed his disdain for Dou Jiande's army.

On the one hand, the time from Chenshi to Wushi was too long, and the army would indeed be shaken or affected, but sufficiently elite soldiers could maintain a basic formation. Dou Jiande's soldiers just sat down and scrambled for water, which was not the performance of an elite army at all.

On the other hand, if the soldiers were like this, what about the generals at all levels in the army? Shouldn't it be their responsibility to maintain the army's discipline, formation and morale? As a result, I don't know whether they were unable to control it or simply didn't realize that such a situation needed to be changed, so they let the soldiers be scattered.

[Li Shimin led the cavalry to charge, and the Tang army followed closely behind, rushing towards the weak points of Dou Jiande's army.

Dou Jiande hurried back to command the army at this time, but before he could command the army formation, Li Shimin's attack had already arrived. Facing the Tang army, Dou Jiande's troops immediately began to disintegrate and the formation was in chaos.

At this time, it was impossible to command the army completely. The Tang army had completely taken the initiative. Thanks to the overall higher military quality and better equipment, the Tang army rushed around in the enemy camp with fewer casualties. For example, Huaiyang King Li Daoxuan bravely charged into the enemy camp, going in and out several times. The arrows gathered on his body were like a hedgehog, but his courage was still undiminished and his movements were not hindered.

Li Shimin led Shi Danai, Cheng Zhijie, Qin Shubao, Yuwen Xin and others with their flags rolled up, rushed into the enemy formation, charged back and forth repeatedly, penetrated the enemy's formation, and after four or five fierce battles, finally defeated Dou Jiande's army.

Li Shimin unfurled the Tang army flag behind the enemy camp. Dou Jiande's troops turned around and saw the Tang army flag. They panicked and began to flee. The Tang army pursued them for 30 miles, beheaded more than 3,000 people, and captured more than 50,000 people. The generals of chariots and cavalry, Bai Shirang and Yang Wuwei, also captured Dou Jiande alive in the camp.

Afterwards, Li Shimin brought Dou Jiande to the city of Luoyang and saw that Dou Jiande had been captured alive. Wang Shichong knew that the situation was hopeless, and finally led his civil and military officials out of the city to surrender.

At this point, Li Shimin pacified the two major separatist forces of Dou Jiande and Wang Shichong, unified the north, and established the territory of the Tang Dynasty, and the foundation of the Tang Dynasty was completely stabilized. 】

(End of this chapter)