A brief introduction to Cheng Yaojin The life of Cheng Yaojin, the famous founding general of the Tang Dynasty Lu Guogong
Cheng Yaojin’s brief introduction to the life of Lu Guogong, the famous founding general of the Tang Dynasty
Cheng Yaojin (589-665), Han nationality, was a native of Dongabanjiudian, Jeju, China (now Dongping County, Shandong Province) Turtle Jiudian), a famous founding general of the Tang Dynasty. His original name was Yaojin, and later he was renamed Zhijie, with the courtesy name Yizhen. He was a general of the Tang Dynasty, named Lu Guogong, one of the twenty-four heroes of Lingyan Pavilion, and nineteen of the twenty-four heroes of Lingyan Pavilion. Cheng Yaojin is also a character in novels, films and television works. The film and television works describe the story of Cheng Yaojin who was forced to rob the road in order to survive, and then gathered with eighteen heroes in Wagang Village to resist the violent Sui Dynasty. Cheng Yaojin was a lucky general, and his three axes were quite powerful.
"Cheng Yaojin comes out halfway", "Cheng Yaojin's three-axe" are two common proverbs that the Chinese are familiar with. If it weren't for these two proverbs, it is estimated that when Cheng Zhijie is mentioned, except for scholars who study history, he will definitely be faced with blank faces, and almost no one knows who he is. Therefore, popular
According to historical records, Cheng Yaojin was a brave young man and good at using horses. ? ("Old Book of Tang Dynasty? Biography of Cheng Zhijie") In the last years of the Sui Dynasty, Emperor Yang Guang of the Sui Dynasty ruled cruelly and was extravagant and debauched. He carried out large-scale construction projects year after year and continued to use troops. The heavy corvee and military service made the fields barren and the people were in dire straits. Eventually, a large-scale outbreak broke out of peasant uprising. After the uprising, the number of rebel armies grew to more than a hundred. Each rebel army ranged from a few hundred to more than 100,000 people. However, the scale was not very large and they had no political goals. They basically fought on the move and looted everywhere. For this reason, Cheng Yaojin gathered the heroes of the village to protect the village in preparation for the rebel army. This shows that his origin should be the landlord class.
After seven years of war, the peasant rebel army has grown from small to large, from weak to strong, gradually overcoming regional concepts, dispersing and reuniting, and moving toward unity. Around the thirteenth year of Zhi Daye, three powerful rebel armies were formed nationwide, namely: the Wagang Army led by Zhai Rang and Li Mi, the Hebei Rebel Army led by Dou Jiande and Liu Heitai, and Du Fuwei and Fugong Er. The Jianghuai Rebels led by Jianghuai. At this time, the self-protection forces in places like Cheng Yaojin could no longer sustain themselves, and finally defected to the Li Mi Department of the Wagang Army.
The Wagang Army was originally founded by Zhai Rang, a native of Weicheng, Dongjun (now southeast of Junxian County, Henan Province). It has repeatedly defeated the Sui Dynasty's suppression campaigns. In the twelfth year of Daye (616), Li Mi, a descendant of the Sui aristocracy who had participated in Yang Xuangan's army, came to Wagang Village. Li Mi was good at strategy and enabled the Wagang army to achieve a series of victories. Zhai Rang then took the initiative to promote Li Mi as the leader and gave him the title Wei Gong. . After Li Mi took power, his political ambitions were exposed day by day. In order to maintain his personal monopoly of power, he roped in Cheng Yaojin, Qin Shubao and other newly attached people, and used them as hussars in the internal army. The "Internal Army" is a group of 8,000 "Warriors" selected by Li Mi from the army. They are subordinate to four hussar generals and are divided into left and right teams. Their main task is to protect Li Mi. Li Mi was very satisfied with the internal army and often said: "These eight thousand people can be equivalent to one million." ("Old Tang Book? Biography of Cheng Zhijie") After that, Cheng Yaojin changed his name to Cheng Zhijie. In October of the 13th year of Daye (617), when the contradiction between the old and new forces of the Wagang Army was gradually intensifying, Li Mi took the lead to kill him and designed He killed Zhai Rang and took over the power alone.
In September of the first year of Wude in the Tang Dynasty (618), Wang Shichong, the defender of Luoyang in the Sui Dynasty, selected more than 20,000 elite troops and more than 2,000 horses to station troops in the south of Tongji Canal (in today's Mengxian County, Henan Province). Three bridges were built on the canal to facilitate the decisive battle with the Wagang army. Li Mi set up a formation at the southern foot of Mang Mountain to fight against Wang Shichong. Cheng Zhijie led the inner horse army and camped with Li Mi on Bei Mang Mountain (now north of Luoyang City, Henan Province). Shan Xiongxin led the outer horse army and camped in Yanshi City (now Yanshi City, Henan Province). Division East) North. After Wang Shichong's troops arrived, he immediately sent hundreds of cavalry to attack Shan Xiongxin. Li Mi then sent Cheng Zhijie and Pei Xingyan to support him. Pei Xingyan took the lead in charging towards the enemy formation, but fell off his horse. Cheng Zhijie went to the rescue and immediately killed several people. Wang Shichong's army retreated slightly, and he took the opportunity to pick up Pei Xingyan and retreat. Since it was carrying two people, Cheng Zhijie's horse was overloaded and was overtaken by Wang Shichong's army. Cheng Zhijie couldn't bear to leave Pei Xingyan behind, but he was stabbed by a stick. The stick passed through the hole. Cheng Zhijie turned around, broke the stick, and beheaded the enemy who was holding the stick under his horse. Wang Shichong's army did not dare to pursue him, so the two returned to their original position. military.
In this battle, due to Li Mi's unfavorable command, more than ten generals of the Wagang Army, including Cheng Zhijie and Pei Xingyan, suffered heavy losses and their strength was greatly reduced. Soon, Li Mi was defeated and surrendered to Tang Dynasty, and the Wagang rebel army failed.
After the defeat of the Wagang Army, Cheng Zhijie and many generals (including Qin Qiong) were desperate and surrendered to Wang Shichong. After Wang Shichong got Cheng Zhijie and Qin Qiong, he received them very well. Even so, both of them were dissatisfied with Wang Shichong's deception. Cheng Zhijie once said to Qin Shubao: "The world is full of narrow-minded people, and they talk a lot of lies. They are good at making oaths. They are the ears of a wizard and an old woman. How can they bring chaos to the Lord?" ("Old Tang Book? Biography of Cheng Zhijie") Qin Shubao also felt the same, so the two began to look for opportunities to leave Wang Shichong.
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On leap February 19, the second year of Wude (619), Wang Shichong led his troops to invade Guzhou (governing Xin'an, now part of Henan) in the Tang Dynasty. Wang Shichong appointed Cheng Zhijie as general , and also appointed Qin Shubao as General Longxiang. Wang Shichong fought with the Tang army in Jiuqu (now northwest of Yiyang, Henan). Cheng Zhijie, Qin Shubao, Wu Heitai, Niu Jinda and others all led their troops into battle. They led dozens of their trusted aides to ride a hundred paces to the west. Then they dismounted and saluted Wang Shichong, saying: "The Lord Ho received you, and you are eager to repay your kindness." I have a public nature to guess, and I am confused by many people. This is no place for me to support myself. I would like to resign myself now. ? ("Old Tang Book? Biography of Cheng Zhijie") immediately defected to the Tang army. Wang Shichong was intimidated by the reputation of the two men and did not dare to pursue them.