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Text Chapter 18

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    Du Rui is not worried about whether Zhang Yanshuo can complete the task. Just like when he handed over the development of artillery and flintlock guns to Zhang Yanshuo, although this student has a dull personality, he will do his best as long as he is told something.  To complete, and never let Du Rui down.

    After leaving the matter of the flintlock rifle to Zhang Yanshuo, Du Rui took Du Pingsheng back to Chang'an, thinking about the upcoming westward strategy.

    Egypt must be conquered by the Tang Dynasty. If Egypt is occupied, the whole of Africa will become the food of the Tang Dynasty. The Arab Empire must be conquered by the Tang Dynasty, not only to help the Byzantine Empire, but also for the future of the Tang Dynasty.  .

    If we leave the problem to future generations to solve, we have to look at what the problem is. The Arab Empire, with its spiked bones, must not be left to future generations to solve.

    No one among the current elites of the Tang Dynasty has Du Rui's vision. Although they can realize that the Arab Empire is a huge threat to the Tang Dynasty, they don't know how big this threat will be.

    For the sake of peace for future generations and the long-term stability of the Tang Dynasty, Du Rui must completely eliminate this huge threat during his lifetime.

    Although the Byzantine Empire was once glorious, Du Rui knew very well that with the growing power of the Pope and the gradual disconnect between Eastern and Western Europe, the Byzantine Empire had lost its innate conditions for its revival.

    This was not the case with the Arab Empire. Starting from the 7th century AD, the powerful empire established by the Arabs expanded with force and violently shocked Europe, Asia and North Africa.

    Historically, the Arabs have brought too much shock to the world. At the beginning of the birth of the Arab Empire, there were two powerful powers, Persia and Byzantium, on the east and west sides.  The Arabs first directed their troops towards Byzantium.  During the expedition to Syria, he encountered the Byzantine army for the first time in the depression south of the Dead Sea.

    Caliph Bakr sent General Khalid, known as the "Sword of Allah", to lead a commando team to conquer Byzantium.  Before the Arab army set off, Khalid ordered his men to bring more camels and less horses. The soldiers did not understand what he meant. It turned out that he was going to lead the army across the desert to launch a surprise attack from the rear of the Byzantine army.  The Byzantine army was caught off guard and was defeated.  The Arabs took advantage of the situation and besieged Damascus. They besieged the city for six months. They ran out of food and supplies and had to surrender.

    The then Byzantine Emperor Heraclius was unwilling to let Syria fall into the hands of the Arabs. He mobilized 200,000 troops, led by his younger brother, to attack Damascus.  The two armies launched a decisive battle on the outskirts of Damascus, and the Arab soldiers rushed toward the enemy's lines regardless of their own safety.  Although the Byzantine army claimed to be an army of 200,000 people, most of them were captured slaves. Some were chained together and driven to the battlefield. They were not willing to fight at all and collapsed under the attack of the Arabs.  In a fierce battle, 70,000 Byzantine troops were wiped out, and even the emperor's brother was killed. The Arabs occupied the entire Syria.

    After succeeding on the Western Front, the Arabs pointed their spearhead toward the East.  At this time, their old enemy in the east, the Sasanian dynasty of Persia, was already a strong external force but was defeated by the high-morale Arab army.  In June 637 AD, the Arab army easily captured Ctesiphon, the capital of the Persian Empire, seized a large amount of loot and treasures, and then incorporated Persia into the territory of the Arab Empire.

    After defeating these two great powers, the Arabs became the overlords of West Asia.  Muhammad's successors built their capital, Baghdad, near the ruins of the ancient city of Nineveh, and organized the desert nomads into a powerful cavalry regiment.

    In the following decades, the Arab army first successfully captured Jordan and Palestine, and captured Jerusalem.  From there, they moved south to North Africa, captured the wealthy ancient country of Egypt, and then controlled Libya, Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco, etc. one by one.  In order to control the Mediterranean, they built a powerful navy along the coast and occupied several strategic islands.

    Although several attacks on Constantinople failed, most of Byzantine territory in Asia fell into the hands of the Arabs.  In the spring of 711 AD, an Arab army crossed the sea into Spain and occupied most of the Pyrenees Peninsula, establishing an Arab-ruled country in Europe for the first time.  In 712 AD, another Arab army entered India and annexed the Indus Valley to the Arab Empire.

    By the beginning of the 8th century AD, the Arabs had established a large empire spanning Asia, Africa and Europe.  It was close to the territory of the Tang Dynasty in the east, and Western Europe was also under its threat.

    Specifically, the expansion of the Arab Empire in history is divided into two stages. One is that after the death of the Prophet Muhammad, his successors continued to implement their "Islamic Expedition" plan for external military expansion.

    After putting down the internal rebellion, in the autumn of 633 AD, three Arab armies, each with 7,500 men, were organized. They set out from the Arabian Peninsula and invaded Palestine and Palestine through the Syrian desert.Syria.

    At this time, the Byzantine and Persian empires were both damaged by the long war and were unable to resist the Arab attack.  In 636, the Arab army led by Khalid marched to Iraq and Syria. They first captured Basra, the capital of the Ghassani dynasty, and then occupied Fihale in Transjordan. They took advantage of the victory and headed straight to Damascus, sieging the city for six months and capturing the city.

    At this time, the Eastern Roman Empire mobilized 50,000 troops to rescue Damascus.  Khalid was forced to abandon Damascus and retreat to the banks of the Yarmouk River, the eastern tributary of the Jordan River. With 25,000 people, he adopted the tactic of waiting for work, defeated the Byzantine army, regained Damascus, and occupied the entire Syria.

    The successive victories of the Arab armies forced Jerusalem, which had been besieged for two years, to surrender voluntarily in 638.  While advancing into Syria, Arab armies also launched attacks on Iran and Egypt.

    In 633, after the Arab army occupied Hilla in southern Iraq, they began to march into Iran. The Iranian army used war elephants as an assault force and defeated the Arab army, which once deeply frightened the Arabs.

    In 637, after receiving reinforcements, the Arab army won the Battle of Qadisiya, easily captured Ctesiphon, the capital of the Persian Empire, and seized a large amount of loot and treasures.  Subsequently, the cities of Mosul and Nehavand were captured, and Iran was incorporated into the territory of the Arab Empire.

    At the end of 639, the Arab army successfully raided Egypt and captured Pilushion in one fell swoop. In 640, they defeated the Byzantine army in Cairo.  Then it quickly pushed forward, capturing Alexandria in September 642 and advancing to Cyrenaica. From then on, Byzantium lost Egypt.

    In 643, the Arab army captured Libya, and in 647, they invaded Byzantine territories in North Africa, including Tunisia, Algeria, and Morocco.  In order to further control the Mediterranean, Arabia recruited residents along the coast of Asia Minor, established a powerful navy, and quickly occupied several strategic islands in the Mediterranean.  By the 750s, the Arab army had invaded some provinces in North Africa to the west, approached the Indian border to the east, and advanced north to Armenia, controlling most of the territory of the Byzantine Empire in the Near East, forming a network spanning Europe and Asia.  , Africa's new empire.

    In 659, due to internal strife among the Arab nobles, the Arab army temporarily stopped further expansion.  In 661, the Umayyad dynasty established the first dynasty of the Islamic Arab Empire based in Syria.  After quelling the civil strife, the Arabs reorganized and launched a new attack on Byzantium.

    Then came the second stage. The Arab army first targeted Byzantine coastal cities, sent a fleet across the Aegean Sea, crossed the Dardanelles Strait, entered the Sea of ??Marmara, and established a military base in the city of Chizikus.

    Then from 673 to 677, the Arab fleet attacked Constantinople every summer.  Because the Byzantine army was fully prepared, carefully arranged defenses, and used a liquid burning agent called "Greek fire", it effectively crushed the Arab fleet's attack and defended Constantinople.

    In June 677, the Arab fleet was forced to evacuate Constantinople. When passing through the southern coast of Asia Minor, it was hit by a storm and intercepted by the Greek fleet. Almost the entire army was wiped out. The army also suffered a disastrous defeat in Asia Minor.

    In 678, the two sides signed a peace treaty again, and the Arab countries were forced to pay tribute to Byzantium.

    In North Africa, the Arab army was making smooth progress.  From 697 to 698, Carthage was first captured, thus ending Byzantine rule in North Africa.

    In 709, the Arab army reached the Atlantic coast.  In the spring of 711, a force composed of 300 Arabs and 7,000 Berbers who believed in Islam entered the Pyrenees Peninsula. Taking advantage of the internal strife and social and religious conflicts in the Visigothic Kingdom, they occupied the peninsula.  In some areas, Arab rule was established.

    From 705 to 715, the Arab army invaded the Fergana and Kabul regions of Central Asia.  In order to occupy these areas, the Arab army fought against the Turkic nomadic tribes and the Tang Dynasty.

    In 712, the Arab army entered India. Although this army had less than 6,000 people, it was well-equipped, including stone throwers and siege engines that could be disassembled and carried by camels.  After the Arab army defeated the Indians in succession, the Indus Valley was incorporated into the Arab Empire.

    In 717, the Arab army launched another attack on Constantinople by land and water.  The land route was mainly composed of cavalry and camel soldiers, with a total of 120,000 people. They crossed Asia Minor, crossed the Dardanelles from the city of Abydos, entered the European continent, and surrounded Thrace.  1,800 warships on the waterway set off from the ports of Syria and Egypt and headed straight to the Bosporus. At the same time, 20 large warships carrying 100 heavily armed soldiers followed closely behind, preparing for landing operations.

    The Byzantine army adopted the policy of luring the enemy deep and gathering them to annihilate them. They dismantled the defensive chains at the entrance to the port and allowed the Arab fleet to sail into the harbor.  Then, unexpectedly, rockets, ships of fire, and spears of fire were sent out to project "Greek fire."  The Arab fleet was thrown into chaos under the sudden attack.Almost the entire army was wiped out.  Due to the intolerance of the Arab soldiers to the severe cold and insufficient supplies, as well as the epidemic, the combat effectiveness of the overland branch was sharply reduced. The Bulgarians, who had been bribed by Byzantium, took the opportunity to attack and severely damaged the Arab army.  Two other Arab fleets carrying weapons, soldiers and food were also defeated.  At this point, the Arab army that had besieged Constantinople for one year and one month ended in failure.

    After the Battle of Constantinople, Byzantium began to launch a full-scale offensive into Asia Minor and Syria. The entire war situation took a fundamental turn. Byzantium turned to strategic offensive, and Arabia turned to strategic defense.

    In 746, in a great sea battle near Cyprus, Byzantium defeated the Arab fleet with more than 1,000 warships and recaptured Cyprus.  In the second half of the 8th century, Byzantium won repeated victories in Asia Minor, driving the Arabs to the east of Asia Minor and reviving the prestige of the "Empire."

    In 750, internal conflicts in the Arab Empire intensified. The Abbasid Dynasty replaced the Umayyad Dynasty and moved the capital to Baghdad.  Since then, the focus of Byzantine and Arab competition was mainly in Asia Minor and Upper Mesopotamia, the Black Sea coast, the eastern Mediterranean and Italy. Although the wars were continuous, the scale was not large.

    In 732 AD, an Arab army crossed the Pyrenees and attacked the Franks. It seemed that they were about to conquer Europe.  But this time they encountered a strong opponent. In the Battle of Poitiers in October 732, the Arab army was defeated by the Frankish King Charlemagne, known as "Charlie the Hammer", and was forced to retreat.  This battle finally stopped the Arab attack and protected European countries from the Arab threat.

    Although the Arabs failed to conquer Europe in the end, in just over a hundred years, they conquered most of West Asia, North Africa, Persia, India and Spain, and ruled this vast area for hundreds of years.  It accelerated the development of Arab society and enabled Arab science and culture to develop to a high degree. It has made great achievements in philosophy, literature, mathematics, pharmacy, astronomy, physics, architecture, music, art, etc.  .  It also enabled Islam to spread throughout the world and become one of the three major religions in the world. Arab culture had a profound impact on the history of the Middle East, the Far East and European society.

    The success of the Arabs¡¯ war of external expansion depended first on the fact that the Byzantine and Persian empires had been at war for years, and their national strength was exhausted and they were unable to resist the Arab attack.

    Arabia is a nomadic people. Their army is mainly composed of cavalry and camel soldiers. Their main weapons are spears. They are good at desert warfare, but they are not good at using bows, swords, spears and siege equipment. The methods of siege are only storming, instigating rebellion and blockade.

    Therefore, it does not have a tactical advantage.  However, Byzantium had gone through years of wars, internal party strife, prominent class contradictions, and a complex military composition. It also resisted Arab attacks in several directions. It often lost sight of one thing and struggled to deal with it, which allowed the Arabs to expand smoothly.

    Secondly, the Arab army is well-organized and the cavalry troops can move quickly, which enables sudden combat.  In order to make up for the lack of weapons and equipment in tactics, the battle formation drew on the strengths of the Byzantine and Persian armies and was divided into forward, center, left wing, right wing and rear guard along the front and depth.  The two flanks were covered with cavalry and held strong reserves.  When there is hope of victory, the main force should be quickly thrown into the battle. When pursuing the enemy, the enemy should be pursued with extreme speed and ferocity, and should be pursued relentlessly in order to continuously expand the results.

    Unlike people¡¯s imagination of light cavalry that came and went, the early Muslims actually fought with their excellent infantry system. They basically had no cavalry.  The legendary mobility comes from mastering the desert terrain and their camels.  In actual combat they did fight on foot.

    The armor of these Arab infantrymen is very poor, and ordinary soldiers are basically unarmored.  They fought with bows and arrows and javelins, and in close combat they used spears and double-edged swords.  Compared with the outside world, the military form of the Arabian Desert is very backward. Their success stems from the incomparable courage brought by Islamic religious fanaticism and the commanding talents of generations of talented generals.

    Although the equipment and tactics were completely backward, the early Arab infantry still relied on strategy, religious fanaticism and luck to defeat the powerful Persian Sasanian Empire, which was dominated by iron cavalry.

    Driven by interests and religious fanaticism, Arabia began a rapid and large-scale expansion, conquering all the conquests in the east and west.  After destroying Sasanian Persia, the Muslim army already had a cavalry system. Their cavalry was learned from Byzantium and Persia.  Light cavalry are mounted archers, while heavy cavalry are cavalry with dual functions of mounted archery and melee combat.  The armor is chain mail or scale mail.  The Arab cavalry's combat style is mobile and flexible, and can effectively cooperate with their main infantry in combat.

    The Umayyad Dynasty of the Arab Empire was the most powerful country in the Western world for an era. The core of its army was its infantry system.  Due to the strong national power, iron armor was widely popularized.  The Arab Empire adopted Berber infantry formations,There are three lines: the first is heavy infantry holding spears and bucklers; the second is throwing infantry holding javelins, and the third is archers holding compound bows.

    The attack output mainly comes from the two light infantry lines 2 and 3. The first heavy infantry line is a slow-moving but solid defense line.  This formation has a passage reserved for one's own cavalry to pass through. The Arab cavalry's flexible tactics of advancing and retreating are based on this powerful infantry.

    The cavalry system of the Arab Empire was also very powerful. When people of later generations mentioned the ancient Arab army, the first thing they thought of was their cavalry.  Arabian war horses are the best war horses in the world that are artificially bred, far superior to the original horse breeds.  Their light cavalry are extremely fast and will use javelins to repeatedly harass their opponents. Once the opponent's battle formation is exposed to the harassment, their noble heavy cavalry will give the opponent a powerful impact.

    At its peak, the Arab army conquered almost the entire world. The Arab Empire also expanded into a vast area stretching from the Iberian Peninsula in Europe and North Africa in the west to the Chinese border and central India in the east, becoming an unprecedented empire.  Only Byzantium in Asia Minor, the Franks in Western Europe, and the Tang Dynasty of China in the east temporarily blocked them defensively.

    The already highly developed Arab empire still implements the militia system of its nomadic predecessors, because the Arabs¡¯ national martial spirit makes their militias highly effective.

    However, with the affluent life, the martial spirit of Arabs and Persians is gradually fading, and the quality of professional standing armies has seriously declined.  The Arab Empire's army had to create a new form of composition. They widely purchased slaves from various Turkic ethnic groups and trained them into professional warriors from childhood. As the emperor's most loyal guards, they could be close to them.  They were called the "Ghulam" Guards.  The nomads of the Turkic tribes are natural warriors. Coupled with the professional training of the Arab Empire, the "Ghulam" Guards have become the most powerful force. They are good at riding and shooting. Although they are slaves and the training is extremely difficult,  The benefits are generous.  This approach ensured the combat effectiveness of the Imperial Army in a declining world.

    The army of the Arab Empire has always maintained extremely high combat effectiveness throughout history. Even later, when the Arab Empire was about to collapse, their army was never underestimated on the battlefield.

    How could Du Rui not worry about such an army and pay extra attention to it? So from the beginning, Du Rui kept causing trouble for the Arab Empire. First in Egypt, he cooperated with the Byzantine army to defeat the Arab Empire.  , delaying the Arab occupation of Egypt by a full ten years.

    " Then Du Rui was forced to lead the Western Expedition, separating Central Asia from Arab influence. Even if Du Rui later left the court again, he never relaxed his suppression of the Arabs.

    It was because he was worried that the Arab Empire would rise again and pose a threat to the Tang Dynasty in the future.

    In history, there was only one battle between the Tang Dynasty and Arabia. Many people have always liked to use the Battle of Talos to prove that the so-called "Tang Army's combat effectiveness far exceeded that of the Arab Empire", but little did they know that it was just an accident.  If the Arab Empire army really attacks the Tang Empire, then the possibility of victory is very high.  Because the war was about the overall strength of the country, and the Tang Dynasty during the Tianbao period was far from the Tang Dynasty during the Kaiyuan period.

    First of all, from an economic perspective, after Tang Dynasty entered the Tianbao period, a large number of internal conflicts accumulated after Zhenguan began to explode.  Land annexation began to develop rapidly, social politics quickly deteriorated, morality began to collapse, and class conflicts quickly became acute.  Moreover, the gentry forces were also dissatisfied with the disintegration of their status, and the development rate of productivity was greatly reduced.  Foreign wars have severely depleted the economy, and the proportion of the poor population has rapidly increased.  The development of foreign trade not only did not bring any revenue to the government, but also led to excess. All the only profits were occupied by big businessmen, and the people did not benefit at all. Usury was prevalent, public debts were issued privately, and officials used public funds to lend money.

    At that time, the agricultural harvest was poor, money was heavy and material was light, and a large number of landless farmers were unable to eat salt for ten days and a half. The people began to be dissatisfied with the corrupt and incompetent government. Li Longji became increasingly arrogant and indulged in the false glory of the Tang Dynasty.

    On the other hand, the Arab Empire had basically unified the Middle East and conquered Persia, and the number of Muslims had greatly increased.  The silver and iron mines in Persia, and the gold and tin mines in the Hindu Kush mountains brought huge benefits to the empire, and agriculture in Iraq also developed.  Maritime trade greatly contributed to economic prosperity.  The empire's army has been greatly strengthened in both numbers and equipment, and the people are united and eager to go to China to carry out holy war in accordance with the will of the Lord.

    ??????????Look at military power.  The Afghan army has about 350,000 standing army and 50,000 navy, and is trained as a reserve force in tribal units. If necessary, it can mobilize 1 to 1.5 million troops, half of which are brave cavalry.  The Arab Empire could also use Persia as a base for supplies.The power is enough to support an expedition of 500,000 troops to the Tang Dynasty.

    The navy can be temporarily expanded to about 100,000, and many Arab merchants used the "Maritime Silk Road" to do business in China. The sea route is actually not difficult. Even ordinary small merchant ships have more than 90% chance of successful exchanges, not to mention the regular navy.  of thousands of warships.

    And what about the Tang Army?

    During the Tianbao period, the Tang army's military system had basically failed.  The old guard sergeants all fled due to poor treatment.  After 660 years, the Tang Dynasty had begun to recruit soldiers, and due to corruption and corruption, soldiers' salaries were low, and not many people were willing to serve as soldiers.  Li Longji recruited 120,000 troops to serve as "long-term guards" to defend the capital. As a result, only 10,000 people actually applied for the job. Apart from officials, the officials embezzled a lot of food and salary. Those who went there were all scoundrels who could not find jobs and were idle garbage in society. They were never trained.  .  There are theoretically 600,000 garrison troops in various places, but in fact less than half of them are. Most of them are still not doing their jobs, running various industries for profit together with the town generals, and have no combat effectiveness at all.

    In order to make up for the vacancy in the combat effectiveness of these recruited troops, Li Longji had to adopt the system of Jiedushi, and the troops of Jiedushi were the only troops with combat effectiveness.

    These Jiedushi had a total of more than 400,000 troops, and they were the only Tang armies that could theoretically fight at that time.  It is a pity that the three towns of Fanyang, Pinglu and Shuofang were the bases of An Lushan and others. After they rebelled, they also took control of the troops of the Hedong Jiedushi.

    Moreover, before the Anshi Rebellion, Xianyu Zhongtong attacked Nanzhao, which was the main force of the Tang army. Therefore, if the Arab Empire attacks as planned after the Anshi Rebellion begins, then only less than 30,000 Tang troops from the Western Regions will be able to compete with the Arab army, and the navy will face the problem after landing.  There are more than 15,000 troops in the Lingnan Five Prefectures. It can be said that these Tang troops are easy to deal with.

    Of course, temporary conscription is also possible.  Unfortunately, the Chinese people throughout history have always had a family but no country mentality, and it was even worse in the Tang Dynasty.  In addition, the government military system existed in name only, people had not been accustomed to fighting for a long time, and Buddhist ideas were prevalent among the people, so it was basically impossible to recruit troops that could fight.  People would run away before being captured, so the description of "Three Histories and Three Farewells" appeared.  As the saying goes, "In Shihao Village at dusk, there were officials arresting people at night. The old man walked over the wall, and the old woman went out to watch."

    " Moreover, Chinese officials often arrest people randomly to make up the numbers, so there is a saying: "Although the old woman's strength is weak, please come back at night. In case of emergency in Heyang, you still have to prepare morning meals."

    On the other hand, Dalabo¡¯s army is all strong and brave warriors who are not afraid of death. They are highly armed mentally and firmly believe that they are fighting for the benefit of mankind and for justice. They have received complete military training in the tribe.  These are not what the old women in Shihao Village can possess.

    Even the regular army's mentality at this time was "bow down and cry, regret eating food, step closer to swords and guns, melancholy and no one to discuss", with no fighting spirit and no sense of nationality.

    The Tang army was incompetent, but there were a few good generals in the Tang Dynasty at that time.  It's a pity that the Chinese only know internal friction. The fate of Gao Xianzhi and Feng Changqing is enough to illustrate the problem.  And who does the emperor trust?  Gao Lishi, Yu Chaoen, and Bian Lingcheng, under the command of these rubbish eunuchs, even the heavenly soldiers and generals will be destroyed, not to mention those Tang troops?

    "Moreover, we simply cannot expect the people of the Tang Dynasty to rise up and resist spontaneously.  The reason why An Lushan was able to take thirty-seven cities in Hebei Province in ten days was because the people did not dare to resist.  What's more, the Arab imperial army has always been good at winning support. Later, when they attacked India in the tenth century, thousands of untouchables and Shudras flocked to the streets to cheer the Arab army, and the Indian army automatically laid down their weapons, which illustrates this point.

    As long as the Afghan army quickly captured the two capitals from the Hexi Corridor and the navy quickly moved north to occupy the defenseless south of the Yangtze River, the Tang army and the Tang Empire would surely collapse and surrender across the board. The resistance of a few so-called "loyal ministers" would have only symbolic meaning at best.

    Returning to the Battle of Talas, perhaps out of consideration of minimizing it, there are no exact details of this decisive battle in Tang history, but several Arab historical materials record it.

    In various histories of the Tang Dynasty, the detailed process of this battle is kept secret, and only a few sentences are briefly described about the scene after the defeat.  Volume 132 of the "Old Book of Tang" records: "The rescuer arrived in black clothes, with immortal mushrooms and big nose, and the soldiers lost each other."

    Volume 166 of "New Book of Tang" contains: "Siege the city of Talluosi. Hui captives arrived, but Xianzhi's soldiers retreated, and the soldiers lost each other. Xiu Shi heard the voice of deputy general Li Siye at night, recognized it, and blamed him and said: 'Afraid of the enemy'  To run is not brave; to avoid being trapped by others is not benevolent. Siye was ashamed, so he and Xiushi collected the scattered soldiers and formed an army again."

    Volume 151 of "New Book of Tang" contains: "We were defeated by the Great Eclipse, and thousands of soldiers were left alive. Xianzhi said: 'We will collect all the remaining soldiers, and we will resume the battle tomorrow.' Siye said: 'The matter is over, we can't do it.  Sitting on the ground with a beard and a grain of rice. 'I am galloping to guard the white stone. The road is narrow, and the cavalry are marching forward. Huiba Khan is returning the army, and the road is blocked with supplies and wages. It is impossible to ride. The heirs are afraid of catching up, and they attack fiercely with their stilts. Many people and horses kill their servants.  Ten hundred, the captives are scared to run away, but the immortal zhi must be returned."

    Although the historical materials of each family allThe specific scene during the battle was not mentioned, but it can be seen from the four words "to avoid trapping oneself and the crowd" that when the situation was unfavorable, the deputy commander Li Siye abandoned his soldiers and fled first, and from the words "fear the enemy and run", "the sergeants lost each other"  " and other records can also vaguely show that there is an obvious fear of enemies and fear of fighting in the Tang army. This is probably because the religious warriors of Dashi are not afraid of death, and their weapons and equipment and combat literacy have a clear advantage.

    As for the scene after the defeat, the description is relatively clear. Combining several historical materials, it is not difficult to see that first of all, the Tang army was defeated, with only a few thousand defeated troops left. Gao Xianzhi gathered them and "restored the army", but by this time the situation was over.  They had no choice but to continue their retreat.  When fleeing to Baishi, it happened that the remnants of Bukhan's troops also retreated here. Defeated soldiers blocked the road. Li Siye, fearing that he would be overtaken, wielded a big stick and killed "dozens" of Bukhan's friendly soldiers, showing his unstoppable bravery.  His own soldiers fought a bloody path, and the soldier of Ba Khan was forced to get out of the way, allowing the Tang army to escape first. Only then did Li Siye, Gao Xianzhi and a small number of Tang soldiers escape with their lives.

    According to Volume 216 of "Zi Zhi Tong Jian": "Xianzhi was defeated and all the soldiers died", and in Volume 185 of "Tong Dian" it is also recorded: "Seventy thousand soldiers were wiped out in Talos River". From this  It can be seen that the Anxi elite soldiers of the Tang Dynasty suffered heavy losses in this battle. All those who went to Talos were wiped out, and the tens of thousands of soldiers from the city who participated in the battle were basically unlucky.

    However, the losses on the Tang Empire's side were more than that. According to common sense, since Li Siye and other Tang army generals who fled first could not bring back many soldiers, then Bahan's subordinates who came to help in the battle would be even more unable to escape.  Several people, so most of the "more than 100,000" soldiers and horses on the Tang Dynasty's side who participated in the war were lost.

    In fact, it is not surprising that the outcome of this battle was so tragic. The ability of Arabian war horses to travel far is the best in the world. Under the pursuit of the cavalry, it is undoubtedly very difficult for the defeated soldiers to escape. This is also the reason why the captured Tang army had as many as  Tens of thousands of reasons why.

    The Battle of Talos was the first and only major battle between the Tang Empire and Dashi. The outcome of the war determined to a certain extent the final ownership of the Western Regions.

    Before this, there had never been any direct large-scale conflicts between the two countries. They only competed for each other's vassal states, or manipulated their subordinate states into fighting.  Before the decisive battle between the two empires for the Western Region, Datang had gained a lot of advantages.  First of all, the Tang army took the initiative to provoke the war and forced Dashi to fight. Therefore, the preparations for the battle were relatively complete, and the battlefield for the decisive battle was also chosen by itself, thus occupying an advantageous location. However, Dashi rushed into the army and passively responded, losing the chance of the battle.  Initiative and preparation are seriously insufficient.  Moreover, the Tang army had an advantage in terms of military strength. There were more than 100,000 Tang troops fighting directly under Talos City, and there were also a large number of Tianwei athletes transferred to Suiye to support them on the flanks.

    The big food side is far -reaching.  More importantly, the Anxi Army dispatched by the Tang Dynasty this time was the most elite Anxi Army in the empire, while the Dashi Army was formed from second-rate troops and temporarily recruited militia. Its combat effectiveness was far from that of the real Dashi elite troops.  Moreover, among the 100,000 Tang troops who directly participated in the battle, there were only 30,000 vassal troops, which was not the main body. The proportion of vassal troops with poor combat effectiveness in the Dashi army was also higher than that of the Tang army.

    Despite taking advantage in all aspects, the Tang Dynasty still suffered a huge defeat in the end. The elite of the country was defeated by a hastily put together partial army by the enemy during the civil strife. In the end, the entire army was wiped out, and the defeat was horrific. This kind of stark  The gap constitutes a bitter irony that some historians and even many history readers in later generations cannot accept.  These people especially couldn't believe that the Tang army, whose combat effectiveness had always been boasted to the sky, was so vulnerable to a real military power.  In order to cover up the shame, historians tried their best to downplay this war, which resulted in the Tang Empire being basically expelled from the Western Regions. After a hundred years of hard fighting, all the previous achievements were wasted. As a result, such a far-reaching war was rarely written in various Tang histories, and the records were vague.  , the words are unclear.

    Some historians of later generations lacked a fair attitude when analyzing this battle. They did not mention that the Dashi Army was just a second-rate branch of the Arab Empire. They also put all the responsibility for the defeat of the Tang Army on the defection of the Geluolu tribe before the battle.  Du Rui has always disagreed with this.

    In fact, the defection of the Geluolu tribe is not mentioned in the original historical materials such as the new and old "Tangshu". However, Sima Guang mentioned in Volume 216 of "Zi Zhi Tong Jian" that "encountered Dashi. The stalemate lasted for five days."  ", the Geluolu tribe rebelled, and attacked the Tang army with Dashi, and Xianzhi was defeated." This is a solitary evidence, and its narrative is also full of doubts and cannot be trusted.

    According to Sima Guang's account, it seems that the two armies did not exchange a single soldier for five days, but just stood in two lines facing each other. Then Ge Luolu suddenly rebelled, and the Tang army collapsed. This is consistent with the "Black Army" recorded in the "Old Book of Tang".  "Rescued by clothes, covered with celestial beings, soldiers lost each other" is very different, and it is obviously unnatural for both sides to stand idle for five days without fighting, and it is not pointed out why the Geluolu tribe suddenly turned against the enemy.

    In fact, judging from the protective attitude of the two authors of "Tang Shu" towards the Tang Dynasty, if the entire army was defeated because of the defection of the Geluolu tribe, they would definitely write a special book about it.I will definitely not say a word about this matter to shirk responsibility.

    "Moreover, Geluolu is a newly attached tribe, Gao Xianzhi should be on guard against them, and the number of Geluolu tribe only accounts for a small part of the total strength of the Tang army. Its combat effectiveness is also questionable, and it is difficult to shake the overall situation.  If the Tang army itself was really stronger than the Dashi army, even if a few thousand Geluolu troops defected before the battle, it would never result in the outcome changing hands, let alone the total annihilation of the nearly 100,000 Tang army.

    What's more, if the Tang Army itself is really stronger than the Dashi Army, how could the Geluolu tribe do the ridiculous thing of rebelling against the strong and surrendering to the weak?

    Moreover, there was direct proof during Su Dingfang's Western Expedition. Under fierce fighting between the two sides, the Tang army gradually became exhausted. Seeing that the defeat was certain, the Ge Luolu tribe joined the enemy and defected in order to protect themselves. As a result, the Tang army, which was already weak on the left and right, collapsed immediately, and what happened was  A great rout.

    In history, most of the defections of the Geluolu tribe did happen, but they were by no means the main reason for the defeat of the Tang army. At most, they could only be regarded as an accelerator that led to its collapse.

    Sima Junshi did not indicate the source of the historical data for his sentence, and the description is inconsistent with previous historical data. It is possible that he was selfish when writing the history and deliberately used vague and ambiguous writing methods to describe the major events in these five days.  The record of the battle is "stalemate", thus covering up the fact that before the Geluolu tribe defected, the Tang army had been defeated in the decisive battle.

    In addition, Sima Guang also recorded the incident of Ge Luolu's defection before the "defeat of Xianzhi", thereby misleading people into thinking that this was the main reason for the defeat of the Tang army, and used this to create an excuse for China's defeat at the hands of foreigners.

    The root purpose of this is actually the unwillingness to admit the fact that the military strength of the Central Plains dynasty at this time was far from the opponent of the Arab Empire.

    Sima Junshi chatted for a few words, and the truth was immediately concealed, and his technique was quite superb. He is worthy of being a master of history.  Out of the original intention of protecting their own family, many historians in later generations regarded Sima Guang's words as a treasure, while selectively ignoring other records and many doubts, and interpreting history from a biased stance.

    What¡¯s more, in order to flatter the Tang Dynasty, some people even fabricated baseless lies that the Tang army was expected to win, but it was only the Ge Luolu tribe who shamelessly rebelled on the eve of victory that led to the complete collapse.

    After such a clever distortion, the strength of the two sides immediately changed. The Tang army that was completely wiped out became the stronger side, which inevitably made people feel a sense of narrow national pride.

    The Tang Dynasty lost the qualification to compete for the Western Region after the Battle of Talos. As we all know, it is not easy to reverse the outcome, so they settled for the second best, using word games to confuse the strength of both sides, bragging about themselves, and enjoying themselves behind closed doors.  kinky.

    Some unscrupulous historical scoundrels even fabricated lies, saying that "there were seven recorded major battles between the Tang Dynasty and Dashi, six were victorious and one was defeated, and Dashi's head was bruised and bloody", which is so obscene.  No edges.

    In fact, the Battle of Talos was the only large-scale military conflict that broke out between Tang Dynasty and Dashi, and its scale and subsequent impact were far beyond comparison with other wars between the two camps.

    During the century-old struggle between the Tang Dynasty and Dashi in the Western Regions, except for the Talas War, both sides manipulated vassal states into fighting, or directly sent troops to attack the other party's vassal states. The Talas Battle was the only direct confrontation.

    It is worth noting that even without mentioning the Battle of Talas, the Tang Dynasty suffered more defeats and fewer wins in the Western Regions. Except for temporarily stabilizing its position during the three large-scale civil strife during the Great Eclipse, it basically maintained its position at other times.  With successive retreats and the loss of large areas of territory, it can be said that the winner and the loser can be said to be clear at a glance. I really don¡¯t know how these people came to the conclusion of "six wins and one defeat"?

    According to these unscrupulous scoundrels, except for the Battle of Talos, it seems that Dashi has never won in the past hundred years and has been constantly defeated. The author is really shocked by their arrogance and confusion of right and wrong.  That is to say, the result of this battle is known to the whole world and cannot be denied, otherwise it would not be known that it would be touted as a great victory.

    It is precisely because countless battles in history have proven the powerful combat effectiveness of the Arab Empire that Du Rui is particularly concerned about Arabia, developing flintlock guns and the soon-to-arrive Egyptian strategy. As long as he can have  Du Rui will never show mercy when the opportunity arises to weaken the Arabs.
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