Who is Li Min? Next, the History Encyclopedia editor will take you to explore the most authentic historical figures and the historical stories that happened to them.
In 814 AD, heavy snow fell in the western part of the Huai River, and Wu Yuanji, the feudal power that had dominated the region for nearly forty years, was still dreaming of a great dream in his bed in Caizhou City. General Li Min of the Tang Dynasty led a special forces unit of several thousand people and, under the cover of heavy snow, launched a night long attack, successfully capturing Wu Yuanji and unleashing a fierce anger on the Middle Tang court, which had been suppressed by feudal lords for a long time after the An Lushan Rebellion.
This is the third expedition of the mid Tang Dynasty to conquer the western Huai River, and the first two expeditions were unsuccessful. Even before Li Min’s capture, the Huai Xi Campaign had been ongoing for nearly three years, and only Yancheng, a county town, fell into the hands of the Tang army. Li Min’s “decapitation operation” can be said to be as expected, changing the course of the war in one fell swoop and becoming a classic surprise attack in the history of Chinese warfare.
Li Min was born into a prestigious family, but before the Battle of Huaixi, he did not have particularly outstanding achievements. Everyone only knew that he was the son of General Li Sheng, who quelled the Four Towns Rebellion. Another identity was the son-in-law of Emperor Tang Dezong and the husband of Lady Wei of the State of Wei. A legitimate second-generation noble with a small relative.
Even when he first went to the front line, he used his record of not having fought to appease soldiers who had suffered defeats and low morale. The emperor knows how to be weak and cowardly, and can tolerate shame, so he sent me to follow Ercao. As for fighting and advancing, it’s not my business. I have a weak personality and am not good at fighting, so the emperor sent me here to appease everyone. Don’t worry.
And it was precisely the timid Li Min who volunteered and volunteered to go to the front line, breaking the deadlock of the war in one fell swoop.
In 817 AD, Li Min joined the Huai Xi Campaign halfway through. It had been two years since the Tang Dynasty officially launched the campaign, and he was facing a tricky situation.
This is the third expedition of the mid Tang Dynasty to conquer the western Huai River. The first two expeditions occurred in 780 and 799, both of which ended in failure. In 815, the court launched its third expedition to conquer the western Huai River, deploying troops from five directions: north, northeast, east, south, and west. However, two years had passed and no results had been achieved. At the same time, the court launched another campaign to suppress the Chengde fiefdoms.
The war cost a lot of money, and the tight financial situation of the court at that time could no longer sustain the prolonged war. The confidence of the entire court was low, and frontline generals were under great pressure.
Li Min took over the West Route Army, and before he took over, two successive commanders were appointed. Either they fought for a long time without success, suffered a major defeat, or even suffered devastating blows.
After arriving at the capital of Tangzhou, he found that his troops were a mess. Repeated defeats in battles, low morale, and even worse, the soldiers were all transferred from afar and pieced together by various troops, resulting in a severe lack of unity within the team. As Han Yu said, “Treat them lightly, make them suffer, or be divided into different teams, subordinate to various leaders, and have soldiers as generals. If they lose each other for a while, they will be timid and unable to make achievements
Faced with this low morale team, Li Min pretended to tell his soldiers not to fight anymore, don’t worry, rest well, and then visit the injured soldiers. Respect oneself, treat soldiers, wounded and sick with compassion, and do not be dignified
The second step is the most crucial one. Li Min added a small but brave special operations force, consisting of two thousand Northwest “Shaxi” cavalry, carefully recruited and trained “Mountain and River Children” from the local area, as well as a brave assault team “Brigadier General”, forming an elite force directly commanded by him, known as the “Six Academy Soldiers and Horses”.
Adding brave and skilled soldiers makes the battle easier. Li Min relied on the newly established armies to win several battles. Although the scale was not large, it greatly boosted the morale of his West Route Army and put some pressure on the Huai West Army.
In addition, in 817, there was a famine in the western part of the Huai River, and under the continuous conquests of the imperial army for more than two years, many places were already in great shortage of supplies,
Li Min, relying on his victories in several small-scale battles, threw out his trump card of “defection”.
During a reconnaissance, Li Min captured Ding Shiliang, a brave general under Wu Yuanji. Ding Shiliang often posed a threat to Tangzhou, Dengzhou, and other areas, often causing trouble in the east. Li Min’s troops were so resentful of Ding that they demanded that Ding Shiliang’s heart be gouged out and executed, but Li Min personally helped him loosen his grip. Ding Shiliang was filled with gratitude and said, ‘Please die to repay your kindness.’.
Ding Shiliang became the first domino to fall, and he came up with a plan to capture Chen Guangqia, the mastermind of Wu Xiulin, the defender of Wencheng Fence. Chen Guanqia then persuaded Wu Xiulin to surrender. After Wu Xiulin surrendered, she told Li Min, “If the government wants to take Cai, it must be done by Li You. Xiulin is powerless to do so
And Li You is the most crucial figure in the surprise attack on Caizhou.
Li You, at that time, was a fierce general of Wu Yuanji and often caused the imperial army to fall into chaos, known as the ‘Changling Violent Official Army’. Therefore, when Li Min planned to capture Li You, he faced the same situation as Ding Shiliang when he was arrested: “Soldiers use You to kill more official soldiers and compete to kill them
Li You’s situation is even worse than Ding Shiliang’s, because Li Min often conspires with Li You alone, and “no one else should know in advance”. The officials and soldiers are very worried that Li You will take advantage of the opportunity to be alone to murder Li Min, and “the generals are afraid that you will turn into a traitor”.
As a result, “the various armies have daily certificates calling You a traitor, and those who speak of the traitor’s plan speak of their actions.” Every day, there are secret reports from court intelligence personnel lurking in the Huai Xi Army, saying that Li You is a false surrender.
As a last resort, Li Min secretly ordered Chen Cang and pretended to escort Li You to the capital for execution by the emperor. He then secretly revealed his situation and told Tang Xianzong, “If you kill You, there will be no success
As a result, it can be imagined that Emperor Xianzong of Tang released Li You, which is equivalent to undergoing a royal inspection, telling everyone that this person is not a problem and that all the information you received was false.
After Li You returned, Li Min was very happy and appointed him as the commander of the scattered troops, allowing him to carry a sword, patrol and guard, go back and forth in his own tent, and even sleep together, becoming a good friend.
Later, Li You was appointed as the Military Commissioner of the Sixth Academy, allowing him to directly command the elite troops. With such trust, Li You was naturally moved to tears, to the point where someone outside the tent at night wanted to eavesdrop on their conversation, only hearing Li You’s crying.
With a skilled army and a surrendered general familiar with the enemy situation, all Li Min owed was a suitable opportunity.
I wanted to attack Cai. It would rain for a long time, but there was water accumulation in the area, but it was unsuccessful. The rainy weather lasted for three months, and he had no choice. He finally chose the day of the surprise attack, which was the afternoon of October 15th, 817, with heavy snow falling everywhere.
The surprise attack team was divided into three parts, each with three thousand soldiers. Li You led three thousand “surprise generals” as the vanguard, the middle army consisted of three thousand “six troops” led by Li Min, and the rear army consisted of three thousand infantry. The soldiers of the three armies, except for Li You who led the way and General Li Min, do not know what the target is.
Under the cover of darkness, they forcibly marched sixty miles to reach Zhang Chai, the chassis controlled by Wu Yuanji, and successfully launched a surprise attack, killing all the soldiers. Li Min asked the soldiers to eat and rest, tidy up their weapons and equipment, and then set off again. At this moment, the soldiers realized they were heading towards Caizhou and were all shocked.
At this time, there are still 70 miles away from Caizhou, and marching in extreme weather conditions with wind and snow is a high-risk thing. Overnight, there was a heavy snowstorm, the banners shattered, and the dead faced the road with frozen horses and horses.
The snowstorm added difficulty to the official army, but also ensured the suddenness of the battle. At dawn, the official army advanced to Caizhou, broke through the city, and the defenders were unaware. In just one day, they captured Wu Yuanji alive, ending the war.
Before the raid on Caizhou, after nearly three years of war, only Yancheng, a county town, fell into the hands of the imperial army. Whether it was a siege or a raid, they were unable to capture a stronghold with deep trenches and high fortifications, except for Caizhou.
It can be said that the success of the surprise attack was not only due to the talents of Li Min’s generals, but also due to the crucial intelligence of Li You. He made the imperial army aware of the internal emptiness in Huai Xi, and chose a route with the weakest defense and the most unexpected from the Huai Xi army, and personally led the way.
More importantly, there is a first-class army, as later evaluated by Cai Dongfan, who said, “Only by being extraordinary can we win, but if we don’t follow the rules and have strict discipline on weekdays, who would risk their lives to rush in when the wind and snow are falling and the night is extremely cold? We are afraid that before Wen Cheng leaves, chaos will have already begun
From showing weakness and appeasement when taking over the army, and painstakingly recruiting soldiers, to strict and caring daily training, the success of a surprise attack cannot be achieved without any factor.
There is sudden victory in the world, but there is no unprepared success.
