Lately, my little baby has been asking me to tell 36 stories as bedtime stories. So I learned and sold now, and found a story of "hand-in-hand" scheme. The hand-to-hand strategy is to take advantage of the unpreparedness of people to raid the enemy's defenses of empty important places. The historical story related to this plan is Li Yuxue's night attack on Caizhou.
The story of Li Yuxue's night attack on Caizhou took place in the Tang Dynasty and was a famous example of a surprise attack. Here are the main takeaways from the story:
Background: During the Tang Dynasty, Wu Yuanji rebelled in Huaixi Jiedu, and the Tang court sent troops to fight, but was repeatedly defeated. Li Yu, as the son of the famous Tang general Li Sheng, was appointed as the envoy of the Sui, Tang, and Deng festivals, and was responsible for the crusade against Wu Yuanji.
Preparation: After Li Yu took office, he treated people with sincerity, compensated his soldiers, demoted his generals, collected enemy information, and made full preparations for the fight against Wu.
Surprise attack: In October of the 12th year of Yuanhe (817), Li Yu took advantage of Wu Yuanji's unpreparedness and decided to attack Caizhou, the fundamental stronghold of Wu Yuanji. On the day of the army, the sky was overcast, the rain and snow did not stop, the strong wind blew the flags apart, the horses were so frozen that they could not jump, and many soldiers froze to death with their weapons.
March: In a heavy snowstorm, the army led by Li Yu forced a 35-kilometer march and finally arrived in Caizhou. Since the Tang army had not arrived at the city of Caizhou for more than 30 years, the people of Caizhou were unguarded and did not discover the Tang army's movements.
Siege: Li Yu ordered his soldiers to beat the chickens and ducks in the chicken and duck pond near the city to hide the sound of the march. During the fourth watch, Li Yu's army arrived at the city of Caizhou, but the defenders of the city still did not notice. Li You and Li Zhongyi dug the earth on the city wall as a barrier, took the lead, climbed to the top of the outer city, killed the sleeping guards, and left only the night watchmen, so that they could strike the guard as usual, so as not to alarm the enemy. Then he opened the city gate to welcome the Tang army, and then attacked the inner city according to law.
Wu Yuanji's reaction: When the rooster crowed, the snow gradually stopped, and Li Yu entered Wu Yuanji's outer house. At this time, someone noticed that the situation was different and urgently told Wu Yuanji that the official army was coming. Wu Yuanji did not get up, and replied with a smile, the prisoners are in chaos, and these guys should be killed after dawn. Then there was another report that the city had fallen. Yuan Ji still said casually, this must be the son of the Huanqu defenders asking me for winter clothes.
Ending: After Li Yu entered the city, he sent people to attack Yacheng on the one hand, and on the other hand, he comforted Dong's family members and sent his son to surrender. Dong Chongzhi rode alone to surrender in front of Li Yu's army, and Wu Yuanji lost the hope of returning to the defenders of Huiqu. On the twelfth, the Tang army attacked Yacheng again, and the people of Caizhou rushed to carry firewood and grass to help the Tang army burn the south gate of Yacheng. At dusk, the city gate was broken, and Wu Yuanji surrendered. More than 20,000 soldiers from Shen, Guang and Zhuzhen also surrendered to Tang one after another, and Huaixi was peaceful.
The story shows Li Yu's resourcefulness and courage, and how he succeeded in ending the 32-year secession of the Huaixi region through surprise tactics.