So, was it a mistake that Tianbao died on the battlefield of recovering the stone fort in the eighth year of the Tang Dynasty?

Huangyuan County, Qinghai Province, is located between the wind, clouds and mountains, facing the Yaoshui River and the top of Chibi, a quiet stone treasure city. In the magnificent picture of the prosperous Tang Dynasty, there are many things related to him: scholars are discussing Du Fu and Li Bai, and historians are studying how Wang Zhongsi died because of him. This is the life of more than 10 thousand soldiers, and the wrong life died because of him.

Is the stone important? Important! This is very important. To the east is Longxi County, "the world is rich, and Longyou is out". This is the noise of the Silk Road, singing and dancing. In the magnificent picture of the prosperous Tang Dynasty, it was a scaffold to support the northwest land.

In the Tang Dynasty, Tibet in the southwest rose like a snowball after Songzan Gambu. Shi Baocheng is naturally the focus of competition for Tang Fan. From Tang Gaozong Gaozong to Tang Kaiyuan, there were six large-scale battles around Tubo, each of which was a river of blood without paying any price.

Of course, no matter what the cost, if Tubo occupied Shibao City, it could be used as a springboard to the east, and then sent troops to Longxi to take the rich He Long Plain as his own. If the Stone Treasure City is acquired in the Tang Dynasty, it can be preserved according to the situation to curb the infiltration and invasion of the Tubo people into the Longxi Plain. This is not only a military strategist's problem, but also a battlefield with rivers of blood. This doesn't seem to be a mistake.

Therefore, when Li Longji, the young Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty, ended the chaotic situation in the two dynasties and began to make great efforts in the prosperous era of Kaiyuan, his eyes also turned to Shibao City occupied by Tubo: Down with him! You can play Taiping in Datang.

So there is an expedition led by Yi Li in the north. Tang Jun concentrated elite cavalry, day and night hardships to Shi Baocheng. A sudden attack brought this small border town, which had been occupied for decades, back to the embrace of Datang. As soon as the news came out, Tubo shocked the whole country and quickly sent messengers to Hao Tong. The martial arts of Wenzhi reached its peak in Kaiyuan.

Tang Xuanzong was very happy. The believers gave the Tang Dynasty a long face.

Then, from Kaiyuan in the Tang Dynasty to Tianbao, decades of peace were achieved. This country is rich and powerful, and all four ethnic groups worship it. A glorious Tang Dynasty stands at the eastern end of the earth. However, in the shadow of glory, there is bad news: Shibao City has fallen again!

It turned out that the Tubo people came back to the same trick and retaken Shibao City with a beautiful surprise attack. In the 29th year of Kaiyuan, the Tang Dynasty regained Shi Bao for the last time, which lasted for thirteen years.

What if I lose it? Please call me back. Raid again like last time? Impossible, Zhuge Liang's empty plan has only been used once. People have learned how to show and see through these tricks. What should I do? Is there only one storm at all costs? This will be a series of rivers of blood. More importantly, if you get it back, the Tubo people will come back to fight again. Can the two most powerful countries meet again and again in this small place?

Tang Xuanzong's attitude is clear: pull it down and see who pulls it!

In order to pull the saw well, Tang Xuanzong waved his hand and said, "Change generals." . In exchange for the most ruthless person in the Tang army at that time.

Who knows who is the cruelest person? He led the horse around the Longxi line and then studied it in front of the map for several nights. Finally, he looked up and said quietly, "Don't look at the saw." .

This man is the first person in the prosperous Tang Dynasty, that is, Wang Zhongsi, and also the messenger of the times in Hexi, Longyou, Shuofang and Hedong in the Tang Dynasty.

The veteran general's half-life experience in the army and the sense of responsibility of soldiers who transcend official positions and are good at using troops made Wang Zhongsi finally see the truth behind the Stone Treasure City: it is not necessary to get the Stone Treasure City to consolidate the western border defense. For many years, countless frontier leaders did not know about this bureau. Wang Zhongsi saw it and looked at it carefully.

He saw that the terrain of Shibao City was dangerous and ten thousand people could not be forced, but the most important thing to contain the Tubo attack was to attack the enemy's effective forces and control the area that could contain the enemy best in the confrontation situation on the whole battlefield. For many years, the Tang Dynasty and Tubo have been in a corner of Diaford. Now, it is time to jump out.

So Wang Zhongsi jumped out to attack. After careful deployment, Tang Jun launched a war against the elite Xiaji Mountain on the western front of Tubo. After fierce fighting, Tang Jun dealt a heavy blow to the effective forces of Tubo. Control the Jishishan area. Then there is a solid defense. Along the Jishishan line, Tang Jun has built fortifications, large and small, which are in the same strain as the northwest defense line. At this point, the strategic position of Shibaocheng is no longer so important.

Strike the enemy's effective strength at the least cost and achieve the goal of guarding the border. This is Wang Zhongsi's consciousness, which transcends the consciousness of wearing a flower collar with blood.

After that, sober-minded Wang Zhongsi happily wrote a work report and returned to Beijing to report to Tang Xuanzong. But he saw the cold face of Tang Xuanzong: Why didn't Shi Baocheng fight?

Still playing? Wang Zhongsi was shocked and wanted to explain for a long time: now that the entire northwest defense line has been formed, the strategic position of Shibao City is no longer important, not to mention the sacrifice of many lives in this place. So, it doesn't make sense.

Wang Zhongsi thinks he explained clearly from the strategic value, economic value and military value: this is a battle to lose money and a battle to die, so you can't fight!

But it took me a long time to explain, but I got an angry answer from Tang Xuanzong: You must fight, fight at once.

Then I added: if you don't fight, I'll change you.

Wang Zhongsi is stupid.

He is really stupid. He forgot that he was not living in turbulent times, but in prosperous times. Being born in a prosperous time certainly contributes to a prosperous time. The great achievements of the prosperous Tang Dynasty require not only shining gdp achievements to pull the banner, but also bloody border people to pull the tiger skin. Therefore, under the consumption of thousands of cannon fodder and huge war materials, you are precious to Wang Zhongsi but indifferent to the emperor.

Stone castle, in the eyes of soldiers, is a strategic place. In the eyes of the emperor, it is just a publicity stunt. It's hard to hear about face engineering. But this face-saving project is not as simple as building a house with sand. In exchange for life.

Wang Zhongsi doesn't understand this truth, but many people do, so some good people who understand this truth mentioned Wang Zhongsi: If the emperor wants face, give it to him. You don't have to die to be a tiger skin. Little Rock will be destroyed by cannon fodder. There will be a lot of golden coupons. If you don't fight, the emperor will fight you!

Wang Chongsi mentioned it in every way, but he understood. Facing the concerns of Li Guangbi and others, Wang Zhongsi smiled and said, hit the floor's words:

Is it easy to be an official with thousands of lives?

The cannon fodder in the eyes of the emperor is the life in Wang Zhongsi's heart. Brother Baoze, who lives and dies with * * *, can exchange blood for our official position and whitewash the face project. I can't do it! Shi Baocheng! I won't resist!

Unfortunately, as those good people expected, if you don't fight, the emperor will defeat you.

Wang Zhongsi's death in Shibaocheng angered him, and his political opponent Li got in the way and framed Wang Zhongsi for being involved in the most sensitive "storage storm". In the seventh year, Tianbao was escorted to Beijing and relieved of military power. I want to cut him with a knife. He can't stand the tears of officers such as Ge. Finally, he was exempted from the death penalty, demoted to a county magistrate, and became a war star. Embarrassed, he was framed by the treacherous court official as a fatuous emperor, but Shi Baocheng's face project was to blame.

However, the disaster caused by this face-saving project is not over yet. After eight years of careful preparation, with Ge as the leader, the battle of Tianbao of 60,000 soldiers officially started. Like previous battle scripts, this is another battle of life and death. Thousands of Tang troops crossed the Yaoshui River, then climbed the cliff one by one, and then they were greeted by Tubo bows and arrows and rolling stones. After several days of fighting, Tang Jun finally occupied Shibao City, at the cost of more than 10,000 lives, and less than 600 enemies were occupied and destroyed. As Wang Zhongsi said in his last report to Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty, everything is a loss-making business, and it is a desperate struggle.

But if you lose, you lose, you can't die, but you finally have face, so I'm glad that Ge was promoted and Wang Zhongsi was buried in Hubei.

Then came Li Bai's sarcastic sigh: You can't learn from Shu Ge, Qinghai holds a knife at night, and the west stone town is purple.

However, Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty did not expect that this face-saving project, the bane of the Tang Dynasty, was not completed.

Due to Wang Zhongsi's withdrawal, the Tang Dynasty lost its important power to restrict An Lushan's buffer region, so that seven years later, An Lushan raised the flag to rebel, which was unstoppable in the early Tang Dynasty. At the same time, tens of thousands of Tang soldiers buried in Shibaocheng are mostly frontier fortress veterans of the Tang Dynasty. Their lives are precious, and they are among the top ten at the critical moment, as everyone who has been to the battlefield knows. More ironically, the Tang Dynasty, which seized Shibaocheng at all costs, did not occupy the Hexi Corridor. After the Anshi Rebellion, the Tang Dynasty transferred the Northwest Army back to the Central Plains to counter the rebellion, and the Tubo took advantage of it and occupied Hexi area without bloodshed. This is the "shame of Hehuang" lamented by countless people after the middle Tang Dynasty.

In my opinion, all this is karma.

More than 10,000 lives were buried in Qinghai Plateau. What do people think of when they are desolate? Recall Wang Zhongsi's tragic fate, Li Bai's acidity and Ge's anxious face. But who remembers the tragedy that killed more than 10,000 soldiers in the wrong way?

War movies on TV are very popular. There is a famous saying: "They are cannon fodder destined to be sacrificed."

But I only think of Wang Zhongsi's grandiloquence, which transcends the victory or defeat of the battlefield and crosses the dusty history. However, they are still full of vigor and vitality, alone by He Yaohe, accompanied by this desolate city.

But General Wang Zhongsi is not a lonely hero, because 1000 years later, in North Korea near the 38th parallel, a teacher named Peng gave a similar answer to the frustrated inquiry of Soviet consultants.

It is not easy for people to raise a child. If I send it to the army, I will be responsible.

I believe that in the face of war, only those who are responsible for their own lives can gain eternal respect from war.