How did Li Mi, who guarded the Jinshan Mountain but sat on the empty mountain and dominated the world with resources, become a joke?

The one who laughs at the end is the real winner. Li Mi fought with Wang Shichong on the front line in Luoyang for more than a year, and also laughed for more than a year. However, the last confrontation left him unable to cry. He woke up early, but worked all night; he took advantage of the situation, but fell short in the end. He was talking about Li Mi.

Li Mi’s struggle and Wagang’s advantages

When we mention Li Mi, we will think of the Wagang Army. In fact, the Wagang Army is not a "peasant rebel army" in the traditional concept, but a powerful force that is second to none in terms of army quantity, talent quality, organizational system, etc. All of this is closely related to Li Mi's personal background and abilities.

After becoming a Guanlong noble, Li Mi inherited the family-inherited Dukedom of Pushan, and later served as a valet to Emperor Yang Guang of Sui Dynasty in the palace. If nothing unexpected happens, it will continue to develop smoothly and calmly along the family's traditional route. But maybe God destined him to embark on an extraordinary path.

Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty was said to be extremely talented and knowledgeable, and he was also very proficient in fortune telling. One day, he discovered that Li Mi, the guard in the palace, had an unusual appearance and temperament, that is, he did not look like a good person. So he summoned General Yu Wenshu of the Zuo Guard and said: "The dark-skinned boy who was standing in the Zuo Yi Guard just now has a very good appearance. Don't let him stay in the guard in the future!" ?

Li Mi, who was driven home, concentrated on studying and was said to be very fond of "The Biography of Xiang Yu". The powerful Prime Minister Yang Su at that time was very impressed with him, thinking that his knowledge and magnanimity surpassed all his sons, so he deliberately told his son Yang Xuangan to make friends with Li Mi.

In 613 AD, taking advantage of Yang Guang's second personal expedition to Goguryeo, Yang Xuangan, then Minister of Rites, launched a rebellion in the rear, and Li Mi deservedly became the number one military advisor.

However, Yang Xuangan did not accept Li Mi's strategy of going straight to Guanzhong, which led to the rapid failure of the uprising. Li Mi, who was lucky enough to escape, ran to the Central Plains and canvassed various rebel forces at the time, not only promoting his grand strategy, but also taking the opportunity to choose his next stop.

Eventually, he joined the Wagang Army led by Zhai Rang. In his first attack, he commanded Xu Shiji (also known as Li Shiji, the prototype of Xu Maogong in the novel) and Wang Bodang, and designed to defeat and kill Zhang Xutuo, a famous Sui general who was regarded as the nemesis of the rebel army at the time. The Wagang army was impressed by it.

Relying on this beautiful letter of nomination, Li Mi was allowed to form his own team. This army was named by Li Mi after his family's title in the court: Pushan Gongying. As soon as an expert takes action, he will know if there is any. Li Mi has strict orders and is skillful in guarding the army. Whenever he orders the soldiers, even in the middle of summer, they are like carrying frost and snow on their backs. Moreover, he is a frugal man, shares the joys and sorrows with his men, and gains what he has gained through battle. All the property was distributed to the soldiers, which greatly won the hearts of the people. Pushan Gongying also became the most powerful team at that time.

(However, from the name "Pushan Gongying", we can see that Li Mi is obsessed with the glory of the family, but this also dooms him to failure in the future)

Li Mi It was in 617 AD that he truly led the Wagang Army to be reborn. According to his plan, the Wagang Army captured the Luokou Granary, the largest grain warehouse in the world, and then opened the warehouse to release grain; then they defeated the counter-rebellion army sent from Luoyang by Yang Tong, King of Yue of the Sui Dynasty.

Food was the primary productive force at that time. For a time, dozens of peasant uprisings, ranging from Yanzhao in the north to Jianghuai in the south, all came to rely on Li Mi, and the size of the ranks quickly expanded to hundreds of thousands. Li Mi built Luokou City on the spot and used the Sui Dynasty's system to control his people. Later, he sent people to attack the city and seize territory, which made him famous for a while.

Soon after, the famous Sui generals Pei Renji, Pei Xingyan, Qin Shubao, Cheng Yaojin (Cheng Zhijie), and Luo Shixin all defected to Li Mi; Wei Zheng, who was under Yuan Bao at that time, also became Li Mi's subordinate.

With strict discipline, perfect system, sufficient food and grass, numerous soldiers and horses, and abundant talents, such a team was almost arrogant in the world at that time. Later, after Li Yuan raised troops in Taiyuan, as a junior in the rebel circle, he had to lower his profile to show his favor to Li Mi.

But then Li Mi never achieved a new breakthrough.

Superior strength, but tied himself to death near Luoyang

Later, Li Mi got rid of Zhai Rang, who did not agree with his ideas and was content with being a rich man, and completely defeated the Wagang Army. The control is in your own hands. Finally, he was in charge, but Li Mi made a huge strategic mistake.

When he first participated in Yang Xuangan's rebellion, Li Mi strongly suggested occupying a strategically important place in Guanzhong that could be attacked and defended. However, Yang Xuangan chose to capture Luoyang, the eastern capital first. Later facts proved that if Li Mi's strategy was adopted, the fate of the Sui Dynasty might be changed in advance.

However, at this time, Li Mi made the same mistake as Yang Xuangan. After occupying Luokou warehouse, he went to fight with Yang Tongmao, who was guarding Luoyang. The Wagang Army fought many times with the Sui Army led by Wang Shichong, and relied on its absolute strength advantage to defeat the opponent many times. But for Luoyang City, which had deep ravines and ravines and solid defense, although Li Mi had all the advantages, he could only look forward to it.

At that time, Luoyang, the eastern capital, had few troops, insufficient food and grass, and suffered repeated defeats. Li Mi believed that he had a chance to win, and became more and more determined to spend time here.

While Li Mi was commanding hundreds of thousands of troops to run rampant in the Central Plains, Li Yuan and his son, who were from the Guanlong noble group, led a desperate attack on Guanzhong with only 30,000 elite troops. During the march, someone once warned to beware of Li Mi, but Li Shimin, who was only 19 years old at the time, exposed Li Mi's limitations with one sentence: "Li Mi is in love with granary and millet, and he does not ignore it."

To the point! The almost inexhaustible food supply in Luokou warehouse not only relied on Li Mi to achieve a snowball-like growth in strength, but also became an obstacle to further development.

But perhaps there was too much food, so Li Mi gradually lost his original style of hard work and simplicity, and became increasingly extravagant and extravagant. As for the grain in the Luokou warehouse, he did not send anyone to guard it and let people take it for themselves. Millions of people from all over the country rushed to get the grain without cherishing it. For more than ten miles on both sides of the Luoshui River, there were white rice everywhere. It is several feet thick and looks like a thick white blanket from a distance.

If that’s all, then that’s it. At that time, the city of Luoyang was rich in cloth but short of food, so hungry Sui soldiers and civilians were constantly sneaking out of the city to seek refuge. However, Li Mi's army was exactly the opposite, with inexhaustible food but scarce cloth. At first Wang Shichong privately asked for cloth to be exchanged for grain, but Li Mi naturally refused. However, his close confidant Bing Yuanzhen and others tried to profit from it and persuaded him with sincerity, and Li Mi, who was confused, actually agreed.

Soon after, there was gradually enough food in Luoyang City, no more deserters came, and his determination to resist became stronger. Li Mi regretted this.

But what really severely weakened Li Mi was the bloody battle with Yu Wenhuaji.

At the beginning, Emperor Yang Guang of the Sui Dynasty led more than 100,000 Xiaoguo troops to patrol Jiangdu. Later, his return to the west was cut off by Li Mi and others from the Central Plains. Most of the Xiaoguo Imperial Guards were from Guanzhong. They missed their relatives and were eager to return home, and they became increasingly dissatisfied with Emperor Sui Yang who was content with the status quo.

In 618 AD, Yu Wenhuaji and others launched a coup in Jiangdu, killing Yang Guang and most of the Sui clan and relatives. Afterwards, Yu Wenhuaji led more than 100,000 Sui officers and soldiers to return west to Guanzhong, and they would inevitably pass through Luoyang on the way.

After learning that Yu Wenhuaji had come, the emperor and ministers of the Eastern Capital were greatly frightened. At the suggestion of Yuan Wendu and others, Yang Tong wrote a letter to Li Mi to order, and both sides fought against the powerful Yu. Culture and armies.

At this time, Li Mi was also worried about being attacked by Yu Wenhuaji and Luoyang; at the same time, he was full of desire to return to the Sui Dynasty system. Therefore, when the envoy from Luoyang came, Li Mi's reaction was as follows:

Mi was overjoyed, so he begged for surrender, asking for destruction and atonement for his sins.

Having the upper hand, facing the olive branch extended by the opponent, he surrendered impatiently and without reservation. Among the various heroes in the late Sui Dynasty, Li Mi was perhaps the most sincere. But in troubled times, honest people will not end well.

Facing the treacherous Luoyang, the tired but proud Li Mi was completely defeated

Yu Wenhua and the Xiaoguo led by him were the elite troops carefully selected and recruited at a high price by Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty. At this time, with the eagerness to return home, the combat effectiveness cannot be underestimated.

Li Mi used all his strength to fight the opponent fiercely. Fortunately, the opponent's leader Yu Wenhua and his talents were mediocre, and the Wagang Army won the victory.

But this can only be called a tragic victory: "The Mipoyu culture has not yet returned, but many of its strong soldiers and good horses died, and the soldiers were tired and sick." While Yang Tong in Luoyang City was rejoicing that he had settled the two forces in one fell swoop, Wang Shichong, who had long had ambitions, suddenly launched a coup, massacred the Zhuhe faction, took control of the Yue King Yang Tong, and then fell out with Li Mi's forces outside the city.

But even after being tricked like this, Li Mi was still optimistic that he had a chance to win. But what he didn't know was that Wang Shichong, his previously defeated general, was preparing for a big move at this time.

Knowing that Li Mi's vitality was seriously injured, Wang Shichong decided to take the opportunity to make a sneak attack. Although his tribe is small, they are all Chu people from the Jianghuai area. They are fierce and brave in nature, and they also believe in witchcraft. In order to arouse their fighting spirit, Wang Shichong built the Temple of Duke Zhou and asked the wizard to announce that Duke Zhou was going to let everyone attack Li Mi. If you obey, you will make great achievements, otherwise you will get sick and die. The people of Chu believed this to be true, and they all eagerly requested to go to war. Wang Shichong selected 20,000 elites from them and prepared to attack.

After receiving the news, Li Mi and other generals held a meeting to discuss countermeasures. At first, he believed that Wang Shichong's army was gaining momentum and his own side had just experienced a war, so he should not confront the enemy head-on. Instead, he should adopt the tactics of persistence and attrition to put the opponent in a dilemma, and then wait for work and catch them all in one fell swoop.

However, due to their frequent victories against Wang Shichong before, and the fact that they had just defeated Yu Wenhuaji, who had a strong army, Shan Xiongxin and others were full of confidence and strongly demanded to open up their battle array and rely on their absolute superiority in troops to attack Wang Shichong. The mountain is overwhelming.

Seventy-eight percent of the generals present agreed with this opinion. Seeing how confident they were, Li Mi was also affected and his thoughts gradually wavered. Pei Renji and Wei Zheng tried hard to dissuade him, but to no avail. In the end, Li Mi decided to listen to the opinions of Shan Xiongxin and others.

The two sides started fighting in Beiman Mountain. In the first battle, the Wagang army suffered some losses. Pei Xingyan was almost killed by his opponent on the spot, and only escaped death with Cheng Zhijie's desperate rescue.

But Li Mi was still not alert. The next day, his military formations still reflected his contempt for the enemy. Wang Shichong was completely the opposite. He arranged a cavalry ambush, and then led his troops to approach at dawn, and launched an attack before Li Mi's army formation was set up.

Before the battle, Wang Shichong found a man who looked very much like Li Mi, tied him up and hid him; when the battle was in full swing, he ordered his men to lead the man through the formation and shout:? Li Mi has been captured alive! ?The soldiers under his command were even more excited, but Li Mi's army was confused and panicked. At this time, Wang Shichong's ambush troops rushed out on horseback, and Li Mi's troops collapsed instantly.

After this battle, Shan Xiongxin and others surrendered to Wang Shichong, Qin Shubao, Cheng Zhijie and others were captured, and Li Mi lost all his elite troops. Seeing that the situation was over, he went west to join Li Yuan, but was killed on the way to escape soon after. A generation of influential figures met such a tragic end.

After Li Mi's death, his subordinates Li Shiji, Qin Shubao, Cheng Zhijie, Luo Shixin, Wei Zheng, etc. returned to the command of Li Yuan and his son one after another, becoming a precious resource for the Tang Dynasty to dominate the world. Talents and materials are important, but how to use them is the top priority. Guarding the golden mountain but sitting on the empty mountain may be talking about people like Li Mi.