What is the historical background of the Battle of Tianmenling?

What is the historical background of the Battle of Tianmenling?

Historical background:

In 668 AD (the first year of the General Chapter of Emperor Gaozong of the Tang Dynasty), the army occupied Northeast my country for 700 years The long-lasting Goguryeo regime was destroyed by the Tang Dynasty, which broke the political balance in this region and objectively created a historical opportunity for the rise of the Mohe nation.

The Tang Dynasty and Silla jointly destroyed Goguryeo. Afterwards, the two sides disagreed over the division of Goguryeo's land and population. At that time, the Tang Dynasty not only obtained most of Goguryeo's territory, but also forcibly moved nearly 400,000 Goguryeo survivors to states and counties in the Central Plains, which triggered strong resistance from the Goguryeo people.

Silla, who was dissatisfied with the Tang Dynasty's monopoly on the victory, also took the opportunity to compete with it and clashed with the Tang Dynasty many times. At the same time, the demise of Goguryeo relieved the Khitan, Xi and other tribes of the Eastern Hu Shiwei clan from their worries about looking eastward. These tribal forces emerged one after another and joined forces with the newly established post-Turkic Khanate in the northern grasslands to compete with the Tang Dynasty.

Yingzhou Rebellion:

Since the 4th century AD, the Khitan tribe has been distributed from the north of present-day Yanshan to western Liaoning, and gradually formed an alliance of eight major tribes. By the middle of the 6th century, the population was about 200,000. In 648 AD (the 22nd year of Zhenguan, Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty), Ku Ge Khan, the leader of the Khitan Alliance, requested to be "annexed". The Tang Dynasty canonized Ku Ge Khan as the governor of Songmo, garrison prefecture (today's Changli, Hebei Province), and gave him the surname Li.

After 679 AD, the Turkic Khanate united with the Xi people to attack Guangning in Tangying Prefecture. The Tang Dynasty appointed Li Jinzhong, the grandson of Kuge Khan, as the general of Wuwei, the governor of Songmo, and his younger brother Ku Moli As the governor of Tanhan Prefecture, he also appointed Sun Wanrong, who was related by marriage to him, as the governor of Guicheng Prefecture, hoping to use the power of the Khitan and Yingzhou local powers to resist the post-Turks.

Wu Zhou Dynasty Tang Dynasty. Zhao Wenhui, the governor of Yingzhou, was tyrannical and "several invaded and insulted" the Khitan people. He regarded the Khitan people as "like slaves" and "all loyal and resentful". "Zizhi Tongjian" records: Renzi in May of the first year of Long Live Tongtian (June 696 AD) , there was a "big famine" in Yingzhou, and Zhao Wenhui actually "occupied Cangji and did not send out anything", which aroused strong dissatisfaction among the Khitan tribes. Li Jinzhong and Sun Wanrong raised troops to rebel and broke through Yingzhou and Youzhou of the Jisu minority. This incident was called the "Yingzhou Rebellion" in history.

The news of the rebellion of Li Jinzhong and Sun Wanrong soon spread to Luoyang. Empress Wu Zetian was extremely angry and "issued an edict to change Wanrong to Wanrong to be killed, and to be loyal to be completely destroyed." She ordered Youjinwu General Zhang Xuanyu, Zuo Ying Yang Wei General Cao Renshi and Sinong Shaoqing Marenjie led their troops to attack him and "recruited Li Duozuo, who was still on the front line of Sumo River, to return to Yingzhou to support Yingzhou.

However, the start was unfavorable. The crusade was ambushed and defeated by the rebels as soon as it arrived at Jiashi Valley in early August. The generals Zhang Xuanyu and Marenjie were captured. He also ordered Xia Guan Shangshu Wang Xiaojie and Zuo Yulin General Su Honghui to lead 70,000 troops to conquer, but failed again. Wang Xiaojie died in battle and Su Honghui fled back.

Wan Zhan took advantage of the situation and invaded Youzhou, home to the Jisu minority. After Li Jinzhong died, Wan Zhan led his people on his behalf. Later, the Turks silently looted Khitan old and weak women and children. In the Tang (Zhou) Dynasty, Yang Xuanji and others led an army to defeat the Khitan. Wan Rong (Wan Zhan) was killed and his head was sent to the eastern capital of the Tang Dynasty. In 700 AD, the surrendered generals Li Kaigu and Luo Wuzheng led their troops to pacify the remaining Khitan tribes. At this point, the rebellion in Yingzhou subsided.