Li Mi
The Wagang Army was the most effective force in the peasant revolt at the end of the Sui Dynasty, and had inflicted heavy damage on the Sui Dynasty, but in the end it failed to seize power, but the army collapsed and surrendered to the Tang army led by Li Yuan.
In the seventh year of Daye, that is, in 611 AD, Zhai Rang, a native of Weicheng County, Dong County, was imprisoned for committing a crime, and the prison official Huang Junhan released him privately, Zhai Rang fled to Wagang Village, gathered a crowd to revolt, and Shan Xiongxin and Xu Shijie of the same county also joined in, and their strength increased. They hijacked ships along the Yongji Canal to "give money and abundance, and benefit the people", and the insurrection gradually expanded.
In the twelfth year of Daye, that is, in 616 AD, Li Mi, who was born of nobility, defected to the Wagang Army after participating in the failure of Yang Xuangan's rebellion. Li Mi had a more political vision, and he suggested that Zhai Rang actively develop forces to expand his influence. Zhai Rang paid attention to Li Mi's suggestion and first captured Xingyang. Xingyang is a strategic location in the Central Plains, with a plain to the east and Tiger Prison Pass to the west. Gong County, west of Tiger Prison Pass, was the Sui Dynasty's large granary, Luokou Cang. Obtaining Luokoucang not only yielded a large amount of grain, but also approached the eastern capital Luoyang. The capture of Xingyang was an important step in the development of the Wagang Army.com.
In the face of the powerful Wagang army, Xingyang Taishou Yang Qing had no choice, and the Sui Emperor specially sent a famous general with the title of Zhang Sutuo of Weizhen Eastern Xia to defend Xingyang and suppress the Wagang army. Li Mi, believing that Zhang Sutuo had no strategy, suggested that Zhai Rang and Zhang Sutuo face each other head-on, and then pretend to be defeated and flee north. Li Mi led his elite troops to ambush near the Great Sea Temple north of Xingyang, and Zhang Sutuo followed Zhai Rang for more than ten miles, and when the army marched to the forest north of the Great Sea Temple, Li Mi ambushed his troops and fell into an encirclement with his army. Zhang Sutuo had taken it lightly, but the sudden strong soldier caught him off guard and was defeated and killed. In this battle, the main force of the Sui army was severely damaged. The victory of the Wagang army was a heavy blow to the Sui Dynasty Emperor regime.
In the thirteenth year of Daye, that is, in February 617, the Wagang army captured Luokoucang, and then opened the warehouse to help the poor, and a large number of poor peasants joined the rebel army. The Sui Dynasty Yue king Yang Tong at Luoyang sent Hu Benzhonglang to lead an army of 25,000 men under Liu Changgong to suppress the Wagang army. Zhai Rang and Li Mi detected the movements of the Sui army in advance and made careful arrangements. Liu Changgong did not know anything about the situation of the Wagang Army, and when he saw that the Wagang Army was not large in number on the surface, he became paralyzed. Taking advantage of the fact that the Sui army had just arrived, its foothold was unstable, hungry, and exhausted, it launched a large-scale attack, resulting in a major defeat of the Sui army. Fifteen out of ten of the dead, Liu Changgong fled back to Dongdu. Wagang seized a large number of heavy equipment, and his strength grew and his prestige was great.
Zhai Rang
In April of the same year, the Wagang army approached the outskirts of the eastern capital and attacked Huiluocang (northeast of present-day Luoyang, Henan), causing the eastern capital to be short of grain and in trouble. In September, the Wagang army attacked LiyangCang again, opened the warehouse to release grain and relief civilians, and the rebel army increased to more than 200,000 people. At this time, the Wagang Army reached its peak in terms of both the number of troops and the areas it controlled. The Wagang Army also publicly announced the ten major crimes of the Sui Emperor, clearly stating that it would completely overthrow the sui emperor's regime.
Because Li Mi played a very prominent role in repeated battles and his prestige in the army became higher and higher, Zhai Rang took the initiative to hand over the leadership to Li Mi. Later, Zhai Rang's brother Zhai Hong, Wang Ru and others persuaded Zhai Rang to regain leadership. As a result, the internal contradictions of the Wagang army intensified day by day, so that in the end Li Mi had to kill Zhai Rang.
In June 618, Yu Wenhua and the Sui army leading Jiangdu moved north, and although the Wagang army won a victory in the battle against Yu Wenhua, it also suffered heavy losses. In September, the Sui army in the eastern capital took the opportunity to launch an attack, and the Wagang army was completely defeated, and Li Mi was cornered, so in October he rushed to Chang'an and surrendered to Li Yuan.
Although the Wagang army failed, because it was the most powerful peasant rebel army at that time, it eliminated a large number of Sui troops in the Central Plains, cut off the connection between Jiangdu and Luoyang, forced the Sui Emperor to fall into the isolated island of Jiangdu, unable to control the whole country, and indirectly accelerated the demise of the Sui Dynasty.
Finally, it was concluded that just when the Wagang Army was becoming more and more powerful, the contradictions within the leading group intensified, the struggle for power was seized, the army was invisibly divided, the self-strength was weakened, and finally it pushed itself to the end.