The siege of Yongqiu (雍丘之戰, pinyin: Yōngqiū zhī zhàn) was a siege for Yongqiu (current Qi County, Kaifeng) in 756 AD during the An Shi Rebellion, by the An Lushan rebels against the Tang army. The Tang army, led by Zhang Xun, finally won this battle.
Background An Lushan had enjoyed many successes early on in his rebellion. His army numbered more than 160,000, and was growing rapidly. In the fall of 755, An Lushan won a major victory at Luoyang, the eastern capital of the Tang dynasty. With civilians losing faith in the Tang dynasty, and more people and generals joining An Lushan's newly proclaimed Great Yan dynasty every day, it seemed that the Tang dynasty was near its end. An Lushan set his eyes on Chang'an, the capital of Tang.
Suiyang was of great military significance. It was the entry point to the Jianghuai region that provided the grain and transportation infrastructure supporting the northwestern war effort. If the Tang dynasty could defend this area, An Lushan's influence would be limited to northeast China for the time being. This would give the Tang dynasty enough time to stabilise the situation in the north and prepare defences further south. If An Lushan conquered this area quickly, he would be free to conquer the Jianghuai region and the rest of resource-rich southern China, dooming the isolated Jiedushi in the northwest. Yongqiu was an outlying fortress of Suiyang essential to its long-term security.
At this time, the governor of the Suiyang District, Yang Wanshi (楊萬石), decided to surrender to An Lushan. The governor of the city of Yongqiu, Linghu Chao (令狐潮), agreed with the surrender after the fall of Luoyang, which in his view made the Tang cause hopeless. The army commander of Suiyang Fortress at this time was Zhang Xun. He was ordered to follow Yang Wanshi in surrendering, and to receive the rebel army west of the city.
At around this point, the magistrate of Danfu Jia Bi (賈賁) defeated a rebel force led by Zhang Tongwu. Contemporaneously, Linghu Chao led a force to the east and defeated a Tang force from Xiangyi District, imprisoning a hundred captured soldiers within the fortress. Taking advantage of Linghu Chao's later absence from the city, these prisoners were able to escape and resist his reentry. After Linghu Chao escaped, the occupying troops welcomed Jia Bi, raising the number of defenders to 2,000. Zhang Xun refused to follow Yang Wanshí's surrender orders, and instead gathered 1,000 elites picked from several thousand citizens and soldiers, and joined up with Jia Bi, after leading his retinue in a tearful worship of the Tang Emperor's ancestor. There were now around 3,000 soldiers in Yongqiu. Linghu Chao's wife and children were executed, because he was a rebel.
On the 16th of the Second Month, Linghu Chao led 15,000 elite rebels back to Yongqiu, to try to take back the fortress. In the first encounter, Jia Bi led an attack, but was defeated and killed. Zhang Xun repelled the enemy, performing bravely, and was hailed as leader. He repelled several attacks over the month and caused enemy losses of more than 10,000 men, forcing Linghu Chao to retreat. Zhang Xun reported the battle situation to Li Zhi, Prince of Wu, stationed in Pengcheng (now Xuzhou, Jiangsu). Li Zhi entrusted the war to the east of Yanzhou to Zhang Xun. From then on, Zhang Xun called himself the vanguard of the Prince of Wu and took on the responsibility of defending Yongqiu.
On the 2nd of the Third Month, Linghu Chao, together with rebel generals Li Huaixin, Yang Chaozong and Xie Yuanshang, returned to besiege Yongqiu with 40,000 troops. Only about 2,000 Tang soldiers were still capable of defending Yongqiu.
Process
The people in the city were terrified and had no confidence in defending the city. After careful consideration and analysis of the enemy's situation, Zhang Xun made a bold decision. He said to his generals, "The enemy's troops are elite and look down on us. If we catch them off guard and attack them now, they will surely be shocked and defeated. If the enemy's momentum is slightly weakened, then the city can be defended." All the generals agreed. Zhang Xun immediately ordered a thousand people to defend the city, while he led a thousand people, divided into several teams, suddenly opened the city gate and charged straight into the rebel army's formation. The rebel army had just arrived and was not yet stable, so they were shocked and retreated.
The next day, the rebel army surrounded and attacked the city again, surrounding the city with a hundred traction trebuchets, destroying the city towers and the battlements of the city walls. Zhang Xun set up wooden fences on the city to block the rebel army's attack. The rebel army had no other choice but to launch a frontal assault, climbing up the city walls with siege ladders. Zhang Xun had expected the siege, and prior to the battle ordered many grass-balls be made. He ordered his troops to dip these grass-balls into oil, and then light them up just before throwing them at the enemy. As the siege ladders burned, many of Linghu Chao's men burned or fell to their deaths. Linghu Chao called off the assaults and decided to maintain a blockade on the city.
Sometimes Zhang Xun took advantage of the enemy's slackness and suddenly sent troops to attack; sometimes in the deep of the night, he sneaked into the enemy's camp. He augmented the effect of these maneuvers by ordered his troops to play war drums during night time, which forced the rebels to prepare for battle. But the fortress gates remained closed, and no Tang troops appeared. After this was repeated many times, the rebels eventually grew tired and ignored the war drums, whereupon Zhang Xun would attack. This was highly detrimental to the rebel army's morale, and Linghu Chao would sporadically resume the assaults.
In this way, the Tang troops defended the city for more than 60 days, fighting more than 300 battles, large and small, wearing armor while eating, and fighting with wounds. They finally repelled the rebel army and pursued them, annihilating more than 2,000 enemy soldiers in the final assault, and almost capturing Linghu Chao alive.
In mid-May, Linghu Chao led his troops to surround and attack Yongqiu again. Linghu Chao, who was acquainted with Zhang Xun in the past, came to the city and tried to persuade Zhang Xun to surrender. Linghu Chao said, "The imperial court is in danger, and the troops cannot leave the pass. The world's affairs are gone. You are defending a dangerous city with weak soldiers; your loyalty has no base. Why not follow me to seek wealth and glory?" Zhang Xun flatly refused and took the opportunity to shame Linghu Chao, saying, "In ancient times, when a father died for the emperor, he did not report it. You are harboring resentment for your wife and children, borrowing strength from the enemy to plot against me. I will see your head on the street, being laughed at for generations, how can you do that?" Linghu Chao heard this and retreated in shame.
At this time, Linghu Chao had been besieging Zhang Xun in Yongqiu for more than 40 days, and they had lost contact with the court. When Linghu Chao learned that Chang'an had fallen and Emperor Xuanzong had fled to Shu (modern day Sichuan), he wrote a letter to Zhang Xun, trying to persuade him to surrender again. This was a major blow to morale of Zhang Xun's army. Among the defending generals, there were six who thought that the situation was hopeless and the fate of Xuanzong was unknown, and advised Zhang Xun to surrender. Zhang Xun pretended to agree. The next day, Zhang Xun hung Xuanzong's portrait in the hall and led his generals to worship, and everyone cried. Zhang Xun then brought the six generals to the front of the hall, blamed them for their lack of loyalty, and beheaded them, further strengthening the army's determination to defend the city.
At that time, Linghu Chao's blockade was having an effect. Food was scarce, but the rebel army's hundreds of ships carrying salt and rice were about to arrive at the front line. When Zhang Xun learned of this, he used the tactic of attacking the east and surprising the west. He led his troops to attack at night in the south of the city, and Linghu Chao heard the news and led his troops to fight. However, Zhang Xun sent brave soldiers to the river, seized the rebel army's salt and rice, burned the rest, and then safely returned to the city. Small amounts of food and supplies were also obtained from the enemy in periodic raids and attacks.
The siege continued, and after 20 more days, Zhang Xun's troops had run low on arrows. He ordered his troops to make about 1,000 scarecrows, dressed in black clothes. During the night, the soldiers hung the scarecrows down the fortress wall, so as to be easily seen. Linghu Chao noticed a number of black figures in the distance, and ordered his archers to shoot at them, hoping to stop the attack. When the scarecrows got pulled back over the wall, along with numerous embedded arrows, Linghu Chao realized that he had been deceived. He ordered his troops to never shoot at any black figures hanging down the wall, since it would be a waste of arrows. As a result, on the second night after the incident, no arrow was shot at the scarecrows.
A few nights later, black figures were once again hung down from the wall, and they were once again ignored. This time the black figures, however, were not scarecrows. They were 500 of Zhang Xun's best men. They began the most damaging ambush of the siege. Many rebels were killed during their sleep. An estimated 10,000 men either were killed or deserted, and the camp was burned. The remaining force of about 20,000 men fled for about 10 miles, pursued by the Tang troops, before reorganizing.
Linghu Chao refused to retreat, and returned to Yongqiu to continue the siege in rage at being continuously tricked. Zhang Xun ordered the general Lei Wanchun to talk to Linghu Chao on the city wall, and the rebel army took the opportunity to shoot Lei Wanchun with a crossbow. Although Lei Wanchun was shot in the face six times, he still stood tall and motionless. Linghu Chao suspected it was a wooden man, so he sent soldiers to investigate and found out it was really Lei Wanchun. He was very surprised and said to Zhang Xun from afar, "I saw General Lei just now, and I know your military orders, but what about the way of heaven?" Zhang Xun replied, "You don't understand human relationships, how can you know the way of heaven!"
Zhang Xun was running low on lumber. He made Linghu Chao an offer: if Linghu Chao would move back 30 miles, and allow Zhang Xun and his men to escape, the fortress would be his. The battle-worn Linghu Chao immediately accepted. He moved his troops and supplies back 30 miles, but he did not remove the wooden huts and tents. Zhang Xun immediately ordered his troops and civilians to tear down the huts and tents and surroundings houses, and bring the lumber back into the fortress. By the time Linghu Chao figured out Zhang Xun's plan, it was too late.