The Battle of Qianshuiyuan (), northwest of present-day

Changwu Changwu County () is a county in the central part of Shaanxi province, China, bordering Gansu province to the north, west, and southwest. It is under the administration and occupies the northwest corner of Xianyang City. Administrative divisions ...

Shaanxi Shaanxi (alternatively Shensi, see § Name) is a landlocked province of China. Officially part of Northwest China, it borders the province-level divisions of Shanxi (NE, E), Henan (E), Hubei (SE), Chongqing (S), Sichuan (SW), Gansu (W), N ...

, was fought in 618 between the

Tang Dynasty The Tang dynasty (, ; zh, t= ), or Tang Empire, was an imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 618 to 907 AD, with an interregnum between 690 and 705. It was preceded by the Sui dynasty and followed by the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdom ...

and the state of

Qin Qin may refer to: Dynasties and states * Qin (state) (秦), a major state during the Zhou Dynasty of ancient China * Qin dynasty (秦), founded by the Qin state in 221 BC and ended in 206 BC * Daqin (大秦), ancient Chinese name for the Roman Emp ...

. The battle ended in victory for the Tang, whose armed forces were led by the future emperor

Li Shimin Emperor Taizong of Tang (28January 59810July 649), previously Prince of Qin, personal name Li Shimin, was the second emperor of the Tang dynasty of China, ruling from 626 to 649. He is traditionally regarded as a co-founder of the dynasty ...

Background

In 618 AD,

Xue Ju Xue Ju () (died 618), formally Emperor Wu (武皇帝, "Martial"), was the founding emperor of a short-lived state of Qin at the end of the Chinese dynasty Sui Dynasty, whose state was eventually destroyed by the Tang Dynasty. He rose against Su ...

, who occupied Longxi and made

Tianshui Tianshui is the second-largest city in Gansu Province, China. The city is located in the southeast of the province, along the upper reaches of the Wei River and at the boundary of the Loess Plateau and the Qinling Mountains. As of the 2020 ce ...

his capital, styled himself as the Qin emperor (). He possessed an army of 300,000 soldiers and intended to capture

Chang'an Chang'an (; ) is the traditional name of Xi'an. The site had been settled since Neolithic times, during which the Yangshao culture was established in Banpo, in the city's suburbs. Furthermore, in the northern vicinity of modern Xi'an, Qin S ...

The battle

In 618 AD,

Emperor Gaozu of Tang Emperor Gaozu of Tang (7 April 566 – 25 June 635, born Li Yuan, courtesy name Shude) was the founding emperor of the Tang dynasty of China, reigning from 618 to 626. Under the Sui dynasty, Li Yuan was the governor in the area of modern-day ...

appointed

as the marshal to meet the Qin forces head-on. At first, they were defeated in Qianshuiyuan and were forced back to Chang'an. Gaozhi () was annexed. After Xue Ju's death, his son

Xue Rengao Xue Rengao (; died 618), also known as Xue Renguo (),The ''Old Book of Tang'' and the ''New Book of Tang'' both gave his name as Xue Rengao, but the ''Zizhi Tongjian'' gave his name as Xue Renguo. was an emperor of the short-lived state of Qin, ...

succeeded to the throne and continued to attack the Tang army. Li Yuan tried to get support from

Li Gui The Li ''gui'' () is an ancient Chinese bronze sacrificial ''gui'' vessel cast by an early Zhou dynasty official. Description It is one of the earliest Zhou bronze vessel to be discovered,Shaughnessy (1989), p 51 the earliest record of met ...

, who occupied

Liangzhou Liangzhou District () is a district and the seat of the city of Wuwei, Gansu province of the People's Republic of China, bordering Inner Mongolia to the east. Geography Liangzhou District is located in east Hexi Corridor, north to the Qilian Mo ...

(in present-day

Wuwei, Gansu Wuwei () is a prefecture-level city in northwest central Gansu province. In the north it borders Inner Mongolia, in the southwest, Qinghai. Its central location between three western capitals, Lanzhou, Xining, and Yinchuan makes it an important b ...

), and he ordered Li Shimin to press on towards Gaozhi at the same time. Xue Rengao dispatched his elite general Zong Luohou (), leading more than 100,000 soldiers to resist. Li Shimin thought the Tang army was frustrated while the enemies were inspiring. So he switched from attacking to defending. The two sides were locked in a stalemate for about 60 days. When the Xue army were short of provisions, Li Shimin took great advantage of physical features of Qianshuiyuan and started attacking. Finally, the Xue army was badly defeated and surrendered. The Tang Dynasty suppressed Longxi and ensured the safety of Guanzhong.

Sources

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Battle of Qianshuiyuan 618 Qianshuiyuan 610s conflicts Transition from Sui to Tang Military history of Shaanxi Emperor Taizong of Tang