China knows everything for 5000 years

Chapter 33

When the world was in chaos at the end of the Sui Dynasty, many officials of the Sui Dynasty also rebelled one after another and led the army to dominate one side. Among them, the Taiyuan uprising by Li Yuan and his son finally led to the establishment of the Tang Dynasty.Li Yuan was originally a nobleman in the Sui Dynasty. He became the Duke of Tang by inheriting the title of his ancestors.In 617 AD, Yang Guang sent him to Taiyuan as a left guard (official name) to suppress the peasant uprising.At the beginning, he also fought a few victories, but when he saw the insurgents fighting more and more, he also felt nervous.

Li Yuan's second son, Li Shimin, is the most talented and courageous of his many sons.Seeing that the general trend of the Sui Dynasty was over, he secretly made friends with talented people and discussed the unification of the world together.After the world was in chaos, Li Shimin took the opportunity to persuade his father to join the army.

According to the strategy of Shimin and Jinyang Commander Liu Wenjing, Li Yuan raised troops from Taiyuan and appointed himself a general, gathering more than 20 troops to attack Chang'an.After Li Yuan captured Chang'an, in order to win the hearts of the people, he announced 12 articles of agreement, abolished all the harsh laws and regulations of the Sui Dynasty, and temporarily made Yang Guang's grandson Yang You a nominal emperor.

General Yu Wenhuaji of the Forbidden Army staged a coup in Jiangdu and strangled Emperor Yang of Sui Dynasty to death. Li Yuan immediately abolished Yang You, ascended the throne and proclaimed himself emperor, and changed the name of the country to Tang.After several years of fighting, Li Yuan and Li Shimin put down other rebels and separatist forces, and unified the country.

●Li Shimin Conquered East and West
In 618 AD, Li Yuan became emperor and established the Tang Dynasty, but the wars in various places have not subsided, and there are separatist forces occupying mountains as kings everywhere, and the task of unification is still quite arduous.This arduous task fell on Li Shimin historically.

Among the various separatist forces, Liu Wuzhou, who was attached to the Turks, was the most powerful.He occupied several counties including Yanmen, Loufan (now Jingle, Shanxi), Dingxiang (in today's Inner Mongolia), proclaimed himself emperor, and was rampant for a while.In 619 AD, Liu Wuzhou led his army to attack the towns of the Tang Dynasty and won several victories in succession.Seeing Liu Wuzhou's ferocious approach, Li Yuanji, who was guarding Taiyuan, did not dare to resist. He was so frightened that he gave the city of Taiyuan to Liu Wuzhou for nothing, and fled back to the capital Chang'an on horseback.Liu Wuzhou was able to drive forward and become more and more powerful.In front of the rampant Liu Wuzhou, Li Yuan was also so frightened that he was ready to give up the land east of the Yellow River, guard the west of Pujin Pass, and be the emperor of Kanxi.Li Shimin resolutely opposed his father's idea of ​​peace, he made a strong statement, and actively asked for a fight.Li Yuan was persuaded by Li Shimin and ordered Li Shimin to lead the attack.After several major battles, Li Shimin wiped out Liu Wuzhou's main force.Seeing that the general situation was over, Liu Wuzhou fled to Turkic.The Turks did not want to offend the Tang Dynasty, so they killed Liu Wuzhou.The lost large tracts of land returned to the hands of the Tang Dynasty after Li Shimin's army fought hard.

After defeating Liu Wuzhou, the Tang Dynasty had wiped out several separatist forces in the northwest and stabilized the rear. Li Yuan ordered Li Shimin to lead an army to capture the Eastern Capital (now Luoyang, Henan).Li Shimin swung his troops out of the pass, and he was unstoppable. Many counties in Henan watched the wind and surrendered, and soon surrounded Dongdu.

The Eastern Capital was in Wang Shichong's hands at this time.Wang Shichong was a minister of the Sui Dynasty, and he guarded it with Yang Guang's grandson Yang Tong.After Yang Guang's death, Wang Shichong first established Yang Tong as emperor. Later, he defeated the Wagang uprising army and thought he was great, so he abolished Yang Tong, established himself as emperor, and took the name of Zheng as the country.

Li Shimin led his troops to surround Dongdu and attacked the city day and night.Wang Shichong, who was besieged in the city, sent people to Hebei quietly to ask Dou Jiande for help in order to get rid of the trapped and beaten situation.After receiving Wang Shichong's distress letter, Dou Jiande sent troops to rescue Wang Shichong.His purpose is to jointly defeat the Tang army with Wang Shichong first, then find an opportunity to eliminate Wang Shichong, and finally seize the world.Dou Jiande sent 30 troops to rescue Wang Shichong, and at the same time sent someone to deliver a letter to Li Shimin, asking Li Shimin to return to Wuzhong in an orderly tone.

Dou Jiande's letter not only did not make Li Shimin retreat, but gave Li Shimin time to seize the opportunity.Li Shimin accepted the advice of his generals, and while continuing to besiege the Eastern Capital, he divided his troops to intercept Dou Jiande's army going south.Li Shimin left his younger brother to attack the city, while he himself led the troops to intercept Dou Jiande.In the battle of Hulaoguan (in today's Henan Province), Dou Jiande's Xia army was defeated and routed.In the chaos, Dou Jiande was injured and made a prisoner.After defeating Dou Jiande, Li Shimin returned to the Eastern Capital, so Wang Shichong had to open the city gate and surrender obediently.

Li Shimin's battle wiped out the two great powers of Xia and Zheng in one fell swoop, turning the vast areas north and south of the Yellow River into the territory of the Tang Dynasty, and the cause of unification was basically completed.

●Anti-Tang Li Mi died
After Li Mi's defeat, he led [-] Wagang troops to the Tang Dynasty. Li Yuan made him the Duke of Jing and married his cousin Dugu to him, but did not give him military power, and only made him the third-rank Guangluqing.Li Mi knew that Li Yuan's move was to prevent himself, and he was dissatisfied, but he had no choice.Li Mi felt that Li Yuan didn't take himself seriously, and the more he thought about it, the more angry he became, and decided to leave Chang'an, but he was unwilling to leave alone, so he made a plan.

One day, Li Mi said to Li Yuan: "My minister is favored and sits in the capital, and I am deeply disturbed. I heard that most of the subordinates of Shandong ministers were dissatisfied with Wang Shichong in the past. I am willing to lead the army to appease them and challenge Wang Shichong together." Li Yuan thought this was the case. It was a good thing, so he agreed and sent Li Mi 1 horses.

Leaving Chang'an with 1 people around, Li Mi breathed a sigh of relief.His purpose this time is to get away from Li Yuan and plot to make a comeback.Wang Bodang and Jia Runfu also traveled with Li Mi, but they didn't know what he was thinking.

As soon as the army arrived at Chousang (north of Lingbao, Henan Province today), a censor came chasing him on horseback. He passed on the emperor's decree, asking Li Mi to return to Chang'an as soon as possible. move on.As soon as Li Mi heard it, he knew that the situation had changed.But he had made up his mind that he would never go back, so he called Wang Bodang and Jia Runfu to discuss countermeasures.

It turned out that shortly after Li Mi led his troops out of Chang'an, Li Yuan received a secret report saying that Li Mi was planning to rebel against Chang'an and plot evil.The person who reported the secret was Li Mi's former subordinate. This person was Li Mi's confidant and knew Li Mi best. He knew that Li Mi led 1 people to Shandong this time to fight against Li Yuan by re-opening up the territory.Li Yuan was shocked when he heard the words, and hurriedly issued an order to recall Li Mi.

Li Mi said to Wang Bodang and Jia Runfu: "The emperor suddenly wants me to go back. Someone must have said something wrong with me. I will definitely die if I go back this time! Hmph, I know Li Yuan best, and I am most afraid that I will have the military power. He surrendered, so he made me a nameless Guangluqing, and pretended to be very enthusiastic on the surface. I will never be fooled by him again. This is within the territory of Taolin County. Why don't we break into Taolin, seize food, and then go to Li Yang, revive the flag and drums in Shandong. What do you two think?"

Jia Runfu was taken aback, and said to Li Mi: "Duke Ming's words are wrong. Today's emperor treats people generously and has no intention of harming you. What's more, if something happens, the imperial court will send people to chase it down. A mere 1 people are vulnerable. At that time It's too late to regret it!" Li Mi was furious when he heard this, he raised his knife and chopped at Jia Runfu.When Wang Bodang saw this, he hurried forward and stopped him.Jia Runfu has followed Li Mi for many years, but he did not expect him to treat him like this now. He persuaded with tears: "At present, the strong are kings, and the losers are bandits. Besides, since Zhai Rang was killed, everyone in the world thinks that Duke Ming is an ungrateful person. Are you still willing to come here? Forgive me for telling you bluntly, and hope Minggong thinks twice." The matter of killing Zhai Rang was Li Mi's heart disease, and when Jia Runfu mentioned it again, he was furious and hated for a moment, and he raised his knife and wanted to kill him.But seeing Jia Runfu bursting into tears, what he said was to the point, and only those who treat each other sincerely would say this, and he couldn't bear to do it, so he said after a while: "Forget it, since you don't want to raise trouble with me, let's do it yourself Let’s go. I’ve made up my mind and I can’t stop it. If we meet each other on the battlefield in the future, we’ll just pretend we don’t know each other!” Hearing this, Jia Runfu felt a great pain in his heart, but he felt bored, so he went out of the camp alone and rode to Xiongzhou. go.Uncle Wang was a man of loyalty, although he didn't approve of making troubles, but seeing Li Mi was fascinated by ghosts, he had no choice but to say: "I, Uncle Wang, will live and die with you, but it's too worthless to die because of this incident in the future!"

Li Mi and Wang Bodang made an agreement, and soon they took Taolin County, killed the county magistrate, and seized food.When the news reached Xiongzhou, Tang Youxiang General Shi Wanbao was afraid that he would come to attack, so he discussed countermeasures with Sheng Yanshi, the marching chief.Master Sheng Yan said confidently: "You don't have to worry, Li Mizhi is in Shandong and will not attack Xiongzhou. Besides, as long as you are willing to give me 5000 troops, you can bring Li Mi's head to see me. What do you have to worry about? Shi Wanbao hurriedly asked He Liang's plan, Master Sheng Yan just shook his head and smiled without saying a word.Therefore, Shi Wanbao allocated 5000 troops to Master Sheng Yan to wait for the good news.

Li Mi really didn't go to attack Xiongzhou, but went to Liyang.But if you take the main road to Liyang, you must pass through Luoyang. Luoyang is occupied by Wang Shichong at this time, so naturally he will not let Li Mi go there.Li Mi decided to go to Xiangcheng first, and then detour to Liyang to join Xu Shizhu.To go to Xiangcheng, you must pass Xiong'er Mountain.Xiong'er Mountain is high and densely forested, and a canyon in the middle is the only passage.Master Sheng Yan's trick is to ambush on the hilltops on both sides of the canyon, condescending, waiting for work at leisure.

As Master Sheng Yan expected, he led 5000 elite soldiers to ambush. On the second day, Li Mi and Wang Bodang led the crowd into the Xiong'er Mountain Canyon.When they all entered the ambush circle, Master Sheng Yan gave an order and fired random arrows.The army led by Li Mi was caught off guard and had nowhere to hide. They were in a mess, some died, some were wounded, some fled.Li Mi was unable to organize a resistance, and died from several arrows in his body.Poor Wang Bodang also went to Huangquan with him, but as he himself said, death was worthless.

Xu Shibo, who was in Liyang, was loyal to Li Yuan, but he paid attention to friendship. He buried the two of them on Liyang Mountain, and personally put on mourning, and held a grand funeral.

●Xuanwumen brothers fight each other
After the establishment of the Tang Dynasty, Emperor Gaozu Li Yuan of the Tang Dynasty chose his eldest son Li Jian as the crown prince. However, his second son Li Shimin contributed the most and contributed the most to the establishment of the Tang Dynasty. The conflict between Li Jiancheng and Li Shimin deepened day by day.

Li Shimin enlisted famous generals such as Yuchi Jingde, Qin Shubao, Xu Shibo, and Li Jing, and famous eighteen scholars such as Fang Xuanling and Du Ruhui also became his advisers.Therefore, his power is unmatched.After Li Jiancheng raised troops in Taiyuan, he also led the army and fought some victories. Although he was not as powerful as Li Shimin, he had the legal status of prince, which made a large number of royal relatives gather around him.He stayed in Guanzhong for a long time and had a solid foundation in Chang'an, the capital city. Even the palace defenders (the guards of Xuanwumen) were under his control. He even recruited Li Yuanjila, king of Qi.Generally speaking, Li Jiancheng and Li Shimin are evenly matched and evenly matched.However, the situation is becoming more and more unfavorable to Li Shimin.Because Li Yuan was fatuous and incompetent, he gradually alienated Li Shimin by listening to slander.Li Jiancheng took the opportunity to intensify his collusion with Li Yuanji, Zhang Jiehao, and Yin Defei, trying to assassinate Li Shimin several times.

Once, Jiancheng, Shimin, and Yuanji followed Li Yuan to hunt outside the city, and Li Yuan asked them to ride horses and compete with arrows.Li Jiancheng deliberately let Li Shimin ride one of his untamable horses. As soon as Li Shimin got on the horse, the horse jumped wildly.Li Shimin jumped off in a hurry, and waited for the horse to calm down before riding on it.Unexpectedly, as soon as he got on the horse, the horse jumped up again.After repeating this three times, Li Shimin subdued the fierce horse.Li Shimin rode on the horse and said to the people next to him: "Someone wants to use this horse to kill me. Don't you know that life and death are fate, how can it be done?"One night, Li Jiancheng invited Li Shimin to drink, intending to poison Li Shimin to death.Unsuspecting, Li Shimin picked up the wine glass and drank it down. Suddenly, he felt unbearable pain in his chest, and then he vomited blood.Fortunately, Li Shentong, the king of Huai'an, was present, and he took Li Shimin back to the mansion to treat him with all his strength, and only then did he save his life.

Li Jiancheng also used gold and silver to buy the generals of the Qin Palace, and encouraged Li Yuan to transfer all Li Shimin's confidants to other places.

Li Jiancheng and Li Yuanji planned to take advantage of the opportunity of resisting the Turkic invasion to seize Li Shimin's military power first, and then kill him when he went out.Li Jiancheng recommended Li Yuanji to replace Li Shimin in front of Li Yuan, and Li Yuan agreed.Li Yuanji also asked Yuchi Jingde, Cheng Yaojin, Qin Shubao and other generals of Qin Wangfu to be under his command, and to transfer elite soldiers from Li Shimin's subordinates to enrich his troops, and Li Yuan agreed one by one.Li Jiancheng thought that he had arranged it very carefully, but in fact, the news reached Li Shimin very decisively.Li Shimin hurriedly called Changsun Wuji, Yuchi Jingde and others to discuss countermeasures, and everyone advocated immediate action and a pre-emptive strike.

One day in 626 AD, Li Shimin went to court to sue Li Jiancheng and Li Yuanji, exposing their misconduct in the harem and their ambiguous relationship with Zhang Jiehao and Yin Defei.Li Yuan was taken aback, and said: "There is such a thing?" Li Shimin said: "Not only that, but they also tried to murder me several times. If they succeed, I will never see my father!" After speaking, he began to cry.Li Yuan said: "What you said is of great importance. I will personally ask about it tomorrow!"

That night, Li Shimin dispatched troops and generals.Early the next morning, Li Shimin personally led Changsun Wuji and others to ambush near Xuanwu Gate.Zhang Jiehao heard the wind and immediately sent someone to report to Li Jiancheng.Li Jiancheng consulted with Li Yuanji.Li Yuanji said: "We should arrange our soldiers and horses as soon as possible. If we are sick, we will not go to the court. We will observe the movement." Li Jiancheng said: "What are you afraid of? There are two concubines Zhang and Yin to take care of you, and your own army to guard the Xuanwu Gate outside. What can you do to us? Let's go up to the court together and see the situation." After speaking, the two rode into the Xuanwu Gate.

The general guarding the Xuanwu Gate was called Chang He. He was originally Li Jiancheng's confidant, but he had been bribed by Li Shimin.Li Jiancheng and Li Yuanji walked to the Linhu Hall and found that the situation was abnormal, so they immediately turned their horses and ran back.Only someone shouted: "Prince, King Qi, why don't you go to the court?" Li Yuanji looked back, it was none other than Li Shimin, the enemy, he hurriedly took his bow and arrow, and shot three arrows at Li Shimin, but nothing came. Shot.Li Shimin aimed at Li Jiancheng and shot an arrow back, only to hear a sound of "suggestion", Li Jiancheng fell off his horse and died.Li Yuanji fled westward in a hurry, ran into Captain Yuchi Jingde head-on, turned his horse's head and ran back.Suddenly a burst of arrows shot, Li Yuanji took advantage of the situation and rolled off the saddle, and went into the nearby woods, just happened to meet Li Shimin.When the enemies met, they were extremely jealous. Li Yuanji rode up to Li Shimin's body, grabbed his bow, and strangled Li Shimin's head and neck with his hands.At this extremely critical moment, Yuchi Jingde arrived on horseback.Li Yuanji let go of Li Shimin and ran away, but Yuchi Jingde shot him dead with an arrow.

At this time, people outside the Xuanwu Gate shouted, it turned out that it was the generals Feng Yi and Feng Li of the East Palace, and Xue Wanche of the Qi Mansion with more than 2000 people were attacking the gate.The strongman Zhang Gongjin stood against the door alone, but the outsiders failed to enter. The two generals Jing Junhong and Lu Shiheng who guarded the Xuanwu Gate stepped forward and died in battle one after another.Soldiers from the East Palace and the Qi Mansion went to attack the Qin Palace again, and the situation was very critical.At this time, Yuchi Jingde rushed over with the heads of Jian Jiancheng and Yuan Ji, and shouted: "I am ordered to attack the two thieves. This is their head. Who else are you working for?" The head, as expected, belonged to Jiancheng and Yuanji, so they dispersed in a hurry.

When the three brothers were fighting together, Li Yuan was taking a boat with his ministers and concubines to play in the sea pool.Suddenly seeing Yuchi Jingde coming in a hurry, he asked, "What are you doing here?" Yuchi Jingde said, "Prince, the King of Qi is rebelling. The King of Qin is afraid that His Majesty will be alarmed, so he specially sent officials to escort him." Li Yuan was shocked, and hurriedly asked: " Where are the Prince and the King of Qi now?" Yuchi Jingde said, "He has been killed by the King of Qin." Li Yuan was very sad, and ordered the cruise ship to dock, and turned to Pei Ji and the others and said, "I didn't expect such a thing to happen today. See what to do?" When the ministers on the left and right heard that Jian Jiancheng and Yuan Ji were dead, they went along with the flow to make a personal favor.Xiao Lu and Chen Shuda said: "Jiangcheng and Yuanji didn't have great achievements in the first place. King Qin's merits and virtues are overwhelming and won the hearts of the people. He should be made a prince." Li Yuan said: "I thought so too." There is no complete peace, please Your Majesty issue an order to order all armies to accept the command of the King of Qin." Li Yuan immediately sent someone to deliver an order to end the coup.

Three days later, Li Yuan announced that Li Shimin, the king of Qin, was the crown prince, and all major state affairs would be handled by the prince.In August of this year, Li Yuan was forced to abdicate and claimed to be the Supreme Emperor.Li Shimin became emperor under the title of Emperor Taizong, and changed his title to Zhenguan the following year.This coup was called the "Xuanwumen Incident" in history.

Fang Mou Du Duanzuo Taizong
"Fang" refers to Fang Xuanling, from Linzi, Qizhou (now Zibo, Shandong); "Du" refers to Du Ruhui, from Jingzhao Duling (southeast of Xi'an, Shaanxi).During Tang Gaozu Wude's reign, both of them were important counselors in the Qin Palace, helping Qin Wang Li Shimin to calm down the heroes and win the throne.

In the early years of Emperor Taizong's Zhenguan period, Fang Xuanling and Du Ruhui led Shangshu left and right servants respectively, and jointly took charge of the government.Fang Xuanling is good at planning and planning, and Du Ruhui is capable of deciding major events. They are Zuo Taizong, and they work together and complement each other.Therefore, when he was called a good prime minister, he must be called Fang Du.

●Wei Zheng admonishes Tang Taizong directly
The reason why Tang Taizong Li Shimin was able to govern the country well, in addition to his great talent and general plan, the most important one is to be good at accepting advice.This is very prominent in his experience in governing the country, so he has won the reputation of "the most admonishing emperor" in Chinese history.

Encouraged by Li Shimin, Minister Wei Zheng always gave him advice, and often argued hard without giving in.Li Shimin also attached great importance to Wei Zheng, and often called him into the palace to listen to his opinions alone.

There is a minister's daughter who is both talented and beautiful. The queen suggested that she should be selected for the court, and she has been registered in the register.In fact, this girl is already engaged to someone and has a husband's family.But since he was elected to the palace, who would dare to say no to it.Someone told Wei Zheng about it.Wei Zheng hurried into the palace to meet Li Shimin, and advised him: "The emperor lives in a deep palace compound, with pavilions and pavilions, so he should think about whether the common people have houses to live in; Fill your stomach; the emperor is surrounded by groups of concubines and beauties, and you should think about whether ordinary people have a home." Li Shimin: "You said such a truth, what exactly do you want to say?"

(End of this chapter)