Li Yuan, whose name is Shude, is the founding emperor of the Tang Dynasty. Li Yuan’s life experience can be traced back to the Sixteen Kingdoms period Xiliang founding monarch Li Hao (hào), but it is Li Yuan’s grandfather Li Hu that really made the rise of the Li Yuan family, and Li Hu was in Southern and Northern Dynasties During the Western Wei Dynasty, he served as the Taiwei (equivalent to the current Chairman of the National Military Commission). He was one of the of the Western Wei Dynasty. He was a particularly powerful role.
Li Yuan's father Li Ping (bǐng), he inherited Li Hu's Duke of Tang, and he served as the doctor of the censor and the general of Zhu Guo during the Northern and Southern Dynasties . Li Yuan’s mother is the daughter of Duguxin, that is, Sui Wendi Yang Jian’s wife Dugu Jialuo’s sister. Therefore, Li Yuan is also a relative of the Sui Dynasty, and Li Yuan is considered a prominent family member. The second generation of officials, his starting point may be a height that ordinary people can't reach for a lifetime.
When Li Yuan was 7 years old, his father had been there, and Li Yuan inherited the title of Duke Tang. Li Yuan himself is an extrovert, he doesn't worry about food and clothing, so he is more free and easy to be a person, and he is more tolerant towards others, so people of high and low like him very much.
After Emperor Wen of Sui Yang Jian established the Sui Dynasty, due to the solitary queen , Li Yuan was highly regarded by Emperor Wen. First, he appointed Li Yuan as the emperor's imprisonment officer, and later Li Yuan also served as local governor and prefect.
Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty After succeeding to the throne, Li Yuan was transferred to the court to take charge of the affairs of the imperial guard. Later, when Emperor Yang of Sui conquered and Goguryeo ,Li Yuan is responsible for transporting grain and grass. Before long, Yang Xuangan rebelled and Li Yuan was ordered to guard Honghua County. During his stay in the local area, Li Yuan actively win over local heroes, so he was jealous of Emperor Sui Yang. After Li Yuan heard the news, in order to protect himself, he was smart and started drinking too much. He learned from in the Han dynasty to openly embezzle and accept bribes, and temporarily escaped.
In the 11th year of Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty, Li Yuan was sent to Shanxi as a comfort ambassador. He fulfilled his mission and suppressed the Wuduan'er Rebellion and the rebel Chai Baochang, and defeated , which invaded the border. The Turkic army, plus Li Yuan’s tribute to Emperor Sui Yang several times, so Emperor Sui Yang not only relaxed his vigilance, but also promoted him.
In 617 AD, Li Yuan stayed behind in Taiyuan and held the military and political power. At this time, the peasant uprisings in the end of the Sui Dynasty were on the rise, and the rule of the Sui Dynasty was faltering. Li Yuan secretly said to his son Li Shimin: "Tang is my crowned state, and Taiyuan is where Tang is located. Now I am here for a good opportunity given by God, but I don't take it, and disaster is about to come.", Li Yuan The plan to raise troops began. At this time, the Turks invaded, Li Yuan's subordinates failed in combat, and the moody Emperor Yang ordered Li Yuan to be punished. Although Li Yuan was quickly pardoned, this episode strengthened Li Yuan's determination to fight against Sui .
The history books record that Li Yuan, a man who "has a strategy for saving the world and has the heart to be a world economy", he prepared for a rainy day and continued to recruit troops to expand his strength as early as when the rebellion was put down in Taiyuan. He also signaled his sons Li Jiancheng and Li Shimin to absorb them in their respective places. , Recruiting talents, lays a talent foundation for raising troops in the future.
At that time, Li Yuan’s son Li Shimin and Jinyang county magistrate Liu Wenjing and Li Yuan’s confidant secretly planned the uprising, but Li Yuan didn’t know about it.In order to urge Li Yuan to make up his mind, the three of them let Pei Ji get Li Yuan drunk, and then let Sui Yang Emperor's few beauties staying in Jinyang Palace to stay with Li Yuan for the night. This incident was a serious crime of decapitation. Afterwards, they took the opportunity to report to Li Yuan's plan to raise troops. Li Yuan had the intention to do so, so he agreed.
At the end of the Sui Dynasty, the situation changed rapidly. The local hero Liu Wuzhou launched a mutiny and successfully killed the prefect Wang Rengong , occupying Mayi in Li Yuan's jurisdiction and becoming the emperor. Immediately afterwards, Liu Wuzhou attacked Loufan County, and at the same time united with Turks ready to go south to compete for territory. Because of this incident, Li Yuan was almost convicted by Emperor Sui Yang. Coupled with the agitation of his subordinates, Li Yuan began to act. On the grounds of preventing Liu Wuzhou and Turks, he sent his underlings to recruit soldiers, and at the same time, he recalled Hedong's two sons Li Jiancheng and Li Yuanji to Taiyuan.
However, the deputy left-behind Wang Wei and Gao Junya who were placed beside Li Yuan by Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty saw Li Yuan go to war. They planned to get rid of Li Yuan and others on the grounds of praying for rain at Jinci. However, this conspiracy was reported. Li Yuan. Li Yuan acted first, using Wang Wei and Gao Junya as an excuse for colluding with the Turks. It happened that the Turkic army actually attacked Li Yuan at this time, and Li Yuan took the opportunity to get rid of the two men. In order to prevent Li Yuan from raising troops, the Turks stabbed in the back and sent people to flatter and give expensive gifts to the Turkic leaders. This made the Turkic leaders very happy and expressed their full support for Li Yuan to raise his troops. He gave Li Yuan thousands of pilgrims. horse. A man who can bend and stretch, Li Yuan is still quite witty!
In the thirteenth year of the great cause, Li Yuan led his 30,000 soldiers to march in Jinyang Oath, and made a plan to seize Guanzhong as a base. The Sui Dynasty also took countermeasures, sending Song Laosheng and Qututong to defend Huoyi and Hedong respectively. In addition, continuous rainy days made roads difficult to move. Li Yuan’s rebel army was trapped on the way, and the army was also very nervous. The army also rumored that the Turks would attack the rear of Jinyang. Li Yuan immediately convened a meeting to discuss countermeasures. There were two opinions in the army. One was to withdraw troops back to Jinyang.After drawing a second plan, the other one advocated continuing to advance in accordance with the original plan. After careful consideration, Li Yuan finally settled on the latter plan.
Later, Li Yuan turned around from time to time. First, the weather began to clear, and rations began to be delivered from the rear. Li Yuan took advantage of the situation to capture Huo Yi and left some troops to besiege the difficult-to-conquer Hedong, and he led the main force to continue marching towards Guanzhong. Li Yuan’s daughter Li, his younger brother Li Shentong , and his son-in-law Duan Lun all gathered in Guanzhong. With their cooperation, Li Yuan successively won the cities around Chang'an , and finally launched a general attack to take down the Sui capital Chang'an.
After Li Yuan entered Chang'an, he learned Han Gaozu Liu Bang abolished the harsh government of the Sui Dynasty and rejected the request of his subordinates to make him the emperor. Probably because Emperor Yang of Sui was still alive at this time, he did not want to be the target of public criticism. He made Yang Yu (yòu), the grandson of Emperor Yang, emperor, and he learned Cao Cao and became the prime minister in power.
In the second year, Emperor Yang of Sui was murdered by his subordinates in Jiangdu, and Li Yuan forced the puppet emperor Yang You to give himself a Zen throne. In this way, Li Yuan proclaimed emperor in Chang'an and established the famous Tang Dynasty in Chinese history. In this way, Li Yuan became the Qin Dynasty with the shortest time since the founding of the nation. It took him only one year from the start of the army to the proclaiming emperor.
Later, Li Yuan, like Xiao He in history, took the seat of Chang'an, and let his sons, especially Li Shimin, begin to expand. Li Yuan adopts the strategy of distant close and close attack. He first sent Li Shimin to quell the separatist forces of and Xue Ju . Then the separatist rule Liangzhou Ligui broke out in civil strife and was conquered by the Tang dynasty, and the Tang dynasty began to establish its rule in the northwest.
Before long, Liu Wuzhou sent Song Jingang to attack Taiyuan. The Tang army was defeated, but Li Yuan sent Li Shimin to the north to rescue. After a five-month confrontation with Song Jingang, Li Shimin finally waited until Liu Wuzhou's army was short of food to withdraw his troops and defeated Song Jingang. Liu Wuzhou was forced to flee to Turks with Song Jingang and be killed.
After consolidating the rear, Li Yuan continued to send Li Shimin to attack Luoyang's Wang Shichong . The defeated Wang Shichong defended Luoyang while asking for help from another hero, Dou Jiande . Dou Jiande weighed in and finally sent troops to rescue him. However, Li Shimin seemed to be on the hook, one out of two, and even a complete victory, successfully captured the two great heroes of the end of the Sui Dynasty and returned to Chang'an.
However, because the Tang Dynasty’s treatment of Dou Jiande’s subordinates was improper at the beginning, Dou Jiande’s subordinates Liu Hei闼 borrowed from the Turkic soldiers, taking advantage of the Tang Dynasty’s unpopularity in Shandong, once again segregated Shandong, and at the same time was a local official of the Tang Dynasty. Xuyuanlang and others also defected. This time, Li Yuan asked Prince Li Jiancheng to lead the army. Li Jiancheng successfully defeated Liu Heitai and Xu Yuanlang in fulfilling his mission, and brought Hebei back into the Tang Dynasty.
Later, Li Yuan successively included Bashu, Jinghu, and Lingnan into the territory of Datang by sending ministers to surrender and march, and finally unified the country.
However, after Li Yuan unified the country, he failed to lead a stable life in his old age, because Prince Li Jiancheng and Li Shimin got involved. Li Jiancheng was established as the prince in the early stage of the establishment of the Tang Dynasty. He was a man of generous temperament and ability. He assisted Li Yuan in the management of the political affairs of Chang'an and stabilized the rear. However, Qin King Li Shimin often led troops to conquer the east and west, and made great achievements, and his prestige continued to increase. Li Shimin also gathered a group of capable officers and generals to form his own power and threatened Li Jiancheng’s crown prince. The two sides began to fight in secret.
However, Li Yuan, who is indecisive, does not deal with these contradictions.Instead, he blindly adopted an attitude of harmony, which eventually led to the Xuanwu Gate Xuanwu Gate change. Li Shimin won the final victory, and Li Jiancheng, Li Yuanji and their children were killed. After the Xuanwumen incident, Li Yuan was frustrated when he saw his offspring kill each other. He first appointed Li Shimin as the prince, and then handed over the government affairs to him. Later, he simply gave way to Li Shimin and became the emperor himself. Since then, Li Yuan retired to Tai Chi Palace to enjoy his old age and no longer interfere in political affairs.
During this period, Li Shimin wiped out the East Turks in Zhenguan for four years and captured the Turkic leader Jie Li Khan . In March of the same year, leaders of ethnic minorities from all over the country gathered in Chang'an and named Li Shimin as " Tian Khan ". After Li Yuan heard that Jie Li Khan had been captured, he sighed: "Back then, Emperor Han Gaozu was besieged by Xiongnu in Baideng City, and he could not avenge him; now my son can destroy the Turks, which proves that the person I entrusted is right. What are your worries!" So Li Yuan summoned Li Shimin, the distinguished ministers of the DPRK, and his clan to celebrate with a banquet in the Tai Chi Palace where he lived. When he was happy, Li Yuan personally fetched the pipa to play, and Li Shimin personally got up and danced. The ministers wished Li Yuan their birthday. This is also the greatest relief for Li Yuan in his later years.
In the eighth year of Zhenguan, Li Yuan died of illness at the age of 70.
Li Yuan is one of the few unlucky founding emperors in history. He was the founding emperor, but he was forced to abdicate, and his sense of existence in history is also very weak. Other founding emperors are often described by their descendants as wise and powerful, but Li Yuan is an exception. In order to highlight the wiseness of his son Li Shimin, he had to be wronged. Under the light of his son, Li Yuan's figure left in history is obviously mediocre.
" Cambridge Chinese History of the Sui and Tang Dynasties" believes that the reason why his fame is relatively small is firstly because of his relatively short reign, and his predecessor Sui Yang Emperor and his later Tang Taizong Li Shimin are both A famous emperor in history,One is the emperor who is very controversial, and the other is the emperor who has performed superbly. These two people are equivalent to the current traffic king, and the average Li Yuan is the background. The second point is that his role in the early days of the founding of the country was deliberately covered up by the successor Li Shimin. I personally think that there is another point that Li Yuan found the country too smoothly, not to mention that there is no great ordeal along the way, and he has not encountered stumbling several times and is not topical.
However, Li Yuan still has something to do. Although he was over 50 when he revolted against the Sui Dynasty, he was still an ambitious, cautious and capable leader. Especially in the early days of the founding of the People’s Republic of China, he led in Taiyuan to raise troops , took the correct diplomatic offensive against the Turks, Li Mi , and successfully guided the Tang army to seize Chang'an. Since the establishment of the Tang Dynasty, he has been fully supporting the frontline wars in the rear. His policy of amnesty, grants, and appointing officials helped the Tang Dynasty obtain a lot of necessary support and ultimately contributed to the reunification of the country. Li Yuan established the system and political structure of the early Tang Dynasty, which laid a solid administrative, economic and military foundation for the later rule of Zhenguan.
No matter how history is written, in my opinion, he is still a man of the generation!
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References: Old Tang Books, New Tang Books, Zizhi Tongjian
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