In the third year of Wude, Li Shimin led his army to attack Luoyang and defeated Wang Shichong. The following year, Li Shimin led the Xuanjia Army to pursue the victory and encircled the points for reinforcements. They won a great victory at Hulao Pass and captured Wang Shichong

In the third year of Wude, Li Shimin led his army to Luoyang and defeated Wang Shichong . The following year, Li Shimin led the Xuanjia Army to pursue the victory and encircled the points for reinforcements. They won a great victory at Hulao Pass and captured Wang Shichong and his general Shan Xiongxin alive.

After Wang Shichong was defeated and captured, how to deal with Wang Shichong and his subordinates became a must-answer question before Li Shimin. What is unexpected is that although Li Shimin promised not to kill Wang Shichong, he ordered the execution of Wang Shichong's general Shan Xiongxin.

During Li Shimin's military career, he often used his opponents' elite soldiers and generals for his own use. For example, Yuchi Jingde, who originally worked for Liu Wuzhou, Wei Zheng, who served for Li Jiancheng's team, and Qin Qiong, who had followed Wang Shichong earlier, have become important backbones of Li Shimin's team. So, why did Li Shimin, who had accepted so many heroes, have to kill Shan Xiongxin?

01 Betrayal and betrayal

Judging from the description in the folk novel "Romance of the Sui and Tang Dynasties", the main reason why Li Shimin killed Shan Xiongxin was that Shan Xiongxin would rather die than surrender to the Li Tang Dynasty, forcing Li Shimin to get rid of Shan Xiongxin.

I think back then, Shan Xiongxin was still the general manager of Green Forestry in Jiu Province. Together with his brother Shan Xiongtong, he ran Erxian Village in Luzhou, Shanxi, and lived a lively and enjoyable life.

Unexpectedly, when Li Yuan passed through Shanxi with his family, he unfortunately encountered a killer sent by Yang Guang to chase him. Although Li Yuan's family was finally rescued by Qin Qiong, Li Yuan, who was still in shock, mistakenly thought that Shan Xiongtong, the owner of Erxian Village who was riding a horse and hunting on the roadside, was Yang Guang's pursuer. He bent his bow and arrow on the spot and shot him to death with one arrow. Single Xiongtong.

The hatred of killing his brother, unlike Dai Tian, ​​Shan Xiongxin became a mortal enemy of the Li Tang Dynasty from then on. Even though there was a turmoil in the world after that, and many people in Jiajialou Forty-six Friends were working under Li Shimin, Shan Xiongxin would rather die than eat Tang Su, forcing Li Shimin to execute him.

This description of Shan Xiongxin in "The Romance of the Sui and Tang Dynasties" has moved many readers throughout the ages. Especially because of the death of his brother, Shan Xiongxin did not hesitate to fight against the powerful Tang army with his own strength. It makes people reluctant to mention him. I couldn't help but praise: "Red-haired Spirit Officer" is indeed a good man!

All art comes from life, So, in real history, was the reason why Li Shimin killed Shan Xiongxin really because of personal grudges?

Speaking of which, the personal grudge between Li Yuan and Shan Xiongxin is actually just an artistic creation of a literary work. One of the real reasons why Li Shimin killed Shan Xiongxin was because Shan Xiongxin had lost his integrity, which made Li Shimin feel that Shan Xiongxin was of low character and unfit for use.

According to historical records, when Zhai asked to bring a group of brothers to Yiwagang, Shan Xiongxin from the same hometown also brought a group of teenagers to join the group. If we look at it from a modern perspective, Shan Xiongxin is Zhai Rang's confidant and die-hard supporter.

Since then, things have changed in Wagang Village. In the thirteenth year of the Great Cause, Li Mi became the leader of the Wagang Army, and Shan Xiongxin was named General Zuo Wuhou. It can be said that he is inferior to one person and superior to ten thousand people. .

Unfortunately, Wagang in history did not have the brotherly loyalty that can be seen everywhere in "The Romance of the Sui and Tang Dynasties", but only power struggles that can be seen everywhere. In July of the thirteenth year of Daye, Li Mi led his army to fight Wang Shichong. Wang Ruxin, Zhai Rang's subordinate, believed that this was an opportunity for Zhai Rang to take power, so he persuaded Zhai Rang to take advantage of the battle between the two armies to seize Li Mi's power.

Unexpectedly, the news was accidentally leaked. After learning about it, Li Mi simply kept silent. The next day, he took the opportunity to have dinner with Zhai Rang and pretended to invite Zhai Rang to see a good bow, but secretly ambushed his troops in advance.

Zhai Rang didn't know it was a scam, so he picked up the bow and played with it carefully. Soon enough, the soldiers and horses who had been ambushing him suddenly came out together and hacked Zhai Rang to death.

When Zhai Rang died, Shan Xiongxin, who accompanied Zhai Rang to the banquet, immediately "paused his head and begged for mercy" and cried and begged Li Mi to spare his life. Li Mi's subordinate Fang Yanzao seeing Shan Xiongxin's cowardly appearance, persuaded Li Mi to kill Shan Xiongxin, but Li Mi cherished Shan Xiongxin's talent and spared Shan Xiongxin's death.

Shan Xiongxin naturally joined Li Mi. It stands to reason that Li Mi spared Shan Xiongxin's life and became Shan Xiongxin's new leader. Shan Xiongxin should be loyal to Li Mi. However, Shan Xiongxin is a spineless and unloyal villain at heart. If he can abandon Zhai Rang and join Li Mi, he can abandon Li Mi in exchange for greater benefits.

In the first year of Wude in the Tang Dynasty, Li Mi and Wang Shichong started a battle at the foot of Mang Mountain. Shan Xiongxin, who held a heavy army, was stationed far north of Yanshi City, sitting back and watching Li Mi's defeat and the disintegration of Wagang's army. However, he surrendered to Wang Shichong with his troops, money and food, and suddenly became a general under Wang Shichong.

Shan Xiongxin's repeated changes of ownership ruined Li Shimin's goodwill towards him. Thinking about Li Shimin's status, he must look down on such a heartless and unjust person.

02Li Shimin's helplessness

However, although Shan Xiongxin is unkind and ungrateful, his old friend Li Ji is deeply affectionate and loyal. When Shan Xiongxin was sentenced to death, Li Ji considered his brotherhood with Shan Xiongxin and tried every means to plead for Shan Xiongxin, and even offered to use his official title to redeem Shan Xiongxin's death penalty.

You must know that Li Ji made great contributions to Datang , and Li Shimin also respected him very much. So, why did Li Shimin kill Shan Xiongxin despite Li Ji desperately trying to save Shan Xiongxin?

In the opinion of some scholars, Li Shimin must kill Shan Xiongxin, perhaps because Li Shimin had no control over Shan Xiongxin's life and death. Li Shimin was just following orders to kill Shan Xiongxin.

According to the "Old Book of Tang Dynasty", "Wang Shichong of Chuping, won the trust of his old friend Shan Xiong, and was executed according to the law. He said that his martial arts were unparalleled. If he were to be killed together, he would be greatly grateful and worthy of the country. Please sacrifice your life and redeem it with your official title."

This means that Li Ji asked Li Yuan to forgive Shan Xiongxin's death penalty, but Li Yuan did not agree.

However, when this record was included in " Zizhi Tongjian ", the final "Gaozu forbids it" became "Shimin does not allow it". The person who decided Shan Xiongxin's life and death directly changed from Li Yuan to Li Shimin.

The completely different historical data made people very confused for a time. Who was the person who ordered the killing of Shan Xiongxin?

In fact, if we carefully examine "Zizhi Tongjian" and "Old Tang Book", it is not difficult to find that Li Yuan is the most suspicious. Because Li Ji prayed for Shan Xiongxin on behalf of Shan Xiongxin. In ancient times, only ministers petitioned the king. Li Shimin was still a prince at that time. Even if Li Ji petitioned Li Shimin, Li Shimin would not dare to accept it.

Not only that, when Li Ji went to the table, he also offered to exchange his official title for Shan Xiongxin's life. At that time, Li Shimin was a general and Li Shiji was a subordinate. They were both leaders in the army, and Li Ji was Li Yuan's personal title as General Youwuhou and Cao Guogong.

's unusual status meant that if Li Ji really wanted to exchange his official title for Shan Xiongxin, he would have to exchange it with Li Yuan. After all, Li Shimin didn't have the ability to relinquish the title that Li Yuan bestowed on Li Ji.

Since it is possible that Li Jiji came to Li Yuan to intercede, then the order to kill Shan Xiongxin was probably given by Li Yuan. As the executor, Li Shimin could only act according to orders and executed Shan Xiongxin. In vain, he left behind a legend that "it is better to study in Taoyuan than to disrespect Wagang to burn incense", floating in the long river of history.

Reference materials: "Old Book of Tang", "New Book of Tang", "Zi Zhi Tong Jian"

Author: Our guest author Zhuying Yuejiang