Li Shimin is a military strategist. In the field of war, it is no exaggeration to say that there are few opponents. Li Shimin's father Li Yuan , brother Li Jiancheng , younger brother Li Yuanji , cousin Li Daozong is also very powerful in war, giving people the feeling that the whole family is a good soldier in the army. However, there are exceptions. Li Shimin had an uncle named Li Shentong . Although he led his troops to fight, he was defeated repeatedly and was known as a fool general. Logically speaking, since he is a fool, he should give up decisively and stop using him, but Li Shimin still uses him and let him play his due role.
(Li Shimin)
1. Li Yuan used Li Shentong, and 3 embarrassing things happened
Li Shentong, also known as Li Shou , is a native of Tai'an County, Gansu Province. Li Yuan's cousin and Li Shimin's uncle.
In 617 AD, Li Yuan raised an army in Jinyang . Li Shentong learned that he immediately followed Li Yuan's third daughter, Princess Pingyang , and then joined forces with Li Yuan's army to invade Chang'an . After the establishment of of the Tang Dynasty, Li Yuan appointed Li Shentong as the General of the Right Guard and the Prince of Huai'an . In fact, Li Shentong's performance was still good here. Unfortunately, he suffered three major defeats next, and his life experience became chaotic.
The first failure: the Battle of Liaocheng in 619. Li Yuan sent Li Shentong to attack Yu Wenji, and Yu Wenji hid in Liaocheng. Li Shentong led his army to surround Liaocheng. Yu Wenhua had no food and sent someone to surrender to Li Shentong, but Li Shentong was not sure and insisted on breaking the city to show his ability. Unexpectedly, before he could conquer the city, reinforcements from Liaocheng arrived, and Yu Wenhe stopped surrendering and continued to resist. Soon, the army of Dou Jiande from the north also arrived. A good advantage immediately becomes a disadvantage. Li Shentong was defeated and immediately withdrew his troops into Liyang City.
The second failure: Battle of Liyang in November 619. Li Shentong and Li Yang's garrison Li Shiji both underestimated Dou Jiande's strength. In the battle of Li Yang, Li Shentong and Li Shiji became prisoners, as well as the famous Wei Zheng , and Li Yuan's sister Princess Tong'an were all trapped in Dou Jiande's hands. Fortunately, Dou Jiande was not a random killing of innocent people, but just put a few people under house arrest. Later, the Tang regime reconciled with Dou Jiande, and Li Shentong and Princess Tong'an and others were able to return to the court.
The third failure: Raoyang's defeat in 621. After Dou Jiande's power was destroyed, Liu Heita rose, and Li Yuan had to select soldiers and attack Liu Heita. He picked Li Shentong again, maybe he wanted to give Li Shentong a chance to avenge his previous shame, so he ordered Li Shentong to go to Raoyang to fight the enemy for the right servant of the Daoxingtai in Shandong. This time, there was no suspense, and Li Shentong was defeated again, recording " Zizhi Tongjian ": Two-thirds of the loss of troops and military supplies.
3 failures made Li Shentong famous in the Tang Dynasty. He became synonymous with the defeated general and the foolish general. Many people don’t understand why Li Yuan always sends his cousin with poor military capabilities to be the chief executive to command thousands of troops? I think Li Yuan sent him to war for the first time because he didn't understand him. Later, he sent him out just to give him a chance to restore his reputation. But Li Yuan was wrong. Some people can't give him a chance, because he will fail whenever he has a chance.
(Li Yuan)
2. How did Li Shimin use Li Shentong's
In 622 AD, Li Yuan sent Li Shentong to fight again, and this time he asked Li Shentong to deal with Xu Yuanlang . Xu Yuanlang originally relied on Wang Shichong , but later surrendered to the Tang Dynasty, but soon rebelled against the Tang Dynasty, relying on Dou Jiande and Liu Heita. This time, when attacking Xu Yuanlang, Li Shimin was present, Li Shentong showed his power and won a great victory. This is the thing.
In July 622, Li Shimin conquered the city in advance and soon captured more than 10 cities, basically pacifying the forces between Huaihe and Jihe . The overall situation has been decided, and other forces have no echoing power, and it is only a matter of time before they all calm down. So, Li Shimin asked Li Shentong to attack Xu Yuanlang, for fear of his failure, so he did not let him be the chief manager, but asked him to go with the chief manager of the marching Ren Gui and Li Shiji.Under Ren Gui's leadership, Li Shentong and others confronted Xu Yuanlang for a long time. It was not until February 623 that Liu Heita was killed by Li Jiancheng. Xu Yuanlang lost his spiritual sustenance and fled in the desert. He was killed on the way to escape. Li Shentong won this battle. And because of his contribution this time, he was promoted to General of the Left Wu Guard.
See, how did Li Shimin use Li Shentong? Just pave the road and let him pick up the cheap ones. This is of course to take care of the face of the Li family and also to take care of the face of Li Shentong.
Although Li Shentong has lost many battles, he has won battles, and he is a royal relative, so he will inevitably be proud. After Li Shimin ascended the throne and became emperor, he saw that Li Shimin rewarded some ministers more than him and had a better position than him, and felt very uncomfortable, so he found Li Shimin to complain. Li Shentong said this in front of Li Shimin. He said, "I responded first when you and your father raised an army in Jinyang. The contribution should be the greatest. Now you forgot me, but you regard the ministers of swords and pens like Fang Xuanling and Du Ruhui as the master. I am not convinced." After hearing this, Li Shimin replied without hesitation: "Uncle, although you responded first, you have suffered repeated failures and were beaten by Dou Jiande and Liu Heita and fled. Although Xuanling and Du Ruhui are civil servants, they have the ability to plan and have the ability to govern the country and ensure the country. Their contributions and abilities should be above their uncles. As an uncle, I will treat you as a relative, but don’t compete for merit and rewards with the meritorious ministers.”
Li Shimin’s words did make Li Shentong look disgraceful, but note that he did not say it for Li Shentong, but for the ministers, especially for Fang Xuanling and Du Ruhui. He wanted to assert the hearts of the ministers and let the ministers do their best for Li Tang's country. In a word, Li Shimin used Li Shentong.
"Zizhi Tongjian" records that when the ministers heard Li Shimin's words, they were all moved and said to each other:
"Your Majesty is the official, even though the King of Huai'an still has no selfishness, why dare we be uneasy?"
Did he use Li Shentong to bribe the hearts of the ministers.
This is the reason why Li Shimin is good at hiring people.
Just imagine, Li Shentong was defeated repeatedly during the Li Yuan era, but under Li Shimin, he could not only win battles, but also win people's hearts through him. He really could use anything for him.
