flatten the heroes and unify the whole country
Li Yuan When he was emperor, the heroes were fighting. The northern border includes Li Gui , Xue Ju, Liang Shidu, Guo Zihe , Liu Wuzhou, Gao Kaidao; Yellow River basin has Wang Shichong , Li Mi , Dou Jiande, Meng Haigong , Xu Yuanlang ; between Jianghuai , there are Du Fuwei , Li Zitong , and Chen Qing; Jiangnan , there are Shen Faxing , Lin Shihong , and Xiao Xian . Faced with this situation, the strategic policy of Li Tang is to first consolidate the Guanzhong base, then march into Guandong and gradually unify the whole country.
or above (now Tianshui, Gansu) is the capital, and is locating in Longyou. Xue Ju, who claimed to be Emperor Qin, when Li Yuan captured Chang'an, he ordered his son Xue Renguo (Yizuo Gao) to lead his troops to attack Fufeng County City (now Fengxiang, Shaanxi), and was defeated by the Tang army. In June of the first year of Wude (618), Xue Ju personally led the army to attack Jingzhou (now Jingchuan, Gansu). In the battle of Gao Ji (now northwest of Changwu, Shaanxi), Tang generals Liu Wenjing and others failed to underestimate the enemy. Xue Ju wanted to take advantage of the victory, but suddenly died of illness in the army. His son Renguo succeeded to the throne and lived in Zheqiu City (now northeast of Jingchuan). Li Shimin took the opportunity to march into Gaojin, and had a stalemate with Qin general Zong Luo ■ for more than two months. Taking advantage of Renguo's food and soldiers being separated, he defeated Zong Luo ■ in Qianshuiyuan and broke into the siege. Xue Renguo surrendered to the Tang Dynasty in poverty.
After pacifying Xue Renguo, the Tang army pointed its edge at Li Gui in Hexi. In addition to contacting Tuyuhun to isolate Li Gui, they mainly use differentiation methods to disintegrate the Li Gui group. In May of the second year of Wude, Emperor Gaozu of Tang sent An Xinggui to Guzang (now Wuwei, Gansu) to recruit Li Gui, who was known as Emperor Liang, but Zhi refused to follow. An Xinggui and his brother An Xiuren led the Hu people to launch a mutiny, subverting Li Gui's regime, and the five counties in Hexi were merged into the territory of the Tang Dynasty.
Just when the Tang court was operating the northwest, Liu Wuzhou of Daibei attacked Taiyuan in a large-scale attack on Taiyuan. The Tang army was defeated, and Taiyuan left behind Li Yuanji abandoned the city and fled. Liu Wu and Zhou generals Song Jingang went south to capture Xizhou (now Shanxi Yicheng), and their troops reached Xia County , Puban , and Guanzhong was shocked. Emperor Gaozu of Tang "sent all the troops from Guanzhong" and ordered Li Shimin to lead the resistance. Shimin crossed the river from Longmen and stationed troops in Baibi (now southwest of Xinxiang, Shanxi). He was stalemate with the King Kong tribe of Song for five months. By April of the third year of Wude, the Tang army took advantage of the opportunity when the King Kong tribe of Song for a shortage of food and retreated northward to pursue them quickly. In the areas of Luzhou (now Huo County, Shanxi) and Jiexiu (now Shanxi), Song Jingang was defeated after several fierce battles. Song Jingang and Liu Wuzhou fled to Turkic , and were later killed by the Turkic. The Tang army completely occupied the Shanxi region. This consolidated the Guanzhong base and cleared the obstacles to advancing to Guandong.
At this time, the situation in Kanto changed a lot. The Wagang Army, led by Li Mi, was hit hard by Wang Shichong, and had failed to surrender to the Tang Dynasty. Later, he was killed for his resolute attempt to make a comeback. According to Dou Jiande from Hebei, he defeated Yu Weng who went north from Jiangdu and the remnants of the Sui army, and crossed the river to destroy Meng Haigong who occupied Zhouqiao (now Dingtao, Shandong). Wang Shichong called himself Emperor Zheng in Luoyang, and was dominant in Henan, confronting Dou Jiandeyao in Hebei. Between the Jianghuai River, Du Fuwei won the final victory in the struggle with Li Zitong, Chen Feng and others and unified the region. The middle reaches of the Yangtze River are still Xiao Xian’s separatist.
In July of the third year of Wude (620), Li Shimin was ordered to lead a large army out of the customs and attack Wang Shichong. Shimin stationed troops in Beimangshan (now north of Luoyang, Henan) and commanded the troops to adopt a large-scale encirclement situation against Luoyang. Although Luoyang has powerful weapons, it has been siege for a long time and has shortage of food, so the dead are related. When Wang Shichong faced a strong enemy, he sent people to ask Dou Jiande for help several times. Jiande initially waited and watched, intending to reap the benefits of the fisherman. Later, I saw that Luoyang was very critical and believed that "Xia could not be independent if Zheng fell." So he took advantage of the remnant power of defeating Meng Haigong and led his troops to rescue Luoyang in March of the fourth year of Wude. Facing this new situation, Li Shimin analyzed the interests of the battle and defense and decided to adopt the strategy of "surrounding Zheng and attacking Xia". He personally led the elite troops to Wuzhuo to seize the danger to defend the enemy. Dou Jiande was unable to move forward due to the danger of Wulao.After staying in the army for many months, the army was slackened and was defeated by the Tang army and Jiande was captured. Seeing that the situation was hopeless, Wang Shichong surrendered to the Tang army. Li Shimin eliminated the two strong enemies Dou and Wang in one fell swoop, and accelerated the process of unifying the Kanto region.
Tang Ting killed Dou Jiande, and persecuted his old subordinates more, and ordered the recruitment of Jiande's former generals Fan Yuan, Dong Kangmai and others to Chang'an. Fan Yuan and others were afraid of disaster and recommended Liu Heita and as the leader, and raised an army in Zhangnan, and all regions responded. In less than half a year, Dou Jiande's hometown was restored. Heita called himself the King of the East Han Dynasty, and still capitalized on Mingzhou . Old-time officials, "semi-replicate". At the beginning of the fifth year of Wude, Li Shimin sent troops again to defeat Liu Heita, who fled to the Turks. Although the Tang army won the war this time, it still did not win the hearts of the people in Hebei. Two months later, Liu Heita returned to Hebei under the cover of Turkic cavalry, and still received support from his old subordinates Cao Zhan, Dong Kangmai and others. "The heroes from Shandong killed many officials to respond to Heita." In ten days, Liu Heita completely occupied the old land he had lost before and led his troops south, "all prefectures and counties north of Xiangzhou were attached to it." This time, Emperor Gaozu of Tang sent the prince Jiancheng to lead his army to attack Liu Heita and dealt with the prisoners leniently to calm the people's hearts and achieved certain results. On the way back by the Tang army, Liu Heita was captured by his general Zhuge Dewei and was sent to Mingzhou to kill.
When Emperor Gaozu of Tang conquered Chang'an, he sent Guanglu Dafu Li Xiaogong to comfort Shannan and defeat Zhu Can . From Jinchuan (now Ankang, Shaanxi), he came out of Ba and Shu, "where the edicts arrived, there were more than 30 states surrendering to the affiliation." Xiaogong was appointed as the governor of Xinzhou (Xuanchang Kuizhou). Dazhi boats trained the navy and actively prepared for war. In September of the fourth year of Wude, the Tang Dynasty appointed Li Xiaogong as the general manager of Jinghu Road, commanded the 12 land and water armies, and attacked Xiao Xian, who occupied Jiangling (now Hubei) and claimed to be Emperor Liang. The general Wen Shihong failed to resist the battle, and Xiao Xian surrendered. The Tang army pacified the Jinghu area in one fell swoop. Du Fuwei from Huainan had already defected to the Tang Dynasty in the second year of Wude. After the Central Plains was settled, Fu Wei was ordered to enter the court and stayed at the public office to defend it. In the sixth year of Wude, Gong Yu "deceived the truth and did not return to Jiangnan, so he sent a letter to order him to raise an army." He then raised his troops to rebel against the Tang Dynasty and proclaimed himself emperor in Danyang. Emperor Gaozu of Tang ordered Prince Zhao Li Xiaogong to lead all the generals to advance on land and water to fight against the public. In March of the seventh year, Gong Yu was defeated and died, and all Jiangnan was pacified.
In the seventh year of Wude, Gao Kaidao was killed by his general Zhang Jinshu, and Jinshu surrendered to the Tang Dynasty with his land. In the same year, Tang general Li Shiji confronted Xu Yuanlang. At this point, the Tang court basically eased the situation of division and separatism since the end of the Sui Dynasty and achieved national unity.
The change of Xuanwu Gate
The Empress Dou of Emperor Gaozu of Tang gave birth to four sons. In addition to the third son Xuanba died young, the eldest son Jian was established as the crown prince. He was generous and talented, assisting Emperor Gaozu in handling government affairs, stabilizing the rear, and supporting the front line, which played an important role. The second son Shimin was named King of Qin. He was talented and often led troops to fight and made outstanding achievements in combat. With the improvement of Li Shimin's prestige, a struggle for the inheritance of the throne occurred between Li Jiancheng and . In this struggle, Emperor Gaozu's fourth son, King Qi, has always supported Li Jiancheng.
It was still in the second year of Wude, and the prince’s secretary Li Gang advised Jiancheng, “It is not advisable to listen to evil words and become suspicious.” It refers to suspicion of Li Shimin, which may be the beginning of the conflict between them. After Li Shimin pacified Guandong, the contradiction became even deeper. When Liu Heita raised his troops again, Prince Zhongyun Wang Gui and Xima Wei Zheng reminded Jiancheng: "The Qin King's honor is cloned, which is powerful all over the world, and the people's hearts are what they want, how can Your Highness be at ease?" Therefore, he suggested that he attack Liu Heita in order to "make meritorious service" and "became a handsome Shandong." Build into establishing one's prestige and implementing this suggestion. In order to strengthen military power, more than 2,000 brave men were built to guard the Changlin Gate on the left and right of the East Palace, known as " Changlin Bing ". He also won over the concubines in the harem, especially the favorite concubines of Emperor Gaozu, Zhang Jieyu and Yin Defei, so that they could praise themselves and destroy the people in a short period of time. He also worked with Yuan Ji to plan and murder Li Shimin many times. As for Li Shimin, Feng Deyi once pointed out: "The King of Qin relied on his great merits and refused to accept the position of the crown prince." This is not a false statement. Around Li Shimin, a group of civil servants and generals with outstanding talents had long been reunited, as well as more than 800 warriors who were kept outside.Although he offended Zhang Jieyu for rewarding Li Shentong and farming, he also "sees all the concubines" and "has been left with bribes." His wife Changsun also "does her best to make up for the gap" between Emperor Gaozu and his concubines to win the support of the harem, but the results were not very effective.
Six years after Wude, Li Shimin felt deeply that "not tolerated by his brothers, but fear of not rewarding his achievements", and the contradiction became even more acute. In June of the seventh year, Emperor Gaozu of Tang escaped the summer heat and took advantage of the opportunity to stay and privately called Yang Wengan, the general manager of Qingzhou, to "recruit the healthy men and send them to the capital, wanting to change." After this matter was exposed, Emperor Gaozu was furious and summoned Jiancheng to the palace to investigate. He ordered Shimin to attack Yang Wengan, who was rebelling, and said, "Director Wen has been in charge. I am afraid that there will be many people who respond to it. You should do it yourself. Return to make you the crown prince. I cannot follow the Emperor Wen of Sui and kill the flesh and flesh, and abolish Jiancheng as the King of Shu. The land is remote and easy to control, and if you can't serve you, it will be easy to take." Shimin quickly pacified Yang Wengan, but Emperor Gaozu changed his mind, but under the request of Yuan Ji and the concubines and the lobbying of Feng Deyi, he still ordered Jiancheng to return to the capital to guard the capital, "but he blamed the brothers for being dissatisfied." He blamed Wang Gui, ministers of the Eastern Palace and Qin Palace, Wang Gui, Wei Ting, and Du Yan, and exiled.
Later, Jiancheng summoned Shimin at night, and drank and urged him. Shimin was heartbroken and vomited blood. Therefore, Emperor Gaozu said to him: "Look at your brothers, they are in disagreement. If you are in the capital and town, you will have anger. You will be in a state of resignation. You will be in Luoyang, from the east of Shaanxi. You are still allowed to establish a banner of the emperor, just like the story of King Xiao of Liang. " Jiancheng and Yuanji believed that letting Shimin was not good for themselves, so they secretly obstructed him. On the one hand, they sent someone to write a letter to advise him, and on the other hand, they sent someone to tell him the interests of Emperor Gaozu, and Emperor Gaozu stopped this. At this time, the construction and intensify activities, eliminate the wings of the people, or engage in bribery. Fang Xuanling , Du Ruhui were all expelled from the Qin Mansion for slander, Yuchi Jingde , Duan Zhixuan and others became the targets of bribery, and the situation seemed very urgent. Therefore, Changsun Wuji, Yuchi Jingde and others "advise the people to punish Jiancheng and Yuanji day and night", and the people are hesitant. Just at this time, the Turks invaded and Jiancheng recommended Yuan Ji to supervise the army in the northern expedition. "Yuan Ji asked Yuchi Jingde, Cheng Zhijie, Duan Zhixuan, the three commanders of the Qin Palace, and Qin Shubao, etc. to accompany them to briefly review the elite soldiers under the Qin King's tent to help Yuan Ji's army." Wang Chang, the leader of the Communist Party, reported to Shimin again, saying that Jiancheng would take advantage of the farewell ceremony for Yuan Ji and hurt Shimin, and all the tricks were done by Jingde and others.
At this critical moment, Shimin and Fang Xuanling and other secret dealers launched a coup. Shimin secretly reported to Emperor Gaozu of Jiancheng and Yuanji's "fb" harem, and said, "I have no fault of my brothers. Now I want to kill my ministers, which seems to avenge Shichong and Jiande. I am dead in vain and will always disobey the king and relatives. My soul returns to the ground. I am really ashamed to see all the thieves!" Emperor Gaozu was surprised when he heard this and told him, "I will investigate tomorrow, and you should take part in early." On June 4, Shimin led Changsun Wuji and others to ambush Xuanwumen and kill Jiancheng and Yuanji. Emperor Gaozu was rafting on the sea pond. Yuchi Jingde came to see him. Emperor Gaozu was shocked and asked, "Who is the riot today? What are you here?" Jingde said, "The King of Qin was rebelling with the prince and the king of Qi, and raised his troops to kill him, for fear of disturbing Your Majesty, so he sent me to guard." At that time, Pei Ji, , Chen Shuda, and others were all there. Emperor Gaozu said to Pei Ji, "If you don't want to see this today, what should you do if you see this matter today. What should you do if you don't want to see this matter today. ? " Xiao Yu. Chen Shuda said: "Jiancheng and Yuan Ji did not make any plans for justice, and they were ineffective in the world. They were afraid that the King of Qin would be highly respected and were both considered as traitors. Now the King of Qin has been punished and punished him. The King of Qin has made great contributions and has led the land to his heart. If Your Majesty is punished by Yuan Liang and entrusts the country, there will be no more trouble!" Emperor Gaozu had no choice but to agree and issued a warrant to "all the troops will be punished by the King of Qin", which calmed the incident.
Six days later, Emperor Gaozu made Li Shimin the crown prince and issued an edict: "From now on military and national affairs, no matter how big or small, all the princes are ordered to be executed, and then the report will be heard." In August, it was officially reported that it was located in the crown prince, and the emperor moved to Da'an Palace as the emperor, and no longer reported on national affairs. In his later years, Emperor Gaozu personally saw the peaceful scene of the Zhenguan period. Once, at a banquet held by the Weiyang Palace for senior officials, he ordered the Turkic Jie Li Khan to dance, and also made Feng Zhidae, the chief of the Nanyue , chant poems. Emperor Gaozu smiled and said, "Hu Yue's family has never existed since ancient times."Taizong raised his glass and said, "I have been taught to be kind and teach me the principles of literature and morality. I followed the banner of righteousness to pacify the capital. He was highly regarded as Xue Ju, Wu Zhou, Shi Chong and Jiande, and was lucky enough to conquer them. In the past three years, he was surrounded by a single district and favored him, so he was given an important task. Today, the heaven is in peace, and the year is in harmony, and I am sent to the left and the ministers. Is this intelligence? It is all due to the saint's calculations. "Gaozu was very happy, and the banquet was held until late at night. On May 1st of the ninth year of Zhenguan (635), Emperor Gaozu of Tang died of illness at the age of 70. He was buried in Xianling (in Sanyuan, Shaanxi).
