(The Woman Who Speaks History - No. 735) The reason why the Early Tang Dynasty was strong was nothing more than two reasons, one was that there were many talents, such as Fang Xuanling and Wei Zheng, and the other was that there were emperors who could use talents, such as Li Shimin. According to the historical records, this person is not only a man of both literature and martial arts, but also has a very high personality and the integrity of Zhou Bo, and he was praised by the famous minister Fang Xuanling before his death; he was also highly appreciated by Li Shimin of Tang Taizong, and Li Shimin wept bitterly after his death. Even more legendary is that folklore has it that he was canonized by the Jade Emperor after his death. So who is this person? What kind of life legend did he have?
1. Defeated and captured, escaping death.
This person who was appreciated by Emperor Taizong of Tang was Li Daliang (586-644), the founding hero of the Tang Dynasty, who was a native of Zhaojingyang (present-day Xianyang, Shaanxi) in the late Sui and early Tang dynasties, and came from a family of eunuchs, whose father was Li Chongjie, the governor of Shuo Prefecture in the Sui Dynasty and the Duke of Wuyang County. Li Daliang has been practicing literature and martial arts since childhood and has quite ambitions.
In the last years of the Sui Dynasty, Li Daliang served under the Sui Dynasty general Pang Yu. In 617, Li Mi led the Wagang army to attack the eastern capital Luoyang, and Pang Yu led an army to meet the enemy. But he was defeated by Li Mi, and after the defeat, more than 100 people were captured, including Li Daliang. Li Mi's subordinate Zhang Bi wanted to kill the captives, but seeing that Li Daliang was different, he thought that this person had great ambitions, so he left him behind, and the rest did not stay, and all of them were killed. Li Daliang, who luckily escaped death, was befriended by Zhang Bi and jointly served in the Wagang Army.
Second, sell horses to help the poor, kill horses to retreat from the enemy, and threaten Jingxiang
Like most of the heroes of the Wagang Army, Li Daliang later defected to Li Yuan and became one of the founding heroes of the Tang Dynasty. In 618, Li Daliang was awarded the Tumen County Order by Li Yuan, the Emperor Gaozu of Tang, for his merits. However, when he took office, he was severely tested, because he was facing a mess of internal and external difficulties, and not only was there a famine in Tumen County, but also a flood of thieves. As a county commander, Li Daliang felt the heavy responsibility on his shoulders. He first appeased and provided relief to the people who fled the wilderness. To support the people, he even sold his horse. He urged everyone to vigorously reclaim the fields, and the county achieved a bumper harvest of grain that year, eliminating famine. Then Li Daliang vigorously pacified the thieves. When Li Shimin, the King of Qin, inspected the northern region, he saw Li Daliang's merits and greatly appreciated it, and generously rewarded him with five horses (also said to be one), fifty paragraphs.
The thieves had just been pacified, and the Turks had come to attack again, Li Daliang considered that his small county town had no strength to resist the enemy, and it was too late to report to the imperial court, in order to protect the interests of the common people, he made an amazing move with his bravery and martial prowess across the battlefield. He rode out of the city alone to the enemy camp, and with his three inches of uncorrupted tongue, he persuaded the Turkic leaders to retreat with the might of the Tang Dynasty. The leader of the other side was slightly impressed by his boldness and ordered the collection of troops.
In order to repay the Reasoning of the Turks, Li Daliang generously killed his warhorse and feasted with them, and the two sides bid farewell. After killing the mount, he had to return to Tumen on foot. This time, he broke into the enemy camp alone, killed horses and retreated from the enemy, which was passed down as a good story by posterity. After Tang Gaozu learned of this, Long Yan was greatly pleased and promoted Li Daliang to Sima of the Golden State Governorate.
Later, Li Daliang was ordered to send troops to Jingxiang. Because at that time, although the overall situation of the world had been decided, there were still a line of residual forces that had not been eliminated. For example, at that time, Wang Shichong's nephew Wang Honglie still occupied Xiangyang and tried to resist the Tang to the end. Gaozu Li Yuan then sent Li Daliang to suppress the rebellion. Li Daliang did not fail in his mission, he led his army to attack Jingxiang, with the momentum of destruction and decay, more than ten cities were successively destroyed, Gao Zu was overjoyed, he wrote an mian and promoted Li Daliang to the position of Assassin of Anzhou.
Later, when Li Daliang was on his mission to Badong in Guangzhou to Jiujiang, he met the rebel Fu Gong, and he showed his outstanding talent for courage and strategy, designing to capture The General Zhang Shan'an under the auxiliary Gong Qi, and was promoted by the imperial court to the governor of Yue Prefecture for his merits.
Third, Li Daliang dared to speak out and advise Tang Taizong
Li Daliang was repeatedly promoted because of his remarkable political achievements. In the first year of Zhenguan (627 CE), Emperor Taizong of Tang appointed Li Daliang as the governor of Jiaozhou, and later recalled him to the capital to be made the governor of Taifu, and later appointed him the governor of Liangzhou, during which time Li Daliang was known for his huizheng.
Once Tang Taizong sent an emissary to Liangzhou to inspect, the emissary saw that Li Daliang had raised a falcon, and he wanted to please the emperor, so he took the initiative and asked Li Daliang to offer the falcon to the emperor.
Since it was the emperor's emissaries who opened their mouths, if they were replaced by ordinary officials, they would like to take it out and offer it to the emperor to gain some benefits or political capital for themselves. But Li Daliang was not, he felt that this must be the messenger himself tricking the ghost, and the emperor could not support it. So he sent someone to Tang Taizong and said, "Your Majesty has refused to hunt for a long time, but your emissary has asked me for a falcon, if it is your intention, I will do it; if the emissary asks for it without authorization, I think the emissary is incompetent." Tang Taizong sighed and said, "There are courtiers who are so worried about jiangshan sheji, and they have no worries!" So he sent emissaries to give Li Daliang a bottle of Hu wine, and gave a chronicle of the Han Dynasty written by the Eastern Han dynasty historian Xun Yue.
During the reign of Emperor Taizong of Tang, he launched a powerful offensive against the Eastern Turks, which eventually led to the collapse of the Eastern Turks. After that, Emperor Taizong of Tang wanted to appease the Hu people in various places, stipulating that each of the ministries that surrendered should be given a collar robe and five horses, and its leader would be awarded the official positions of general and general of the middle lang, and there were hundreds of people who ranked in the five official positions. The surrendered Hu people were also placed south of the Yellow River. Emperor Taizong appointed Da Liang as the Ambassador of Consolation of The Northwest Province, sent an envoy to pacify the unincorporated tribes, and asked him to prepare food to help them survive the famine.
This measure is also very good. But Li Daliang suggested to Li Shimin a more long-term strategic vision, and he wrote: "The minister thinks that in order to appease the distant places, we must start by appeasing the people close by." The Central Plains are the foundation of the world, and the Hu people everywhere are branches and leaves. Seeking national stability by harming the fundamentals and giving preferential treatment to branches and leaves is called giving up the original and seeking the end, which is not enough. The old ministers thought that those tribes that voluntarily requested to be annexed should restrain and use them, without having to move them to the Henan region, but should still let them stay outside the border and survive on the spot, let them fear your prestige, be the border vassals who guard the country, and become a barrier to the Central Plains. In addition, a large area west of the Yellow River has been plagued by the Hu people for many years, coupled with the turmoil at the end of the Sui Dynasty, the agricultural depression, and the great loss of financial resources. The foolish opinion of the subjects was to stop the work of appeasing the unattributed tribes, encourage the people in the border areas to resume agricultural production, and reduce their labor force, which was the long-term solution. Emperor Taizong felt justified and accepted his suggestion.
4. Li Daliang accompanied Li Jing in his army to defeat Tuguhun and assisted Li Ji and other enemies Xue Yantuo.
In 634 (the eighth year of Zhenguan), Li Daliang was appointed ambassador of Jiannan Province. In December of the same year, Tuguhun invaded Liangzhou, and Emperor Taizong of Tang named Li Jing as the grand governor of Xihai Province, and led an army to attack Tuguhun. Li Daliang, who was then the governor of Liangzhou, and others accompanied Li Jing on his expedition. Li Daliang and Li Jing went out of the north road and fought with Tuguhun at the Shuhun Mountains, defeated Tuguhun, captured twenty of his famous king, killed thousands of enemy soldiers, and captured 200,000 miscellaneous animals, and the wife of its leader Fu Yun was also captured by the Tang army. After Tuguhun's invasion was quelled, the Tang court made Murong Shun the Prince of Xiping Commandery. However, Emperor Taizong of Tang was afraid that Murong Shun would not be able to serve the people, so he sent Li Daliang to lead thousands of troops to support him. After this war, Li Daliang was promoted to the title of Duke of Wuyang County for his merits, and paid homage to the Great General of the Right Guard.
In the winter of 641 (the fifteenth year of Zhenguan), Xue Yantuo in the north led another 200,000 people (80,000 in one to say) across the desert and invaded the south. Emperor Taizong of Tang appointed Zhang Jian, the governor of Yingzhou, to be restrained in the eastern part of Xue Yantuo; Li Ji (李勣), the commander of the Shuozhou Dao March, commanding 60,000 Tun Yufang, and the Right Guard general Li Daliang (李大亮) as the commander of the Dao March in Lingzhou (in present-day Wuzhong, Ningxia), commanding 40,000 Tun Lingwu and parting ways to defend against the enemy Xue Yantuo.
Fifth, Li Daliang knew how to repay the favor and repaid the benefactor Zhang Bi
Because Li Daliang was captured in the battle with the Wagang Army, Li Mi's general Zhang Bi spared him the death penalty when he killed the prisoners, and now that he has achieved great ambition and a prominent position, he does not forget his benefactors and always thinks about how to repay Zhang Bi. At that time, Zhang Bi only served as a small official, but he was relatively high-minded, and he did not want to cause trouble for Li Daliang, so he avoided not wanting to see him. One day, Li Daliang happened to see Zhang Bi on the road, and he pulled him excitedly, tears falling like rain. He knew that the benefactor's life was not rich, so he decided to give up his family property to Zhang Bi, but Zhang Bi refused to accept it.
After that, Li Daliang elected Zhang Bi in front of Tang Taizong and said, "The subject can now serve His Majesty, and all the merits of Zhang Bi are also done, if there is no Zhang Bi, where would I be today!" The subject is willing to give up all his official titles to Zhang Bi, please your majesty to be gracious! Tang Taizong was also greatly moved when he heard this, so he promoted Zhang Bi to the position of General of Zhonglang and Acting Governor of Zhou. Li Daliang's Zhi'en Tu bao has been praised by the world, and of course, people have also praised Zhang Bi's low-key handling.
Sixth, Li Daliang's integrity is comparable to Zhou Bo, and he is praised by Fang Xuanling; after his death, Li Shimin wept bitterly.
As we all know, there was a founding minister in the Western Han Dynasty, Zhou Bo, who was brave and strategic, and was known for his upright personality; there was also a founding hero who was almost equal to Zhou Bo called Wang Ling, who was famous for his upright personality. Fang Xuanling, the most famous minister of the Tang Dynasty, compared Li Daliang to Zhou Bo and Wang Ling, thinking that he had the dignity of these two people. Fang Xuanling was very appreciative of Li Daliang's ability and character, and once praised Li Daliang in front of Emperor Taizong, saying: "Li Daliang has the integrity of Wang Ling and Zhou Bo, and can entrust him with important matters. In 644 (the eighteenth year of Zhenguan), when Emperor Taizong of Tang left Chang'an for Luoyang, he issued an edict to let Li Daliang handle political affairs as Fang Xuanling's deputy.
In 644, Tang Taizong was preparing to send an army to conquer Goryeo, when Li Daliang fell ill, Tang Taizong went to visit and personally gave Li Daliang medicine, and was very concerned about his condition. Li Daliang bitterly advised Tang Taizong not to carry out any more expeditions to Goguryeo, hoping that he would focus on running Guanzhong well in "where the Jingshizong Temple is located". However, Tang Taizong did not adopt it, which eventually led to the failure of the conquest of Goryeo.
Soon after Li Shimin's conquest of Goryeo, Li Daliang died at the age of fifty-nine. He was an incorruptible official, and when his family dressed him in a coffin, it was customary to put a pearl in his mouth, but his family could not take it out. Helplessly, he could only put some rice and cloth in his coffin. When Emperor Taizong Li Shimin heard of Li Daliang's death and knew that his family was so poor, he was so sad that he lost his voice and cried bitterly! Later, he gave Li Daliang the title of "Yi" and specially gave him the burial of Zhaoling. In ancient times, the emperor could allow his courtiers to be buried after his death, which was already a very high treatment.
After Li Daliang's death, folklore has it that he was canonized by the Jade Emperor
Li Daliang's character and integrity are noble, and his official integrity is widely circulated in the folk. For example, as early as the war of the Tang Dynasty's Pingfu Gongru Rebellion, because of his military achievements, Tang Gaozu Li Yuan had specially given him 100 slaves, but Li Daliang released them all. Later, Li Daliang broke the Tuguhun meritorious service, Tang Taizong gave him 120 slaves, and Li Daliang did not ask for any, all of which were given to relatives.
Li Daliang was a brave and martial general on the battlefield, and in peacetime he was a famous courtier with worldly talent, and his influence was quite extensive. In the Tainan region of Taiwan, he was one of the five princes enshrined. Li Daliang's loyalty to the king, patriotism, and compassion for the people are said to be beautiful in folklore, so there are many versions of legends about his death.
One of the famous legends is that he was very loyal to Li Yuan, the emperor of Tang Dynasty, and had the great sentiment of jun zai chen and jun deceased subjects, so he followed Li Yuan and died shortly after the death of Gao Zu Li Yuan. Therefore, after the Jade Emperor learned of Li Daliang's affairs, he was touched by his great patriotic sentiments of loyalty to the king, so he enfeoffed Li Daliang as the god of the Heavenly Patrol, stationed in the human world, took the king's ship, and patrolled the four directions to drive away the plague in the world, calling it the great king Li Fu Chitose. Although this is only folklore, it is enough to prove Li Daliang's prestige in the folk. (Text/One meter warm sun)
References: Old Book of Tang, etc.