619 AD
Usurpation of the throne by Wang Shichong: The End of the Sui Dynasty
In 618, Wang Shichong made Yang Tong, the grandson of the Sui Emperor and the King of Yue, emperor. In the following year, King Zheng III of the Sui Dynasty forced Emperor Gong of Sui to abdicate and proclaim himself emperor with the state name Zheng.
At that time, Duan Da, the Duke of Chen, took some forged spells from Wang Shichong to persuade Emperor Gong of Sui to take the throne. Emperor Gong of Sui was not willing to be deposed like this, and wanted to struggle a little longer, so he released a harsh word, saying that the number of Sui Dynasty qi was not exhausted, and if you wanted to change the dynasty, don't come to Zen to let that set.
But this is only the last stubbornness of a 15-year-old. Wang Shichong, like a child, sent someone to persuade Emperor Gong of Sui, saying that the world was undecided and that an older monarch was needed, and that he would be reinstated after the world was pacified. Emperor Gong of Sui had no choice but to agree to Zen's position in Wang Shichong, who ascended to the long-dreamed emperor's throne.
Wang Shichong was able to ascend to the Great Treasure mainly by relying on two skills, one was good at fighting, and the other was good at guessing the Holy Will. Wang Shichong was born in a family of official eunuchs, and was promoted in his early years because of his military achievements, and was promoted to the rank of foreign lang of the military department. During the reign of Emperor Sui, he was promoted to Jiangdu Cheng (江都丞) and concurrently served as the overseer of Jiangdu Palace, thus being able to get close to Emperor Sui. The Sui Emperor often inspected Jiangdu, Wang Shichong observed the color of the words, threw himself into his favor, talked about political affairs and said that the Sui Emperor loved to listen, and also made some jade carvings and landscape paintings to dedicate to the Sui Emperor, falsely claiming that they were rare treasures from exotic lands, so he was favored by the Sui Emperor.
But Wang Shichong was not willing to be a favorite. Seeing the chaotic political situation in the Sui Dynasty, he secretly befriended all kinds of haojie, extensively bought people's hearts, and some people who were imprisoned for crimes, he tried to rescue them in order to expand his prestige in the underworld. When the world is in chaos, do another job. In 613, Yang Xuan, the Duke of Chu, rebelled against the Sui, and Wang Shichong waited for the opportunity to come.
At that time, three rebel armies near Jiangdu responded to Yang Xuan's anti-Sui, and the Sui Emperor sent the generals Tu Wanxu and Yu Juluo to suppress it. These two veteran generals, who had experienced hundreds of battles, temporarily controlled the situation, but because the Sui army had been fighting for many years and the soldiers were tired, the two veteran generals requested a truce for a while. As a result, some people framed them for being disobedient, so the Sui Emperor removed the two men from their positions and replaced them with Wang Shichong leading the troops.
Wang Shichong recruited tens of thousands of new soldiers in Huainan, and this batch of Huainan soldiers was the capital that Wang Shichong later started. He led these fresh forces to attack all kinds of rebel armies, and won successive battles, and soon pacified the rebel army. The Sui Emperor thus favored him even more. On one occasion, the Sui Emperor cruised north and was besieged by Turks at Yanmen (雁門, in present-day Dai County, Shanxi). After Wang Shichong heard the news, he led all the people and horses of Jiangdu to rush to Yanmen to rescue the driver. He was disheveled in the ranks, crying in a particularly exaggerated manner. In order to hurry, he did not take off his armor day and night, and lay down on the grass to sleep. When the Sui Emperor heard of this, he thought that Wang Shichong was a rare loyal subject, and soon after escaping from danger, he promoted Wang Shichong to be the general judge of Jiangdu.
In 617, the Wagang army reached the eastern capital Luoyang. The Sui Emperor sent troops from all over the country to rescue Luoyang, and Wang Shichong also led 20,000 people to support. Unexpectedly, xue Shixiong, the commander-in-chief of this military operation, was killed by the Hebei rebel Dou Jiande in the middle of the march, so the Sui Emperor made Wang Shichong the commander-in-chief of the Aid Luo army. Wang Shichong fought with the Wagang army in Luoyang, and the two sides won and lost each other. Before the battle was over, the Sui Emperor, who was in Jiangdu the following year, was killed by the Right Tun Wei general Yu Wenhua and . After Wang Shichong heard the news, he and Duan Da and others supported Yang Tong, the king of Yue, as the new king. Counting Wang Shichong and Duan Da, there were a total of 7 auxiliary ministers, known as the "Seven Nobles".
The "Seven Nobles" did not share the same heart, and at first the six guis led by Neishi Lingyuan Wendu united against Wang Shichong. Because Wang Shichong held military power and posed the greatest threat to the emperor and them, Liu Gui and Emperor Gong of Sui stood in the same boat and together drew Li Mi from the Wagang army to deal with Wang Shichong. They gave Li Mi conditions, as long as he eliminated the rebellious Yu Wenhua and let him enter the imperial government.
Yu Wenhua, who had killed the Sui Emperor, was approaching west toward Guanzhong and was about to pass through Li Mi's territory, and Li Mi did not want to be attacked by the enemy on his stomach, so he made an armistice with Wang Shichong and accepted the canonization of Emperor Gong of Sui, and was made a taiwei and the Duke of Wei.
Wang Shichong felt that Li Mi, who had joined forces with Liu Gui, was a great threat to himself, so he said to his subordinates that everyone had killed Li Mi's father and brothers in previous wars, and if Li Mi took power, he would definitely retaliate. When his men heard this, they were extremely frightened and prepared to deal with Li Mi and Liu Gui. When Yuan Wendu of the Six Nobles heard about it, he decided to take action against Zheng Shichong. He and the other members of Liu Gui plotted to assassinate Wang Shichong, and as a result, Duan Da, because he was timid and afraid of not succeeding, sent someone to leak the news to Wang Shichong. Wang Shichong immediately sent someone to kill Yuan Wendu and others, and only Wang Shichong and Duan Da, who was informing, were left in Qigui.
Later, Wang Shichong attacked while Li Mi's army was tired, and Li Mi fled in defeat, and from then on, Wang Shichong monopolized power. After that, Wang Shichong forced Emperor Gong of Sui to abdicate and establish himself as emperor.
Conclusion: After Wang Shichong usurped the throne and became emperor, the Sui Dynasty officially collapsed, and the State of Zheng and the State of Tang established by Li Yuan and the State of Great Xia established by Dou Jiande formed a three-legged situation in the north and the Central Plains.
The Fall of Li Rail: The Great Cool Overthrow
In 619, Li Rail, the Liang king of Hexi, was captured by an xinggui, a local magnate in Liangzhou, and Li Rail's regime was defeated.
Li Rail was a native of Wuwei and served as sima of Yingyang Province during the Sui Dynasty, and was deeply loved by the people. He raised an army at the end of the Sui Dynasty, under the influence of the neighboring princes Xue Ju. At the end of the Sui Dynasty, the Emperor was tyrannical, which led to the rise of the people and the chaos in the world, and it was not strange that some people raised troops. It was just that the place where Xue Ju raised his troops was too close to Li Rail's hometown of Wuwei, and Li Rail felt that his hometown was bound to be affected, so he called his colleagues Cao Zhen, Liang Shuo, and An Xiuren and said that Xue Ju was very cruel, and if he called over, the Sui Dynasty officials would certainly not dare to resist, then we would all be destroyed, so it was better to unite and turn this place into a base for our resistance. Everyone agreed and pushed Li Rail as the leader. Li Rail said to do it, and he asked An Xiuren and the township haoqiang to subdue the local governor and control Wuwei. Then Li Rail took Wuwei as a stronghold and successively captured five parts of Hexi and declared himself the King of Hexi Liang.
At this time, the power of the neighboring Xue Ju was also growing, and Li Yuan, the emperor of Tang Gaozu, was ready to recruit Xue Ju, but fearing that Li Lu would take advantage of the opportunity to cause trouble, he sent envoys to Liangzhou to give Li Rail a letter and try his best to win over Li Ju. Li Lu was very happy after reading Li Yuan's letter and sent his younger brother Li Mao to Chang'an to pay tribute. Soon after, the Tang army defeated Xue Ju and occupied the Longxi region, but the Tang Dynasty wanted to further expand its territory, and Li Rail's existence became the biggest obstacle.
Li Lu's subordinate Cao Zhen suggested that Li Yuan had such a large territory, and it would be good for you to be emperor of Liangzhou, and the two countries could not interfere with each other. Li Yuan heard that Li Rail refused to be a vassal, and in a fit of rage, prepared to attack Li Rail. Li Yuan had a subordinate named An Xinggui, and his younger brother was Li Ji's subordinate An Xiuren. An Xinggui knew that the Tang army was strong and could not bear to meet his brother on the battlefield, so he suggested to Li Yuan that he could go to Xiliang and persuade Li Lu to surrender.
An Xinggui dared to make this suggestion because he and his younger brother were from the Xiliang An family and were a famous local family, and Li Rail also had to rely on the strength of the An family. As soon as An Xinggui arrived in Liangzhou, Li Rail set up a banquet to entertain An Xinggui. An Xinggui took the opportunity to persuade Li Rail that The Western Liang forces were weak and difficult to support, so it was better to defect to datang as soon as possible. However, Li Rail did not agree, he thought that he occupied a dangerous position, and The Army of datang could not do anything to him. An Xing Gui saw that there was no hope of convincing Li Rail to surrender, so he stopped wasting his tongue. He and his younger brother An Xiuren prepared to lead their people to defect to the Tang Dynasty.
But before acting, An Xinggui decided to get rid of Li Rail's adviser Liang Shuo first. The reason is that as early as when Li Rail started his army, Liang Shuo reminded Li Rail to beware of family forces in the Western Liang region. This made An Xiuren very dissatisfied, and he thought that Liang Shuo wanted Li Rail to suppress the An family. At this time, it happened that Li Zhongyan, the son of Li Rail, was also at odds with Liang Shuo, because when Li Zhongyan visited Liang Shuo, Liang Shuo did not get up to greet him, which made Li Zhongyan hold a grudge. An Xiuren and Li Zhongyan falsely accused Liang Shuo of rebellion, and Li Rail killed Liang Shuo.
Liang Shuo was a hero who helped Li Rail, and his death caused great trepidation within Liangzhou, and many people no longer had one heart with Li Rail. Not long after, famine broke out in Hexi, the people were displaced, Li Rail distributed a lot of relief grain, and some officials advised Li Rail that the grain should be kept for marching and fighting, how can it be distributed to the people so much? Li Rail decided not to distribute grain, and he completely lost the hearts and minds of the people. Seeing that Li Rail was already a rebel, the two brothers An Xinggui and An Xiuren secretly plotted a rebellion, and they led troops to surround Liangzhou City, forcing Li Rail to lead an army to meet the battle, and Li Rail, who was caught off guard, was unable to resist, knowing that the general trend had gone, and surrendered to An Xinggui. After An Xinggui captured Li Rail and brought him back to Chang'an, the Tang Dynasty quickly pacified the Hexi region.
Conclusion: After the defeat of Li Rail, the Tang Dynasty pacified the Hexi region, and its territory was further expanded, and its control over the Guanlong region was consolidated, laying a solid foundation for the Tang Dynasty to gradually complete the great cause of reunification.
An Xinggui (descendant of Prince Sabbata of the Western Regions)