The Jinyang uprising was the first step in the establishment of the Tang Dynasty, so its significance was very significant. The so-called difficult beginning of everything, who first decided to rebel against the Sui? There have always been two theories in history, some people say it is Li Shimin, and some people say it is Li Yuan. This question is very important because it involves the question of the Tang Dynasty being able to establish, Li Yuan and Li Shimin who have greater credit.
Whether in the Old Book of Tang or the New Book of Tang, it is recorded that Li Shimin was the first person to plan the Jinyang uprising, such as "Emperor Taizong and Jinyang ordered Liu Wenjing to plot the first plot" and "Gao Zu raised Taiyuan, not his original intention, but taizong". These records all show the role of Li Shimin in the Jinyang uprising.
Some people have always thought that the history books are not credible, Li Shimin is suspected of revising history, and later historians often help him cover up out of respect for him. But we need to know that history books are, after all, one of the most powerful evidences we can find, and if we don't believe them, how do we understand history? And we should also believe in the qualities of those historians in ancient China, and not deny them all.
Regardless of whether Li Shimin was the first conspirator in this incident, through the records of the history books, we can find that Li Shimin did play a great role in the jinyang uprising, including his "yin knot haojie, recruiting outlaws", he contacted The Jinyang Palace supervisor Pei Huan to persuade Li Yuan together. You must know that Li Yuan was an imperial relative of the Sui Dynasty, and he was already rich, so it was really difficult for him to gamble everything to rebel, and even if Li Shimin was not the first conspirator of this uprising, he at least played an important role in Li Yuan's decision-making.
For a long time, we have been discussing who is the first conspirator of the Jinyang uprising, and more people are on the side of Li Shimin, however, we have not thought about another question, the Jinyang uprising, who is the "mastermind". Although the words "first conspirator" and "mastermind" are only one word apart, the meaning is very different, and the first conspirator is the first person to come up with an idea, and the mastermind is the person who makes the decision. Perhaps Li Shimin played the role of the chief plotter in the Jinyang uprising, but it still did not prevent Li Yuan from being the real mastermind.
The reason for saying this is actually very simple, because whether Li Shimin is "yin knot Haojie, recruiting outlaws", or wooing Pei Huan Liu Wenjing, or he is throwing money around, those who are recruited by him definitely do not look at Li Shimin's face, because at that time Li Shimin was just a 20-year-old boy, and his father was the number one person in the military and government of Taiyuan. Without Li Yuan's signboard, Li Shimin would not have succeeded so quickly. We might as well think backwards, if they fail to raise an army and are arrested by the imperial court, will the imperial court regard Li Shimin as the main culprit and Li Yuan as an accessory? Obviously not.