People living in rural areas have this experience. When fighting, I wish my brothers were more powerful. When it comes to separating the family, it is better to have no brothers and to get all the family property alone. For this phenomenon, Li Yuan, the Duke of Tang, must also have a deep understanding.
When Li Yuan rebelled, all three sons came in handy. Li Yuan's eldest son, Li Jiancheng, and his second son, Li Shimin, each led an army to kill Chang'an City. Li Yuanji, Li Yuanji's younger son, was responsible for staying in Taiyuan.
Li Yuan took his two sons and led 30,000 men and horses to Kill Chang'an. The three fathers and sons of the Li family charged in the front, and Li Yuanji stayed behind in the rear and did not make a mistake. After Li Yuan entered Chang'an, he ascended the throne as emperor and founded the Tang Dynasty. At this time, Li Yuan experienced the benefits of his son's more fights and more strength.
The Zizhi Tongjian records that Li Yuan was still the King of Tang, and when he did not ascend the throne, he made Li Jiancheng, Li Shimin, and Li Yuanji marshals. Li Jiancheng was the left marshal, Li Shimin was the right marshal, and Li Yuanji was the marching marshal of Taiyuan Province. Li Jiancheng and Li Shimin led 100,000 troops to attack Luoyang, while Li Yuanji continued to stay in Taiyuan.
In the early years of the Tang Dynasty, only Li Yuan's sons were qualified to be marshals, and the others could only be the commander-in-chief of the march. The three brothers of the Li family were the only three founding marshals in the early years of the Tang Dynasty, and they were all leading an army and were very strong.
Li Yuan stills, picture from the network, thanks to the original author.
After Li Yuan became emperor, the fate of the three founding marshals of the Tang Dynasty underwent a great change. Li Jiancheng was crowned crown prince, and the son of Qianjin could not sit in the hall, and the war could certainly not be done by him. The crown prince could not command the army, so he could only be led by two marshals, Li Shimin and Li Yuanji. As a marshal, Li Shimin led the troops to the south to conquer the north and made great achievements.
As a marshal, Li Yuanji commanded the soldiers and horses of Hezhou. At the beginning of the founding of the Tang Dynasty, the territory was only related to Zhonghe Shanxi. Li Yuanji commanded the Shanxi Terracotta Army, and it can be said that he was in charge of half of the Tang Dynasty. Li Yuan, fearing that Li Yuanji was too young to bear the responsibility of guarding Shanxi, sent his son-in-law Dou Zhi to Taiyuan to assist Li Yuanji in defending the city.
Dou was born as the name suggests, really funny. After Dou Shi came to Taiyuan, he went out every day with his brother-in-law Li Yuanji to find fun. Li Yuanji and his brother-in-law Dou Tian, today to rob a few little girls, tomorrow to hunt and disturb the people. The people of Taiyuan were made to complain bitterly by Dou And Li Yuanji.
Liu Wuzhou took the opportunity to attack Taiyuan, and Li Yuanji and Dou Shi had never seen such a posture, and fled after abandoning Taiyuan City. Shanxi was lost, and half of the Tang Dynasty was gone. Li Yuan was speechless about the foolish son and the foolish son-in-law, and could only find a scapegoat to kill in order to push Taiyuan off.
This matter is a classic of the "New and Old Tang Dynasty Books. The biography of Li Yuanji records: "Because of the treasure and the night with his wife and concubine, the commission army went to the Beijing Division and fell into the state. Emperor Fury, since he tried to order the conquest from the King of Qin, did not return to the army. ”
Li Yuanji stills, picture from the network, thanks to the original author.
After the defeat of the Taiyuan army, the three founding marshals of the Tang Dynasty, only Li Shimin, continued to command the army. Li Shimin was also very angry, first defeating Liu Wuzhou and recovering half of Shanxi. Li Shimin then attacked Luoyang, first encircling the point to help capture Dou Jiande alive, and then using Dou Jiande to force Wang Shichong to surrender.
Li Shimin's military achievements are getting higher and higher, and the other two marshals are unwilling to watch Li Shimin's family become dominant. Li Jiancheng and Li Yuanji took the initiative to ask for help and led troops to attack Liu Heimin. Liu Heimin was soon suppressed, and the prestige of Li Jiancheng and Li Yuanji also reached its peak. At this time, the three marshals of the founding of the Tang Dynasty all had the ambition to attack the emperor's throne.
Li Shimin's idea was to use the strength of tiance province, coupled with his own merit and prestige, to use the way of wendou to overthrow Li Jiancheng. Li Jiancheng's idea was to unite with Li Yuanji to overthrow Li Shimin and keep the crown prince's throne. In order to win over Li Yuanji, Li Jiancheng promised to ascend the throne and become emperor, and established Li Yuanji as the emperor's brother-in-law.
Li Yuanji is not stupid, he knows that Li Jiancheng is writing a blank check. Once Li Jiancheng ascended the throne, the emperor's promise could not be fulfilled, and he would also bring himself the disaster of killing himself. The Book of the Old and New Tang Dynasties records that Li Yuanji's wishful thinking was: "But except for the King of Qin, take the Eastern Palace as if it were a palm ear!" ”
Li Shimin stills, pictures from the network, thanks to the original author.
Li Yuanji wanted to borrow Li Jiancheng's knife, kill Li Shimin, and then turn his head and kill Li Jiancheng. Li Yuanji did two things for this goal. One thing is from the Zizhi Tongjian, which can be called the "YuwenBao Incident".
Li Yuanji invited Li Shimin to drink at the Qi Palace and secretly ambushed the Assassin Yuwen Bao in an attempt to assassinate Li Shimin. Li Jiancheng knew that Li Shimin was stabbed to death by Yuwen Bao, and his suspicion was the greatest, and the last person to benefit was definitely Li Yuanji. Li Jiancheng's plan to prevent Yuwen Bao from assassinating Li Shimin.
The second thing is the incident of the tiger leaving the mountain. Under the pretext of Turkic invasion, Li Jiancheng recommended Li Yuanji to command troops to fight against the Turks. Li Yuanji wanted to take this opportunity to transfer Qin Shubao, Wei Chi Jingde, Cheng Zhijie, Duan Zhixuan, and other elite generals from the Qin Dynasty palace to his command. Li Yuanji transferred Li Shimin's tiger generals over, and Li Shimin became the Marshal of the Light Pole.
On the third night of the first month of June in the ninth year of Wu De, Li Yuan hinted that Li Shimin should commit suicide. Li Shimin took the opportunity to report that Li Jiancheng and Li Yuanji had an affair with the harem concubines. Li Yuan issued an edict, asking Li Shimin to confront Li Jiancheng and Li Yuanji at the Taiji Hall the next day.
On the third night of the first month of June in the ninth year of Wu De, Li Shimin ambushed the nine henchmen of Tiance Province and the eight hundred soldiers of The Eight Hundred Provinces inside the Xuanwu Gate through the internal responses of Jing Junhong, Lü Shiheng, and Chang He.
In the early morning of the fourth day of the first month of June in the ninth year of WuDe, Li Jiancheng and Li Yuanji went to the Taiji Hall to confront Li Shimin. When the two were about to enter the Xuanwu Gate, Li Yuanji felt that the atmosphere was not right, so he and Li Jiancheng turned the horse's head and tried to leave the Xuanwu Gate. Li Shimin came out with his generals and attacked Li Jiancheng and Li Yuanji.
In the duel between the three founding marshals of the Tang Dynasty, Li Shimin won the victory and killed Li Jiancheng and Li Yuanji. Li Yuanji attempted to take advantage of the struggle between Li Jiancheng and Li Shimin to reap the benefits of the fishermen. Unfortunately, Li Yuanji was not Li Shimin's opponent, and instead of receiving the benefits of the fisherman, he was cut off by Wei Chi Jingde.
This article was originally written by Wang Fuxing. Code words are not easy, please respect the original, unauthorized, reproduction is strictly prohibited. I have signed a contract with a rights protection company to entrust a rights protection company to protect my rights. Unauthorized reprinters, the rights protection company will defend the rights on behalf of the person.