Although Li Yuan was the founding prince of the Tang Dynasty, in terms of fame, Li Shimin's son overshadowed his father Li Yuan. Even the idea of planning an army in Jinyang was also assigned to Li Shimin's name, and Li Yuan became an incompetent person who sat on his success, and was forced to raise an army when he was forced to raise an army when he was forced to do so. Is that the truth?
(Li Yuan stills)
Absolutely not, this is only the result of Li Shimin's instructions, Zhenguan Shichen, in order to explain the legitimacy of his seizure of the throne, exalted Li Shimin and depressed Li Yuan. Although Li Shimin has made countless military achievements, compared to Li Yuan, it is only the relationship between the part and the overall situation and the whole. The following is explained in three aspects:
First, Jinyang raised an army
In the second year of Wu De (619), Li Yuan's good friend Yu Wenshi and the Tang Dynasty came to see Li Yuan, and Li Yuan said to the ministers: "This man talked to me about the affairs of the world six or seven years ago, and you are all behind him. That is to say, Li Yuan already had the ambition to seize the world when Yang Xuan felt that he had raised an army in the ninth year of Daye (613).
After that, Li Yuan never showed his sharp edge and could not bear it. Seeing the situation in which the masses rose up at the same time and the world was raging, Li Shimin and others could not sit still and persuaded Li Yuan to raise troops one after another. But he thinks the time is not yet ripe and remains silent. When there was an opportunity in Guanzhong, Li Yuan accepted everyone's advice and did not hesitate to swear to raise an army, rather than being forced by the pressure of the beauty plan.
Li Yuan sent Liu Wenjing on an envoy to the Turks, Xu Yili, to stabilize it and relieve him of worries; at the same time, he seized on the weakness of Li Mi of the Wagang army and slapped his ass, showing that he had no intention of being emperor, and the proud Li Yuan took Li Yuan's path and attacked the eastern capital Luoyang with all his might, blocking a large number of Sui troops for Li Yuan.
In the process of capturing Chang'an, Li Yuan assigned tasks to his three sons, Li Jiancheng as the Duke of Longxi and commanding the left army; Li Shimin as the Duke of Dunhuang and commanding the right army; and Li Yuanji stayed in Taiyuan. All three sons did a good job.
Therefore, in the whole process of Jinyang's uprising, Li Yuan was the general director and had proper arrangements for the peripheral environment and internal affairs of the uprising. Li Shimin played a role in persuading Li Yuan and helping Li Yuan to make up his mind in the planning of the army, and in military operations he was only a general who commanded one side and shouldered his own combat tasks.
(Li Shimin stills)
Second, in the war to unify the world
After capturing Chang'an, Datang opened the curtain to unify the world. During this period, Li Shimin made countless great achievements in the east and west, which was a proud experience of Li Shimin's life, but this was only part of the big chess game of unifying the world, and it was Li Yuan who played chess.
After occupying Chang'an, Li Yuan formulated a strategic plan to first stabilize the rear and then go east out of the Central Plains.
Stabilize the rear: First, he sent Li Shimin to attack Xue Ju and Liu Wuzhou; second, he sent An Xinggui to infiltrate Xiliang, launch a coup d'état, and capture Li Lu, the king of Daliang; third, he sent his nephew Li Xiaogong south through a vast area such as Liuba and Shu.
After passing through the Central Plains: Marching in two directions, one was that the north sent Li Shimin to chase the Central Plains and attack Wang Shichong, Dou Jiande, Liu Heimin, Xu Yuanlang, and other separatist forces; later, because Li Shimin's power expanded too much, Li Yuan reassigned the crown prince Li Jiancheng to the horse; second, the south sent Li Xiaogong and Li Jing down the Yangtze River to the east, swept away Xiao Milling, Lin Shihong, Fu Gongruo, and others, and occupied a vast area in Jiangnan and Lingnan.
(Li Jing)
Frontier defense: In the process of unifying the world, the turks, Tuguhun, Liang Shidu and other frontier troubles still existed, and Li Yuan arranged for his son-in-law Chai Shao, Duan Decao and others to garrison the frontier to prevent these forces from invading.
It can be seen that the big chess game of unifying the world has always been Li Yuan's game of holding the game. Li Shimin, like everyone else, is a trick in this game of chess, except that Li Shimin is a key move that is more important and wonderful.
Third, political affairs
In the early Tang Dynasty, the unification war was the biggest thing, but the state management was equally important, as long as the control of the territory was only managed in a disciplined manner, it could provide a strong guarantee for the war. Li Yuan also did this very well.
First of all, Li Yuan restored the various systems of the Sui Wen Emperor period and improved them. In particular, in the legal and economic aspects, the Wude Law was compiled, which laid the foundation for the future Tang Law, which enabled future generations to not exceed its scope for more than a thousand years; the coin called "Kaiyuan Tongbao" was issued, which was an epoch-making progress in the history of numismatics.
Second, relations within the ruling class were straightened out. When the Tang Dynasty was established, the ruling base was still the guanlong clique as the core, and Chang'an was its base camp. Li Yuan himself was also an important member of the Guanlong clique, and after occupying Chang'an, Li Yuan adopted a positive policy of appeasing these clans, which stabilized the foundation of his rule and provided a guarantee for the victory of the war.
Li Shimin, on the other hand, was preoccupied with the military, and his positions as Shang Shu Ling and Shang Shu Ling of Shaanxi Eastern Province had always been represented by deputy posts.
To sum up, as the founding prince of the Tang Dynasty, Li Yuan's contributions were indispensable, and Li Yuan and Li Shimin each played a corresponding role in this period of history, and it is not possible to include the merits of establishing the Tang Dynasty just because Li Shimin fought a few beautiful victories, and it is not feasible to instruct Zhenguan Shichen to rewrite part of history and want to erase Li Yuan's meritorious deeds.