Historically, when Li Yuan, the emperor of Tang Gaozu, rebelled against the Sui Dynasty, until the establishment of the Tang Dynasty, the Turks provided considerable help to Li Yuan's forces.
This was because the Turks and their supporters, Liu Wuzhou, were in direct contact with each other north of Jinyang, where Li Yuan was defending the Sui Dynasty.
If Li Yuan wanted to concentrate on attacking sui, he had to consolidate the back road and could not let the Turks or Liu Wuzhou make trouble, so it was necessary to co-opt and bribe the Turks.
The Li Yuan forces and the Turkic forces, inadvertently and intentionally, have also successfully cooperated twice, and this article will talk about this matter.
<h1 class = "pgc-h-arrow-right" >: the Turks sent an excuse, and Li Yuan 's "empty city plan" retreated from the enemy </h1>
In the thirteenth year of the Sui Dynasty (617 CE), the Sui Emperor Yang Guang appointed Li Yuan as the "Taiyuan Retainer and Jinyang Palace Supervisor", and put Li Yuan in charge of the local banditry and defense (mainly to prevent the Turks).
However, Yang Guang was not very reassured about Li Yuan, so he installed two people around Li Yuan to spy on Li Yuan, these two people were Wang Wei and Gao Junya, the deputy retainers of Taiyuan.
Therefore, if Li Yuan wanted to successfully rebel against Sui, the first thing he had to do was to kill Wang Wei and Gao Junya.
Similarly, Wang Wei and Gao Junya, who judged from various clues and traces that Li Yuan had different intentions, also wanted to find an opportunity to kill Li Yuan.
However, Li Yuan was superior in skill, and he moved ahead of Wang Wei and Gao Junya to successfully arrest them in the name of colluding with the Turks to rebel.
After being caught, of course, he wanted to kill, but Li Yuan accused the two of colluding with the Turks, but there was no evidence.
Of course, they can be killed without evidence, but they cannot convince the public, because most of Jinyang's army, except for Li Yuan's own secret recruitment, is under the command of Wang Wei and Gao Junya, and killing their commanders for no reason will have trouble.
When the ancients were right and righteous, and when Li Yuan was having a headache, the Turks suddenly sent troops to attack Jinyang, just two days after Li Yuan captured Wang Wei and Gao Junya.
This happened to be a sleepy encounter with a pillow, and the Turks' troops gave Li Yuan a dismount at the same time, and inadvertently gave Li Yuan an assist.
Therefore, when the Turkic army had already attacked the outer city of Jinyang, Li Yuan used a "empty city plan" to retreat from the enemy, and also used the Turks to attack Jinyang, confirming the rebellion of Wang Wei and Gao Junya.
In the Zizhi Tongjian Volume 183, it is recorded that:
Tens of thousands of Turkic Kou Jinyang rode lightly into the north gate of Waiguo and out of its east gate. Yuan ordered Pei Huan and other soldiers to prepare, and when the gates of the city were opened, the Turks could not predict it and did not dare to enter. The crowd thought that Wei and Junya had summoned him, so they slashed Wei and Junya yiyi.
This time the Turkic army suddenly attacked Jinyang, purely for the purpose of robbery, but in terms of practical effects, it not only gave Li Yuan a chance to show his military talent, but also gave him the opportunity to eliminate dissidents.
After killing Wang Wei and Gao Junya, Li Yuan no longer had any Sui Dynasty officials around him who could balance him, and he could safely rebel.
<h1 class = "pgc-h-arrow-right" > two: bribing the Turks with sugar-coated shells and getting the help of the Turkic cavalry </h1>
Wang Wei and Gao Junya were gone, and Li Yuan was ready to raise an army against the Sui, but the Turkic-backed Forces of Liu Wuzhou and the Turkic headquarters north of Jinyang were still a major problem for Li Yuan.
The fact that the Turkic army was able to kill the city of Jinyang proved that north of Jinyang, for the Turkic army, it was a horse farm that could come and go at any time, and could come once and many times.
If Li Yuan ignored the Turks and marched toward Chang'an in Guanzhong with one heart, it would be difficult to ensure that the back road could be attacked by the Turks at any time, and it would be troublesome.
However, Li Yuan did not have the strength to defend the Turks at that time and go against the Sui at the same time, so he had to bow to the Turks and strive to let the Turks not make trouble in the rear when he opposed the Sui.
After killing Wang Wei and Gao Junya, Li Yuan immediately sent his confidant Liu Wenjing on an envoy to the Turks, promising the Turkic Shibi Khan that all the money he would receive after capturing Chang'an would be donated to the Turks.
The Old Book of Tang and the Biography of Liu Wenjing records:
Wen Jing persuaded the banner to be changed to show righteousness, and asked lian Turks to benefit the army, and Gao Zu followed it. Because of wen jing's envoy to Shibi Khan, Shibi said: "Tang Gong rebelled, what do you want to do now?" Wen Jing said, "... It is willing to enter the Beijing Division with the Khan's soldiers and horses, the land of the people into the Tang Dynasty, and the treasures into the Turks. ”
The Turkic Shibi Khan was persuaded by Liu Wenjing, and not only promised not to make trouble when Li Yuan rebelled against Sui, but also sent two thousand cavalry to help Li Yuan rebel, "that is, to send the general Kang Sheli to lead two thousand horses and follow Wen Jing."
At this point, Li Yuan really did not worry about the future and began a vigorous rebellion.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > three: conclusion </h1>
The above is the unintentional and intentional cooperation between Li Yuan and the Turks when he raised an army in Jinyang, and without the cooperation of the Turks, it is difficult to say that Li Yuan will be able to succeed later.
Even after Li Yuan successfully established the Tang Dynasty, he still continued to use money to appease the Turks, even if the Turks sent troops to rob many times, because Li Yuan still had to concentrate on destroying various princes and could not provoke the Turks.
At the end of the Sui Dynasty and the beginning of the Tang Dynasty, when various princes rebelled against the Sui, especially the anti-Sui forces in the north, they all had unclear relations or cooperation with the Turks, including Liu Wuzhou, Dou Jiande, Liang Shidu, Li Yuan, and so on.
Judging from the actual relationship between the Turks and the Central Plains Dynasty, this was actually an act of collusion with foreign enemies, but it was also an act that the princes at that time had no choice.
At the beginning of the establishment of the anti-Sui and Tang Dynasties, Li Yuan repeatedly compromised with the Turks, some tolerated, some sought peace, and some whispered, of course, the history books would write and beautify some, "Gao Zu made up his mind in the Central Plains, not to mention the outside world, and every preferential tolerance."
Of course, this is the shame of the Tang Dynasty, and it is also the shame of Li Yuan.
However, Li Yuan had a good son, Li Shimin, who, after stealing Li Yuan's throne, killed the Eastern Turks, surrendered the Western Turks, and helped Li Yuan out of a bad breath.
In the fourth year of Tang Zhenguan (630 AD), the Tang army, led by famous generals such as Li Jing and Li Ji, defeated the Eastern Turks and captured the Eastern Turkic Jieli Khan (the younger brother of The Shibi Khan) alive.
In the eighth year of Tang Zhenguan (634 AD), at a banquet to entertain envoys from the Western Turks, Li Shimin asked Jieli Khan to dance for Li Yuan, and the history says: "Long live the Emperor Gaozu, all the courtiers."
In the ninth year of Tang Zhenguan (635 AD), Li Yuan died with regret and satisfaction.
References: Zizhi Tongjian, Old Book of Tang