For the character of Li Shimin, from ancient times to the present, there have always been mixed reviews, his country, his operations, his politics, and his life, all full of places of doubt. However, in terms of personality, he is a master who can afford to repay with vengeance, and he never rubs sand in his eyes, regardless of state affairs or family affairs, such as the Weishui Alliance incident, which can very clearly show his behavior as a person.
Speaking of which, the Alliance of Weishui is also an operation process that takes advantage of the fire.
At that time, Li Shimin had just completed the major event of his life: the shooting of XuanwuMen and the successful ascension to the throne. But just sat on the dragon chair for more than twenty days, the ass was not yet sitting hot, the Turkic Jieli Khan raised troops in a big way, and the momentum was fierce towards the Tang Dynasty, and even attacked the martial arts all the way. It was also a county in Xianyang, Shaanxi at that time, which was very close to Chang'an, the capital of the Tang Dynasty.
In fact, it is not unusual for the Turks to dare to provoke in this way. When the Tang Dynasty was first established, everything in the country was still unstable. Coupled with Li Shimin's ascension to the throne, the power of all parties in the country has become more active. According to historical records, when Li Shimin ascended the throne, there were only three million people in the country. This shows that although Datang has a grand territory, it is a small number of house people, and it is absolutely "fireworks and fireworks, and reckless eyes".
And the Turks? They are completely different, as a force that has been confronting the Tang Dynasty, they have been coveting its mountains and rivers since the beginning of the establishment of the Tang Dynasty. During that time, they invaded almost every year, and in the eight years since the establishment of the Tang Dynasty, the Turks have had more than 40 offensive and invasion incidents. Whether it was Lingzhou or Wonju, including important strategic places such as Shuozhou and Youzhou, the Turks launched attacks.
Because of the continuous attack every year, and the repeated victories in battles, it is the soldiers and horses, and the combat strength is growing day by day. Not only that, but the Turks also supported puppet regimes in various strategically important places, which made the Tang Dynasty constantly strife and instability in power. In this way, the Turks gained a lot of benefits, allowing themselves to grow stronger and stronger, forming an image like the sun in the sky. Therefore, as soon as they heard about the Xuanwumen incident, they immediately thought that the opportunity had come, and when Chang'an was unstable, they immediately sent troops to attack.
Of course, Li Shimin was not a vegetarian, and as soon as he heard this, he took Gao Shilian, Fang Xuanling and others to the bank of Weishui with great momentum and confronted the two armies of Jieli Khan. The Turks were jealous of Li Shimin in their hearts, and his skills and abilities were also well known to the outside world, so when Jieli Khan saw Li Shimin personally marching, his heart was a little flustered.
Li Shimin was a man, had a clear understanding of the psychology of Jieli Khan, and coupled with the plans of his own advisers, he first vigorously denounced the Turks for abandoning the covenant, and then posed as if they were fighting to the death. Sure enough, Jieli Khan was afraid, so he achieved the "Alliance of Weishui". Of course, the alliance can be, and it is true that a good profit is also true.
However, although Li Shimin withdrew from the Turkic army, he felt humiliated.
Why? Of course, this was given to the Turks by the Tang Dynasty as a central plains lord, and it is said that at that time, more than 3,000 horses were given to the warhorses alone, and the sheep were more than 10,000. In addition, a large amount of jade was also sent. This is obviously the operation of spending money to buy peace, and when this matter is passed out, who will look up to him Li Shimin?
Not only that, these people took these things away, and did not directly return the captured Tang people to Li Shimin, but in September of the following year, Datang sent diplomatic emissaries to negotiate and release some of them.
This fully shows that the so-called covenant signed by Li Shimin and the Turks at that time was nothing more than a fact of using money to buy others to retire, and everything else was exempt from talk. If this matter is said in the "Zuo Biography", that is, "the alliance under the city, there is a country to kill, can not be from it", Li Shimin, as the king of a country, openly signed such a covenant with other attackers, how can it not be disgraced?
Therefore, Li Shimin called a crushed steel tooth for this matter, and as soon as the Turks withdrew their troops, he said fiercely: "It will be taken, and it will be solidified." In a word: let's settle the account in the future! But let's be honest, today, as an outsider, we look at this matter from a historical point of view today, objectively speaking: no shame.
Why? At that time, the tang army was actually not strong, coupled with the fact that there were not many people, and the politics was unstable, if there was a protracted confrontation with the Turks, it would take some time to become strong. So, giving them some benefits first and sending them away is not necessarily a stopgap measure.
Sure enough, after this incident, Li Shimin took care of the unstable mountains and rivers while greatly tempering the soldiers. This is the economy and the military together, in just three years, Li Shimin's Tang Dynasty has changed its appearance: Tuntian has increased greatly, the surrounding forces have been pacified, and liang shidu, Xue Yantuo, Hui and other tribes have been taken care of by the Tang. As a result, the Turks were somewhat isolated.
Therefore, Li Shimin ordered in the third year of Zhenguan that a large army should raise the Turks and be shamed before the snow. This was a kind of revenge after forbearance, and hundreds of thousands of troops slaughtered the northern steppes, and only one battle leveled the turkic center. The indispensable Jieli Khan was also very sad and was directly tied up in Chang'an. If you know today, why did you know it in the first place?
Although this battle has been repaid with revenge, Li Shimin's personality has also been depicted at a glance, right? I dare not say that I will repay it, but I will also have a vendetta and will return it. Is it good or bad to act like this? It may not be clear to say a sentence or two, but judging from Li Shimin's actions in those years when he was in power, this kind of vengeful behavior has somewhat affected his quality as a person. Probably this is exactly the case, and the later prosperity of the world will also be offset by merit, right?