History is not what we see. In the minds of many of us, Li Shimin is an image of a Ming Emperor, not only for the entire Tang Dynasty but also for the whole of China, his affairs have always influenced the emperors and people of later generations. It can be said that it is very appropriate to describe him as an emperor of thousands of years, and even he is the only one in Chinese history who has the dual title of both the supreme ruler of the Central Plains Dynasty and the nomadic people, emperor and khan.
But the real Li Shimin is not as good as we think, or as good as we see. For example, the history we know is that Li Shimin led the army to fight everywhere in the early Tang Dynasty, and gradually increased his merits. At the same time, his prestige in the army was also increasing, so when the prince's brother had a sense of crisis, he was ready to get rid of Li Shimin, and finally the news leaked.
Li Shimin took action in advance, killing his brother and brother, and in order to cut the grass and remove the roots, he also sent people to the prince's mansion and the palace to kill all his nephews. After that, he forced his father Li Yuan to pass the throne to himself. So this is why we see the so-called Xuanwumen Mutiny.
But is history really like this? Of course not, in fact, in many historical materials have been recorded, in fact, in the early Tang Dynasty, the whole country was not calmed down, but at this time Li Yuan had already been called emperor. So he had to stay in the capital, so the matter of fighting abroad fell to his sons.
Not only Li Shimin but also Li Jiancheng were sent out to fight and eliminate local rebels. Among them, Li Jiancheng was mainly against the rebellion and army in the north, while Li Shimin's army was mainly against the army in the south. So in fact, both people have the deeds of going out to lead troops, of course, it cannot but be said that Li Jiancheng's credit is smaller than Li Shimin, after all, the main internal rebellion at that time was from the south, and the external threat was from the north.
Therefore, if we use military merit to calculate, Li Shimin does have more, but not as much as we think. It can only be said that it is the difference between the marshal and the general. Li Jiancheng not only did not envy his younger brother, but wanted to reuse Li Shimin after he ascended the throne. However, Li Shimin began to covet the throne, and finally worried about the revenge of Li Jiancheng's descendants, so he had all his nephews killed.
After becoming emperor, Li Shimin began to directly revise the history books, smearing the prince while portraying himself as a person whose destiny belonged. And in the epitaph of Li Jiancheng's tomb unearthed, it can be seen that many of the deeds are obviously incomplete. Such a character, with only more than fifty words to describe his life, shows that many of his achievements have been deliberately hidden.