Li Yuanji was li yuan's fourth son, who died at the age of 24 in the "Xuanwumen Revolution". The history books say that he was fierce in nature, good at hunting in the fields, living in luxury, often leading the army to fight and often losing and running away, and there was almost no flash on his body.
Is the historical Li Yuanji really so unbearable?
In the history of the chinese people, they have always been kings and defeats. Only because Li Yuanji took the wrong side in the political struggle and was killed by Li Shimin, historians did their best to degrade him.
In fact, Li Yuanji also had a special honor for the establishment of the Tang Dynasty, but under the aura of The Ming Emperor Tang Taizong, it was difficult for historians to make a fair evaluation of it.
In the thirteenth year of the Sui Dynasty (617), Li Yuan raised an army in Jinyang, Li Yuanji and his eldest brother Li Jiancheng came from Hedong to meet the division, Li Yuan personally led the eldest son Li Jiancheng, the second son Li Shimin to attack Chang'an, and the 15-year-old Li Yuanji was responsible for staying behind in his old nest in Taiyuan. At this time, Taiyuan was surrounded by both the forces of the Turks and the separatist Liu Wuzhou, and also faced the threat of the remnants of the Sui. From Li Yuan's rise to his claim to the throne, Li Yuanji never lost his way to Taiyuan, so that Li Yuan had no worries and ensured the success of Jiantang.
In the first year of Tang Wude (618), Li Yuanji was made the King of Qi for his merits, and was appointed as the governor of Hezhou, still guarding Taiyuan. The following year, Liu Wuzhou led 5,000 horsemen to attack Taiyuan, when the elite of the Tang army were all fighting in Longxi, and although Li Yuanji's men were numerous, they were all local armed forces and could not compete with Liu Wuzhou. Li Yuanji saw that the situation was not good, and abandoned the city with his wife and son to return to Chang'an, and the state fell. Gao zu did not punish Yuanji because of his young age. In the fourth year of Wu De (621), Li Shimin recruited Wang Shichong, and Li Yuanji served as his deputy. Dou Jiande of Hebei province led an army to help, Li Shimin divided his troops to meet Dou Jiande, and Li Yuanji still commanded the siege of Luoyang. Wang Shichong went out of the city to fight with the Hebei army to attack the Tang army, and Li Yuanji "set up an ambush to break it, beheaded it by eight hundred ranks, and captured more than a thousand of his generals Le Renfang and Jia Shi." Wang Shichong was terrified in a battle, and from then on, he shrank in Luoyang City and did not come out until he surrendered. After Luoyang was pacified, Li Yuanji "worshiped Sikong, Yu Guan, as before, and gave the clothes of the crown of decline..." Later, Li Yuanji followed Li Jiancheng to destroy Liu Hei and pacify Shandong. By the last year of Wu De, after nearly a decade of conquest, Li Yuanji had grown from a rookie who was not familiar with the battle front at first to a general who could stand alone. Although his military merits were inferior to Li Shimin's, he also made great contributions to the establishment of the Tang Dynasty.
During the Wude years, Li Jiancheng served as a crown prince to manage government affairs, and was unable to unite the army to fight outside, causing Li Shimin to take the opportunity of the southern conquest and the northern war to cultivate his forces. Li Jiancheng's position as crown prince was in jeopardy, and in order to win over Li Yuanji to consolidate his position as crown prince, Li Jiancheng promised to make him the emperor's brother-in-law and inherit the throne in the future. Li Shimin naturally could not open such a tempting price tag, and Li Yuanji became a princeling party and made enemies with Li Shimin everywhere...
Li Yuanji was well aware of Li Shimin's fierce and cold personality, so he persuaded Jiancheng to act first and send someone to assassinate the King of Qin, but was stopped by Jiancheng; then he entered the palace and secretly asked his father to kill Li Shimin, but Li Yuan did not listen.
Before the "Xuanwumen Revolution", Li Yuan summoned the three brothers into the palace to confront each other, and Li Yuanji advocated that "the soldiers of the palace and the people of the palace should not be in the dynasty to see the situation." Li Jiancheng did not listen, and the result was two brothers
Killed.
People think that Li Yuanji is a brave straw bag, in fact, Li Yuanji can also be regarded as a brave and courageous person, if Li Yuan and Li Jiancheng can listen to his advice, there will be no tragedy in Xuanwumen later.