【Chairman Mao's Comments on Li Shimin of The Emperors of Past Dynasties】
Among the Chinese emperors, Tang Taizong Li Shimin was one of the best, known as the "Ming Emperor of the Ages", and was highly respected by later generations.
Sima Guang once commented: "Emperor Taizong's talent in literature and martial arts is higher than that of the previous ancients. Cover three generations to return, China's prosperity has not yet existed. ”
Zhu Yuanzhang also commented: "But Emperor Taizong of Tang, heroic posture, Wuding Sifang, Zhenguan Zhizhi, Shi Zhaowende... All have the virtue of the king and the merit of the world. ”
Later generations admired Li Shimin, mostly admiring his ability to govern the country, gathering a large number of talents, creating the rule of Zhenguan, and also opening up the prosperous era of the Tang Dynasty.
In fact, Chairman Mao greatly admired Li Shimin's military ability, and once commented: "Since ancient times, there has been no right person in the army that has been able to do so." ”
Chairman Mao once recommended a book to the staff around him, called "Tang Li Asks right", saying: "This is a theoretical work by Li Shimin discussing the art of war with the great general Li Jing, and this book is a strange book, which was listed by the Song people as one of the "Seven Books of the Book of Martial Arts." ”
Li Jing was a military genius of the "god of war" level in Chinese history, and Li Shimin discussed and cooperated with him in the art of war, which also showed the high military ability of Li Shimin.
Chairman Mao once read The Wisdom Tank written by Feng Menglong, in which a passage described the characteristics of Li Shimin's war: "Since he was a little bit of a soldier, he knows the key to using troops, and every time he looks at the enemy's position, he knows his strength and weakness, and often thinks that I am weak as strong, and strong as weak." He who takes advantage of my weakness will not run for hundreds of steps; if I take advantage of his weakness, he will strike at him after his formation, and he will all be defeated. Cover with the art of grandchildren also. ”
When Chairman Mao read this passage, he commented on the side: "The so-called weak should be strong, that is, to pretend to attack the enemy's various armies with a small number of troops. The so-called "strong over weak" means concentrating absolute superiority forces, with five or six times the enemy's strength along the way, encircling them on all sides, and gathering and annihilating them. Since the ancient energy army, there is no one who has left Li Shimin's right, followed by Zhu Yuanzhang'er. ”
It can be seen that Chairman Mao greatly admired Li Shimin's military talents and called him the most capable emperor in history.
As early as 1920, when Chairman Mao organized the peasant movement training center in Guangzhou, he once gave a lecture to the trainees: "Li Shimin is a hero of recklessness. ”
In his later years, Chairman Mao once chatted with the founding generals and said to everyone with a smile: "In a war, we must be like Tang Taizong, first defending and not attacking, letting the enemy attack, not allowing soldiers to talk about attacks, and talking about killing people." After the enemy repeatedly failed to attack, the soldiers were extremely angry, so they ordered a counterattack and won the attack. In this way, one can train troops, and the other can train the people. ”
All these expositions can be seen in Chairman Mao's appreciation for Li Shimin's ability to fight a good war.
In fact, Chairman Mao's military thinking, to a great extent, is to learn from Li Shimin's thinking on the use of soldiers, and it is invincible.
During the Yan'an period, when Chairman Mao was lecturing at the Kang Da Da, he talked about his understanding of Li Shimin's idea of using troops, stressing: "In an overall situation of weakness, the key lies in grasping the initiative and causing people rather than giving them to others, thus creating a relatively strong force, and using the relative strength of the enemy to be relatively weak, annihilating the enemy each, and finally changing from weak to strong and defeating the enemy." This is the subtlety of the Chinese art of war, and Li Shimin found this essence and used this method of warfare to gallop invincible hands in the world. ”
Chairman Mao also obtained this essence; whether it was the Agrarian Revolutionary War, the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, the War of Liberation, or the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, Chairman Mao applied to the extreme tactical concepts such as winning victories with superior troop strength and grasping the initiative, and led the people's army to win one great victory after another.
In his later years, Chairman Mao read the Old Book of Tang and the Biography of Li Baiyao, and Li Baiyao, in his article "On Feudalism" written to Li Shimin, had this sentence: "Your Majesty has attached every four Yi money, and he will retreat to the province. Concentrate on the worries, fear of laboring China, to do things far away, not through the heroic voice of eternity, in order to save a moment of luxury. The heart is worried, the traces are lucky, every time you look at the dynasty, you can listen to it tirelessly. Wisdom is in all things, and the Tao is in the world. After the boycott of the dynasty, famous ministers were introduced, right and wrong were discussed, and the liver and diaphragm were prepared, and only political affairs were discussed. Only and the sun, the destiny of the learned, give leisure, talk about the classics, miscellaneous with the text, intermittent with Xuanyan, the night is tired, the night is not sleepy. The four paths of this are only one person since the beginning of the single step. ”
After reading this passage, Chairman Mao directly commented on the side: "Li Shimin has four working methods. ”
In Chairman Mao's eyes, he particularly admired Li Shimin's latter two working methods: "After the boycott of the DPRK, introduce famous ministers, discuss right and wrong, prepare all the liver and diaphragm, and only for political affairs, let alone words." Only and the sun, the destiny of the learned, give leisure, talk about the classics, miscellaneous with the text, intermittent with Xuanyan, the night is tired, the night is not sleepy. ”
What does that mean? It is at the end of the court meeting that Li Shimin will find a few famous courtiers to discuss the current situation and talk about some things that are not straight; and after the sun goes down, Li Shimin will gather some learned people to talk about classical literature, poetry and songs, and even stay up all night to improve literary accomplishment.
In Chairman Mao's view, these tasks of Li Shimin are "retreats," saying: "This kind of retreat can form a strong atmosphere among the cadre clique about thinking about major events in the world and having the courage to express his own views, so that he can better cultivate talents." ”
Therefore, Chairman Mao often advocated that cadres read philosophy and history, required cadres to understand some literature, and often recommended classic articles or literary works for everyone to see.
In his view, leading cadres at all levels should be concerned about major issues in the world, theoretical hotspots, and political focal points, do some research work, and think of some big things, and they will be freed from transactional work and thus better promote their work.
There is also a small story here, that is, Chairman Mao once recommended Xu Shiyou to look at "Dream of the Red Chamber" more, Xu Shiyou went back to read it for a few days, dead or alive, and said impatiently: ""The Dream of the Red Chamber" is written about hanging the shoulders, what is there to see!" ”
After Chairman Mao heard this, he also smiled with Premier Zhou and said: "Xu Shiyou opposed watching "Dream of the Red Chamber", saying that it was all a matter of hanging his arms. You didn't look, how do you know it's a hanging arm? You didn't investigate, just make a judgment, probably listening to who said it! I said it was a political novel. ”
After Xu Shiyou heard Chairman Mao's words, he went back to continue reading it, but he still couldn't read it, so he secretly found someone to reduce "Dream of the Red Chamber" to 50,000 words, and specially explained that Chairman Mao could not let him know.
In this way, Xu Shiyou finally "finished reading" "Dream of the Red Chamber", which can also be regarded as an explanation of Chairman Mao's words.
Chairman Mao has done a very good job in this regard. Chairman Mao read a wide range of books throughout his life, and the books he read were also eclectic, including political, military, and philosophical, as well as novels, poems, and dramas, and even read many jokes, because jokes can best reflect the joys and sorrows of the common people, and when they understand the jokes, they can understand the real lives of the common people.
Moreover, Chairman Mao also liked to chat with people in various fields, such as Liang Shuming, Huang Yanpei, Link, and so on, often chatting all night, and enjoying it tirelessly.
All of this is in line with Li Shimin's approach.
Of course, Chairman Mao not only blindly admired Li Shimin, but also saw some of Li Shimin's shortcomings, and once used eight words to evaluate: "Wisdom is a lifetime, ignorance for a while." ”
This comment was a commentary written by Chairman Mao when he read Ouyang Xiu's "New Book of Tang and The Biography of Li Ke", saying: "Li Keying, Li Zhi decadent, Zhizi Moruo's father." However, when he listened to the unscrupulous words of the eldest grandson, he could be described as a wise man and ignorant for a while. ”
Although Li Shimin is a generation of Ming jun, he also hurt his brain when it comes to the issue of his son's succession.
At the beginning, Li Shimin's chosen successor was Li Chengqian, the eldest son of concubine, and Li Chengqian did indeed embody a very unusual talent, "sexually intelligent and sensitive, and Taizong loved him very much." However, Li Chengqian later willingly degenerated and attempted to rebel, and was demoted by Li Shimin to a commoner.
Later, Li Shimin chose Li Tai again, but this Li Tai was too deep in his heart and too fierce, and Li Shimin was worried that once he was allowed to succeed to the throne, the other sons would probably suffer, so he had to give up Li Tai.
In the end, Li Shimin, under the recommendation of his eldest son Wuji and other important ministers, made Li Zhi the crown prince.
However, Li Shimin actually liked Li Ke more, because Li Ke was "good at riding and shooting, and had literary and martial talents", which was very similar to Li Shimin, so Li Shimin began to focus on cultivating Li Ke.
However, when Li Shimin told everyone about this idea, he was opposed by everyone, especially Li Zhi's uncle, Sun Wuji, who resolutely opposed the change of prince, believing that Li Zhi had a gentle personality, grace and generosity, and was the most suitable candidate for the crown prince.
The status and power of the eldest son Wuji was very high, and what he said Li Shimin could not but think carefully, so he had to abandon this idea and formally confirm Li Zhi as the crown prince.
Unfortunately, Li Shimin was "smart", but he was "ignorant for a while" and did not insist on his opinion on this matter, which resulted in a big mistake and almost buried the Tang Empire.
After Li Zhi ascended the throne, because of his indecisive personality, he was usurped by Empress Wu Zetian, and even the name of the country was changed to "Wu Zhou".
In the final analysis, Li Shimin made too many mistakes in selecting a successor, and finally chose a least courageous Li Zhi, and as a result, he was exploited by Wu Zetian.
Just think, if Li Shimin had insisted that Li Ke succeed to the throne, perhaps these things would not have happened.
It is precisely because of this incident that Chairman Mao commented: "Li Keying is a thing, Li Zhi is a decadent thing, and he knows his son Mo Ruo's father." However, when he listened to the unscrupulous words of the eldest grandson, he could be described as a wise man and ignorant for a while. He expressed regret for Li Shimin's mistake.
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