Estimated reading time: 3 minutes
In the 13th year of the Sui Dynasty, that is, in 617 AD, Li Yuan, who was the retainer of Taiyuan at that time, beheaded the eyeliner that the Sui Emperor had placed at his side, that is, The Deputy Retainers of Taiyuan, Wang Wei and Gao Junya, and then raised the banner of "Anti-Sui Emperor" (why it is anti-Sui Emperor and not anti-Sui is explained above). He left his son Li Yuanji to stabilize Taiyuan, and Li Yuan himself took Li Jiancheng and Li Shimin with him and marched south, thus officially opening the road to the Central Plains. While marching, Li Yuan did not forget to strengthen his own ranks, and many Sui Dynasty counties also saw the situation and submitted to Li Yuan, however, when the "Li Family Army" marched to Xihe County, it encountered the "nail household".
The name of the governor of Xihe County was Gao Deru, and he was originally Li Yuan's subordinate, but when Li Yuan ordered the counties and counties to raise an incident together, Gao Deru did not comply, and he still had to be loyal to the Sui Dynasty, so for Li Yuan, Gao Deru's "nail household" had to be removed, so there was the Battle of Xihe. In this battle, he gave command to his two sons, Li Jiancheng and Li Shimin.
The so-called first hoof of the eagle is the first time that Li Jiancheng and Li Shimin, two young people, have fought such a major battle alone. Facts have proved that these two people did have the ability to command the military, at that time they led the army to set out, whether it was Li Jiancheng or Li Shimin, both of them were pioneers, sharing weal and woe with the soldiers, and they were popular with the people, and the military discipline was very strict, and soldiers were forbidden to loot, and if anyone robbed the common people on the way to the march, they not only had to apologize but also had to compensate according to the original price.
Arriving in Xihe County, Gao Deru was caught off guard, and Li Jiancheng, the Li Shimin brothers, commanded a large army to attack the city, and soon the city was knocked down. After taking Xihe County, they only questioned Gao Deru alone, only killed Gao Deru alone, and the garrison and people of Xihe County did not ask any questions, which was well received by the people of Xihe County, and the people's hearts were quickly appeased.
From Taiyuan to the news back to Li Yuan, it took only nine days in total, so Li Yuan was very happy, not only because Xihe County was taken down, but more importantly, his two sons could be very responsible, at that time Li Yuan was very happy to say something like this: "In this way, although it is rampant in the world", it means that there are two sons like this, even if they are rampant in the world, they can do it.
Then Li Yuan divided the whole army into three armies, and each placed left and right, whether it was Li Jiancheng or Li Shimin, they were all entrusted with heavy responsibilities, and the soldiers were all called righteous soldiers. At that time, Pei Yuan and others gave Li Yuan the title of Great General, thus establishing a General's Palace, and Pei Huan and Liu Wenjing were respectively entrusted with heavy responsibilities, so Li Yuan officially began to march to Chang'an, taking the real first step towards the founding of the country.