In the seventeenth year of Tang Zhenguan (643), Emperor Taizong Li Shimin summoned Yan Liben, a famous painter known for creating masterpieces such as "Bu Yuan Tu" and "Portraits of Emperors of Past Dynasties", and ordered him to paint twenty-four portraits in a small building outside the Sanqing Hall of the Imperial Palace, each of which must be life-size. Subsequently, he personally wrote praises and summoned the great calligrapher Chu Suiliang to write his inscription. This small building is the Ling Yan Pavilion, and the portraits in it are all the heroes of Li Shimin's gratitude and longing. So, who are the twenty-four people of LingYange, who has made great contributions, and who has great fame?
The twenty-four heroes of Lingyange are: Changsun Wuji, Li Xiaogong, Du Ruyi, Wei Zheng, Fang Xuanling, Gao Shilian, Wei Chi Jingde, Li Jing, Xiao Yu, Duan Zhixuan, Liu Hongji, Qu Tutong, Yin Kaishan, Chai Shao, Changsun Shunde, Zhang Liang, Hou Junji, Zhang Gongjin, Cheng Zhijie, Yu Shinan, Liu Zhenghui, Tang Jian, Li Ji, and Qin Qiong.
The head of the Twenty-Four Heroes of Ling Yan Pavilion was Sun Wuji, the Duke of Zhao.
He was the brother of Li Shimin's empress Dowager Changsun and had a deep friendship with Li Shimin, and later after Li Shimin raised an army in Jinyang, Changsun Wuji followed him around in his crusades and became an important advisor to the founding of the Tang Dynasty. After the establishment of the Tang Dynasty, he also planned the Xuanwumen Rebellion and helped Li Shimin ascend to the throne. Li Shimin once praised:
"I have the world, and it is mostly the strength of this person."
Wei Zheng, the fourth of the heroes, was also a famous man, who was known for violating Yan Zhizhi and had repeatedly expressed his views and persuaded Li Shimin even if he angered Li Shimin.
Li Shimin's famous sentence
"With people as a mirror, you can see the gains and losses."
It is the best summary of Wei Zheng's contribution. Wei Zheng's assistance to Li Shimin was after he became emperor, and before Emperor Taizong succeeded to the throne, the greatest contribution to the assistance was undoubtedly Fang Xuanling.
Fang Xuanling ranked fifth in Ling Yan Pavilion, and The young, intelligent and knowledgeable Fang Xuanling was admitted to the jinshi at the age of eighteen, and later he defected to Li Shimin and made great achievements with him.
Although he was not directly involved in the change of Xuanwu Gate, he also actively participated in the planning process of the incident, so he was ranked with The Eldest Sun Wujie, Du Ruyi, and others as the first merit of Xuanwu Gate. Li Shimin also did not hesitate to praise him, he said that Fang Xuanling had
"Planning and planning, fixing the merits of the society."
Later generations mention xianxiang, often mention "Fang Du", Fang refers to Fang Xuanling, Du refers to Du Ruqian, one of them is good at planning, one is good at decision-making, so people call their perfect combination "Fang Mou Du Duan".
Du Ruyi also came all the way with Li Shimin, and his battle achievements were outstanding, so
He was enfeoffed as the Duke of Lai and ranked third in ling yan ge.
Naturally, there were also martial generals in the Ling Yan Pavilion, among them, the famous and high-ranking non-Lieutenant Chi Gong was none other than Him.
He was reused by Li Shimin, and was also revered by the people for his martial courage, and became the "guardian deity" pasted on the door of every household after the Song Dynasty. Before the establishment of the Tang Dynasty, Li Shimin led a crusade against the Zheng Emperor Shichong, Wei Chi gong single riding the savior, protecting Li Shimin from tens of thousands of enemy troops, and later in the Xuanwumen Revolution, he personally killed Li Yuanji, and in the end, he ranked seventh in Ling yan Pavilion.
Under Wei Chigong was the equally famous Li Jing.
Although he did not make much meritorious contribution in the establishment of the Tang Dynasty, and did not participate in the Xuanwumen Rebellion, during the Zhenguan period, he led troops to conquer the Turks, and destroyed the Eastern Turks and the Great Destruction of Tuguhun. He made outstanding contributions to the border peace in the early Tang Dynasty, and was knighted to the Duke of Weiguo.
The Ling yan pavilion is dedicated to meritorious and important ministers, who have more or less made commendable contributions in the establishment and development of the Tang Dynasty. However, for various reasons, some of them are active in the word of mouth of later generations, and some are always little known. After Emperor Taizong of Tang, five more emperors added portraits of meritorious heroes to lingyan Pavilion, without whom there would be no prosperity and long-term peace and stability of the Tang Dynasty.