Bad money drives out good money, and nomadic civilization replaces the Central Plains civilization, which has been chilling again and again since ancient times, but it has been staged again and again. In the workplace, you work hard, but you are not working or working less, but people who will sneak up on the horse are the first to climb. In other words: the harder you work, the less you get promoted, and instead you do more wrong.
This, which happened 1400 years ago, was almost successful. However, this hard-working young man is enough to be called a cattle man who can turn the tide. He laid down a fierce heart, did not do two without stopping, and created the era that belonged to him in history. Although this era was only a short period of 23 years, it created the rule of zhenguan in the history books, and also made later generations sing the praises of thousands of years. So that in the later Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period, there are still historical records:
"The Wind of Chastity, to the Present Day Song".
This young man who did not believe that bad money could expel good money was Li Shimin. In Taiyuan, Shanxi (the ancient city of Jinyang), he encouraged his father Li Yuan to raise an army, and he made the most contributions in several battles. His military achievements were not as good as his eldest brother Li Jiancheng, because he was the eldest son of Li Yuan, and easily obtained the status of prince.
01
In 617, in May of that year, Li Yuan, who had been sent to Jinyang by his cousin Yang Guang of the Sui Dynasty, became the target of Yang Guang's suppression. Because, at this time, Li Yuan saw the overthrow of the rule of the Sui Dynasty and rebelled against the Sui Dynasty founded by his uncle Yang Jian.
Li Yuan was not an idle man, and when he started his army, he relied on suppressing the rebellious peasants in Jinyang, recruiting rebels, and constantly expanding his strength.
At the same time, their father and son also gathered a wide range of heroes and recruited all kinds of talents.
History says that Li Yuan "has the strategy of the world and has the heart of the world." Reception of people, not limited to the noble, one side of the encounter, more than ten years do not forget."
Among them, his eldest son Li Jiancheng, in Hedong, a strategic place in the Great Sui Dynasty, secretly befriended handsome men and developed power.
In addition, the mountains and rivers in Taiyuan (Jinyang) have a table, and harvests have been harvested year after year, resulting in Li Yuan's grain depot accumulating.
Shi Zai: "Taiyuan grain can be supported for ten years."
With talent and money, what Li Yuan lacks is the opportunity to start a military campaign.
02
History wants you to succeed, but it always creates opportunities for you. For Li Yuan's father and son, this incident can be said to have become the key to the success of the army.
In February 617, at Yingyang Province in Mayi (in present-day Shuozhou, Shanxi), Liu Wuzhou, a lieutenant, suddenly staged a mutiny. Liu Wuzhou killed Rengong the Prince of Mayi Taishou, occupied Mayi, proclaimed himself Tianzi, changed his name to Yuan Tianxing, and set the state name yang.
The gun shoots the head bird, who is called the emperor early, who dies fast! Zhang Shicheng, 700 years later, did just that, and because of this, he ultimately failed. When Liu Wuzhou first started his army, it was accomplished, which doubled his confidence. At this time, he was no longer satisfied with occupying the small place of Shuozhou, in order to expand the territory. In March of that year, Liu Wuzhou attacked Loufu County, which was soon incorporated into his territory.
At this time, Liu Wuzhou felt that in order to develop greatly, it was necessary to rely on the power of the Turks, and only in this way could he unify the world. After receiving the news of such a major event, the Sui Emperor Yang Guang was furious, believing that Li Yuan had no way to rule and wanted to arrest Li Yuan and go to the eastern capital of Jiangdu to be punished.
In this way, Li Yuan was determined to raise an army. To this end, Li Shimin said:
"If you are in a hurry, you can do something."
The surrounding courtiers Pei Huan, Xu Shixu, and Wu Shixuan all advised Li Yuan to raise an army, which was not a bit of the scene of Zhao Kuangyin's Chen Qiao mutiny.
In this way, Li Yuan complied with the opinions of the group of ministers and rebelled.
Li Yuan made Li Jiancheng the Duke of Longxi and the Left Leader dadu governor, commanding the left army, the second son Li Shimin was the Duke of Dunhuang and the right leader of the capital, commanding the right army, the fourth son Li Yuanji was the Duke of Guzang, commanding the Chinese army, and the minister Pei Huan was made the chief of the general's palace, Liu Wenjing was Sima (司馬), Yin Kaishan (殷開山) was the commander, Liu Zhenghui (劉政会) was a subordinate, and the eldest grandson Shunde, Wang Changhuan, Liu Hongji, and Dou Chun (窦琮) were the left and right commanders, and he was appointed as a major general.
Li Yuan also listened to the advice of Liu Wenjing and others, and made it a military goal to capture Chang'an, the capital of the Guanlong region, in order to create an imperial cause.
Sure enough, the strategy was correct, and only 6 months later, Li Yuan conquered Chang'an, and established Yang Guang, the grandson of the Sui Emperor Yang Guang and the third son of The Prince of Yuande, Yang Zhao, as emperor, emperor of Sui as emperor, and Li Yuan as the grand chancellor and king of Tang. At this time, Yang Guang was still in Jiangdu.
In March of the following year, the Sui Emperor Yang Guang was killed by Yu Wenhua in Jiangdu. Li Yuan saw the opportunity to depose Yang You in May of that year, proclaim himself emperor, change the name of the country to Tang, the Sui Dynasty fell, and the Tang Dynasty was established.
A year after the Jinyang rebellion, Li Yuan established the Tang Dynasty with Chang'an as his capital. The reason for choosing "Tang" as the national name stemmed from the fact that the ancestor Li Hu replaced the State of Wei in Northern Zhou, and was awarded the hereditary title of "Duke of Tang" by Northern Zhou, which could be passed down for thousands of years.
03
Although the Tang Dynasty was established, there were still many separatist forces in the country at this time, such as Xue Rengao, Liu Wuzhou, Dou Jiande, Wang Shichong, Liu Heimin and so on. In order to unify the whole country and eliminate the separatist regime, someone must fight for the new empire.
At this time, Li Yuan's picture was not someone else, it was the second son Li Shimin, who was good at riding and shooting and was talented.
How to motivate Li Shimin to go on the expedition?
The greatest benefit that Li Yuan gave to Li Shimin was to secretly promise to give Li Shimin the position of crown prince after the matter was completed. The prince, if nothing else, is the future king of a country. Such a large cake made Li Shimin beat chicken blood.
Since 618 AD, that is, the first year of Wu De, Li Shimin continued to lead the Wu general group to conquer the north and south. He first pacified Xue Rengao (Xue Ju's son) in Longxi and eliminated the Tang Dynasty's threat from the West. Then defeat and defeat Song Jingang and Liu Wuzhou, regain the annexation and fen, and consolidate the northern part of the Tang Dynasty. In the Battle of Tiger Prison, in one fell swoop, the two major Central Plains separatist forces of Henan Wang Shichong and Hebei Dou Jiande Clique were annihilated, so that the Tang Dynasty gained the right to rule North China. In the end, it severely damaged Dou Jiande's remnants Liu Heimin and Xu Yuanlang of Shandong.
In this way, the Tang Dynasty unified the whole country in one fell swoop, and Li Shimin relied on a series of battles to make great achievements and shock the lord, and actually proudly proclaimed himself "General of Heavenly Strategy".
After returning to Chang'an, he found that his eldest brother Li Jiancheng had become the crown prince of the Tang Dynasty and was stationed in the palace to handle affairs. In this way, Li Shimin was dissatisfied.
However, what was even more frightening was that at this time, the crown prince Li Jiancheng, knowing that his military exploits and prestige were inferior to those of the people, were jealous, so he joined forces with his younger brother Li Yuanji, the King of Qi, to exclude and frame Li Shimin.
04
How to frame Li Shimin? One is to sneak around and shoot horses. Brothers Li Jiancheng and Li Yuanji knew that their father Li Yuan loved some concubines, so they often sent treasures to these concubines to please their father. Li Shimin disdained this, so the concubines were very angry and competed to praise Li Jiancheng and Li Yuanji and slander Li Shimin.
Second, keep making rumors. Li Jiancheng once told Li Yuan that Li Shimin, the King of Qin, under the pretext of resisting the Turks, was actually planning to take over the military power and accomplish his plot to usurp the throne.
Third, blow the wind on the side of the pillow.
In all these cases, Li Jiancheng, Li Yuanji, and the concubines of the harem kept framing Li Yuan day and night, and Li Yuan believed that it was true and prepared to punish Li Shimin. Soon, Li Shimin's meritorious group was innocent and degraded. Later, Li Yuan's suspicions became more and more serious.
Forced to do so, the group of heroes headed by Li Shimin, in order to protect themselves, launched a mutiny at Xuanwumen, which is the famous "xuanwumen change" in history.
After this battle, Li Shimin personally shot the crown prince Li Jiancheng, forcing Li Yuan to become emperor taishang. On September 4, 626, Li Yuan was forced to meditate on Li Shimin. Li Shimin ascended the throne as emperor with the era name Zhenguan, which opened the "rule of Zhenguan" for 22 years.
05
How did Li Shimin succeed?
There is no doubt that the first is that he has accumulated a large number of meritorious deeds in the course of conquest and attracted a large number of people who are able to fight in literature and martial arts; second, Li Shimin has great talent and extraordinary temperament; third, Li Shimin is also good at engaging in struggle.
Of course, there are many reasons, the most important of which is that at that time, Li Shimin represented the people's hearts and represented the hard-working ministers of culture and military affairs, and although they could not be promoted, they still had to be punished or exterminated. This kind of expulsion of bad money and the expulsion of good money is becoming a "social evil" that Li Shimin and the Meritorious Group are extremely disgusted with and are desperately trying to overthrow.
Well, today's sharing ends here, and we'll see you next time