The Tang Dynasty was one of the most glorious dynasties in Chinese history, creating a handful of outstanding achievements in its history of more than 2,000 years, whether in terms of economy, politics or people's livelihood. However, the Tang Dynasty is different from other dynasties, the founding monarchs of other dynasties are basically a person with his subordinates to fight the world, with countless sacrifices in exchange for the position of emperor, their own ability is very good. However, Li Yuan, the founding emperor of the Tang Dynasty, was different, in most cases, Li Yuan was a commander-in-chief, making overall planning in the rear, and it was his sons Li Jiancheng, Li Shimin, and Li Yuanji who led the troops to fight on the front line.
Among them, Li Jiancheng, because he was a prince, did not have much time to personally go on the field; and Li Yuanji's ability was not enough to command a large army, basically as a deputy to assist the main general; and the second son, Li Shimin, because of his outstanding military ability and repeated achievements, became the most effective cadre under Li Yuan. It can be said that Li Yuan, as a minister with a different surname, spent the least energy on seizing the world, and most of the time it was his sons who served him, and he only needed to appease his sons to play with the fruits of victory in his hands. However, Li Yuan was relaxed, but it caused a very big hidden danger. The second son, Li Shimin, led troops to fight in wars outside for many years, and the concentrated forces under his command were very large, and their prestige rose step by step, and their ambitions naturally began to gradually expand.
In the face of his father's establishment of his eldest brother Li Jian as the heir to the throne, Li Shimin was naturally extremely unhappy in his heart, especially since he had made such a prominent military achievement. Li Shimin, who held great power in his hands, could not bear it, and looked for a time to replace it, and finally, the change of Xuanwumen broke out, and Li Yuan's two most beloved sons began to kill each other for the throne of the emperor. The result of the xuanwumen change is known to everyone, and Li Shimin won a great victory. In the face of the second son who killed his own brother, Li Yuan, who should have been furious and should have been severely punished, also knew that his general situation was gone, and soon abdicated the throne, allowing his second son Li Shimin to inherit the emperor's throne. However, how did Li Shimin plan this Xuanwu Gate, and did not walk for a long time, and finally achieved great success? This had a crucial relationship with his carefully selected confidants at the time. When Li Shimin was planning this important matter, he was always looking for a confidant who could be trusted, after all, once there was a slight flaw in this matter, the consequences would definitely be death.
According to historical records, Li Shimin finally chose Ten people, including Wei Chi Jingde, Zheng Rentai, and Changsun Wuji. Being able to choose these ten people in this event that determines life and death shows how much Li Shimin trusts them. Among these people, there was a general who was loyal to follow Li Shimin for thirty years, and he charged for Li Shimin countless times in his life, although not once he was the commander alone to fight the war, but even if he did not have merit, his hard work contributed enough, which is why Li Shimin trusted him so much. This general is Zheng Rentai.
When Zheng Rentai was young, he followed Li Shimin all the way to fight everywhere, and almost all the major battles led by Li Shimin, such as the rebellion of pacifying Dou Jiande, Xue Ju and others, almost all had Zheng Rentai's figure. Although he seems to have a much smaller reputation and merit than the famous founding generals of the Tang Dynasty, such as Qin Shubao and Wei Chigong, he was also the most important group of generals in the early years of the Tang Dynasty. Zheng Rentai followed Li Shimin all his life until Li Shimin died of illness. Subsequently, Zheng Rentai began to assist Li Shimin's descendant Li Zhi, becoming one of the few founding veterans during Li Zhi's reign.
After Li Zhi became emperor, under the influence of Li Shimin, he also wanted to continue the great cause of the Li family and establish a great cause that would be remembered by future generations, so he launched wars against neighboring countries for many years and wanted to open up the territory of the Tang Dynasty. Li Zhi had such ambitions, but few of his ministers could be seen by him. And Zheng Rentai, as one of the founding veterans of the country who was in the limelight, was naturally greatly respected by Li Zhi. Therefore, Li Zhi appointed Zheng Rentai as the main general, and Xue Rengui assisted him, and went to the north to quell the invasion of tiele troops.
This is the first time in so many years that Zheng Rentai has served as a manager to fight, naturally he wants to establish his own merits. But the limelight was stolen by Xue Rengui alone. Originally, he and Xue Rengui were ready to divide into two roads and encircle the Tiele army, but they were fixed on the Tianshan Mountain by Xue Rengui's three arrows, directly stealing all the credit. Zheng Rentai was definitely not reconciled, thinking about whether there were still remnants of troops, and it was a credit to defeat them, so he inquired around. Sure enough, there was news that there was a hoard of grain and grass in the front of the enemy army, and they could go forward to capture it. Zheng Rentai was overjoyed and immediately drove the troops to go, but he pounced. If they didn't find it, they also encountered a snowstorm and were trapped here unable to move. The original army of more than 10,000 people ran out of ammunition and food, and finally only 800 people escaped. The defeat of this battle was the biggest joke of the Tang Dynasty, and the enemy army did not kill one person and lost 10,000 of themselves. Although Zheng Rentai of the Hui Dynasty was not punished, Li Zhi never reused him again.