What is history: it is the echo of the past to the future, the reflection of the future on the past. - Hugo
"Why don't the boys take Wu hooks and charge Guan Shan Fifty States." Please go to ling yan pavilion for the time being, if a scholar is a ten thousand households. ——Li He,"Thirteen Songs of South Park"
Since ancient times, after the emperor took the throne, he would kill a number of heroes in order to protect the throne, although this has its rationality to a certain extent, but in fact it is related to the popularity of the king, after all, there are also emperors in history who have not killed people, and the throne is still sitting as stable as a mountain. Li Shimin was an emperor who had hardly killed heroes, and even when he recalled the career of Jinge Iron Horse in his later years, he remembered the spirited appearance of the past and decided to let Yan Liben draw a "Twenty-Four Heroes Map" and hang it on the Ling Yan Pavilion.
Let's first introduce these 22 heroes who died well.
In the first place was Empress Changsun's elder brother Changsun Wuji, who did not make particularly great achievements in the founding war, but was a full hero to Li Shimin, because he helped Li Shimin launch the Xuanwumen Rebellion. Of course, in order to avoid suspicion, the eldest son Wuji did not serve as an official of the imperial court for a long time, until Fang Xuanling was critically ill and began to reappear in the jianghu.
Li Xiaogong was a distant relative of Li Shimin, and together with Li Jing, he destroyed Xiao Milling and pacified Jiangnan. However, because he maintained a neutral attitude during the Xuanwumen Revolution, he was not favored by Li Shimin, but Li Shimin still placed him in the list of heroes. Du Ruyi was an important adviser under Li Shimin, and after Jinyang raised an army, he became an important adviser to Li Shimin, and later he was admired for his strategizing, and then he plotted with others the change of XuanwuMen, ranking first.
Wei Zheng was not originally a subordinate of Li Shimin, he was a close vassal of Li Jiancheng, but Li Shimin felt that he was very capable, so he promised him a high-ranking official, and Wei Zheng himself was known for being good at advice, and after Wei Zheng's death, Li Shimin also lamented that he had lost a mirror. Fang Xuanling was also a civilian official, and he advised him after he defected to Li Shimin, who claimed that he had also made great contributions to the empress. Because Fang Xuanling himself is good at strategizing but indecisive, while Du Ruyi is decisive but not good at strategizing, the two cooperate and are known as "Fang Mou DuJue".
Gao Shilian was the empress's uncle, and after participating in the Xuanwumen Rebellion, he was promoted to a series of important positions. When Emperor Taizong of Tang set out for Goguryeo, Gao Shilian was appointed crown prince to assist Li Zhi in overseeing the state. Wei Chi Jingde was a tang dynasty general, who once rode the savior alone, and then personally killed Li Yuanji during the Xuanwumen Rebellion, and then forced Li Yuan to make Li Shimin the crown prince, so he reached the first place in the merits of Support. However, due to the stability of the world, his skills were useless, and he could only go out behind closed doors in his later years and die.
Li Jing had a strategy of civil and military strategy, used soldiers commercially, and was the only person who could compare with Li Shimin's military feats, and he himself was more able to judge the hour and size up the situation, so even if he made great military merits, he did not fall to the point of "running dog cooking". Although Xiao Yu submitted to the Tang Dynasty, he offended Li Shimin many times, but Li Shimin still placed him among the heroes.
Duan Zhixuan had defeated Wang Shichong and Dou Jiande, and was made a general by Li Shimin in 640. Liu Hongji has been following Li Yuan's family since taiyuan, and the change of XuanwuMen also made great contributions to him. He was often impeached for corruption, and Li Shimin could not bear to kill him, but only degraded him.
Qu Tutong was originally a general of the Sui Dynasty, who participated in many military activities after surrendering, and was rated as the first in battle for destroying Wang Shichong. Yin Kaishan also joined Li Shimin in his crusade against Wang Shichong, but later died of illness during the conquest of Liu Heimin, causing Li Shimin to cry.
Chai Shao was the husband of Princess Pingyang, who participated in many important battles at the founding of the country, and once served as the main general to eliminate the last anti-king Liang Shidu. The eldest grandson, Shunde, was the empress's uncle, who captured the Sui dynasty general Qu Tutong and later attacked Li Jiancheng's Yu Dang. He was also reported for corruption, but Li Shimin was still reluctant to kill him, but only degraded him.
Zhang Gongjin died young, but he had helped Li Shimin to make up his mind to launch the Xuanwumen Revolution and became a key figure in Li Shimin's ascension to the throne. Cheng Yaojin was originally a soldier of Wagangzhai, but later surrendered to Li Shimin together with Qin Qiong and became the main thug of the Xuanwumen Rebellion.
Yu Shinan was a famous calligrapher, known as one of the four masters of the early Tang Dynasty, and he also dared to enter the court like Wei Zheng. Liu Zhenghui was captured at the founding of the country, but he was loyal and never surrendered, and even found an opportunity to find secret reports. Tang Jian's father was a close friend of Li Yuan, who was captured like Yu Shinan, and when he learned in prison that Dugu Huai'en was going to rebel, he also sent someone to report him.
Li Ji was the famous Xu Maogong of the people, he was the three famous generals of the early Tang Dynasty, who went through three dynasties and was deeply valued by the imperial court. Qin Qiong was originally also a subordinate of Li Mi, and after surrendering, he participated in many battles, and each battle was able to win the first rank of the enemy army in thousands of troops.
Of these twenty-four meritorious men, civilian officials and military attachés each occupied half of the country, and only two of them were killed by Tang Taizong. One is Zhang Liang, and the other is Hou Junji. The former had ill intentions because he had adopted 500 righteous sons, and the latter had conspired with Li Chengqian to rebel and was executed by Li Shimin, but Li Shimin was grateful for his exploits and did not harm the whole family, but only exiled his wife and children.
With so many heroes, Li Shimin has never had the intention of killing, at most, he cannot be favored or used, and some people who commit crimes are also angry because of this, but they are dealt with lightly. And the only two people killed were only because they themselves had committed the crime of rebellion and deserved it.