In 617, Li Yuan raised an army in Taiyuan and swept through Chang'an with lightning speed. The following year, the Sui Emperor Yang Guang was killed by Yu Wenhuahe, Li Yuan was proclaimed emperor, the state name was "Tang", and the second son Li Shimin was made the Prince of Qin and also Shang Shuling. In just 4 years, Li Shimin has recruited talents and achieved brilliant results again and again.
In August 618, Li Shimin sent an army to eliminate the forces of Xue Ju, the "Overlord of Western Qin".
In 619, Li Shimin led an army across the Yellow River from Longmen to attack Liu Wuzhou, the "Dingyang Khan", and the following year, Liu Wuzhou and Song Jingang were defeated, fled to the Turks, and were eventually killed.
Two years later, Li Shimin defeated Wang Shichong and Dou Jiande in the Battle of Luoyang and Hugaoguan, paving the way for the future of the Tang Dynasty.
As Li Yuan's second son, Li Shimin made an immortal contribution, and Li Yuan was overjoyed. However, in the Tang Empire, not everyone liked Li Shimin's approach, and the crown prince Wei Zheng was one of them, and Wei Zheng saw that Li Shimin's merits were getting bigger and bigger, and he was very anxious, and he said to the crown prince Li Jiancheng:
"Your Highness, however, dwells on the ground and is a good man, and his merits are neither commendable nor benevolent. And Qin Wangxunye clone, the power of the world, the people's hearts, why does His Highness feel at ease? ”
Wei Zheng's meaning is that the crown prince (Li Jiancheng) is Li Yuan's eldest son and occupies a position, but the merits of the King of Qin (Li Shimin) are like the sun in the sky, so that the prestige of the King of Qin is getting higher and higher, and the prince is in the shadow of the King of Qin. In the future, everyone will support the King of Qin, and the position of prince will be able to sit safely?
Li Jiancheng was deeply touched after listening to it, and under Wei Zheng's suggestion, Li Jiancheng began to actively plan, on the one hand, to compete for military power, on the other hand, to send troops to attack Liu Heimin and seize military merit.
In the ninth year of Wu De, the dispute between Li Jiancheng and Li Shimin became even more intense, and Wei Zheng suggested that Li Jiancheng should find a reason to transfer Li Shimin, the King of Qin, to other places, as long as Li Shimin was not with Li Yuan, he would completely lose the opportunity to become the crown prince, but unfortunately, Li Jiancheng did not listen to Wei Zheng's suggestion. In that year, the "Xuanwumen Revolution" occurred, Li Jiancheng died under Li Shimin's arrow, and Wei Zheng cried bitterly.
Speaking of Wei Zheng, this person experienced ups and downs and changed the court many times, but he always encountered the "Ming Lord", until he met Tang Taizong Li Shimin, Wei Zheng became famous in the world.
Wei Zheng, also known as Wei Zheng, the character Xuancheng, when Li Mi juyi was in Wagang, Wei Zheng went to defect. In the last years of the Sui Dynasty, the Wagang army grew stronger and stronger, and the famous generals were like clouds, Wei Zheng carefully planned the future of the Wagang army and presented ten plans to Li Mi, but unfortunately, Li Mi was self-conscious and negated Wei Zheng, and Wei Zheng was disappointed in Li Mi.
Later, Wei Zheng took the initiative to make friends with Zheng Yong, a senior aide of the Wagang Army, and when the Wagang Army and Wang Shichong were at war, Wei Zheng suggested to Zheng Yong: "Wang Shichong has not much grain and grass, and as long as the Wagang army occupies a dangerous position and fights a protracted war, Wang Shichong will be defeated." ”
It has to be said that Wei Zheng's was very clever, but at that time, the Wagang army obviously took the initiative, and Zheng Yong and others did not want to give up the good situation, so they did not convey Wei Zheng's suggestion to Li Mi, and in the end, the Wagang army was defeated by Wang Shichong.
After the defeat of the Wagang army, Wei Zheng defected to Li Yuan, and was then assigned to the Eastern Palace to assist the crown prince Li Jiancheng. At first, Li Jiancheng attached great importance to Wei Zheng. Initially, Wei Zheng advised Li Jiancheng to get rid of Li Shimin as soon as possible, but Li Jiancheng did not listen. Later, Wei Zheng suggested that Li Jiancheng transfer Li Shimin away from Chang'an, but Li Jiancheng did not listen to Wei Zheng's words.
After the change of Xuanwu Gate, Li Shimin held the power alone and asked Wei Zheng, "Why did you alienate the royal brothers and instruct the crown prince to deal with me?" Wei Zheng was not afraid and replied, "If the prince had listened to me earlier, there would have been today's misfortune!" ”
In the beginning, Wei Zheng often advised the crown prince to build up the king of Qin early, and the completion was defeated, and the people of the world summoned the conscription to say: "Ru What is the alienation of my brother!" The people were afraid of this, and they behaved freely, saying to them: "The first prince has long been a sign, and there will be no disaster today." ——" Zizhi Tongjian
Wei Zheng's implication was that he did not regret his actions in those years, and only blamed Li Jiancheng for not listening to "advice".
Li Shimin was also atmospheric, and seeing that Wei Zheng was sincere, he stayed by his side and gave it to him for reuse. Because of Wei Zheng's outspoken and good advice, he appointed Wei Zheng as Shang Shu Zuo Cheng (尚書左丞). After asking Wei Zheng many times, Wei Zheng finally met the Ming Lord.
In the second year of Zhenguan, Li Shimin posthumously made Li Jiancheng the Prince of Xie, and buried Li Jiancheng with the courtesy of the prince, Wei Zheng asked for Li Jiancheng's funeral, Li Shimin gladly agreed, and praised Wei Zheng's loyalty.
At the beginning of the Tang Dynasty, many regulations were not mature, and because Li Shimin had a violent personality, many of Li Shimin's practices in the court during the Zhenguan years were not appropriate, and Wei Zheng played the role of "offending people", and whenever Li Shimin made a mistake, Wei Zheng would bluntly advise. For example, Li Shimin was advised not to recruit concubines, not to shoot and hunt frequently, not to reuse foreign relatives, not to impose heavy punishments, and so on. Because Wei Zheng confronted Li Shimin many times, Li Shimin even wanted to kill Wei Zheng and then quickly, and later felt that Wei Zheng was right, so he admired Wei Zheng very much.
The one time that Li Shimin most admired Wei Zheng was the "Feng Ang Conspiracy Rebellion Case" in the first year of Zhenguan. In this incident, Wei Zheng's judgment of the form was very accurate, making Li Shimin think that Wei Zheng was comparable to 100,000 male soldiers.
Feng Ang was a descendant of the Northern Yan imperial family, during the Sui Dynasty, Feng Ang made many military achievements in Guangdong, and later Yang Guang's expedition to Goguryeo specially transferred Feng Ang to the north, and Feng Ang was awarded the title of General of Zuo WuWei for his merits. In the last year of the Sui Dynasty, the world was in chaos, Feng Ang occupied Guangzhou, because Feng Ang scrupulously performed his duties and treated the people well, more than 20 states and counties in Lingnan automatically submitted to Feng Ang, so Feng Ang became a tyrant in the south of the late Sui Dynasty, and was known as the "King of Nanyue".
In fact, Feng Ang did not claim the title of king, and many people advised Feng Ang to emulate Zhao Tuo of the Western Han Dynasty and establish himself as king. Feng Ang said:
"I have jurisdiction over one side of the land, to protect the peace of the people, and to eat and clothe myself, so how can I establish myself as king?"
It can be seen from here that Feng Ang stabilized the people in the chaotic world, did not seek self-reliance, and could be regarded as a temporary masterpiece.
In the fifth year of WuDe, Li Yuan sent the famous general Li Jing to march south, Li Jing admired Feng Ang very much, could not bear to fight with his sword, and sent emissaries to surrender, Feng Ang knew that the Tang Dynasty was unstoppable in the world, and could not bear to be destroyed, so he submitted to the Tang Dynasty and was named the Duke of Wu.
Because of Feng Ang's upright personality and jealousy, he offended many officials in the south. After Li Shimin ascended the throne, some people successively falsely accused Feng Ang of plotting rebellion. At first, Li Shimin did not believe it, but in less than a year, more than a dozen states and counties called Feng Ang rebel. Li Shimin believed this to be true and planned to send the general Lin Hui to send 100,000 troops to attack Feng Ang. At this time, Wei Zheng advised: "Never!
Li Shimin ridiculed Wei Zheng:
"Feng Ang has rebelled, if you don't let Feng Ang send troops, can you make Feng Ang obediently surrender by relying on your lips?"
Faced with Li Shimin's questioning, Wei Zheng immediately analyzed the form of Lingnan for Li Shimin, Wei Zheng said:
"If Feng Ang plotted a rebellion, within a year's time, Feng Ang would have already attacked Guangdong, why was he still in the same place?" It can be seen that Feng Ang has no obvious backlash. However, he had offended too many people, everyone said that he was plotting rebellion, and he was afraid that His Majesty would believe it to be true and did not dare to easily come to the imperial court to explain, so this situation was created. If His Majesty sent troops to attack, Feng Ang knew that the imperial court did not trust him, and in order to protect himself, he would inevitably resist. If His Majesty sent emissaries to appease him, Feng Ang knew that the imperial court still believed in him, and naturally sent someone to Chang'an to explain clearly. ”
Although Li Shimin did not believe what Wei Zheng said, considering that the south was miasma and the road was far away, 100,000 troops went here and consumed a lot, so he postponed the dispatch of troops, tried Wei Zheng's strategy first, and sent ministers to pacify and find out. As a result, as soon as Li Shimin's emissaries arrived in Guangzhou, Feng Ang sent his own son and emissaries back to Chang'an to present his grievances to Li Shimin. The situation turned out to be exactly the same as Wei Zheng expected, and Li Shimin was impressed by Wei Zheng and shouted:
"Wei Zheng ordered me to send an envoy, and LingBiao Sui'an, the master of victory over 100,000" - Zizhi Tongjian
Tang Taizong Li Shimin meant to say:
Wei Zheng asked me to send a man, and even pacified the counties of Lingnan, and Wei Zheng was better than 100,000 male soldiers with one word.
Therefore, Wei Zheng was rewarded again, and Wei Zheng postponed it for half a day, and finally only accepted five hundred silk horses.
As a famous minister in the early Tang Dynasty, Wei Zheng's impression of posterity was mostly in "outspoken and good advice". In fact, Wei Zheng's talent lies in his ability to analyze the current situation and make the most correct judgment. The admonition, on the other hand, is only the ultimate appearance.