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Failing to bring Goguryeo into submission was the greatest regret of Li Shimin's life, and even before his death, he was planning how to conquer Goguryeo. Many people in the historical circles believe that Li Shimin's conquest of Goguryeo was a major defeat in his life, and he was suspected of being a military force and making the same mistakes as the Sui Emperor.
Many people do not know that the fundamental reason for the demise of the Sui Dynasty was not the tyranny of the Sui Emperor and the peasant revolt, but actually the fault
On the conquest of Goguryeo. After Li Shimin unsuccessfully conquered Goguryeo, his son Li Zhi of Tang Gaozong also made the elimination of Goguryeo an important mission. In addition, in the early days of the Sui Dynasty, Emperor Wen of Sui also carried out a crusade against Goguryeo, and there were two dynasties and four generations of large-scale conquest of Goguryeo in Chinese history. Why must goguryeo be conquered?
In fact, Goguryeo was different from the Turkic, Tuguhun, Gaochang, Yanqi, Xueyantuo and other countries. Although he ostensibly submitted to the Tang Dynasty, he always had a hostile attitude towards the Tang Dynasty. At that time, Goguryeo was not a small country as the outside world and later generations thought. In the 6th and 7th centuries, Goguryeo ceased to be a small regional state, but had developed into a powerful centralized state with the potential to compete with the Tang Dynasty for hegemony in East Asia. In the late Southern and Northern Dynasties, throughout the Sui Dynasty, and in the early Tang Dynasty, Goguryeo continued to expand its territory while constantly provoking Sui and Tang neighbors to provoke wars against Sui and Tang. Goguryeo's desire to dominate all of East Asia has long been in its heart. The so-called one mountain does not tolerate two tigers, and the war between the Tang Dynasty and Goguryeo is inevitable. The Tang Dynasty took advantage of the fact that Goguryeo's wings were not yet full, and it launched a large-scale crusade against it, with the intention of preparing for the rain.
In 641, Li Shimin sent an envoy to Goguryeo and found that Goguryeo had taken in many Sui Dynasty generals. At this time, Li Shimin had already had the idea of conquest of Goguryeo. Later, a coup d'état occurred within Goguryeo, and some ministers suggested attacking Goguryeo. Li Shimin considered that the laborers would hurt the people and the wealth, but did not agree. However, when the situation stabilized, Goguryeo joined forces with Baekje to attack Silla, which had always been subordinate to the Tang. Li Shimin sent Xuanzang to mediate, but Goguryeo refused. In consultation with his courtiers, Li Shimin said: "Goguryeo attacked Silla on the surface without giving me face, but in fact, Goguryeo wanted to control the entire Korean Peninsula and the Liaodong Peninsula. If we succeed, we will certainly be challenged, and then the situation will be even more difficult to control. Within the limits of my rule, such forces must not be allowed to emerge. Therefore, Li Shimin ignored the opposition of Chu Suiliang and others and personally conquered Goguryeo in 645. Although the conquest was not fully successful, it caused great damage to goguryeo's national strength. Later, Li Shimin adopted the advice of his subordinates and continued to harass Goguryeo, preventing it from quickly restoring its national strength. This laid the foundation for Emperor Gaozong of Tang to destroy Goguryeo later.
Comments: Compared with other countries, Goguryeo was the biggest threat to the Tang Dynasty. As a wise monarch, Li Shimin knew this. In order to maintain his authority, Li Shimin did not hesitate to march in person. Although it did not achieve major victories and did not shake the foundation of Goguryeo, it delayed the rapid strength of the Goguryeo Dynasty to a certain extent, and also accelerated the decline of the Goguryeo Dynasty. In the process of conquest, Li Shimin did not adopt a bloody policy of slaughter and destruction, but still used the method of attaching equal importance to Enwei and consolidating the already gained power, laying the foundation for the next step of completely defeating Goguryeo.
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