Li Yuan, the ancestor of Tang Gaozu, had a mixed reputation in the history books.
In addition to being only a pretense when he started the army, he was also indecisive in dealing with the relationship between several sons, which led to fratricide, and finally he also abdicated. As a founding prince in history, will the real Li Yuan really be so unbearable? We will cut through the fog of history and restore a real founder of the Tang Dynasty- Li Yuan, the ancestor of the Tang Dynasty.
In 566, Li Yuan was born in Chang'an. Li Yuan was born into a noble family, and the Li family was also a Guanlong nobleman, and when his father Li Xun died when he was seven years old, he inherited the Duke of Tang. His mother was a sister to Emperor Wen of Sui's Lone Empress, Emperor Yang Jian of Sui was his uncle, and Emperor Yang Guang of Sui was his cousin. When he was a teenager, Li Yuan learned to practice martial arts, learned a martial art, and was a well-known sharpshooter, and the later Li Shimin's archery method was probably also li Yuan's true legend, so he could shoot Li Jiancheng to death.
Li Yuan is a good husband, and his union with his wife is even more legendary.
Li Yuan's wife Dou Shi was also from a famous and prestigious family, and from a young age, she knew dali, was exceptionally intelligent, and had a heroic spirit. After adulthood, there was an endless stream of nobles, but the way miss Dou's father chose a son-in-law for his daughter was very special, not looking at status, not looking at money, but looking at talent. On the day of the recruitment of relatives, a door screen was placed in the garden, so that the people who came to ask for relatives used bows and arrows to shoot a hundred steps away, and finally Li Yuan shot two arrows at one of the peacock's eyes on the door screen, holding the beauty, which is the famous story of "the selection of the bird screen". Since then, the husband and wife have respected and loved each other, which has become a good story.
In 581, Yang Jian forced his grandson Emperor Jing of Northern Zhou to abdicate, and he himself was enthroned as emperor, known as Emperor Wen of Sui. Li Yuan was quite highly valued during this period, and successively served as the assassin of three states, if he did not have the ability, how could Emperor Wen of Sui give him the land of one state?
It was also during this period that Li Yuan continued to accumulate strength, increase his fame, and gradually mature.
In 604, No matter what kind of death Yang Jian had, he eventually died, and Yang Guang succeeded to the throne as the Sui Emperor. At the beginning of his succession, Yang Guang trusted Li Yuan very much, entrusted him with heavy responsibilities, and constantly added officials to the knighthood.
Li Yuan's reputation was growing, and it was precisely for this reason that he was suspected by Yang Guang. In order to protect himself, Li Yuan did not hesitate to defile himself and behave greedily and lustfully, so that he could survive.
The Sui Emperor once called Li Yuan an old woman of Li, and Li Yuan's purpose was achieved, and it was precisely because of this that he was able to survive Yang Guang's butcher's knife and serve as a retainer in Taiyuan.
In 617 AD, at this time at the end of the Sui Dynasty, anti-Sui forces in various places had sprung up. Li Yuan consulted with everyone and decided to raise an army.
This is also a controversial moment in history, and who played a key role in the Taiyuan uprising. The Old Book of Tang believes that Liu Wenjing was the first to do the work, the New Book of Tang believes that it is Li Shimin's intention, and some interpretations write Li Yuan as faint, and it was Li Shimin and Liu Wenjing who used the beauty trick to send the concubines of the Sui Emperor Yang Guang left in Taiyuan to Li Yuan's bedroom, and Li Yuan was forced to raise an army. This is all nonsense, which founding prince in history is not decisive in killing. As someone who can survive Yang Guang's butcher's knife, will he not know what to do? Li Yuan is observing, as a mature politician, he is watching the general trend of the world, but also watching the attitude of his subordinates and sons, and then he does not shoot just now, the shot is a fatal killing move, and he will not show mercy.
So the question arises, why do the history books write him so indecisively? The answer lies in his second son, Li Shimin, who, as a generation of heroes, is a hero and a great man, but his biggest knot is that he is not in the right position. In order not to leave a name for himself in the history books of later generations, he must constantly exalt himself and belittle others, whether it is his brother or his father. There is still debate about whether Li Shimin tampered with the history books, but there is no doubt that he influenced the records of the history books. It is precisely because of this that Li Yuan, as the founding prince of the country, has left a less glorious image in the history books, while his son Li Shimin is full of brilliance.
In 617, Li Yuan raised an army in Taiyuan and took advantage of the opportunity of the chaotic battle in the world to quickly attack Chang'an. In 618, Li Yuan was proclaimed emperor, the founding number was Tang, and the history was called Tang Gaozu. At this time, the territory of the Tang State was not large, so the Tang State began a unification war.
In the war of reunification, some people believe that Li Yuan is just a decoration and has not played any major role, and that it is Li Shimin, Li Jing, and others who really play a key role in the reunification of the whole country. Do you still want Li Yuan, who is over fifty years old, to personally fight?
As an emperor, Li Yuan only needed to sit in Chang'an, concentrate on governing the country, and strategize in the center, and those talents who flattened the world for him were not all used by him?
On the way of kings, Li Yuan was a leader among the heroes of the world, and he was a martial artist who used people without doubt, and only then did he finally grasp the bull's ear in the vicissitudes of the late Sui Dynasty, saying that he was not talented enough and that the benevolence of women was really a strange injustice for thousands of years.
In 626, in one of the most tragic scenes in Chinese history, Li Shimin launched the Xuanwumen Rebellion, killing the crown prince Li Jiancheng and The Qi king Li Yuanji. When confronted with Wei Chi Jingde's blood-dripping butcher knife, Li Yuan once again showed the maturity of an outstanding politician. He could only accept the reality that the crown prince and the king of Qi were dead, and only the second son Li Shimin could inherit the throne. Shouting that the King of Qin rebelled and forcing Li Shimin to kill himself again? What good does that do to The Tang and the Li family, since it has become a fact, give the Tang to Li Shimin, the King of Qin, and then quietly watch how he brings the Tang to the top of the world.
Li Yuan was a good father, and he loved his children too much, so he hesitated about who would inherit the throne. He didn't want to hurt any of the children, but in the end he hurt everyone.
His sons Li Jiancheng and Li Yuanji, as well as ten grandsons, were all in different places. Even Li Shimin, who seized the throne, also believed that he was partial to his eldest brother Li Jiancheng, so in the years before his abdication, father and son rarely saw each other.
At this time, Li Yuan chose Mingzhe to protect himself, because he knew that there was no father-son relationship in front of the imperial power, and he gave up all his power and concentrated on wine to show that there was no dispute.
Li Yuan was a good emperor, as the founding prince of the Tang Dynasty,"
By any measure of reality, it is a remarkable achievement; as a result, the Tang Dynasty has laid a solid administrative, economic, and military foundation. All in all, Tang Gaozu laid the indispensable foundation for his son's glorious reign. (Cambridge History of China's Sui and Tang Dynasties)
The real Li Yuan in history is a good husband, a good father, and even a good emperor, and it is he who opened the curtain of the Tang Dynasty, but history has not given him a fair evaluation, which cannot but be said to be a pity.