In the Sui and Tang dynasty series of novels and film and television dramas, there is a more tragic character image, that is, Shan Xiongxin. Shan Xiongxin was originally the owner of Erxian Zhuang, but later became acquainted with Qin Qiong, became a brother under xu Maogong's tutelage, and then rebelled against Shandong, and from then on he made a career in WagangZhai, became Wang Shichong's brother-in-law when Wagangzhai fell apart, and from then on served Wang Shichong, because he had a vendetta against Li Yuan for killing his brother, and vowed not to surrender to Tang, Li Shimin had to endure the pain and order Shan Xiongxin to be executed.
Although there is a big difference between speech and history, after all, it comes from the actual history, so the basic character story line is certain, and the historical Shan Xiongxin was indeed originally a member of the Wagang Army, and then demoted Wang Shichong. After Li Shimin took Dou Jiande and Wang Shichong, Shan Xiongxin was executed.
Some people here are more puzzled, Li Shimin has always cherished talent and loved talent, since Li Tang began to recruit talents before He raised troops in Jinyang, and as long as he came to vote, Li Yuan and Li Shimin basically accepted it, and even persuaded the great future in the enemy camp to surrender. Famous generals such as Qin Shubao, Cheng Yaojin, Luo Shixin, Wei Chigong, Xu Maogong, and so on, all took the initiative to surrender from the enemy camp or were persuaded to surrender.
Then, Shan Xiongxin, known as the "Flying General", was also a great general, why was he directly killed after the defeat of Wang Shichong? Is he preferring to die than surrender? No, he and Li Tang did not have the hatred in the speech, and he did not have the intention of refusing to surrender after being captured, and even when Li Ji wanted to intercede for Shan Xiongxin, he still had hopes.
According to li Shimin's personality traits of cherishing talent and loving talent, he should like Shan Xiongxin, so why did he kill Shan Xiongxin? Although there is a controversy in the Two Tang Dynasties about who ordered Shan Xiongxin to be executed, one believes that it is Li Yuan and the other believes that it is Li Shimin, but no matter who it is, I believe that Li Shimin is in favor of the execution of Shan Xiongxin, and he does not have the intention of taking Shan Xiongxin to himself.
This is very strange, why can't Li Shimin just tolerate Shan Xiongxin? In fact, to say that Li Shimin could not tolerate Shan Xiongxin was really wronged by Li Shimin, and Shan Xiongxin's execution was actually an inevitable result.
Li Shimin's thirst for talents is not a lie, and he and Fang Xuanling are good at recruiting talents for him, and in the process of pacifying the world, he really got a lot of capable generals, and it should be known that Li Tang Jinyang's army is lagging behind most of the forces in terms of time, and there are not so many talents that are really available.
However, we see that in the later period, there are many talents, and this is precisely because Li Yuan and Li Shimin have absorbed talents, so all those who have the ability to either take the initiative to vote or are persuaded to vote have become the founding heroes of Li Tang.
As one of the founding elders of the Wagang Army, Shan Xiongxin and Li Ji have a very close relationship, so it can be speculated that after the collapse of the Wagang Army, Li Shimin thought of including Shan Xiongxin under his command, but Shan Xiongxin did not turn to Li Tang's side.
After the battle between Wang Shichong and Li Miluoyang, the Wagang army collapsed, and most of the Wagang army was obtained by Wang Shichong, Li Ji escaped the disaster because he did not participate in the battle, and Li Mi defected to Li Yuan.
However, many Wagang generals could not stay with Wang Shichong, so before a battle with Li Tang, Qin Shubao and Cheng Yaojin and others bid farewell to Wang Shichong and directly defected to Li Shimin. Among these people who defected to Li Tang, there was no Shan Xiongxin.
It is likely that he thinks that following Wang Shichong is more promising, and in the Battle of Luoyang, Shan Xiongxin has more or less been in contact with Wang Shichong, and later he has indeed been reused by Wang Shichong, so there is no need to change the boss.
Even though Li Ji later voted for Li Tang under the persuasion of Wei Zheng, Shan Xiongxin, who was Li Ji's good friend, was still unmoved, and his loyalty to Wang Shichong could be imagined. As a powerful general under Wang Shichong, Shan Xiongxin has always been in the forefront, and has persisted until the end, he even almost hurt Li Shimin.
Shan Xiongxin had never had the idea of leaving since he had followed Wang Shichong, and had fought until the end, if it were not for Wang Shichong opening the city gate and surrendering, Shan Xiongxin might have died in battle. As soon as Wang Shichong surrendered, Shan Xiongxin was killed, and the Zizhi Tongjian records:
"Duan Da, Wang Long, Cui Hongdan, Xue Deyin, Yang Wang, Meng Xiaoyi, Shan Xiongxin, Yang Gongqing, Guo Shizhu, Guo Shiheng, Dong Rui, Zhang Tong'er, Wang Deren, Tong Yue, Guo Shancai, and more than ten other people were beheaded on Luoshui."
The Two Tang Dynasties are similar to those in the Zizhi Tongjian, and more than a dozen people were executed along with Shan Xiongxin, all of whom were powerful generals under Wang Shichong, who had always been inseparable from Wang Shichong and contributed greatly. These people are bound to be executed, and even intercession is useless.
At that time, Li Ji had interceded for Shan Xiongxin and wanted to use his own official title to protect Shan Xiongxin, but he was refused, was it Li Yuan and Li Shimin who did not know Shan Xiongxin's ability? Of course not, how could Li Shimin not know Shan Xiongxin's ability? Just as the old Book of Tang Li Ji's biography said:
"King Shichong of Chuping was executed by his deceased Shan Xiongxin as usual."
"Execution according to routine", just four words, is the truth of Shan Xiongxin's execution
。 So why was Shan Xiongxin executed as usual? As mentioned earlier, Shan Xiongxin has always been inseparable from Wang Shichong and vowed to follow him to the death, which is a big reason, so loyal Shan Xiongxin missed the best opportunity to defect to Li Tang.
Moreover, before Dou Jiande and Wang Shichong were solved, the world was actually the most powerful of Li Yuan, Dou Jiande and Wang Shichong, and after Dou Jiande and Wang Shichong were all taken down, the world was basically Li Yuan's, relatively speaking, fierce generals such as Shan Xiongxin were no longer so sought-after, whether they were all the same or not, whether they were all the same or not.
Third, Shan Xiongxin, as Wang Shichong's right-hand man, has been fighting in the forefront, naturally bringing a lot of losses to the Tang army, he even almost killed Li Shimin, if he is left, there must be many people in the Tang army who oppose, even if they do not say it, their hearts are very unhappy, so there is no need for Li Yuan and Li Shimin to leave Shan Xiongxin.
In summary, Shan Xiongxin and the other dozen people were executed according to routine. Speaking of which, Shan Xiongxin was a great general, and when everyone chose to "choose a good bird to choose a tree to live in" at that time, Shan Xiongxin always firmly followed Wang Shichong. It's just that he didn't see the situation clearly, or he didn't want to leave Wang Shichong clearly, and he ended up with such an ending.