Nomadism refers to a human way of life formed on the grasslands, and modern archaeological excavations have gradually proved that nomadic herding was born no earlier than 1000 BC. The earliest nomadic people in history were the Scythians, known as the Scythians, who spread west of the Altai Mountains in the mid-8th century BC. The unification of the agrarian peoples was in the Qin Dynasty, and the unification of the nomadic peoples was in the Yuan Dynasty.
It can be said that since ancient times the north has been the habitat of a nomadic people. Moreover, according to historical records, in 540 AD, the Turkic tribes occupied most of the northern desert area at a very rapid speed. This process, which took only twenty years, encompassed a vast area of land between the Daxing'an Mountains and the Aral Sea, and had a great impact on the surrounding countries.
Suddenly, Northern Zhou and Northern Qi sent emissaries to Nagong and Heqin.
In 581, the Sui Dynasty was established, and because of the fear of Turkic power, Emperor Wen of Sui sent a large number of people to the north to build the Great Wall, and sent some troops to stay behind to prevent the Turks from suddenly attacking.
However, in 584 AD, the turkic leader died, and for a time the Turks were constantly in conflict, so they were divided into two factions, the east and the west, and the conquests continued year after year. What is even more bizarre is that the initiator of the Turkic civil unrest was the father of Li Shimin's wife, Changsun Shi. Known to the world and talked about by the changsun clan and his elder brother Sun Wuji, Li Shimin really did not know much about the father-in-law's past.
This is mainly because he died before the Sui Dynasty collapsed. The ability of this father-in-law is beyond doubt, he not only succeeded in dismantling the various forces of the Turks, but also created the feat of "killing two birds with one stone" in his early years. Li Shimin's father-in-law, named Changsun Sheng, was born in 551 and was born in Luoyang. The Changsun family had settled in the Northern Wei Dynasty in the past, especially during the Southern and Northern Dynasties, and were even more famous aristocrats at that time, and both father and son had certain achievements in the official field.
According to records, Changsun Sheng was "very open-minded, good at riding and shooting, and very agile." Riding and shooting with Shang Wu and other noble sons, they were often ahead of others.
In 568, the eldest son Sheng, who was only 18 years old, took the position of Si Wei. At first, he did not have much say in the imperial court, and his talents were not well known to many people. Until he met Yang Jian, Yang Jian admired his worldly talent, and often commented on Changsun Sheng in front of outsiders: "Changsun Lang's martial arts Yiqun, suitable for his words, and more than a little strange. After the name will, is not this sub-evil? ”
In 580, the Turkic tribes proposed to establish an in-law relationship with Northern Zhou, hoping to marry him the daughter of a famous northern Zhou nobleman. At that time, in order to show their own strength, the two countries assigned some brave and good warriors to your country. The eldest son Sheng happened to be appointed as a deputy envoy, who was responsible for escorting the princess all the way to the Turks and relatives.
Previously, the Northern Zhou Dynasty had sent dozens of emissaries to the Turks, but the Turkic khans were arrogant and rude to them, except for the eldest son Sheng, who was highly appreciated by the Turkic khans. Moreover, he often went hunting with him, which also allowed Changsun Sheng to stay in the Turks for a year.
Once, the two went hunting together and saw two eagles snatching a piece of meat. Therefore, the Regent Khan gave the two arrows to Changsun Sheng and asked him to shoot down the two eagles. Hearing this, Changsun Sheng put two arrows on the string, galloped on his horse, and saw two eagles fighting, so he shot them.
And this is the origin of "killing two birds with one stone".
It was this experience that made Regent more appreciative of Changsun Sheng, and introduced him to many of the turkic nobles, hoping that they could learn from each other. Since ancient times, nomadic people have rarely learned from the Central Plains, which shows that the map recognizes the talent of Changsun Sheng.
At this time, the relationship between Regent and his brother Luohou was very tense, and Chuluohou sent people to cooperate with Changsun Sheng during this period. When Changsun Sheng was hunting with the Turkic Khans, he took the opportunity to familiarize himself with the surrounding terrain and the overall strength of the Turks. When Changsun Sheng returned, he happened to meet Yang Jian preparing to ascend to the throne, and based on Yang Jian's previous appreciation of him, he played what he had seen and heard to him.
After Hearing this, Yang Jian was very happy, so he promoted him to the post of Fengche Du Lieutenant. In 581, Yang Jian attacked Northern Zhou and established the Sui Dynasty, and when he found out, he was very angry: "Northern Zhou is my ally, and now that the Sui Dynasty is established, it cannot be controlled, what face do you have to face your wife?" Therefore, under the banner of revenge for the princess of Northern Zhou, he raised the strength of the whole country and marched all the way to Sui, first capturing the town of Linyu and then preparing to attack Sui.
After Yang Jian heard this, he couldn't help but be alarmed, and immediately sent a large number of people to the north to build the Great Wall and carry out strict defense. In view of the overall situation of the Turks, Changsun Sheng already had a certain understanding of the Turks in the time of one year. He knew that the Turkic forces were commanded by the leaders of several tribes, who were divided into four directions, suspicious of each other, but only superficially in agreement.
Therefore, the defeat of the Turks cannot rely on brute force, and they need to be separated first.
Therefore, he expressed his views to Yang Jian: "Nowadays, it is suitable for long-distance negotiation rather than close attack, you can alienate them, decompose their strength, and support those tribes with weaker troops. After that, luohou was lured away and Lian Xi was sent to meet the battle, then the internal and external troubles, the enemy on the abdomen and back, and the people's hearts were turned on their backs, and it only took ten years to send troops to attack, and it was bound to be a complete victory. ”
When Emperor Yang Jian of Sui saw his recital, his heart was very excited, so he ordered Sun Sheng to enter the palace to discuss specific crusades. Changsun Sheng, while narrating the Turkic terrain, adopted all his suggestions to Emperor Wen of Sui. Therefore, emissaries were sent to the Turks to discuss cooperation with the Turks. When the messenger arrived, he sat on top of the messenger, which aroused the suspicion of the photographer.
After that, he appointed Changsun Sheng as a cheri general and went to other Tribes of turkistan with a large amount of gold and silver treasure to establish friendly relations. At the same time, some spies were also arranged to secretly go to the mansion of Chu Luohou and be responsible for dividing people's hearts. In 582, The Map gathered 400,000 troops from all over the country and attacked Zhou Pan all the way. Just as he was preparing to move south in one fell swoop, Deuterant stood up against it and ordered the withdrawal of the army under his jurisdiction.
Changsun Sheng later bought Theotu's nephew with a lot of money and asked him to inform the Shooter: "Tiele and the others were planning a rebellion, and when they were preparing to take advantage of the Factu to attack the Sui Dynasty, they took the opportunity to take advantage of the Map to attack the Sui Dynasty. After listening to the picture, he was afraid that his battalion would be occupied, so he could only retreat. It can be said that if it were not for the resourcefulness of Changsun Sheng and the Sui Dynasty, whose foundation was still unstable, it would have been impossible to collapse after this battle.
In 583, Yang Jian appointed Dou Rongding as a general and gathered 30,000 horses to fight the Turks in Liangzhou and destroy the Apo army. At this time, Changsun Sheng, who was appointed as a partial general, proposed that he could take the opportunity to alienate Apo and Shoot, so that the two could confront each other and reap the benefits of the fisherman. So he said, "Why not unite with the Sui Dynasty, so that you don't have to be restrained, controlled, and insulted by him?" ”
After hearing this, Apo felt that what he said was reasonable, so he sent someone to follow Changsun Sheng into the dynasty.
When Regent learned of this, he was very angry and immediately gathered a large number of troops to rush to Apo's base camp, killing his mother and capturing his relatives. There was no way, Apo had to ask for help from Xuan, "I hope to be able to send 100,000 reinforcements to follow me against the map." At this point, the Turkic power was completely divided, internal wars continued, and the picture was finally surrendered to the Sui Dynasty, and his wife also expressed her desire to recognize Yang Jian as her father.
In 584, Yu Qingze and Changsun Sheng were appointed to the Turks, giving princess Yang the surname and the title of Princess Dayi of the Sui Dynasty. When receiving the Holy Will, Regent was unwilling to bow down and kneel, but Changsun Sheng said, since you have made his wife a princess, then you are the son-in-law of the Sui Dynasty, how can you be so ignorant of etiquette and disrespect your father-in-law? Hearing this, the photographer said, "You should kneel, I obey." ”
Since then, the Turks have returned to the Sui Dynasty, and the external troubles in the north have finally stopped.
In 585, Regent died and was succeeded by his son YongYulu. In 592, when the exile Yang Qin fled, he went to the Turks and deliberately provoked them, in order to persuade Yong Yulu and Princess Dayi to rebel against Sui, and then no longer paid tribute to the Sui Dynasty. After changsun Sheng arrived in turkistan, he found that the princess was sharp in her words and already knew it in her heart. After returning, he took the matter to Emperor Wen of Sui.
After that, Changsun Sheng sent another envoy to the Turks, hoping that YongYulu would hand over Yang Qin, but Yongyu Lu said that there was no such person. Changsun Sheng bribed Yong Yulu's men and took advantage of the night to capture Yang Qin in front of Yong Yulu. Yong Yulu, on the other hand, realized his loss and ordered the princess to be killed, and then sent emissaries to pay tribute to the court.
After this incident, Emperor Wen of Sui followed the advice of Changsun Sheng and refused to make peace with Yongyu Lu, but instead chose to make peace with the son of Marquis Luo. In addition, he supported The Khan of Qimin, who had failed in the Turkic civil strife, and gave him a certain reward to monitor the every move of other Turkic tribes.
In 599, Yongyu Lu was killed, and for a time there was chaos within his tribe. Later, Changsun Sheng asked Qimin Khan to send troops to retake, triggering a war with the Western Turks, while Changsun Sheng served as the governor and sent reinforcements with Yang Jian.
When the two armies clashed, Changsun Sheng said: "The Turks like to quote spring water, so they can be poisoned." Therefore, Emperor Wen of Sui ordered people to go, resulting in very heavy Turkic casualties, and everyone thought: "This is poisonous water from heaven, is it to make me wait for destruction?" ”
After that, they fled for their lives, and Changsun Sheng took advantage of the victory to pursue, "beheading more than a thousand ranks, capturing more than a hundred mouths, and thousands of six animals."
Yang Jian was very happy after hearing this, and celebrated wildly, among them, there was a Turkic general who happened to be there, he said: "The Turks are very afraid of Changsun Sheng, and the bows and arrows pulled out are as unstoppable as thunderbolts, and the horses are as fast as lightning. ”
In 601 AD, the eldest son Sheng Shangquan said: "I went up to the castle tower at night to look at it, and found that the Turks had red clouds covering an area of more than 100 miles, indicating that there would be sufficient rainfall. As today, the time is favorable, and the attack on the Turks is today. After listening, Emperor Wen of Sui ordered Sun Sheng to lead the army and be responsible for escorting Qimin Khan. Soon after, the various Departments of the Turks surrendered, and Deuterant was seriously wounded, leading the remaining troops to flee to Tuguhun.
In this year, Changsun Sheng's daughter Changsun Shi was born.
In 604, when Changsun Sheng had just arrived in the capital, he happened to encounter Emperor Wen of Sui and die of illness. However, his son Yang Guang concealed the matter and did not hold a state funeral, and at the same time, he appointed Changsun Sheng as the Inner Guard, responsible for the access control and the position of left leader. Later, Changsun Sheng was appointed to go to quell the rebellion of Yang Yu, the King of Han, and because of his outstanding merits, he was appointed as a general of Wu Wei.
In 607, the Sui Emperor was preparing to send an envoy to the Turks, and Chen Bing liked to show off his strength and was afraid of causing misunderstandings from the other side, so he assigned Changsun Sheng to go to the tongchuan. After understanding the Sui Emperor's intentions, DyeGan gathered more than a dozen tribal leaders to greet him. When he found that the tent where the Sui Emperor lived was overgrown, he hoped to let the dye dry to weed it to show the majesty of the Sui Emperor.
Changsun Sheng said: "Where the Son of Heaven passes, all princes should do it themselves, weeding and paving the way, in order to express their reverence." Now, the tent is chaotic and smelly! Dye Dry listened and said, "I was wrong." This life of mine was given by the Son of Heaven and should be served, so how dare I resign? So, he used his own saber to clean up, and the other tribal leaders saw this and joined in.
After that, Qimin Khan also specially built an official road to connect the east and the west, with a route of 3 kilometers. From then on, the Sui Emperor attached more importance to Changsun Sheng and promoted him to the rank of General of right Xiao Wei. In 609, Changsun Sheng finally died of illness at the age of 58. In this year, Qimin Khan, an ally of the Sui Dynasty, also died, upsetting the original balance between the Sui Dynasty and the Turks.
In August 615, the Sui Emperor traveled to turkistan, but was trapped at Yanmen. At this time, the Sui Emperor couldn't help but sigh: "If the eldest Sun Sheng were here, it wouldn't be like this." ”
Changsun Sheng raised five children in his lifetime, and among the five children, the most outstanding were the eldest grandson Wuji and the eldest grandson. In the late Sui and early Tang dynasties, the two made a series of great achievements, inheriting the legacy of their father Sun Sheng and being good at strategy.
Although Changsun Sheng did not command those large-scale battles, he was good at strategizing, and with his superior wisdom, he played the power between the hands of the hands, so that the Turks with strong troops were still not spared under his planning.
Resources:
[Sui Shu Changsun Sheng Lie Biography, Sui Shu Di Ji Yi Gao Zu, Turkic History, Zizhi Tongjian Sui Ji]