Outstanding heroine in history: a brief introduction of Li Xiuning, princess of Pingyang in the Tang Dynasty

The southern and northern dynasties were unified, but the chaotic world was not over, and soon China fell into a state of great division again. The split was short-lived, and Emperor Wen of Sui's nephew Li Yuan took only 7 years to defeat Qunxiong and once again unify the world. Being able to unify the world in such a short period of time, only Liu Bang, the ancestor of Han Gaozu, was better than Li Yuan in history. However, after Han Gaozu defeated Xiang Yu and became emperor, the whole country remained in turmoil. Han Gaozu personally suppressed the rebellion until shortly before his death. The Tang Dynasty did not have this problem. The reason for this is mainly because of the outstanding children of Tang Gaozu Li Yuan, the second son Li Shimin and the third daughter Princess Pingyang.

Princess Pingyang was the daughter of Li Yuan, the Emperor Gaozu of Tang, and of course had the surname Li. However, what her name was is not recorded in the history. The attitude of Chinese history books toward women has changed by five generations. Five generations ago, no matter what kind of women, most of them would have left their names in the history books. Unless, like Empress Mao of Former Qin, because of the extremely short period of existence in Former Qin, the historical record may not be complete and there is no name left. However, after the Song Dynasty, the woman's name was no longer publicly recorded in the annals of history. The more honorable the woman, the more so. On the contrary, the so-called "female thieves" are often called by their names in the history books. The Old Book of Tang and the New Book of Tang, which record the deeds of Princess Pingyang, were written in the Later Jin Dynasty and the Northern Song Dynasty, but none record the name and age of Princess Pingyang. Therefore, the future generations had to give her a random name Li Xiuning.

Tang Gaozu Li Yuan had a total of 19 daughters, and Princess Pingyang was the third eldest. Of course, these 19 daughters could not all be born to a mother. Princess Pingyang's mother was Li Yuan's original dou. That is, Li Jiancheng, the mother of Li Shimin and Li Yuanji. Speaking of this Dou Clan, she is also a strange woman.

Dou was a native of Jingzhao Pingling (present-day Xingping, Shaanxi), and his father Dou Yi was one of the Eight Marshals of Northern Zhou (Dou Yi was officially enfeoffed with the State of Shangzhu. This official name does not have a corresponding modern official name. Northern Zhou set up eight pillar generals to command the officers and men of the whole country. Reluctantly translated as Commander of the Front. But in reality, the honor of this official title is greater than the actual power. Therefore, it is similar to the marshal appointed at the beginning of the dynasty. Her mother was Princess Xiangyangchang, the sister of Emperor Wu of Northern Zhou. Dou was very intelligent from an early age and was deeply loved by Emperor Wu, leaving her in the palace as his own daughter. At that time, the world was divided into three points, and the Northern Zhou was the weakest one. In order to obtain foreign aid, Emperor Wu married a Turkic princess as empress. However, Emperor Wu was very dissatisfied with this political marriage and often let the Turkic princesses keep the empty house. Dou often persuaded his uncle to be patient, and to do a good job of marriage with the Turks would eliminate the threat from the north and deal with Chen in the south and Northern Qi in the east.

Soon, the Sui Emperor Yang Jian usurped the Throne of Northern Zhou. Dou Shi said hatefully, "I hate that I am not a man and cannot sweep away the evils of my uncle's family." Frightened, her father quickly covered her mouth: "Don't talk nonsense! This is the sin of destroying the door!" However, Dou Yi thus believed that his daughter was not an idle person, and of course he could not marry casually. So when it came to the age when her daughter talked about marriage and married, she engaged in a method of competing to recruit relatives. Of course, this contest is not like the martial arts novel in which everyone can go up and fight dou. Dou Yi asked people to draw two peacocks on the gate, and those who intended to attract relatives had to shoot two arrows from a hundred steps away. Whoever shoots two arrows in each peacock's eye is called a son-in-law. According to the current canonical records, Li Yuan was a rather mediocre person. But he had no other advantages, and the arrow technique was quite superb. Dozens of people came to take the test, and only Li Yuan shot both arrows.

After Marrying Li Yuan, Dou became his Xiannai assistant. Li Yuan's face was wrinkled, and the Sui Emperor jokingly called Li Yuan "Grandma" Li Yuan was very unhappy when he returned home. Dou Shi asked the reason and immediately comforted him: "This is an auspicious omen, you are doing Tang Guogong, Tang Hetang harmonic sound, Grandma is the head of the family, that is, the master of the hall." At that time, the Golden Ruan Treasure Hall of the Son of Heaven was also called the Ming Hall. The Dou clan refers to Li Yuan's future as emperor, replacing the Sui Emperor.

Because of his upbringing in the court, Dou had a lot of experience in court politics. Li Yuan raised a lot of horses, and Dou Advised him to dedicate them to the Sui Emperor, who loved horses: "The emperor likes eagles and horses, you know, now you should dedicate the horses to the emperor, you should not keep them yourself, otherwise you will be framed." At first, Li Yuan was reluctant to give up his horse, but later he was really reprimanded by the Sui Emperor, so he quickly offered it. Dou Died at the age of forty-five, and Li Yuan carefully pondered the words of his deceased wife and felt that it was very reasonable, so he often sent horses and eagle dogs to the Sui Emperor, and the Sui Emperor was very happy, and soon promoted Li Yuan to general. Li Yuan said to his children with tears in his eyes, "If I had listened to your mother earlier, I would have become such an official a long time ago." ”

In this chaotic situation, Li Yuan's chances of winning were not so great at first. His territory was on the far-flung border of Shanxi, far from the capital Chang'an and the eastern capital Luoyang. The men were also insufficient, but they were ten thousand men. And every day to face the Attack of the Turks. The most fatal thing is that his family members are all in Chang'an, and only one second son, Li Shimin, is following him.

Since his family was in Chang'an as hostages, Li Yuan did not dare to blatantly claim the title of emperor, and he declared to the outside world that he had led his troops out of his defense in order to go to Jiangdu to meet the Sui Emperor who was trapped there. However, his route of march was not the southeast of Jiangdu, but the capital of Chang'an in the west. Even Li Yuan himself said that he was "covering his ears and stealing the bell." Of course, it is even more concealed from the Sui Dynasty officials who remained in Chang'an. The Chang'an side immediately ordered the arrest of Li Yuan's family. The arrest list included Li Yuan's third daughter, Princess Pingyang, and her husband, Chai Shao.

This Mr. Chai Shao ranked 14th among the 24 heroes of the Tang Dynasty's Lingyange, and his strategy was outstanding, and he was good at winning more with less, eliminating Xue Ju, Liu Wuzhou, Wang Shichong, and Dou Jiande. He was still the main general who destroyed liang shidu, the last opponent of the Tang Dynasty. Li He had a shiyun: "Why don't the boys take Wu Hook and charge Guan Shan Fifty Prefectures?" Please go to Ling Yan Pavilion for the time being, if you are a scholar and a thousand households!?" However, in the 13th year of Daye, Chai Shaoke did not have the heroism in the poem. Hearing the order to arrest him, he immediately threw up his legs and ran. Before running, he also said to his wife: "Your father rebelled, and I want to go and join him." We can't run away when we run together, leave you behind and I'm afraid you'll be in danger, what do you say?" He meant that his wife was a member of the Li family, and he was afraid that if the target was too big, the chances of escaping alone would be greater. Princess Binh Duong is so clever that when she sees the subtext in this. But she had more courage than her husband, and immediately said, "Even if you go alone, my wife's Taoist family, it is easy to hide, and then there will be a way." So Chai Shao was so relieved that he fled alone.

Princess Pingyang said that it was easy for her to hide from the Taoist family just for the sake of Kuan Chai Shao's heart, but she did have her own plans. After Chai Shao left, Princess Pingyang immediately set out to return to the Li manor in Yan County (present-day Hu County, Shaanxi), dressed as a man, called herself Li Gongzi, sold her property, recruited soldiers and horses, and openly confronted the imperial court. At that time, the world was in chaos, and although Chang'an was still in the hands of the Sui Dynasty, the surrounding prefectures and counties were full of bandits. The leader of the largest of these forces was He Panren, a Hu merchant from the Western Regions, with tens of thousands of men under his command. Princess Pingyang sent her servant Ma Sanbao to persuade He Panren to surrender. I don't know what means Ma Sanbao used, He Panren, whose power far exceeded that of Princess Pingyang, was actually willing to be The Subordinate of Princess Pingyang. This is quite similar to the absorption of Wang Zuo and Yuan Wencai when Taizu of this dynasty first went to Jinggangshan. Taizu of this dynasty is familiar with historical facts, and he does not know whether he remembered this history at that time.

Returning to the truth, Princess Pingyang recruited He Panren and then successively recruited Li Zhongwen, Xiang Shanzhi, Qiu Shili and other bandits, and her power increased greatly. During this period, the imperial court constantly sent troops to attack Princess Pingyang. Princess Pingyang not only defeated every attack, but also took the opportunity to expand the results of the battle, successively capturing The Counties of Yan County, Wugong, Zhou Zhi, and Shiping County. The team also expanded to more than 70,000 people. The gang of men recruited by Princess Pingyang were all robbers who killed people without blinking. If there is no real ability, even men can't stop them. Moreover, the source of soldiers comes from the original system that was not unified. Being able to turn the assembled rabble into a strong force with hundreds of victories in a short period of time and achieve such a great victory, Princess Binh Duong's organizational ability and command ability are truly outstanding.

In September 617, Li Yuan's main force crossed the Yellow River into Guanzhong. At this time, he was happy to find that Princess Pingyang had laid a large territory for him in Guanzhong. He sent Chai Shao to greet Princess Binh Duong. When the husband and wife met, seeing his wife so beautiful, I don't know if Chai Shao would blush. Next, Princess Pingyang selected more than 10,000 elite soldiers to join Li Shimin on the north bank of the Wei River to jointly attack Chang'an. Chai Shao belonged to Li Shimin's subordinates and was on an equal footing with Princess Pingyang. Husband and wife each led an army, each with its own headquarters (shogunate). Princess Pingyang's more than 10,000 elite soldiers were called the "Lady Scout Army". On November 9, Chang'an was captured.

The significance of Princess Pingyang's actions in Guanzhong cannot be overestimated in terms of the establishment of the Li Tang Dynasty. As mentioned earlier, Li Yuan is a very mediocre person. Although he is very ambitious, he belongs to people who have a thief's heart and no thief's guts. After the start of the army, he encountered a little setback and once wanted to retreat and return to the old lair of Taiyuan. Fortunately, Thanks to Li Shimin's hard persuasion, he reluctantly advanced. He had been fighting with the Sui general Qu Tutong before crossing the Yellow River. Later, Li Shimin's strategy was adopted, and a small number of troops were used to contain Qu Tutong, and the main force directly attacked the attack. If there is no Princess Pingyang to receive in Guanzhong, this move will become a lonely and deep, which is extremely risky. If it was unfavorable to attack Chang'an, the back road was bound to be cut off by Qu Tutong, and then it would really become a turtle in an urn.

After the Battle of Chang'an, the deeds of Princess Pingyang are no longer in the annals of history. It was not until the beginning of February, six years later, in the sixth year of WuDe (623 AD), that a sudden record of her death was recorded in the history books. The reason why this is recorded is mainly because her funeral is different, and it is buried with military ceremonies (front and rear Yu Bao drumming, Da Ren, 麾建, Ban Jian forty people, Tiger Ben Jia pawn). Why this is so, as I have analyzed before, Chinese historical records have always looked down on women, especially women who are not accustomed to leading soldiers. Ancient books have been repeatedly deleted through the ages. This is probably how the deeds of Princess Pingyang were annihilated. However, according to the clues in various historical books, we can still outline the situation in these six years.

First of all, it is certain that after the capture of Chang'an, Princess Pingyang continued to lead the army to fight for the Tang Dynasty. Although Li Yuan conquered Chang'an, he only controlled roughly half of Guanzhong. He was surrounded by enemies. After capturing Chang'an, Li Yuan immediately faced Xue Ju and Li Lu of Liangzhou (梁州, in modern Wuwei, Gansu). From the beginning of Tang Wude's defeat of the Tang army in July of the first year of Tang Wude to the capture of Li Luzhan in the five counties of Hexi in February of the following year, Li Yuan had a hard time settling Guanzhong and the west. Only after taking a breath, Liu Wuzhou cut Li Yuan's back road and captured Li Yuan's old lair, Shanxi. Li Yuan ordered Li Shimin to consult. It took Li Shimin almost two years to defeat Liu Wuzhou and retake Shanxi. One of the battles that laid the foundation for Li Tang was to destroy Wang Shichong. In this battle, the Tang army besieged the city to help, and killed Dou Jiande, who came to the rescue of Wang Shichong. Chai Shao participated in these battles. If it is said that Princess Pingyang was enjoying Qingfu in Chang'an at this time, it was not in line with her character. As an outstanding general, she naturally had to participate in these decisive battles that determined the fate of datang. After the fall of Dou Jiande, the remnants pushed Liu Heimin to the main position, and in July of the fourth year of WuDe (621 AD), they rebelled against the Tang at Zhangnan (present-day Ancient City, Hebei), and Xu Yuanlang and Gao Kaidao also raised troops in response. They joined the Turks in the north and restored the old land of Dou Jiande in less than half a year. Princess Pingyang's main task at this time was to defend Shanxi, the stronghold of the Li family. The place where she was stationed was Niangziguan.

Niangziguan is located at the west mouth of the "Jingxing" on the west side of the Taihang Mountains, on the Mianshan Mountain northeast of present-day Pingding County, Shanxi Province, bordering Hebei Province, and is the throat of entry and exit to Shanxi. Originally named Wei Ze Guan, it was renamed Niangzi Guan because Princess Pingyang led tens of thousands of "Niangzi Army" to garrison here. "Jingxing" was the most recent passage between jinzhong and jizhong regions, and it was this route taken by Han Xin and Zhao at the end of Qin. Shanxi is a barrier between the Central Plains and guanzhong region, and without Shanxi, the Central Plains and Guanzhong are unstable, and Princess Pingyang led an army to garrison Niangziguan in order to prevent the enemy from entering Shanxi from "Jingxing".

Since princess Pingyang could not have been stationed here without defeating Liu Wuzhou and retaking Shanxi, Princess Pingyang did not enter Niangziguan until the fourth year of Wude (621 AD). So what had she been doing before? Of course it's a war. Without a day without a war, how could Li Yuan let princess Pingyang, a good general, be idle for more than 3 years and then suddenly activate it?

What the cause of Princess Pingyang's final death is not said in the history books. Li Shimin was born in 599 AD. In 617, when Li Yuan raised an army, he was 18 years old, Li Jiancheng was about 10 years old and 28 years old, and Li Yuanji was about 2 years younger than Li Shimin and 16 years old. If Princess Pingyang was Li Shimin's younger sister, she would have been at least 16 years old. No matter how young it is, it is impossible to grab land for daddy in Guanzhong. But 16 is unlikely. Because unless she and Li Yuanji are twins, few people can have one child a year for three consecutive years. So the most likely thing is that she is Li Jiancheng's sister, Li Shimin's sister. When Li Yuan started the army, she should have been between 20 and 26 years old. Thus, by 623 A.D., she should have been between 26 and 32 years old, and if she were Li Shimin's sister, she would have died at the age of 22. Although the life span of the ancients was not long. But dying at such an age seems unlikely for a physically strong warrior to fall ill. Combined with the fact that she was buried with a military salute when she died, it is bold to speculate that she should have died in battle or was seriously injured and returned to Chang'an.

There are two possibilities for her death. One possibility was to be killed while fighting the Turks. At that time, China was in civil strife, and the northern warlords, including Li Yuan, allied themselves with the Turks. Use the Turks to attack your own enemies. The Turks also did not take alliances seriously and often invaded. Shanxi was an area that the Turks frequently invaded. Another possibility is that he was killed during the campaign to eliminate Liu Heimin. In November 622, Li Yuan sent Li Jiancheng to lead an army against Liu Heimin, and the two sides began to win and lose each other. It was not completely destroyed until 25 December. Princess Pingyang's Niangziguan was on the front line, and of course she would lead her troops into battle. So the possibility of dying in this battle is very high. If he died at this time, it would take almost half a month for his body to be transported back to Chang'an. Since she is a princess, the preparations for the burial are almost half a month. Then the timing also coincides.

In the Tang Dynasty, there were many strong women, especially princess strong women. Princess Pingyang opened the wind first, and then there were Princess Taiping, Princess Anle and so on. However, his talent and merit were not as good as princess Pingyang.

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