Biography of Li Milie
Li Mi (582-619), a native of Chang'an, Jingzhao County (now Xi'an, Shaanxi Province). The leader of the peasant uprising, one of the leaders of the late Sui Dynasty.
Leader of the nobility in the peasant rebel army
Li Mi was born in the Li family of Liaodong, a famous family of the fourth and third dukes, his great-grandfather was one of the Eight Pillars of the Western Wei Dynasty, his grandfather was a high-ranking official of the Northern Zhou Dynasty, and his father was a famous general of the Sui Dynasty.
Li Mi was resourceful, all-rounder, ambitious, and often took it as his mission to save the world and help the people.
During the reign of Emperor Wen of Sui, Li Mi's father died, and he inherited the title and began to distribute family property, collect customers, and treat talents.
Emperor Yang of Sui had just ascended the throne, and the young Li Mi became a royal guard by virtue of his grace. Once, Li Mi was standing guard in the palace, and Emperor Yang of Sui found that he was looking left and right, and his demeanor was abnormal, so he asked the minister Yu Wenshu to transfer him out of the palace.
Yu Wenshu said to Li Mi: "The virtuous brother is so smart, he should rely on his talent to obtain an official position, what is the advantage of being a guard?" Li Mi was deeply encouraged, so he resigned due to illness, followed the famous teacher Bao Kai, studied hard, and concentrated on studying.
One day, Li Mi rode a ox to Bao Kai's house, hung a set of "Hanshu" on the horns of the ox, held the ox rope in one hand, and read the book in the other, which was very fascinating. When Prime Minister Yang Su saw it, he asked him what he was reading, and Li Mi said that it was "Hanshu Xiang Yu Biography".
After some conversation, Yang Su admired Li Mi very much, and said to his son Yang Xuangan and others: "I think Li Mi's insight and bearing are much stronger than yours. Yang Xuangan became friends with him.
In 613, Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty went east to Goryeo and ordered Yang Xuangan to supervise the transportation of grain and grass in the rear. Yang Su died because he was suspicious of Emperor Yang of Sui, refused to take medicine after falling ill, and Yang Xuangan held a grudge because of this, and took the opportunity to launch a rebellion and asked Li Mi to be a strategist.
Li Mi said to Yang Xuangan: "I have three strategies. The best strategy is to cut off the emperor's back road, let him advance and retreat, and surrender without a fight. The middle strategy is to occupy Guanzhong and take advantage of the terrain to resist the imperial court. The next strategy is to attack the eastern capital Luoyang nearby, but the defenders are already on guard, and it is difficult to win in the short term. ”
Yang Xuangan thought that the next strategy was the best choice, so he attacked Luoyang, but he couldn't attack for a long time, and the army was defeated and died. Li Mi was captured, escaped on the way to the garrison of Emperor Yang of Sui, and defected to Zhai Rang, the leader of the Wagangzhai Rebel Army.
Zhai Rang sent Li Mi to various places to persuade the leaders of the rebel army to surrender, and everywhere he went, he surrendered. Zhai Rang was impressed by him and summoned him to discuss important matters. Li Mi said: "Now we have a large number of soldiers and horses, but there is not enough food and grass, and once the enemy is in danger. He advised Zhai Rang to occupy the military stronghold of Xingyang (present-day Xingyang, Henan Province) and capture Luokoucang (present-day Gongyi County, Henan Province). There were more than 20 million stone of grain in the Luokou warehouse, and after the Wagang army occupied it, the warehouse was opened to release grain, attracting a large number of hungry people to join. Emperor Yang of Sui sent troops to attack many times, but they were all repelled by Li Mi.
After several big victories, the right-hand men of the Wagang army, Xu Shixian, Wang Bodang and others, all thought that Li Mi had more leadership skills than Zhai Rang, and was of noble birth and more appealing. Zhai Rang was also ashamed of himself, and gave up the position of leader to Li Mi, and the size of the Wagang army reached hundreds of thousands, becoming the most powerful team among the heroes at the end of the Sui Dynasty.
Zhai Rang's old subordinates were dissatisfied with Li Mi and tried to seize power. After Li Mi learned about it, he set up a Hongmen banquet and killed Zhai Rang and his henchmen, causing many generals to no longer trust him.
At that time, the north was in chaos, and Emperor Yang of Sui withdrew to Jiangdu, leaving his grandson Yang Tong to stay in Luoyang. The Wagang army besieged Luoyang, and Yang Tong repeatedly asked Emperor Yang of Sui for help.
At this time, the forbidden army general Yu Wenhua staged a coup d'état, killed Emperor Yang of Sui, and led 100,000 forbidden troops back to his hometown in Guanzhong, passing through Li Mi's territory. Yang Tong proclaimed himself emperor in Luoyang, and used the high-ranking official Houlu to win over Li Mi and let him attack Yu Wenhuaji, in fact, he wanted them to lose both. Ignoring the dissuasion of his subordinates, Li Mi agreed to Yang Tong and personally led the army into battle.
After shouting across the river, Li Mi found that Yu Wenhua had neither strategy nor culture, and said to his subordinates: "Yu Wenhua is so incompetent, and he is trying to call himself the king and emperor, I can drive him away with a wave of my cane." ”
Li Mi knew that Yu culture and food and grass were insufficient, so he pretended to seek peace. Yu Wenhua was very happy and let Li Mi's soldiers eat and drink. When the food ran out, he found out about the plan, and he was furious and launched an attack on Li Mi, but he was defeated and fled north in a hurry. Li Mi was also injured by random arrows and his strength was damaged.
Just as Li Mi was about to enter Luoyang to accept the reward, the powerful minister Wang Shichong staged a coup d'état, took control of Yang Dong, and personally led 20,000 elite soldiers to attack Li Mi. Li Mi had just defeated Yu Wenhua, and began to be complacent, and the soldiers were exhausted, and they were defeated by Wang Shichong.
Li Mi escaped from the siege with dozens of cavalry, and after meeting with Wang Bodang and others, he was disheartened and wanted to apologize for his crimes. Everyone hurriedly dissuaded and suggested that Li Mi defect to Li Yuan, the emperor of the Tang Dynasty, who had already proclaimed himself emperor in Chang'an. Li Mi had no choice but to agree.
Li Mi originally thought that he would be reused by Tang Gaozu, but he didn't expect Gaozu to only give him an official position with a very high grade but no real power. Li Mi was indignant, pretended to return to Henan to appease the old department, gathered a crowd to rebel again, and was soon killed by the Tang army, at the age of Chinese New Year's Eve.
Yu Culture and Biography
Yu Wenhua (?-619), Xianbei people, whose surname is Po Yetou, was a native of Wuchuan County, Dai County (now Wuchuan County, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region). One of the heroes of the late Sui Dynasty.
The beam-jumping clown in the late Sui Dynasty
Yu Wenhua was born in a family of military generals, his grandfather followed Emperor Wen of the Northern Zhou Dynasty Yu Wentai to fight the world, and made outstanding achievements in war, becoming the Shangzhu State of the Northern Zhou Dynasty;
Yu Wenhua and temperament are fierce and cruel, relying on his father's power, not abiding by the law, like to ride fast horses, armed with slingshots on the street, is a well-known light boy. When Emperor Yang of Sui was still the crown prince, Yu Wenhua became a guard in the East Palace, often in and out of the court, and the relationship between the two was very close.
Later, Yu Wenhua was promoted to the official in charge of the carriages and horses of the East Palace, but was dismissed many times for corruption and bribery, and soon because of the relationship between the prince, the official was reinstated.
Later, Yu Wenhua's third brother married the daughter of Emperor Yang of Sui, and he became a relative of the emperor, who was even more arrogant and unreasonable, domineering, and did not take the ministers in his eyes. All the beautiful women, famous dogs and horses he fancies, he will definitely try to get them.
After Emperor Yang of Sui succeeded to the throne, Yu culture became even more lawless. Once, Yu Wenhua and his second brother Yu Wenzhi followed Emperor Yang of Sui to inspect the border, and even openly violated the imperial court decrees and started business with the Turks.
Emperor Yang of Sui was furious and planned to behead the two, but he gave up because his daughter interceded and gave them to their father Yuwenshu as slaves. After Yu Wenshu's death, Emperor Yang of Sui remembered his exploits, so he reinstated the two of them and let Yu Wenhua serve as the general of the forbidden army.
At that time, peasant uprisings were raging in various places, and Li Mi, the leader of the Wagang Army, had occupied a large area of territory near Luoyang, the eastern capital, and Li Yuan, the ancestor of the Tang Dynasty, also raised troops in Jinyang.
Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty fled to Jiangdu, lost his fighting spirit, and borrowed wine to drown his sorrows all day long. Most of the forbidden troops escorted were from Guanzhong, homesick, and seeing that Emperor Yang of Sui had no intention of fighting back, he was resentful and wanted to defect.
Yuwen Zhi and his nature were rebellious, and he was very excited after learning the news, and proposed to simply kill Emperor Yang of Sui. After Yu Wen Zhihe and others discussed, he told Yu Wenhua about the plan and elected him as the leader. Yu Wenhua's face changed dramatically in fright, cold sweat flowed, and it took a long time to calm down and agree to be the leader of the rebels.
One night, the leader of the rebel army rushed into the palace with hundreds of soldiers, captured Emperor Yang of Sui, and sent people to meet Yu Wenhua after dawn. Unaware that the coup had been successful, Yu Wenhua got on the horse tremblingly, and was so frightened that he couldn't speak.
Someone came to see Yu Wenji, he buried his head in the saddle and kept saying, "Sin, sin." After seeing Emperor Yang of Sui being arrested, he regained his former arrogance.
The rebel leaders executed Emperor Yang of Sui and a large number of clans, elected Yu Wenhua as prime minister, and supported Yang Hao, the nephew of Emperor Yang of Sui, as emperor.
A few days later, Yu Wenhua led 100,000 forbidden troops back to Chang'an. He had no leadership skills, plundered the people along the way, acted as a prestige, and showed no sympathy for his subordinates, which caused great indignation.
Several rebel leaders regretted choosing Yu Wenhua and became prime minister, and plotted to kill him, but the news leaked and he was killed instead.
After Emperor Yang of Sui was killed, the ministers of the Sui Dynasty who remained in the eastern capital of Luoyang supported Yang Tong, the grandson of Emperor Yang of Sui, as emperor. Soon, Yu Wenhua's troops came to the vicinity of Luoyang, and Yang Tong used the high-ranking official Houlu to win over Li Mi, the leader of the Wagang Army, and asked him to eliminate Yu Wenhua.
Li Mi quoted scriptures in front of the two armies to accuse Yu Wenhua of the crime of killing the king, Yu Wenhua did not learn and did not know how to do it, he lowered his head and thought for a long time and did not understand what Li Mi said, and said angrily: "I am here to fight, what are you doing in a crepe?"
Seeing that he was so incompetent, Li Mi set up a clever plan to defeat him, and many of his subordinates surrendered to Li Mi, and Yu Wenhua led the remnants to flee north.
At this time, Yu Wenhua lacked food and grass, and had no land, so he had already lost his fighting spirit and regretted it. Once, Yu Wenhua got drunk and complained about Yu Wenzhi and the bad idea he gave him, so that he betrayed his relatives and left, and was infamous for killing the king, and even finally faced the disaster of extermination.
Yuwen Zhiji said angrily: "When things were going well, you didn't reward me. I am to blame for my failure. Why don't you just kill me and go to Dou Jiande, the leader of the rebel army?"
Yu Wenhua and knew that the defeat had been decided, and sighed and said: "Life is in the world, it is impossible to escape death, can't you be the emperor for a day and then die?" So he poisoned the puppet emperor Yang Hao, and proclaimed himself the emperor in Wei County (now Daming County, Hebei Province), and the founding name was "Xu", and a hundred officials were set up. Yu Wenhua and originally wanted to lay down a few cities as a territory, but he was defeated repeatedly and failed to do so.
Wang Bo, the leader of the peasant rebel army, heard that Yu Wenhua and Congjiang had brought a large amount of treasure, so he went to surrender by fraud. Yu Wenhua was already at the end of his rope at this time, and happily accepted Wang Bo.
After Wang Bo gained Yu Wenhua's trust, he joined forces with Dou Jiandri, another leader of the rebel army, captured Yu Wenhua and others alive, counted their various crimes, and executed them.
This article is excerpted from "Twenty-four Histories Read Now, Language and History Are Progressing" - Volume 7 of "Book of Sui", officially authorized to publish, welcome to continue to pay attention.