Li Yuan, a generation of heroes who rose in troubled times, is ambitious. The names he gave to his four sons were already a testament to his ambitions. Li Jiancheng, Li Shimin, Li Xuanba, Li Yuanji...... Connecting these names and playing with them carefully, it can't help but remind people of Li Yuan's grand ambitions. What was Li Yuan planning back then? What is the meaning of the name he has chosen for his offspring? Let's take advantage of these names to get a glimpse of the ambitions of the originator of the Tang Empire.
The early years of success
Speaking of Li Yuan's early years, it has to start with his ancestors' "Guanlong nobles". Li Yuan's grandfather, Li Hu, once served as the "General of the Great Pillar State" in the Western Wei Dynasty and had a lofty status. In the Northern Zhou Dynasty, the Li family was posthumously named the hereditary "Duke of Tang". It can be seen that Li Yuan has been bathed in such a prominent family style since he was a child, and his future is immeasurable.
However, the good times did not last long, Li Yuan's father unfortunately died early, and a young "Tang Guogong" Li Yuan took on the heavy responsibility of the entire family. In that turbulent era, even if you were born in a famous family, it was really not easy to escape from the flames of war. Fortunately, Li Yuan has been alert and intelligent since he was a child.
At the age of seven, Li Yuan succeeded to the title of Duke of Tang. Despite his young age, he was well aware of the weight on his shoulders. As a result, Li Yuan has been extremely diligent and studious since he was a child, and has a thorough understanding of the classics of Confucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism. He is not only well-versed in many knowledge, but also has extraordinary skills, brave and good at fighting, and can be called a genius of the world.
Because of this, Li Yuan won the appreciation and trust of Yang Jian, the powerful minister of the dynasty. Yang Jian and Li Yuan's father have always had a relationship and are related by marriage. Although Li Yuan is a generation younger than Yang Jian, Yang Jian regards him as his own and gives him great support and reuse. Later, after Yang Jian seized the power of the Northern Zhou Dynasty, he established the Great Sui Dynasty, and he even recruited Li Yuan, who was only a teenager, into his command, entrusted him with important tasks, and made Li Yuan his personal guard.
It can be seen that even in that turbulent era, Li Yuan has shown extraordinary talent and ability since he was a child. Otherwise, how can a child at a young age be favored and personally promoted by a new emperor? This also laid a solid foundation for Li Yuan's steady progress in the future.
Despite his illustrious background, Li Yuan's path to entry into the government was not all smooth sailing. At that time, the struggle between the government and the opposition was extremely fierce, and Li Yuan was also implicated and degraded for a time. However, during the period of degradation, he did not waste time, but continued to study hard and laid a solid foundation of knowledge and martial arts.
When it was finally reused, Li Yuan was outstanding in his military career. With his extraordinary talent and excellent skills, he soon showed his prominence in the army and became the right-hand man of Yang Jian and Yang Guang. First, he held important positions with a certain amount of military power, such as the Assassin and Taishou, and then was transferred back to the Beijing Division and took charge of the Imperial Palace's Praetorian Guard. In the campaign to pacify Goguryeo, Li Yuan also served as an important grain transportation officer, which shows that he has indeed won the absolute trust of two generations of monarchs.
The layout of the apprentice's friendship
After being in a high position, Li Yuan did not rest on his laurels, but consciously began to gather heroes from all over the world, accept talents, and make full preparations and layouts for his future great cause.
At that time, the rule of the Sui Dynasty was already declining. Emperor Yang Guang of the Sui Dynasty was arrogant and lascivious, mediocre, and the people were bored. There was the dictatorship of eunuchs inside, and there was turmoil in the frontier outside, and the government and the opposition were increasingly dissatisfied with the decadent rule of the Sui Dynasty. Li Yuan was well aware that the fall of the Sui Dynasty was only a matter of time, so he had to prepare in advance in case the dynasty changed in the future.
So, Li Yuan began to quietly lay out in secret. He spared no effort to recruit talent everywhere and cultivate his own private forces. Whether it is a child of the scholar clan or a scoundrel, as long as he is talented and powerful, Li Yuan will do everything possible to accept him as a protégé and become a brick to pave the way for his future.
Among them, the most famous is that Li Yuan has subdued a large number of well-known heroes and heroes. Such as the hussar general Wei Chi Gong, Tieqiu Gate Liang Shicheng, Zhang Gao, Fan Lie, etc., were praised as "counterinsurgency heroes" by later generations. Another example is Qin Qiong, Kou Huang, Fu Xingmi, Zhang Huxing and other well-ranked hard bones, and later all became Li Yuan's famous generals and fierce generals who expanded their territory.
At that time, everywhere Li Yuan went, not only the children of the eunuchs flocked to him, but even some hooligans and scoundrels on the rivers and lakes also came to visit, intending to take refuge in this tyrant who was expected to dominate the world in the future. Li Yuan has never neglected all those who come to take refuge, no matter what his background is, as long as he knows the way and is virtuous, he will accept him as a protégé disciple without any doubts.
There is a good story that said that there was a first-class scoundrel named Cui Hun at that time, because Li Yuan once took him in, not only taught him to study and practice martial arts, but also helped him get out of poverty and live a peaceful life, so he was extremely grateful to Li Yuan and swore to follow him, and later Cui Hun became one of Li Yuan's most effective cadres.
This practice of recruiting protégés allowed Li Yuan to gradually make friends with the world's heroes, gather a talent strength that cannot be ignored, and lay a solid foundation for dominating the world in the future. At that time, many people of insight had already seen Li Yuan's intention to secretly arrange, and decided that he would do something sooner or later.
In fact, while Li Yuan was secretly cultivating his own private forces, he also paid close attention to the dissatisfaction and opposition of the people in the Sui Dynasty. As long as there is a voice against the rule of the Sui Dynasty, whether it is from an aristocratic family or a reckless hero, Li Yuan will quietly support and pay attention to it.
The deep meaning of naming his son
If Li Yuan's recruitment of protégés and cultivation of private forces has already shown his ambition to conquer the world, then when he named his four sons, this ambition was even more obvious.
Li Yuan's eldest son was named Li Jiancheng, born in 589 AD, when Li Yuan was in the prime of life. The meaning of the word "built" is to hope that his son can "make contributions and create a great cause". It can be seen that as early as the beginning of his son's birth, Li Yuan already hoped that his heirs could expand the territory for the family, make a name for themselves, and establish an immortal career.
Later, Li Yuan's second son was born, named Li Shimin. The meaning of the word "Shimin" further shows what Li Yuan's ambition refers to - to help the people of the world and support the community.
At that time, the Sui Dynasty was becoming more and more decaying, and the people were struggling to make a living, Li Yuan must have hoped that his son would be able to support the troubled times in the future and establish a new dynasty, so that the world would be peaceful and the people would be healthy.
What makes people feel that Li Yuan is ambitious is the name he chose for his third son - Li Xuanba. This name resembles Li Yuanba, and later generations were sought after as the first hero in the "Legend of Heroes of the Sui and Tang Dynasties".
It can be seen from this name that when Li Yuan was born in his son, he already hoped that his son could have a "hegemony" and dominate the world. This ambitious gesture can be seen.
And when the fourth son, Li Yuanji, was born, Li Yuan's ambition to seize the world and establish his own dynasty was even more frank. The word "Yuanji" means "one yuan is renewed, and the world is auspicious".
It can be seen that by the time Li Yuanji was born, Li Yuan had initially had the ambition to create a new dynasty, and pinned it on this son named "Yuanji".
In general, it can be seen from the names given by Li Yuan to his four sons that his ambition to expand the territory and establish a dynasty is increasing day by day. From the beginning of just hoping that his son would "make contributions", to later hoping that his son could "help the world and the people", "dominate one side", and finally "create a prosperous era of one yuan", the ambition in Li Yuan's heart became more and more obvious.
And this kind of ambition also coincided with Li Yuan's situation at that time. When the Sui Dynasty was extremely corrupt, Li Yuan, as an important minister, also saw the signs of the gradual loss of the hearts of the government and the wilderness. As a generation of heroes, Li Yuan naturally will not miss this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
Therefore, while secretly arranging, he is also actively preparing for the plan to take over and seize power. And pinning this ambition on his son is undoubtedly the greatest expectation for his heir.
The determination to oppose the Sui seizure of power
In 613 AD, the unstable rule of Emperor Yang Guang of the Sui Dynasty once again triggered a violent backlash from the government and the opposition. This year, Li Yuan was presiding over the agricultural affairs in Henan. Suddenly, Yang Guang issued a brutal edict, requiring all men in the country to serve in forced labor without exception, even the young and weak.
This is simply to exhaust the people of the world to death! The government and the opposition were furious, and the people's grievances were boiling. Li Yuan also knew that this was a sign that the Sui Dynasty had completely lost the hearts of the people and was extremely critical. As a cloth cloth, he should be loyal to the public service. But as a generation of heroes, Li Yuan naturally will not miss the perfect opportunity to seize power and become king.
So, Li Yuan resolutely waved his troops against Sui! He not only mobilized his cronies to kill the ministers sent by the Sui Dynasty, but also immediately openly rebelled against the Sui Dynasty, contacted the heroes of the world, and paved the way for his own seizure of power.
In this way, Li Yuanhao spared no effort to distribute the documents of Xianlu and called on the heroes of the world to respond to him. It didn't take long for him to have tens of thousands of troops in the Longyou area, and quickly established himself as "Guanzhong Yin" with his strong military strength. What's more, he said that he wanted to "break the Sui Dynasty and Zhou" and openly called for the rule of the Sui Dynasty.
In the face of Li Yuan's rebellion, the Sui Dynasty and the opposition were shocked and in an uproar. Yang Guang himself personally supervised the expedition and ordered many ministers to lead the army to conquer Li Yuan. However, the Sui Dynasty had been decaying for a long time, and the centralized power was weak, and Li Yuan relied on the complex terrain of Guanzhong to resist stubbornly.
What's more, Li Yuan's layout of recruiting protégés and cultivating people in advance began to show its power. Heroes from all walks of life, displaced people and poor people all responded to Li Yuan's call and took refuge in his command one after another. Even some generals of the Sui Dynasty secretly colluded with Li Yuan, causing the Sui army to collapse.
As the so-called strong dragon can't suppress the head snake. Relying on the geographical advantages and the strength of the prepared men, Li Yuan finally conquered Luoyang in 617 AD and announced the establishment of the "Great Zhou" dynasty, and he was the orthodox successor, and was revered as the "Emperor Wen of the Great Zhou".
At this time, Li Yuan, who has been in his 60s for more than 10 years, has already precipitated a far-sighted plan to take charge of himself and dominate the overall situation. Not only that, but he also distributed his sons all over Guanzhong, as if he had premeditated the seizure of power and succeeded, and began to lay out the succession matters.
Conquer the history of the frontier
In this way, Li Yuan, with his extraordinary wisdom and foresight, succeeded in seizing power in one fell swoop and founded the Great Zhou Dynasty. But he did not stop there, but worked tirelessly to expand his territory and expand his territory in an effort to put the new dynasty on solid ground.
During his reign, Li Yuan continued to go on expeditions and made great achievements. First of all, he sent his army to quell the eastern peasant rebel army and clear the hidden dangers of the eastern territory of the new dynasty; secondly, he personally defeated the nomadic peoples such as Rouran and Dangxiang in the north, and solved the threat of the northern frontier; In the end, he conquered the Tuyuhun, Gaochang and other alien forces in the northwest in one fell swoop, and completely eliminated the hidden dangers in the northwest.
It can be said that Li Yuan personally stepped on almost every inch of the territory of the Great Zhou Dynasty with his iron hooves, pacifying all the remnants of the resistance forces from all walks of life, and winning valuable time and space for the development of the Great Zhou Dynasty. It was precisely by virtue of his arduous expansion of territory that the territory of the Great Zhou Dynasty was able to expand rapidly, and the territory became stronger and stronger.
What is more worth mentioning is that while pacifying the frontiers, Li Yuan never ignored the importance of strengthening centralized power. After he established the capital of Chang'an, he began to comprehensively strengthen the centralization of power at the legal, financial, and military levels.
For example, he promoted the children of the gate lord family to important positions, so as to unite the aristocratic group; In another example, he promulgated a set of laws and regulations to strengthen the central government's control over the local government. In addition, he directly transferred the salaries of officials at all levels to the central government to prevent local separatism.
With this series of decisive and promising centralized measures, Li Yuan finally made the dynasty more and more solid, and the state power was highly centralized, laying a solid foundation for the long-term stability of the Great Zhou Dynasty in the future.
As a generation of heroes, Li Yuan is undoubtedly an urgent need to consolidate political power, and it is important to investigate. And his approach did make the Great Zhou Dynasty strong and stable enough on the foundation.
In this way, step by step, Li Yuan finally got his wish, created a unified and powerful Great Zhou Dynasty, and realized the grand wish of a generation of heroes. Not only that, but he laid the impregnable foundation for this new dynasty.
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Therefore, looking at the various dynasties before the Tang Dynasty, it is rare to have such outstanding political achievements as Li Yuan. He is indeed the first great man and hero in the past thousand years to truly expand the territory, the heroic monarch of the country and the unification of the Han Dynasty.