In the last years of the Sui Dynasty, the world was in chaos, smoke was everywhere, flocks of deer were chasing deer, and rebel armies in various places rebelled. After Li Yuan conquered Chang'an, he was called "Tang", Wang Shichong occupied Luoyang to build "Zheng", and Dou Jiande was dominant in Hebei and proclaimed himself the King of Xia. The three forces were intertwined, presenting a three-legged situation, with Li Tang being the most powerful, and Wang Shichong and Dou Jiande forming a corner and encircling Li Tang.
In the third year of Wu De (620), Li Yuan ordered Li Shimin, the King of Qin, to lead an army to conquer Wang Shichong. The Tang army was strong, many states in Henan surrendered one after another, and the situation in Zheng Guo was critical, and Wang Shichong asked Dou Jiande for help. Dou Jiande and Wang Shichong were enemies and not friends, but he knew the truth of cold lips and teeth, so he led his army to aid Wang Shichong and attack the Tang army. Dou Jiande's army joined forces with some of Wang Shichong's men and horses to achieve a pinch attack on Li Shimin. Seeing the coming of Dou Jiande's army and the divisions within the Tang army, the main war faction believed that this was a good time to destroy the two countries in one fell swoop, while the opponents believed that the risk of two-front combat was too great, and the slightest carelessness would overturn. At this critical juncture, Li Shimin vigorously defied the public opinion and ordered a large army to enter the Tiger Prison and engage Dou Jiande and Wang Shichong.
Li Shimin stills
In the Battle of Tiger Prison Pass, Li Shimin used tug-of-war and raid tactics, using the superiority of cavalry, and finally broke the Xia army and the Zheng army, captured Dou Jiande, and forced Wang Shichong to surrender. Li Shimin did not dare to dispose of these two of Li Tang's greatest enemies privately, and he took Dou Jiande and Wang Shichong back to Chang'an and handed them over to his father Li Yuan.
Dou Jiande and Wang Shichong were both famous rebel generals, and how Li Yuan handled them naturally became a hot topic of discussion throughout the world. Dou Jiande was generous and righteous, and deeply loved by the people, so many people and ministers interceded for him, while Wang Shichong was notorious, he was vicious and vicious, and even the people of Luoyang were resentful of him. Therefore, the result of public opinion was to execute Wang Shichong and forgive Dou Jiande. It is reasonable to say that li tang was not long after its establishment, which was the key time to buy people's hearts, but Li Yuan risked the world's great disobedience and killed the benevolent Dou Jiande, but instead exiled Wang Shi, who did nothing evil, and spared his life. So, why did Tang Gaozu Li Yuan do this?
Li Yuan stills
In fact, Li Yuan's killing of Dou Jiande and the release of Wang Shichong were related to the character of the two men. Dou Jiande believes in ranno, is generous and generous, and advocates heroes. The Old Book of Tang and the Biography of Dou Jiande records: "When I was young, I took Rannuo as a matter of course. When there were villagers who lost their relatives and whose families were poor and could not be buried, Shi Jiande cultivated in the fields, smelled and sighed, quit cultivating cattle, and went to the funeral, which was greatly called by the township party. In the beginning, if you are the chief of the city, if you break the law and die, you will be forgiven. Fathers and sons, mourners and more than a thousand people, who have given anything, will not be allowed. After the rebellion against the Sui, Dou Jiande took the lead as a soldier and shared the happiness and hardships with the soldiers, and he often took out his own money to help others, so the soldiers supported him very much.
Compared with Dou Jiande, Wang Shichong's reputation is really unbearable. Wang Shichong was able to usurp the throne as emperor, and naturally had his talents, but he had too many shortcomings, was self-conscious, liked to be jealous, and sinister and cunning. Both Cheng Yaojin and Qin Shubao had defected to Wang Shichong, but they were extremely disgusted with Wang Shichong. Cheng Yaojin said that Wang Shichong was "shallow and narrow and has many vain words, so as to swear an oath, this is the ear of the old witch, the lord of chaos!" Qin Shubao said that he was "sexually suspicious and believed in rumors." (Zizhi Tongjian).
Wang Shichong stills
For the people, Dou Jiande, who loved the people like a son, was obviously worthy of sympathy, while the brutal and ruthless Wang Shichong deserved to die, but for Li Yuan, it was just the opposite. Dou Jiande and Wang Shichong were both enemies of Li Tang, but Dou Jiande, who was deeply popular in Hebei, was clearly a greater threat. After Dou Jiande was captured, the people of Hebei and other places still supported him very much, and Wang Shichong left him before he went to war with the Tang army, but he could not grasp the talents of generals such as Cheng Jin and Qin Shubao. Li Yuan was well versed in the principle that "those who have gained the Tao have more help, and those who have lost the Tao have little help", once dou Jiande, who is loved by the people, is tantamount to letting the tiger return to the mountain, but Wang Shichong has already lost the hearts of the people, has no one to support, and cannot pose a threat to Li Tang.
In addition, Dou Jiande's different origins from Wang Shichong were also one of the reasons why Li Yuan killed Dou Jiande. Dou Jiande was born in the Fufeng Dou clan, worked as a farmer for generations, and was the leader of the real peasant army rebel army. If Dou Jiande is let go, it is difficult to ensure that other peasant rebels will not take chances and continue to oppose Li Tang, and killing Dou Jiande can deter other opposition forces, especially the people, so that they dare not regenerate their rebellion.
Portrait of Dou Jiande
Wang Shichong was originally from the Western Regions, but his father, Guan Zhishi, was also from a family of official eunuchs. Dou Jiande was talented, full of poetry, good at the art of war, and good at flattery, so he was very pleased with the Sui Emperor and became a favorite of the Emperor. In this case, Dou Jiande naturally rose to the top of the nobility and was involved with many large clans. When Li Shimin besieged Luoyang, he promised not to kill Wang Shichong, and Wang Shichong surrendered. Of course, Li Yuan would not care about such a promise, but it provided Li Yuan with an excellent excuse. Keeping Wang Shichong will not pose a threat to himself, but can express his sincerity to the clans and win over the Guanlong clique, and this kind of political accounting that is stable and profitable Li Yuan calculates clearly.
Therefore, Li Yuan, in order to maintain Li Tang's rule, eliminate hidden dangers, and accelerate the unification of the whole country, killed Dou Jiande of Renyi, but only exiled Wang Shichong. This was the political need of Li Tang at that time, and it was also the consideration of Li Yuan as a ruler.
However, Li Yuan killed Dou Jiande not without hidden dangers, after Dou Jiande was killed, many armies in Hebei that had already surrendered rebelled again, and Liu Heimin led Dou Jiande's old troops to recover the old land, and the momentum was huge. Li Tang mobilized a large number of troops, and after a hard battle, he finally pacified Hebei.
Moreover, Wang Shichong's fate was not as good as Dou Jiande's, after he was exiled by the edict, he was hacked to death by dugu Xiude, the son of the enemy family. Dou Jiande's sons and brothers were also executed for treason on the way to exile, and it did not matter whether they were really plotting rebellion or whether Li Yuan wanted to cut the grass and remove the roots.
Li Yuan beheaded Dou Jiande, but the people of later generations still built a "Dou Wang Temple" for him, and the father and the elderly sacrificed him, and after Wang Shichong's death, no one said a good word for him, which was the final result of the difference in character between the two.
Resources:
Old Book of Tang and Biography of Dou Jiande
"Zizhi Tongjian" Sima Guang