In 649, the 23rd year of Tang Zhenguan, on July 2, a generation of famous generals Li Jing died of illness in his home in Chang'an at the age of 79. Interestingly, just 8 days after Li Jing's death, Tang Taizong Li Shimin died.
In ancient Chinese history, the strongest pair of monarchs and courtiers. It was as if they had made an appointment and left this world at the same time.
After Li Jing's death, although the Li family did not completely decline, there were no great talents who left their names in history since then. Moreover, although Li Jing was able to die well in the end, in the last ten years of his life, he did not have as satisfactory as he thought. Not only has he always lived under heavy surveillance, but he has also always acted with great caution, for fear of bringing misfortune to himself.
Why did the most famous top-level player in Chinese history end up like this? If we want to make this matter clear, we must simply cover Li Jing's life and briefly examine his life experience.
In 571, Li Jing was born in Sanyuan County, Shaanxi. At that time, it was still the end of the Southern and Northern Dynasties era, the north was ruled by the Northern Zhou, and the south was ruled by the Southern Chen regime. It was not until Li Jing was 11 years old that the Sui Emperor Yang Jian usurped the throne and established the Sui Dynasty. Then, when Li Jing was 19 years old, the Sui Dynasty went south to destroy Chen and completely unified the world.
Therefore, after Li Jing became an adult, he always served as an official in the Sui Dynasty. Here we should explain a little, Li Jing and his family ancestors are also very prominent, from the generation of his grandfather, he has always been an official of the level of Taishou Assassin History. Later, when it came to the Sui Dynasty, Li Jing's family was still very prosperous. In addition, Li Jing's mother's side was also a famous and prestigious family in the Sui Dynasty at that time. Li Jing's uncle Han Huhu was a famous general of the Sui Dynasty and made great contributions in the process of destroying Chen. It was precisely because of this family lineage that according to the regulations at that time, Li Jing could directly enter the DPRK as an official.
In addition to his strong family lineage, Li Jing himself is also very talented. After Li Jing became an official, although his official position was not high, his talent was recognized by many high-ranking officials of the Sui Dynasty. For example, the famous sui dynasty ministers Yang Su, Niu Hong, and others all favored Li Jing. However, what is unexpected is that it is such a Li Jing, who is recognized by the government and the public as extremely talented and learned, but for more than twenty years, the official position has not been promoted, and it has always been a state of not being able to rise and fall.
The main reason why Li Jing has not been able to rise up is actually because he is too stubborn in character, will not take sides, and will not form a party. Therefore, although the big guys recognized him as extremely talented, they still would not try their best to promote him. After all, even if Li Jing was promoted, Li Jing would not be able to be used by them. Who wants to do such a thing that is not beneficial?
In this state of not being up and down, Li Jing struggled for more than twenty years and has not made any progress. In the last year of Daye, Li Jing was even directly sent to Mayi County, serving as a local county clerk. This official position, although of the same rank as his previous official position, was sent to the border from the central government, which was equivalent to being deposed.
However, it was the official position of Ma YiJunjun that completely changed Li Jing's life.
During Li Jing's tenure as a county magistrate in Mayi County, it happened that Li Yuan, the Emperor Gaozu of Tang, was also in the Taiyuan area and served as a retainer in Taiyuan. At that time, Li Yuan, as the highest person in charge of the Shanxi region, saw that the Sui Dynasty's government was collapsing day by day, so he thought of rebelling alone. At that time, Li Jing was a county magistrate of Mayi County, and happened to be Li Yuan's subordinate, so naturally he also learned Of Li Yuan's thoughts.
After learning of Li Yuan's thoughts, Li Jing did not attach himself to Li Yuan and rebelled with Li Yuan, but unexpectedly chose to go to Jiangdu to inform. When Li Jing did this at that time, he actually had a little selfish intention of his own, and wanted to seek credit from the Sui Emperor through informing, so as to gain the appreciation of the Sui Emperor and make his official position go further.
What Li Jing did not expect, however, was that he had just left Shanxi and was preparing to go to Yangzhou via Chang'an to meet Yang Guang. On the Taiyuan side, Li Yuan had already officially raised an army. By the time Li Jing arrived in Chang'an, Li Yuan had already invaded Guanzhong, and the entire Guanzhong had been completely under martial law. At this point, Li Jing's news no longer had any meaning, and at this time, the road had been completely sealed, and it was no longer difficult for Li Jing to go to Jiangdu. After more than a month, Li Yuan directly attacked Chang'an!
After Li Yuan entered the city, he learned that Li Jing wanted to report him before, and when he arrested Li Jing, he planned to behead Li Jing and show him to the public. As a result, above the execution ground, it coincided with Li Shimin's supervision and beheading. Li Shimin cherished Li Jing's talent and interceded in front of Li Yuan in every way, and Li Yuan pardoned Li Jing.
At this time, Li Jing was already 48 years old. In his long life, he never participated in party strife or took sides. It is precisely because he will not take sides that the official position has not been promoted. However, this time he wanted to take sides once, but he almost gambled his life.
This incident taught Li Jing a profound lesson. Therefore, after this, Li Jing always did things honestly in the Tang Dynasty, and never participated in party struggles or took sides again.
After arriving under Li Shimin, for the first more than a year, Li Jing was only under Li Shimin's command, serving as an ordinary staff member. During his time as an aide, Li Shimin also discovered Li Jing's talents and realized that Li Jing was not an ordinary person, but a rare handsome talent. More than a year later, when the Battle between the Li Tang regime and Wang Shichong of Luoyang officially began, the Xiao Dynasty in the south took the opportunity to harass the southern border of the Tang Dynasty. Li Shimin recommended Li Jing to Li Yuan at that time, and after that, Li Yuan also accepted this recommendation, leaving Li Jing to lead a team alone and go south to provide support.
This time going south was the beginning of Li Jing's legendary military career.
Although Li Jing has been a civilian official for most of his life, some people seem to be born to fight, and Li Jing is obviously such a person. After Li Jing arrived in the south with his troops, he quickly analyzed the advantages and disadvantages of Xiao Milling's regime. Next, Li Jing first and Li Yuan's nephew Li Xiaogong together to pacify the land of Bashu. Then, Li Jing trained a powerful water army in the local area. A year later, after Li Shimin had completely solved Wang Shichong in Luoyang and the Tang Dynasty had basically completely unified the north, Li Jing's side also made all the preparations.
After receiving Li Yuan's approval, Li Jing immediately led his troops down the river. Taking advantage of the fact that Xiao Milling's regime did not have time to react, he directly led his army all the way to Jiangling, xiao milling's capital. At that time, there were only a few thousand defenders in Jiangling City, and they could not stop Li Jing's attack at all. So in the end, Xiao Milling could only surrender.
Ironically, just a few days after Xiao Milling surrendered, more than 100,000 elites of Xiao Milling's regime rushed all the way to Jiangling. In the end, this elite force was completely absorbed by Li Jing and became his own army.
After defeating Xiao Milling, Li Jing completely played his own prestige. At that time, within the Tang Dynasty, the only one who could lead the army to fight more than Li Jing was probably Li Shimin. However, at this time, Li Shimin was already jealous of Li Yuan, the emperor of Tang Gaozu, because his merits were too great, and began to limit the opportunity for Li Shimin to lead his troops to fight. The appearance of Li Jing undoubtedly gave Li Yuan a new choice. Therefore, almost all of the tang dynasty's hard battles in the south were fought by Li Jing.
After defeating Xiao Milling, Li Jing took advantage of the situation to advance eastward and annexed Lin Shihong in Jiangxi. Later, Li Jing personally went to Lingnan to take care of the local Lingnan warriors, and without moving a knife, he subdued the entire Lingnan. After taking Lingnan, Fu Gongrui, the leader of the Jianghuai peasant army who had originally surrendered to Li Tang's regime, launched a rebellion again, and Li Jing immediately led his troops to suppress Fu Gongruo, and finally won a complete victory.
After these battles were fought, the south was completely unified by the Li Tang regime. In this process, Li Jing is undoubtedly the greatest contributor.
After that, with the unification of the Central Plains, the enemies of the Li Tang regime began to change from the original separatist forces within the Central Plains to the Turks in the north. Shortly after the defeat of Fu Gongruo, coinciding with the Turkic invasion, Li Jing was directly transferred to Shanxi to take charge of the defense of the Shanxi region.
During Li Jing's defense of Shanxi, the Turks had not been able to take advantage of Li Jing's hands. At the same time, in these two years, the infighting between Li Jiancheng and Li Shimin also reached its climax. In the end, Li Shimin relied on a Xuanwumen incident to kill Li Jiancheng, forcing Li Yuan to take the throne for himself, becoming the final winner.
In this process, Li Jing has always scrupulously abided by his duty, learned the lessons of the past, and resolutely refused to take sides. Just do your job well, and honestly guard the gate for the Tang Dynasty. However, Li Jing's brother Li Keshi personally participated in the Xuanwumen Incident and made a great contribution to Li Shimin. Therefore, Li Jing's family, strictly speaking, cannot be said to be completely without taking sides.
After the Xuanwumen Incident, the Turks took advantage of the tang dynasty's high-level infighting and seized the opportunity to attack Chang'an. Although Li Shimin finally relied on his own wisdom to force the Turks to retreat, he signed a pact with the Turks on the Weishui River. However, this time the Alliance of Weishui has always been regarded by Li Shimin as the greatest shame. For the next two years, Li Shimin worked hard to find an opportunity to destroy the Turks. In the third year of Zhenguan, under the continuous strength of the Tang Dynasty, there was internal turmoil in the Turks, and at that time, the grasslands were snowing heavily, and Li Shimin sent Li Jing as the commander and was fully responsible for the war against the Turks.
After that, Li Jing led his army all the way into the steppe, directly destroyed the Turkic king's tent in a battle, and destroyed the core of Turkic rule. In the end, even the Turkic ruler Jieli Khan was captured alive by the Tang army. After this battle, the Eastern Turkic regime was completely destroyed. In the decades that followed, it was no longer able to pose any threat to the Tang Dynasty.
After the destruction of the Turks, Li Jing was already the greatest famous general in history, and gradually had the tendency to make meritorious contributions to the lord. Although Li Shimin, who was reigning at that time, was a monarch with great talent and great tolerance. But even so, Li Jing still scrupulously abided by his duty and did not dare to covet power at all. After returning to the capital, he directly gave up all military power.
In the years that followed, Li Jing worked as a civil servant in the center of the court for several years. It was not until the ninth year of Zhenguan that Tuguhun in the northwest rebelled, and Li Jing led the army again, and the final battle pacified the northwest and completely solved the security problems of the northwest of the Tang Dynasty.
After defeating Tuguhun, Li Jing was already a 66-year-old man. After returning from the northwest, Li Jing acted more cautiously, fearing that his merits would be too great and would attract Li Shimin's murderous heart. Li Shimin was also extremely cautious in his treatment of Li Jing. After testing Li Jing several times and confirming that Li Jing really did not have the intention of rebelling and seizing power, Li Shimin did not target Li Jing too much, allowing Li Jing to enjoy his old age in peace.
In the eighteenth year of Zhenguan, when Li Shimin personally consulted Goguryeo, he also personally went to the palace to ask Li Jing. However, at this time, Li Jing was already more than seventy years old, and it was difficult to lead the army to fight. Li Shimin also completely abandoned the idea of letting Li Jing lead the troops, and instead personally led the troops to the expedition. Many people in later generations believed that if Li Jing could be ten years younger, perhaps Li Shimin would not need to personally conquer Goguryeo. As long as Li Jing led the troops forward, it was enough.
In his lifetime, Li Jing swept away the south for the Tang Dynasty, and at the same time solved the two great enemies of the Turks and Tuguhun, which can be said to be obvious to the contribution of the Tang Dynasty. In Li Jing's later years, although he lived under layers of surveillance, compared with those heroes who were killed in history, the ending was already very good.
Compared with Li Jing himself, Li Jing's son is relatively mediocre. Li Jing's eldest son, Li Dejian, was once implicated after Li Chengqian plotted rebellion with the deposed prince Li Chengqian, and then exiled to Lingnan. However, after Li Jing's death, Li Zhi, who later ascended the throne, remembered Li Jing's contributions and allowed Li Dexiao to inherit Li Jing's title and pardon his crimes.
From Li Jing's story, it is not difficult for us to see that the matter of taking sides really requires skill. If you are like Li Jing, you will not naturally take sides, and you will not pull relations to make mountains. It is best to honestly rely on your own skills, and it is best to eat with your craftsmanship. Otherwise, if you want to play the set of interpersonal relationships, it is not clear whether it is a blessing or a curse.