The founding emperor of the Tang Dynasty was originally Li Yuan, the emperor of Tang Gaozu, but Tang Taizong Li Shimin also had some similar feelings to the founding emperor in the impression of many people. This is mainly because Li Shimin did make great achievements in the process of the founding of the Tang Dynasty. In the founding war of the Tang Dynasty, such a pattern gradually formed: the crown prince Li Jiancheng assisted his father Li Yuan in governing the country, and the second prince Li Shimin led the army to conquer the four sides. In the thirteenth year of the Sui Dynasty (617 AD), the tang emperor Li Yuan raised an army at Jinyang (present-day Taiyuan) as a landmark event at the beginning of the Li Tang Dynasty.
In the traditional historical data, Li Yuan did not have the idea of fighting the world at that time, and later Li Shimin and his aide Liu Wenjing designed li yuan to stay in the palace of Yang Guang, the Sui Emperor. Although the palace is not as good as the harem of the capital, the women in the palace are theoretically also the emperor's women. Committing such a felony as staying in the palace is actually equivalent to cutting off Li Yuan's back road. If according to this tradition, Li Shimin and his aide Liu Wenjing single-handedly planned the Jinyang uprising, and Li Yuan was like a marionette in Li Shimin's hand.
Nowadays, more and more people are beginning to question this statement: throughout the whole process of Jinyang's uprising in the "Notes on the Entrepreneurship and Living of the Tang Dynasty", the strategies used were all designed by Li Yuan, and Li Shimin was only a loyal executor. After the change of Xuanwu Gate, Li Yuan became the emperor who had lost his power. In order to justify his own change of Xuanwu Gate, Li Shimin deliberately highlighted his role in the process of the founding of the Tang Dynasty, and correspondingly, the role of Gaozu Li Yuan in the process of founding the country was artificially weakened. At present, historians generally believe that Li Yuan is the highest decision-maker and actual organizer of the Jinyang uprising.
Although Li Shimin's role in the process of the founding of the Tang Dynasty has been artificially exaggerated, if these exaggerated elements are discarded, it cannot be denied that Li Shimin was indeed a great achievement in the process of the founding of the Tang Dynasty. Although Li Shimin was not the supreme decision-maker and organizer of the Jinyang uprising, he solved many practical problems as a faithful executor of Li Yuan's will when he was in Jinyang. At that time, Li Shimin was ordered by Li Yuan to recruit troops and horses in various places, and as a result, thousands of people were recruited within ten days. Although Li Shimin was not the protagonist of the Jinyang Uprising, he did play an indispensable role in it.
After the Jinyang rebellion, Li Shimin took the lead in occupying the Xihe region, thus opening up the situation for the development of Li's regime. Li Yuan was attacked by the Sui general Song Laosheng while attacking Guanzhong. At that time, Li Yuan even wanted to return to Taiyuan at one point, and it was Li Shimin who cried outside his father's account to save the crisis. After Li Yuan officially founded the Tang Dynasty in Chang'an, li Shimin was worshipped as Shang Shuling and the Grand General of the Marquis of Right Wu and the King of Qin because of his outstanding merits. There are too many unambitious and talentless princes in Chinese history who have been crowned kings simply because of their origins.
In contrast, Li Shimin's titles and honors were all won by himself. Li Shimin, who was crowned queen, did not settle for pleasure, but turned around and threw himself into the war to unify the whole country. From June to November of the first year of Wu De's reign, Li Shimin served as grand marshal on the Western Expedition: after many ups and downs, he pacified the Xue Rengao regime that had divided longyou. After Li Shimin triumphantly returned to Beijing, the official paid homage to The Xingtai and Shang Shuling of The Eastern Shaanxi Province. At this point, the soldiers and horses of the entire Kanto region were under the control of Li Shimin. From the second year of Wu De to the third year of Wu De, Li Shimin led an army to pacify Song Jingang and Liu Wuzhou.
At this point, the threat of the Li Tang regime in the northwest had been completely eliminated, and it was possible to concentrate on confrontation with various separatist regimes in the east. In July of the fourth year of Wu De (621), Li Shimin was ordered to lead a large army to attack Wang Shichong of Luoyang. In the Battle of Tiger Prison Pass, which decided the ownership of the world, Li Shimin used 1,000 Xuanjia elite soldiers to kill more than 6,000 captives Wang Shichong. In this situation, Wang Shichong had to ask Dou Jiande, the king of Xia, who had divided Hebei, for help, and Li Shimin used 3,500 Xuanjia elite soldiers to reinforce The Tiger Prison Pass for the forward to break Dou Jiande's more than 100,000 people.
Wang Shichong in Luoyang Saw that dou Jiande's army of more than 100,000 people had been wiped out, so he had to lead the Wenwu hundred officials to surrender to Li Shimin. In the Battle of Tiger Prison, Li Shimin led the Xuanjia army to destroy wang shichong and Dou Jiande in one fell swoop. Before the Battle of Tiger Prison, the stars of the late Sui Dynasty chased deer and did not know who killed the deer, and the trend of Li Tang Dynasty unifying the world after the Battle of Tiger Prison was obvious. From The first year of Wu De (618) when Li Yuan ascended the throne, he launched six major battles aimed at unifying the world (of which Li Shimin commanded four times).
It can be said that Li Shimin played a pivotal role in the unification war of the Tang Dynasty. It is not an exaggeration to say that half of the Tang Dynasty's Jiangshan was fought down by Li Shimin. Li Shimin, who had made great achievements, also rose again and again in his official position, and on the eve of the Xuanwumen Revolution, Li Shimin could be said to have reached the point of great power. After the four-year Battle of Luoyang in Wude, Li Shimin, the King of Qin, was unsealed due to his outstanding military achievements, and finally had to creatively establish a position of "General of Heavenly Strategy". This official position, which had never existed before, was actually specially tailored for Li Shimin.
How big is the Tiance Admiral specially designed for Li Shimin? This position was superior to that of the civil and military officials of the imperial court, second only to Emperor Li Yuan and crown prince Li Jiancheng. General Li Shimin of Tiance also held the posts of Commander Situ, Daxingtai of Shaanxi Province, and Shang Shuling. Admiral Tiance enjoyed the political privilege of opening a government and setting up his own official office. This is equivalent to being able to recruit a group of staff subordinates to build their own power system outside the official system of the imperial court. This was originally a privilege that only the Prince of The Eastern Palace could enjoy.
Li Shimin's Qin palace even enjoyed a privilege that even the Eastern Palace did not have—issuing currency. When Li Yuan reformed the currency system in the fourth year of Wu De, he specially rewarded Li Shimin, the king of Qin, with three "coinage furnaces". This meant that Li Shimin's Qin palace had the power to issue currency throughout the country like the imperial court, while the Eastern Palace built by crown prince Li Jiancheng could only operate on the financial appropriations of the imperial court. Li Shimin's greatest concern for each place he conquered was not to compete for gold and silver treasures, but to collect them for himself by the able people who visited everywhere. Li Shimin never looks at the origin of talents, as long as he can use it for his own use, he will do everything possible to win them over.
Wei Chi Jingde was originally a general under Liu Wuzhou. Since Wei Chi Jingde's surrender, Li Shimin had cared for him very much: he was given a feast and was appointed as the commander of the Right Province. Qin Shubao was originally a subordinate of Li Mi in Wagangzhai, and after the defeat of Li Mi's army, Qin Shubao submitted to Li Shimin. Li Shimin asked Qin Shubao to command the right third army of the Qin dynasty. Wei Chi Jingde and Qin Shubao also did not live up to Li Shimin's kindness: they were Li Shimin's right and left hands for his lifelong allegiance. Li Shimin not only recruited such brave and warlike warriors as Wei Chi Jingde and Qin Shubao, but also recruited a large number of literati and Confucians to give advice to him.
After years of painstaking management, Li Shimin finally cultivated his own powerful power group: Changsun Wuji, Fang Xuanling, Du Ruhan, Yu Zhining, Kong Yingda, Hou Junji, Wei Chi Jingde, Qin Shubao, Cheng Zhijie... So many strategists and fierce generals were absorbed by Li Shimin into his own Qin palace. At this time, Li Shimin had meritorious service, power, and a team, so in fact he had invisibly posed a threat to the status of the crown prince Li Jiancheng. At this time, not only did Li Shimin himself have the idea of replacing him, but all his soldiers did not want to support their own masters to ascend the throne in exchange for their own glory and wealth.
At this time, Li Shimin had actually become a spokesman for a political interest group. Li Jiancheng, on the other hand, will naturally not be willing to sit still. Li Jiancheng's threat is bound to rebound strongly in the face of Li Shimin's threats, whether they come from Li Shimin's subjective intention to replace them or simply Li Shimin's status has constituted an objective potential threat. In such a situation, neither Li Jiancheng nor Li Shimin actually has any way to retreat, because once the other party ascends the throne, it is bound to liquidate itself.
At this time, the wives, children and subordinates of the two are bound to stir up trouble on the side, because once the other party ascends the throne, the liquidation action is bound to implicate them. Since the final victor of the Xuanwumen Revolution was Li Shimin, many people may subconsciously think that Li Shimin was on the strong side in the struggle for the throne of the crown prince, but in fact, Li Jiancheng and Li Shimin each had their own advantages and disadvantages in the battle for the throne: Li Jiancheng's advantage as the crown prince of his father Li Yuanmingli was that it was justified to be succeeded by him in terms of legal system.
Li Jiancheng's disadvantage is that he is relatively lacking in popularity (note that it is relatively lacking - in fact, Li Jiancheng's supporters are not in the minority, but they are not so strong compared to Li Shimin's); Li Shimin's advantage is that he has won a large number of talents and people's hearts in the long war of founding the country, but with the increasing stability of the national situation, this advantage has gradually weakened - after all, in peacetime, Li Shimin's popularity is not enough to compete with Li Jiancheng's legal system. Before the Xuanwumen Incident, Li Jiancheng and Li Shimin's dispute over the throne was originally a court political struggle.
The natural contest in the political struggle of the court is political capital, not to see who is strong and strong. As the legitimate crown prince, Li Jiancheng had far more political resources than Li Shimin. Li Jiancheng's political strength was far superior to that of Li Shimin in the Tang Dynasty ruling circles at that time and even in the entire Guanzhong ruling core area: Li Jiancheng, as the crown prince, was to assist in handling some major affairs of the dynasty in peacetime. If the emperor went out to fight or inspect, then the prince had to act as a representative of the state. At that time, Li Jiancheng also controlled part of the army in the capital.
Li Shimin did gain a lot of literary and martial talents in the process of fighting the world, but these people were logically first and foremost courtiers of the Tang Dynasty. Although these people had a special personal relationship with Li Shimin, at least in theory, these people were assigned by Emperor Li Yuan to the Qin Dynasty. Since these people were assigned by the emperor to the Qin King's palace, the transfer power of these people was naturally also in the hands of the emperor. Although the direct allegiance of these people in their hearts was Li Shimin rather than Li Yuan, it would be impossible to resist if Li Yuan, as emperor, had to make a holy order to mobilize these people.
In 622, when Li Shimin broke Liu Heimin and pressed Xu Yuanlang, Li Yuan issued an edict asking him to hand over the command of the army to Li Yuanji and return to the dynasty alone to report on the situation, and soon after these men and horses completely swept away Liu Heimin's forces under the command of Li Jiancheng. When the Turks attacked in 626, Li Yuan transferred many military generals of the Qin Dynasty to Li Yuanji's command at the first order. Li Shimin did have Wei Chi Jingde, Qin Shubao, Changsun Wuji, Fang Xuanling, Du Ruyi and other strategists under him, but not all of the strategists of the Li Tang Dynasty were concentrated in the Qin Dynasty.
On this side of the Prince's Mansion, there were Wei Zheng; there were Xue Wanjun and Xue Wanche brothers. Because Li Jiancheng had long been in charge of grain and military resources in the rear, there were not many times when he really went to the front line to fight in the war. As a result, the Crown Prince's Mansion was indeed inferior to the Qin Royal Palace in terms of the number of talents, but people like Wei Zheng and the Xue brothers were still able to get their hands on it. Moreover, the two most powerful generals of the Tang Dynasty at that time, Li Jing and Li Jike, were not from the Qin Dynasty—they were more neutral in the dispute between Li Jiancheng and Li Shimin for the throne.
These people, who remained neutral between Li Jiancheng and Li Shimin, were still essentially subject to emperor Li Yuan, so Li Yuan's attitude was a key factor in determining the outcome of the battle for the throne. Li Yuan's choice to make Li Jiancheng crown prince itself explains his attitude. Before the Xuanwumen Rebellion, Li Jiancheng and Li Shimin used various common court political means to carry out various rounds of fighting methods, but in this series of fighting methods, Li Shimin was always in a state of being suppressed by the crown prince Li Jiancheng. Facts have proved unrealistic to use court political means to shake Li Jiancheng's status as a legitimate prince.
At this time, Li Shimin had only one way left in front of him - that is, to use his remaining prestige to quickly launch a coup backed by military force. If li shimin really waited for the time when the world was decided, he would completely lose the capital to confront the crown prince Li Jiancheng. In fact, at this time, Li Shimin was forced to make a desperate bet when he was cornered, but Li Jiancheng, as a legitimate prince, would naturally not be so eager to launch a coup d'état - after all, the risk of doing so was too great, and no one dared to try it easily unless he was cornered.
As a legitimate prince, Li Jiancheng did not seem to need to take the risk of launching a coup d'état. Although Li Jiancheng and Li Shimin are both outstanding contemporary masters, their abilities are actually manifested in different aspects: Li Jiancheng has more yang plots, while Li Shimin is good at conspiracy. Li Jiancheng, who was trained as a crown prince, was mainly used to assist his father in governing the country, so he was better at governing the country. As for the conspiracy for power and profit, it cannot be said that he will not, but he is still more inclined to use traditional court political struggle methods.
Li Jiancheng never thought of using force to solve the problem, and he did not expect that the other party would use force to solve the problem. In contrast, Li Shimin was initially in a disadvantageous position in the battle for the throne: under normal logic, he could not be an emperor, so only by engaging in a conspiracy to kill Li Jiancheng could he reverse the situation. The biggest mistake of Li Yuan and Li Jiancheng was that they forgot that the era they lived in was a period of transition from chaos to prosperity. Li Jiancheng's legal superiority as the legitimate prince was increasingly dominant at this time, but the popular advantage accumulated by Li Shimin in the long war could not be ignored.
However, Li Yuan, Li Jiancheng, and Li Yuanji all underestimated Li Shimin's determination to take decisive measures at a critical juncture, so they were always keen to deal with Li Shimin through the means of court politics that contained balance. At this time, Li Shimin knew very well that if he played according to the rules of the game set by the other party, he was doomed to be played to death, so he simply launched the Xuanwumen Incident with his heart. It should be said that this big move released by Li Shimin was completely unexpected by Li Yuan and Li Jiancheng, so Li Shimin's move can be said to have caught his opponent off guard.