In 669, Li Ji, a famous general of the early Tang Dynasty, died in Chang'an at the age of 75. Li Ji contributed greatly to the Tang Dynasty in his lifetime, not only following Li Shimin, but also participating in several key battles of the Tang Dynasty to unify the world. Later, he also participated in the Tang Dynasty's wars against the Turks, Tuguhuns, XueYantuo, Goguryeo and other frontier regimes, which can be described as a great achievement.
After Li Ji's death, Emperor Li Zhi posthumously honored him as a lieutenant, buried him in Zhaoling, and personally sent him off in a coffin when Li Ji was buried. It's a great honor. Ironically, however, just fifteen years after Li Ji was buried, Wu Zetian cut him out of his grave, stripped him of all his honors and titles during his lifetime, and killed their entire family.
After only fifteen years, why is there such a big difference? Why did Li Ji, a generation of famous generals, make Wu Zetian hate him so much?
In fact, the answer is very simple, because Li Ji and their family have rebelled.
Li Ji, real name Xu Shiji, zi mao (mào) gong. It is because of this word that in the novel, he becomes the famous Xu Maogong.
In the main history, Xu Jiazu was also very prominent, and he became an official in the era. But later, because of the change of dynasty, when his father's generation came, he went home and became a rich man. Originally relying on the family business left by the ancestors, the Xu family was also a well-known rich man in the local area. However, in the last years of the Sui Dynasty, because the imperial court squeezed the people too much, the Xu family could not survive. Therefore, at that time, Xu Shiji's father, Xu Gai, in a fit of anger, directly pulled up a team in the local area and led Xu Mao to the Wagang Army.
This year, Xu Shijie was not yet eighteen years old.
In the following ten years, Xu Shijie experienced the turmoil of the late Sui Dynasty. First in the Wagang Army's Southern Expedition to the North, the Wagang Army surrendered to the Tang Dynasty after its defeat, and then in the course of the battle, it was captured by Dou Jiande, and after working on Dou Jiande's side for several months, he defected to the Tang again. Then he followed Li Shimin, the King of Qin, defeated many powerful enemies, and gradually helped the Tang Dynasty unify the world. Later, Xu Shiji was sent to the Shanxi front, responsible for defending against the Turks.
Because when he defected to the Tang Dynasty, Xu Shiji also brought many territories of the Wagang Army at the same time, which was equivalent to making a great contribution. Therefore, after surrendering to the Tang Dynasty, Li Yuan gave him the surname Li, and Xu Shijie changed his name to Li Shijie from then on.
During the two years that Li Shiji sat on the Shanxi front, there was a fierce conflict at the top of the Tang Dynasty. The famous Xuanwumen Revolution in history occurred during this period. At the time of the Xuanwumen Incident, although Li Shiji was a typical member of the Qin King's Party, he did not participate in the Xuanwumen Incident because he was on the border of Shanxi at that time. However, this did not have much impact on Li Shijie.
From the hairy boy who first entered the Wagang Army to the general of the Tang Army who is now on his own, Li Shiji has been fighting for fifteen years. In the past fifteen years, Li Shijie has followed Li Mi, Li Shimin, Li Jing and other military wizards and conquered the four sides. Therefore, at this time, Li Shijie can already be called the third top famous general of the Tang Dynasty, second only to Li Shimin himself and Li Jing, the god of war.
Such a Li Shijie, no matter who comes to power, can only do his best to envelop. Even if he did not participate in the Xuanwumen Incident, he would still become a general that Li Shimin relied on.
In the following twenty years, throughout the Zhenguan period, Li Shijie was mostly stationed in the frontier areas, responsible for commanding the Tang army in foreign wars, and successively participated in many major battles such as the Tang War of Destroying turks, the Battle of Tangping Tuguhun, the Battle of Tangping Xueyantuo, and the Battle of Tangping Goguryeo. Moreover, as Li Jing gradually grew older and it was difficult to lead the troops, Li Shijie became the most suitable commander-in-chief talent within the Tang Army. In the two major battles of the Turks and Tuguhun in front, Li Shiji was also Li Jing's deputy. But by the time Xue Yantuo was fought, Li Shiji had already begun to become the supreme commander of the Tang army.
However, compared with the previous wars, this war between the Tang Dynasty and Goguryeo was somewhat special.
Compared to several other enemies, Goguryeo was a very different regime. The Turks, Xue Yantuo and Tuguhun that the Tang Dynasty had previously defeated were typical nomadic regimes. Only Goguryeo was an agrarian civilization regime. Against the nomadic regime, as long as the main force is destroyed in a war, it is considered a success. But dealing with an agrarian civilization like Goguryeo is probably not so easy.
The agrarian civilization regime has a stronger resilience and a stronger resilience to war.
In the eighteenth year of Zhenguan, Li Shimin led the Tang army to personally go out on a campaign and personally commanded the Tang army to conquer Goguryeo. In this great war, Li Ji participated in the Liaodong War as Li Shimin's deputy. After a major battle, the Tang army destroyed hundreds of thousands of elites in Goguryeo with thousands of battle losses. But in the end, because the weather turned cold and the Tang army was insufficiently supplied, Li Shimin had to order the withdrawal of the army. In this battle, although the Tang army achieved a great victory, but failed to destroy Goguryeo in one battle, Li Shimin still regarded it as his defeat.
After this battle, Li Shimin also discussed the gains and losses of the war with the top generals of the Tang Army afterwards. In the end, the top level of the Tang army formed a unanimous view: if you want to destroy an agrarian civilization like Goguryeo, you must continue to harass and weaken Goguryeo for many years. After Goguryeo had weakened to a certain extent, the Tang army could destroy the country in the final battle.
This plan was undoubtedly the least costly plan to destroy Goguryeo. But at the same time, this program is destined to take a long time, and it will not be successful in a year or two. After Li Shimin led his army to retreat, it was Li Ji who led the Tang army to continue to attack Goguryeo. In the past two years, Li Ji went to the north again, and incidentally completely destroyed Xue Yantuo.
After these battles were fought, Li Shimin's health began to deteriorate. Li Shimin, who knew that his life was short, finally chose to transfer Li Shiji back from the frontier and return to the center as his own orphan. Next, Li Ji served as an official in the Tang Dynasty center for more than a year, and became familiar with the operation mode of the Tang Dynasty center. Twenty-three years after Zhenguan, before Li Shimin became seriously ill, in order to give the crown prince Li Zhi a chance to show mercy, Li Shimin transferred Li Ji to a lower official. After Li Shimin's death, the newly enthroned Li Zhi quickly recalled Li Ji to the capital to assist him.
This year, Li Shijie was 56 years old, but his health was quite good, enough to be up to Li Shimin's heavy responsibility.
After returning to the capital again, Li Shiji changed his name to Li Ji in order to avoid Li Shimin's 'shi' character. At this time, Li Ji, among all the officials of the Tang Dynasty, could probably rank second, second only to Li Shimin's entrusted assistant minister, Li Zhi's uncle Changsun Wuji.
According to Li Shimin's arrangement, the eldest son Wuji was in charge of government affairs, Li Ji was in charge of the military, and the strong enemies around the Tang Dynasty had basically been beaten down, and with the assistance of a group of old ministers during the Zhenguan years, it was absolutely possible to make Li Zhi's throne sit as stable as Mount Tai. After Li Zhi ascended the throne, everything in the beginning was indeed just like Li Shimin expected before his death.
But then, because of the appearance of a woman, it completely changed all that.
This woman is Wu Zetian.
The story about Wu Zetian is really too long, so I won't say more here, and the Chinese people basically know it. Anyway, in the next few years, it was probably Li Zhi who went to the Ganye Temple and burned incense for his father, during which he saw Wu Zetian, who had become a nun, and the two people's old feelings were revived. After that, in order to compete with a noble concubine for favors, Li Zhi's empress took Wu Zetian into the palace and wanted to share the favor of that concubine. As a result, no one expected that Wu Zetian was really too fierce, and after fighting down the noble concubine, he also defeated the empress by the way.
At the same time, as Li Zhi secured the throne, the zhenguan old courtiers, led by the eldest grandson Wuji, began to gradually become an obstacle to him. Although the eldest grandson Wuji is Li Zhi's uncle, in the face of power, this relationship does not seem to be very reliable. Therefore, a few years later, after Wu Zetian became empress, Li Zhi pushed the boat along the water, suppressed the old ministers, and completely tightened the power in his hands.
In this process, Li Ji has been looking at it coldly and trying to be an outsider.
As the most capable top-level player in the Tang Dynasty at that time, Li Ji did a really good job in the aspect of Mingzhe's self-preservation. For his identity and position, Li Ji always has a clear understanding. The eldest grandson is Li Zhi's uncle, and no matter how he fights for power, the family is always a family. As a commander-in-chief of the army, If Li Ji took sides at this time, no matter what the result was afterwards, he would find trouble for himself.
Therefore, in the past few years, Li Ji has always adhered to his duty. All the energy was put into mobilizing and arranging the Tang Dynasty army to protect the border security of the Tang Dynasty. It is precisely because of Li Ji's efforts that in these years, there were almost no major wars on the tang borders, and they have been in a relatively safe state.
But Li Ji couldn't imagine that sometimes, not taking sides is actually a kind of taking sides.
At the most critical time when Li Zhi and eldest son Wuji were competing for the right to speak, Li Zhi wanted to make Wu Zetian empress, and the eldest son Wuji resolutely opposed it. In this way, whether Wu Zetian can become an empress has become the key to the right to speak for the uncles and nephews. At this critical time, as a representative of the Tang Dynasty military, Li Ji could no longer stay out of the matter, because Li Zhi directly named him and found his head and asked him about his attitude.
As for Li Zhi's inquiry, Li Ji also gave a muddy answer again: This is His Majesty's family affair, and there is no need to ask me such an outsider. Li Ji's meaning was originally to tell Li Zhi that he would not mix these things with the Li family, but only wanted to honestly do his military boss. But for Li Zhi, this attitude is enough.
Since the military has made it clear that it will not intervene in the opposition, how big a storm can it set off even if it is resolutely opposed by those civilian ministers?
Therefore, in 566 AD, Li Zhi officially issued an edict and made Wu Zetian empress.
For Li Ji at that time, this incident actually had no impact on him. Because for a long time, Li Ji has not participated in the court stand. The foundation of Li Ji's establishment was never his own qualifications or prestige, but he could indeed fight, and the Tang Dynasty could not do without him. Therefore, even if the eldest grandson loses his position and Li Zhi completely grasps the power, this matter actually has no impact on Li Ji. In any case, no matter who is in power, if you want to ensure the national defense and security of the Tang Dynasty, you have to rely on him.
Later historical developments proved that Li Ji's choice was correct. At least until Li Ji's death, Li Zhi really relied on him. But the question is, what if Li Ji dies? This question seems meaningless, are you dead or manage a ball? But for Li Ji, it was precisely this that determined his later fate.
With Wu Zetian becoming empress, Li Zhi completely grasped the power and could finally devote more energy to solving state affairs. In the past few years, because Li Zhi has been busy dealing with internal affairs, the Tang Dynasty has not paid much attention to external affairs. Therefore, in the past few years, Goguryeo, which had been beaten down by Li Shimin before, showed signs of re-emergence.
Next, Li Ji once again implemented Li Shimin's strategic plan and constantly attacked goguryeo. During this period, Li Ji also paid great attention to cultivating the next generation of military talents of the Tang Army. A group of fierce men led by Xue Rengui grew up during this period. Ten years later, with the death of the Goguryeo vassal Yuan Gai Suwen, there was a fierce conflict within Goguryeo. Li Ji sensed that the time had come, so he asked Li Zhi for orders to go on the expedition, and Li Zhi readily agreed. In the end, after more than a year of great war, Li Ji finally completely swept away the entire Goguryeo and solved this major problem in the northeast for the Tang Dynasty.
But at the same time, this big war also completely consumed Li Ji's last bit of mental strength. At this time, Li Ji was already 75 years old. After the destruction of Goguryeo, Li Ji's last obsession was finally completed, and there were no more regrets. After the end of the Goguryeo War, Li Ji returned to Chang'an, and less than a year later, he died of illness at the age of 76.
After Li Ji's death, Li Zhi held a grand funeral for him and personally buried Li Jifu in a coffin, with great sorrow and honor. For the descendants of Li Ji, Li Zhi is also rewarded. When Li Ji was alive, perhaps Li Zhi was also jealous of him. But with the death of Li Ji, these fears have completely disappeared. Li Ji's exploits for the Tang Dynasty were destined to be indelible, and Li Zhi was well aware of this.
By this time, the story was over. Li Ji's life is actually quite perfect, and the extremely popular minister can still end so well, from ancient times to the present, it is actually not much.
But the problem is that after the story gets here, it is not over.
After Li Ji's death, within a few years, Li Zhi's health also became worse and worse. Moreover, Li Zhi suffered from a severe headache, even to the point where he could not handle the government of the dynasty. Therefore, Li Zhi asked Wu Zetian to handle the government affairs on his behalf. After Wu Zetian came to power, he quickly cultivated his own power and gradually controlled the entire court. After Li Zhi's death, Wu Zetian first made his third son Li Xian the crown prince, and then because Li Xian was not willing to be a puppet, he quickly deposed Li Xian and replaced the fourth elder Li Dan as emperor.
After that, Li Ji's grandson Xu Jingye, dissatisfied with Wu Zetian's assumption of power, directly rebelled in Yangzhou under the banner of the late crown prince Li Xian. If Xu Jingye could have his grandfather's skills, he might really be able to lead an army of 100,000 people all the way to wu Zetian's eyes. But unfortunately, Xu Jingye was a man of great ambition and talent, and he did not even have the skills of his grandfather Yicheng. It didn't take long for him to be suppressed by wu Zetian's dispatches.
Xu Jingye's side plotted rebellion, and Li Ji's side suffered. Li Ji's grave was originally on the side of Chang'an, within the control of Wu Zetian. Therefore, after Xu Jingye raised his army, Wu Zetian directly ordered That Li Ji, who had been in the coffin for fifteen years, be dug up again and enjoyed the treatment of digging a grave and cutting the coffin. In addition, because of Xu Jingye's crime of treason, Li Ji's descendants were also all linked.
However, it was probably god who felt that Li Ji was really good, and finally did not kill him completely. More than a decade later, as Li Xian ascended the throne again as emperor, Li Xian finally restored Li Ji's title and tomb and reburied him. Later, during the tang xuanzong period, tang xuanzong evaluated a 'wumiao ten zhe', and Li Ji was also moved in, becoming one of the ten people, and was able to rank alongside Han Xin, Zhuge Liang and others.
In addition, Li Ji's descendants did not seem to have been killed by Wu Zetian. Although Xu Jingye rebelled, Wu Zetian did order the killing of Li Ji's entire family. But Li Ji's descendants were more intelligent, and some of them fled directly, so they survived. It is said that one of them fled directly to Tubo, and a few decades later, during the reign of Emperor Dezong of Tang, when Tubo attacked and disturbed the tang army's borders, there was a Tubo general named Xu Sheren, who claimed to be the fifth grandson of Li Ji, and also released the captured Tang people. However, whether this Xu Sheren is a descendant of Li Ji or not is indeed questionable in history.
From these posthumous events of Li Ji, it is not difficult for us to find that even a fierce person like Li Ji who swept the world can hold on to the right body for a lifetime, but in the end he still can't count what happened after his death. After death, those who are cattle are nothing more than a piece of loess, and those deeds before they die cannot be left except for some records in the history books.
To be a person, you should eat, you should drink, and don't put things in your heart. There are so many big people in the history books, basically every one of them has had a very bad encounter. Being an ordinary person is not necessarily a bad thing.