Chapter 6 Chapter Two Tang Taizong

When Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty was hiding in Jiangdu, Li Yuan came up with the idea of ​​Chang'an. It was the turn of spring and summer in the thirteenth year of Daye (617), and the struggle against the Sui Dynasty was in full swing everywhere: Du Fuwei occupied Liyang, Dou Jiande was crowned king, Liang Shidu raised troops according to the county, Liu Wu and Zhou soldiers entered Fenyang, Li Mi even After conquering Xingluocang and threatening Dongdu, apart from Chang'an, Luoyang and Jiangdu, only Taiyuan remained in the empire's hands. Taiyuan is no small matter.As an important northern military town defending the capital Chang'an and the eastern capital Luoyang, it is also known as the northern capital (Jiangdu, where Emperor Sui Yang lived, seems to be called the southern capital).Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty appointed Li Yuan as Taiyuan's stay-at-home before his southern tour, and handed over the military and political power of the entire jurisdiction to him, which may not have been without careful consideration.

Li Yuan seems to be trustworthy. Like Yuwentai and Yang Jian, Li Yuan's family is also a Wuchuan warlord, Guanlong noble and mixed blood family. Li Yuan and Yang Guang are still cousins, but Li Yuan is two years older and is a cousin.Of course, that doesn't mean anything.In order to compete for the throne and supreme power, brothers can kill each other, so what about cousins? In fact, Emperor Yangdi's appointment was a wishful thinking.To the north of Taiyuan is the Turks, and inside the Great Wall are surrounded by anti-government armed forces: Dou Jiande in the east, Liang Shidu in the west, Li Mi in the south, and Liu Wuzhou in the north (see the picture on the next page).Therefore, Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty believed that Li Yuan could only look after his home and nurse the courtyard, and could not make trouble at all.How could he have imagined that that cousin would take this opportunity to seize the soldiers of the five counties as capital?

Of course, he never thought that Li Yuan would collude with Turks. However, Li Yuan's initial performance did reassure Emperor Yang.When rebellions are raging all over the country, Taiyuan, where Li Yuan lives, is surprisingly quiet.This important military town seems to be far away from the center of the vortex, and Li Yuan himself, as always, indulges in debauchery, sex, corruption and corruption, looking like he has no ambitions and no heart. Suddenly, however, he said the opposite. The rebellion seemed to be forced out.On a spring night, a man named Pei Ji invited Li Yuan to dinner.At that time, Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty established a palace called Jinyang Palace in the area under the jurisdiction of Taiyuan.Pei Ji is the deputy supervisor of Jinyang Palace, and Li Yuan is also the director in the identity of staying behind in Taiyuan.As a matter of course, the deputy supervisor entertains the director.

As usual, there are women as escorts at officials' banquets, but Pei Ji told Li Yuan that she was a maid from Jinyang Palace after enjoying it.It is an unforgivable treason to touch the emperor's women, even if these women are actually idle.Li Yuan was caught in a trap like thunder, so he had no choice but to ask Pei Ji for advice to get out. Pei Ji said: Only rebellion. Moreover, Pei Ji also told Li Yuan that the time for rebellion was ripe and he was well prepared.Erlang Li Shimin had already arranged everything properly, but because he was worried that he would not get the consent of the adults, he arranged for Minggong to have skin-to-skin relations with these women.

Li Yuan who fell into the trap had no choice but to say: Since my son really has this heart and made up his mind, then listen to him! Hehe, those who follow me prosper, and those who oppose me go whoring, Li Shimin's good idea! Unfortunately, this is not reliable at all. We have to ask, is Pei Ji's dinner party inside or outside the Jinyang Palace?If it was in the palace, Li Yuan would of course know that the escort was a court lady, and of course he would avoid it.If it was outside the palace, then Li Yuan could completely deny it, and even beat Pei Ji to death on the spot on the charge of framing the chief.What is he afraid of?

Here, we have once again experienced the incredulity of official revision history.In order to portray Li Shimin as the true founder of the Tang Empire, official historians did not hesitate to fabricate or accept perjury.This is like vilifying Zhou Yu and dwarfing Liu Bei, Sun Quan, and Lu Su in order to elevate Zhuge Liang. It's a pity that a fake is a fake, and no matter how clever the method is, it will be cheated. Clothing is on the schedule.According to Sima Guang, when Li Shimin repeated the old story to Li Yuan after a period of time, Li Yuan, who was "kidnapped for revolution", turned his face and refused to recognize anyone. He took up a pen and paper to write a petition to send Li Shimin to the government.

Shimin said: adults must report, children dare not be afraid of death. Li Yuan said: I can't bear it, just don't talk nonsense. Shimin had no choice but to persuade him repeatedly.Only then did Li Yuan sigh and say: All right!From now on, it is up to you to destroy the family, and it is up to you to turn the family into a country! According to this statement, the Taiyuan Uprising was entirely due to Li Shimin, and Li Yuan could "don't ask if he is threatened".But may I ask, after Pei Ji treated the guests to dinner, did Li Yuan recruit those court ladies?If it is incorporated, the determination to rebel has been made, and there is no need to pretend to be confused.If not, wouldn't it be superfluous for them to create the case of Li Yuan "being prostituted", framing both Gaozu and Taizong?

Such nonsense, where is the academic conscience? It's just blinding the mind. The "benefits" mentioned here are of course not material interests, but the political interests of the ruling class.According to the needs of this interest, history must have reference significance.This can only be done with cosmetic surgery, such as demonizing Sui Yang Emperor and sanctifying Tang Taizong.Respect for history and facts is not the professional ethics of official historiography of the empire. By the way, taking history as a mirror is exactly what Tang Taizong advocated. Poor his father, he had no choice but to be a wimp.

However, black and white cannot be reversed.In fact, there are various indications that Li Yuan is by no means a fool, let alone a wimp.His ignorance and uselessness are all feigned, but his covetous heart has long been there.Otherwise, why did he want Li Jiancheng and Li Shiminbing to split into two groups, one to secretly make handsome friends, and the other to secretly recruit powerful friends? Standing still is just to ensure victory. Therefore, once he sees the right time, he will move like a rabbit.On May 14th of the thirteenth year of Daye, the two lieutenants who had seen signs of Li Yuan's changes were staying behind and planned to take action against him according to the surveillance order of Emperor Sui Yang, but they were arrested and killed by Li Yuan. The charges were naturally fabricated.At this time, he didn't hesitate or soften for a moment.

From this point of view, the falsification of history by Zhenguan Shichen and Sima Guang is really self-defeating. On the contrary, it seems that the people of the world are ignorant, and Li Yuan is scheming.In fact, Li Yuan is like Sun Quan back then, more calm than anyone else.As Wang Fuzhi said, he is in a critical situation, watching the collapse of the world, waiting for the opportunity to move, in order to succeed. And once it moves, it is more ruthless than anyone else. That's right, he stared at Chang'an. Chang'an was originally the capital of the empire. It was only because Emperor Sui Yang wanted to connect the north and the south to reorganize the mountains and rivers that the political center moved eastward to Luoyang.This made the north-south Grand Canal line centered on Luoyang a battleground for the princes of the Central Plains, and Chang'an was forgotten.In those turbulent years, Chang'an was as surprisingly quiet as Taiyuan, becoming a dead corner or a vacuum.

However, Chang'an is the base of the Guanlong Group after all.Owning Chang'an, and taking Chang'an as the birthplace of the new dynasty, he is not only justified, but also familiar with Wuchuan warlords like Li Yuan, old men from the Zhou and Sui Dynasties, and nobles from Guanlong.What's more, the thirteen-year-old acting king Yang You is guarding Chang'an. If Li Yuan wanted it, wouldn't it be something out of his pocket? Li Yuan did not act rashly, he must first relieve his worries. To do this, he did three things. The first is to reach an agreement with Shibi Khan of the Turks: after the capture of Chang'an, the land and people will belong to Li Yuan, and the women and treasures will belong to the Turks.This is of course because Turks are in the north and Chang'an is in the south.Going south from Taiyuan to take Chang'an, if the Turks took the back route, the consequences would be disastrous.Therefore, Li Yuan also declined the army that the Turks were about to send, and only accepted their horses.He didn't want to lure wolves into the house and be controlled by others. After the Turks were settled, Li Yuan went to fool Li Mi again.He wrote to Li Mi, who claimed to be the leader of the anti-Sui alliance, expressing his sincere support for him and his commitment to heaven, and he would be satisfied as long as he could be granted the title of Tang again.So the arrogant Li Mi no longer pays attention to Li Yuan, and concentrates on attacking Luoyang. Instead, he becomes a shield for Li Yuan to block the soldiers from the east. The most important trick is to raise the flag of righteousness and not the flag of rebellion.Li Yuan announced that the purpose of going south was to revive the Sui Dynasty, make Yang You the emperor, and respect Yang Guang as the Supreme Emperor.This avoids the charge of rebellion by the ministers and is politically invincible.Therefore, as soon as Emperor Yangdi died, he immediately tore off his mask and became emperor unceremoniously. The hidden dangers have been eliminated, and now you can leave. On the fifth day of the seventh month, Li Yuan led an army of 30,000 oath troops to the south.On the ninth day of November, conquer Chang'an.On March 11 of the following year, Yang Guang was killed in Jiangdu.On May 20, Li Yuan became emperor.One dynasty fell, and another dynasty stood up, but this new dynasty had to accept another bloody baptism.

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Notes: Volume one hundred and eighty-three. Volume one hundred and eighty-three.