Chapter 10 Turks are coming again

In the eighth year of Wude (AD 625), at the end of summer and beginning of autumn, wars ignited again on the border of the Tang Empire. The Jieli Khan of East Turkic has lost his face since last fall when he made an all-out invasion to the south and returned without success.After nearly a year of recuperating, Jieli once again sent his troops south. This time, Xieli changed its strategy.He didn't intend to do the stupid thing that looked menacing but turned out to be fruitless in the end. Instead, he fought on the front thousands of miles from Liangzhou (now Wuwei City, Gansu Province) in the west to Youzhou (now Beijing) in the east. In general, the strategy of "multi-point attack and harassment as the main focus" is adopted, specializing in vandalism, looting, and leaving as soon as you get one. It doesn't matter whether the battle is good or not, but whether it can get benefits.Although this kind of war did not directly threaten the center of the Tang Dynasty like last year, it covered a wide area and lasted for a long time, and it really made the Tang army run around for a long period of time, tired of coping, and it was a big headache.

Since Jieli led an army to attack Lingzhou (now Lingwu City, Ningxia) at the end of June, this intermittent harassment war that lasted for more than a year began. On July 12th, Li Yuan announced to the courtier in charge of drafting the imperial edict: "The Turks are greedy and we will go to war with them in an all-out way. Use 'rescript' and 'decree' instead!" Compared with the strategic transformation of the Turks, the military appointments of the Li and Tang courts have also undergone subtle changes.Li Yuan successively transferred Zhang Jin, the right-wing general, Li Jing, the governor of Anzhou, Ren Gui, the marching chief, and others to the front line to defend against the enemy, while Li Shimin was only sent to Puzhou (now Yongji City, Shanxi) as a reserve force to defend the gate of Guanzhong. .

The main reason why Li Shimin was not pushed to the front line as usual is that this wave of Turkic invasion did not pose too much threat to the Tang Empire, but at the same time it also showed Li Yuan's intention, that is to restrain Li Shimin as much as possible. To prevent him from being in the limelight again. Li Shimin can't be seen on the front line, which is definitely a big plus for Xieli.In early August, Jieli personally led an army of 100,000 to plunder Shuozhou (now Shuozhou, Shanxi).Zhang Jin and others hurried north to defend against the enemy, and fought against Jieli in Taigu (now Taigu County, Shanxi) on the 11th.Regrettably, Zhang Jin's entire army was annihilated in this battle, and Wen Yanbo, the servant of Zhongshu who served as the commander of the army, was captured. Zhang Jin only escaped with his life and defected to Li Jing in embarrassment.

The Turks won this battle, and Jieli found that he had a bargaining chip, so he sent people to "reconcile" with the Tang Empire at the end of August.It is conceivable that this so-called "reconciliation" proposed after the victory is actually a threat, and it is nothing more than an attempt to take advantage of the new victory's prestige and slap it hard.History books do not record Li Yuan's reaction to this, but judging from the results of Jieli's subsequent return of troops to the north, it is likely that the Li Tang court gave Jieli Khan a considerable amount of bribes against his will.

The reason why Jieli took it as soon as he saw a good deal this time was, of course, to implement his strategic thinking of "get it and leave", and secondly, he was probably worried that if he continued to advance in depth, he would run into Li Shimin sooner or later. Although the main force of the Turks withdrew, other divisions from all walks of life were still harassing the vast northern border of the Tang Empire.This protracted and tiresome harassment war continued intermittently until the ninth year of Wude (626 AD). Before June of this year, except for the minor harassment on the border, basically nothing major happened in the Tang Empire.The only thing worth mentioning is that on April 20, Li Jing fought a fierce battle with the Turkic army in Xiashi, Lingzhou.It is said that this battle was fought extremely fiercely. The Tang army fought bloody from early morning to dusk, and finally repelled the Turks.On about the same day, Tai Shi ordered Fu Yi to present a memorial requesting the emperor to ban Buddhism.Li Yuan basically adopted Fu Yi's memorial, and then issued an edict to carry out a large-scale clean-up and rectification of temples and Taoist temples across the country.

Aside from those two things, the days were generally relatively peaceful these days.Under this superficial calm, the time came to the first day of June in the ninth year of Wude. On this midsummer morning, everything in the Great Tang Empire looked the same as before. The sun is still bright and brilliant, and the sky is still clear and blue. However, upon closer inspection, there was something strange about the sky this morning. Because there is one more thing in the sky. That's not a UFO.It was a star—a star that wandered out in broad daylight. On the morning of the first day of June in the ninth year of Wude, the dazzling Taibaijin star swaggered across the sky of the Tang Empire in broad daylight.

According to the ancients, this is called "Taibai Jingtian", which is a strange and important celestial phenomenon. So, what does this celestial phenomenon mean? The history books say: "Taibai Jingtian, the world will change, and the people will change the king!" ("Hanshu Astronomical Records") The day of Venus across the sky will change the world, and the people will have a new king. At this moment, Li Shimin didn't know that in two months, he would become the new king. Although I have always harbored the self-confidence that the destiny is in me, and although I have never doubted my peerless talents in politics, military affairs and other aspects, right now, Li Shimin is just a vassal trapped in reality.

Yes, at least so far, he is still just a vassal who is constantly being squeezed out and his living space is getting smaller and smaller. From the time when he was sensible, Li Shimin felt an indescribable huge energy flowing in his body.This energy seemed so perfect, strong and so natural that Li Shimin believed that it was definitely a gift from heaven.As this innate energy flows, surges and overflows in all stages of life, it has many manifestations and has been given various names—— In the youth, it manifests itself as "You Congrui" ("Old Tang Book Taizong Benji"), "Good Bow and Arrow" (Volume 1), "Shang Weiwu" ("Quan Tang Wen" Volume 9); It is manifested as "profound knowledge, decisive at the moment" ("Old Book of Tang Taizong Benji"), "smart and courageous, with extraordinary knowledge" (Volume 183); later, it manifested as an invincible force on the battlefield Amazing will, a kind of arrogance to despise opponents, a kind of bravery and fearlessness to charge and sweep thousands of troops; later, this energy gradually transformed into a desire to control the outside world, a kind of ambition to look down on everything in the world, a kind of world-wide In the end, this energy finally unstoppably evolved into a political ambition to aspire to the imperial power and dominate the world.

What a man can be, he must be. The huge potential prompts Li Shimin to consciously or unconsciously seek the self-realization of life.He seems to have always believed that since God has endowed him with this potential, he must be allowed to fulfill some kind of sacred mission. It is undeniable that this is a strong self-expectation. To put it bluntly, this is called autosuggestion.In the fourth year of Wude, Li Shimin deliberately went to Taoist Wang Yuanzhi, perhaps just to strengthen this psychological suggestion.The so-called "good demeanor, never forget to sleep" ("Old Tang Book · Wang Yuanzhi Biography") is a vivid portrayal of his continuous self-suggestion.

However, we need to know that such self-suggestion is precisely one of the most precious qualities of a great man, and it is precisely an important sign that distinguishes a great man from ordinary people-"It marks us, as if we are destined to engage in great undertakings! This is A value that we unconsciously attribute to ourselves. It is by this quality that we earn the respect of others, and it is it that often elevates us above those of birth, high office, and merit itself.”( La Rochefoucauld, "Moral Words") Set a lofty goal, and then continue to motivate yourself, all these together constitute the source of Li Shimin's spiritual strength.Undoubtedly, this kind of spiritual power is far greater than the value provided by external things such as family status, official titles, and meritorious service.In other words, only by consistently telling ourselves that we are "destined for great things" and by continually allowing this self-motivating spiritual light to project externally on things can the path to greatness be truly illuminated.

Emerson, the father of American spirit, said: "The whole world will make way for him who moves toward his goal wholeheartedly." However, if the whole world was indeed making way for Li Shimin in the early stage of Wude, then in the middle and late period of Wude, the world built an invisible high wall in front of him. At the same time, Li Shimin found that his vast and unrestrained energy had also been quietly incorporated into an invisible container. This container was tailor-made for him by Emperor Gaozu Li Yuan himself - not only delineating the scale, but also creating a frame. Li Shimin tried to break through it, but no matter which direction he rushed, all his efforts failed in the end. The last effort was the Yang Wengan incident in June of the seventh year of Wude. After this incident, both Li Shimin and Li Jiancheng must have realized that it is impossible to solve the problem by conventional political means. There is only one way left: force. Only by swinging the sword in hand can it end all this. Just like Alexander once did. Legend has it that in 333 BC, Alexander invaded Asia Minor and occupied the city of Geldios, the capital of the once glorious ancient Kingdom of Lundina.The first thing he did after entering the city was to go straight to the Temple of Zeus in the city, hoping to fulfill a long-cherished wish of his own. For hundreds of years, an ancient chariot has been enshrined in this temple.On the shaft of this chariot is tied an intricate knot.The oracle said that whoever can untie this knot will become the ruler of Asia.For hundreds of years, countless kings, wise men, and skilled craftsmen have worked hard on it, but no one can untie it. This is the famous Geldios Knot. When Alexander stood in front of the knot, he stared at it for a long time, but in the end he was as depressed as everyone else. Alexander was very upset.Because he couldn't even find the end of the rope, let alone untie it. At the moment when Alexander was about to give up, he suddenly thought: Why must he follow the routine?Why not unravel it your own way? Alexander drew his sword with a swipe. Where the cold light flashed, the knot broke. This Knot of Gerdios, which has stumped countless people for hundreds of years, was "untied" by Alexander in this way. For a politician, when you cannot solve a problem with wisdom, you can only use force. This is the eternal law in all political struggles. And when Li Shimin and Li Jiancheng stared at the "Gerdios Knot" lying in front of them for a long time, they must have the urge to draw their swords in the end. The only question is - who will get the shot first.