Chapter 11 The Historical Truth of the Jinyang Rising Army (Part 2)

Through the re-study of historical materials related to this incident by many Chinese and foreign scholars in recent years, the truth of the Jinyang uprising has been clarified.Overseas researchers generally believe: "Some important situations may have been fabricated during the reign of Emperor Taizong himself due to Emperor Taizong's insistence... According to the previously neglected historical material "Da Tang Entrepreneurial Life Notes" in the early years of the Tang Dynasty, historians have already It can correct some prejudices and distortions in the traditional account of the history of the founding of the Tang Dynasty." (Ying Traid "Cambridge History of Sui and Tang Dynasties in China")

Some scholars in China also believe: "Due to the untruth of official historical records, the inside story of Jinyang's uprising was almost covered up. Li Shimin was prominently praised, while others were overshadowed, or buried, or distorted... At the same time, the old Some fictional plots were also stuffed into the history books to exaggerate Li Yuan's obscenity and incompetence, so as to set off Li Shimin's meritorious deeds." (Zhao Keyao, Xu Daoxun's "Tang Taizong Biography") The new research conclusions point out that Li Shimin was not as wise and powerful as the old historical records portrayed in the process of Jinyang Shouyi and the establishment of the Tang Dynasty, and Li Yuan was not as wretched as described in the old historical records.On the contrary, "Li Yuan is a man of great talent, and we can see from the "Datang Entrepreneurship and Living Notes" written by Wen Daya, who joined the army in Taiyuan. From the thirteenth year of Sui Daye's Taiyuan uprising to the ninth year of Wude before the Xuanwu Gate change, Li Yuan has always been a The highest decision-maker and overall commander...just because Li Yuan's regime was seized by Li Shimin after the Xuanwumen Incident...Zhenguan Dynasty compiled the "Gaozu Shilu" and said that the Taiyuan uprising was Li Shimin's mastermind, and the unification of the world was almost entirely Li Shimin Li Yuan was falsely accused of enjoying his success" (Huang Yongnian's "Twelve Lectures on Tang History").

Facts show that Li Shimin probably intervened in the compilation of related "Records" during the Zhenguan period, thereby falsifying some important historical facts.However, the later edited national history and the two "Books of Tang" that inherited the national history, including the later ones, were not changed, so that part of the truth about Jinyang's rise of troops and the history of the founding of the Tang Dynasty was never revealed. In the research of many scholars, they basically mentioned an important historical material in the early Tang Dynasty - "Notes on Entrepreneurship and Daily Life in the Tang Dynasty".

The author of the book, Wen Daya, is from Taiyuan. History says that he was "less eager to learn, but famous for his talent and debate". Officials.After Li Yuan arrived in Taiyuan, he became friends with him, and admired his literary name and "respected him very much".After Li Yuan raised his army, Wen Daya was appointed as the secretary of the general's mansion to join the army, "specially in charge of Wenhan". ("Old Tang Book Biography of Wen Daya") Obviously, the authenticity of the historical materials written by such a person who witnessed the Jinyang uprising must be far greater than those official revisions after the founding of the Tang Dynasty.Therefore, "Cambridge History of the Sui and Tang Dynasties in China" called him "the witness to the establishment of the Tang Dynasty".

So, what did this witness at the historical scene witness? As mentioned above, in fact, as early as the ninth year of Daye, Li Yuan already had the idea of ​​rebelling against the Sui Dynasty and establishing an imperial career, so he conspired with Yang Guang's near minister Yuwen Shihe in Zhuojun, but later because the time was not yet ripe, he temporarily Forbearance.Therefore, according to Wen Daya's records, in the twelfth year of Daye, when Li Yuan was stationed in Taiyuan as a pacifying ambassador, he would "privately rejoice in this trip, thinking it was a gift from heaven."

In the first month of the thirteenth year of Daye, Li Yuan was dismissed and detained on the spot because of his defeat.In fact, at this time Li Yuan had already made up his mind to raise troops.The reason why it was not launched was only because Li Jiancheng and Li Yuanji were still in the east of the river, and Li Yuan was afraid of it.According to the records in "Liu Shi Min", in fact, it was not Li Shimin who tried to persuade Li Yuan, but Li Yuan took the initiative to say to Li Shimin: "The Sui calendar is about to come to an end, and my family will inherit the fate. Those who don't rise up early, the Gu Er brothers have not heard. Today Affected by You (you) Li (ancient place name, now in the north of Tangyin County, Henan Province, where King Zhou Wen was imprisoned by King Zhou of Yin), Er Kunji had to join forces with Jin's divisions, and they were not allowed to be slaughtered by their sons and their families were destroyed. Heroes laugh."

Obviously, Li Yuan was very clear-headed at this time. He originally wanted to wait for his three sons to gather in Taiyuan before rebelling, but he was suddenly imprisoned, so he warned Li Shimin that if the situation did not improve, then the three brothers must quickly Assemble and raise troops immediately, you can't sit still and be ridiculed by heroes all over the world. So when Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty pardoned him later, Li Yuan said to Li Shimin, "You should see the opportunity!" Then he acted immediately, ordering Li Jiancheng to "submerge handsome men in Hedong" and Li Shimin to "secretly recruit powerful friends in Jinyang." , Actively build the core force of the uprising.

But until now, Li Yuan still didn't make a move. Because there are two nails planted beside him. Deputy left behind Wang Wei and Gao Junya. They were two cronies placed beside Li Yuan by Yang Guang, Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty, with the purpose of monitoring and restricting him. Although Li Yuan is a great official in frontiers, the troops he can mobilize daily are extremely limited.According to the Sui system, in principle only the emperor himself has the right to recruit and dispatch troops. If local officials send more than a thousand troops without authorization, they will be sentenced to death.Therefore, if Li Yuan wants to have enough troops to revolt, he must have the support of Wang Wei and Gao Junya, and he must have sufficient reasons to recruit troops.However, both Wang Wei and Gao Junya were loyal to the Sui family, and it was almost impossible to recruit them into the group. Otherwise, they would fall short and burn themselves, so Li Yuan must not take this risk.

How can we obtain sufficient reasons for conscription and the support of Wang Wei and Gao Junya? Li Yuan has been anxiously waiting for an opportunity. In February of the thirteenth year of Daye, Liu Wuzhou, a military officer in Mayi, suddenly launched a mutiny, killed the prefect Wang Rengong, occupied the county, and established himself as the emperor of Dingyang.Li Yuan smiled. It was a godsend.He said privately to Wang Wei and Gao Junya: "Although Wu Zhou is incompetent, he dares to assume (jian) the honorary title. If he occupies the Fenyang Palace and we cannot cut him off, it will be a crime of extermination." Ah!" Wang and Gao also felt that this was a big deal.Loufan County (now Jingle County, Shanxi Province) where the Fenyang Palace is located is adjacent to Mayi County. Not only are countless moneys and silks stored there, but also many court ladies live there. It is likely to become Liu Wuzhou's next attack target.So they urged Li Yuan to recruit troops quickly to attack Liu Wuzhou.

Li Yuan secretly smiled in his heart.He knew that Wang Wei and Gao Junya were in a hurry, but he was not in a hurry.He said slowly: "Let's observe again, and it's enough to inform Loufan to take precautions. We must stop calmly so as not to disturb the morale of the army." , captured all the maids among them, and dedicated them to Shibi Khan of the Eastern Turks.Wang Wei and Gao Junya were greatly shocked.In the next step, Liu Wuzhou's soldiers will definitely point directly at Taiyuan. But Li Yuan was still calm and relaxed.He summoned all the civil and military generals and said: "Order the soldiers to martial law, strengthen the defense of the city, and distribute food to the refugees. These three things cannot be abolished now, and the other things are up to you."

Wang Wei and Gao Junya, who had already been impatient, immediately asked, "Today, the fate of Taiyuan's scholars rests with Duke Ming. If the Duke refuses, who can take on this great responsibility?" Li Yuan knew that the reasons for recruiting and dispatching the army were already very sufficient, and Wang, Gao and others were in a more urgent mood than him, and they were only waiting for his order.But Li Yuan still looked distressed, and said: "The imperial court has an order, and the generals must report to the imperial court and accept the imperial court's restraint. At present, the bandit soldiers are within a few hundred miles, but Jiangdu is three thousand miles away. In addition, the road is dangerous. , along the way, there are other bandit soldiers guarding, coming and going, I don’t know when it will be. Leading this army that must obey the command of the remote control in everything, resisting the cunning and ferocious bandit soldiers is like asking a scholar to pounce. Can the fire be extinguished? All the princes are the barriers of the country, and they should work together to eliminate the country's disasters. Everyone is serving the court, so it is best not to suspect each other. The reason why I called you today is to discuss the most appropriate The solution is not to be passive and cowardly, and to shirk responsibility." Wang Wei and others hurriedly said: "The public's literary and military strategies are known far and near, and he has the status of a relative and a virtuous minister. He should share weal and woe with the country. If everything is reported, how to deal with unexpected events? As long as it is In order to crusade against traitors, it’s okay to do things arbitrarily!” This is what I want.A burst of ecstasy flashed through Li Yuan's heart.But he put on a look of helplessness on his face, reluctantly agreed to the request of the king and Gao, and ordered the conscription. With one order, nearly ten thousand people were recruited within ten days.This team will soon become the main force of the Jinyang uprising.Li Yuan ordered them to stay in Xingguo Temple, and privately said to Li Shimin: "Ji Gang three thousand, enough to become a hegemony! It's a good name for 'Xingguo'." Come to Taiyuan to assemble. Everything is ready. The next thing is how to deal with Wang Wei and Gao Junya. However, Wang Wei and Gao Junya are not just for nothing - those who can become the emperor's cronies and accept special missions will never be fools. Li Yuan's actions have aroused their strong suspicion. Because Li Yuan assigned the recruited army to three people-Li Shimin, Changsun Shunde and Liu Hongji.Li Shimin is Li Yuan's son, so there is nothing to say.The problem lies in the latter two people.Who are they?They are all criminals dodging military service!Execution is long overdue.Originally, it was a great deal of face for Li Yuan not to report them, but now Li Yuan handed over the army to such fugitives, what kind of problem is this?What exactly does Li Yuan want to do? Wang and Gao planned to arrest Changsun Shunde and Liu Hongji to prevent a change.But their idea was immediately dissuaded by a person. He is the samurai. The warrior said: "These two people are guests of Tang Gong. If you must do something, I'm afraid it will cause trouble." Wang and Gao made sense after thinking about it.Now that Liu Wuzhou and the Turkic people are eyeing each other, if internal strife is caused at this time, it will be of no benefit to anyone.So they had to hold back for the time being.A few days later, another officer named Tian Deping was going to suggest that Wang Wei and Gao Junya investigate the inside story of Li Yuan's recruitment. Although Junya has the title of deputy left guard, she has no real power in her hands, so what ability does she have to investigate!" Tian Deping had no choice but to give up. But with the development of the situation, Wang Wei and Gao Junya felt more and more that something was wrong.Li Yuan's every move made them suspicious and frightened.They felt that Li Yuan might launch a rebellion!Wang Wei and Gao Junya finally made up their minds and decided to act first. Since it hadn't rained in Taiyuan for many days at that time, Wang and Gao proposed to hold a rain praying meeting at Jinci Temple, fifty miles south of Jinyang City, and asked Li Yuan to host it, planning to wait for an opportunity to kill Li Yuan at the meeting. At the same time, Li Yuan has been trying to solve Wang Wei and Gao Junya.Both sides are sharpening their knives in secret. Whether you die or I die, it depends on whose shot is faster. At the critical moment, a local township head named Liu Shilong secretly came to Li Yuan's mansion and told Li Yuan that Wang Wei and Gao Junya were going to do it when they were praying for rain in Jinci Temple. Liu Shilong had a lot of contacts with Gao Junya on weekdays, so his news should be reliable.Li Yuan immediately formulated an action plan with Li Shimin, Liu Wenjing and others. On the night of May 14th in the thirteenth year of Daye, Li Yuan ordered Li Shimin and Changsun Shunde to lead 500 soldiers to ambush at the east gate of Jinyang Palace City.On the morning of the 15th, Li Yuan summoned Wang Wei and Gao Junya to discuss matters in the office in Miyagi.As soon as everyone sat down, Liu Wenjing led Sima Liu Zhenghui of Kaiyang Mansion (Forbidden Army Recruitment Mansion) to the front of the hall.Liu Zhenghui held a complaint in his hand and loudly reported that he had something to file.Li Yuan signaled Wang Wei and Gao Junya to accept the complaint, but Liu Zhenghui said: "The people I want to sue are the two deputy left behind, and only Mr. Tang can read it!" Wang Wei and Gao Junya were caught off guard and turned pale with shock. Li Yuan also pretended to be surprised, and said, "How could such a thing happen?" After receiving the complaint, he immediately announced loudly: "Wang Wei and Gao Junya secretly colluded with the Turks and planned to attack Taiyuan with internal and external cooperation." It wasn't until this moment that Wang Wei and Gao Junya realized what had happened.Gao Junya jumped up immediately, rolled up her sleeves and cursed: "This is someone who wants to rebel and deliberately frame us!" However, everything is beyond their control.At this moment, Li Shimin's soldiers had already controlled all important intersections outside the palace city, and Wang Wei and Gao Junya had undoubtedly become shackles.Liu Wenjing, Changsun Shunde, Liu Hongji and others quickly rushed forward, arrested Wang and Gao on the spot, and put them in prison. At this point, all preparations are in place.At the same time, Li Jiancheng, Li Yuanji, Chai Shao and others are also rushing to Taiyuan non-stop.Li Yuan has no worries anymore, as soon as Li Jiancheng and others arrive, the historical curtain of Jinyang's uprising will suddenly open. This is the motivation and truth of Jinyang's rise of troops. According to Wen Daya's records, we can clearly see that Li Yuan is by no means a mediocre person with no ambitions, but "has the strategy of helping the world, and has the heart of managing the world" ("Da Tang Entrepreneurship Daily Note" ); and was a "courageous leader, staunch opponent, and resourceful strategist" ("Cambridge History of China's Sui and Tang Dynasties"). In other words, the leader of the Jinyang uprising, including the organizer of the entire process and the overall commander, was Li Yuan himself. But while affirming Li Yuan, we cannot easily obliterate the important role Li Shimin played in this uprising.Although Zhenguan Shichen beautified Li Shimin and exaggerated his achievements for well-known reasons, we should not overcorrect when restoring the historical truth.It should be said that Li Shimin's performance in the whole process of raising troops is remarkable, from "secretly recruiting powerful friends" to establish core strength, to recruiting volunteers to form an army, and then to "ambusing Jinyang Palace" to control Wang Wei and Gao Junya. ordered.At least compared to Li Jiancheng and Li Yuanji who were too late to participate in the Jinyang uprising, Li Shimin's contribution to the first righteousness is unmatched by them.In addition, Li Shimin's unique vigor and enterprising spirit of young people also form a subtle complement to Li Yuan's mature, prudent and overall-minded character. According to Wang Fuzhi, Li Shimin's performance was "courageous and promising", while Li Yuan's performance was "perseverance and self-sustainability". (Volume 20 of "On Reading "Tong Jian"") To a certain extent, it is precisely because Li Yuan and his sons were able to maintain consistency in strategic thinking and complement each other in character and behavior in the process of rebelling against the Sui Dynasty and creating a great cause, which ensured the success of the uprising and quickly Rise among the heroes, and finally create the Tang Dynasty.