Chapter 18 Li Yuan's "Kuangfu Emperor's Room"

After Li Shimin entered Weibei, scholars and people from far and near, officials of the Sui Dynasty, and leaders of the mutated people came to join him in an endless stream, which is called "returning like a stream" in history.Among these people, Li Shimin carefully selected a group of talented people as his right-hand man.At this time Fang Xuanling voted under Li Shimin's command. Fang Xuanling was born in a family of officials and eunuchs. He had studied classics and history since childhood, and had high attainments in literature and calligraphy.When he was young, he traveled with his father, Fang Yanqian, the magistrate of Jingyang, to the capital.At that time, the country was stable and the world was peaceful, and everyone believed that the Sui Dynasty would surely last forever.But after Fang Xuanling wandered around Chang'an for a few days, he snorted heavily from his nostrils, and made a speech on current affairs to his father. Mixing with the concubines and concubines, so that the ministers will plunder", in the end, it is bound to "kill the barbarians within, not enough to protect the family and the country".His father was already terrified when he heard these rebellious words, but Fang Xuanling did not expect Fang Xuanling to say another sentence: "Although (Sui Dynasty) is peaceful today, its death can be waited for!" ("" Old Book of Tang·The Biography of Fang Xuanling")

The last sentence of destroying the nine clans completely scared his father out of his wits. Fang Yanqian looked at his son dumbfounded, and couldn't believe that these words came out of his mouth anyway. At the age of eighteen, Fang Xuanling became a Jinshi.After seeing Fang Xuanling, Gao Xiaoji, the servant of the official department at that time, was amazed and couldn't help saying to his colleagues: "I have seen countless people, and I have never seen this young man. He will become a great weapon in the future. It's a pity that I can't see him." That day when the valley soared to the sky!"

Gao Xiaoji really has extraordinary eyesight.This young man really became the most powerful confidant of Tang Taizong Li Shimin in the future, and eventually became a famous minister of the early Tang Dynasty and the main adviser of the Zhenguan Reign. He was known as one of the "Ten Great Ministers" in Chinese history. Call it a great weapon! In the year when he came to join Li Shimin, Fang Xuanling was only a small county lieutenant in Xi (xi) City (now Fenyang County, Shanxi).But when Li Shimin saw him for the first time in front of the barracks, he immediately felt like old friends at first sight, and immediately appointed him as a secretary to join the army and cited him as a think tank.And Fang Xuanling also regards Li Shimin as a confidant, and has since then devoted himself to assisting the hero.

At the end of September in the thirteenth year of Daye, the Li Yuan Group launched a series of military operations and began to narrow the encirclement of Chang'an.Liu Hongji and Yin Kaishan led an army of 60,000, marched westward to Fufeng (now Fengxiang County, Shaanxi Province), crossed Weishui River southward, and stationed in the old city of Chang'an (Han Chang'an).At the same time, Li Shimin led 130,000 troops to station in Acheng (former site of Qin Afang Palace). On September 27th, Li Jiancheng, who was stationed at Yongfeng warehouse, was also ordered by Li Yuan to lead his troops from Xinfeng (now Lintong County, Shaanxi) to Chang'an.

On the same day, Yan'an County (now Yan'an City, Shaanxi), Shang County (now Fuxian County, Shaanxi Province), and Diaoyin County (now Suide County, Shaanxi Province) all surrendered to Li Yuan. On September 28, Li Yuan led an army to march westward from Fengyi County (now Dali County, Shaanxi Province). All the palaces, other gardens, and gardens built by the Sui government along the way were demolished, and all the court ladies were released. On October 4th, Li Yuan arrived in Chang'an and set up camp outside Chunming Gate. More than 200,000 people from all walks of life assembled.Li Yuan kept sending envoys to the city to express his position of "supporting the community" to the Sui court and Wei Wensheng, but Wei Wensheng ignored them.

On October 14th, Li Yuan ordered the army to start besieging the city.Various departments in the army cut down the trees around the garrison one after another, and built a large number of siege equipment.The trees near Chang'an were cut down as a result. On October 27, Li Yuan's army began to attack the city.Li Yuan ordered: No one is allowed to violate the ancestral temple of the Sui Dynasty, the acting king Yang You and all members of the royal family. The siege battle was almost without suspense.Although the rebels also paid a bloody price, for example, Sun Hua, who had just joined Li Yuan, was killed in this battle, but just over ten days later, that is, on November 9th, Li Yuan's general Lei Yongji took the lead in attacking the city wall .

On the same day, Li Yuan's army captured Chang'an.Li Yuan ordered Li Jiancheng and Li Shimin to seal up the palace treasury, collect archives and books of the Sui Dynasty, and strictly forbid soldiers to burn, kill and loot. The thirteen-year-old acting king Yang You hid in the East Palace, and all the attendants around him scattered like birds and beasts, only Yao Silian, the attendant, stayed by Yang You's side.When the rebel soldiers attacked the East Palace and were about to rush to the main hall, Yao Silian stood in front of the pale Yang You and yelled at him sharply, "Duke Tang's righteousness is to help the emperor's family, you must not be rude!"

At this point, in order to save the king's life, Yao Silian had no choice but to admit the reality on behalf of the court, and honestly accompanied Li Yuan to play a political show of "helping the emperor's family". After Li Yuan entered the city, he respectfully took the acting king Yang You from the East Palace to the Daxing Palace, and then he lived in the Changle Palace in the old Chang'an to show the difference between the monarch and his ministers; Twelve Treaty Laws. When Li Yuan raised his troops, the left-behind chief in Xijing dug up Li Yuan's ancestral grave and destroyed the five temples of Li's family (the emperor could set up seven temples, and the duke set up five temples).Now that Li Yuan has entered the city, this account must be settled.At this time, the veteran Wei Wensheng had died of a disease in fear, and the remaining high-ranking officials of the Sui Dynasty naturally became the targets of Li Yuan's revenge.

On November 11th, Li Yuan arrested more than a dozen people, including Yin Shishi, who was left behind in Xijing, and Gu Yi, and declared them "greedy and harsh, resisting righteous teachers" and other crimes, and then beheaded them.Except for the dozen or so "chief culprits", Li Yuan tried his best to appease all the officials in the court, and did not do anything to the people of Chang'an. But a few days later the army arrested a man, and Li Yuan immediately ordered him to be chopped down. Because Li Yuan learned that long before he raised his troops, this person planned to go to Jiangdu to tell Yang the secret, exposing Li Yuan's secret recruiting of soldiers and his preparation for rebellion.

Of course, Li Yuan would not be lenient when dealing with this kind of informer. When the person who failed to inform was tied up and brought before Li Yuan, he didn't cry bitterly and beg for mercy on his knees, but shouted at the top of his voice: "The public rebels are supposed to eliminate riots in the world. Don't you want to achieve great things? Do you want to kill a strong man just for a little bit of resentment?" Who is this man who is as strong as an ox when he is about to die? He is Li Jing, the famous general of the early Tang Dynasty who will shock the world in the future.

Li Jing was born in Sanyuan, Yongzhou (now Sanyuan County, Shaanxi Province). His grandfather Li Chongyi was an official governor of Yinzhou in the Northern Wei Dynasty, and he was named Yongkang Duke; his father Li Quan was the prefect of Zhaojun in the Sui Dynasty.Li Jingzi is tall and majestic, and he has been quite literary and military since he was a boy. He often said to his family: "If a man meets the master at the right time, he must make contributions to gain wealth." ("Old Tang Book·Li Jing Biography" ) Li Jing's uncle was Han Qinhu, a famous general of the Sui Dynasty. Every time he discussed military affairs with him, he would be greatly admired. He would often stroke his head and say, "This son is the only one who can tell you about generals!" (Volume 1 eighty-four) In the last years of Daye, when Li Jing was appointed Mayi prefect, he realized that Li Yuan, who was staying in Taiyuan, was acting suspiciously, and he probably wanted to raise troops, so he planned to go to Jiangdu to report to Yang Guang in person. Unexpectedly, when he passed by Chang'an, there was chaos in Guanzhong, and the road was blocked, so he had to stay here. That's why Li Yuan was arrested. At this moment, when Li Jing yelled those words under the butcher's knife, Li Yuan already felt that this person must not be incompetent, and Li Shimin admired Li Jing's courage even more, so he urged Li Yuan to keep this person. Li Jing narrowly escaped death like this, and was later included under Li Shimin's command, and he embarked on a glorious journey of a generation of famous generals. Six days after conquering Chang'an, that is, on November 15th, Li Yuan enshrined Yang You, the acting king, as Emperor Gong of the Sui Dynasty; On the 17th, the new emperor Yang You granted Li Yuan a yellow axe (yue) and a talisman, and appointed him as the governor of all Chinese and foreign military affairs, ministers, and prime ministers. On the 18th, Yulin County (now Tuoketuo County, Inner Mongolia), Lingwu County (now Ningwu City, Ningxia), Pingliang County (now Ningxia Guyuan County), Anding County (now Gansu Jingchuan County) and other counties sent envoys to Beijing. Respecting the new emperor and the new court is actually submitting to Li Yuan. On the 19th, Yang You issued an edict: All political and military affairs of the empire, the appointment and removal of all civil and military officials, and all decrees, punishments and rewards of the imperial court are all under the jurisdiction of the prime minister's office; only the affairs of offering sacrifices to heaven, earth and the ancestral temple are reported to the emperor. . On the same day, Li Yuan appointed Pei Ji as the prime minister and Liu Wenjing as Sima. On the 22nd, Li Jiancheng was named the heir of the Tang Dynasty, Li Shimin was named Jingzhao Yin, Duke of Qin, and Li Yuanji was named Duke of Qi. A political show of "Kuangfu Emperor's Chamber" started with such vigor and vitality. Although everyone knows that the thirteen-year-old little emperor Yang You is just a prop in this political performance, and Tang Wang Li Yuan is the real ruler of the new court, but this performance is not optional. Because this is the unspoken rule that every person who usurped the throne and power in Chinese history must follow. What's more, Li Yuan knows better than anyone else that it's not yet ripe for him to become emperor. First of all, Yang Guang, the real emperor of the Sui Dynasty, is still in Jiangdu.Although his political prestige and popularity index have dropped to the lowest point since he came to the throne, after all, he is still alive; and as long as Yang Guang is still alive, Li Yuan will respect Zhengshuo of the Sui Dynasty for one day, otherwise he will become a usurper A traitor and traitor who conspired against the rebellion, all his actions lost their legality and moral basis.If so, Li Yuan would not be able to establish the broadest united front, unable to unite all those people in the old ruling camp to his side. Secondly, Li Yuan only occupies a corner of the relevant land.Although he seized the political commanding heights of Chang'an and was able to "hold the emperor to order the princes" within the sphere of influence of the new court, the world was still torn apart, and most of the territory was either divided by the Quartet, or still in the hands of officials and troops of the Sui Dynasty. In the end, it is hard to say who will win the game.If Li Yuan proclaims himself emperor at this time, he will definitely give others a handle and become the focus of attacks from various forces.This is tantamount to putting yourself on the stove, which is obviously unwise. Therefore, Li Yuan cannot rush to become emperor.Only when Yang Guang disappeared from this world, and his own power was strong enough, and the situation in the world was clear enough, could Li Yuan wipe out the little emperor lightly, and ascend the throne of the emperor in a grand manner. Li Yuan thought that this day should not be too far away.