"Tang Taizong in his later years was also a problem."

"The beauty was just said, but in fact, Li Shimin is even more corrupt in the area of pleasure."

"Li Shimin had issued a ban on all kinds of extravagance in the palace in his early years, but since the sixth year of Zhenguan, he has gradually deviated from his promise, and in his later years, he has become even more indulgent."

For example, "seeking horses in thousands of miles, the city is rare in the territory", under the request of Tang Taizong, "rare goods, far away, treasures, can be stopped all the time." ”

"The palace utensils and costumes made by the Jingshi and the Quartet are also very gorgeous."

Especially with Wu Zetian, after the death of the 36-year-old Empress Changsun in Zhenguan's tenth year, Li Shimin began to continuously recruit beauties to enrich the harem, which made the people miserable, and Wu Zetian, who was only fourteen years old at the time, was absorbed into the palace at this time and became a "talented person". ”

"After Li Ming, the king of Lujiang, was killed, his love concubine was also taken into the house by Li Shimin."

"Why do I say Tang cholera, you Li Shimin made a good start."

"Then I said that in his old age, he was very happy and reckless."

The most criticized thing about Li Shimin's life was that the three expeditions to Liaodong were not only in vain, but also made "the soldiers and horses tired of armor and the boats and cars tired of transferring", which increased the burden on the people of the whole country particularly heavy. ”

"Since the collapse of the Jin Dynasty, there have been many separatist regimes in northern China, and the Liaodong region has been lost and occupied by Goryeo."

"Later, although Emperor Yang of Sui had made many expeditions, they all ended in failure."

"After the establishment of the Tang Dynasty, we also want to recover this area as soon as possible, but the time is not ripe enough, so we have to put it on hold for the time being."

In the eighteenth year of Zhenguan of the Tang Dynasty, Li Shimin believed that the Tang Dynasty had the conditions to recapture Liaodong, so he planned to "conquer the east". ”

"Moreover, Li Shimin decided to drive the expedition in person."

"Since Li Shimin ascended the throne, he has swept Mobei and Pingxiyang, but he has never personally gone on an expedition. This personal expedition not only expressed his determination to win, but also saved face for the Sui Dynasty's failure to "conquer the east". ”

"It is undeniable that Li Shimin's military achievements in his life are very huge, destroying the Turks, Xue Yantuo, Tuyuhun and other countries, the countries of the Western Regions, the power of the sea, and the coming of all nations, thus becoming the Khan of Heaven."

For example, at the beginning of his reign, when facing the invasion of the Turkic army, he signed the Weishui Alliance with great knowledge, and after his own development and growth, he went back to clean up the Turks."

"Also, when he eliminated the Turks and Tuyuhun and other countries, Li Shimin also used troops abroad under the condition of fully ensuring domestic economic development and order stability, so although he continued to wage wars, the Tang Dynasty was still growing."

"However, in Li Shimin's later years, his military thinking changed greatly, and he was no longer so pragmatic, and more often fought to maintain the dignity of the Heavenly Khan."

"One of the most typical examples is Goguryeo, in the nineteenth year of Zhenguan, there was a matter of killing the lord in Goguryeo, and he did not report to Li Shimin in time afterwards, Li Shimin felt very faceless, so he ordered to reorganize the army and war, and let the twelve states in the south of the Yangtze River build large warships."

"At that time, many people persuaded Li Shimin that Goguryeo was very far away, and it was still a country of cities, and it was not easy to attack."

"In addition, Goguryeo has a rainy summer and an extremely cold and long winter, and the only three or four months suitable for conquest are from April to July.

"What's more, Goguryeo is only a small country, and it is not rich, so it is not worth the trouble of the Tang Dynasty."

"However, Li Shimin didn't listen to it at all, he just wanted to seize Goguryeo, incorporate it into the territory of the Tang Dynasty, and write this merit into his own merit book for future generations to admire."

"In particular, what Emperor Yang of Sui didn't do at the beginning, Li Shimin felt that only by doing it himself could he show the difference between high and low."

"As a result, Li Shimin not only insisted on conquering Goguryeo, but also personally conquered it, and in the interval between the wars, a war broke out on the western front of the Tang Dynasty, and Xue Yantuo invaded the border on a large scale, and the Tang Dynasty had to face the dilemma of fighting on two fronts."

"Although both Goguryeo and Xue Yantuo were eventually destroyed by the Tang Dynasty, due to the long duration of the war, the Tang Dynasty consumed a lot of financial, manpower and material resources, and Li Shimin built a lot of construction and indulged in pleasures, so the burden on the people greatly increased."

["There is the army of Liaohai in the east, and the battle of Kunqiu in the west, and the soldiers and horses are tired of armor, and the boats and chariots are tired of transportation. ”］

["The army is thorny, the palace is prosperous, and the people are quite laborious. ”］

"It can be said that attacking Goguryeo was not a wise move, and it was quite reckless, but Li Shimin insisted on going his own way in order to show his merits, and it was the people who suffered in the end."

[The "New Tang Dynasty Book" pointed out: "At the end of Zhenguan, the number of troops was transferred to discuss the four yi, and the palace was slightly governed, and the people were complaining. ”］

"And before the expedition, Li Shimin asked Zheng Yuanxu, who had followed Yang Guang on the expedition to Liaodong, for operational advice."

Zheng Yuanxu said: "Liaodong has a long way to go, and grain transportation is difficult; Dongyi is good at defending the city, and it cannot be attacked suddenly. ”

"Obviously, this is Zheng Yuanyi's personal experience of fighting in Liaodong."

However, Li Shimin thought that the strength of the Tang Dynasty at that time and the strength of the soldiers were incomparable to the Sui Dynasty, and he expected to win, so he didn't take Zheng Yuanxu's words to heart at all.

"In the nineteenth year of Zhenguan, after Li Shimin personally led a large army to Liaodong, he sent troops to capture the towns of Liaodong while dividing troops to block the road of Goryeo to reinforce Liaodong."

"At the beginning of the war, the Tang army successively captured Gaimu City, Beisha City, Liaodong City, and Baiyan City, which can be described as overwhelming."

"On June 20, the Tang army arrived at Anshi City, and Goryeo dispatched 150,000 troops to rescue Anshi."

"After June 23, most of Liaodong was conquered by the Tang army, and only Anshi City was still stubbornly defended."

"On July 5, when the Tang army besieged Anshi City, Anshi people came to the city to insult Li Shimin."

"Li Shimin was furious when he heard this, and decided: On the day the city of Anshi is broken, all the people will be killed."

"After hearing the news, in order to save their lives, the people of Anshi went out and desperately defended the city."

"Li Shimin saw that Anshi was difficult to capture for a while, so he asked the generals."

"Li Daozong and Gao Yanshou both believed that troops should be sent to attack Pyongyang as far away as possible to cut off the rear route of the Goryeo army, and then flank it."

Li Shimin wanted to use this plan, but the eldest grandson Wuji said: "The Son of Heaven is different from the generals, and he can't take advantage of the danger." ”

[Today's Jian'an, the capture of the new city, the crowd is still 100,000, if to the black bones, all after me, it is better to break the city of An, take Jian'an, and then drive forward, this perfect strategy is also. ”

"Subsequently, Li Shimin listened to the advice of the eldest grandson Wuji and continued to besiege Anshi, but he still could not capture it."

(End of chapter)