On the ninth day of November in the thirteenth year of the Great Cause (617), after nearly half a year of bloody fighting, Li Yuan finally conquered Chang'an and entered the main Guanzhong. Speaking of which, the road of the Li family father and son to Guanzhong is really not easy, and it can be called a blue thread, step by step.

At the beginning, when Li Yuan Jinyang raised troops, he only had 30,000 righteous troops in his hands. However, after nearly half a year of bloody battles and army expansion, all the way from Shanxi to Guanzhong. By the time Li Yuan led the army into Guanzhong and approached the city of Chang'an, he had 200,000 troops at that time, and his soldiers were strong and strong, until he finally conquered Chang'an. It can be said that the journey of the Li family's father and son into the Guanzhong is a legend of counterattack. Of course, among them, it is not excluded that the Li family's father and son have outstanding personal abilities, and they have a bit of luck and luck.

Now, Li Yuan entered Chang'an and became the master of Chang'an City. Li Yuan now occupies the vast area of Hedong and Guanzhong, and at this time, Li Yuan is no longer a feudal official of the Sui Dynasty, but a key figure in the troubled times at the end of the Sui Dynasty.

However, occupying Guanzhong does not mean that Li Yuan has won the final victory. On the contrary, the conquest of Chang'an was only the beginning of Emperor Li Yuan's cause and a starting point for the founding of the Tang Dynasty. At that time, after Li Yuan became the owner of Chang'an, he faced a myriad of problems. So, how did Li Yuan deal with these complex issues one by one? How did he pave the way for the upcoming Tang Dynasty?

And how did Li Yuan finally officially replace the Sui Dynasty, create the foundation of the Tang Dynasty, and become the founding king of the Tang Dynasty - Tang Gaozu. At the important juncture in the history of the Sui Dynasty and the Tang Dynasty, what little-known events happened in it? Why was Datang able to dominate the world in the end?

At the beginning of November of the thirteenth year of the Great Cause (617), Li Yuan led more than 200,000 righteous troops to attack Chang'an. For a time, Guanzhong changed hands, the ancient capital of the thirteen dynasties, and the city changed the king's flag. However, Li Yuan's father and son, who had just entered Chang'an, were facing various complex problems. Once these problems are not handled well, Li Yuan will not be able to stand in Chang'an Guanzhong, and it is very likely that all efforts for nearly half a year will be in vain.

At that time, what kind of complex problems did Li Yuan and his son face? To put it simply, Li Yuan faced political problems internally and military problems externally. When dealing with political issues, what is needed is appeasement; And when it comes to military issues, what is needed is conquest.

First, let's look at internal politics.

What kind of political problems is Li Yuan facing? At that time, the people in Chang'an City were panicked and rumored. Almost all of them have a wait-and-see attitude towards Li Yuan Group. Therefore, how to appease the people in the Guanzhong area of Chang'an, how to settle the Sui Dynasty's clans and officials in Chang'an, and how to treat Yang Yu, the acting king, have become the top priorities in front of Li Yuan. For Li Yuan, these problems are problems that must be solved, and they cannot but be solved.

Second, let's look at external military issues.

In the last years of the Sui Dynasty, the world was in turmoil, and the peasant uprisings were surging, and the heroes were divided. Especially in the ninth year of the Great Cause (613), after Yang Xuangan's mutiny, the scale of the peasant uprising at the end of the Sui Dynasty was like a snowball, rolling bigger and bigger. At that time, the front of the peasant rebel army, from Shandong in the east, to Ningxia in the west, to Hebei in the north, and to Jianghuai in the south, the spark of the spark has become a prairie fire. According to the record of the "General Guide to Governance":

The place where the time was stolen,...... Each gathered a crowd to attack and plunder, more than 100,000 people, less than tens of thousands of people, Shandong suffered. The world has been peaceful for a long time, people do not practice soldiers, and every time the county officials fight with thieves, they are depressed.

It was against the background of the peasant uprising that the basic pattern of the heroes at the end of the Sui Dynasty was laid. By the end of the Sui Dynasty, there were countless separatist forces in the country, which is what is commonly referred to as "Eighteen Roads Against the King" and "Sixty-four Roads of Smoke and Dust" in the Romance of Storytelling. Take, for example, a few well-known separatist forces.

At that time, Li Mi, the leader of the Wagang Army, had 300,000 Wagang troops and occupied a large territory in the Central Plains of Henan; Longxi Xue Ju, Xue Rengao father and son, dominate Longxi; Li Liang in Hexi captured Liangzhou and occupied five counties in Hexi; Dou Jiande led the Hebei rebel army and dominated Hebei; Liu Wuzhou, the Khan of Dingyang, was entrenched in Shanxi; Xiao Milling and Du Fuwei crisscrossed the Jianghuai River......

Under such circumstances, Li Yuan, who had just entered the customs, was facing a situation in which the internal people were uneasy and the situation was turbulent; External forces are eyeing each other. Therefore, what Li Yuan has to do is to stabilize the political situation in Chang'an and Guanzhong internally, and consolidate the situation in Hedong and Guanzhong; Externally, it is necessary to deal with the attacks of other separatist forces at any time and break the covetousness of powerful factions in various places for Guanzhong. From this point of view, Li Yuan still has a lot of problems to solve, and the task is not easy at all.

The point is, how should Li Yuan solve these problems? Since we want to solve the problems, we must also solve them one by one, and we can't rush them. As a result, Li Yuan set the principle of "first inside and then outside", first stabilizing the internal political situation, and then dealing with the difficulties from the outside.

Li Yuan's first important measure to stabilize the interior was to appease the people.

From Li Yuan's battle all the way to the main pass, it can be seen that Li Yuan has always adhered to the principle of fighting and marching without committing any crime in autumn. Therefore, Li Yuan's righteous army marched all the way to Guanzhong, with strict military discipline, and there were almost never incidents of looting and robbery to disturb the people, let alone indiscriminate killing of innocents.

Therefore, in the eyes of many people at that time, the righteous army led by the Li family's father and son was a well-deserved army of benevolence and righteousness. It is precisely because of the benevolence and righteousness of the Li family's father and son that when they advanced into Guanzhong, the Li clan relatives and powerful forces in Guanzhong all over Guanzhong raised troops to respond to Li Yuan.

After conquering Chang'an, Li Yuan still pursued his usual marching principle: autumn will not be offended. It is clearly recorded in the "Zizhi Tongjian" that after Li Yuan entered Chang'an, he followed the practice of Liu Bang, the ancestor of the Han Dynasty, who entered the "Three Chapters of the Law", and "agreed with the people in 12 articles of the law, and eliminated the strict prohibition of Sui." The meaning of this text is that after Li Yuan entered Chang'an, he made a covenant with the people of Chang'an on twelve articles; At the same time, he ordered the abolition of all the excesses and miscellaneous taxes of the Sui Dynasty.

In fact, long before the general attack on Chang'an, Li Yuan had strictly ordered the soldiers of the righteous army not to leave the barracks without permission, not to trample on the crops of the people around Chang'an, and not to plunder the people's property. The conquest of Chang'an did not make Li Yuan lose himself, and Li Yuan was not carried away by the victory. In Li Yuan's view, after entering Chang'an, military discipline should be stricter, and we should not get carried away because of a temporary military victory.

Therefore, before breaking the city, Li Yuan issued three orders and warned the soldiers of the righteous army that it was forbidden to plunder and harass the people after entering the city. Therefore, after Li Yuan conquered Chang'an, the first thing he did was to maintain the normal law and order in Chang'an City. He let his two sons, Li Jiancheng and Li Shimin, lead the men and horses of the headquarters, according to the agreement before the siege, seal the treasury, collect books and classics, strictly prohibit soldiers from plundering, and at the same time send troops to garrison various granaries in Chang'an:

The emperor sent the second duke to lead the troops, according to the part outside the city, sealed the treasury, collected the books, and forbade the plunder. Don't be mixed with soldiers, don't be frightened. Outside of Taicang, he has nothing to do. The officials and the people are blocked, just like the story of entering the customs at the beginning of the Han Dynasty. ("Datang Entrepreneurship Notes")

Under Li Yuan's principle of not committing any crimes in autumn and strict military discipline, there was no large-scale looting after the rebels entered the city. Because Li Yuan knows very well that Chang'an is now a rumor, and the grass and trees are all soldiers. If they enter the city and plunder on a large scale, this will only intensify social contradictions, and may also lead to civil unrest and turmoil. With Li Yuan's old spiciness, he wouldn't be so stupid.

What's more, the righteous army led by Li Yuan has always been known as the "teacher of benevolence and righteousness", and he has committed no crimes along the way and treats the people kindly. That's why we were able to advance all the way from Taiyuan to Guanzhong until we captured Chang'an. Li Yuan did this in order to win the hearts of the people. In this way, he told the people of the world that our Li family can shoulder the heavy responsibility of pacifying the four seas and dominating the world. At the same time, it also replaced the Sui Dynasty in the future, established the Tang Dynasty, and won the support of the general public and the bottom of society.

As mentioned in the previous chapter, before Emperor Yang of Sui went to Jiangdu three times, he asked the old minister Wei Wensheng to assist the acting king Yang Yu. However, after Li Yuan advanced to Guanzhong, Wei Wensheng became ill because of fear, and he couldn't afford to get sick, and he no longer cared about political affairs. Therefore, after Wei Wensheng became seriously ill, Chang'an City was basically run by two people: General Zuo Yiwei Yin Shishi and Jingzhao County Cheng Guyi.

For the two people, Yin Shishi and Gu Yi, Li Yuan can be said to hate them to the bone. When Li Yuan's soldiers approached the city, he hoped to occupy Chang'an without blood. Therefore, before Li Yuan attacked the city, he sent envoys to persuade the Yin Shishi and Gu Yi to surrender. However, these two people were obsessed and chose to resist to the end, refusing Li Yuan's persuasion.

Not only that, but the Yin Shishi and Gu Yi were even more frustrated. At the beginning of Li Yuan's army, these two people killed Li Yuan's relatives who stayed in Chang'an (including Li Yuan's fourteen-year-old son Li Zhiyun), and also dug the ancestral grave of the Li family and destroyed the family temple of Li Yuan's family within five generations. This kind of behavior, not to mention in the past, is left in the present, and it will also lose its conscience and will be punished by heaven. Therefore, for the Yin World Master and Gu Yi, Li Yuan said that he could not forgive anything, how to let go of the deep hatred of the sea of blood, these two people must be killed.

At that time, when Li Yuan attacked Chang'an, Wei Wensheng had already died of illness, and Yin Shishi, Gu Yi and others were captured. As a result, Li Yuan publicly exposed the various crimes of the Yin World Master and Gu Yi who were "greedy and cruel, and rejected the righteous teacher". Then, Li Yuan ordered his eldest son, Li Jiancheng, to behead the Yin Shishi and Guyi in public in Zhuque Street, and more than ten of his henchmen were also executed, and the others were not held accountable. From the occupation of Chang'an to the founding of the People's Republic of Li Tang, Li Yuan only killed a dozen war criminals in total.

Li Yuan's attitude is very clear, that is, four words: only punish the evil. Li Yuan's approach was to kill the most recalcitrant and heinous culprits and their henchmen, and never to implicate any innocent people. In this way, it can effectively calm people's hearts, completely eliminate the fear in everyone's hearts, and reverse the current situation in Chang'an City in one fell swoop, so that Chang'an can return to the normal track.

Since Li Yuan entered Chang'an, after a series of measures to appease the people and stabilize people's hearts, he has strictly disciplined the military and only punished the evil. Soon, the appearance of Chang'an City was completely renewed, and every household returned to normal life. Moreover, Li Yuan's righteous deeds made him unanimously supported by the people in the Guanzhong area of Chang'an, leaving a good impression in the hearts of the people, which formed a sharp contrast with Emperor Yang of Sui, who was tyrannical and unreasonable, and regarded human life as a mustard. According to the record of "Datang Entrepreneurship and Living Note":

There is nothing to ask, Jingyi scholars, happy roads, Huayi watching and listening, and caring for each other.

Therefore, after Li Yuan entered Chang'an, the first measure to stabilize the internal political environment was to appease the people. In a short period of time, it was successfully completed. Immediately afterward, Li Yuan began to implement his next step. This measure is also very important for Li Yuan.

Li Yuan's second measure to stabilize the interior: to honor the Sui Chamber.

Why is Li Yuan's second measure crucial? Because this is directly related to the world's opinion of Li Yuan. Li Yuan originally raised troops from Taiyuan, and the banner he played was to support Yang Yu, the acting king, as the emperor. Although Li Yuan knew that the purpose of this army was to oppose the Sui Dynasty and replace the Sui Dynasty. However, Li Yuan just couldn't play the banner of opposing the Sui Dynasty, and could only still play the banner of supporting the rule of the Sui Dynasty.

Although the Sui Dynasty was about to collapse at this time, it existed in name only, but after all, the Sui Dynasty had not officially perished. If anyone openly waives the anti-Sui banner at this time, he will inevitably become the public enemy of the world's heroes and will be placed on the cusp. Therefore, when Li Yuan raised his army, he put forward the slogan of "abolishing the faint and establishing the Ming", and still supported the rule of the Sui Dynasty.

Since it is necessary to "support" the rule of the Sui Dynasty, what exactly is "support"? In other words, how to deal with the clans and officials of the Sui Dynasty? The second important measure implemented by Li Yuan was to respect the Sui family. Respecting the Sui room is very important for a person's attitude, who is it? Acting Wang Yang Yoo.

In fact, before the general attack on Chang'an, Li Yuan repeatedly warned the generals that after entering the city, they were not allowed to hurt the acting king Yang Yu, the Sui Dynasty clan members in Chang'an City, and the Sui Dynasty temple must not be destroyed:

A strong crossbow and a long halberd, I am not allowed to use it. It is known both inside and outside the world to settle the world. Si Zhi is unsuccessful, and in addition, the public and the people do what they want. However, the seven temples and the acting king and the clan relatives must not be surprised. ("Datang Entrepreneurship Notes")

It should be said that Li Yuan broke through Chang'an, and Yang Yu, the acting king, had actually become Li Yuan's prisoner. So, what will Li Yuan do with this child of the Sui Dynasty royal family who is a captive? Will they kill him? No, it won't. Li Yuan kept Yang Yu, the acting king, and it was of great use.

At that time, when Chang'an City was broken, the situation in the city was unclear and in chaos. Acting King Yang Yu was living in the East Palace at this time, and when the city was broken, all of his guards around him scattered and fled, and only Yao Silian, the attendant, stayed with the acting king. Li Yuan's rebel soldiers rushed into the East Palace in a hula, as if to disadvantage the acting king. At this time, Yao Silian, a weak scholar who was powerless, faced these battle-hardened rebel soldiers and scolded sharply:

Tang Gong raised volunteers, Emperor Kuang's room, Qing and others should not be rude. (Information Governance Guide)

Yao Silian reprimanded that Tang Guogong raised the banner of rebellion in order to restore the royal family, and you must not be rude. Unexpectedly, Yao Silian's scolding actually suppressed the audience, and all the soldiers stood in His Royal Highness, not daring to step forward, "Everyone was stunned, and the court was under the court." (Information Governance Guide)

After a while, Li Yuan came to the East Palace. After seeing the acting king Yang Yu, Li Yuan respectfully saluted the acting king, and then respectfully asked the acting king Yang Yu to move to Daxing Palace. Yao Silian helped Yang Yu, the acting king, and walked down the Shunyang Pavilion, while Li Yuan stood behind the acting king and gave him a very humble gift.

Yao Silian was a famous genius in the late Sui and early Tang Dynasties. At the critical moment, Yao Silian was able to protect the old master with the body of a scholar, and his integrity was indeed extraordinary. After the establishment of the Tang Dynasty, Yao Silian became one of Li Shimin's "Eighteen Scholars of the Qin Mansion". For example, the "Book of Liang" and "Book of Chen" in the "Twenty-four History" are all from Yao Silian's hands.

Soon, on November 15 of the thirteenth year of the Great Cause (617), Li Yuan prepared the law and held a grand ceremony, supporting the thirteen-year-old acting king Yang Yu, who was the emperor in the Tianxing Palace, changed the yuan to "Yining", and respected Emperor Yang of Sui in Jiangdu as the emperor. Since then, the thirteenth year of the Great Cause is also known as the first year of Yining, and Yang Yu is the "Emperor Gong of Sui" in the history of the Sui Dynasty.

So, Li Yuan supported Yang Yu as the emperor, and what was his own status in the court? In fact, the little emperor Yang Yu has actually become Li Yuan's prisoner, a puppet emperor supported by Li Yuan. Yang Yu is now also involuntarily, and the mud bodhisattva crosses the river.

Therefore, as soon as Yang Yu ascended the throne, he appointed Li Yuan as the fake Huang Yue, the envoy, the governor of the capital, the internal and external military, the Shangshu Ling, and the prime minister, and entered the Tang Dynasty, and was on the prince, with the Wude Hall as Li Yuan's prime minister's mansion. In addition, Yang Yu also issued a special edict, and the order issued by the prime minister was no longer called "teaching", but was renamed "order":

Ten thousand machines Baidu, Lile expedition, soldiers, horses and grain battles, the performance of the group of officials, and instructed the prime minister. But the suburbs worship the world, and the four seasons are heard. ("Datang Entrepreneurship Notes")

The little emperor Yang Yu is saying that in the future, all government affairs in the court will be handled by Prime Minister Li Yuan. Except for major sacrificial activities, which require the emperor to appear, other affairs are handled by the prime minister. Li Yuan just pretended to excuse himself at first, and he couldn't seem too anxious. In the end, the minister under his command will Zuo repeatedly said:

When the public is in charge of the court, how can he resign from the regent, the public is not in the prime minister, and the royal family is not in the big festival, and there is no small concession.

Under the unanimous persuasion of everyone, Li Yuan pretended to sigh: "The Wang family lost the deer, so they made the old wolf alone." So, Li Yuan accepted the order of the little emperor Yang Yu. At this point, Li Yuan completely controlled the power of the Sui Dynasty and became the de facto ruler of Chang'an City.

After Li Yuan took control of the power of the court, his next step was to divide the first meritorious person of Jinyang's army, as well as all the meritorious civil and military personnel who entered the Guanzhong. First of all, what Li Yuan needs to canonize is his three sons: the eldest son Li Jiancheng, the second son Li Shimin, and the fourth son Li Yuanji.

Initially, when Li Yuan raised troops from Taiyuan, he asked Li Yuanji to stay in Taiyuan to guard against Liu Wuzhou. Therefore, Li Yuanji did not participate in the war against Guanzhong throughout the whole process. Therefore, from the beginning of the army in Jinyang to the entry into the main Guanzhong, the two sons who have been by Li Yuan's side are Li Jiancheng and Li Shimin.

Moreover, Li Jiancheng and Li Shimin made great achievements in the process of following their father Li Yuan into the main Guanzhong, especially Li Shimin. At the beginning of Li Yuan's army, Li Jiancheng was the Duke of Longxi and the Governor of the Left Army, commanding the Left Route Army; Li Shimin was the Duke of Dunhuang and the Governor of the Right Leading Army, commanding the Right Route Army. At that time, Li Yuan divided the army into three armies, and he led the Chinese army himself, which was equivalent to two brothers, Li Jiancheng and Li Shimin, who were the commanders of the left and right armies.

From Taiyuan to Chang'an, I don't know how many difficulties and obstacles I encountered along the way. Li Jiancheng and Li Shimin, two brothers, have always fought side by side, fighting a bloody way for their father Li Yuan to enter Chang'an. In particular, Li Shimin, whether it was Lik Huoyi, or suggested bypassing Hedong County and going straight to Guanzhong, Li Shimin played an important role as a mainstay. Moreover, Li Shimin later led the Right Route Army to advance into Guanzhong first, passing through the vicinity of Chang'an, clearing the way for his father Li Yuan to enter Guanzhong. It can be said that Li Shimin has made great contributions.

Therefore, Li Yuan's division of these three sons is directly related to Li Tang's choice of heirs to the throne after the founding of the country. In the end, Li Yuan still canonized his eldest son Li Jiancheng as the son of the family in accordance with the ancient system of establishing a successor and establishing a long son. The canonization of Li Jiancheng as the prince is tantamount to establishing Li Jiancheng's status as the crown prince after the establishment of the Tang Dynasty.

For the other two sons, especially Li Shimin, how did Li Yuan divide the feuds? Li Yuan understood that without Li Shimin's bloody struggle along the way, and without Li Shimin's outstanding military talent, Li Yuan would not have been able to attack Chang'an in such a short period of time. Moreover, whenever the rebel army encountered a major crisis, Li Shimin always had the ability to turn the tide and turn defeat into victory. Therefore, Li Yuan still relies on this second son very much.

So, how should Li Yuan divide Li Shimin? At that time, Li Yuan's knighthood had been promoted from the Duke of Tang to the King of Tang and officially entered the throne. Therefore, Li Shimin's title naturally has to be promoted by one level. When Jinyang raised troops, Li Shimin's title was the Duke of Dunhuang County, Li Yuan conquered Chang'an, and Li Shimin was the Duke of Qin and Jingzhaoyin; The fourth son, Li Yuanji, is the Duke of Qi. At the same time, Li Yuan changed Taiyuan to Zhenbei Mansion and led the counties of Shandong.

Li Yuan divided three sons, the eldest son Li Jiancheng was the son, the second son Li Shimin was the Duke of Qin, and the fourth son Li Yuanji was the Duke of Qi. This kind of division seems to have its own gains, but in fact, it has laid the root of the fratricidal rivalry between Li Jiancheng and Li Shimin for the position of the crown prince in the future. Of course, that's all for later.

After dividing the three sons, Li Yuan immediately began to appoint a group of meritorious people who raised troops in Jinyang, set up the official subordinates of the Prime Minister's Mansion, appointed Pei Lin as the Governor of the Prime Minister's Mansion, Liu Wenjing as Sima, and Dou Wei as the Silu to join the army. It should be said that at this time, Li Yuan, except for not having the title of emperor, basically had all the power of the emperor, under one person, above ten thousand, he was an absolute uncrowned king.

Some people may wonder, since Li Yuan already has all the power that an emperor can have, why doesn't Li Yuan directly claim the title of emperor? In fact, not long after Li Yuan invaded Chang'an, many civil and military generals who followed Li Yuan to raise troops in Jinyang suggested that Li Yuan be the emperor and replace the Sui family:

The sky is tired of Sui De, and the number is in the Tang Dynasty. Acura is on the road, and it is well-known. The soldiers rose from Jinyang, set Qin Yong, and in more than 100 days, the emperor's house was cleared. The speed of Shenwu, this is called if flying. If it is not the Apocalypse Saint, who can enter the customs like the former Hangao, that is, from the king, Xiang Yu to the future, and regret nothing. Although the public is humble and self-shepherd, he must be at peace with the world. ("Datang Entrepreneurship Notes")

In the face of everyone's suggestion to be called emperor, how did Li Yuan react? According to historical records, Li Yuan "changed his face in a daze", his face immediately changed, and he hurriedly said:

At the beginning of raising troops, it was originally a community, and the community had a master, so how dare Liu Ji not set up a child, so he succumbed to Xiang Yu. Lonely and respectful of the world, why worry.

Although Li Yuan's words were high-sounding, he was not sincere. It's not that Li Yuan doesn't want to be the emperor, otherwise he wouldn't have raised troops in Jinyang. The reason why Li Yuan did not claim the title of emperor was because he knew that at this time, it was not the perfect time to claim the title of emperor and establish a country. Again, there is a problem that has been repeatedly emphasized before: the gun shoots the first bird.

Because Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty was still there at this time, and the Sui Dynasty had not yet perished, if anyone openly claimed the emperor, it would be openly anti-Sui. Moreover, Li Yuan raised troops this time, playing the banner of Kuang Fu Sui Room. If he openly proclaims himself emperor now, it will be tantamount to completely subverting the rule of the Sui Dynasty, and he will become the target of the world's heroes. Therefore, at that time, there were many people in the world who claimed to be kings, but few people were emperors, and they all understood this truth. Therefore, Li Yuan can only take measures to honor the Sui family at present, and he is waiting for the opportunity.

Li Yuan's third important measure to stabilize the interior: recruiting talents.

Why was Li Yuan able to use the 30,000 righteous army when he started the army, invincible all the way, and entered Chang'an? It's not because Li Yuan has a large number of good people around him. Needless to say, Li Yuan's sons and daughters are a dragon and a phoenix. Li Jiancheng Wen Tao Wu Strategy, Li Shimin military genius, the future "military god and war spirit" of the Tang Dynasty, Princess Pingyang is even more of a woman, a heroine among women.

In addition to these outstanding heroic sons and daughters, more importantly, Li Yuan is surrounded by a group of civil and military wizards, including Liu Wenjing, Pei Lian, Ren Gui, Liu Hongji, Yin Kaishan, Changsun Shunde and others. With the assistance of these ministers and generals, Li Yuan was able to break through all the way and settle in Chang'an.

After conquering Chang'an, Li Yuan paid more attention to recruiting talents in order to stabilize internal stability, and at the same time, to strengthen the foundation of Li Tang's rule in the future. Li Yuan understands the importance of talent for the rule of a country. So, after Li Yuan entered Chang'an, how did he recruit talents? Take two people as an example, which two people? One is Li Jing, and the other is Qu Tutong.

Let's take a look at Li Jing first.

Who is Li Jing? It was a famous generation of famous generals in the early Tang Dynasty, one of the "Twenty-four Heroes of Lingyan Pavilion", who made great contributions to the unification war and foreign wars of the Tang Dynasty. After the establishment of the Tang Dynasty, it successively experienced the unification wars of pacifying Wang Shichong of Luoyang, Dou Jiande of Hebei, Xiao Milling of Jiangnan, and Fugong Qi; After Tang Taizong Li Shimin ascended the throne, he led the army to destroy the Turks in the north and Tuguhun in the west. Because of his great military exploits, he was named the Duke of Weiguo, and was buried with the Zhaoling of Taizong of Tang Dynasty after his death. During the reign of Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty, Li Jing was worthy of enjoying the temple of King Wucheng and ranked among the top ten philosophers.

Li Yuan, who first entered Chang'an, how did he recruit Li Jing, an unborn generation of famous generals, to the Li family? First of all, it is necessary to introduce Li Jingqi.

Li Jing, the word pharmacist, was a native of Sanyuan (now Sanyuan, Shaanxi), and his ancestral home was Didao in Longxi (now Lintao, Gansu). Li Jing was born in Jiangmen, and his grandfather Li Chongyi served as the assassin of Yinzhou in the Western Wei Dynasty and the Duke of Yongkang; Father Li Quan, the official to the Sui Dynasty Zhao County Taishou. Moreover, Li Jing's uncle is Han Baohu, one of the "Four Famous Generals of the Early Sui Dynasty". According to the record of "The Old Tang Book: The Biography of Li Jing", "Jing's appearance is magnificent, and there are few literary and military materials. Li Jing has shown extraordinary talent since he was a child, and he often said to his father Li Quan:

If the husband meets the lord at the right time, he must make meritorious deeds in order to gain wealth. (The Old Tang Book: The Biography of Li Jing)

Ambition is of course what makes Li Jing shine. However, what makes Li Jing even more brilliant is his military talent. Li Jing was familiar with military books and was proficient in the art of war, and he often talked about military affairs with his uncle Han Baohu. Han Baohu, a famous general in the world, was actually amazed by his fledgling nephew, and even compared him to famous generals like Sun Wu and Wu Qi: "Those who can talk about the art of Sun and Wu are only human." ”

Not only did Han Baohu admire Li Jing very much, but at that time, many well-known people also favored Li Jing. For example, Yang Su, who is listed as one of the "Four Famous Generals of the Early Sui Dynasty" with Han Baohu. When Li Jing first entered the official career, he first served as the Gongcao of Chang'an County, and later successively served as the chief of the palace and the outer lang of the driving department, all of whom were inconspicuous petty officials.

However, Yang Su is the only one who believes that Li Jing's future is limitless. At that time, Yang Suguan was still the left servant, but he patted himself on the bed, and said to Li Jing, who had just entered the official career: "Qing should sit here in the end." "Meaning, young man, if you work hard, you will definitely be able to sit in my seat in the future.

So, how did Li Yuan recruit such a future famous general as Li Jing into his command? In fact, Li Jing and Li Yuan originally had a personal grudge.

In the last years of the Great Cause, Li Jing served as the commander of Mayi County, subordinate to Li Yuan, and fought against the Turks. At this time, the chaos in the world at the end of the Sui Dynasty was a foregone conclusion, and the peasant uprisings in various places had become a trend of burning the prairies. As the head of the Shanxi military and government of the Sui Dynasty, Li Yuan naturally also had the ambition to conquer the world, and often privately recruited troops and horses to expand armaments.

Li Jing obviously noticed Li Yuan's "small movements" behind his back, so he wanted to expose Li Yuan. So, Li Jing pretended to be a prisoner and prepared to go to Jiangdu to report to Emperor Yang of Sui. After arriving in Chang'an, Guanzhong was already in a war at this time, and the road to Jiangdu had been completely blocked, so Li Jing could not go to Jiangdu.

Soon, Li Yuan raised troops in Taiyuan, and then fought bloody battles all the way to conquer Chang'an. After conquering Chang'an, Li Jing was captured by Li Yuan's rebel army. Li Yuan felt that Li Jing had almost ruined his own big thing, so he wanted to kill Li Jing. On the occasion of the execution, Li Jing's ambition was not rewarded, and he suddenly shouted impassionedly:

The public rebels were originally for the world to eliminate riots, and they didn't want to do big things, but to kill strong men with personal grudges! (The Old Tang Book: The Biography of Li Jing)

Hearing Li Jing's shout, Li Shimin immediately had a premonition that this person would definitely be a general who would pacify the world in the future. Therefore, Li Shimin had a discerning eye and discovered such a military wizard as Li Jing, so he asked his father Li Yuan to keep people. Li Yuan also felt that Li Jing was a talent at this time, so he let Li Jing go.

Soon after, Li Shimin summoned Li Jing into his shogunate. Since then, Li Jing has fought for the Tang Dynasty in the south and the north, pacified the four seas, made immortal meritorious deeds, and gradually became a famous generation of famous generals.

Let's look at Qu Tutong.

As Qu Tutong introduced earlier, after Li Yuan raised his army, he led tens of thousands of "Xiaoguo" to garrison Hedong County and block Li Yuan's righteous army as the general of Zuo Wuhou. After Li Yuan conquered Huoyi and killed Song Laosheng, Hedong County, where Qu Tutong was stationed, became the last line of defense for the Sui army to defend Chang'an.

Li Yuan's troops approached Hedong County, and the first time he attacked Hedong County, he saw the strength of Qu Tutong, and the attack was frustrated, and Hedong County failed to capture. The attack on Hedong County was frustrated, and Li Yuan found another way, and at the suggestion of Li Shimin, bypassed Hedong County and took Chang'an directly. At that time, Li Yuan ordered Li Shimin to lead the Right Route Army and advance to Chang'an; At the same time, let Li Jiancheng lead the Left Route Army and garrison it at Tongguan to prevent Qu Tutong from supporting Chang'an.

Sure enough, when Qu Tutong learned the news of Li Yuan's march into Guanzhong, he immediately asked Ying Yanglang to leave Yao Junsu in Hedong County, and personally led the army to aid Chang'an. And Li Yuan had already prepared, when Qu Tu's army reached Tongguan, it was blocked by Li Jiancheng's troops stationed in Tongguan, unable to advance, and missed the best opportunity to rescue Chang'an.

At that time, Liu Gang, the general of Sui, was responsible for guarding Tongguan and stationed in the southern city of Duwei. Qu Tutong originally planned to join forces with Liu Gang, but unexpectedly, Wang Changhuan, the general of Li Jiancheng's Left Route Army, took the first step, occupied Duwei Nancheng, and killed Liu Gang. There was no way, Qu Tutong could only lead his troops to retreat to Duwei Beicheng and confront the rebels.

Since he had missed the time to rescue Chang'an, Qu Tutong could only carry it with the rebels in Tongguan. Facts have proved that Qu Tutong is really a hard bone, and the righteous army has suffered a lot of losses at his hands. It can even be said that Qu Tutong, an opponent, once caused the rebels to suffer huge losses in Tongguan.

Qu Tutong led the army in Tongguan and held on to the righteous army for more than a month. As Qu Tutong was in a hurry to move forward, he decided to repeat the old trick: night attack. So, Qu Tutong sent his general Sang Xianhe to lead the army to attack the camp of the righteous army at night. Because the Sui army launched a surprise attack, the rebels had no time to resist and suffered heavy losses.

Immediately afterwards, Sang Xianhe led the army to break through the two defense lines of the righteous army in a row, and only the defense line held by Liu Wenjing was not broken. Sang Xianhe waved his army to attack Liu Wenjing's troops, and thousands of righteous soldiers were killed, and in the melee, even Liu Wenjing was shot by a stray arrow. For a time, the morale of the rebels was greatly reduced, and a rout began to appear.

Originally, the Sui army had already won the battle. However, at this moment, the situation was reversed. What's going on? It turned out that the soldiers of the Sui army were exhausted due to continuous battles. In order to recuperate, Sang Xianhe immediately ordered the troops to rest in place and bury the pot to cook.

Liu Wenjing seized the rare fighter plane and immediately rebuilt the fortifications. Coincidentally, at this time, hundreds of rangers of the righteous army roared from Nanshan and fiercely flanked the back of the Sui army. Liu Wenjing gave an order, and the righteous army on the front took advantage of the situation to cover up from the fortifications, and the two sides attacked back and forth, and the Sui army was almost completely annihilated, and Sang Xianhe was only spared.

After this battle, Qu Tutong was completely in a desperate situation, and the main force suffered casualties. At that time, many people persuaded Tutong to surrender. Who knows, Qu Tutong sobbed and said silently:

I have been favored by the country, I have two masters, I have been favored by others, and I can flee safely? There's just death! ("Old Tang Book: Qu Tu Tong Biography")

Moreover, Qu Tutong also touched his neck, posing as if he was going to commit suicide and martyrdom, and said indignantly: "You should be a stab in the face for the country!" According to the record of "Old Tang Book: Qu Tu Tong Biography", the people present at the time "worked hard and did not shed tears, and people also conceived it."

However, at this time, Li Yuan had already conquered Chang'an. Li Yuan heard that Qu Tutong was still resisting, so he sent one of Qu Tutong's servants to persuade Qu Tutong to surrender. Qu Tutong didn't say a word, and immediately killed the servant, swearing not to surrender. Qu Tutong decided to lead the main force to the east, defecting to Yang Tong, the king of Yue in Luoyang, leaving Sang Xian and garrisoning Tongguan.

Unexpectedly, as soon as Qu Tutong walked with his front foot, Sang Xian and his back foot surrendered. After the rebels occupied Tongguan, Liu Wenjing sent deputy generals Dou Cong, Duan Zhixuan and others to lead elite cavalry to pursue Qu Tutong with Sang Xianhe. Finally, the rebels caught up with Qu Tutong in Chousang.

Qu Tutong set up a formation and wanted to fight to the death with the righteous army. At this time, Dou Cong asked Qu Tutong's son Qu Tushou to persuade Qu Tutong to surrender. Unexpectedly, Qu Tutong saw this and scolded: "In the past, I was a father and son with you, and now I am an enemy with you." He even ordered his son Qu Tushou to be shot left and right.

Suddenly, Sang Xian and Zema came to the front of the battle and shouted to the Sui army on the opposite side: "The Jingshi is trapped, you and the people of Guanxi, where do you want to go?" Hearing this, the soldiers of the Sui army suddenly lost their fighting spirit and threw away their weapons and surrendered. Qu Tu informed that the general trend had gone, dismounted and headed to the southeast, bowed three times, and cried loudly: "The ministers are defeated, and they live up to Your Majesty, the gods of heaven and earth, and they are really supervised." ”

In this way, the last glimmer of hope of the Sui Dynasty, the famous general Qu Tutong, surrendered to Li Yuan and was escorted to Chang'an. After Li Yuan saw Qu Tutong, he was overjoyed and said to Qu Tutong: "Why is it too late to see him?" However, Qu Tutong was ashamed and said:

Tong can't do the festival of the ministers, and the force is bent to come, which is a humiliation for the dynasty and a shame for the king.

Of course, Li Yuan did not kill Qu Tutong, but did not blame the past, awarded Qu Tutong the title of Shangshu of the Military Department, and named Jiang Guogong. Later, Qu Tutong became the marching marshal of the Qin king Li Shimin, and followed Li Shimin to pacify Xue Ju's father and son, defeated Luoyang Wang Shichong, and made great achievements for the unification war of the Tang Dynasty.

From the examples of Li Jing and Qu Tutong, we can see the characteristics of Li Yuan's recruitment of talents: regardless of previous suspicions. Whether it was his former opponent or the original enemy general, as long as he could serve himself, Li Yuan would not blame the past and continue to entrust them with important tasks.

For example, Qu Tutong, who used to be such a stubborn general of the Sui Dynasty, once he surrendered to Li Yuan, Li Yuan immediately wrote off his grievances with him and continued to let him hold a military position. This is the characteristic of Li Yuan who knows how to employ people and recruit talents.

When Li Yuan's father and son first entered Guanzhong, in the face of the turbulent situation in Guanzhong and the complicated internal political environment, the scheming Li Yuan handled it properly and impartially. Through the three important measures of appeasing the people, respecting the Sui family, and recruiting talents, in a very short period of time, the chaotic situation in Chang'an, which was originally noisy, was quickly stabilized, and the internal political environment gradually became calmer. It should be said that Li Yuan still has a very good grasp of the policy.

After resolving the internal political contradictions, the situation in Chang'an gradually stabilized. Next, Li Yuan was able to free up his hands to deal with the challenge from the outside world. If we say that to stabilize the internal situation, we need to pay attention to political strategy and weigh the pros and cons; Then, to deal with the challenge from the outside, it is entirely by pure military strength, or, to put it simply, in one word: fight!

As mentioned many times above, at the beginning of Li Yuan's army in Taiyuan, he only had 30,000 meager troops, and by the time he advanced to Guanzhong and approached Chang'an City, he already had more than 200,000 troops. After entering Chang'an, Li Yuan monopolized the military and political power of the DPRK and China, and he would definitely expand his military strength.

After all, in that troubled era, everyone believed in the law of "power comes out of the barrel of a gun". Although, there is no clear record in the history books about how many troops Li Yuan has. However, you might as well boldly speculate that Li Yuan should have at least 300,000 troops in his hands at this time. Therefore, Li Yuan's military strength should not be underestimated.

Even so, Li Yuan's situation at that time was not optimistic. As mentioned above, at the end of the Sui Dynasty, the world was in turmoil, and basically the whole country was in a state of separation. Li Yuan entered the Guanzhong and occupied Chang'an, and the powerful forces in various places were undoubtedly eyeing this rising emerging force, and they could swallow the nascent Li Yuan Group at any time. From this point of view, Li Yuan, who had just entered Chang'an, was faced with an external situation surrounded by strong neighbors.

In view of the external military situation in which tigers and wolves rose together and strong enemies were around, Li Yuan successively carried out two major military operations in the year from the occupation of Chang'an to the founding of the Li Tang Dynasty, so as to deal with the military threats from all over the country. These two military operations were: the western resistance to Xue Ju and the eastern expedition to Luoyang.

First of all, let's take a look at Li Yuan's first military operation after occupying Guanzhong: the western resistance to Xue Ju.

Since Li Yuan occupied Chang'an, all the powerful forces from all sides were ready to move, and they were all eyeing this nascent Li group. And Xue Ju in Longxi was the first group of heroes to challenge the Li Yuan group. Speaking of Xue Ju's attack on Li Yuan, we must first introduce Xue Ju.

Xue Ju was originally a native of Fenyin, Hedong, and later followed his father Xue Wang and moved to Jincheng County, which is today's Lanzhou, Gansu. According to the record of "The Old Tang Book: The Biography of Xue Ju", "He has a magnificent appearance, is fierce and good at shooting, is extremely martial, has a huge family property, makes a lot of friends, and is majestic in Bian Shuo." "Xue Ju has been tall and powerful since he was a child, proficient in riding and archery, and excellent in martial arts. During the Great Cause period, Xue Ju once served as the captain of Jincheng Mansion in the Sui Dynasty, and he was also a middle-level military attache in the Sui Dynasty.

In the last years of the Sui Dynasty, the world was in turmoil, and peasant uprisings in the Longxi area also broke out one after another. In order to suppress the local peasant uprising, Jincheng ordered Hao Ying to recruit a large number of troops and horses, recruiting thousands of people. Hao Ying handed over all these thousands of men and horses to Xue Ju, who was responsible for suppressing the peasant uprising. In addition, Hao Ying also provided weapons and armor for Xue Ju.

However, at this time, Xue Ju had other thoughts. At that time, the world was already in turmoil, and Xue Ju wanted to take advantage of the situation and achieve a hegemony. As a result, Xue Ju conspired with his subordinates privately and decided to launch a mutiny and seize the military and political power of Jincheng County. It just so happened that an opportunity came.

In order to boost the morale of the army, Hao Ying held a banquet and invited the soldiers. Therefore, Xue Ju decided to make a move at the banquet and detain Hao Ying and others. After three rounds of wine and five flavors of food, Xue Ju and his son Xue Rengao (also known as "Xue Renguo") and other thirteen accomplices suddenly pulled out their weapons at the banquet and held Hao Ying and others hostage on the spot. hijacked Hao Ming, Xue Ju lied to the outside world that Hao Ying had rebelled and detained him on the orders of the imperial court. In this way, Xue Ju successfully seized the military and political power of Jincheng County through a bloodless military coup.

After Xue Ju took control of Jincheng County, he immediately opened a warehouse to release grain and provide relief to the hungry. This move was soon supported by many people, and Xue Ju's strength began to grow. Soon, Xue Ju proclaimed himself the "Overlord of Western Qin", built Yuan Qin Xing, and crowned the eldest son Xue Rengao as the Duke of Qi, and the young son Xue Renyue as the Duke of Jin. At this point, Xue Ju officially fought against the Sui Dynasty.

After Xue Ju established the Western Qin regime, he began to conquer cities in the Longxi region. Due to the fierce folk customs in Longxi since ancient times, and Xue Ju himself is brave and abnormal. Therefore, the army of the Western Qin Dynasty was like a bamboo, and the Sui Dynasty was in several cities in Longxi, and the "Old Tang Book: The Biography of Xue Ju" recorded, "The soldiers were very sharp, and they were all down."

Of course, the Sui Dynasty government could not sit idly by and watch Xue Ju sweep through Longxi, at that time, the Sui army general Huangfu Juan, led 10,000 soldiers and horses, stationed in Caohan, and wanted to intercept Xue Ju here. Xue Ju decided to destroy Huangfu Juan, and personally led two thousand Western Qin elites to raid the Sui army. The two armies opened their positions and prepared for a decisive battle. However, at the beginning, there was a sudden strong wind, and the wind was still blowing in the direction of Xue Ju, and the battle situation was very unfavorable to Xue Ju.

It stands to reason that Huangfu Juan should seize this God-given opportunity and counterattack. Unexpectedly, Huangfu was indifferent and missed this fighter in vain. After a while, the wind reversed and blew towards the Sui army, and the Sui army suddenly fell into chaos. Xue Ju seized this excellent opportunity, stepped forward, led the Western Qin army, and rushed straight to the Sui army's position. After the first battle, the Sui army was defeated, and then, Xue Ju took the opportunity to capture Caohan:

At the beginning, the wind was against the formation, but it did not hit it; Suddenly the wind returned, the formation was reversed, the complexion was dim, and the army was disturbed. The horses were the first to ascend, and the armies followed, and the Sui army was defeated and fell into Caohan. ("Old Tang Book: The Biography of Xue Ju")

The capture of Caohan marked the formation of Xue Ju's rise in Longxi. Soon, 20,000 Qiang people came to surrender to Xue Ju. In this way, Xue Ju's military strength was greatly enhanced. After that, Xue Ju named his eldest son Xue Rengao as the king of Qi and awarded the post of marshal of the march of the eastern road; The young son Xue Renyue was the king of Jin and led the history of Hezhou Thorns; The general Zong Luohu was named the king of Yixing and served as the deputy general of Xue Rengao. It didn't take long for Xue Ju to begin a large-scale raid on all parts of Longxi, including Liankeshan and Kuo Erzhou. In just a few days, Xue Ju occupied almost the entire Longxi region, and the army expanded to 130,000 people.

In July of the thirteenth year of the Great Cause (617), that is, the same month when Li Yuan raised troops in Taiyuan, Xue Ju openly proclaimed himself emperor in Lanzhou, canonized his wife Ju as the queen, respected his mother as the queen mother, raised the tomb, placed the mausoleum, and set up the Tai Temple in the south of the city. In that month, Xue raised tens of thousands of Chen soldiers, worshiped and swept the tomb, and then feasted on the soldiers.

At that time, everyone was symmetrical and secretive, so they were afraid to avoid it. However, Xue Ju didn't believe in this evil and openly proclaimed himself emperor. In Xue Ju's view, only the strong in the world live, and the Sui Dynasty has gone to the general trend, and only he is qualified to sweep the world. It can be seen that Xue Ju is confident in his own strength.

After Xue Ju became emperor, he continued to conquer foreign countries. At that time, Xue Ju had already occupied Longxi, and he set his sights on the Hexi region. So, Xue Ju ordered Xue Rengao to besiege Qinzhou, and Xue Renyue went straight to the mouth of the sword and attacked Hechi County, but was repelled by Xiao Yu, the Taishou of Hechi, who was stationed there.

However, in the process of Xue Ju's large-scale use of troops, he encountered a very strong opponent, he was the warlord Li Liang who was entrenched in the Hexi region. At the same time that Xue Ju sent his two sons to divide his troops to attack, he also ordered his general Chang Zhongxing to lead his army across the Yellow River and attack Li Rail in Hexi.

After Chang Zhongxing crossed the Yellow River, he fought a big battle with Li Yun, the general of Li Liang's department, in Changsong. never thought that Chang Zhongxing was defeated and the whole army was annihilated. Therefore, Xue Juxi's military plan to attack Li Rail ended in failure. But soon, Xue Rengao conquered Qinzhou, and Xue Ju moved the capital to Qinzhou.

Since the attack on Hexi was frustrated, Xue Ju simply changed the direction of the attack and pointed the spearhead at the Guanzhong area. At this time, Li Yuan had already conquered Chang'an and occupied Guanzhong. Xue Ju believes that sooner or later there will be a battle with the Li Group. Under such circumstances, Li Yuan's first military operation, the Western Resistance against Xue Ju, kicked off.

In December of the first year of Yining (617), Xue Rengao led an army to attack Fufeng. Tang Bi, a powerful local faction, organized troops to resist Xue Rengao, and the Western Qin army's march was temporarily blocked. Initially, Tang Bi supported the puppet Li Hongzhi as the Son of Heaven and had 100,000 troops. Later, Xue Ju sent an envoy to surrender Tang Bi, but Tang Bi immediately turned his face and denied anyone, killed Li Hongzhi, and asked Xue Ju to surrender.

Xue Rengao took advantage of Tang Bi's defenselessness and led his army to raid, breaking Tang Bi's troops in one fell swoop and collecting all his troops. Tang Bi only led a few hundred cavalry to escape, and was finally killed by Fufeng Taishou Dou Xuan. After Xue Rengao defeated Tang Bi, the Western Qin army was prosperous, known as an army of 300,000. Xue Ju's appetite grew at this time, and he planned to take Chang'an directly in the next step. In the face of Xue Ju's aggressiveness, Li Yuan had to do something.

Fufeng is the west gate of Chang'an, once Fufeng is broken by the Western Qin army. When the time comes, Xue Ju's Longxi Iron Cavalry will attack Chang'an City without any effort. Xue Ju was the first strong enemy Li Yuan encountered after conquering Chang'an, and it was also the first strong enemy that the Tang Dynasty encountered in the future to unify the world.

Li Yuan knew that Xue Ju and Xue Rengao's father and son were not good at stubble, and they must have something outstanding to be able to occupy Longxi in such a short period of time. In the face of such a fierce enemy, who will Li Yuan appoint to support Fufeng? This time, Li Yuan used his trump card and sent a military commander at the level of a military god ,—— Li Shimin.

The reason why Li Shimin was sent to face Xue Ju was that Li Yuan had his considerations. At that time, Li Jiancheng had already been canonized as the prince, that is, the future prince of the Tang Dynasty. Therefore, Li Yuan will not let him go to the battlefield easily. As for Li Shimin, throughout the war against Guanzhong, Li Yuan discovered this son's military talent. Moreover, after being tempered by the battle formation in the main pass, Li Shimin has been forged into a sharp sword and a qualified military commander. Therefore, it is most appropriate for Li Shimin to face the fierce Xue father and son and the Western Qin army.

For Li Shimin, supporting Fufeng and facing Xue's father and son was his first battle since he entered Chang'an. Therefore, this battle must be fought well. However, the opponent Li Shimin will face this time is not the brave and unscrupulous Song Laosheng, but the Xue father and son who are powerful in Longxi.

After the establishment of the Tang Dynasty, Li Shimin played a mainstay role in the unification war of the Tang Dynasty. In the process of the Tang Dynasty's domination of the world, Li Shimin can be said to have made outstanding contributions, and it was Li Shimin who laid down half of the Li Tang Dynasty. The Tang Dynasty's war of unification included a total of seven important battles. Among them, Li Shimin alone commanded four battles, accounting for more than half of the entire unification war in the early Tang Dynasty.

It can be said that in the first half of Li Shimin's career, there were few defeats. However, the father and son of the Xue family have become a nightmare in Li Shimin's military career. Li Shimin's only defeat in his life was due to the Xue family's father and son. This is discussed in a later section.

After Xue Rengao defeated Tang Bi, his troops increased greatly, with 100,000 Western Qin troops, known as 300,000 people, advancing to Fufeng, and Chen soldiers were on the shore of Weishui. So, how should Li Shimin be this fierce "Northwest wolf"?

Li Shimin led the main elite and galloped non-stop to help the Fufeng defenders, and when he arrived at Fufeng, he met Xue Rengao's Western Qin army on a narrow road. The two sides then launched a bloody battle outside Fufeng City, Li Shimin commanded the troops, broke the Western Qin army, and Xue Rengao was defeated. Then, Li Shimin led the army to pursue all the way to Longshan, attacked the land of Western Qin, killed more than 10,000 enemies, and won a complete victory:

Hui Xue Ju forced Weibin with 100,000 soldiers, and Taizong personally attacked it, broke through his crowd, chased and beheaded more than 10,000 levels, and slightly reached Longdi. ("Old Tang Dynasty Book: Taizong Benji")

Li Shimin opened the banner victoriously, fought a battle, broke Xue Rengao's 100,000 Western Qin army, and successfully eliminated the military crisis that threatened Chang'an. Because Li Shimin defeated the invasion of Western Qin, Li Yuanxi's military campaign against Xue Ju was a complete success. In the Battle of Fufeng, Li Yuan's group temporarily lifted the military threat from the northwest.

Soon, after Fufeng broke Xue Rengao, Li Yuan, the Tang king who occupied Guanzhong, relied on the name of the central orthodoxy of the Sui Dynasty to successfully make Pingliang, Hechi, Fufeng, Hanyang and other places successively attach themselves to him.

Soon, Li Yuantang's nephew Li Xiaogong, who marched into Shannan, also successfully defeated Zhu Cang and opened up the passage from Xicheng County to Shu. A month later, Yunyang ordered Zhan Jun and Li Zhonggon of Wugong County to lead the army south, all the way to the south, and the land of Bashu was all owned by Li Yuan.

It can be seen that this Western Resistance to Xue Ju not only made the Li Yuan Group, which had just occupied Guanzhong, gain a firm foothold and repelled the attack of the Western Qin Xue Clan, but also took this opportunity to reap a large wave of dividends and include the land of Bashu in the bag, which can be described as double happiness.

Let's take a look at Li Yuan's second military campaign: the Eastern Expedition to Luoyang.

After completing the military plan to resist Xue Ju in the west, Li Yuan began to plan the next military action. This time, Li Yuan decided to take the initiative to attack, intending to obtain the results of the battle and lay the foundation for the implementation of the unification war in the future. This time, Li Yuan targeted the focus of the world's heroes - Luoyang, the eastern capital.

At this time, Luoyang has become a battlefield of fighting. Li Mi and Wang Shichong were under Luoyang City and fought inextricably. 300,000 Wagang troops continued to besiege and storm Luoyang City; Wang Shichong led the main force of the Sui army, struggled to hold Luoyang, and fought hard with Li Mi's Wagang army.

Li Yuan believed that while Li Mi and Wang Shichong were in a scuffle, they could march into Luoyang in a big way. Even if you can't take Luoyang, you can capture part of the territory of the Central Plains of Xiahenan. Li Yuan's idea this time was that he would not seek a complete victory, but at least be able to achieve a partial military victory.

At the beginning, Li Yuan raised troops from Taiyuan and marched to Chang'an. In order to allow Li Mi to contain the main force of the Sui army in Luoyang, he successfully marched into Guanzhong, deliberately lowered his body and paralyzed Li Mi. But now, it is not what it used to be, Li Yuan has occupied Chang'an and entered Guanzhong.

Therefore, the so-called "ally" relationship between him and Li Mi exists in name only. Therefore, Li Yuan found an excuse for this attack on Luoyang: to rescue Luoyang. Because Li Mi was besieging Luoyang, the eastern capital, at that time, as the prime minister of the Sui Dynasty, he should have sent troops to rescue Luoyang. So, Li Yuan issued an order:

Li Mi stumbled on Gongluo, promising to be Tu, the royal city was ruined, and he was worried. The bundle is dangerous, as if hanging upside down. The son of the Westerners, who is responsible for his life, has the right and left armies under the command of the Metropolitan Governor's Office, and should be strict and timely contained. There is no war, it is a righteous teacher, and if you don't ask for advice, it is not difficult to return. In the early years of Mengyue, the spring crop is prosperous, and when you don't take the farm, you should know the speed. ("Datang Entrepreneurship Notes")

In the first month of the second year of Yining (618), Li Yuan appointed his eldest son, Li Jiancheng, as the left marshal, and his second son, Li Shimin, the Duke of Qin, as the right marshal, leading 100,000 soldiers and horses of the left and right armies, leading troops to the north of Chanshui and attacking the eastern capital Luoyang. At the same time, Li Yuan took Shangshu Xiao Yu as the Sima of the Prime Minister's Mansion, Liu Wenjing as the left marshal's mansion governor, Shangshu Dou Xuan as Peng, and Yin Kaishan as the right marshal's mansion chief Shi Sima. Li Jiancheng and Li Shimin jointly led an army of 100,000 and went straight to Luoyang.

This was the first joint operation between the two brothers after entering Chang'an. In March of the same year, on the way of Li Jiancheng and Li Shimin to Luoyang, Li Yuanxi named Li Shimin as the Duke of Zhao. So, what is the situation of the Li brothers' march into Luoyang this time, and what is the attitude of all forces?

In April, Li Jiancheng and Li Shimin led an army of 100,000 and arrived in Luoyang and garrisoned in Fanghuayuan. Wang Shichong, who held the eastern capital of Luoyang, adopted the tactics of clearing the wilderness with strong walls, closing the city gates, and not confronting the Tang army head-on. At the same time, Li Mi, who was besieging Luoyang, also sent an army to fight the Tang army. However, as soon as the two armies made contact only slightly, the Wagang army retreated on its own. Moreover, at that time, there were many people in Luoyang City who were willing to serve as the internal response of the Tang Army.

Wang Shichong couldn't hold out, Li Mixu and the snake, and 100,000 Tang troops were stationed outside the city. Under these circumstances, Li Shimin calmly analyzed the battlefield situation and believed that this was not the best time to attack Luoyang. Li Shimin's point of view is that even if Luoyang is captured, it may not be able to hold it. Therefore, the current focus is to manage the Guanzhong land well:

In my new Dingguan, it is not fixed at all, although it has the eastern capital, it cannot be guarded. (Information Governance Guide)

In the end, Li Jiancheng and Li Shimin decided to withdraw the army after discussion. However, Li Shimin deserves to be an excellent military commander. He judged that when Wang Shichong saw that our army was withdrawing, he would definitely send an army to pursue: "When the city sees me retreating, he will come to chase me." Therefore, Li Shimin specially left a hand and arranged a three-way ambush in the Mausoleum of the Three Kings to wait for work.

Sure enough, Li Shimin's judgment was correct. Wang Shichong saw the retreat of the Tang army, and immediately sent the general Duan Da, led 10,000 soldiers and horses, out of the city to pursue the Tang army, as a result, the army went to the tomb of the three kings, was ambushed, and was defeated by the Tang army's three-way ambush. Duan Daxin was defeated, and Li Shimin took advantage of the victory to pursue him, chasing him all the way to Luoyang City, beheading more than 4,000 people.

Li Shimin defeated Wang Shichong's 10,000 soldiers and horses, set up two counties of Xin'an and Yiyang in Xiong and Gu Prefectures, and ordered Shi Wanbao and Sheng Yanshi, the commanders of the march, to guard Yiyang County, and Lu Shaozong and Ren Gui to guard Xin'an County. Soon, Li Jiancheng and Li Shimin led 100,000 Tang troops and returned to Guanzhong.

Although the eastern expedition to Luoyang failed to capture Luoyang, Li Shimin judged the situation and withdrew his troops in time to avoid unnecessary losses for the Tang army. On the way to withdraw the army, Li Shimin calmly analyzed the battle situation, skillfully laid out an ambush, and severely damaged Wang Shichong's department. It can be said that Li Yuan's military campaign to the east of Luoyang, although he failed to capture Luoyang, achieved a strategic victory.

The western resistance to Xue Ju and the eastern expedition to Luoyang were the two major military operations carried out by Li Yuan after he gained a foothold in Guanzhong. These two major military operations enabled Li Yuan to successfully break the provocations from outside and create a relatively stable military environment for the founding of the Tang Dynasty.

Li Yuan occupied Guanzhong for less than a year, and with his superb political wisdom and excellent military means, he successfully settled the internal and external difficulties faced by the Li group. Internally, Li Yuan stabilized the situation in Chang'an and monopolized the power of the DPRK and China; Externally, he successively thwarted the attacks of the two great rivals of Xue Ju and Wang Shichong. It should be said that the political and military situation in front of Li Yuan is very good.

This is a good time for Li Yuan to call the emperor to establish the country, Li Yuan is already under one person at this time, above ten thousand people, monopolizing the military and political power of the Sui Dynasty, and the little emperor Yang Yu is just Li Yuan's puppet. However, Li Yuan did not claim the title of emperor for a long time. It's very simple, now there is an opportunity to become emperor, and Li Yuan is waiting for this opportunity.

Just when Li Yuan was patiently waiting for the opportunity, an astonishing news suddenly came from Jiangdu, which immediately changed the current deadlock and changed the direction of the general trend of the world. With the news of this, a new dynasty, the Tang Dynasty, rose from the ground. So, what kind of amazing news is this?