Emperor Taizong- Founding the Glorious Tang Dynasty! (Chinese Biography)

Hello, this is Sally's Book Talk. Today we're exploring the book Biography of Emperor Taizong of Tang. Emperor Taizong, Li Shimin, stands among China's most exceptional rulers. He personally founded the glorious Tang Dynasty, with ancient scholars honoring his legacy as the emperor for all ages. So what legendary experiences and monumental achievements earned him such extraordinary praise? After hearing this book, you'll discover the answers. This 310,000-character work was first published in the early 1980s by Zhao Ke'er and Xu Daoxun, both Sui Tang history experts from Fudan University. We'll examine the book in three parts. First, Li Shimin, before becoming emperor, covering his birth, joining his father's rebellion against the Sui Dynasty, and establishing the Tang Dynasty that unified China. Part two discusses the Xuanwu Gate incident, the coup through which Li Shimin eliminated his political rivals, his own brothers, to claim the throne. Part three examines Emperor Taizong's reign, how he governed the nation, expanded borders, and achieved the golden age known as the Zengguan reign. We begin with Li Shimin's birth in 599 A.D. His father Li Yuan later became Emperor Gaozu while his mother Lady Du passed away during his teenage years. Legend says at age four, a fortune teller declared him a phoenix among men, destined to save the world and bring peace. Hence his name, Shimin, meaning save the people. He had an elder brother Li Jingcheng and several younger brothers. The most notable were Li Yuanji and Li Xuanba. In the popular storytelling, Romance of Sui and Tang, Li Xuanba becomes Li Yuanba, the undisputed martial hero beloved by common folk. But historically, he died young without such glory. What else distinguishes Li Shimin's background? Two points. First, he belonged to the Guanlong aristocracy, a lineage of military leaders. The Guanlong aristocracy represented a crucial status marker. Referencing the dominant clans in modern Shanxi and Gansu regions, they wielded tremendous political and military influence. How powerful was it? For example, the Emperor of the Northern Zhou was from the Yuan family and the Emperor of the Sui dynasty was from the Yang family. Later, as we all know, the emperors of the Tang dynasty were from the Li family and these families all belonged to the Guanlong group. So Li Shimin was undoubtedly born into a prestigious family. He was even related to the notorious tyrant Emperor Yang of Sui. Li Shimin's grandmother was the sister of Emperor Yang's mother. Secondly, in terms of bloodline, Li Shimin wasn't purely Han Chinese. His mother, Lady Du, had Shanbei ancestry. From a young age, he had a fierce temper and loved horseback riding and archery, likely due to his heritage and customs. In his own words, during his youth he focused entirely on martial arts and disliked studying. At age 18, Li Shimin followed his father in rebellion, marking the glorious start of his military career. It was the late Sui dynasty era. Emperor Yang of Sui was extravagant and ambitious, overburdening the nation, causing widespread rebellions among people and officials. At this point, Li Yuan was sent by Emperor Yang to suppress the rebels and the 18-year-old Li Shimin joined around the same time, following his father to fell rebellions in Hedong, Shanxi. But even then, Li Shimin possessed a mature strategic vision beyond his age. He told Li Yuan, now everyone in the world is rebelling, we simply can't suppress them all. If we force suppression, we'll only bring trouble on ourselves. Better to make other plans early. Coincidentally, Li Yuan himself had long planned rebellion. Outwardly, he concealed his ambitions while secretly recruiting talents and building strength, waiting for the right moment. Finally, in 617 AD, Li Yuan began gathering troops under the pretext of campaigning against Li Dan. Urged by Li Shimin, he rebelled against the Sui near Jinyang, which is present-day Taiwan, Shanxi. At the time, Li Shimin, not yet 20, not only planned major events and recruited talents with his father, but also personally led troops in the rebellion. In this successful uprising, apart from Li Yuan himself, Li Shimin's contribution was greatest, known as the merit of the first uprising. Subsequently, the rebel army advanced into Guanzhong, which is central Shanxi today, winning battle after battle and finally capturing Chang'an city in one go. By then, only five months had passed since Li Yuan launched the rebellion. The next year, in 618 AD, Li Yuan proclaimed himself emperor in Chang'an and founded the Tang Dynasty. Li Shimin was in theft as the Prince of Qin and Li Jiansheng as the Crown Prince. During the late Sui and early Tang years, warlords rose everywhere, carving out territories. The newly founded Tang Dynasty only occupied the Guanzhong region, while other notable forces included Xie Zhu, who proclaimed himself the overlord of western Qin. He and his son Shou Rengao occupied Longyou, which is present-day Gansu, fighting fiercely. To the north, Lu Wuzhou, supported by the Turks and titled Dingyang Khan by them, threatened the Li family's base in Taiyuan. Peasant rebel leader Du Ji'ande, self-proclaimed king of Xia, was deeply supported by the people in Hebei. Long Xichang, controlling Henan from the eastern capital Luoyang, had defeated the powerful Wagong army and eventually proclaimed himself emperor, founding the state of Zhen. Additionally, southern warlords like Dufui, Li Zitong, and Xiaoshan were defeated after seven years of warfare before the Tang dynasty reunified China. In this process, Li Shimin personally led the army to successively eliminate several major separatist forces, making a huge contribution to the unification. The most crucial battle occurred near Luoyang, where Li Shimin commanded his forces to defeat the allied armies of Wang Xichang and Du Ji'ande. This battle determined the fate of the realm and was the decisive clash on the path to unification. In 620 AD, Li Shimin advanced into Henan and besieged Wang Xichang in Luoyang for a full eight months. Subsequently, Du Ji'ande led his army to support Wang Xichang. Li Shimin left part of his forces to continue besieging Luoyang, while he himself led 3,500 elite cavalry to confront Du Ji'ande's 100,000 strong army at the fortress of Hulao Pass, east of Luoyang. After a two-month stalemate, Li Shimin decisively defeated Du Ji'ande in the final battle, historically known as the Battle of Hulao Pass. After this battle, Du Ji'ande was captured, Wang Xichang surrendered, and the Tang Dynasty's unification of the Central Plains became unstoppable. We all know Shang Yu's famous burning the boats and Zhou Yu's fire attack at Red Cliff. So how did Li Shimin achieve victory against overwhelming odds at Hulao Pass? Essentially, he divided it into three steps. Step one, wear them down without direct confrontation, only sending cavalry for repeated harassment. You, with your 100,000 troops, had been winning consecutively, but after traveling far from Hebei and Shandong, you're suddenly stuck here. Gu dwindled, and morale sank lower and lower. Step two, use a stratagem. Du Ji'ande, aren't you itching for a decisive battle? Li Shimin devised a plan to create just such an opportunity for him. This stratagem can be called the horse pasturing tactic. Mind you, not the Trojan horse from Homer's epic that hid soldiers inside. Here, pasturing refers to grazing livestock, not the wooden horse. The day before the decisive battle, Li Shimin ordered over a thousand warhorses to be herded to the north bank of the Yellow River near the battlefield for grazing. Reconnaissance. After receiving this news, Du Ji'ande launched a full-scale attack the next day. Why? In Du Ji'ande's view, Li Shimin pasturing horses by the river signaled two things. First, the Tang army had run out of provisions. Second, wasn't the Tang army renowned for its cavalry? Now that you've sent all your horses away to pasture, our opportunity has arrived. Thus, Li Shimin's stratagem successfully lured the enemy into action. Next came step three, the decisive battle. Du Ji'ande's massive army, mostly infantry, moved too slowly. By noon, seeing the Tang army still hadn't engaged, they rested on the battlefield. Some soldiers even went to the river to drink. That's when Li Shimin ordered an attack on the exhausted enemy. Even more devastating, those thousand-plus horses grazing north of the Yellow River yesterday had now returned to battle, full of vigor. Carrying Tang soldiers into the charge, Du Ji'ande's army was caught off guard and quickly collapsed. Consider this. How was such an elite force, 3,500 men defeating over 100,000 trained dancers? This unit was personally forged by Li Shimin, who hand-picked soldiers, outfitted them in black armor, and trained them into an unstoppable cavalry. Historically, this unit bore a resounding name, the Black Armor Army. Black armor referring to their distinctive gear. We know these fierce generals from historical novels and dramas. For example, Qin Shibao, Qin Yaojun, and Yu Qigong all commanded this elite force in history. Historian Chen Yinke noted the Tang cavalry's strength came from importing Turkic horse breeds for purebred breeding and crossbreeding, greatly enhancing their warhorses. Building on this, Li Shimin created the Black Armor Army, his battlefield trump card. Mao Zedong once said, Among ancient commanders, the greatest was Li Shimin, second only to Zhu Yuanzhang. According to this book's author, Li Shimin's military tactics had four key features. First, when outmatched, he excelled at holding firm to create opportunities and exhaust opponents. Second, during counterattacks, he dared to pursue relentlessly, giving enemies no chance to catch their breath. For example, while chasing Liu Wuzhu's forces, Li Shimin led his army to march over 200 Li in a day and night, fighting eight battles in one day, ultimately crushing them completely. Third, Li Shimin was exceptionally skilled at using cavalry. In the Battle of Hulao Pass we just discussed, the deployment of cavalry was indeed one of the keys to victory. And fourth, when armies were deadlocked, Li Shimin enjoyed personally scouting deep into the battlefield. When encountering enemy troops, he never backed down and engaged directly, personally killing many foes with arrows. During battles, he liked to lead from the front, charging ahead with his cavalry, greatly boosting morale. Earlier we covered Li Shimin's background and numerous military achievements. Now let's move to the year 626 AD to revisit the Swan Will Gate incident. In this famous coup, Li Shimin personally killed his elder brother and ultimately ascended to the throne. As mentioned earlier, after Li Yuan became emperor, he named his eldest son Li Jiancheng as crown prince and Li Shimin as prince of Qin. In feudal times, according to normal ethical relations, Li Jiancheng, as the eldest legitimate son, becoming crown prince and inheriting the throne was perfectly logical. But Li Shimin's merits were too great, his reputation too high, and his talents too numerous, so he naturally aspired to the throne. His relationship with his elder brother evolved into a life or death power struggle, and in this process, Li Yuan, as both emperor and father, handled it particularly poorly. His approach was to balance between these two brothers, but it ultimately failed completely. Li Yuan believed that since the crown prince hadn't committed any wrongs, his inheritance rights naturally couldn't be revoked. But Li Shimin's achievements were immense, so what could be done? So he was appointed as the general of heavenly strategy to satisfy his desire for power. This way, it seemed balanced on the surface, but it made Li Shimin the de facto third in command and the foremost military leader. At the same time, he was given the power to appoint officials, which undoubtedly weakened imperial authority and provided Li Shimin with capital to later launch his coup. After becoming general of heavenly strategy, Li Shimin recruited talents extensively to expand his power. But in the two or three years before the coup, he gradually lost ground to crown prince Li Jiancheng. Why? First, prince Qili Yuanji joined the crown prince's faction. Like his two elder brothers, he also harbored ambitions for the throne, but his own power was much weaker, forcing him to choose sides. Li Yuanji believed that Li Shimin's power was too overwhelming. If he won, Yuanji himself would have no chance left. If he helped Li Jiancheng crush Li Shimin first, he might still have opportunities to stir things up in the future. Secondly, Li Shimin's reputation came mostly from military feats, but by then the unification wars were nearly over, with key opponents mostly dealt with. So, Li Shimin hadn't had a chance to lead troops in battle for years. But finally, in 626 AD, the Turkic army harassed the border again. Previously, such cases often saw Li Shimin dispatched to lead the troops, but this time Li Jiancheng, to keep the army out of Li Shimin's hands, suggested Li Yuanji lead the forces and planned to send several of Li Shimin's trusted generals along, aiming to dismantle his power base. Upon getting the news, Li Shimin felt the situation critical and decided to strike first by killing his brothers. Of course, this meant launching the coup itself had no legitimacy. Many of Li Shimin's civil and military confidants opposed this. Famed generals like Li Jing and Li Ji refused to join while Fan Suanling and Deng Wuhui consistently backed the coup. But when Li Shimin actually started plotting the Suanwu Gate incident, they got scared and backed out. At this, Li Shimin flew into a rage, even considering sending Yu Qigong to kill them. So, although later generations thought Li Shimin was urged or coerced by subordinates to launch the coup, this book explicitly rejects that view. On the day of the incident, the fourth day of the Sixth Lunar Month, Li Shimin led ten trusted followers to ambush at Suanwu Gate, the palace's north entrance. Someone had tipped off Li Jianqing, but he trusted General Cheng He, who guarded Suanwu Gate as his long-time subordinate for four or five years, seeing no problem. So he confidently entered the palace with Li Yuanji through Suanwu Gate. After entering, the gate suddenly slammed shut, trapping their guards outside. It turned out Cheng He, whom Jianqing trusted, had been bribed by Li Shimin two years earlier. Only then did Li Jianqing realize something was wrong and tried to turn back to escape. Li Shimin, present there, shouted and shot him dead with an arrow. Soon after, Li Yuanji was also killed by Yu Qigong. Next, Jianqing and Yuanji's men attacked Suanwu Gate and the Prince of Qin's mansion, but Yu Qigong displayed their severed heads. Seeing their masters dead, the men lost morale and scattered, marking the famous Suanwu Gate incident. Historically, history books often blamed the coup's faults solely on the losers. They claimed Li Jianqing contributed nothing to Tang's founding, disparaging his abilities and character completely. While Li Shimin was portrayed as having no choice but to kill in self-defense, this book points out that this clearly doesn't reflect reality. The author views the brothers' conflict as essentially a game of thrones. Both employed nearly every means possible to seize imperial succession rights. In this struggle, there were no innocent good guys. Li Shimin's prior achievements far surpassed Jianqing's. By today's standards, he was undoubtedly more suitable to become emperor. But we shouldn't distort history by turning Li Jianqing into a clown just because Li Shimin won. In reality, Li Jianqing also achieved significant merits. Alright, that concludes our coverage of the Suanwu Gate incident. After the coup, control of Qingyan fell into Li Shimin's hands. Having lost two sons, Li Yuan had to designate Li Shimin as crown prince. Soon after, he abdicated, becoming Taishan Huan, retired emperor. Li Shimin ascended the throne, inaugurating the Zhonghuan era, heralding the golden age of Zhonghuan governance in Chinese history. Now we enter part three, examining Emperor Taizong's reign and his Zhonghuan governance. During the Sui-Tang transition, Emperor Yang's tyranny and warlord conflicts reduced households from 9 million to just over 2 million. Farmlands lay abandoned, economies collapsed, people starved, and nomads raided frequently. Against this backdrop, Emperor Taizong demonstrated exceptional governance, not only reversing poverty and chaos, but making Zhonghuan governance one of China's most celebrated golden ages. Now let's explore how he governed the nation. Taizong's fundamental policy was prioritizing agriculture without burdening the people. He encouraged reclaiming wastelands, redeemed about 2 million people captured by foreigners during wars to solve labor shortages. He standardized agricultural taxes, constructed extensive irrigation systems, and even worked in fields himself to demonstrate importance. With these policies, the economy rapidly recovered and developed, bringing gradual social stability and prosperity. It can be said that prioritizing agriculture formed the foundation of Emperor Taizong's governance. After establishing this solid foundation, he achieved remarkable accomplishments in numerous areas. Next, we'll focus on three key aspects. Talent selection, legislation enforcement, and frontier unification. First, talent selection. To govern a nation effectively requires extensive participation of capable individuals in its development. Emperor Taizong's talent utilization skills ranked among the finest of ancient Chinese rulers. Cursed, he courageously employed Wei Zhong, who originally served Li Zhongcheng, and even devised strategies against Li Shimin. But after the Zhuangwu Gate incident, Emperor Taizong not only pardoned Wei Zhong, but promoted him extensively. To what degree? In formulating national policies, elder statesmen argued chaos breeds troublemakers and advocated harsh laws. But newly recruited Wei Zhong countered that allowing people to recuperate would enable national development. Emperor Taizong immediately adopted Wei Zhong's proposal. Moreover, Taizong valued ability over pedigree, promoting talents from humble backgrounds. One day, he requested ministers to submit policy essays common on Cheng He. Yes, the same Cheng He who guarded Zhuangwu Gate during the coup submitted an exceptional essay full of profound insights. Taizong immediately suspected. A mere soldier lacked such talent. You must have hired a ghostwriter and investigated. They discovered the essay was actually written by an impoverished scholar named Ma Zhou. How should such cheating be handled? Taizong's solution? Ghostwriter Ma Zhou, being talented, received an official post, eventually becoming Zheng Shuling, equivalent to chancellor. And Cheng He who hired him? Because he discovered talent, Cheng He was rewarded with 300 bolts of silk. These two examples demonstrate Taizong's unconventional approach to talent. Additionally, Taizong exhibited exceptional magnanimity in employing people. For example, Wei Zhong served Taizong for 17 years, daily criticizing. This approach is wrong. That makes you no good emperor. Do this and become a tyrant. What emperor could tolerate this? Though sometimes furious, Taizong persisted in accepting counsel. Furthermore, while many founding emperors slaughtered meritorious officials like Liu Bang and Zhu Yuanzhang, Taizong showed greater tolerance. He declared he'd never forget his founding comrades' contributions, wishing to share prosperity with them. It can be said that prioritizing agriculture was the foundation of Emperor Taizong's governance. After laying this solid foundation, he achieved remarkable success in many areas. Next, we'll focus on three key aspects. Talent selection, legislation enforcement, and frontier unification. First, talent selection. To govern a nation effectively requires extensive participation of capable individuals. Emperor Taizong's talent utilization skills were unparalleled among ancient rulers. First, he courageously employed Wei Zhang, who originally served Li Jiancheng and even devised strategies against Li Shimin. After the Suomugate incident, Taizong not only pardoned Wei Zhang but promoted him extensively. To what degree? When formulating national policies, elder statesmen argued chaos breeds troublemakers and advocated harsh laws. But newly recruited Wei Jing countered that allowing people to recuperate would enable national development. Emperor Taizong immediately adopted Wei Zhang's proposal. Moreover, Taizong valued ability over pedigree, promoting talents from humble backgrounds. One day, he requested ministers to submit policy essays coming on Cheng He. Yes, the Cheng He from Suomugate submitted an exceptional essay full of insights. Taizong immediately suspected. A soldier lacks such talent. He must have hired a ghostwriter. They discovered it was written by impoverished scholar Ma Zhou. How should this cheating be handled? Taizong's solution, ghostwriter Ma Zhou, received an official post, eventually becoming chancellor. Cheng He? For discovering talent, Cheng He was rewarded with 300 silk bolts. These examples demonstrate Taizong's unconventional talent approach. Additionally, Taizong showed exceptional magnanimity in leadership. For 17 years, Wei Zhang daily criticized this is wrong, that makes you no good emperor. What emperor could tolerate this? Though sometimes furious, Taizong persisted in accepting council. Unlike founders like Lu Ban, who slaughtered meritorious officials, Taizong showed greater tolerance. In Asia, many nations' legal systems were influenced by his work. After the Tang dynasty, Song, Yuan, Ming, and Qing dynasties all modeled their legal codes after his. Emperor Taizong refined death penalty approval procedures, demanding careful deliberation. He mandated that capital sentences in the capital, even immediate executions, required five levels of review within two days. Outside the capital, death sentences required three levels of review. Additionally, Taizong banned forced confessions, reformed interrogation systems, establishing a law-abiding culture during Zhenguan. Now to Taizong's achievements in unifying frontiers. In early Tang, prolonged chaos allowed northwestern ethnic groups to raid border regions, causing widespread suffering. The powerful Turks forced even Li Yuan's submission during his rebellion, humiliating Tang diplomacy. Shortly after Taizong's coronation, eastern Turkic Khagan Geli invaded with 200,000 troops, reaching Chang'an's outskirts at Wei River. Both sides signed a treaty on a makeshift river bridge before Turkic withdrawal, a humiliating capital threat right after ascension. This was utterly unacceptable to Taizong. Outwardly conciliatory, he secretly prepared for war, eventually appointing generals Li Jing and Li Ji. These commanders crushed the eastern Turks, captured Geli Khan, annexed lands from Yin Mountains to northern deserts, and relocated 100,000 Turkic households, 10,000 to Chang'an. He then subdued Tuyuhun as a vassal state, and annexed ancient kingdoms Gaochang, Kucha, and Yanqi. Simply put, Tuyuhun covered modern Qinghai and Gansu while Yanqi, Kucha, and Gaochang were in modern Xinjiang, Daochang at today's Turpan. These victories restored central plains control over the western regions since Han Dynasty, reopening the Silk Road, and we've covered the book's essence in three parts. Li Ximin, pre-reign during Xuanwu Gate, and as Emperor Taizong. Finally, let's briefly explore Emperor Taizong's personal life. Taizong loved archery, horsemanship, and hunting. A lifelong warrior, campaigning east and west, he never went without his bow. Even as emperor, he couldn't resist the itch, once serving as archery coach for the imperial guards. Uh... In calligraphy, Taizong revered Long Shizhi. He painstakingly obtained the authentic Lantang Shu manuscript and had it buried with him. He urged masters like Ouyang Shen and Chu Suiliang to study Long's style, sparking a calligraphic revolution that established Long's school as the national standard. To most, Taizong's poetry and prose seem unremarkable. Yet actually, he left more early Tang poems to posterity than any contemporary. In essays, his achievements were greater, leaving classic, historical, political, and literary critiques. But Taizong disregarded literary fame, refusing to publish poetry or essay collections. He said, if my writings benefit the people, history will remember them naturally. What's the point of publishing otherwise? He added, reading Emperor Yang's elegant prose, you'd think him a sage-dash king, yet he was a tyrant. Such beautiful writings only invite posterity's ridicule. Well, that concludes our interpretation of Biography of Emperor Taizong of Tang. Reading notes are below the audio. See you tomorrow.