Today, the History Encyclopedia editor will bring you an article about the Xuanwu Gate Incident, hoping to be helpful to everyone.
The famous Xuanwu Gate Incident of the Tang Dynasty saw Li Shimin successfully kill Li Jiancheng and Li Yuanji, forcing Li Yuan to relinquish power. At that time, Li Yuan’s forbidden army had several thousand soldiers, which could be considered very powerful, while Li Shimin only had eight hundred soldiers. Why could Li Shimin successfully suppress these thousands of forbidden armies with such weak strength?
Li Shimin may buy and control some banned generals in advance
Although Li Shimin was able to command thousands of troops and rarely suffered defeat, he had no military power in Chang’an city and could only mobilize a few hundred people. This coup not only required a quick resolution of Li Jiancheng and Li Yuanji, but also the control of his father Li Yuan.
Before the coup, Li Shimin could only use more than 800 people, while Crown Prince Li Jiancheng and Prince Qi had around 2000 elite soldiers. In terms of numbers, Li Shimin had no advantage. Moreover, Li Shimin had to use these soldiers to force Li Yuan to surrender, which is somewhat unrealistic. Therefore, with Li Shimin’s personality, he will definitely make various preparations, and with his abilities, he can definitely do it.
Prior to this, Li Jiancheng and Li Yuanji had considered plotting to assassinate Li Shimin, but ultimately failed. At the time of the Turkic invasion, Li Yuanji led his troops to attack, but during their operation, Li Jiancheng and Li Yuanji wanted to kill Li Shimin in the tent in advance. At a critical moment, Li Shimin knew the fatal news in advance and decided to take the initiative.
It can be seen that Li Shimin has already infiltrated his power into the palace, and the 800 soldiers are only his visible personnel. There must be many people working for him in secret.
For Li Shimin, we speculate that the majority of the forbidden forces he controlled may have been bribed, recruited, or threatened. In short, these people should at least not cause trouble for Li Shimin. Besides, how could Yu Chigong see Emperor Li Yuan while wearing armor and holding weapons?
It can be imagined that a general covered in blood, wielding a sharp blade, solemnly passed through the garrison area and directly broke into front of Li Yuan. This went so smoothly that someone must have opened the door early. Therefore, we infer that many generals of the Forbidden Army have already attached themselves to Li Shimin, and even if there are too many banned troops, it will be of no use.
Yuchi Gong used the fastest speed to meet Li Yuan and obtained military power
If you want to kill Li Jiancheng and Li Yuanji, you must make a choice when they are unprepared. Only by killing Li Jiancheng and Li Yuanji first can the next step be successful. In fact, Li Jiancheng couldn’t bear it. After all, as the elder brother, perhaps Li Jiancheng didn’t believe that Li Shimin dared to kill him, so he repeatedly prevented Li Yuanji from assassinating Li Shimin. However, Li Jiancheng still didn’t expect the outcome. As soon as Li Jiancheng and Li Yuanji arrived at Xuanwu Gate, they were ambushed and quickly fell into a pool of blood. This is Li Shimin’s wisdom.
Li Shimin felt that as long as Yu Chigong informed Li Yuan of the deaths of Li Jiancheng and Li Yuanji, Li Yuan must obey because he knew very well about Li Yuan’s character and personality traits. At that time, although the Crown Prince had already died and the battle had not yet ended, if Li Shimin could not obtain military power in time, he might become a target of public criticism.
Therefore, the work of Yuchi Gong is very important. The success of this coup cannot be separated from Yuchi Gong’s help to gain military power. Of course, the military forces here also include the Forbidden Army. Li Yuan did not want his sons to kill each other
Although Li Yuancai is not as talented as Li Shimin, he is not confused either. Watching the conflict between his two sons escalate day by day, he should have foreseen that the day of the duel would definitely come. On the eve of Li Shimin’s coup, it is inaccurate to say that Li Yuan did not notice at all. However, even if Li Yuan did notice, he felt that he could not save the situation from developing in a bad direction. Nevertheless, Li Yuan had already tried his best to ease the conflict between his sons.
Once, Li Jiancheng invited Li Shimin to drink alcohol at the Eastern Palace. The alcohol was poisonous and Li Shimin vomited a lot of blood. This poisonous wine may have been concocted by Li Jiancheng. As soon as Li Yuan heard this news, he immediately punished Crown Prince Li Jiancheng severely. Just in case, he assigned Li Shimin to Luoyang. The purpose of doing so was to separate Li Shimin and Li Jiancheng from each other, so that they would not meet in battle. If they were far away, the conflict might gradually be resolved.
We can also see Li Yuan’s good intentions, but in the end, this idea was foiled by the Crown Prince Group. They were afraid that Li Shimin would come to Luoyang to gain military territory, which would be like adding wings to Li Shimin. When his power continued to grow, it would be their end.
On the day of the coup, perhaps Li Yuan still controlled the imperial army, but he did not want to see his sons fighting against each other. If he sent troops to suppress them, the outcome would be that even Li Shimin could not survive. Apart from his role as emperor, Li Yuan was first and foremost a father. When Li Yuan found out that Li Jiancheng and Li Yuanji had died and saw that Li Shimin was still alive, he made a final decision with his own rationality, which was to hand over power to Li Shimin.
