People from later generations look at Li Shimin's life and feel that he had many shortcomings. However, from the perspective of people of this era, Li Shimin actually had a very charming personality. Chinese culture has a huge influence on the entire East Asian cultural circle. Almost all the vassal states around China have their own writing, and their history books are all recorded in Chinese.
Similarly, the books that their royal family and nobles can read are all Chinese books, and the history of China is also what they must read.
Throughout Chinese history up to the Tang Dynasty, how many of Li Shimin’s experiences could tolerate the former crown prince’s confidants being alive and being reused? Not only that, he didn't kill any heroes after taking power! Moreover, Li Shimin began to lead troops to fight at the age of sixteen. At the age of seventeen, he solved the siege of Yanmen Pass and rescued his future father-in-law.
Then at the age of eighteen, he began to follow Li Yuan on horseback to conquer the world. At the age of twenty, he swept across the Tang Dynasty and conquered basically all the territories of the previous dynasty. Looking at the history of the dynasties, anyone with such strength is a champion.
But the champion died young, too early, and Li Shimin became the emperor.
It can be said that Li Shimin had great prestige in all the surrounding vassal states because of his literary and military skills. This kind of prestige is difficult for future generations to see, but from one point, the whole picture can be seen.
Throughout the dynasties, there were many ethnic minorities who submitted to the Han Dynasty, but in fact, only the ethnic minorities who submitted to the Tang Dynasty showed unprecedented loyalty! This is rarely seen in other dynasties.
Many people say it's because of Li Shimin's Xianbei ancestry. In fact, it's all nonsense. The Turks themselves are all fighting each other. The Turks themselves have no blood. The Ashina family of the Turkic royal family has been killed by many Turkic tribal leaders. They care about Ge Mao's bloodline.
There is only one thing these ethnic minorities care about, and that is respect for the strong.
Li Shimin is the strong man in their eyes, and his strong mind can reuse generals from ethnic minorities. No matter Qibi Heli, Ashina Sheer, Zhi lose Sili, etc., they are all Li Shimin's die-hard loyalists.
A considerable part of Songtsen Gampo's attachment to the Princess of the Tang Dynasty stemmed from his admiration for Li Shimin. Of course, this admiration was more about worshiping Li Shimin's life deeds.
And now, Songtsen Gampo felt that he had a chance to become an emperor as great as Li Shimin! Of course he was extremely ambitious.
Li Shimin's most important characteristic is that he knows how to employ people and dares to employ people, so Songtsen Gampo has nothing to fear.
What's more, he promoted this person little by little, and the other person's loyalty can be seen soon.
"Come here!" Songtsen Gampo said.
A guard came in immediately.
"Go and invite the single house that you just left." Songtsen Gampo said.
"yes!"
Li Feng came back soon, and he was a little surprised as to why Songtsen Gampo came back so soon.
But after he came in, Li Feng, who had his head lowered, was stunned for a moment by Songtsen Gampo's question. Is this question... a test or a test?
But soon, Li Feng made up his mind. No matter what it was, he had never wanted to betray Songtsen Gampo, or to be precise, before Songtsen Gampo had completed His Highness's mission and met His Highness's expectations. , he is Songtsen Gampo’s most loyal henchman.
But now, since Songtsen Gampo asked him, he had to show his abilities.
"Your Majesty, I feel that the following people are nothing to worry about..." Li Feng quickly said some names. In addition to his own brothers, there are some of these people who he specially analyzed.
"Your Majesty, although these people are also dissatisfied with Your Majesty, they are timid and fearful by nature. If it weren't for their timidity and fear, they would not have been able to escape this time, so leaving them behind is nothing to worry about. The most important thing is that they will encounter It is impossible to encounter bandits all the time, after all, many of the middle-level generals in the army brought by His Majesty are from these tribes."
"As for the other tribes, their previous tribes all belonged to very powerful tribes, and a considerable part of the troops you mobilized by Your Majesty are from these tribes. We cannot guarantee how much contact they have with the soldiers from these tribes."
"The important thing is that these people... are actually relatively talented. They are unwilling to follow His Majesty, and they are talented. If they are rashly allowed to manage a place, rebellion will easily occur."
"Since Tubo is preparing to establish a foothold in Tianzhu, the surrounding environment is very important. The loss of Tubo territory is expected to spread in Tianzhu soon. The enemies around us are likely to want to attack us at this time. They think that we have lost huge."
"If these people want to do something wrong at this time, it may cause huge chaos within us."
"As the saying goes, we must first stabilize our country when fighting against foreigners. If we want to truly gain a foothold in Tianzhu, a stable rear is a must! Therefore, none of those who are ambitious, capable, and may launch a rebellion will be left behind! As for the others Those who are timid and afraid of trouble will have nothing to do if they leave some of it behind. They are timid, so they don’t dare to disobey Your Majesty’s orders.”
"In addition, they also have certain management capabilities and can help Your Majesty manage some less important places. Our early officials and manpower are definitely insufficient." Li Feng said quickly.
Following Li Feng's words, Songtsen Gampo's face showed a hint of joy. This was so unexpected. The excellence of the single house... exceeded his imagination!
Lu Dongzan and the three of them were also a little surprised! Unexpectedly, this young-looking, down-and-out nobleman from a humble background actually had a lot of knowledge.
"Very good! Very good! Shancuo, your excellence is beyond my expectation. In this way, I will hand over the eight thousand soldiers who fled with you to your command. Do you have the confidence to control them?" Songtsen Gampo said solemnly. asked.
"have!"
"That's right! Do you have any other ideas regarding our situation? If so, please tell me." Songtsen Gampo took a deep breath and said.
The idea of imitating the Tang Dynasty was only an idea that Songtsen Gampo had in the past two days, so he couldn't have thought it through so carefully.
Li Feng took a deep breath, and then he sighed and said: "Although I am very reluctant, what I want to say is... If we want to show His Majesty's ambition, then we must have a good relationship with Datang."
Li Feng's words really shocked several people present.
Being able to see this clearly at this time...that's really insightful.
It seems that it is easy to see through, but putting aside all your emotions to see this is a necessary quality of a good minister or general.
Songtsan Gampo also nodded with satisfaction. He turned to Lu Dongzan and said, "Lu Dongzan, I need you to go on a mission to the Tang Dynasty. Instead of going to Chang'an, you must go to Lhasa first!"
