Ancient Chinese Emperors — Li Yuan, Gaozu of Tang (2024)

Li Yuan, Gaozu of the Tang Dynasty (566 — June 25, 635), was a native of Chengji, Longxi (northwest of Qin’an, Gansu). Li Yuan was the founding emperor and military commander of the Tang Dynasty. He was a very important figure in the long history. He was the founding emperor of the fastest and most unified dynasty in history, surpassing all other majestic emperors of the past. The dynasty he founded, the Tang Dynasty, was a dynasty at the peak of prosperity in Chinese history.

At the age of seven, he was named Duke of Tang. Because Empress Doku, the Emperor of Sui, was his aunt, he was favored by the Emperor of Sui, and became a thousand cattle body, and the assassin of Qiao, Long and Qi. In the ninth year of Daye (613), he moved to the position of Weiyue Shaoqing.

Li Yuan came from a noble family in the Northern Zhou Dynasty. His grandfather Li Hu was a minister of the Zhou Dynasty and fought together with the emperor of the Zhou Dynasty. His maternal grandfather was also a minister at that time, and the wife of Sui Wendi Yang Jian, the empress at that time, and Li Yuan’s mother were close sisters. Li Yuan was originally with the elders of the family because of the good conditions, career is a smooth sailing.

Later, Emperor Yang came to the throne and began to be wary of Li Yuan.

Li Yuan, a man with a bold and kind personality, can be said to be a man and a woman, so make a lot of friends. His influence was growing, so the emperor was naturally worried, and there were villains who kept saying in the emperor that Li Yuan was buying people to prepare for rebellion and so on. In order to save his life, Li Yuan accepted the bribe and drank wine every day regardless of business to discredit himself and dispel Emperor Yang’s doubts.

In 617 A.D., Li Yuan became the guardian of Taiyuan and was sent to suppress the peasant rebellion. Although he won several battles, the peasant rebellion was getting stronger and stronger, and the Sui dynasty was about to collapse, so he had to think of a way out for himself.

Li Yuan had four sons, of whom his second son Li Shimin was the most talented and courageous. Li Shimin urged his father to rise against Sui. However, Li Yuan could not accept that his son was going to rebel, and he was very angry and said that he would drag Li Shimin to the police. Li Yuan finally could not bear it and gave up.

One day, Li Yuan woke up and found two women on his couch, but they were the concubines of Jin Yang Palace. At this time, Pei Li, Liu Wenjing and Li Shimin all persuaded Li Yuan to rise up. It turned out that Liu Shimin had the intention to rise but Li Yuan did not agree, so he and Pei Silence and Liu Wenjing planned a trap to force Li Yuan to rise, plus see the growing power of the peasant revolution, the Sui dynasty is faltering, they are not only unable to suppress the peasant uprising, and even the territory of the family is difficult to keep. So he accepted the advice of his second son Shimin and rose against Sui in Taiyuan in July 617.

Li Yuan, after rising, made great efforts to buy people’s hearts and minds when he attacked various forces, and after successfully defeating one of the forces, he distributed food and helped the people, which was strongly supported by the people. This is not only to let Yang Guang have nothing to say, but also let the court ministers do not have any objections, for the future of the big picture to do a good long-term plan.

In 618 A.D., when Li Yuan heard the news that Yang Guang, Emperor Yang of Sui, had been strangled to death by Yu Wen He in Jiangdu, he ousted Yang Yu from power and became the emperor himself, establishing the Tang Dynasty, from which the Great Tang Dynasty began. History calls him the Gaozu of Tang.

In the 9th year of Wu De (626), after the Change of Xuan Wu Men, Li Yuan abdicated as the emperor and reigned for 8 years before he was transferred to his son Li Shimin.

In the ninth year of Zhenguan (635), Li Yuan died at the age of 69. He was named Emperor Taiwu posthumously and the temple name was Gaozu.