Taizong Emperor Li Shimin- In Broad Strokes 唐太宗简报
Decisiveness and tolerance, two intertwining qualities that defined Li Shimin, the Taizong Emperor of Tang. He was able to persuade most of his enemies to work for him.
Charismatic and a quick thinker, Li Shimin possessed a life long quality in quickly reading people and delegating important matters to them. Even from the fresh ranks of former enemies he just faced in battle.
Many of the most important Tang inner cabinet were former generals and princes who had once opposed him. Four of his best generals, the 2 strategists: Li Jing, Li Shiji, and the 2 champions: Qin Shubao, and Yuchi Gong had all once fought for rulers that directly opposed the Tang.
Two of Emperor Taizong's best champions would become deified as Door Gods
and are still venerated today across East Asia on various temples in Taiwan,
China, and Malaysia
The Tang Empire at its greatest extent from 648-672. Orange represented provinces directly ruled by the centralized imperial court where as yellow represented the various protectorates and frontier military prefectures on the empire's frontiers. Li Shimin and his family were once outlaws all marked for death by the tyrannical Emperor Yang of Sui, in a China imploding with rebellions, wracked by famines and ever at the mercy of the powerful Gokturk warriors from the north. By the end of Taizong's life not only did he play an instrumental role in toppling the Sui and ensuring the supremacy of the Tang over a dozen powerful competing warlords, but also triple the empire's domains by defeating both the Eastern and Western Gokturk Khaganates.
"With a bronze mirror, one can see whether he is properly attired; with history as a mirror, one can understand the rise and fall of a nation; with men as a mirror, one can see whether he is right or wrong, now I've lost my faithful mirror by the death of Wei Zheng" - Emperor Taizong
Taizong's Chancellor too had been a former enemy: Wei Zheng was a close adviser to his brother and in the desperate ramp up to their open violence between the two brothers suggested acting decisively against Taizong by killing him. When Taizong asked Wei did he do this after Taizong had assassinated both of his brothers in a coup, Wei Zheng flatly told him that he did so. Despite this, Taizong also recognized that Wei Zheng is a very honest man who is straightforward in all councils. Thus Taizong did the unthinkeable and not only pardoned him but also made him a Chancellor.
When Taizong ascended the throne following a bloody coup with his two brothers, one of his first acts was to erect shrines and temples at the sites of his former battles. On the site of the Hulao Pass, where he personally led a force of 3,000 and defeated an army of 100,000, he erected a temple which he named, "Temple of Equality in Commiseration." Although Taizong never shied away from a fight, both he and his father were well known for sparing captured enemies. Often they would either pardon or enroll thousands of rank- and file former enemies into their own ranks. Both were keen to eliminate enemies that did pose a danger to them, but also were confident to lead the rest and create opportunities to let them prove themselves to the Tang.
Rare in history is an administration at the peak performance staffed by so many former rivals of an empire, perhaps rarer still was a person who was able to command such service from each of those able men.
TOLERANCE
"Since antiquity, everyone has honored the Chinese and looked down on barbarians; I alone love them as one Therefore their tribes follow me like a father or mother" - Emperor Taizong
Taizong's acceptance of the simultaneous title of "Heavenly Khagan" ~ along with his native title of "Son of Heaven" represented his tolerance of being a dual leader of two respective peoples.
During Taizong's latter battles in Korea, Ashina Simo was injured by an arrow, and it was said that Emperor Taizong personally sucked the poisoned pus out of his wound, which greatly inspired the assembled soldiers.
Figure: Gokturk gift-bearers, guests, and a prince marked by a prominent tent. When the Gokturk princes rendered fealty to him, one of the first of Taizong's acts was to purchase all of the ethnic Han slaves owned by the Gokturks back and have them emancipated. However, he paid back the worth of each of the slaves to their respective owners from the Tang state's coffers as ransom. After this, the various Turkic prince would frequently serve the Tang and provided much needed cavalry support and address the Li rulers in the style of the "Heavenly Khagan."
LENIENCY
Domestically, Taizong spent much time in alleviating the plight of the common peasants across his realm. Having seen the disastrous rule of the tyrannical Emperor Yang of Sui first hand, Li ensured that his rule would present a marked contrast to his foil, stating that a ruler (during the last years of Yang's life Li Shimin and his father actually saved Yang's life by rescuing him from the Gokturk besiegers. In those years the realm was in chaos, with over a dozens of rebellions erupting across the empire and millions died in famines as a direct consequence of Yang's misrule.)
Writing in a vivid metaphor comparing a gluttonous "君" ruler's health to that of a "国" nation's. And drawing clear connections between the sovereign's misrule to the constitution of the people, and finally the doom of the ruler himself.
刻民以奉君，Carve the people's flesh as tribute to the sovereign
犹割肉以充腹，The sovereign feast their flesh to fill the stomach
腹满而身毙，The stomach is filled yet the body dies
君富而国亡。The sovereign is filled yet the nation dies
Comparing a ruler who oppresses his own people to a gluttonous man who feasts on his own flesh while all dies in this grotesque, fundamentally unnatural imbalance.
Thus, to make the lives of the commoners more tenable, he lowered the taxes and reduced the amount of corvee (owed labor) from the commoners. To ensure that talented individuals would find their ways to his vast bureaucracy, he inherited the efficient tax policies and chancellery first organized by the able Emperor Wen of Sui but also sough to strengthen the local administrations through key appointments.
During Taizong's time the imperial government faced systemic brain- drains from the provinces and many ambitious men of talent frequently shunned local postings and instead opted for jobs at court. However, Taizong's personal touch not only regularly exorcised his imperial prerogatives but the very public "making" of these fresh, eager men of talent made provincial local government postings very lucrative. True to his character as a swift judge of people's characters- Taizong was able to delegate his responsibilities on a national level.
MERCY
Taizong's rather avant- garde sense of tolerance and mercy also extends to the domestic policies as well. A constant thinker and a curious man, Taizong tolerated many religions and permitted diverse people of many faiths to worship within his empire. This is remarkable because his own class of northern Chinese nobles- and many steppe people are deeply superstitious in this period. Witchcraft and curses- even rumors for such things were often brutally punished in these societies.
A critical Chinese concept: religious plurality- unlike the Abrahamic faiths, many
religions in the orient did not advocate for the complete rejection of other faiths.
Rather, many of the citizenry embraced more than one religions. One of the most
popular was the syncretistity of Buddhism- Daoism- and Confuciaism
If one would look closer at the figures one would see Confucius, Laozi
and the Buddha all merged into one harmonious ideal. The Li emperors of
Tang would officially brand themselves as patrons of Daoism while
practiced Buddhism and Confucian rites.
However, in contrast Taizong proved to be a frank rationalist. As exemplified by his pardoning of men like Wei Zheng, Taizong proved to be one of the rarest Chinese leaders to not only tolerate criticism from his staff but actively expect their brutal honesty as if they were equals. On this front, after two decade of rule Taizong did eventually became more and more distant and began to privately distrust some of his most powerful generals.
Especially after having caught 2 of his sons in a plot to overthrow him and exiling them, along with having narrowly missed a massive assassination attempt by a Gokturk prince. However- despite personal reservations, and more so- dispute his own mistrusts and grim awareness of his feelings, he still relied on each accordingly and refrained from wrongfully executing his ministers.
Alone and troubled: It was after having discovered plots from his sons in quick succession, and slowly coming to the realization that strangers coming to serve him would only ingratiating themselves as sycophants that Taizong lost Wei Zheng. It was in this context, where Taizong found himself a lonely God, surrounded by strangers and sycophants he did not trust, and powerful generals who he knew might defeat his successor in battle, that he lamented: "He lost his faithful mirror" -his lone beacon of truth in a sea of fog.
In fact, Taizong's aversion to executions and torture were so pronounced that when he became the emperor he abolished many tortures across the empire and reduced the punishment for many crimes. He also made it extremely difficult to execute anyone across the empire. Demanding that in order for anyone to be executed, the governor himself must personally submit at least 3 separate petitions on different occasions to the emperor directly for him to even consider signing the death sentence.
This remarkable enforced sense of restraint made it so that in some years of the 600s, only several dozens of men were executed across the whole empire. Given that the Tang empire embodied 1/4 of the world's population then, or that only decades ago the tyrannical Emperor Yang of Sui was freely killing hundreds of thousands of his own people, leaving millions to die, and would exterminate whole clans in slaughter (including attempting to slaughter Taizong's own clan) it was a world of difference. Taizong himself was that difference.
Perhaps it's fortunate that such a storied character's name 李世民 could literally be translated as "save the earth and gave the people peace" (濟世安民, jishi anmin,) or more shortly could be translated as: "Li- the citizen of the world."
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Comments
Namely, very few were remotely able to match him in terms of conquest and also the respect commanded from his vast amount of steppe vassals. Even fewer among them were capable of the level of clemency he usually imparted to his defeated foes. Thing is- most people have to be dirty apologists to their own people's history. Eventually there comes a time to defend the actions of..."necessary men" Romanians have to defend Vlad bc despite his terror he actively defended what is his- and in time created the room for a largely independent Wallachia, and in time Romania. Japan has to defend the actions of the likes of Tokugawa- despite the fact that in order to cement his victory he has to put some clan's families to death while exiling many lords who didn't even actively resist him to exile and century long disgrace. And for the Chinese, the likes of Hongwu and Yongle, and the mine field of 20th century leaders.
He has bad parts, yeah. His fratricide will always stain him, but that's why rather than banning the publication of it he just let people talk about it. He's quite boastful of himself, thinking that there is a permanent camera (or staff) to record down his outrageous boasts and fortune cookie like quotes as if winking at the readers etc. But given that he did lead decisive cavalry charges in major battles during his time and did many remarkable things like pardoning Wei Zheng, turning many of his previous enemies to his most important generals, who is to say that he can't impart some sayings? (After all Churchill was quite a chauvinist braggart too and he was instrumental in shaping the 20th century)
Now to the areas I can't defend. He's probably a distant father and likely was less of a father than Li Yuan. That I cannot defend, and it did bite him big in his later years- leaving the empire without a proactive ruler but rather a sickly cuck of a son as heir. He was very aimless in his wars after Wei Zheng's death. Finally, he was becoming quite distrustful of his court in his last years and repeatedly (and unjustly) "tested" his old generals through demotions just to see how they react. For a man who once openly chastised Liu Bang for killing his loyal generals it seemed he too was having a similar moment. But the distinction was that he did not act upon that strong sense of paranoia.
And even states like Tibetan Empire and Goguryeo that Taizong himself didn't conquer they were still quite potent when Taizong faced them. The course of the Tang in the 7th century, and much of the gains in Gaozong's early reign were all the results of Taizong's great appreciation for talents and his stance. It paid dividends for decades even after his death.
~In respect to his conquest of the Eastern Gokturk Khaganate- yeah it was perhaps more difficult on paper. Mainly because of two things, Taizong had been preparing for a northern expedition for a while and he spent much of the time reforming the economy and strengthening his bureaucracy while he watched and waited. In the year lead up to his invasion the Eastern Gokturks suffered a major devastating winter that killed many of their flock animals. And it was so desperate that Illig Qaghan was forced to bully his vassals for more tributes and animals. This pretty much turned many of the other Turkic princes against him and it was in this backdrop that Taizong- bolstered by the newly prosperous economy pounced. It's also why many of the Turkic princes turned to Taizong's side- including capturing Illig himself.
Either polite gesture, gifts, or other promises to keep the lines of communication open. Remember when Taizong was forced to meet with Illig, he also had to greet and talk to each of Illig's key generals and family. As someone who is always a savvy people person I'm sure Taizong cultivated many connections.
Despite of many Monols in their following, the early Ming emperors did not manege to subdue Mongolia, even though Yongle especially seems to have tried to appeal to their culture (for example by sponsoring Tibetan Buddhism).
Sadly though the Tang could not hold the steppe long enough to pacify it and they did not seem to have tried to settle Han farmers there.
While the Qing did rule non Han areas differently, they always insisted that this wasnt only a personal union, rather that Tibet, Xinjiang or Mongolia were integrated into China the empire, hence that the title of son of heaven being the major one, with all others being subordinate and local.
Besides, I don't like 'Han and Han chinese'，
I prefer you to call me Chinese :)
Yes Turks have segment of their population that gets annoyed when they are called Arabs, especially when Westerners generalize most of the MENA as "Arabs," but their resentment is more due to the ignorance of the speaker more than anything else.
The modern Turkish culture is very Turko- Persian. However Turks are extremely mixed, there are Bosniak Turks, Kurds who are Turkish citizens and Turkics from Central Asia etc. Most conservatives are Sunni Turks from Anatolia interior and they actually want closer ties to the rest of the Middle East- especially to be seen as a regional leader and peacebroker/ kingmaker of the Middle East among Arab nations. They also- especially since the Erdogan years wants more conservative Islamic influence in politics.
However the educated secular Turks are drawn to the old history of the Turks in Eurasia, Ataturk- the name actually means father of the Turks, but also in extension to the Turkics. These circles regard the "True Turks" as having descended from the steppes. Also~ in terms of regional geopolitics they are pretty close to the Iranians (usually in agreement about suppressing Kurdish independence movement.) As for the younger population, many might be weary of the Greek far- right who are pretty dominant in political scenes in Greek politics in the past decade. But mostly the younger secular generations kind of look at the Greeks as 2 part of the same Mediterranean coin. Although the Greeks might not feel the same way.
/Besides, I don't like 'Han and Han chinese'，I prefer you to call me Chinese :)/
Your last point is kind of anecdotal, man.
what's wrong with 'Han Chinese' ??
Modern Chinese are Han by race, Zhou by religion, Tang/Song by culture and Ming by politics.
But their language and identity is still Hungarian with some of their right wing identifying with central Asia.
Till the mongol invasion the nobility in HUngary seems to have still looked distinct enough for other Europeans to call them "dark skinned" the byzantine emperor Manuel komnenos was dark skinned, which was atributed to hisMagyar mother by contemporaries. After the Mongols slaughtered much of the Hungarian nobility though, the racial composition of the elite and populace of Hungary became largly identical. Its interesting how good nomadic invaders are at imposing language and culture on settled majorities. This applies even to such ancient civilizationsas Mesopotamia, Egypt and Greek Asia minor.
Weird how right-wing Hungarians identify with Central Asia. I've always thought the Hungarians are so steeped in European traditions and religion that this notion would be absurd.
And yes, nomads did impose themselves in Anatolia, Bulgaria, Persia and Hungary, .. but not interestingly enough in China or Russia.
While nomads did rule it almost nonstop from the fall of the Sassanides till the 1920s, Persian culture and language did not disapear. In this Persia is more like China and India.
As for China, barbarians did onlyrule all of it for about 300 years anyway. The north was ruled by them more often ofcourse. The "five barbarians" being the longest lasting alien rule, with the Jin only lasting about 100 years and the Liao ruling a small strip of land.
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