From ancient times to the present, as an emperor, he has his own unique views, and there are reasons for the choice of things and people.
For example, there are some generals who are brilliantly talented and have distinguished themselves, and who are rare candidates for conquering the eight directions, but they can be kings but do not listen to persuasion, saying that not appointing is appointment.
Su Dingfang of the Tang Dynasty is a good example, and Su Dingfang was a recognized general of the Tang Dynasty, which was rare in the world.
So what did Su Dingfang, a famous Tang Dynasty general who was abandoned after only one battle, do wrong? Let Li Shimin not value?
Li Shimin was a man who killed his brothers and seized the throne regardless of blood. In his eyes, Jiangshan is the most important, so everything that hinders his throne and the development of the Tang Dynasty can be ignored.
Su Dingfang was a well-known general in the late Sui and early Tang dynasties, a native of Wuyi County, Hebei Province, born strong, trained martial arts from an early age, deeply understood the true tradition of his father's martial arts, went out with his father at a young age, accumulated valuable combat experience in the chaotic era of the late Sui Dynasty, from the rebel army in Hebei province, he successively followed dou Jiande, the king of Xia, Liu Heimin, and then became famous for his bravery and good war, and the leaders of many forces wanted to take him under his command.
After Li Yuan and Li Shimin father and son founded the Tang Dynasty, it was not until Li Shimin ascended the throne that Su Dingfang began to be willing to serve the Tang Dynasty.
For this reason, he was one of the generals who joined the Tang Dynasty camp relatively late, and naturally he was inferior to the founding heroes and wagang heroes in terms of merit and reward.
Generally speaking, after Li Shimin had done everything properly and the Tang Dynasty's unification of the world had become an ironclad fact, Su Dingfang had joined in, so in Li Shimin's eyes, Su Dingfang was never a loyal talent.
However, out of his ability, he accepted it and ordered him to follow the general Li Jing on his expedition to the north. In the Battle of Yinshan, Su Dingfang found an opportunity, expressed quite outstanding, personally led more than 200 light cavalry, bravely fell into the position, attacked the enemy's base camp, and also killed into the army tent of Jieli Khan, conquered the enemy, and finally this battle, ending in the complete victory of the Tang Dynasty army, Su Dingfang was indispensable in this battle, and was later promoted to the post of commander-in-chief of the march.
There is a history to investigate, Tang Taizong Li Shimin looked at people with a particularly accurate vision, and was very sorry for talent. However, since Su Dingfang achieved great merit in the Battle of Yinshan, he was no longer reused by Li Shimin.
Since then, Su Dingfang can be described as ordinary, holding an insignificant position, never fighting on the battlefield, as if he was snubbed by Li Shimin and "invisible" in a low-key manner.
After more than 20 years, until Li Shimin died in the west, Su Dingfang was still not weighed.
The reason for this is that some people believe that in the course of Su Dingfang's northern expedition to the Eastern Turks with Li Jing, he exposed his nature, did not follow military discipline, and privately took his subordinates out to plunder the locals, so he was also punished by Li Jing.
Although there were not many people in the know about this matter, Li Shimin, as the emperor, should know, so the impression of Su Dingfang in his heart was greatly reduced.
Su Dingfang had joined forces with the general Cheng Yaojin to attack the Western Turks in the sixth year of Yonghui, at which time he was given the post of commander of the former army, and in the early stage of the war, he braved the present and won the first victory, so that the Tang army smoothly advanced to the Yuledus River Valley in the Western Regions.
As everyone knows, after going deep into the enemy camp, the Western Turk tribes, familiar with geographical advantages, led 20,000 iron cavalry troops to kill.
Cheng Yaojin and Su Dingfang, due to lack of geographical advantages and being in the enemy township, did not play well, and were dragged by the enemy to fight, and within a few days, the Western Turks had 20,000 reinforcements coming, a total of 40,000 troops to suppress the Tang army, this time Cheng Biting Jin could not retreat, almost died here.
Su Dingfang, who was stationed at the front line that day, stood on a high place and watched the dust and smoke rise in front of him, and the shouts gradually increased, and he judged that the enemy was coming. At this moment, he did not retreat but advanced, selected five hundred trapped dead soldiers, and rode lightly around the mountains and forests to attack the rear base camp of the Western Turks, forcing the enemy army to retreat. Then, Cheng Yaojin led the main force to pursue and kill, staining the local area with blood all the way, killing more than a thousand Turkic soldiers.
In this battle, Wang Wendu, the deputy commander-in-chief, was jealous of Su Dingfang's achievements, so he instigated Cheng to bite the gold, not to rush forward, but to pay attention to organizing the army, focusing on defense.
Then he falsely preached the holy will, falsely claiming that Cheng had bitten Jin and won the military power. After that, Wang Wendu gathered the main army and camped to defend it, giving up the perfect opportunity to invade the core area of the Western Turks.
Unexpectedly, the defensive time was long, and the food for the rear support was not timely, resulting in the soldiers being exhausted, the war horses dying of disease and starvation, and the morale was rapidly low. Su Dingfang could not bear it, and told Cheng to bite the gold, indicating that the morale was low and the people and horses were trapped, and if they were suddenly resurfaced by the Turkic army, they would undoubtedly lose.
Then he persuaded Cheng Tonjin not to listen to the words of the deputy general manager and asked that Wang Wendu be detained, but unfortunately Cheng Biting Jin did not listen at all.
At the end of 656, the Tang army returned from the expedition, Cheng Yaojin was deposed and abandoned because of his pause in attacking, and Wang Wendu should have been beheaded, but somehow he was exempted from death and demoted to a commoner. Su Dingfang was also implicated and heavily affected.
As for why Li Shimin abandoned Su Dingfang, there are several theories in the anecdote. Li Shimin took advantage of every opportunity day by day, and other founding heroes could not take care of it, not to mention Su Dingfang, who came to the top and had only one meritorious service, so that under the entanglement of cumbersome political affairs, he forgot About Su Dingfang, so that he did not think of it for more than 20 years, and Su Dingfang did not have many contacts in the imperial court, and other civil and military officials saw that Li Shimin did not say a word, and it was not good for him to mention this person again.
Another reason may be related to the special relationship between Su Dingfang and Dou Jiande and Liu Heimin.
At that time, at the end of the Sui Dynasty, the crowd chased after the Central Plains, Su Dingfang was deeply favored by Dou Jiande and Liu Heimin, willing to fight for his life, and the Eastern Expedition to the West to win many victories, but unfortunately the situation was ever-changing, Dou Jiande, Liu Heimin and his gang were gradually defeated by other stronger forces and withdrew from the stage of history.
After their rout, Su Dingfang also lost his life goal and future direction, so he disarmed and returned to the field and found a beautiful mountain retreat.
After that, the power of the world fell into the hands of Li Yuan's father and son, and the Tang Dynasty was established from then on. After that, Li Shimin seized the throne by killing his brother, and soon he issued an edict to the world, inviting the heroes of the world to assemble and attack the Turkic tribes in the north.
At this time, Su Dingfang may have been in the mountains for a long time, and wanted to complete the unfinished ambition of unifying the army, so he went out of the mountain and surrendered to Li Shimin. At that time, Li Shimin did not pay much attention to Su Dingfang, but only arranged for him to follow Li Jing.
Later, Su Dingfang established great merit under Li Jing, and Li Shimin may have paid close attention to him, and out of the custom of rewarding merit and deeds, he also gave Su Dingfang the title of official.
However, Li Shimin was an emperor with a strong sense of suspicion, and when he learned of Su Dingfang's origins and experiences, he worried that the other party was Dou Jiande, and Liu Heimin sent a traitor who lurked around him, so he always snubbed Su Dingfang, and even did not dismiss the official and did not reuse it, and always excluded him from government affairs and military affairs.