Hello everyone, my name is Pei Lian. In Romance**, I was a eunuch in the harem of Emperor Yang of Sui, and later secretly encouraged Concubine Yang Guang to have an affair with Li Yuan, which eventually prompted Li Yuan to launch an uprising.
Let me clarify that all of the above is fiction. I am not a eunuch, but the founding prime minister of the Tang Dynasty. Now, let me tell you about my real life.
I was born in 570 A.D., the fifth year of the Northern Zhou Dynasty, 13 years after the founding of the Northern Zhou Dynasty, and 11 years before its demise. The history of the Northern Zhou Dynasty is too complicated, and what I want to convey is that I was born at the end of the Northern and Southern Dynasties period.
Eleven years after my birth, Yang Jian usurped the throne and established the Sui Dynasty.
For me, the fall of the Northern Zhou Dynasty and the rise of the Sui Dynasty have not changed much. After all, during the period of the Northern and Southern Dynasties, the change of dynasties was the norm, and the difference was only a change in the surname of the new emperor.
My family, Hedong Pei, is a great family with a long history and a prominent reputation, which has emerged since the Eastern Han Dynasty and has endured for thousands of years. According to statistics, my family has produced 59 prime ministers, 59 generals, 14 Chinese scholars and 55 scholars, and more than 600 people have been recorded in the official history.
Therefore, for our family, it doesn't matter who is the emperor, the key is whether they can treat us well and reuse our family's people as officials. My father Pei Yu is also recorded in the official history, and his most ** job is Bohai Taishou, so my family's living conditions have always been good.
After the establishment of the Sui Dynasty, I successively served as Zuo Qinwei, Qizhou Sihu joined the army, served as the imperial history, the driving department undertaker, and the deputy supervisor of Jinyang Palace, which can be said to be promoted step by step.
That complicated official name is really hard to remember, and you don't need to remember it, because it doesn't really mean anything. You just need to know that I was later written as a eunuch in Romance**, just because the last official position was the deputy eunuch of Jinyang Palace.
But in fact, this position has nothing to do with eunuchs. Jinyang Palace was built in the Eastern Wei Dynasty and was first built by Gao Huan. Later, it was expanded during the reign of Emperor Yang of Sui.
This Jinyang Palace is also one of the proofs of Yang Guang's extravagance and large-scale construction. Jinyang Palace has two people, the chief supervisor and the deputy eunuch, I serve as the deputy supervisor, and Li Yuan is the chief eunuch. If I am a eunuch, then Li Yuan has also become a eunuch?
This passage tells that because of the relationship between my position, I am closely connected with the old Li family. When Yang Guang ascended to the throne, his series of promiscuous behaviors ruined all the family business left by Emperor Wen of Sui, resulting in the demise of the Sui Dynasty after only two generations of existence.
In the twelfth year of the Great Cause, Li Yuan was sent to Taiyuan to stay behind. As a colleague, I have a good relationship with Li Yuan. At that time, I could tell that Li Yuan was a little dissatisfied with Yang Guang's behavior, but he did not take action because Yang Guang was still in power and the Sui Dynasty was also very strong.
However, Li Yuan's second son, Li Shimin, is different. Although this young man was young, he was very bold, and when he saw that the situation was getting worse, he began to contact everywhere and prepare for a rebellion.
Li Shimin was worried that Li Yuan would disagree with their plan, so he approached me for help. I saw that the Sui Dynasty was about to fall, and it seemed wise to stand on Li Yuan's side and encourage him to start an uprising.
So, I set a trap and chose two palace maids from Jinyang Palace to serve Li Yuan, which put him in a predicament. Because the palace maids of Jinyang Palace belong to Emperor Yang of Sui, if this matter is **, Li Yuan will definitely die.
I took this opportunity to present Li Shimin's plan to Li Yuan. Faced with this situation, Li Yuan had to accept this result. However, I think Li Yuan is actually very good at acting.
I don't believe that his second son has done so many things that he will not know at all? Isn't this a fool? If he hadn't secretly instructed him, would Li Shimin, who was only in his early twenties, be so bold?
In addition, if you are really afraid of accountability, it is a big deal to dispose of those palace maids, why do you have to rebel? At that time, the entire Taiyuan was controlled by Li Yuan, and it shouldn't be easy to secretly dispose of a few palace maids, right?
This story is not fiction, but a real thing. I am not a eunuch of Jinyang Palace, but Li Yuan's right-hand man. It is said that the two palace people I sent to serve Li Yuan later became his favorites, and they were suspected of fornicating with Li Jiancheng and Li Yuanji's brothers.
I don't know about this detail, because this belongs to the Li family's family affairs, and as we all know, the Li family's housework has always been messy, and it is difficult for outsiders to understand.
However, in any case, this incident made Li Yuan officially recognize the need to resist and began to actively prepare. Coincidentally, at this time, Liu Wuzhou under Li Yuan launched a rebellion, which made Emperor Yang Guang of the Sui Dynasty furious and planned to escort Li Yuan to Jiangdu for questioning.
Li Yuan was unwilling to sit still, and after a period of preparation, in July of the thirteenth year of the Great Cause, he resolutely announced the start of the army. In the process of Li Yuan's army, I played an important role, preparing 90,000 pieces of grain and grass, 50,000 pieces of miscellaneous colors and 400,000 collar armor in Jinyang Palace in advance for Li Yuan's use.
With adequate preparation, Li Yuan captured Chang'an in just four months, proclaimed Yang Yu as emperor, and then unified the Guanzhong region.
Li Yuan's success in unifying Guanzhong was due to a variety of reasons. First of all, the Central Plains was in a state of great chaos, and the Wagang army was fighting fiercely with Wang Shichong, and there was no time to take care of Li Yuan. Secondly, Li Yuan was well prepared, and immediately received the support of the Guanlong family after raising the army, so he was able to quickly pacify Guanzhong.
He made Yang Yu the emperor, recognized himself as the prime minister, appointed me as the chief of the prime minister's mansion, and promoted me to the Duke of Wei. Then, Li Yuan played the trick of Zen Rang, wanting Yang Yu to give him the Zen position, but he didn't want to accept it.
According to other similar events in history, it was necessary to have a person who advised with a hundred officials, and I played that role at that time. After Li Yuan's repeated refusals, and the persuasion of me and Baiguan many times, he finally agreed.
Subsequently, the Tang Dynasty was founded. After the founding of the Tang Dynasty, as the person who once encouraged Li Yuan to raise troops and was responsible for persuading him, I naturally had the number one Conglong Gong, and I was named the right servant of Shangshu and became the prime minister.
Through the ups and downs, I am a little complacent and a little lost. In the second year of Wude, Huang Ziying and Song Jingang under Liu Wuzhou invaded Taiyuan, and I took the initiative to ask Ying, hoping to lead the army to the battle.
My inner thoughts are very simple, as a prime minister, there must always be some military exploits as proof, right? However, apparently I did not have this ability, and was eventually defeated by Song Jingang and escaped with difficulty.
Li Yuan also had to take action in this regard and put me in prison temporarily. But soon after, Li Yuan released me again and trusted me as always. In the fourth year of Wude, a person named Wei Yunqi accused me of rebellion, but after investigation, it was found that there was no factual basis.
In order to show his trust in me, Li Yuan personally came to my house as a guest, and even gave me the right to mint coins, and even married me as a family of children.
During the Li Yuan period, I served as Shangshu Zuo Servant and Sikong, although I didn't think I had great talents. Li Yuan treats me so favorably for two reasons: first, the family behind me is powerful, and he needs the support of the family to consolidate his power; The second is that I am his right-hand man and have played an important role in his fight against the world.
Even after the Xuanwumen Incident, Li Shimin became emperor, and I still had his respect. During a sacrifice in the southern suburbs, the eldest grandson Wuji and I were invited to share the car with Li Shimin.
The eldest grandson Wuji is Li Shimin's eldest brother, and he is also his important general and the mastermind of the Xuanwumen Change. And I am the leader of the old ministers of the former dynasty, and Li Shimin also needs to respect me.
However, in the third year of Zhenguan, a monk named Faya spread heresy, and I was dismissed from my official position and rushed back to my hometown because I failed to report to Li Shimin in time. When I returned to my hometown, a madman told my servant that I had what it took to be emperor.
I had the servant disposed of, but the servant was released. Soon, because my behavior violated the ** law, and I took revenge on him, he told Li Shimin. As a result, Li Shimin actually exiled me.
It's really a cool tea! This kind of thing was nothing when Li Yuan was still in power. I know that Li Shimin was friendly to me when he first ascended the throne, and he hoped to get the support of a former minister like me.
But three years later, he was in full control of the power, and it was only natural that he would drive me out to make room for his cronies.
I was eventually exiled in Jingzhou and died of illness, posthumously named the Duke of Wei. Looking back on my life, I deeply feel that the reason why I was able to become the first prime minister of the Tang Dynasty was mainly because I had a keen insight, and I was the first to see Li Yuan's power and decisively follow him.
As for talent, I am indeed inferior to those famous ministers in the Zhenguan period, and it is a little reluctant to serve as a minister compared to me. However, the Li family's unloading and killing of donkeys really made me feel helpless.
Of course, my life has not been without mistakes. The biggest mistake was the unjust killing of political opponent Liu Wenjing. Liu Wenjing is also a founding minister, and his talent is above mine.
Because I was jealous of him, I was later suspicious of Li Yuan. Therefore, I also contributed to the trouble, prompting Li Yuan to kill him. This is probably the biggest stain of my life.
Although my life was ordinary, I was fortunate to be the first prime minister of the Tang Dynasty. As for the gains and losses of my life, I will leave it to future generations to comment.