In the Sui and Tang Dynasty series of romances** and film and television dramas, there is a more tragic character, that is, Shan Xiongxin. Shan Xiongxin was originally the owner of Erxian Village, and later got acquainted with Qin Qiong, and became a brother under the prodding of Xu Maogong, and then turned against Shandong, and since then he has been engaged in a career in Wagangzhai, and became Wang Shichong's brother-in-law when Wagangzhai fell apart, and has since served Wang Shichong, because he has a grudge against Li Yuan to kill his brother, and vows not to surrender to Tang, Li Shimin had to endure the pain and order the execution of Shan Xiongxin.
Although there is a big difference between romance and history, after all, it is the best in actual history, so the basic character story line is certain, and Shan Xiongxin in history was indeed originally a member of the Wagang Army, and then demoted Wang Shichong. After Li Shimin took Dou Jiande and Wang Shichong, Shan Xiongxin was executed.
Some people here are more puzzled, Li Shimin has always cherished talents and loved talents, since Li Tang began to recruit talents before Li Tang raised troops in Jinyang, Wenchen and military generals, as long as they came to vote, Li Yuan and Li Shimin basically accepted them, and even persuaded the generals in the enemy camp to surrender. Fierce generals such as Qin Shubao, Cheng Yanjin, Luo Shixin, Wei Chigong, Xu Maogong, etc., all took the initiative to surrender from the enemy camp or were persuaded to surrender.
So, Shan Xiongxin, known as the "Flying General", is also a great general, why was he killed directly after Wang Shichong's defeat? Is he preferring to die rather than surrender? No, he and Li Tang didn't have the hatred in the romance, and he didn't mean to surrender after he was arrested, and even when Li Tao wanted to intercede for Shan Xiongxin, he still had hope.
According to Li Shimin's character traits of cherishing talents and loving talents, he should like Shan Xiongxin, why did he still kill Shan Xiongxin? Although there is controversy in the two Tang Dynasty books about who ordered Shan Xiongxin to be executed, one believes that it was Li Yuan, and the other believes that it was Li Shimin, but no matter who it is, it is believed that Li Shimin is in favor of the execution of Shan Xiongxin, and he does not have the intention of taking Shan Xiongxin for his own use.
This is very strange, why can't Li Shimin just tolerate an order Xiongxin? In fact, saying that Li Shimin could not tolerate Shan Xiongxin really wronged Li Shimin, and Shan Xiongxin's execution was actually an inevitable result.
Li Shimin's thirst for talent is not a lie, and he also has Fang Xuanling who is good at collecting talents for him, and he really got a lot of capable ministers and fierce generals in the process of pacifying the world, you must know that Li Tang Jinyang's army is lagging behind most forces in terms of time, and there are not so many talents really available.
But we look at the later period, but there are many talents, which is precisely because of Li Yuan and Li Shimin's absorption of talents, so all those who have the ability either take the initiative to vote or are persuaded to vote, and they have become Li Tang's founding heroes.
As one of the founding fathers of the former Wagang Army, Shan Xiongxin has a very close relationship with Li Tao, so it can be guessed that after the collapse of the Wagang Army, Li Shimin thought about bringing Shan Xiongxin under his command, but Shan Xiongxin did not throw himself on Li Tang's side.
After the battle between Wang Shichong and Li Mi Luoyang, the Wagang army collapsed, and most of the Wagang army was obtained by Wang Shichong.
But many Wagang generals couldn't stay with Wang Shichong, so before a battle with Li Tang, Qin Shubao, Cheng Yanjin and others said goodbye to Wang Shichong and went directly to Li Shimin. Among these people who defected to Li Tang, there was no Shan Xiongxin.
It is likely that he thinks that following Wang Shichong is more promising, and in the first battle of Luoyang, Shan Xiongxin has more or less been in contact with Wang Shichong, and later he has indeed been reused by Wang Shichong, since this is the case, there is no need to change the boss.
Even if Li Tao later voted for Li Tang under the persuasion of Wei Zheng, Shan Xiongxin, who was a good friend of Li Tao, was still unmoved, and his loyalty to Wang Shichong can be imagined. As a capable general under Wang Shichong, Shan Xiongxin has always been at the forefront, and he has persevered until the end, and he even almost injured Li Shimin.
Shan Xiongxin has never had the idea of leaving since he followed Wang Shichong, and he has been fighting until the end, if it were not for Wang Shichong to open the city gate and surrender, Shan Xiongxin may have died in battle. As soon as Wang Shichong surrendered, Shan Xiongxin was killed, and "Zizhi Tongjian" recorded:
"More than a dozen people, including Duan Da, Wang Long, Cui Hongdan, Xue Deyin, Yang Wang, Meng Xiaoyi, Shan Xiongxin, Yang Gongqing, Guo Shizhu, Guo Shiheng, Dong Rui, Zhang Tonger, Wang Deren, Su Cang, Guo Shancai, etc., were beheaded on Luoshui. ”
The records in the Book of the Two Tang Dynasty are similar to those in the "Zizhi Tongjian", and there are more than ten people who were executed together with Shan Xiongxin, all of whom are capable generals under Wang Shichong, and they have always been inseparable from Wang Shichong, and they have contributed a lot. These people are bound to be put to death, and even intercession is useless.
At that time, Li Tao pleaded for Shan Xiongxin and wanted to use his official title to protect Shan Xiongxin, but he was rejected, did Li Yuan and Li Shimin not know Shan Xiongxin's ability? Of course not, how could Li Shimin not know Shan Xiongxin's ability? It's just like the sentence in "The Old Tang Book: The Biography of Li Tao":
"Chuping Wang Shichong, won the letter of his deceased Shan Xiongxin, and was executed according to the rules. ”"Executed according to routine", just four words, is the truth of Shan Xiongxin's execution。So why was Shan Xiongxin executed according to the rules? As mentioned earlier, Shan Xiongxin has always been loyal to Wang Shichong and sworn to follow him, which is a big reason, such a loyal Shan Xiongxin missed the best opportunity to defect to Li Tang.
Moreover, before Dou Jiande and Wang Shichong were resolved, the world was actually the most powerful of Li Yuan, Dou Jiande and Wang Shichong, and after Dou Jiande and Wang Shichong were taken down, the world was basically Li Yuan's.
Third, Shan Xiongxin, as Wang Shichong's right-hand man, has been fighting at the forefront, which naturally brought a lot of losses to the Tang army, and he even almost killed Li Shimin, if he stays behind, there must be many people in the Tang army who oppose it, even if he doesn't say it, he is very unhappy in his heart, so there is no need for Li Yuan and Li Shimin to leave Shan Xiongxin.
To sum up, Shan Xiongxin and the remaining dozen or so people were executed according to the rules. Speaking of which, Shan Xiongxin is a great general, at that time when everyone chose "good birds choose trees and perch", Shan Xiongxin always firmly followed Wang Shichong. It's just that he didn't see the situation clearly, or he didn't want to leave Wang Shichong if he saw it clearly, so he ended up with such an ending.