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Li Xiaogong was a member of the royal family and a famous general of the Tang Dynasty. He was the cousin of Emperor Taizong of Tang, Li Shimin, and ranked second among the twenty-four heroes in the Lingyan Pavilion.

The real Li Xiaogong in history was actually a very interesting person.

The Tang Dynasty gave him a very high evaluation, recognizing him as the top general and ranking him second on the Lingyan Pavilion list of meritorious officials.

But later generations generally believed that Li Xiaogong's life achievements were mainly due to the fact that he had a good deputy general named Li Jing, and he was led by this super teammate Li Jing.

"In the 11th year of the Sui Dynasty, Li Xiaogong was born. He was born into a Guanlong noble family, and his father was Li An."

"He first served in the Northern Zhou Dynasty. After Emperor Wen of the Sui Dynasty ascended the throne, he served successively as the Minister of Internal History, the Minister of the Left, and the Minister of the Imperial Household. He was conferred the title of General of the State of the Sui Dynasty."

"My grandfather was Li Wei, the commander-in-chief of Shuozhou in the Northern Zhou Dynasty, and the seventh son of Li Hu, Duke of Tang."

"Li Xiaogong has five brothers: the eldest brother Li Qiong, the second brother Li Chen, and the two younger brothers Li Yu and Li Gui."

"Li Xiaogong has been calm and smart since he was a child, and has a broad mind and is the most famous of Li An's sons."

"In the first year of the Sui Dynasty, Li Yuan raised an army in Jinyang and conquered Chang'an. The following year, he proclaimed himself emperor in Chang'an, named the country Great Tang, changed the era name to Wude, and appointed Li Xiaogong as Zuo Guanglu Dafu."

"Soon after, he was appointed as the ambassador of consolation to Shannan Road, and ordered to go to the Bashu region to pacify it."

"When Li Xiaogong's camp arrived, more than 30 prefectures and cities came to submit to him. He led his army to defeat Zhu Can, the leader of the Bashu region, and captured countless people and horses."

"Because Zhu Can killed and ate people alive and harmed the local area, the generals suggested that Li Xiaogong kill him."

"Li Xiaogong considered that the troops to the east were all rebels, and if Zhu Can was killed, they would resist stubbornly and would not surrender, so he refused."

"He released all the captives and sent letters of decree to the leaders of various places."

"Sure enough, the imperial edict was sent everywhere, and everyone came to submit. Bashu was finally settled."

"In the second year of Wude, the Kaizhou barbarian leader Ran Zhaoze rebelled. Li Xiaogong led the Tang general Li Jing to fight against the rebellion. Li Jing led 800 elite soldiers to attack the camp at night, defeated the Ran army, and killed Ran Zhaoze in battle."

"Li Xiaogong was appointed as the governor of Xinzhou due to his merits, and was granted the power to grant officials with rights and interests."

"In the same year, Li Xiaogong presented Li Yuan with a plan to pacify Xiao Xian, who was separatist in Jiangling. Li Yuan was very pleased and adopted his suggestion."

"Appoint Li Xiaogong as the Prince of Zhao, change Xinzhou to Kuizhou, and appoint Li Xiaogong as the governor of Kuizhou."

"Order them to build ships, train the navy, and prepare to attack Xiao Xin."

"Li Xiaogong recruited and employed the sons of tribal leaders from various prefectures and cities in the Bashu region, claiming to be selecting talents for the country, but in fact he was holding them hostages."

"Soon after, the court appointed Li Xiaogong as the commander-in-chief of the Jingxiang Road, commanding 12 armies on land and sea, and setting out from Xizhou to attack Jiangling."

"Li Xiaogong led his army down the river and successively captured the two cities of Jingmen and Yidu."

"After Xiao Xin learned about this, he sent General Wen Shihong to lead tens of thousands of troops to station at Qingjiang. Li Xiaogong decided to take advantage of the victory and fight."

"Li Jing believed that Wen Shihong's morale was high and unstoppable, so he advised Li Xiaogong to avoid him."

"Li Xiaogong refused and left Li Jing to guard the camp while he led the army himself. As expected, he was defeated and fled to the south bank with the remaining troops."

"Wen Shihong took advantage of the great victory and let his troops plunder. The soldiers looted everywhere and the place was in chaos."

"Seeing this, Li Jing took advantage of the chaos and sent troops to defeat the Wen army, capturing more than 400 warships of various types and killing or drowning 10,000 soldiers."

"Later, Li Xiaogong sent Li Jing to lead 5,000 light cavalry to the city of Jiangling. He also abandoned all the boats captured in Qingjiang into the river. The generals were puzzled and asked Li Xiaogong why he abandoned the boats."

"Li Xiaogong said that the land from the sea in the south to Dongting Lake in the east belonged to Xiao Xin, and they attacked Jiangling."

"If things don't go smoothly, and the enemy reinforcements arrive, we will be attacked from both sides, and even these warships will be useless."

"We will now send the empty ships down the river. If Xiao Xin's subordinates see these warships along the way, they will surely think that Xiao Xin has been defeated and will not easily come to help. By the time they get accurate information, they will have already captured Jiangling."

"Soon after, Xiao Xin's reinforcements saw the empty ship and dared not come to help."

"Xiao Xin was blocked inside and outside Jiangling City, and had no choice but to leave the city and surrender. Xiao Xin was destroyed."

"When Li Yuan learned about this, he was very pleased and appointed Li Xiaogong as the chief governor of Jingzhou. He also hired a painter to paint a portrait of Li Xiaogong."

"After Li Xiaogong took office, he reclaimed wasteland and established farmland in the local area, opened a copper mine, and provided convenience for the people."

Su Shi: If we talk about relationship, Li Xiaogong should call Emperor Gaozu of Tang, Li Yuan, his cousin.

Li Yuan's grandfather, Li Hu, the actual founder of the Li family, had a total of eight sons in his life.

Among them, the third brother is Li Yuan’s father, and the seventh brother is Li Xiaogong’s grandfather.

Li Xiaogong's childhood can be considered both lucky and helpless.

Although this branch of their family did not inherit the title of his great-grandfather.

But his grandfather and his father are both pretty powerful men.

Especially Li Xiaogong's father, named Li An. Li An was once a confidant of Emperor Wen of Sui Dynasty, Yang Jian. He served as the Minister of Internal Affairs, the Minister of the Left, and the Minister of the Imperial Household of the Sui Dynasty.

Unfortunately, Li An died relatively early, when Li Xiaogong was very young.

Therefore, Li Xiaogong lost his father very early in his childhood and youth.

But at the same time, he also inherited the title left by his father and lived a pretty good life.

Later, after Li Xiaogong came of age, he was able to enter the officialdom smoothly with the help of his ancestors and served as an official in the Sui Dynasty for two years.

However, as Li Xiaogong entered officialdom, the Sui Dynasty began to falter and its rule gradually collapsed.

When Li Xiaogong was 27 years old, his cousin Li Yuan raised an army directly from Jinyang and attacked Chang'an a few months later.

The following year, Li Yuan ascended the throne directly in Chang'an and established the Tang Dynasty.

Li Yuan's uprising undoubtedly fundamentally changed Li Xiaogong's fate.

Not only did it allow Li Xiaogong to leap from an ordinary aristocrat to a branch of the royal family.

Moreover, because Li Yuan had not yet unified the country at that time, he was afraid that if generals from other factions were sent to fight, it would easily lead to a situation where the tail was too powerful to be controlled, so he was particularly inclined to let members of the Li family lead the troops.

As a result, Li Xiaogong, who was in his prime, was naturally drafted by Li Yuan and was responsible for leading troops to fight.

After that, Li Xiaogong was sent to Sichuan by Li Yuan.

At the end of the Sui Dynasty, the population in Sichuan was actually not that large, and many of them were local tribal natives.

Therefore, when the Sui Dynasty just fell, there were no major separatist forces in this area, and it was still in a relative vacuum state.

After Li Xiaogong was sent to Sichuan, he relied on some troops given to him by Li Yuan and some official hats to successfully take care of the local area and nominally incorporated this place into the territory of Li Tang.

However, because many local people were residents of indigenous tribes, Li Xiaogong had very little control over the local area.

In order to suppress the frequent rebellions in the local area, Li Xiaogong was already exhausted and could not solve the problem fundamentally. But at this time, the most important man in Li Xiaogong's life came to his side.

As the Li Tang regime successively defeated Xue Ju and Li Gui in the northwest, and Liu Wuzhou in Shanxi, the Tang Dynasty was basically completely safe.

So at this time, Li Yuan turned his attention to Wang Shichong in Luoyang.

However, if Li Yuan wanted to attack Wang Shichong, he had to consider two enemies.

One was Dou Jiande from Henan, and the other was Xiao Xin from the south.

These two people were both famous heroes at the end of the Sui Dynasty.

Once Li Yuan and Wang Shichong went to war, Li Yuan was very worried that they would take advantage of the opportunity to reap the benefits.

In order to prevent Xiao Xing from going north, Li Yuan followed Li Shimin's recommendation and appointed the surrendered general Li Jing to lead an army to go south for support.

"In the sixth year of Wude, Li Xiaogong was transferred to be the Minister of the Left of Xiangzhou Daoxingtai. At that time, Lingnan region had not yet been pacified. Li Xiaogong sent envoys to pacify it. All 46 states in Lingnan came to submit, and Jiangnan was completely pacified."

"In the same year, the Jiangdong hero Fu Gongju rebelled and invaded Shouyang. Li Yuan ordered Li Xiaogong to be the marching marshal to suppress the rebellion."

"In the seventh year of Wude, Li Xiaogong arrived in Jiujiang from Jingzhou and led the troops of Li Jing, Li Ji, Huang Junhan, Zhang Zhenzhou, and Lu Zushang to attack Fu Gongju."

"Fu Gongju sent the generals Feng Huiliang and Chen Dangshi to lead the navy to station at Bowang Mountain, and ordered Chen Zhengtong and Xu Shaozong to lead the infantry and cavalry to station at Qinglin Mountain."

"Li Xiaogong's army arrived, and the auxiliary army took a dangerous position to invite a fight. Li Xiaogong held his camp firmly and avoided fighting. At the same time, he sent troops to attack the auxiliary army's food supply route."

"The auxiliary army was running low on food and fodder, and was eager to engage in battle, so they sent troops to attack the Tang army camp at night, but Li Xiaogong still held his ground."

"Later, Li Xiaogong sent old and weak soldiers to attack the rebel camp, and ordered his subordinate Lu Zushang to lead strong soldiers to form an array and ambush them."

"After the old and weak soldiers who went to attack the camp were defeated, the rebels took advantage of the situation to pursue them. On the way, they were ambushed by Lu Zushang's troops and were defeated in a fierce battle."

"The auxiliary army general Chen Zhengtong abandoned his camp and fled with Feng Huiliang to Liangshan. Li Xiaogong took advantage of the victory to pursue and destroy their Liangshan camp. Thousands of auxiliary army naval officers fell into the river and drowned. Chen Zhengtong led the army to escape overnight."

"Li Xiaogong also sent Li Jing to capture Guangling, Yangzi and other important towns."

"In March of the same year, Fu Gongju was at the end of his rope and abandoned his old nest in Danyang and fled eastward."

"Li Xiaogong sent cavalry to pursue the enemy to Wukang, captured Fu Gongju and his fake prime minister Ximen Junxian and dozens of others alive, and the rebellion was quelled."

"The imperial court issued an imperial edict to commend Li Xiaogong for his meritorious service. He was rewarded with a superior mansion, two groups of female musicians, seven hundred slaves, countless gold and treasures, and was appointed as the Minister of the Southeast Circuit, Zuo Pushe."

"Later, he was appointed as the Grand Commander of Yangzhou, commanding the Jianghuai and Lingnan regions."

"Since the end of the Sui Dynasty, the world has been in turmoil, and many heroes have emerged, among the descendants of the Tang royal family."

"Except for Li Shimin, who commanded the whole country, Li Xiaogong was the only member of the Li family who could take charge and expand the territory."

"Li Xiaogong wanted to subdue the distant army with his prestige, so he built his house in the stone city and set up sentries to protect himself."

"At the end of the Wude reign, someone in Yangzhou accused Li Xiaogong of treason. Li Yuan ordered him to return to the capital for investigation, but found no evidence. He pardoned him and made him a minister of clan affairs, granting him a fief of 1,200 households. Later, Li Xiaogong served as the governor of Liangzhou and the governor of Jinzhou."

"In the early years of the Zhenguan period, Li Xiaogong was promoted to Minister of Rites and was renamed Prince of Hejian."

"Li Xiaogong was extravagant by nature and loved banquets. He had hundreds of singing girls and dancing girls, but he was forgiving and humble to others, without any arrogance or complacency."

"Therefore, he was deeply loved by Emperor Taizong of Tang, and no one in the entire royal family could compare to him."

"Despite his wealth and status, Li Xiaogong was not happy but sad. He sighed to his loved ones with a sense of loss, saying that his house was too grand and magnificent, and he should sell it and buy a smaller one that could accommodate him."

"After he dies, if his children have talent, they can keep the family business. If they don't, it will prevent such a good house from being sold to others."

"In the 14th year of Zhenguan, Li Xiaogong died of illness at the age of 50."

"Emperor Taizong of Tang mourned for him in plain clothes and cried very sadly."

"Li Xiaogong was granted the title of Sikong and governor of Yangzhou, buried in the Xianling Mausoleum, and given the posthumous title of Yuan. He was enshrined in the temple of Emperor Gaozu of Tang."

Wang Anshi: When Li Yuan was preparing to rebel, Li Jing had thought about reporting Li Yuan, but unfortunately he failed.

Later, Li Jing was captured by the Tang Dynasty, surrendered to Li Yuan, and was then assigned to serve as a staff officer under Li Shimin.

During the time Li Jing served under Li Shimin, Li Shimin discovered that Li Jing was a rare military talent, which was why he recommended Li Jing at this time.

In this way, not long after, Li Jing led his troops all the way south and finally arrived at Li Xiaogong's side.

Next, Li Xiaogong began to be led by Li Jing.

After Li Jing led his troops to Sichuan, he found the situation a bit complicated.

Next, Li Jing developed a detailed strategic plan and submitted it in the name of Li Xiaogong.

After receiving this strategic plan, Li Yuan was overjoyed, because he knew that this strategic plan proposed by Li Jing in the name of Li Xiaogong was indeed very feasible, so he approved it directly.

So why did Li Jing propose this battle plan in the name of Li Xiaogong?
This is actually not complicated. The main reason is that Li Xiaogong is a member of the Li royal family, and Li Yuan is more receptive to his proposal.

However, because Li Jing had previously reported Li Yuan's misdeeds, it was difficult for Li Yuan to trust him.

It was for this reason that Li Xiaogong became the nominal proponent of this plan.

After that, under Li Jing's arrangement, Li Xiaogong first found the sons of local tribal chiefs and granted them official positions.

In name, he was an official under his command, but in reality he was just a hostage to guard against those tribes causing trouble.

With these protons in hand, the situation in Sichuan suddenly became much quieter.

Next, with the help of Li Jing, Li Xiaogong began to build warships and organize navy.

More than a year later, when Li Shimin defeated Wang Shichong and Dou Jiande in one battle in Luoyang, Li Yuan quickly mobilized heavy troops to march south.

At the same time, Li Jing's battle plan began to unfold.

Li Jing personally led the navy all the way down the Yangtze River. At lightning speed, he brought the army directly to Xiao Xin's capital and forced Xiao Xin to surrender.

Just a few days after Xiao Xin surrendered, the hundreds of thousands of elite troops that Xiao Xin had deployed in the south all rushed back.

But at this time, Xiao Xin had already surrendered, so these elite troops were reorganized by Li Jing and became the army under Li Xiaogong.

In this way, Li Xiaogong became the most powerful prince of the royal family in the Tang Dynasty at that time, and he was the only one in the south.

Throughout the entire process, Li Xiaogong was stationed in the central army and was responsible for the central coordination.

The battle plan was formulated by Li Jing, and the front-line fighting was also commanded by Li Jing.

So, you can judge for yourself which of the two people has made a greater contribution.

After defeating Xiao Xian, Li Yuan ordered Li Xiaogong to continue to lead the troops eastward and take full responsibility for the war in the south. (End of this chapter)