The Historical Background of Li Shimin's Military Thought

Li Shimin (598-649) was an outstanding politician and strategist in the history of China, and his literary and political talents reached the peak. In the long-term military practice, Tang Taizong has formed a wealth of military thoughts, including geostrategic thoughts worthy of reference and summary by future generations.

The so-called geo-strategy is to study the influence of geographical environment on strategy from a strategic height, so as to seek and safeguard the overall plan of national interests by using geographical relationship and its law of action. Geo-strategic thought is a rational understanding of geo-strategic issues. Emperor Taizong's geostrategic thought is his rational understanding of geostrategic issues, and it is his strategic thought to seek and safeguard the interests of the Tang Dynasty by using the geopolitical relationship between the Tang Dynasty and the neighboring minority regimes and their laws of action. Emperor Taizong's geostrategic thought is an important part of China's ancient geostrategic thought, which has a unique ideological content different from that of the west and modern times.

During the reign of Emperor Taizong, the territory was vast, the boundary line was tortuous, and the geographical situation was complex, which developed and changed with time. Looking back at the geopolitical relationship between Tang and its surrounding areas in this period, there are not only military interests, but also political and diplomatic interests, as well as Tang's economic interests, which are more complicated and complicated. Emperor Taizong successfully handled the relations with the northern Turkic, western Tubo, northwest Gaochang and other western countries, northeast Korea, Silla and Baekje. Emperor Taizong's geostrategic thought came into being, developed and matured in the process of dealing with the geopolitical relationship with the surrounding areas.

Emperor Taizong's geostrategic thought has distinct characteristics of the times and its own uniqueness, and the two are ingeniously integrated throughout his geostrategic thought.

The characteristics of Emperor Taizong's geostrategic thought mainly include the following points: First, positive and enterprising. This is the most remarkable feature of Emperor Taizong's geostrategic thought, and it is also the most successful and desirable place in his thought. Emperor Taizong's heroism is unmatched by many emperors in previous dynasties, which is also an indispensable factor for his success. The second is to respond flexibly. Emperor Taizong did not panic in the face of major changes, but could change according to the changes of objective situation and objects, thus ensuring the correctness of decision-making to a great extent. The third is calm and pragmatic. In view of the lessons of the Sui Dynasty, Emperor Taizong tried to overcome the shortcomings of emperors who were eager for quick success and quick success, and resorted to past military tactics. He pays attention to the actual needs, does what he can, and implements pragmatic policies on the basis of calm analysis. The fourth is orderly processing. No matter whether the attack on the Turks in the north or the attack on Gaochang in Xiping, especially when passing through the western regions, it was carried out in an orderly way, from near to far, which also showed the maturity of Emperor Taizong's geostrategic decision.

Emperor Taizong's geostrategic thought is an important part of his military thought, which not only made a breakthrough in theory and reached a new height, but also achieved great success and remarkable achievements in practice. History: "In the fourteenth year of Zhenguan, the eastern part of the Tang Dynasty was in the sea, the western part was in Yanqi, the southern part was in Lin Yi, and the northern part was in the desert. They were all counties, with a length of 9,510 miles from east to west and 1,918 miles from north to south." (Note: Zi Tong Zhi Jian, volume 195, published in September of the 14th year of Zhenguan of Emperor Taizong. ) Emperor Taizong's outstanding achievement lies in that he reopened the territory of the Chinese nation with heroism beyond his predecessors, and made great contributions to the later determination of China's territory. The achievement of this brilliant achievement is closely related to Emperor Taizong's geostrategic thought. Even today, Emperor Taizong's geostrategic thought has some merits.

Exploring Tang Taizong's geostrategic thought will undoubtedly deepen the understanding of Tang Taizong's military thought and provide beneficial enlightenment for today's military thought research.

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Emperor Taizong's geostrategic thought contains rich contents, mainly including the following points:

(A) concentrate on fighting for Guanzhong, consolidate the idea of "China". Among them, the Guanzhong standard thought of valuing righteousness over profit is the "root" of Emperor Taizong's imperial industrial achievements and the starting point of his geostrategic thought.

Throughout the founding history of China's dynasties, all those who set out to conquer the world should be familiar with the situation of mountains and rivers in the world and determine their own strategic direction. Once the geographical position is lost, it may lead to irreparable losses. The first place is one of the important reasons why Emperor Taizong can win the world.

Before the uprising, Emperor Taizong had been aware of the general trend of the world, and always had a clear understanding of the geostrategic position of Guanzhong (now Lingbao County in Henan Province and its west, Guanzhong Basin and Danjiang Basin in Shaanxi Province) and saw its special and important geostrategic value in the military. After the uprising, actively forge ahead in Guanzhong, making it a consolidated base for unifying the world; After he ascended the throne, he devoted himself to the construction of Guanzhong, making it the political, economic, military and cultural center of the whole country. Emperor Taizong attached great importance to the construction of base areas and always paid attention to "roots" and "roots" in the practice of long-term military struggle. He played a decisive role in the process of starting an uprising in Taiyuan and entering Guanzhong. After Emperor Taizong ascended the throne, he further developed and perfected this deep-rooted thought. Judging from a series of speeches and practices of Tang Taizong, his thought of consolidating the foundation has a gradual deepening process, from general to thorough, from vague to clear, which shows that Tang Taizong's understanding of this issue is gradually mature. It is precisely because of his solid thinking that in the complicated political and military struggle situation at that time, the Tang Dynasty advanced and retreated calmly, defended well and handled it with ease. This can't be said that Emperor Taizong had a far-reaching vision.