The Story Of China’s Greatest Emperor - Tang Taizong

China's first emperor was chinu wangi he unified the country constructed part of the Great Wall and unified writing roads and weights and measures across the Empire but he did it with an iron fist causing enormous suffering to his people he is perhaps the most famous but not the greatest Chinese emperor so who is China's greatest Emperor well for that we have to look to China's Golden Age The Great tongue Dynasty and the EMP Emperor widely believed to be the greatest ever is the second emperor of that dynasty tang taong and this is his story after the fall of Chin shuang's Chin Dynasty China entered what many call its first golden age the Han Dynasty which lasted 400 years after the Han a period of division followed first it was the Three Kingdoms period when many battles were fought and great Heroes made a name for themselves then the northern and southern dynasties period where again different states competed for power but none managed to take the whole of China that is until the year 581 ad when Yang Jen of the northern Joe Dynasty one of three competing states ended the northern and southern dynasties period unifying all of China under the sway Dynasty or sual he ruled as emperor when or D but the sway dynasty was harsh Emperor W saw himself as a defender of the Buddhist Faith through military force and had Grand plans to build his Empire but this took its toll on the people large numbers of men were called up for labor works and military service they built the Grand Canal extended the great wall and over 1 million men fought in a series of military campaigns against Korea that ended in disaster in 614 ad with over 300,000 casualties the people had had enough and started to rebel and the sway would end up like the chin a shortlived militaristic dynasty that set the stage for a golden age the tongue the man who had become emperor Tang taong was born in the year 598 in shansi Province his name was Lee Shin son of Lee Yen who is a general in the S Army and and actually a nephew of the founding Emperor suwen D leen's mother and thus Le shim's grandmother was the sister of the empress now towards the end of the so Dynasty during the rule of the second so Emperor Emperor Yang the military losses were mounting there were also some prophecies being spread in the Empire that the next Emperor would be surnamed Lee because of this Emperor Yang had already killed one official named Lee hun and his entire family Lee Yen became fearful that he would be next and considered overthrowing the emperor to save him and his family but what he didn't know was that his son Lee schumin had already started planning a rebellion with some of his father's Associates once Lee Yen was told about this he agreed and made his son Lee shimin a general and they started advancing West leimin proved pivotal in the campaign against the sway and in 618 leen's forces prevailed and he established the tongue Dynasty with him as its first emperor reigning as Emperor Galu but while his father served as Emperor Le shimin was still a general and immediately had to start dealing with incursions to the tong Empire some from the outside some from remnants of the sway Dynasty military this culminated in the Battle of hola pass or hola Jan Le shimin returned to the tong Capital Chan as a hero and his father bestowed upon him the title Grand general of heavenly strategies but the territory captured by Lee didn't remain in tongue hands for long and in the year 622 his father sent him back out to the same area this time he used an ingenious strategy of damning a river and then quickly destroying the dam and allowing the resulting flood to destroy the rebel Army now also around this time a rivalry began between Lee shin and his two brothers Lee Jung and lii one time Le shimin suffered food poisoning after visiting Le jum's Palace and he interpreted that as an assassination attempt basically it seems that Lee shimin felt that his older brother Lee jenong who was the Crown Prince and first in line to the throne saw Lee shimin as a threat due to his impressive military achievements and thus his life was in danger so Lee shimin decided to do what any reasonable person would do and kill his brothers first before they could kill him yeah it's dark guys but but you know this is what it's like being part of a powerful family when he was like yeah it's me and he stabbed me we were eight at the time in 626 ad this all came to a head Lee shimin sent his father a message that his two brothers were having affairs with his father's concubines thus Emperor gwu sent summons to liung and leeni but they didn't know that they were walking into a trap you see Le shimin had already taken control of the shenu gate or Shu men the main gate to the Palace in the capital CH and he' done this by bribing the officer commanding the gate who conveniently had served under Lee shimin before and was reassigned to the capital when his two brothers arrived Lee shimin was already laying in waight and personally shot an arrow at his brother Li Jung killing him another officer then caught up with his younger brother lii as he rode off on his horse and killed him too this has come to be known as the shenwu gate incident or the shim's forces then entered the palace and his father Under Pressure first made him Crown Prince but then within a couple of months abdicated yielding the throne to Lee shimin who became the second emperor of the tong Dynasty with the rain name Tang taong Once Emperor Tang taong had control over the country he set about Empire Building he took out many of China's en enemies in battle and also started to expand the Empire West along the silk road towards Central Asia on the military front Tong taong was pretty much undefeated until late in his Reign but although taong came to power in a violent coup and excelled in military matters as Emperor Tong China also flourished from a cultural point of view under his governance taong further developed many of the things that the sway Dynasty had set in motion such as the Imperial examination system system based on the Confucian Classics these exams based on Merit not family background gave opportunities for men from unknown families to have at least a chance of moving up through the highest levels of government the capital city of the Tang Dynasty changan was the largest city in the world at the time with around 1 million inhabitants its exterior walls of ramed Earth were about 35 ft tall and 15 ft thick entering the city from the south gate visitors would travel along a 500t wide Central Avenue that led to the Imperial Palace on the north side of the city many foreigners lived in the city and trade flourished they had visitors from as far away as the Byzantine empire in Europe it was during Tong's Reign that the monk xen xang set out on his journey to India to obtain the Buddhist scriptures this was the real life monk that provided the inspiration for the fictional book Journey to the West in which xen xang is accompanied by the magical Monkey King on his quest written nine centuries later he set off on his quest from changan and returned there in 645 ad to be greeted by Tang taong who was still reigning as Emperor but nothing lasts forever and in the mid 640s taong suffered some military defeats in a battle against a people that occupied what is modern day North Korea as the end of the decade approached Tong's health deteriorated with him passing away in the year 649 ad however the dynasty him and his father founded continued and culture flourished for several hundred more years until the Dynasty's eventual fall it was of course replaced by the Song Dynasty but nothing could match the prowess and Grandeur of tongue Dynasty China from military power to culture to religion to diplomacy everything was at its peak in tongue times it truly was the Golden Age of chin civilization and Tang taong was the most important character of the whole period thank you for watching guys and if you want to experience the spectacle of traditional Chinese civilization on stage my co-host Jared is currently touring with shenan Performing Arts shenyun is the world's number one Chinese classical Dance Company their shows depict myths and legends from Chinese history including stories from the classic novel Journey to the West featuring the monkey King that we talked about in this video if you want to watch the trailer or search for tickets in your city they are doing a world tour so it's very likely they will be performing in a city near you do click the link below and if you do buy tickets through our link you get a waved booking fee as always do subscribe to the channel if you're new and we'll see you next time [Music] bye-bye oh