Li Shimin (Emperor Taizong)

In the flickering candlelight of the Jinyang Palace, the empire was collapsing, yet his father Li Yuan hesitated. The nineteen-year-old Li Shimin secretly enlisted the counsellors Pei Ji and Liu Wenjing, and declared with fierce conviction: "Opportunity must not slip away; to take arms and pacify all under Heaven begins today!" The righteous army swore its oath at Taiyuan. He led from the front, storming Huoyi and Linfen, sweeping into Guanzhong with lightning force. With blood and resolve, a youth raised the curtain on the founding of the Tang.

Chang'an had fallen and the Tang was founded, yet rival warlords still carved up the Central Plains. The young Prince of Qin rode across the battlefield, where a life-or-death duel awaited him at Hulao Pass.

In the fourth year of Wude, as Luoyang lay under siege, Dou Jiande rushed a hundred thousand troops to its relief. While his generals trembled, Li Shimin defied them all, seizing the Hulao Pass with just three thousand Black Armour Cavalry. Feigning weakness, he lured the enemy deep, then, when they were spent, charged straight into their command and captured Dou Jiande alive. Hearing the news, Wang Shichong surrendered. Half of China was settled in a single stroke. The war song of the Black Armour Cavalry—"uniting mountain and river to bring peace to the people"—echoed across the realm.

Having captured two kings in one blow, the Prince of Qin was hailed across the realm and made General of Heavenly Strategy. Yet his glory shadowed the throne, and the storm of Xuanwu Gate was gathering—a choice that would decide the fate of the Tang.

Upon the throne at Taiji Palace, the twenty-eight-year-old Li Shimin ruled the realm. Setting aside old grudges, he appointed his former rivals Wei Zheng and Wang Gui, and reminded himself that "water can float a boat, but it can also capsize it." He streamlined governance into the Three Departments and Six Ministries, introduced the equal-field and tax systems, lightened burdens, and ruled with mercy—so that doors were left unlocked at night and lost goods lay untouched in the streets. When Wei Zheng died, he cried: "With bronze as a mirror, one can dress properly; with history as a mirror, one knows the rise and fall; with people as a mirror, one clarifies gains and losses. Now that Wei Zheng has passed away, I have lost one of my mirrors!" The Reign of Zhenguan became the model of Chinese political brilliance.

The Reign of Zhenguan flourished in governance, yet the northern frontier never rested. When Turkic horsemen thundered across the Weishui River, how would the future Heavenly Khagan turn back two hundred thousand warriors with a single rider's courage?

In the early years of Zhenguan, Jieli Khagan led two hundred thousand horsemen to the Weishui Bridge. Li Shimin rode out alone, calmly parleying and turning back the invaders by sheer audacity. Four years later he sent General Li Jing on a night raid across the Yin Mountains, utterly subjugating the Eastern Turks. Leaders of the northern tribes journeyed to Chang'an to acclaim him "Heavenly Khagan." He proclaimed grandly: "From antiquity rulers have favored the Central Plains and despised the frontier peoples; I alone cherish them all as equals." Peoples of every tribe lived as one family, the great road to the khagans linked Eurasia, and the Silk Road ran unbroken—the Tang, with its all-embracing spirit, became the cosmopolitan heart of a world that came to pay homage.

The fame of the Heavenly Khagan spread across Eurasia. Yet time spares no one. In the twenty-third year of Zhenguan, the emperor who had forged this golden age reached the end of his life at Cuiwei Palace in the Zhongnan Mountains, and would rest forever in the embrace of Mount Jiuzong.

In the twenty-third year of Zhenguan, the fifty-one-year-old Emperor Taizong passed away at Cuiwei Palace in the Zhongnan Mountains. Rejecting ostentatious earth mounds, he pioneered a frugal new style, carving his tomb deep into the heart of Mount Jiuzong. Before it, the six beloved warhorses painted from life by Yan Liben—Baitiwu, Telebiao, Saluzi, Quanmaogua, Qingzhui, and Shifachi—were sculpted into stone reliefs, standing eternal guard over the founding emperor. "The setting sun illumines the imperial banners, the horses whinny as the wind gently blows." The Six Steeds keep their vigil; an eternal path of good governance, the golden glory of the Tang. The spirit of the Heavenly Khagan now lives forever with the mountains and rivers.