Emperor Taizong of Tang

Emperor Taizong of Tang is generally regarded as the finest ruler in Chinese history. Born Li Shimin in 598 into a powerful aristocratic family of mixed Chinese and steppe descent, he was the second son of Li Yuan, a Sui official. He persuaded his father to rebel as the Sui dynasty collapsed under the cost of the Grand Canal and failed Korean campaigns, and he commanded the armies that defeated the rival contenders and secured the empire between 618 and 623 while still in his early twenties. His elder brother, the heir, moved against him. In June 626 Li Shimin ambushed and killed both his brothers at the Xuanwu Gate of the palace, had their sons executed, and forced his father to abdicate within two months. He spent the rest of his life aware of how he had come to the throne. His government became the model that later dynasties measured themselves against. He kept the examination system and expanded it, reduced taxes and the labour levy, revised the legal code with a marked reduction in capital offences, and required death sentences to be reviewed several times before execution. He deliberately employed men who had served his enemies, above all Wei Zheng, who had advised his brother to kill him and who then criticised him to his face for two decades. Taizong said a bronze mirror shows the dress, but a man is the mirror that shows one's faults. He destroyed the Eastern Turkic Khaganate in 630 and was acclaimed Heavenly Khan, extending control across Central Asia. He died in 649.

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