At the end of the Sui Dynasty, the country collapsed and wars broke out. Li Tang raised his troops in Jinyang, and within ten years he defeated all the heroes and unified the world. However, between the illustrious martial arts and the glorious legal system, a deep rift has been cast since the beginning of the founding of the country: Prince Li Jiancheng guarded the center in the name of the legitimate eldest son, and King Qin Li Shimin was famous all over the world with his unparalleled military exploits. Admiral Tiance's Mansion and the East Palace gradually became incompatible twins within the empire.
In the ninth year of Wude, the undercurrent in Chang'an has turned into a storm. Li Shimin, who has made great achievements and is the master of the earthquake, is facing increasingly urgent power reduction and suspicion; Li Jiancheng, who is just and legitimate, is also deeply worried that he will not be able to lose the top spot in the meritorious group. Father and son were suspicious, brothers were hostile, and all the fragile balance finally collapsed on the eve of the summer solstice in 626 AD. On the morning of June 4th, King Qin led his followers to ambush Xuanwumen and attacked and killed the prince and King Qi. A brief fight changed the course of the dynasty.
The Xuanwumen Incident was not only a tragedy of fratricide, but also the ultimate outbreak and violent liquidation of the structural contradictions in the early days of the empire. After the bloodshed, Li Shimin quickly took over power and opened the Zhenguan era, turning his personal moral burden into a driving force for hard work. This book uses a grand narrative of five years and five volumes to analyze layer by layer how this coup sprouted from the banquet of Jinyang's army, fermented in the glory of the unification war, intensified the undercurrent in the court, and finally completed the sword to seal the throat of the old order at the north gate of Chang'an. This is an epic about power, ethics and historical costs, telling how a great empire was born in blood at its darkest dawn.
