In the period of imperial autocracy in ancient China, the safety of the palace and the emperor was extremely important. The army responsible for guarding the palace is called the Forbidden Army. Precisely because of the important tasks of the Forbidden Army, the Forbidden Army is strictly selected and requires professional training to ensure the safety of the palace.
At the beginning of the founding of the Tang Dynasty, Li Yuan had 30,000 forbidden troops under his command. Unexpectedly, the Xuanwu Gate incident happened. Li Shimin killed his elder brother, Prince Li Jiancheng, and his younger brother Qi Wang Yuanji, and became emperor himself. So where were the Imperial Guards when Li Shimin led a group of arrogant generals to slaughter brothers and brothers at Xuanwu Gate? Why didn't you come to stop it?
First of all, the institutional construction in the early Tang Dynasty was very incomplete. Perhaps it was because the emperors of the Tang Dynasty, whose families were descendants of northern ethnic minorities, were informal and informal, so they were not very rigorous in system construction. After the founding of the Tang Dynasty, Li Yuan built the palaces where his sons lived not far from the imperial palace. What's even more terrible is that these sons are the ones who help him conquer the world. They can freely enter and exit the palace with their guards at any time. Li Yuan seems not to regard himself as an emperor, but as a patriarch. His sons can enter the palace at any time. Come and see for yourself.
I guess the imperial troops stationed at the palace were not surprised to see the princes coming and going all day long. This also gave Li Shimin the opportunity to arrange things at Xuanwu Gate in advance. In this regard, Li Yuan made a big mistake. As the king of a country, he still restrained his sons by managing a large family. This is obviously not acceptable. Strict rules and regulations must be established. The princes are both sons and sons. Ministers, those who should be restrained must be restrained.
Of course, if you want to control an army, the generals of this army must be bribed. The general in charge of the imperial army was called Chang He. Li Shimin can be said to have been kind to Chang He. Chang He was Li Jiancheng's subordinate at first, and later followed Li Shimin to conquer the world. Li Shimin recommended him to become the general of the Forbidden Army and stationed him at Xuanwu Gate. From this, we can see that Li Shimin was still very calculating.
Although he may not be able to predict when it will happen, he has arranged his own people at the entrance of the palace. Xuanwu Gate is the gateway to the Taiji Hall of the Imperial Palace, and it is really used at critical moments. It also shows that Li Shimin's statement that he was forced to rebel was also false. He had long been ambitious for the throne and had his mind set in advance.
In addition to Chang He, two Forbidden Army generals were bribed, one was named Jing Junhong and the other was named Lu Shiheng. They were very secretive before the Xuanwu Gate Incident. Li Jiancheng would not doubt that Chang He, who was once under his command, had actually turned over to Li Shimin. If Li Shimin wanted to launch a mutiny, he would naturally need to bring weapons and troops. If these people hadn't turned a blind eye to such a big movement, how could no one have noticed it.
When Li Jiancheng and others attacked Xuanwu Gate, these two generals were the first to rush out to confront Li Jiancheng and others, naturally to gain credit for themselves. The Forbidden Army only obeys the command to fight, and the generals have been bribed. No matter how many Forbidden Army there are, what is the use? Just a headless fly.