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Tang Taizong (599-649), named Li Shimin, was the second son of Li Yuan, the second emperor of the Tang Dynasty (618-907).

At the end of the Sui Dynasty (590-618), peasant uprisings rapidly swept throughout the country due to heavy taxation, successive wars and extravagance of the emperor. In the year 617 Li Yuan was dispatched to Tai Yuan by Sui Yangdi (the Sui emperor), to battle the rebellion by the peasants there. Li Shimin, the most capable among all of Li Yuan's sons, had his own plans as he was sure that Sui would not last long. He persuaded his father to raise troops and rebel against the Sui Dynasty.

Li Shimin, who, at the age of sixteen, already showed his outstanding military ability, persuaded his father to borrow military power from a formal enemy country of the Sui Dynasty -- the Hun.

Before long, Li Yuan left Jin Yang and headed for Chang'an together with 30,000 soldiers. After the army taking Chang'an in a flash, Li Yuan made Yang You, son of Sui Yangdi, nothing but a temporary puppet emperor. When Sui Yangdi was assassinated by an aide in 618, Li Yuan deposed the puppet prince and declared himself emperor, and changed the name of the empire to the Tang Dynasty (618-907). The following years he was assisted by Li Shimin who continued to command the rebel armies and conquered all other rebellions, consolidating the kingdom.

On taking the title and name Emperor Gauzou, Li Yuan decreed that his eldest son, Li Jiancheng, should be the Crown Prince. Li Shimin, the second son, was granted the title Prince of Qin. A third son had died long before, so the fourth son, Li Yuanji was granted Prince of Qi.

Of these three sons, Li Shimin was the most ambitious and intelligent. It was he who had made the greatest contribution to the campaign to secure the empire for his father. This fact troubled the Crown Prince for he saw Li Shimin as a threat to his own position. Conspiring with his younger brother, Prince Qi, he tried to get rid of Li Shimin.

Unhappy with his father's incompetence and tired of the constant threats against him by his brothers, Li Shimin launched a palace coup at the Xuanwu Gate in 626. Both the Crown Prince and Prince Qi were killed. This was recorded as The Xuanwu Gate Coup. As a result, Li Yuan was then compelled to abdicate in favor of Li Shimin, and the latter ascended the throne as Emperor Taizong, whose reign was called Zhen Guan.