Defeat and Death
In summer 619, An Xiuren's brother An Xinggui (安興貴), then serving as an official under Tang's Emperor Gaozu, proposed that he go to Liang to try to persuade Li Gui to submit. He further told Emperor Gaozu that his plan was to first try to persuade Li Gui, but that if he was unable to do that, he would rise against Li Gui and overthrow him. Emperor Gaozu agreed with the plan.
Once An Xinggui arrived in Wuwei, Li Gui made him a general. He tried to persuade Li Gui to submit to Tang and offer his territory to Tang. Li Gui refused, believing that he could defend his realm against Tang. An Xinggui then plotted with An Xiuren, and they gathered the Xiongnu people to attack Li Gui. Li Gui was unable to withstand the attack, and withdrew within Wuwei. An Xinggui put Wuwei under siege, while calling for the people to surrender. The people of Wuwei exited the city in droves to surrender to An Xinggui. Li Gui, seeing that the situation was hopeless, climbed up the tower he built for the goddess, along with his empress, holding one final feast of farewell. An Xinggui soon entered the city and captured him, delivering him to Chang'an. Emperor Gaozu executed him and his sons and brothers.
Read more about this topic: Li Gui
Famous quotes containing the words defeat and, defeat and/or death:
“And this must be the prime of life . . . I blink,
As if at pain; for it is pain, to think
This pantomime
Of compensating act and counter-act,
Defeat and counterfeit, makes up, in fact,
My ablest time.”
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“Life has no other discipline to impose, if we would but realize it, than to accept life unquestioningly. Everything we shut our eyes to, everything we run away from, everything we deny, denigrate or despise, serves to defeat us in the end. What seems nasty, painful, evil, can become a source of beauty, joy and strength, if faced with an open mind. Every moment is a golden one for him who has the vision to recognize it as such.”
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“Lo! Death has reared himself a throne
In a strange city lying alone
Far down within the dim West,
Where the good and the bad and the worst and the best
Have gone to their eternal rest.”
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