Among Li Shimin's many sons, Li Shimin's third son, Li Ke, is slightly special. Li Ke's special feature is that his birth mother, Yang Shi, was the daughter of Yang Guang, the Sui Emperor.
For Li Ke, Tang Gaozu Li Yuan was his grandfather, Tang Taizong Li Shimin was his father, and Sui Emperor Yang Guang was his maternal grandfather. This special relationship, from the time of Li Ke's birth, has profoundly affected his destiny.
In 619, Li Ke was born in Chang'an. This year, the Tang Dynasty had only been established for less than two years, and it had not yet completely unified the world.
Li Ke's mother, Yang Shi, was the daughter of Yang Guang, the Emperor of Sui Dynasty. Just over a year before Li Ke was born, his maternal grandfather Yang Guang died in the Jiangdu coup. After Yang Guang's death, the Sui Dynasty also officially collapsed. The concubines and children around Yang Guang began their turbulent and displaced lives. He was successively held hostage by Yu Wenhua, Dou Jiande, Turks and many other forces. It was not until the fourth year of Zhenguan, after the Tang Dynasty officially defeated the Turks, that it was able to return to the Central Plains again.
In contrast, Yang Fei was much luckier. Although there are very few records of Yang Fei in the history books, it is inferred from some clues in the history books that when Yang Guang went south to Jiangdu, he should not have taken Yang Fei as a daughter, but left Yang Fei in Chang'an. Later, after Li Yuan invaded Chang'an, Concubine Yang also fell into the hands of Li Yuan, and then married Li Shimin. After marrying Li Shimin for a year, Princess Yang became pregnant and later gave birth to Li Ke.
This complex life makes Li Ke particularly special from the day he was born. However, the Imperial Family of the Tang Dynasty held an inherited attitude towards the Sui Dynasty. Therefore, Li Ke's identity as Yang Guang's grandson is actually a plus.
However, because Princess Yang herself was not an empress, and before Li Ke was born, Li Shimin's wife, Changsun Shi, had already given birth to Li Chengqian. Therefore, after Li Ke was born, he was only Li Shimin's son.
In the years that followed, Li Ke spent his childhood. At the age of two, as the grandson of the emperor, he was given the title of King of Changsha County, and at the age of seven, he was renamed the King of Hanzhong County. When Li Ke was eight years old, because Li Shimin launched a Xuanwumen Incident, he successfully ascended the throne and became emperor. Li Ke also changed from the son of a prince to a prince.
In the first year of Zhenguan, Li Ke was crowned king of Han, and a year later, he was renamed king of Shu.
I have to say that Li Ke, who is in the royal bloodline of the Li family and the Yang family for two generations at the same time, really did not disgrace the bloodlines of these two royal families. Since his youth, Li Ke has performed extremely well. Even Li Shimin believed that Li Ke had inherited his own ability and was the most outstanding among many princes.
After Li Ke became an adult, Li Shimin did not hide his preference for him in the slightest, and repeatedly sent him to key areas to become officials. Li Ke did not live up to Li Shimin's expectations, and during his term of office, he basically played a relatively good role. Although he also trampled on crops while going out hunting, he was impeached by Mishi and dismissed from office. But in general, during Li Ke's period as an official, he still performed very well, at least among all of Li Shimin's sons.
But Li Ke could not have imagined that such efforts of his would provoke him to kill himself in the future.
In the seventeenth year of Zhenguan, the prince Li Chengqian's plot was revealed. After this rebellion, Li Shimin was forced to depose Li Chengqian as crown prince. Logically, after Li Chengqian was deposed, Li Shimin's second son, Li Tai, should have been made crown prince. However, Li Tai and Li Chengqian had a dispute with Li Chengqian before, and once Li Tai became the crown prince, after he took the throne in the future, he would definitely kill Li Chengqian. Therefore, Li Shimin could only appoint his third son, Li Zhi, as crown prince.
However, shortly after making Li Zhi crown prince, Li Shimin regretted it somewhat. Because Li Zhi's personality was too cowardly, Li Shimin was very worried that Li Zhi would not be able to sit firmly on the throne in the future. On the contrary, Li Ke made Li Shimin feel very satisfied, so Li Shimin moved the idea of making Li Ke the crown prince.
However, just after Li Shimin had just had this idea, the eldest grandson Wuji, who was the first important minister in the Zhenguan period, expressed his resolute opposition. The reason why the eldest grandson is unscrupulous is very simple, the position of prince is related to the foundation of the country, and it cannot be easily replaced. Moreover, Li Zhi was a concubine, and since ancient times, there has been a system of establishing a concubine without standing up. With Li Zhi as a concubine, there is no turn for Li Ke to be the prince.
In addition to these reasons that can be said, the eldest son Wuji actually has another reason, that is, his relationship with Li Shimin's sons. Li Chengqian, Li Tai, and Li Zhi were all born to the eldest grandson Wuji's own sister, and they all had to be called uncles by the eldest grandson Wujie. Therefore, these three people, who are the princes, do not have much impact on the eldest grandson. But Li Ke is different, Li Ke was born to Concubine Yang and has nothing to do with the eldest grandson Wujie.
After the opposition of the eldest son, Li Shimin also dispelled this idea and never mentioned it again. But what Li Shimin never expected was that this idea of his would send Li Ke a hypnotic charm in the future.
A few years later, Li Shimin died of illness and Li Zhi took the throne. As Li Zhi's older brother and also the oldest living brother of Li Zhi, Li Ke was increasingly used according to the system at that time. In the first year of Yonghui, Li Keguan paid homage to Sikong, and the following year he was awarded the title of Prince Taishi.
As a prince, Li Ke was obviously very good. But as an emperor's younger brother, this kind of excellence seems a bit redundant. At that time, the eldest grandson of the auxiliary government, Wu Jie, also knew that Li Shimin had wanted to make Li Ke the crown prince, and Li Zhi naturally knew about this matter. Therefore, at this time, Li Ke also became quite dangerous and became the object they wanted to eliminate.
Four years after Yonghui, a sudden incident occurred, giving them the opportunity to get rid of Li Ke.
At that time, Li Zhi's sister Princess Gaoyang, who was in love with Ma Fang, united several nobles and planned to launch a coup d'état, depose Li Zhi, and install Li Shimin's younger brother Li Yuanjing as emperor. Under the control of the eldest son Wujie, this conspiracy case was smashed before it was officially implemented, and several key figures were also arrested.
Logically, this matter had nothing to do with Li Ke, because he did not know about it at all, nor did he participate in it. However, under the intentional guidance of the eldest grandson Wujie, Fang Wei'ai falsely accused Li Ke of also participating in the rebellion in order to survive. After receiving Fang's testimony, the eldest son Wuji directly arrested Li Ke, and finally Li Ke was wrongfully killed.
After Li Ke's death, all four of his sons were exiled. Later, a few years later, the eldest son Wuji lost to Wu Zetian in the struggle of the court. The fact that Li Ke was unjustly killed also became one of the crimes of the eldest grandson. After the death of the eldest grandson Wuji, Li Ke was also restored to some of his reputation. But because the order to kill Li Ke was under Li Ke's rule. Therefore, during Li Zhi's lifetime, it was doomed that it would be impossible to fully restore Li Ke's reputation. It was not until after Li Zhi's death, in 684 AD, that Li Ke was finally restored to his title and honor. During the Year of the Divine Dragon, all the fiefdoms were restored.
From Li Ke's story, we can see that for a prince, being too good is not necessarily a good thing. If Li Ke could be as mediocre as other princes, he might be able to die well. But it was precisely because Li Ke was too good and even threatened Li Zhi's throne that he would finally be unjustly killed.
Born in the royal family, sometimes it is quite helpless.