Fish and Sheep History
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See fresh history
Author: Wang Jia Hai
EDIT: Eat hard drives
Illustration: Developed mosquitoes
The balance of power, also known as the "balance of power principle", is to put the competing forces in a relatively stable and contained state, and not to make either side too strong to break the balance of power and undermine stability. This can be said to be an ancient strategy that does not necessarily require doctrinal elaboration, but is universal as common sense.
The ruling class loves this kind of power game, balancing forces to stabilize their dominance, and once the established balance is broken, there will be disastrous consequences, and even those who implement checks and balances will be eaten back
So that in history, fathers and sons turned against each other, and fratricidal things happened from time to time. Tang Gaozu Li Yuan was such a self-inflicted man.
#01：
The rain and dew are all wet, and the heart is relieved; every article is martial, slightly crazy
At that time, Li Yuan raised an army in Jinyang, several sons had their own strengths, and they were all his most effective assistants; the second son Li Shimin was even more outstanding, and only he could compete with the heroes of the world in the Central Plains; the eldest son, Li Jiancheng, was more than enterprising and insufficient, and was suitable for participating in the administration of the country and strategizing; the third son, Li Yuanji, was still young and had mediocre intellect, so he followed the eldest brother to study as a staff officer.
At the beginning, Li Yuan had promised Li Shimin that after the world was determined, he would be made crown prince. Li Shimin also lived up to expectations, relying on his super military ability and outstanding personality charm to envelop many heroes Haojie and sweep away the world.
However, after the establishment of the Tang Dynasty, Li Yuan established Li Jiancheng as the crown prince according to the principle of "standing up for a long time and not establishing a child, and establishing a concubine without establishing a concubine". At this time, Li Jiancheng was also quite accomplished in the administration of the country, and as the nominal future heir to the throne, he naturally received the support and support of the old nobles of Guan Long.
In order to make up for Li Shimin and balance the power of the Guanlong aristocratic clique represented by Li Jiancheng, Li Yuan began to support Li Shimin and pioneered the title of "General of Heavenly Strategy", who could recruit subordinate officials on his own.
As a result, Li Shimin recruited rebels and recruited xianliang, and tiance fu soon gathered a group of loyal generals such as Changsun Wuji, Fang Xuanling, Du Ruqian, Qin Qiong, and Wei Chigong, which could be described as a group of talents and unique scenery, and developed into a clique force that could be used against the Guanlong nobles represented by Li Jiancheng.
At this point, two large groups of mutual opposition and checks and balances were formed in the imperial court: the Guanlong aristocratic group represented by Crown Prince Li Jiancheng, and the new aristocratic interest group represented by Li Shimin. During the Wei and Jin Dynasties, the Guanlong nobles controlled a large number of resources and were one of the richest and most powerful groups, and the Sui Wen Emperor Yang Jian was supported by the Guanlong nobles and founded the Great Sui Jiangshan.
After the fall of the Sui Dynasty, Li Tang arose, and Li Yuan and the crown prince Li Jiancheng became the new agents of the Guanlong aristocratic clique, representing the interests of the old nobility. On the other hand, Li Shimin collected all kinds of talents in the war, most of them were born in the grass, and Tiance Fu was a new aristocratic interest group.
The dispute between the prince and the king of Qin is actually a dispute over the distribution of interests between the old nobles and the new nobles. As the actual ruler at that time, Li Yuan did not want any one of the power groups to be too powerful to affect his position and rule, so he implemented a policy of checks and balances.
#02：
One after another, panic; a glass of poisonous wine, two blanks
With Li Shimin's southern conquest of the Northern War and his unworldly merits, "Meritorious And Shocking Lord" became a major problem in Li Yuan's heart, and he once said that "this child has been a soldier for a long time, he is autocratic outside, taught by the reading Han, not my former son."
Li Yuan was extremely uneasy about the strength displayed by Li Shimin, and his real purpose was to use Li Shimin to contain the prince and the Guanlong aristocratic clique he represented, and the result he wanted to see was that Li Shimin and Li Jiancheng's brothers restrained each other, and they balanced themselves, after all, stability prevailed over everything.
But now that Li Shimin's power has affected his own dominance and power, that "balance of power" is about to be broken.
Li Yuan's own wishful thinking was to use the jealousy of Li Jiancheng and Li Yuanji to suppress Li Shimin. At this time, in order to avoid suspicion, Li Shimin took the initiative to apply for a passage through Luoyang, but the crown prince Li Jiancheng slandered Li Shimin for holding military power and having a rebellious heart, and could not return to the mountain, and Li Yuan refused Li Shimin's request. He had always been very confident that he would reconcile his brothers from them, but he did not expect that doing so would make the struggle between the two men more intense.
So Li Yuan instructed the crown prince Li Jiancheng to arrange a dinner party, let the three brothers eat and chat together, and resolve the misunderstanding, who knew that Li Jiancheng and Li Yuanji secretly poisoned Li Shimin. However, the assassination ended in failure, and Li Shimin told his father Li Yuan all the events to visit him, hoping that he would handle it impartially, but Li Yuan's handling made Li Shimin very disappointed, "Shangxing Xigong, the people's disease, the edict said: 'The King of Qin cannot drink, and he will not be able to drink at night from now on.'" Just reprimanded Li Jiancheng.
This practice has obviously greatly hurt Li Shimin, and the brothers have gone from the previous open strife and secret struggle to the point where you are dead and alive today, and the father-son relationship is also considered to be over, and Li Shimin has the idea of launching a coup d'état in his heart.
#03：
The bottom of the pot draws salaries, things are done desperately; brothers turn against each other and kill machines
Li Jiancheng could not resist weakening Li Shimin's power long ago, and began by removing those around him: First, he expelled Du Ruyi, Fang Xuanling, and other important advisers of the Tiance Government, and stipulated that they should not meet privately without permission, so as to unload Li Shimin's left and right hands; second, he thought of digging up the wall and feet, lobbying Qin Qiong, Wei Chigong, Cheng Zhijie, and other military generals, xu Zhizhi, a high-ranking official Houlu, to let him betray Li Shimin, but he failed to do so.
The opportunity finally came, Wude nine years, the northern Turks were raging, who should lead the army to go out? Li Shimin was indeed the perfect candidate, but Li Yuan, out of checks and balances, actually agreed to let Li Yuanji command the troops as the marshal, and Li Jiancheng and Li Yuanji had a poisonous plan in mind, wanting to "borrow" Qin Qiong, Wei Chigong, Cheng Zhijie, and other generals from the Qin dynasty to lead the troops to the front to resist the enemy.
They wanted those borrowed tiance fu civilian and military generals to either use it for him or get rid of the eternal troubles, the purpose of which was to cut off Li Shimin's wings and think about it with great fear.
However, Li Yuan actually agreed with Li Jiancheng's suggestion, and also stipulated that all the soldiers and horses used were requisitioned from the Qin Palace. It is enough to prove that he also felt that the military strength of Li Shimin, the King of Qin, was too strong, and weakening a little was good for consolidating imperial power.
Li Jiancheng also asked his confidant Taishi Ling Fu Yi to falsely accuse Li Shimin of rebellion: he has not yet, too white to return to the heavens. Fu Yi played: "Too white to see Qin, the king of Qin should have the world." Li Yuan's handling of this matter was to summon Li Shimin into the palace to inform him of this matter, and also asked him how he felt, which was tantamount to forcing Li Shimin to rebel. This time, Li Shimin also sued the prince for fornicating with the harem and suggested that he go to the palace the next morning to confront him. The matter of fornicating the harem directly poked At Li Yuan's sore spot, and he agreed to Li Shimin's suggestion, which laid the groundwork for the change of Xuanwumen.
#04：
Eating its own fruit will eventually lead to disaster; it is the happiest to endure and endure
The next thing, everyone knows, Li Yuan, who did not control the situation well, experienced the tragedy of fratricide.
But at least his adaptability is still very strong, the balance built in his heart has been broken, Li Yuan understands that the wood has become a boat, the general trend has gone, so he said that the princely party deceived himself, which led to a discordant relationship with Li Shimin, and wrote an edict to let Li Shimin handle the aftermath instead of himself.
After everything was properly handled, Li Shimin went to see Li Yuan, the two of them hugged and cried, and after staging a father-son relationship, they got back together, Li Yuan was played for Li Shimin to see, for self-preservation, and Li Shimin was played for the ministers and the people of the world. Just in this situation of superficial harmony and hidden danger, the two fathers and sons completed the transfer of power, and Li Yuan seemed to have retired from the achievements, but in fact, he was still a little unwilling in his heart, but he had no choice. The ripples caused by a coup were thus quelled as if nothing had happened.
After Li Shimin ascended the throne, he first deposed Li Yuan's confidant Pei Huan, and other courtiers who supported Li Yuan were also deposed, and he put an end to the possibility of Li Yuan's participation in the government. He also restricted his father's personal freedom, relocating him from Taiji Palace to Hongyi Palace, where he could only entertain himself in his later years.
Throughout Li Yuan's magnificent life, there were great powers in his hands, beautiful people on the side of the highlight moment, but also experienced the sadness of losing his son, and finally was controlled and overhead, but fortunately, the wealth is still the same, the descendants are long, and it can be regarded as a good end.