Tang Taizong can be said to be a generation of Ming emperors in politics, leading the Tang Dynasty to an era of unprecedented strength, and the history books also refer to the era under his rule as the rule of Zhenguan.
However, in terms of obtaining political means, Tang Taizong could not be said to be unforgiving; he mutinied at Xuanwumen, killed his brothers Li Jiancheng and Li Yuanji, forced his father Li Yuan to give way to him, and after taking the throne, he also took Li Jiancheng's wife Yang Shi for himself. Today we will go back to that period of history to find the answer.
Li Shimin's success was not achieved overnight, he was born in the last year of the Sui Dynasty, Li Shimin fought with his father from an early age, and in 615 AD, the Sui Emperor was besieged by the Turks at Yanmen, and Li Shimin immediately went to the rescue when he heard the news.
At that time, Li Shimin was only eighteen years old, a young general, and the number of troops he commanded was far less than that of the Turkic army besieging the Sui Emperor, at this time Li Shimin had a plan, he ordered the army to make a big show, giving the Turk army a lot of illusions, they would naturally retreat. The Turks received the news and withdrew their troops, which shows that Li Shimin was a young talent.
In 616, Li Yuan was sent to Taiyuan by the Sui Emperor, Li Shimin naturally followed, when the Gaoyang thief chieftain came to attack Taiyuan, Li Yuan took the lead in attacking, but unfortunately was besieged in the thief camp, and then Li Shimin led the cavalry to attack the enemy to rescue Li Yuan, and the father and son killed a way out together.
This also shows that Li Shimin's ability to command the army and his combat strength are not insignificant. In fact, this was reflected as early as childhood, Li Shimin was born in the Li Family Annex where he learned martial arts, he was very fast to learn martial arts, and he had his own unique views on things, and everyone thought that his future was immeasurable.
In 617 AD, the Sui Dynasty Emperor overhauled the canal and levied three conquests of Goguryeo, the national treasury was already very empty, and could only increase taxes, so the people rose up, and the Sui Dynasty also fell into riots, and many places had fallen.
At this time, Li Shimin, with his foresight, saw that the sui dynasty was approaching, and he advised his father to raise an army against the Sui, and Li Yuan also followed his advice. Li Shimin captured the West River with strong military ability.
Li Yuan made Li Shimin the Right Leading Governor. Since then, Li Shimin, as Li Yuan's most powerful subordinate, has continuously attacked the city. Finally, in 618, Emperor Gong of Sui ceded the throne to Li Yuan, who changed the name of the country to Tang, Jianyuan Wude, Emperor Taiwu, and Gaozu of the Temple, who was later known as Tang Gaozu.
After Tang Gaozu Li Yuan was made emperor, Li Shimin was given the posts of Yongzhou Mu and Shang Shuling, and Li Shimin was made a great general of the Marquis of Right Wu because of his extremely strong military ability, and for many years he fought for the Tang Dynasty, and most of them were victorious.
However, Li Yuan, the grand ancestor of Gao, made Li Jiancheng crown prince, while Li Shimin could only be a prince. Li Shimin was naturally indignant in his heart, Li Shimin recruited famous people from all over the world to strengthen himself, and in the fifth year of Wude, the sea was too peaceful, and Li Shimin opened a literary museum to receive famous people from all over the world.
Li Shimin's attitude toward celebrities was also very gentle, always demoting himself to discuss the scriptures with the scholars, and even talking until midnight, which also paved the way for Li Shimin and his brothers to compete for the throne later, and the world's celebrities and military generals followed him.
It is worth mentioning that Li Shimin has been fighting for many years, and he has always had a woman around him, she is the later Empress Eldest Sun, she married Li Shimin in the cardamom years, and has been assisting Li Shimin for decades to come, and is indeed a virtuous helper.
The record of Prince Li Jiancheng in the Zizhi Tongjian says that Prince Li Jiancheng had a lazy temperament and also liked to drink alcohol and covet women. The description of Li Yuanji is also often wrong, so it can be seen that the two are not loved by Gao Zu, on the contrary, Li Shimin is very popular with Gao Zu.
However, because Li Shimin's merits were high, Wei Zheng repeatedly advised Li Yuan to freeze Li Shimin to regain the right to return to the army, otherwise the future would sooner or later become a major disaster. Li Yuan also appointed Fei Huan, as Wei Zheng said, but in the end it led to the defeat of the army, and he could only re-appoint Li Shimin.
The crown prince Li Jiancheng's battle achievements and abilities were inferior to Li Shimin's, so even as the crown prince, he was greatly jealous of Li Shimin, and he contacted his younger brother Li Yuanji, who used the emperor's brother as bait to make Li Yuanji cooperate with him to help Li Jiancheng become emperor.
Li Jiancheng and Li Yuanji formed a princeling party to coerce Li Shimin, and in order to protect himself, Li Shimin gathered the able men and women of these years as a court of princes and princelings, and because of his outstanding military achievements over the years, there were naturally more people following him than the princelings.
In 619, the princeling clique continued to persecute Li Shimin, and In order to protect himself, Li Shimin had to lead his people to the gate of Chang'an Xuanwu and shot Li Jiancheng with an arrow. Subsequently, Li Yuan made Li Shimin the crown prince, and in the ninth year of Wude, Gaozu Zen gave the throne to Li Shimin, and since then Li Shimin has come to power and become Emperor Taizong of Tang.
After Tang Taizong ascended to the throne, he changed the name of the country to Zhenguan, and opened the 23-year rule of Zhenguan, Tang Taizong made good use of capable people, and most of the people who originally followed him also found a good official to benefit the people. And Tang Taizong granted amnesty to the world and reduced taxes, and most of the people loved him.
But he did one thing, which was not so bright, that is, he took in Li Yuanji's wife, Yang Shi. There are two things in the world that men are most willing to fight for, that is, power and beauty, Tang Taizong has reached the peak of power, although he is not absurd, but he must also like beauty.
At that time, the feudal dynasty could be said to attach great importance to this kind of ethics and morality, especially the prevalence of Confucianism, and the world attached great importance to ethics. But Li Shimin still risked the risk of being a big deal for the world and hooked up with Yang Shi for some reason.
According to unreliable historical descriptions, the Yang clan was originally a dancer in the capital, Li Yuanji was a mercurial person, loved to linger in the wind and moon place, and once he saw the Yang clan, he was addicted to it, and he vowed to marry the Yang clan back.
As the son of Tang Gaozu and the King of Qi, this background naturally made the Yang clan fall in love with it, and eventually Li Jiyuan also married the Yang clan back home. Once Li Shimin accidentally saw Yang Shi and was also addicted to it.
It didn't take long for the Xuanwumen Revolution to occur, Li Jiyuan was killed, and Yang became a widow. Therefore, Li Shimin decided to include the Yang clan in his harem. But Yang's husband and children had both died at the hands of Li Shimin, how could she possibly agree.
Why did Empress Eldest Sun turn a blind eye to Li Shimin's seizure of his sister-in-law? After all, Empress Eldest Sun has been accompanying Li Shimin to fight since she was sixteen years old, which is actually related to the ancient marriage system.
Polygamy in ancient times was very common, especially in some wealthy families, not to mention li shimin, the son of the royal family, and the empress dowager naturally could not say anything, and it is said that she also helped Li Shimin persuade the Yang clan to make Li Shimin a concubine.
The loyal minister Wei Zheng also advised Li Shimin many times not to do so, and the content of his letter was: "Your Majesty is better than Tang and Yu, why bother yourself with Chen. The meaning of this sentence is that the Yang family is not a good person, why should they ruin their good reputation?
However, although Li Shimin knew that what he had done was wrong, he did not listen to Wei Zheng's advice, and Wei Zheng did not continue to advise, after all, this matter would not destroy the foundation of the royal family, so there was no need to cause discord among the courtiers.
Moreover, according to the records, Li Shimin did not really take Yang Shi as a concubine, and eventually Yang Shi buried her in the name of the wife of Li Yuanji, the King of Qi, after her death, so it is very likely that she and Li Shimin were just lovers and did not really occupy her.
Li Shimin, as the founder of the rule of Zhenguan, must have contributed to the good preparation for the prosperity of the Tang Dynasty, after all, under his rule, the people were fed and clothed, rarely suffered from war, encountered disasters, and would also open granaries to save the people from water and fire, so Li Shimin was indeed a good monarch of a generation, and some people in later generations even evaluated him as an emperor for thousands of years.
But for the matter of forcibly occupying the Yang family, there may be another insider. From today's point of view, Li Shimin must have been morally wrong, but in the early Tang Dynasty more than 1,000 years ago, when the people's customs were open and Hu and Han were mixed, the impact of this matter was far less than that of the "Rule of Zhenguan" or "Heavenly Khan".