After Li Dan became emperor for the second time, Li Longji was made crown prince by Li Dan for his merits, and finally under Li Dan's Zen throne, he ascended the throne and became a righteous emperor, many people know this history, and also know that Li Longji is Li Dan's third son, but few people know that in fact, before Li Longji became crown prince, his identity was the son of Li Hong.
Patriarchally, before Li Longji became crown prince, he was no longer Li Dan's son, so why was he still able to be made crown prince by Li Dan, and whose throne did he inherit from a patriarchal point of view?
Li Longji was passed on to His Great Uncle Li Hong
For example, the first prince lied to li zhi was his eldest son Li Hong (posthumously honored as emperor xiaojing), li hong was the eldest son born to Li Zhi and Wu Zetian, in addition to Li Hong, the two also had three sons, Li Xian, Li Xian, and Li Dan.
Li Hong, because he was the eldest son of a concubine, became the crown prince early, and Li Zhi had high hopes for him, specifically looking for a master to educate and train Li Hong, Li Hong himself was also very contentious, Wen Tao was slightly superior, and he was also very benevolent and intelligent, after seeing the daughter of Concubine Xiao Shu who had been imprisoned by Wu Zetian for many years, Li Hong insisted that Wu Zetian release the two to get married, and Wu Zetian, at Li Hong's insistence, promised the two to two Yiwei, fulfilling Li Hong's wish.
It can be said that Li Hong's quality in all aspects is fully in line with the standards of the successor, Li Zhi after his own physical discomfort, he planned to pass the throne to Li Hong early, so he personally began to train and train Li Hong, let him adapt to the feeling of being an emperor, Li Zhi took Li Hong to Luoyang, but unfortunately Li Hong suddenly fell ill and died, leaving posterity with an unsolved mystery.
Regarding the reason for Li Hong's death, if we look at it purely from one thing, it is still difficult for us to deduce any effective conclusions, but combined with the fact that Li Xian was later framed by Wu Zetian, first demoted to a shuren, and then forced to die, many people believe that the cause of Li Hong's death at that time was inseparable from Wu Zetian.
After all, Wu Zetian was seizing power at that time, and judging from the political situation when Li Xian was later framed and forced to die, at the time of Li Hong's death, Wu Zetian had not yet fully grasped the real power, so she could only unknowingly eliminate him, and when Li Zhi established Li Xian as crown prince, Wu Zetian had time to conspire again to seize power.
After Li Xian was deposed as a shuren, Li Zhi made Li Xian crown prince, and later Li Zhi died, and Li Xian successfully ascended the throne as emperor, but unfortunately, the real power at this time was completely in the hands of Wu Zetian, and Li Xian struggled a little, and was deposed by Wu Zetian and replaced by his younger brother Li Dan.
Li Dan was the youngest son of Wu Zetian and Li Zhi, and had witnessed the tragedy of his three brothers since he was a child, he knew that he was not a rival of Wu Zetian, and could only obediently become a puppet emperor, just in the second year of Li Dan's reign, the third Li Longji was born, because Li Dan was still an emperor at this time, so Li Longji was crowned as the King of Chu as soon as he was born.
As mentioned earlier, although Li Dan was an emperor, he actually did not have any real power, and the real power at that time was all in the hands of Wu Zetian, perhaps Wu Zetian wanted to hide his eyes and ears or make a show to win people's hearts, so when Li Longji was only 4 years old, he was forced by Wu Zetian to inherit to Li Hong, who died.
Li Hong was only 23 years old when he died, and there were no heirs, Wu Zetian passed on Li Xian's third son to Li Hong, that is, to give Li Hong the meaning of continuing the incense, which greatly demonstrated the meaning of Wu Zetian's benevolence, even if Li Dan was unwilling in his heart, he could only obediently obey and turn his son Li Longji from patriarchal into his nephew Li Longji.
During the Tang Dynasty, there were many emperors who passed on their sons to their brothers without heirs, plus Li Dan was a puppet emperor without real power, and everything could only be arranged by Wu Zetian, perhaps because of the influence of these things, Li Dan thoroughly understood that he deserved no meaning as a puppet emperor, and in the second year after Li Longji was passed on to Li Hong, he gave the throne to Wu Zetian, so that Wu Zetian became a female emperor.
Li Longji was constantly approaching the throne
From the moment Li Longji was passed on to Li Hong, it was decided that Li Longji had no hope of becoming emperor under normal circumstances, because whether Wu Zetian passed the throne to Li Xian or Li Dan in the future, it had nothing to do with Li Longji, and according to the inheritance system, they could only pass the throne to their patriarchal sons, not to their nephews.
When he was young, Li Longji was a very good person, he knew that he had no chance to inherit the throne, so he secretly managed his own power in private, even if he could not become an emperor in the future, at least it was good to be a powerful imperial relative.
Li Longji relied on his own management and had a fairly good relationship with the forbidden army in the imperial palace, and everyone was very supportive of Li Longji, which laid the groundwork for the tanglong coup d'état and other major power grabs that occurred later.
In 705, the chancellor Zhang Kamzhi and others joined forces with Li Xian, Princess Taiping, and Shangguan Wan'er to launch a Shenlong coup d'état to oust Wu Zetian, who was already in his eighties, and the throne passed to Li Xian, who had been on the throne, because he had been feeling guilty about his wife Empress Wei and his daughter Princess Anle, who had been accompanying him to suffer in other places, so that his wife and daughter Anle, who had been accompanied by him, gradually lost control.
What was worse was that the two took Wu Zetian as an idol and wanted to become a female emperor and an imperial concubine, and in order to achieve their goal, they did not hesitate to kill Li Xian, and ordered Li Xian's young son Li Chongmao to be crown prince, which caused serious dissatisfaction among Princess Taiping and Li Longji and others.
Once during Li Xian's reign as emperor, Li Longji was framed by Empress Wei and Princess Anle, and almost died in Huangquan, and now the new hatred and old hatred are counted together, Li Longji and Princess Taiping, one controlling the forbidden army and one controlling the chancellor of the DPRK, launched the Tanglong coup d'état, taking Empress Wei, Princess Anle, Shangguan Wan'er and others in one fell swoop.
After the Tang Long coup, Li Longji and Princess Taiping and others supported Li Dan as emperor for the common interests of everyone, and Li Dan was unconsciously put on the throne for the second time, a person who had never wanted to be an emperor, and after becoming emperor for the second time, he soon faced a difficult choice, that is, the problem of making a prince.
Whose throne did Li Longji inherit?
The difficult choice that Li Dan faced at that time was that, according to the patriarchal law, Li Longji had already been passed on to Li Hong, no longer his own son, so he could not pass the throne to him, but should pass the throne to the eldest son Li Chengji, but Li Longji had made great contributions to the Tang Long coup, and his strength Li Dan was also very clear, if he passed the throne to Li Chengji, in case in the future Li Longji launched a coup similar to the Xuanwumen Revolution, killing his brother Li Chengji and forcing himself to abdicate, it would be really embarrassing.
Instead of risking being ousted from the throne in the future and making Li Chengqi crown prince, it is better to make Li Longji the crown prince now, and just when Li Dan was hesitating, Li Chengqi felt the danger, took the initiative to find Li Dan, and asked Li Dan to make Li Longji, who had made great contributions, as the crown prince.
According to the patriarchal law at that time, Li Dan could not directly appoint Li Longji as the crown prince, because Li Longji belonged to Li Hong's son, and if he wanted to make Li Longji the crown prince, he must first abolish the previous succession, let him return to Li Dan's son, and then pass the throne to him.
In fact, according to the ancient patriarchal system, even if Li Longji is not Li Dan's son and wants to inherit the throne, he must first recognize Li Dan as his father before accepting the succession, just like the Jiajing Emperor during the Ming Dynasty, because he was a small emperor who entered the throne, in order to turn his own small sect into a large sect, that is, to make his inheritance more legal, he directly spent decades engaging in a dispute over major ceremonies to complete this matter.
After understanding the process of Li Dan's appointment of Li Longji as crown prince, in fact, it is not difficult for us to understand a problem, before Li Longji accepted the succession, his patriarchal status was Li Hong's son, but after Li Dan passed the throne to him, Li Longji's identity was restored to Li Dan's son, in other words, the throne he inherited could only and must be passed to him by Li Dan, otherwise it would not conform to the patriarchal system.
It was precisely because Li Longji's identity at that time was relatively embarrassing, so later Princess Taiping repeatedly made a big fuss on the grounds that Li Longji's identity did not conform to the inheritance system, hoping that Li Dan would abolish Li Longji's position as crown prince, fortunately, Li Dan understood the meaning of Princess Taiping, and was tired of being an emperor, so he simply gave Li Longji the throne in advance, so that Li Longji could become emperor smoothly, and later directly eliminated Princess Taiping.
epilogue
Although Li Longji was once inherited by Li Hong, the "Emperor of Filial Piety" who died young because of Wu Zetian, he later relied on his own efforts and strength to successfully help Li Dan regain the throne, and li Dan after becoming emperor, taking into account all factors, let Li Longji restore his son's identity, and pass the throne to him, whether from the perspective of blood relations or patriarchy, the throne inherited by Li Longji was actually Li Dan's throne, not the throne of "Filial Respect"!
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