In 626, Li Shimin, the King of Qin, plotted with Fang Xuanling, Changsun Wuji, Hou Junji, Wei Chigong, and others to launch the Xuanwumen Rebellion, killing his brothers Li Jiancheng, Li Yuanji, and putting his father Li Yuan under house arrest, and only two months later, Tang Gaozu Li Yuan announced his abdication and Li Shimin ascended the throne. More than 700 years after that, after the death of Zhu Yuanzhang, the founder of the Ming Dynasty, his grandson Zhu Yunjiao came to power for Emperor Jianwen, and Zhu Di, the King of Yan, unsurprisingly launched the Battle of Jingnan, and the result was that Emperor Jianwen disappeared, and Zhu Di came to power and became Ming Chengzu.
Although the two kings can be called a generation of Ming monarchs, and they have gradually reached the peak of the Tang Dynasty and the Ming Dynasty under their respective leaderships, an interesting phenomenon is that the same two people who are not in the right position, Zhu Di's reputation is obviously much worse than Li Shimin, why is this?
First of all, it is above the treatment of subordinates. Emperor Taizong of Tang, Li Shimin, paid attention to governing the country with leniency, and even treated Wei Zheng and others who were once subordinate to the party of crown prince Li Jiancheng. On the other hand, Zhu Di liked to rule the world with heavy rules, and for the subordinates left behind by his nephew Emperor Jianwen, just like Fang Xiaoru's massacre of the Ten Tribes and the death of Xie Jin, he also set up the East Factory during his reign to strengthen the surveillance of the civil and military officials, and in order to strengthen his rule, he even moved the capital to Beijing, which also harmed the interests of the southern literati group. And it was precisely this distinction in the treatment of subordinates that led Zhu Di to offend the literati and doctors who occupied public opinion. It was also under the curse of this literati, also after the successful seizure of power, although Li Shimin did not spare any of his sons and nephews, and killed them all; because of his "generosity", he was written by the Great Book, which shaped the transformation of Xuanwumen into a small stain of white and slight flaws; and although Zhu Di did not kill his sons and nephews, just as the Jianshu people were imprisoned for decades, they were magnified by the Great Book special book into cruelty and inhumanity.
Second, in terms of the results after the government. Li Shimin and Zhu Di are rare to be The Ming Emperors. However, even when he was a Dao Ming Jun, there was also a distinction between high and low, and a sentence of Qin Emperor Han Wu and Tang Zong Song Zu was the embodiment of Tang Taizong's own status. During The reign of Li Shimin, he pacified the Turks, pro-conquered Goguryeo, the surrounding minority regimes all submitted, and economically they also promulgated a number of legal codes to promote economic development, and opened schools on top of talents, improved the imperial examination system, and the name of Tian khan was also the embodiment of the rule of Zhenguan under his rule; as for Ming Chengzu Zhu Di, although he had five Northern Expeditions during his tenure, he defeated the Mongol tribes and organized Zheng He to go to the West, and also greatly publicized the national prestige of the Ming Dynasty, making the tributary countries increasing day by day. Culturally, he also compiled the largest encyclopedia ever published in the world, the Yongle Canon.
It can be said that both are outstanding, but in history we often rely on historical results. It is possible to tamper with it purely from the historical record, but it cannot be tampered with in terms of results. And not only the historians, but also our evaluation of a historical figure, it is precisely based on the results he brought to history that we can see that in fact Tang Taizong was more brilliant in creating national character, and the cruelty of history and the realism of history also determined the result of this contrast.
Reference: New Book of Tang
History of the Ming Dynasty