There can only be one emperor and only one prince. The emperor should not have two sons of great talent, otherwise it would lead to a dispute over the concubine. Li Yuan, the emperor of Tang Gaozu, had three concubines of great talent, namely Li Jiancheng, Li Shimin, and Li Yuanji.
In the founding war of the Tang Dynasty, Li Jian made great military achievements, similar to Li Shimin's merits. At the beginning of Li Yuan's claim to the throne, in accordance with the principle of establishing a concubine and making him long, he crowned Li Jiancheng as the crown prince, Li Shimin as the King of Qin, and Li Yuanji as the King of Qi.
The prince is the foundation of the country, and he cannot easily go to the land of the fierce soldiers and fight the kind of fateful errands in the world, which can only be done by the King of Qin and the King of Qi. Li Yuan's edict to recruit Wang Shichong, Dou Jiande, Liu Heimin and other separatist forces all made Li Shimin the commander and Li Yuanji the deputy commander.
Li Yuan stills, picture from the network, thanks to the original author.
In the Tang Dynasty unification war, Li Shimin's merits surpassed Li Jiancheng's. As a deputy marshal, Li Yuanji also accumulated high prestige and strength. None of the three brothers obeyed anyone and launched a fierce battle to seize the wife.
Li Jiancheng is the defender, and Li Shimin is the attacker. Li Yuanji wanted to join forces with the eldest brother to kill the second brother, and then go back and kill the eldest brother. The Prince Group, the Tiance Group, and the Qi Wang Group each conceived a ghost fetus, and the struggle reached an irreconcilable point.
On the fourth day of June in the ninth year of WuDe, Li Shimin launched a surprise attack at Xuanwu Gate, killing his eldest brother Li Jiancheng and Li Yuanji, the King of Qi, known in history as the "Change of Xuanwu Gate".
Li Yuanji stills, picture from the network, thanks to the original author.
Faced with Li Shimin's bloody butcher's knife, Li Yuan had to crown Li Shimin as crown prince and handed over power to Li Shimin. Two months later, Li Yuan abdicated as Emperor Taishang. Li Shimin accepted Zen concessions and ascended the throne as emperor, and the history was called Tang Taizong.
The Tang Huijiao records that after Li Shimin seized power, he held a meeting to discuss the burial system of the eldest brother Li Jiancheng. After some discussion with his ministers, Li Shimin decided to posthumously crown Li Jiancheng as the Prince of Xie and bury him with the princely ceremony.
Tang Taizong and the ministers then discussed that they should give Li Jiancheng a nickname. The titles are divided into beautiful, flat, and evil. Li Yuan's courtesy name, Emperor Taiwu, and Li Shimin's courtesy name, Emperor Wen, are typical of beauty.
When Li Shimin killed Li Jiancheng, it was certainly impossible to give him a good word. The reason is very simple, giving Li Jiancheng a beautiful name proves that he should not die, that is, Li Shimin killed wrong. Li Shimin could not have punched himself in the face, so he did not give Li Jiancheng a beautiful word.
Li Shimin stills, pictures from the network, thanks to the original author.
The Tang HuiJiao records that the courtesy name given to Li Jiancheng by the chancellor was the word "戾". Do not regret the past, do not think of obeying the yue, know and do not change the yue. It has the meaning of sin, and it is a very evil name.
Emperor Wu of Han's crown prince Liu Zhao, who was posthumously known as "Prince Huan" by his grandson Emperor Xuan of Han, Liu Yi( Liu Yi), was posthumously known as "Prince Huan". Liu Yi has given his grandfather a guilty nickname, mainly because they do not live together and there is no affection between their grandchildren.
Li Shimin and Li Jiancheng grew up together, and there are still brotherly feelings. After Li Shimin killed his eldest brother Li Jiancheng, the mood swings were very large, and the result was a shock to the warhorse. The war horse jumped down and ran into the woods. Li Shimin was scraped by a branch and fell off his horse, almost falling to his death.
This matter, recorded in the Zizhi Tongjian, the original text is: "The people of the world shoot to build, kill it." Shimin ma escaped into the forest, hung by wooden branches, and could not be lifted. ”
Liu yi has stills, pictures from the network, thanks to the original author.
There is no right or wrong in the change of Xuanwu Gate, only success or failure. Li Shimin killed Li Jiancheng, the arrow was on the string, and he had to send his ears. Li Shimin did not kill Li Jiancheng, and the person who died was himself. Just like Li Jiancheng did not listen to Wei Zheng's words, he first took the initiative to forcibly eliminate Li Shimin, and as a result, he was killed by Li Shimin.
Although Li Shimin had to kill Li Jiancheng, he could not bear to scold Li Jiancheng as a "prince of Jian". Li Shimin vetoed the title of "戾" and asked the ministers to give Li Jiancheng another title.
The ministers deliberated again and drew up a "spirit" title for Li Jiancheng. Do not be diligent to become famous and spirit, die and become a spirit, chaos does not damage the spirit. The lingzhi number means impotence, and although it is evil, it is much better than the word "戾".
After a fierce ideological struggle, Li Shimin decided to posthumously honor Li Jiancheng as the "King of The Spirit of Rest". There is a Si Yamen carved an epitaph for Li Jiancheng and prepared to bury Li Jiancheng. On the eve of the funeral, Li Shimin could not bear to call the eldest brother "incompetent" and asked the minister to discuss another nickname.
The ministers knew Li Shimin's thoughts and did not dare to give Li Jiancheng any more evil words. After some deliberation, the ministers gave Li Jiancheng a pingyu "King of The Hidden Spirits". Concealment is not hidden; the corpse is not revealed; see the beauty of the long hidden. This nickname did not scold Li Jiancheng, nor did it praise Li Jiancheng, but only said that Li Jiancheng retired. Li Shimin issued an edict and posthumously honored his eldest brother as the "King of Hidden Breath".
Li Jiancheng stills, picture from the network, thanks to the original author.
Since the epitaph had already been engraved, the craftsmen could only bulldoze the "Spirit" of the "Spirit King" and change it to "The Hidden King". Today we went to the museum to see Li Jiancheng's epitaph, and the word "hidden" has obvious traces of changes, which is caused by Li Shimin's temporary change of name to Li Jiancheng.
Li Shimin's mentality toward Li Jiancheng has been contradictory all his life. Li Shimin wanted to rehabilitate his eldest brother, but considering his own reputation, he did not dare to implement it. Li Shimin could not rehabilitate the eldest brother, but did some things to make up for the guilt of the eldest brother. For example, Li Shimin passed on his own son Li Fu to Li Jiancheng as his son.
Li Fu, the King of Zhao, was the son of Li Shimin and Yang Guifei (Yang Guifei surnamed Guifei, not Tang Xuanzong's Yang Guifei), and Li Shimin could not bear to see that Li Jiancheng had no successor, so he asked Li Fu to make Li Jiancheng a son, so that Li Jiancheng's incense was not interrupted.
Li Shimin's reward to Li Fu clearly exceeded that of the other concubines. In my opinion, Li Shimin wants to make up for the guilt of Li Jiancheng by treating Li Jiancheng's son well.
The longer the change of Xuanwu Gate passed, the more Li Shimin's guilt towards his eldest brother became heavier. When Li Shimin watched his crown prince Li Chengqian and Li Tai, the King of Wei, take the throne, Li Shimin felt more and more that he wanted to give his eldest brother a name. Li Shimin issued an edict and posthumously named Li Jiancheng the "Hidden Prince". As a result, Li Jiancheng's nickname was changed from "Prince of Yin" to "Prince of Yin".
The reference materials of this article are: "Tang Huijiao", "Zizhi Tongjian", "New and Old Tang Books", "Zizhi Tongjian".
This article was originally written by Wang Fuxing. Code words are not easy, please respect the original, unauthorized, reproduction is strictly prohibited. I have signed a contract with a rights protection company to entrust a rights protection company to protect my rights. Unauthorized reprinters, the rights protection company will defend the rights on behalf of the person.