In 626, Li Shimin, the King of Qin, set up an ambush at Xuanwu Gate, killed his brother Li Jiancheng and his younger brother Li Yuanji in one fell swoop, and then besieged the imperial palace and forced his father Li Yuanli to make himself crown prince, known in history as the "Change of Xuanwu Gate".
Everyone must be very familiar with this history. Here's a question: Why did Li Shimin have to kill his brother?
Many people will say that in order to compete for the throne. If it were not for Li Shimin's first attack, it would probably be Li Shimin who died. Because Li Jiancheng and Li Yuanji are also deliberately getting rid of Li Shimin.
That's right, but it's not deep enough.
Please put yourself in the shoes of your father, would you kill your brother and kidnap your father for the sake of profit, even if it is a great interest?
It is common for brothers and sisters to compete for property, because of the interests of fighting, there are many lawsuits, but it is rare to fight with their lives and kill each other's entire family.
Some people will say that the most ruthless imperial family, the throne is not a general interest, is the supreme power, when the emperor has everything, so the competition for the throne, will make people crazy. Therefore, the Li Shimin brothers went crazy and wanted to kill each other.
Actually, this is not the case. The Li brothers were not crazy, they were calm, but they couldn't stop, they knew very well that there was something pushing them behind their backs to open a knife to their brothers, and only by destroying each other could they end it all.
What's pushing?
Interests are the interests of the group, not the interests of individuals.
If it is a personal interest, that is, the struggle for the throne is only a matter between Li Shimin's brothers, then the matter is relatively easy to solve. For example, two people meet in private, one says to the other, forget it, our brothers don't need to make you die, I let it, I quit, and even one goes into seclusion and lets the other succeed to the throne. The successor can get the throne, and the hermit can get a good name.
This is not my subjective speculation, it has happened many times in history.
The Chronicle of History records that King Tai of Zhou had three sons, the eldest son Taibo, the second son Zhongyong, and the younger son Ji Li. Ji Li's son Ji Chang was clever and precocious and was deeply favored by the King. King Tai of Zhou wanted to pass it on to Ji Chang, but according to tradition at that time, it was supposed to be located in the eldest son, and King Tai of Zhou was depressed. After Taibo understood his father's thoughts, he fled to the desolate Jiangnan with Zhongyong to take the opportunity to collect medicine for his father, created his own foundation, and established the state of Wu.
King Wu passed on more than a dozen generations to King Shoumeng of Wu, who had four sons, all four of whom were eligible to inherit the throne of the monarch, but were humble to each other.
That is to say, although the competition for the throne between brothers in history is the mainstream, although there are few people who take the initiative to give up the throne, it is not without it. This shows that if it is a personal interest, as long as you make a step, the tragedy can be avoided.
Then why did the Li Shimin brothers not give in to each other?
Because they are fighting not only for individual interests, but for group interests. Li Shimin recruited talents and formed the TianceFu clique, Li Jiancheng was the crown prince, and a group of his own henchmen gathered around him.
The two groups fought to the death for the throne. There are only winners and losers here, and there can never be reconciliation. Even if Li Shimin and Li Jiancheng personally want to let go, the people around them will not agree. If the King of Qin or the Crown Prince abdicated the throne, it would be tantamount to destroying the future and lives of everyone around him, and implicating his family and his family. The price is too high to let go.
The multiple choice question in front of the Li Shimin brothers is:
1. Fight to the end. Everyone was happy to win, the interests of the group were greatly expanded, and the family passed on the throne from generation to generation. If you lose, your skills are inferior to those of others, you are willing to gamble and lose, you must kill and kill, and you will listen to your honor.
In this case, whether you win or lose, the payment is valuable.
2. Compromise, concession. The throne is definitely gone. The possibility of winning is gone, the loss is not clear, the family and the henchmen do not understand, and the nest of family and group death is not clear.
In this case, it is worthless to lose, and the lives of family members and henchmen are taken as a joke.
As long as it is normal people, they will choose to fight to the end, which is in the interest of all people on their side. Li Shimin and Li Jiancheng are not only normal people, but also dragons and phoenixes among people, Li Yilong, Li Erfeng, naturally will fight to the end.
In short, the struggle for personal interests, there is still room for concessions, there is still room for reconciliation, the competition for the interests of the group, will kidnap the interests of all people within the group, will turn the independent individual into the instrument of the group, the tool person can only obey the interests of the group.
The ancients said that every time the righteous slaughtered more dogs, the negative heart was mostly a reader. Dog slayers are independent individuals who can insert knives into the ribs of friends, and readers are tool people of certain groups, so they will be insincere.
You can also say your own opinion.