Text/Kingdom Building
What the? And the most honorable prince in Chinese history? Which prince's status is not noble, and how can he be considered to be the most honorable prince in Chinese history? Don't worry, let Xiaobian give you a slow talk.
Li Ke, the third son of Emperor Taizong of Tang and the daughter of Emperor Sui's daughter Yang Fei, combined the two royal bloodlines of Sui and Tang dynasties, and was the most honored prince in Chinese history.
The mother of Li Yuan of Tang Gaozu and the mother of Yang Guang, the Sui Emperor, were sisters, and they were also the daughters of the Sui Dynasty minister Du Guxin. Therefore, from the perspective of blood relations, the Sui Emperor and Tang Gaozu were cousins. After the Sui Dynasty, Li Shimin, the son of Li Yuan of the Tang Dynasty, married Consort Yang, the daughter of The Sui Emperor Yang Guang, and ranked among the four wives. Concubine Yang and Li Shimin were deeply in love and had two sons in succession, namely Li Ke the Prince of Wu and Li Yan the Prince of Shu.
Li Kesheng was intelligent and militaristic, and was the son who was most similar to himself, as personally recognized by Emperor Taizong of Tang and Li Shimin. Therefore, he was favored by his father from an early age, and was named the King of Changsha County when he was less than one year old, and later successively was named the King of Hanzhong County, the King of Han, the King of Shu, and the King of Wu. On the other hand, his brother Li Yan (李愔), a clumsy disciple, although he was born noble, he lost his mind as a plaything, and was punished by Li Shimin several times and three times, and the prince was cut down, and finally died of illness in bazhou, an exiled place.
Li Ke was both literate and martial, and he was deeply favored by Li Shimin, so why didn't he become the crown prince? It turned out that after Li Shimin became emperor, the crown prince he initially established was Li Chengqian. Li Chengqian was not only the eldest son, but also the eldest grandson of Li Shimin's wife, Empress Dowager, and there was no reason not to be made crown prince. In 643, the crown prince Li Chengqian was deposed as crown prince because of his plot. Li Shimin's second son, Li Tai, played tricks on his father, saying that he would be made crown prince, and that after a hundred years, he would definitely kill his son and make his younger brother Li Zhi crown prince. Li Chengqian, Li Tai, and Li Zhi were all born to Empress Eldest Sun, and whoever was made crown prince should be regarded as the identity. Li Shimin was well aware that Li Tai was kind and cruel, and did not dare to appoint him as the crown prince, but instead established Li Zhi, who had a cowardly personality, as the crown prince. Li Shimin said to his ministers, "With Tai Li, Neither Chengqian nor King Jin (Li Zhi) exists; the King of Jin and the King of Jin are all safe and sound!" "
After Li Shimin made Li Zhi crown prince, it did not take long for him to regret it and wanted to make Li Ke, the king of Wu, who was most similar to himself, the crown prince. He said to his brother-in-law Changsun Wuji, who was in power: "When you first persuaded me to make the King of Jin the Crown Prince, the King of Jin was cowardly, and I was afraid that he would not be able to defend Jiangshan Sheji (Li Shimin was also a wise man, and he had already seen that Emperor Gaozong of Tang was not the material for the emperor), and King Keying of Wu was very much like me, and I wanted to make Li Ke the crown prince, what do you think?" The eldest son Wuji was the uncle of Li Zhi, the King of Jin, and when he heard that Emperor Taizong wanted to abolish Li Zhi and establish Li Ke, his nose was crooked, and he directly objected. Li Shimin later inspected Li Zhi for a period of time, and felt that although Li Zhi's personality was cowardly, he also knew right from wrong, so as to dispel the idea of re-establishing Li Ke. However, Li Shimin's words about establishing Li Ke had already been released, and in order to dispel the concerns of the ministers, he had to endure the pain of releasing Li Ke to Liangzhou.
In 649, Emperor Taizong of Tang died, and Li Zhi, the crown prince, succeeded to the throne as Emperor Gaozong. After Emperor Gaozong of Tang became emperor, li zhi was quite polite to Li Ke, the third brother, and awarded the title of Anzhou Assassin and Crown Prince Taishi, which was also relatively honorable among the kings. Tang Gaozong's ability to tolerate Li Ke did not mean that everyone could tolerate Li Ke. The uncle of the country who held great power, Changsun Wuji, had always hated Li Ke and waited for an opportunity to retaliate all the time.
In 653, the Tang Dynasty broke out a sensational case of Princess Gaoyang being insulted. After the suspect Fang Yizhi (the son of the prime minister Fang Xuanling) was captured, Fang Yizhi's younger brother Fang Yi'ai falsely accused Li Ke, the king of Wu, of plotting rebellion at the instigation of the eldest son Wujie in order to save his brother. Tang Gaozong did not believe that Li Ke was plotting rebellion, personally interrogated Fang Wei'ai, and obtained a confession. Emperor Gaozong did not want to kill Li Ke and wanted to forgive him for his crimes. The eldest grandson urged the chancellor to advise the princes of the Western Han Dynasty that the rebellion of the princes during the reign of Emperor Jing of the Western Han Dynasty should be dealt with by the law of the state. In this way, Li Ke, the king of Wu, was secretly executed in Chang'an at the age of 34, his four sons were exiled to biansai, and his daughter was punished to guard the Xianling Tomb.
In 659, the eldest son Wuji fell out with Emperor Gaozong of Tang and hanged himself after being exiled to Lingnan. As soon as the eldest grandson died, a minister wrote to li ke, the unjustly killed king of Wu, to rehabilitate him. Emperor Gaozong of Tang had selfish intentions on the issue of Li Ke's death, so he played a slippery slope for Li Ke's rehabilitation, only to restore the prince to the dead Li Ke, but did not pardon Li Ke's children who were exiled to the frontier and suffered. It was not until 684, after Emperor Zhongzong of Tang succeeded to the throne, that Li Ke's younger son Li Ren was pardoned and allowed to inherit Li Ke's title.
In 939, after consulting with the chancellor, Li Fu, the founder of the Southern Tang Dynasty, recognized Li Ke as an ancestor and sacrificed with Li Yuan, the ancestor of Tang Gaozu. Li Tangzong's descendants objected, believing that Li Ke had been executed for plotting rebellion and could not be included in the ancestral temple. Some ministers said that Li Ke's grandson Li Yi (李祎) had meritorious service to sheji, that Li Yi's son Li Yi (李) was the chancellor, and that Li Fu's father, Li Rong, was the fifth grandson of Li Yan and recognized Li Ke the Prince of Wu as his ancestor. At this point, the rulers of the Southern Tang Dynasty officially regarded Li Ke as the ancestor and enshrined him in the Taimiao Temple to accept the worship of his descendants. After the Southern Tang Dynasty was destroyed by the Northern Song Dynasty, the Southern Tang Sect was treated with courtesy by the Northern Song Dynasty and was able to survive and reproduce. To this day, Li Ke, the King of Wu, is regarded as the ancestor of the Li clan, and they are all over the north and south of the great river.