Emperor Shunzong of Tang was the shortest-reigning emperor of the Tang Dynasty (except for Emperor Wei, who was created after Emperor Zhongzong's death). He was also the crown prince of the Tang Dynasty who stayed in the position of crown prince for the longest time, he served as the crown prince for a total of twenty-six years, but he only became the emperor for a few months before becoming the emperor of Taishang, and even the time of being the emperor of Taishang was counted as a year before he died of illness, but his life experience was quite distinctive among the emperors of China:
His empress was his grandfather's woman, supposedly his grandmother,000,000 of his twenty sons became his brother, so much so that his eldest son, Later Tang Xianzong, called his younger brother his uncle according to his generation. Although there is no shortage of such chaotic things among China's emperors, most of them are women of their father's generation or women of brotherly generation, especially among some emperors with Hu ancestry, this kind of acceptance of women from their father's generation is also a normal custom, but the phenomenon of directly crossing over to the grandfather's generation is still very rare, and the son becoming a brother is even more rare. But these things happened to this Tang Shunzong, and such a contrary thing not only did not make the history books written by the Confucians scold him as a Emperor of The Ming Dynasty, but many people thought that he was a generation of Ming Jun.
The "queen" is Grandpa's woman
Tang Shunzong did not make an empress during his lifetime, and even his women did not have the title of empress dowager, because his reign was too short to be crowned. Therefore, the titles of these concubines are all posthumously sealed and posthumously.
Tang Shunzong's concubine when she was crown prince, later Empress Zhuangxian, was one of the highest-ranking women of Tang Shunzong (because the crown princess at that time was later executed). Born in 763 AD, she was elected to the imperial palace as a good son at an early age. The emperor at that time was Tang Shunzong's grandfather, Tang Dynasty Emperor Li Yu, that is to say, this Wang clan was a talented person of Tang Dynasty, and people who knew history knew that Wu Zetian was also a talented person when he first entered the palace.
In 776, the thirteen-year-old Wang was given to Li Shu, who was still the king of Xuancheng County, by Emperor Tang of the Tang Dynasty, so that Li Xie married a grandmother of his own.
In 778, Wang gave birth to his eldest son Li Chun (李淳), later Emperor Xianzong of Tang, for Li Xuan, and Wang was also given the title of Prince Xuan of Xuan for having a son.
In 779, Emperor Tang died and Emperor Dezong of Tang ascended the throne, and in the same year Li Xuan was crowned crown prince, beginning his twenty-six-year career as a prince, and Wang Shi was also promoted to Liangdi, becoming a woman next to Li Xie's side after the then crown princess Xiao.
In 790, Crown Princess Xiao was executed for her mother, Princess Gaoguo, for being implicated in the "Case of The Witch Of Victory", and Wang became the highest-ranking woman around Li Xuan.
It can be seen from this that this Wang clan should be the concubine of Li Yu's grandfather Li Yu, but at that time, the Wang clan was relatively young, and Li Yu was already nearly half a hundred years old at the time, so he gave this concubine of his own to the eldest grandson Li Shu, who was similar to her age.
Sons have become "brothers"
After tang shunzong married his grandfather's woman, let's see how his son became his brother again?
Tang Shunzong had more than twenty sons, one of whom was named Li Chen, and now we don't know who his mother is, but we know that his experience is very special.
In 801, Li Xuan, who was already the crown prince at the time, gave birth to another son, named Li Xuan. The emperor at that time, Li Chen's grandfather, Tang Dezong Li Shi, liked this grandson very much and ordered Li Shu to give this son to himself. So Li Xian became the adopted son of his grandfather Li Shi. And his own biological father, Li Xuan, became his own brother.
Li Shi's love for his adopted son was beyond reproach, and this Li Shi was the sixth of the sons of Li Shi of Tang Dezong, and in 805, at the age of four, he was crowned the Prince of Yong.
In 812, at the age of eleven, he was appointed as the emissary of the Yiwu Army, and in 815, at the age of fourteen, he was appointed as the emissary of the Zhaoyi Army.
In 819, he died at the age of eighteen, but was posthumously honored as the Prince of Wenjing by Li Shi. At that time, he was on an equal footing with his biological father, Li Xu.
This Li Xian somehow got the unusual favor of his grandfather Li Shi, and was adopted as an adopted son shortly after birth, and was crowned king at the age of four, and posthumously crowned as a prince. Although some people believe that Tang Suzong once adopted Li Kai, the son of Emperor Tang, as a son, this Li Wei has completely different contradictory statements in the two main histories of the Old Book of Tang and the New Book of Tang, and it is not clear that Tang Suzong 'adopted his grandson as a son'. However, the incident of Li Yan being adopted as a son by his grandfather Li Shi was clearly recorded in the history books.
The Ming Emperor whose political life was short
Although Li Xuan himself had such a strange experience and his reign was short, he was indeed an existential emperor in the history of the Tang Dynasty. During his more than two decades as crown prince, although he rarely expressed his political views publicly, he also had little opinion on the governance of his father Li Shi. However, he did not do nothing in the Eastern Palace, he always paid attention to the politics of the dynasty, discussed current politics with his subordinate officials wang ling and Wang Shuwen and others in the eastern palace, and brewed political reforms after his reign. And united a number of young officials such as Liu Yuxi and Liu Zongyuan to form a political team of their own.
Although Li Xuan suffered a sudden stroke and lost his ability to speak a few months before he ascended the throne, he soon relied on Wang Ling and Wang Shuwen and others to launch a political reform, known in history as the "Yongzhen Reform".
In this political reform, Tang Shunzong and others focused on the problems that plagued the political situation in the Middle Tang Dynasty, such as the division of feudal towns, the dictatorship of eunuchs, and the corruption of officials, and adopted very targeted reform measures. However, due to Tang Shunzong's own health problems, the leadership of the reform faction was not functioning well, and at the same time, eunuchs, feudal towns, and conservative forces jointly counterattacked, under the pretext of Tang Shunzong's poor health, they installed Tang Shunzong's eldest son Li Chun as crown prince, and then forced Tang Shunzong to abdicate as emperor Taishang, and Tang Shunzong died a few months later, leaving behind an age-old mystery about the real cause of his death.
However, in the history books, Tang Shunzong was evaluated as a Ming Jun, and from then to now, countless people are speculating about how far his "Yongzhen Innovation" can go if he is in good health, and how the history of the Tang Dynasty will be rewritten