"Self-Narration of illness" once said: "Retribution seems to have no signs, and it is difficult to understand the meaning of the heavens." "For thousands of years, karma in the world has been circulating continuously, and any wrongdoing will be cruelly punished for such acts. Such stories continue to circulate, and they have become the object of awakening in later generations.
As the most famous emperor in China's feudal history, Li Shimin's legendary life experience has received widespread attention from future generations. As we all know, Li Shimin pioneered the rule of Zhenguan and promoted the improvement of China's social development level to a higher level, and with the help of Li Shimin, the tang dynasty began from then on, and the life of our people moved towards a new stage.
But it was such a good ruler who had done the act of killing his brother and taking his wife. It is reported that after this incident, Li Yuan left fourteen words when he abdicated the throne to curse Li Shimin, and sixteen years later, these fourteen words were also fulfilled. So, when Li Yuan abdicated, what fourteen words were left behind? What kind of changes occurred in Li Shimin's later life?
In the last years of the Sui Dynasty, the world was in frequent turmoil, and during this period, many rebel generals formed their own teams, and Li Yuan was no exception.
After that, the three Fathers and Sons of the Li Clan successfully overthrew the rule of the Sui Dynasty and founded the Tang Dynasty. After Li Yuan ascended the throne, he established his eldest son Li Jian as crown prince, which also caused a rift between Li Shimin and his father and eldest brother.
Although Li Shimin was of outstanding ability and made great military achievements in the process of establishing the Tang Dynasty, Li Shimin was not the eldest son and could not get the opportunity to inherit the unification.
During the early Tang Dynasty, the whole world was still not completely pacified, and during this time, Li Shimin often went out to fight and was responsible for defending the Tang Dynasty. With the passage of time, Li Shimin gathered a large number of capable people under his command, and in this case, Li Shimin also began to covet the throne.
During the Xuanwumen Rebellion, Li Shimin killed his eldest brother Li Jiancheng and forced his father Li Yuan to abdicate and give way. Although Li Yuan was not willing to give up the throne at that time, he also had to make a compromise in the face of the menacing Li Shimin.
When Li Yuan abdicated, he left fourteen characters to curse Li Shimin, and the fourteen words he left behind are recorded in the historical records: "Ru killed my descendants, and so did his descendants." ”
In Li Shimin's view, the reason why Li Yuan ended up where he is now is because of his own weak ability and inability to maintain his own notice. However, at that time, Li Shimin was extremely confident in his ability, so he also decided that the curse that Li Yuan said would never come true.
However, in the process of understanding the subsequent historical development of the Tang Dynasty, you will find that sixteen years later, Li Yuan's fourteen words have been fulfilled.
Influenced by Li Shimin, his sons believed that the throne could be won by scrambling. In this case, Li Shimin's eldest son and other sons began to participate in the struggle for imperial power.
Sixteen years after the Xuanwumen Rebellion, the crown prince Li Chengqian followed his father's example in rebellion, and his actions also had a great impact on the rule of the Tang Dynasty. Although Li Shimin punished Li Chengqian after this time, in the days that followed, Li Shimin's sons became more and more restless.
After that, many princes were killed, some were exiled, and over time, only Li Zhi and a li fu who remained under Li Shimin's knees were left.
It can be seen that sixteen years after Li Yuan was forced to abdicate, the fourteen words he left behind were fulfilled one by one, and at this time, Li Shimin finally paid a painful price for the evil things he had done.
Although in later days, Li Zhi successfully succeeded to the throne, the Tang Dynasty was still developing steadily. However, compared with Li Shimin, Li Zhi was not a monarch with outstanding ability, which also made the rule of the Li Tang Dynasty greatly threatened after Li Zhi's death. In the end, Empress Wu Zetian ascended to the throne of the unification, which brought about great changes in the history of the development of feudal history.
epilogue
Although in the eyes of many people, Li Shimin once did a very improper job of killing his brother and taking his wife, with his own outstanding efforts, the Tang Dynasty's rule reached the peak, which also made future generations generally have a more positive evaluation of Li Shimin in the process of judging him, and would not limit his life to the mistakes he had made.
From Li Shimin's life experience, it can be seen that no historical figure is a perfect existence, and every historical figure will have some shortcomings to a greater or lesser extent. In the process of analyzing historical figures, if we limit ourselves to the analysis of their strengths or weaknesses, we will have a wrong understanding of historical figures and lead to an impasse in the development of historical research.
Nowadays, with the continuous improvement of the level of historical research in our country, the images of many historical figures have become richer and fuller. It is believed that in the future society, people will also study historical figures with a more rational, objective and comprehensive attitude, and with the help of such historical figures, push the cause of historical research to a new height.
Reference: Old Book of Tang