Foreword: In history, the relationship between Tang Taizong Li Shimin and Wei Zheng has always been used to be advertised: Ming Junliangxiang, one with a broad heart, and the other daring to violate Yan Zhizhi's advice. Therefore, until now, when it comes to the relationship between Li Shimin and Wei Zheng, both the superior leaders and the lower-level officials will relish it, and the people at the top will think that they also have the height of "Ming Jun", and the people below often think that they are the pattern of "Wei Zheng". Is this the truth of history? Yes and no.
Why say yes or no? Because in the first half of the relationship between Li Shimin and Wei Zheng, it was basically "Ming Junliangxiang"; but after Wei Zheng's death, the relationship between the two was alienated.
Li Shimin and Wei Zheng
First, Tang Taizong was very tolerant of Wei Zheng, but there were many times when he almost killed Wei Zheng's head, and at this time, a person said good things for Wei Zheng many times.
Wei Zheng's life experience is actually very complicated, as a reader, he must be very eager to get ahead.
When he was young, Wei Zheng had no choice but to work as a Taoist priest, an anti-thief in Shangwagangzhai, and a small civilian official, and later risked his life to take the initiative to ask to persuade the general Xu Shijie to surrender before he began to emerge, and became Li Jiancheng's confidant when he became a prince.
After Li Shimin launched the Xuanwumen Rebellion, for the sake of political stability, he reused the crown prince's man Ma Weizheng as a benchmark, and speaking of conscience was initially just a face project.
Wei Zheng was also repositioning himself at this time: if he wanted to succeed, he could not follow the path taken by ordinary people, because he soberly knew that Li Shimin's side gathered a large number of civilian and military generals in the early Tang Dynasty, and if his old vassals who were killed as princes wanted to struggle from the normal path, they would never be able to emerge.
Therefore, Wei Zheng made good use of Li Shimin's psychology of wanting to be Yao Shun, and he polished himself into an image of a "courtier" that must be around the "Ming Jun".
Wei Zheng naturally also knew that the path he chose had a huge risk, but he had always been rich and noble, whether you wanted fame or profit, there was no gain without paying nature, Wei Zheng's stake (stud) was his own head!
Wei Zheng's life wanted the reputation of loyal and famous subjects, and for the sake of this foreign name, he could not die
So in the courtroom, Wei Zheng criticized Li Shimin, which was to the point, so many times that Li Shimin was so angry that he wanted to vomit blood, so that Li Shimin returned to the harem and complained to Empress Changsun: Whoever has the surname Wei, today scolded me for not giving me any face, I will kill him!
If there were no Empress Eldest Sun, I estimated that Wei Zheng's 100 heads would probably not be enough to kill.
Therefore, Wei Zheng wanted to thank Empress Changsun, because Empress Changsun herself wanted to be an "empress who will leave her name in the hereafter", and she always smiled at Li Shimin and said, "Some people scold you for your blessing, do you think Yao Shun is so good?" If you can't tolerate a Wei Zheng, who will dare to give you advice and tell the truth in the future? That's a tyrant. ”
Li Shimin and Empress Eldest Sun
Li Shimin really listened to this in his heart, so later he deliberately allowed Wei Zheng to criticize himself even more (of course, you criticize you, what should I do or what to do, it's a big deal that you just come back to talk about it).
Second, why did Li Shimin destroy the monument and dig a grave for Wei Zheng after his death? There is no need to endure any longer.
Shortly after Wei Zheng's death, Tang Taizong did several jaw-dropping things to Wei Zheng: 1. Ordered the marriage contract between Princess Hengshan and Wei Zheng's son Wei Shuyu; 2. Led someone to smash Wei Zheng's tombstone with his own hands (the tombstone was written by Li Shimin himself).
Wei Zheng's tomb, the handwriting on it has long been weathered
History records that Li Shimin did this for three reasons:
1. Before Wei Zheng died, he recommended two candidates for prime minister to Li Shimin, one was Du Zhenglun and the other was
Hou Junji. Unfortunately,
Du Zhenglun quickly dismissed the official because of a mistake
Hou Junji was again involved in the conspiracy of the crown prince Li Chengqian.
2. Wei Zheng maintains the clan group in Shandong. Wei Zheng was born in Shandong and also worked in Wagangzhai, so he had too many interests with the Shandong Shizu Group. However, Li Shimin was born in the Longxi Group, and in history, he did not like the Shandong Group, so he always wanted to find faults with the Shandong Group, and Wei Zheng became the representative of the Shandong Group, which should be the biggest mistake that Wei Zheng himself did not realize.
3. Wei Zheng showed the shi guan the manuscript of his own advice to Li Shimin, which naturally wanted the historian to speak for himself, but this was the most intolerable thing for Li Shimin.
Perhaps these things are too unacceptable, so it is understandable that later literati or historians have chosen to deliberately ignore this part.
The information on the relationship between Wei Zheng and Li Shimin is still easy to find, and there are both new and old Tang books
Why did Li Shimin later order Wei Zheng to be re-erected? In the end, it is still for the sake of a "Ming Jun" name.
Before his death, Wei Zheng had always opposed Li Shimin's use of troops against Goryeo (Korea), because the northeast region had a long, rugged and cold climate, and the army could not be expanded, less, and could not win.
In 612, 613, and 614, the Sui Dynasty was marched by Yang Jian (the first time) and Yang Guang, but the result was that the people were labored and lost money, and the state was lost in 618.
But Li Shimin believed that the relatives of the Sui Dynasty could not do what their grandfather could not do, and he would certainly be able to do a good job and achieve the prestige of his Heavenly Khan.
But he still followed the same failed (fiasco) path as Yang Jian and Yang Guang.
At the same time, after reflection, Li Shimin also realized that what was the meaning of fighting with a person who was already dead? What's more, letting this person make a nickname (being a loyal minister) can also set off the greatness of his own MingJun even more.
So Li Shimin took advantage of the failure of the conquest of Goryeo and gave himself a stage: I did not listen to Wei Zheng's words, so I failed, you see, Wei Zheng is a good loyalist (the subtext is: Why don't you advise me not to go to Goryeo?) So my failure is because of you), so I ordered Wei Zheng to restore his reputation and rebuild the tomb!
In fact, Wei Zheng also figured it out at this time: I am dead, you love to repair the tomb, repair it, and when you are not happy one day, you will smash it again, anyway, the imperial heart is unpredictable, I will never test it again.
Conclusion: The history of Li Shimin and Wei Zheng has become yesterday's yellow flower. But in any case, their clear self-positioning of this relationship between MingJun and Liangchen is very important for the page of zhenguanzhizhi, and they have jointly opened a new page of the Tang Dynasty, which makes us proud today.