Li Shimin did not usurp the throne, while Zhu Di was a veritable rebellion. On this alone, Zhu Di can get a bad review. However, Li Shimin's wind evaluation is better than Zhu Di's, and it is also because Li Shimin's pattern is greater.
The difference between the Battle of Jingnan and the change of Xuanwumen
The word "king" is not suitable for the imperial family, but more suitable for opponents. In the change of Xuanwu Gate, the three Li brothers competed for the emperor's admission ticket, they were all Li Yuan's concubines, in fact, they were all eligible to grab the only ticket to the dragon chair, but who could get it depended on the strength.
Strength has soft power and hard power, prince Li Jiancheng's soft power is not weak, the prince's position is sitting, the public opinion guidance is also controlled in his hands, coupled with the support of his father Li Yuan and Li Yuanji, if there is no accident, his imperial road will be smooth all the way.
But he himself was not so confident, because his hard power was not enough, and it was precisely because he knew this that he was afraid of Li Shimin and deliberately slandered and framed Li Shimin.
Li Shimin's hard power was too strong, half of the Tang Dynasty was fought by him, conquering Western Qin, leveling Liu Wuzhou, cutting off Zheng and Xia, and defeating Liu Heimin, thus forming a situation of "Qin WangXunye clone, mighty and powerful, and popular with the people".
When he returned triumphantly, Li Yuan, in recognition of his merits, also awarded him a "Heavenly Strategy General" for the first time in the world, ranking above the princes. After that, he set up an official office in the palace, opened a literary museum, and recruited literary scholars from all over the world. Therefore, a group of civilian and military elites gathered under his banner, thus forming a powerful political group politically, which directly threatened Li Jiancheng's position.
Due to the exclusion of political power, Li Jiancheng, in order to ensure his smooth succession to the throne, must start a mutual tearing mode with Li Shimin. For example, when hunting, he deliberately gave him a fierce horse to try to throw him to death, and then, during the banquet, secretly poisoned him, causing Li Shimin to vomit several liters of blood, and ran to the harem with his brother Li Yuanji to say bad things about Li Shimin, etc., although these records are not necessarily true, it can be imagined that the swords between their brothers are fierce
So why can't Li Yuan, as the current emperor, control this situation? Here is an interesting phenomenon that he has so much confidence in his sons that he does not have military power in his hands. This also laid a hidden danger for the change of Xuanwu Gate, just imagine who would be afraid of an emperor who has no military power?
So who is in the hands of the military? Nature is in the hands of the three sons, so in Chang'an City, it is not easy to be a subordinate, and the three sons each give orders, who should they listen to? Later they had to listen to whoever ordered it to come first.
The change of Xuanwumen was a forced move by Li Shimin, as mentioned earlier, in terms of soft power, Li Jiancheng was superior, and the crown prince was Li Yuanli, and he would not support Li Shimin with his face. In the end, in order to curb Li Shimin's power, he even dismembered Li Shimin's Qin palace and transferred his subordinates to Li Yuanji.
Li Shimin has been in the battlefield for a long time, in his world, there has never been the four words of "sitting and waiting", facing the battle, fighting back, and a powerful counterattack is his style.
The struggle for royal power has always been a war between you and me, if Li Shimin does not lay out in advance and does not go out to launch the Xuanwumen Revolution, then once Li Jiancheng seizes the opportunity, the person who dies is Li Shimin.
Therefore, although there are many controversies about the change of Xuanwumen, it is really helpless to consider from the perspective of Li Shimin. For the change of Xuanwumen, he also had his own evaluation in the later period:
"Former Zhou Gong Guan, Cai and Zhou Room An, Ji You Shu Ya and Lu Guoning." What is done is the same as this, so that the peace of the society is good for the ears of the people. He thought it was a just battle.
Judging from the internal struggle of the royal power, he did single-handedly achieve the creation of the world with the least casualties, and took the initiative to avoid a large-scale armed war that disturbed the common people. You must know that the most tragic royal power struggle in history, the "Rebellion of the Eight Kings" of the Western Jin Dynasty, lasted for 16 years, and a dynasty was almost destroyed in this civil strife. In contrast, Li Shimin minimized casualties, which is not a miracle.
The Battle of Jingnan launched by Zhu Di was different, and his world was hard to grab. If from the perspective of the bloodline of the clan, Zhu Di did not have the opportunity to sit on the dragon chair, he was Shu out, which was also a point that Zhu Yuanzhang cared about very much.
After Zhu Yuanzhang's death, his chosen heir was his grandson Zhu Yunjiao, the eldest son of Crown Prince Zhu Biao. In fact, according to the custom, the eldest son died, and he could choose to be the second son, but he did not do so, or followed the advice of the ministers and abandoned Zhu Di.
Zhu Di failed in the battle for the reserve, and he remembered in his heart that it was certain. In addition to holding an emperor's pass in his hand, Zhu Yunjiao is almost incomparable with Zhu Di in the political game. To put it bluntly, Zhu Yunjiao and Li Yuan were in a similar situation, with no military power in their hands, while his uncles were holding heavy troops one by one, which was really the emperor's sorrow.
To make matters worse, Zhu Yunjiao made a wrong move, in order to suppress the power of the king of the clan, he adopted the opinions of his close confidant Huang Zicheng and others, and gradually abolished the power of the various clan kings, when in fact, he could not achieve the reduction of the clan by wearing a yellow robe alone. It was also this move that completely angered Zhu Di, who already had the ambition to become emperor, and would not sit back and wait for Emperor Minghui to capture him.
Therefore, under the banner of "Qing Jun's side", he rebelled and launched a great battle for his uncles and nephews for imperial power in the name of killing the traitors Qi Tai and Huang Zicheng, and finally forcibly seized the throne, known in history as the "Battle of Jingnan".
From this, we can also see that Zhu Di's army is really a usurpation, and his army has been fighting for three or four years, and the movement is big, and how many lives have been destroyed!
Is Li Shimin's achievement higher than Zhu Di's?
In fact, in terms of merit alone, Zhu Di and Li Shimin are not much different, but there is one point that the influence of the Tang Dynasty in the world is far greater than that of the Ming Dynasty, and the most important point is that it is open-minded, which makes the surrounding countries have a huge centripetal force on Chinese culture.
The most direct proof is the export of Chinese characters, especially the influence on Japan and Korea. Due to the world empire nature of the Tang Dynasty, it attracted many foreign expatriates to live in the Tang Dynasty. Therefore, the Tang Dynasty's opening up to the world is very great, and the Tang Dynasty is an international Tang Dynasty.
In contrast, the Ming Dynasty, after Zheng He, gradually adopted conservative measures and no longer had a sustained influence on international affairs, in contrast, the Ming Dynasty appeared more conservative. But in terms of strong durability, the Ming Dynasty lasted longer.
But in the impression of posterity, especially in the minds of ordinary people, only the most prosperous dynasty will be interested. More people study, the fame is naturally getting bigger and bigger, plus Li Shimin does have a unique personal charm, his feats are comparable to the founding emperor.
Therefore, in terms of influence, Li Shimin's fame is naturally much greater than That of Zhu Di. And people's criticism of Zhu Di is also mostly concentrated on his usurpation, and the influence of feudal orthodoxy cannot be underestimated.