In June of the seventh year of WuDe, Li Yuan, who had been emperor for several years, felt that the weather was hot, so he waved his hands and handed over the political affairs to the crown prince Li Jiancheng, and went to escape the summer.
After all, Li Yuan had gone out to escape the summer more than once, and he also sent a signal to everyone: In the future, after a hundred years, the throne will be passed to the crown prince Li Jiancheng.
However, during Li Jiancheng's supervision of the country, there was a trivial matter that seemed very insignificant at first glance, and Li Jiancheng ordered people to go to Gyeongju to deliver armor, but he did not think that Yang Wengan, the governor of Gyeongju, was already actively preparing for a rebellion, so he was exploited by some people and complained to Li Yuan that the prince planned to rebel.
Li Yuan, who was taking refuge from the summer, was very angry, so he sent someone to summon Li Jiancheng, Li Jiancheng cried bitterly, li Yuan, in order to prove the innocence of his son, sent Yu Wenying to Gyeongju to summon Yang Wengan, but it did not happen, But Yu Wenying got on the thief's boat and launched a rebellion with Yang Wengan.
When the news reached Li Yuan's summer palace, he turned his mind and made a decision to change the course of history.
In order not to let Li Jiancheng have anything to do with this matter, he asked his second son Li Shimin to lead an army to attack Yang Wengan, and in Li Yuan's view, the forces that responded to Yang Wengan did not know how many, and it was a double victory to let Li Shimin, who had good military ability, go and judge with one stone.
I don't know if Li Yuan drank too much or was too old to be confused, in order to encourage Li Shimin to go to the rebellion, he actually promised Li Shimin the position of prince, he said that once Li Shimin returned triumphantly, he would immediately depose the crown prince Li Jiancheng as the king of Shu and give him the position of prince.
As a result, Li Shimin won, but Li Yuan regretted it, not only did not depose Li Jiancheng, but he was still the crown prince of Genzheng Miaohong, which undoubtedly aggravated the contradictions between their brothers and eventually led to the outbreak of the Xuanwumen coup.
A bloody coup d'état, Li Jiancheng was killed, Li Yuan was also forced to abdicate, after which he lived in simplicity and gave birth to more than 30 children, looking at these younger brothers and sisters, Li Shimin had a headache, but the result was completely solved by Wu Zetian with a cruel move.
Li Yuan was forced to abdicate
In the ninth year of WuDe, Li Jiancheng set up a banquet to summon Li Shimin, at this time the relationship between the two brothers had stiffened to the extreme, but Li Shimin still went to the appointment, but when they talked about the wine, Li Shimin, who returned to the Qin Palace, vomited blood and almost died.
Clear-eyed people can see that Li Jiancheng moved the killing machine, but he did not know why he wanted Li Shimin's life, perhaps Li Shimin had been alert earlier, or perhaps li Jiancheng's dose of poison was not enough.
Since the brothers had gotten into trouble in this way, Li Yuan naturally could not sit idly by, so he thought of another way to let the brothers rule Shaanxi and let Li Shimin go to Luoyang to manage the territory east of Shaanxi, but Li Jiancheng did not do it, he thought that all the rivers and mountains would be him in the future, and he was naturally unwilling to share.
Li Yuan was caught in a dilemma again, but he felt that his body was still tough, so he shelved the contradiction between Li Shimin and Li Jiancheng again.
Just when the two forces were actively planning a conspiracy, the Turks came to attack, Li Jiancheng recommended Li Yuanji to oversee the northern expedition, and planned to take away the important generals and elite soldiers of the Qin Palace, Li Shimin was very worried about this order, once there was no military power, he would become a fish on the chopping board.
Wang Hao, who was a more senior at Li Jiancheng's side, took the opportunity to tell Li Shimin that Li Jiancheng had made a plan to use this opportunity to poison him.
Li Shimin's aides Fang Xuanling and Changsun Wuji, instead of sitting still, were better off first, so they instigated Li Shimin to launch a coup d'état, and eventually Li Shimin set up an ambush near Xuanwu Gate, saying that Li Jiancheng and Li Yuanji shot them in one fell swoop when they entered the dynasty.
When the news of the Xuanwumen mutiny reached Li Yuanna, Li Yuan immediately understood that the general trend had gone, and Li Shimin's wings had hardened, so he made him crown prince, and a month later he was forced to hand over the throne.
Li Shimin had a headache
Li Yuan abdicated the throne and became the Emperor Taishang, considering that he still wanted to live for a few more years, he lived in simplicity and no longer interfered in political affairs.
Needless to say, Li Yuan really understood that he had made wise choices in life and power, and if he could be so wise when Li Jiancheng and Li Shimin were in a fight, perhaps history would have to be rewritten.
Unfortunately, at that time, Li Yuan was not clear, under the full strength, there was no family affection, when the two sons and ten grandsons were slaughtered, he had an epiphany, fortunately, it was not too late, he was able to continue to enjoy his small life without worry.
Li Yuan was already sixty years old when he abdicated, and since there were not many activities to spend time at that time, Li Yuan began to frantically expand the harem in order to live a moist life.
In the ten years from his abdication to his death, Li Yuan gave birth to more than 30 younger siblings for Li Shimin.
After Li Yuan's death, these younger brothers and sisters of his gave him a lot of headaches, his position was not right, he had always made the subjects talk about it, he stepped on the blood of his brothers and nephews to ascend to the throne, and it was terrifying, so in order to win people's hearts, he raised these younger brothers and sisters in the palace, after all, they were too young to threaten him at all, but they had a few more mouths to eat.
When these children grew up, they were also crowned kings and princesses, but after all, they lacked discipline and most of them had a stubborn personality, and Li Shimin could only turn a blind eye to it.
Wu Zetian solved it in one move
Li Shimin faced many younger brothers and sisters, and it was not that he did not think of solving their problems, after all, when they grew up, they were also a threat to their sons, but they died before he could think of a proper solution.
What he didn't expect was that a talented person he personally brought into the palace helped him solve this problem completely, even solving the Problem with them.
This talent was none other than the first and only female emperor in history, Wu Zetian.
Wu Zetian and Li Shimin did not have much affection, but had an extraordinary relationship with Li Shimin's son Li Zhi, and later Li Zhi took Wu Zetian back to the harem from the monastery and spoiled the harem, Li Zhi was not in good health, and later died early, and Wu Zetian also monopolized the power, and later directly ascended the throne as emperor and changed the name of the country to Great Zhou.
Since Jiangshan was no longer surnamed Li, the sons and daughters who had originally been left behind before Li Yuan's death were naturally not eligible to enjoy the preferential treatment of the imperial court anymore.
And this group of people after breeding, has been quite large, every year also consume a lot of real money and silver, in order to save this expenditure, Wu Zetian directly used the most ruthless moves, find an excuse to slaughter the li clan disciples.
Wu Zetian was a cruel person, she killed people, even her eyes would not blink, these originally relaxed and carefree Li disciples, in the face of such a figure, had no resistance, and could only lead the neck to kill.
However, wu Zetian's fierce heart was not necessarily a bad thing for the imperial court at that time, these Li disciples sat on the mountain and ate the sky, which was of little use to the government and politics, and using the wealth that should have supported them to develop the economy was naturally a good thing for the people.
References: Old Book of Tang, New Book of Tang, etc.
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