Li Jiancheng was the founding prince of the Tang Dynasty and a brother of Li Shimin of Tang Taizong, but in the ninth year of Wude (626), the Xuanwumen Incident occurred unsurprisingly, and Li Jiancheng, who was 38 years old at the time, was killed here, his five sons were also killed, and the whole family was expelled from the imperial family.
However, in the second year of Zhenguan, Tang Taizong still buried Li Jiancheng with a royal ceremony, and in the sixteenth year of Zhenguan, he posthumously awarded Li Jiancheng as the crown prince, which is intriguing.
Throughout history, in the history of feudal dynasties, in order to compete for power, it is the most ruthless imperial family, but changing the original trajectory through a coup will be regarded as improper and criticized. Therefore, according to history, Li Shimin's coup d'état was forced, and Li Jiancheng could no longer tolerate him and had a murderous heart.
And whether it is the "New Book of Tang" or the "Old Book of Tang", it is almost attributed to Li Shimin for the merits of Li Yuan's rise to build the Tang Dynasty, Li Shimin became famous in a war at the age of only 14, and there is little mention of Li Jiancheng's merits, but historians in studying this period of history, found that the book Zuo Wen Daya who followed Li Yuan's soldiers has three volumes of "Notes on the Entrepreneurship and Living of the Tang Dynasty", which details The deeds of Li Yuan from the beginning of the army to the official title of emperor, which records Li Jiancheng's merits.
In fact, Li Shimin claimed that the empress dowager was also quite concerned about the changes in Xuanwumen, and repeatedly asked the historian to read the "Notes on Living" that recorded the emperor's words and deeds, but Zhongshu ordered Chu Suiliang not to allow it, and later the chancellor Fang Xuanling and Xu Jingzong could not withstand Tang Taizong's request, and deleted the "Notes on Living" as "Records of Gao Zu Shilu" and "Records of Present Shang" and gave them to Tang Taizong.
Therefore, when studying this period of history, the modern historian Zhang Taiyan said: "Emperor Taizong was established, fearing the name behind him, and began to supervise the revision of the history of the country with the prime minister, so the "Records of the Two Dynasties" has no letter. ”
However, the talent of Tang Taizong Li Shimin was indeed not low, and he reused Wei Zheng, who dared to speak out and advise, and appointed talents, who were talented during his reign, laying an important foundation for the later century-old prosperity of the Tang Dynasty. In the "Di Fan" written to his son Li Zhi, Tang Taizong admonished:
"You should take the ancient sages and sages as your teacher, and like me, you absolutely cannot imitate it." Because if you take the law from above, you can only get it, and if you take the law from the middle, you can only get it down. Since I ascended the throne, I have made many mistakes: the splendid pearls and jade are endless, the palace terrace has been frequently flourished, the inuyasha, the eagle and falcon are all far away, and the travels in all directions are troublesome. All of this is the greatest transgression I have ever committed, and do not follow my example. ”
The evaluation of Li Shimin by later generations is also more complicated, and in 2005, Li Jiancheng's mausoleum was excavated in Xi'an, and everyone found that Li Jiancheng's epitaph had only 55 words:
"Tomb of the Late Hidden King of the Tang Dynasty Wang Zhencheng Wude 9th June 4th Xue Yu JingShi Yue ZhenGuan Second Year Peng Zi Zheng Yue Zi Zheng Yue Yue Zi Zheng Yue ThirteenTh Day Xin Youyou Buried in Gaoyangyuan, Chang'an County, Yongzhou"
Generally speaking, the epitaph will record the person's life, merits, evaluations, etc., often have very important historical value, but Li Jiancheng's epitaph only records the name, nickname, time of death, burial time and place. However, Li Jiancheng's epitaph is still of great significance, reflecting Li Shimin's personality.
This lies in Li Jiancheng's nickname, which is a general evaluation of the life of the deceased in one or two words, that is, the conclusion of the coffin. Originally, Li Shimin gave Li Jiancheng the title of "Ling", which was an extremely pejorative title, and the title said:
"Not diligently becoming famous is a spirit." Willful nature, do not see the sages.
Death becomes a spirit. Ambition does not □ life.
Death sees god can know the spirit. Ghosts are not good.
Chaos without damaging the spirit. Chaos cannot be cured.
Good sacrifice to ghosts and spirits. Blasphemy does not go far.
Extremely aware of ghosts and spirits. Its intelligence is brilliant. ”
Once the coup d'état is successful, the former is likely to be evaluated as useless, but Li Shimin is not tolerant after all, and later changed Li Jiancheng's nickname to "hidden", and this word contains Tang Taizong's hidden mentality of the coup, hoping that everyone will avoid talking about it, just as Li Jiancheng is a less important figure, there is no need to be demeaned, there is no need to talk too much, and it reflects Li Shimin's compassion.
But "trapping is not hidden; not revealing the corpse of the country is hidden; seeing the beauty of the long hidden; concealing is not hidden; not being hidden; not being hidden; violating the whisk is not hidden; nostalgia is not exhausted; unclear and mistaken country is hidden; Wei De Gang Wu is hidden." The word "hidden" is actually very subtle, but in general, the Imperial House is cruel, and at the same time, it has ordinary human emotions.
Reading the "Complete Biography of Li Shimin", readers can deeply understand the heroic strategy of an ambitious politician who helped his father to raise an army and establish the Tang Dynasty; appreciate the miraculous feats of a genius military man who swept through thousands of armies and established the country and an security state; experience the unique glory of a heroic emperor who preemptively attacked and stood at the head of all nations; and felt the magnificent prosperity of a great boy who cherished the world and successfully created. Based on authoritative historical materials, the author of this book strives to restore historical facts, reproduce the thrilling historical picture of a specific period and special background, and provide readers with a legend and an epic!