Before talking about this matter, let's first look at the relationship and experience of these five people, these five people are the "first five" emperors before the Tang Dynasty (sandwiched between the two emperors of Emperor Ruizong of Zhongzong). Overall, these five emperors are good.
Li Yuan, the founding emperor of the Tang Dynasty, came from an aristocratic family in the Northern Zhou Dynasty. In 617 AD, he rebelled against the Sui And ascended the throne as emperor in 618 AD. He was 51 years old and reigned for 9 years. Later, he was forced to abdicate due to the change of Xuanwu Gate. He died in 635 AD. In history, Li Yuan was not highly valued, and all of them were not high. It is because of Li Shimin's falsification of history. The reason is to make one's usurpation of the throne "reasonable.". However, Chairman Mao's appraisal of Li Yuan was still quite pertinent. Open-minded, willful, tolerant, and uncontrolled. It should be said that Li Yuan's personality is relatively facetious, or he will not be given a "old lady" nickname by his eldest cousin Yang Guang, although there is an element of falsification, but it can also be seen from it that Li Yuan has a generous temperament and a generous side. Li Yuan's ascension to the throne without wantonly slaughtering heroes is also Li Yuan's kind side. But in his later years, Li Yuan was undoubtedly very miserable, Li Yuan had been balancing between his three sons, but eventually led to fratricide. Overnight, the heads of two sons and ten grandchildren fell to the ground. Li Yuan wanted to cry without tears in the face of this situation. Li Yuan was one of the most low-key and ignored emperors of the Tang Dynasty.
Li Shimin, the second lord of tang. The actual founder of Datang was Li Yuan's second son. He usurped the throne in 626 AD. He was 26 years old, reigned for 23 years, and died in 649 AD. He was 50 years old. Li Shimin should be the representative of the Ming Emperor in the feudal era. If all the emperors of China were to be ranked in one ranking, Li Shimin could definitely rank in the top five, but Li Shimin glorified himself by falsifying history. Killing people and taking wives, occupying sisters-in-law, and marrying widows, judging from these acts, is simply a copy of Yang Guang. But the evaluation of a monarch should not be limited to his private morality, but should also pay attention to the fact that Li Shimin is a wise lord. What was blamed was Li Shimin's private affairs, but in terms of his ability to govern the country. Li Shimin is definitely the greatest monarch. A lifetime of martial arts. The great French historian René Groussé once said that because of the great achievements of Tang Taizong, an unpredictable China, a heroic epic China, and rewrote the history of civilization that has continued for thousands of years. Mao Zedong's evaluation of Li Shimin was: "Since ancient times, there has been no right person in the army of Li Shimin, followed by Zhu Yuanzhang's ear." It can be seen that everyone at home and abroad has given a high evaluation to Li Shimin. Li Zhi. The third monarch of the Tang Dynasty, known in history as Emperor Gaozong of Tang. He ascended the throne in 649 at the age of 21, reigned for 34 years, and died in 683 AD. At the age of 60, Li Zhi's greatest sorrow was that he had a good father, not only that, but what was even more tragic was that there was also a daughter-in-law of the only female emperor, Wu Zetian. Even if he is great and wise, all the light is obscured by these two, but realistically speaking, when Tang Gaozong was in power, it was the highest peak of the Tang Dynasty in terms of economy and military affairs, but all this was based on Wu Zetian's body, and the Cambridge History of Sui and Tang Dynasties in China evaluated Li Zhi as: The real achievements of Emperor Gaozong's reign were not attempts to change the comparison of social forces within the ruling class, which was difficult to conclude, but a series of major changes to the imperial examination system itself. The Chinese imperial examination system began in the Sui Dynasty and was institutionalized during the Reign of Li. Eventually perfected in Song. This is Li Zhi's greatest merit in institutionalizing him, and Li Zhi's greatest contribution to the military is to complete the great deeds that Yang Guang and Li Shimin did not complete in the two generations of emperors, then to pacify Goryeo.
Wu Zetian, whose real name was 珝, was later renamed 曌. Li Shimin's concubine, Li Zhi's empress. He ascended the throne as Emperor of the Great Zhou Dynasty in 690 at the age of 67 and reigned for 15 years, but died in 705 at the age of 82. She is the only female emperor recognized by history. Wu Zetian served two generations of emperors, father and son, and both generations of emperors were wise lords. When Wu Zetian entered the palace, he was only a talent of the lowest level. Finally becoming an emperor, a lifetime can be described as legendary. Wu Zetian entered the palace at the age of 14, gave Li Shimin a low-level concubine, and then to a nun, and then entered the palace and then became Empress Li Zhi at the age of 30, Wu Zetian used it for only 18 years. It should be said. Li Zhi and Wu Zetian were able to give birth to 6 children, which can prove that their feelings were quite deep, and Wu Zetian was four years older than Li Zhi. And later the only female emperor. When he was in charge of the world, he had the rule of the Upper Qi Zhen Guan and the lower Kaiyuan Prosperous World. In terms of personal ability, she is definitely a hero and a great talent, and she is the only female emperor in China, the only one in thousands of lifetimes.
Lee Long-ki. Known as Tang Xuanzong, he was the grandson of Emperor Gaozong of Tang and Wu Zetian, the third son of Li Dan of Emperor Ruizong of Tang, and one of whom came to power in a coup d'état. He ascended the throne as emperor in 712. He was 27 years old. He reigned for 44 years. He died in 756 AD. At the age of 77, he was the longest reigning emperor of the Tang Dynasty, and the Tang Dynasty was extremely prosperous because of him and also extremely weak because of him, which can be described as half a lifetime of wisdom and half a world of confusion, if Li Longji died when the Tang Dynasty was extremely prosperous in the twenty-second year of the New Century. His image would be a different story entirely. Chairman Mao's comment to Li Longji was: "Emperor Tang Ming will not be an emperor, the first half of the generation will do it, and the second half of the generation will not do it." This is too direct, but it is also true. The reason why Li Longji was confused in the second half of his life was that he was too obsessed with his own exploits, some of them were too proud, Li Longji played the power plot to the fullest, creating a feudal extremely prosperous Kaiyuan prosperous world, and when An Lushan rebelled, he saw clearly a soldier and found that he was an elderly emperor who was constantly fainting, and the great prosperity was fleeting like a bubble. The most vicious of these five emperors was Li Longji. Depose the queen, force the killing of the third son, and forcibly take the daughter-in-law. The second half of his life was extremely dim-witted. Completely devoid of the wisdom and courage of the early years, the judgment is like two people. That is to say, Li Longji's merits are too clear. It's hard to judge.
If there is a comprehensive evaluation of the abilities of these five emperors, it should be:
Li Shimin > Li Zhi> Wu Zetian > Li Yuan > Li Longji.
I am clear water, the watchman of history. Looking forward to your attention and comments.