There is no prince who does not want to succeed to the throne smoothly. I think when I say this, no one will object. Even if some dynasties have the tradition of "establishing a concubine and establishing a long time", those younger princes will find ways to murder their concubines or eldest sons, so as to achieve the purpose of succession.
Some princes were even more unable to wait, and when the emperor had not yet died, they chose to raise an army to seize the throne. Some princes did not dare to seize the throne, so they had to work diligently on the throne in order to succeed to the throne smoothly in the future. In the Tang Dynasty, there was such a puzzling prince.
He was Tang Shunzong Li Shu. In the fourteenth year of the Gregorian calendar, Emperor Dezong of Tang formally issued an edict and made his eldest son Li Shu the crown prince. It was not until the twenty-first year of Zhenyuan that Emperor Dezong of Tang passed the throne through a testament, and Li Shu officially took the throne for Emperor Shunzong of Tang. Counting down, Li Shu stayed in the storage position for a total of 25 years.
Tang Shunzong had been the crown prince for 25 years, and his heart must have been very tormented. On the one hand, he wants to behave well, hoping that during this period, his father will not change to a prince. On the other hand, he should be wary of the rest of the princes and compete with him for the position of crown prince. One day he failed to take the throne smoothly, and Li Shu could not take it lightly.
It is said that prince is a high-risk profession, and it is true. Tang Dezong did indeed move his mind to change the idea of establishing a prince, but fortunately, the prime minister Li Bizhi knew the reason with affection, which made Tang Dezong give up this idea. It can be seen from this that in these 25 years of princely life, Li Xu must have had a very difficult time.
Fortunately, in the end, he successfully inherited the throne and became the king of a country, so Tang Shunzong was bound to cherish it and be a good emperor who worked hard to govern. However, just half a year later, Tang Shunzong chose Zen Rang and became the Emperor Taishang, an operation that people really couldn't understand.
For 25 years, he was frightened and frightened every day, and it was difficult for him to take the throne, so why did he choose Zen concession after half a year on the throne? Was he willing, or was he forced to do so? The author believes that there are two aspects, and the reason why he chose Zen Rang is for the following two reasons.
First, the strength is not enough
The prince's career was not good, which made Li Xuan's heart very depressed, and for a long time, it had a great impact on his body. Because he was afraid all day long, afraid of others framing him, and wanted to perform well in front of the emperor, Li Xuan was under a lot of pressure. So in the twentieth year of Zhenyuan, he suddenly suffered a stroke and lost his language ability for a while.
At that time, Tang Dezong had entered his old age, and his health was not as good as a day, and when he saw that his son was seriously ill, he also fell ill. For a time, the emperor and the crown prince were seriously ill at the same time, which was extremely unfavorable to the country. Therefore, Tang Dezong very much wanted his son to get better, and every day, regardless of his illness, he sent people around to find famous doctors to treat the prince.
Until the day tang Dezong died of illness, Li Xuan could not get up from bed to see his father for the last time, which also became a lifelong regret for both father and son. It was because Li Xuan's health was not good, so after becoming emperor, he spent all day worrying about state affairs, making him feel powerless, and perhaps abdicating the throne was the best choice.
Second, being coerced
As we all know, many emperors will become more and more suspicious in their old age, and Tang Dezong is no exception. In his later years, he was jealous of the ministers, so he did not dare to hand over the power to them, which made many adulterous people take advantage of the situation, including a man named Liu Zhenliang.
Liu Zhenliang's original name was Ju Wenzhen, and later he followed the eunuch who raised him, changed his surname to Liu, and took the name Liu Zhenliang. Liu Zhenliang was deeply trusted by Emperor Dezong of Tang, and for a time became the head of the eunuch at that time, holding a high position of power in the court, and many powerful people chose to rely on him.
After Tang Shunzong ascended the throne, he supported Wang Shuwen and others in Hanlin and implemented a new reform policy. However, these policies violated the interests of the eunuch forces and were opposed by Liu Zhenliang and others. Due to Liu Zhenliang's intervention, Wang Shuwen was deposed and the reformists suffered a major blow.
Later, Tang Shunzong intended to re-promote a person and continue to support the reform, and Liu Zhenliang understood that the most important problem was the emperor. So he joined forces with the rest of the eunuchs, as well as those ministers who opposed the reformists, to force Tang Shunzong to give way to the crown prince Li Chun.
Tang Shunzong had no choice but to zen the prince Li Chun, who was for Tang Xianzong. Tang Xianzong made good friends with Liu Zhenliang, and after he ascended the throne, he exiled all the reformists and promoted Liu Zhenliang to be a general of the Right Guard.
For these two reasons, Tang Shunzong had to choose to abdicate. However, Tang Shunzong only served as emperor for five months before he died of illness. At this time, it was less than a year before Tang Dezong died, and he did not have time to welcome the new year, so he died.
Tang Shunzong's life was indeed bitter, he had been the crown prince for 25 years, and every day was very depressing. It was not easy to take the throne, but due to various internal and external factors, he had to abdicate after half a year in power. After five months as emperor, he unfortunately died of illness. He didn't have time to realize his ambitions, so he left in regret.
(References :Old and New Book of Tang, Zizhi Tongjian)