In the Xuanwumen Rebellion, Li Shimin only killed the prince and the king of Qi, so why did he seize power?
In ancient feudal society, the emperor was the supreme commander of a country, and the forbidden army belonged directly to the emperor, which was the army that guarded the palace and the capital. And what is strange is that Li Yuan was quickly seized of power after the Xuanwumen Incident in the first four days of June of the ninth year of Wu De, so why didn't Li Yuan's forbidden army intervene to stop Li Shimin's mutiny? As a result, Li Shimin easily seized power after killing the prince and the king of Qi.
In fact, it was not Li Yuan's inaction of the forbidden army, but that the Xuanwumen incident was too sudden, which caught Li Yuan off guard. At that time, Li Yuan had a total of 30,000 forbidden troops, but most of them were stationed in the north of the imperial city to resist the invasion of the Turks and other northern ethnic groups, and a small number was stationed in the south of the imperial city, and the south was the territory of the Tang Dynasty, even if there were rebels in the country, they would not be caught off guard. It can be seen that these forbidden troops are mainly to protect the imperial city, but they cannot defend the palace inside, and it is precisely the Xuanwumen incident that was carried out from within the palace. This mutiny launched by Li Shimin is actually a beheading operation, no matter how many troops you Li Yuan has, as long as I control you, then your army will be useless.
So after Li Shimin killed the prince and the king of Qi, was it really equivalent to seizing power? No, Li Yuan could still resist, but the cost of resistance was too great. Not to mention that Li Shimin did not give him the opportunity to resist, even if it was given to him, Li Yuan could not afford toss it. At that time, Li Yuan was already sixty years old, Li Jiancheng and Li Yuanji were both dead, and the eldest son of Li Yuan who lived under Li Yuan's knees except Li Shimin was Li Yuanjing, the king of Jing, who was only nine years old. If Li Yuan killed li Shimin as an adult when he was old, then the Tang Dynasty was really untrusted. Of course, the clever Li Yuan can only choose to hand over power.
After Li Shimin killed the crown prince and the queen of Qi, he had already sent Wei Chi Jingde to force Li Yuan to the palace, and when he learned that his two sons were dead, Li Yuan was already overwhelmed, but fortunately Pei Huan came out to fight the round field and said that Li Shimin, the king of Qin, was capable, and since the prince of Qi had committed a rebellion, then the emperor only needed to make the king of Qin the prince of Qin and be at peace. Li Yuan had no way out, he could only agree, and then he ordered the Eastern Palace people to stop resisting and obey the orders of the King of Qin, so that Li Shimin could truly control the palace. The next day, the crown prince and the sons of king Qi were all executed by Li Shimin, and on the third day after the incident, Li Shimin was made crown prince, and the affairs of the country were handled by the prince, at this time Li Shimin had already mastered the "imperial power", and there was only one last step - ascending the throne and becoming emperor.
On the ninth day of August in the ninth year of WuDe, Li Yuan abdicated as Emperor Taishang, and Zen was located in Li Shimin. In this way, Datang completed the transition of imperial power, and no one dared to mention the incident two months ago. Today, this situation can be said to have been caused by Li Yuan. Li Yuan was too confident, thinking that he could maintain the balance between the crown prince Li Jiancheng and the Qin king Li Shimin, who knew that Li Shimin, who was in a weak position, would suddenly attack, and the defenseless Li Yuan could only accept the rebellion of the prince and the king of Qi, abdicating the throne and giving power to Li Shimin, otherwise Li Shimin, who had already killed his own brother, would not care to take him Li Yuan alone. After all, history was written by the victors, and no one except Li Shimin knew the specific details of the Xuanwumen Incident anymore.