In 1978, a Tang Dynasty tomb was excavated near the Zhaoling Tomb in Xi'an, and the owner of the tomb was Tang Jian, the founding minister of the Tang Dynasty and the 22nd ranked in Lingyange. In the tomb, scholars found an epitaph, but the content of the inscription subverted history, which was different from the New Book of Tang, the Old Book of Tang, and the Zizhi Tongjian. Therefore, some scholars believe that the inscription of this stone stele subverts history and has a very important impact on the image of Li Shimin.
The rise of the Tang Dynasty must be traced back to Li Yuan's Taiyuan rebellion. In terms of raising troops, the history books all highlight the role of Li Shimin, as if without Li Shimin's proposal, Li Yuan would not have rebelled. In order to force Li Yuan to rebel, Li Shimin also used the "beauty plan" on his father.
Li Shimin conspired with his regent Liu Wenjing to set up a banquet to drunk Li Yuan and let him sleep with the concubines of the Sui Emperor. The next day, Li Yuan woke up and found himself sleeping with the emperor's woman, which forced him to embark on the road of rebellion. However, in real history, Li Yuan was really so indecisive that he had to be forced by Li Shimin to raise an army? Judging from Tang Jian's tombstone, the answer is no, and Li Yuan should have played a leading role in the Taiyuan uprising.
According to historical records, in the thirteenth year of Daye (617 AD), Tang Jian once found Li Yuan and urged him to raise an army. With his wisdom and strategy, Tang Jian planned the steps for Li Yuan to conquer the world, and formulated a wonderful plan for the southern thief Kou Lishanfei, the northern and turkic, and then taking Guanzhong. Regarding Tang Jian's plan, Li Yuan did not comment. Just say in a tone that is willing to consider:
"Tang Wu's affairs are not his own, the world is in chaos, and his words and selfishness are trying to survive..."
As for whether to rebel or not, Li Yuan is still waiting to see, and is still waiting for Li Shimin's "urging" and "persecution" of him.
However, in Tang Jian's epitaph, the truth of history is revealed. Regarding Tang Jian's plan, Li Yuan showed a very positive attitude. The epitaph has clouds:
"Emperor Taiwu (Li Yuan) issued the title of Jinyang (Taiyuan), gongzhi stopped, if He Fuqi, throwing water with stone, the strategy of a hundred in the middle was exhaustive; obedience to words, only victory over Sisi in a thousand miles."
Simply translated, it is to accept Tang Jian's plan in its entirety, and it is not as hesitant as in the history books. At the same time, Li Yuan also compared Tang Jian to his own Zhang Liang, worshiped him as the General's Mansion Secretary, and added the right doctor to directly turn Tang Jian into his confidant. Therefore, Li Yuan's actual timing of the sacrifice from Tang Jian had already been set, and there was no need for Li Shimin to perform the beauty plan at all.
In addition, in the Book of Two Tang Dynasties, Tang Jian first stated to Li Shimin the reason why Li Yuan should raise an army, and then Li Shimin conveyed Tang Jian's opinion. However, in the epitaph, it was Tang Jian who first offered advice to Li Yuan, and then consulted with Li Shimin to jointly raise an army. Apparently, Li Shimin tampered with the historical data and placed himself, not his father Li Yuan, at the center of the Taiyuan uprising. In fact, in the Taiyuan uprising, it was Li Yuan who really played a leading role, not Li Shimin. Li Shimin's actions are the work of greed.
After the change of Xuanwumen, Li Shimin repeatedly tried to falsify historical materials and downplay the merits of his father Li Yuan and brother Li Jiancheng in conquering the world. For example, Li Shimin repeatedly forced Fang Xuanling and Wen Daya to watch the "Notes on the Living of the Tang Dynasty". In the subsequent revision of history, he repeatedly scandalized his father and brother. Li Yuan, who was originally a generation of male lords, was portrayed as indecisive and could only rely on Li Shimin to fight the puppet of the world. With the excavation of many documents and archaeological materials, Li Yuan's image was gradually enriched.
It is true that Li Shimin's merits in conquering the world were great, but he could not add all the credit to him, and Li Yuan and even Li Jiancheng's merits were not small. It can even be said that Li Yuan was the greatest contributor to the establishment and expansion of the Tang Dynasty.
In addition, Tang Jian's fate is also very interesting. In the fourth year of Zhenguan (630 AD), the Tang army defeated the Eastern Turk Jieli Khan, and the Turkic state was already destroyed. Therefore, Li Shimin sent Tang Jian as an envoy to try to summon Jieli Khan. Just when Tang Jian and Jieli Khan were talking to each other, the main general Li Jing disregarded Tang Jian's safety and forcibly launched an attack on the Turks. If Tang Jian hadn't run fast, he would have died in the rebellion a long time ago. Li Shimin did not seem to make any reprimands for Li Jing's behavior.
Therefore, the author boldly guessed that in that instant, Li Shimin wanted to kill people with a knife, kill his father Li Yuan's former close associate, Tang Jian, and bury the real history in the yellow sand. However, Tang Jian's life was great, and he did not let Li Shimin's plan succeed. Later, Tang Jian was able to be a man with his tail between his legs, and Li Shimin let him go and included him in the Ling Yan Pavilion.
In short, the discovery of Tang Jian's tomb provides us with first-hand information for us to understand the history of the Tang Dynasty. At the same time, we also found the unknown dark side of a generation of Ming Emperor Li Shimin from the epitaph. By revising history, he cleverly added the credit for fighting the world to himself, thus degrading his father and brother. The bad head of falsifying history was also opened by Li Shimin.