Regarding the falsification of history by those in power, there are ancient and modern Chinese and foreign countries. Some are not objective enough, such as Sima Qian blaming Zhao Kuo for the defeat at the Battle of Changping; some are smeared and fabricated to achieve various purposes, such as the birth of a monarch in history, there will be a vision of heavenly descent; for example, Europe, the United States and the entire Western world about World War II, all carry out one-sided propaganda reports, exaggerating the role of the Normandy landings, and ignoring the huge sacrifices of the Soviet Union, the mainstay of World War II. Another example is Charles III, who has a remarkable political achievement in British history, because of his harshness on the literati, he was portrayed by Shakespeare and later generations as a "hunchback tyrant".
Although it is said that since the Spring and Autumn Period, the historical officials are the most popular, and the significance of their existence is to record the events of the king, the court and the country, until the Ming and Qing dynasties, the living records of the kings were nominally not read by the emperor. However, in the past dynasties and dynasties, there were so many righteous and awe-inspiring and not afraid of death, Sima Qian was tough once, but the last generation of Shi Sheng, but ended up with an unknown cause of death.
Heavenly Khan
After all, since ancient times, the Chinese people have attached great importance to the reputation of the former and the future, so which emperor does not change history. Moreover, when we read these classics, we cannot find relevant evidence at all, and can only deliberate from the side of some historical events to find some small clues that falsify history. According to scholars since ancient times, Li Shimin's revision of the living records of Li Yuan, the emperor of Tang Gaozu, can be basically determined, and a generation of historians Zhang Taiyan even said in the "Aftermath of the Biography of Prince Tang Yin": "Emperor Taizong was established, afraid of his posthumous name, 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 letters."
When it comes to the emperors who falsified history in Chinese history, most people will blurt out a name, that is, Tang Taizong Li Shimin. Then why are the deeds of successive kings falsifying history endlessly, and why is the reputation of Li Shimin alone so great, it is nothing more than two points, Li Shimin has changed a lot and with great intensity, and he is not too shy about people's words, after all, secretly changing small records and making a big fuss about history with great fanfare is also of different nature.
Since ancient times, the literati have been more observant of ancient etiquette, and the history books have been written by the literati, and the literati are old-fashioned, which will inevitably rebuke Li Shimin's behavior, which is also understandable. Then we will see today what history Li Shimin has tampered with, so that future generations will scoff at his behavior.
In fact, it is not difficult to understand, after all, Li Shimin is a victim of the inheritance system of the eldest son, although he is a genius, but he is helplessly the second oldest, more importantly, the boss is still in good health, in the Tang Dynasty, the inheritance system of the eldest son of the concubine has been quite clear, Li Shimin can only take the throne through illegal means. And in order to block the mouths of all sentient beings in the world, it is necessary to create a reasonable reason, that is, the so-called imperial succession to the Mandate of Heaven.
Li Shimin falsified history
1. Exaggerate the credit
In fact, with Li Shimin's meritorious deeds in li and tang dynasties and the expansion and unification, there is no need to exaggerate the merits at all, and he can sit firmly on the throne. After all, the credit was really there, destroying Xue Rengao to save the catastrophe of Li Tang's regime, and then enlisting Liu Wuzhou and taking Hezhou. Then he advanced into the Central Plains and successively took Wang Shichong and Dou Jiande, laying a solid foundation for the unification of Li and Tang. After defeating Liu Heimin, Li Tang's rule in Hebei was confirmed. It can be said that Li Shimin played a decisive role in the unification of Li and Tang. It is reasonable to say that even if Li Shimin lies in the book of merits, replacing Li Jiancheng as crown prince or inheriting the emperor's throne, he will not be criticized too much.
But Li Shimin wanted more than that, he wanted to be a saint without any stains, so he wanted to do the four words "just and right". In other words, he wants everyone to think that Li Tang was established and fought by Li Shimin. Therefore, the Taiyuan Shouyi became dominated and promoted by Li Shimin, and Li Yuan was driven to the shelves by Li Shimin, forcing him to lead his troops south as a last resort.
At the same time, he quoted and fabricated some natural visions, indicating li Shimin's destiny, and then one-sidedly reported on various strategies and achievements, and in the end, Li Tang's battle for the founding of the country, Li Daozong, Li Yuanji, Li Jiancheng, and other clan relatives could not do it, and only Li Shimin alone could win the battle.
And Li Yuan is by no means a mediocre person, he has far-sightedness, seized the opportunity, took advantage of the Factual Emperor Sui's far away in Jiangdu, brazenly raised troops to raid Guanzhong, grasped the geographical advantages, and became the key to seizing the world.
Li Yuan and Li Jiancheng
2. Belittle Li Jiancheng
If you want to be justified, it is not enough to prove that you are doing it, but more importantly, you must also show that the eldest son is not worthy of the throne, whether it is from private morality or ability, and more importantly, it is necessary to make a big mistake. Therefore, as a loser, all the merits of Li Jiancheng were denied, and at the same time, he also smeared it on a large scale.
Li Jiancheng is the eldest son of Li Yuan, who has been trained since childhood, and during the period when Li Yuan was guarding Taiyuan, Li Jiancheng operated alone in Hedong and was able to attract a group of people to be used by Li Tang, so we can be sure that Li Jiancheng is not an incompetent person. After Li Yuan entered Chang'an, Li Jiancheng was immediately made crown prince, and it is obvious that this incident was not because Li Jiancheng was the eldest son of Concubine, but more importantly, this incident was Li Yuan's affirmation of Li Jiancheng's merits in the process of Li Tang's founding. Of course, all of this was denied by Li Shimin.
Lee built a force
During the eight years of Li Yuan's reign, Li Jiancheng sat firmly in the Eastern Palace, with a number of top talents such as Wei Zheng, Xue Wanche, Li Yuanji, and Luo Yi as his confidants, who could be able to write and fight inside and out, who were very powerful, and who had won the recognition and confidence of most of the civilian officials, and whose power in Chang'an was very strong, which showed that Li Jiancheng had a lot of political influence during Li Yuan's time. In particular, he has assisted Li Yuan in handling government affairs for many years, and his political achievements have been remarkable, which Li Shimin cannot compare.
After the change of Xuanwu Gate, Li Shimin not only erased all of Li Jiancheng's credit in the process of establishing and stabilizing Li Tang, but also arranged many fainting stories for him. The first is to collude with the border generals and want to plot rebellion, which is obviously unreasonable, and it is obvious that rebellion is not something that harms the whole clan, and it is obvious that it is not done casually, it needs to be forced to go to the end of the road and forced to do so, and at that time, Li Jiancheng was firmly in the position of prince, and the forces in Guanzhong completely suppressed Li Shimin, so what was the need to rebel.
Then, framing Li Jiancheng for adultery with Li Yuan's harem women, this will not happen to Li Jiancheng, after all, Li Jiancheng is deeply supported by many people, and since childhood, he has been taught by famous teachers, and he only needs to wait for the opportunity, how can he make such a mistake at the last moment of the struggle for storage. In addition, li jiancheng was established as a demon, and Li Shimin was portrayed as a victim, and he finally rose up to resist, but he was also forced to do so, so that the human set was established.
Xuanwu Gate
Schematic diagram of the change of Xuanwu Gate
3. The beginning and end of the change of the forgery Xuanwu Gate
According to Li Shimin's statement, Li Yuan wanted to change Li Shimin to the crown prince in his heart, Li Jiancheng was afraid in his heart, and secretly had the heart of a villain, so he joined forces with Li Yuanji and tried every means to squeeze and squeeze Li Shimin, and later framed Li Shimin one after another, plus Li Yuan mistakenly believed the rumors, Li Shimin's position was precarious, and later he could not bear it, and finally set up an ambush outside the Xuanwu Gate, taking advantage of Li Jiancheng's desire to enter the palace to enter the rumors, and then killed Li Jiancheng and Li Yuanji.
However, history may not be so, in the last years of Wude, due to the gradual unification of the world, and Li Jing and Li Daozong in the south, so Li Shimin and the Gongchen clique were gradually snubbed, and more importantly, with the further development of the situation, the civilian official clique basically sided with Li Jiancheng, Li Yuanji was in charge of the Gyeonggi Shu wei, holding a large army, plus Xue Wanche and others, most of the armed forces in the entire Guanzhong region were in the hands of Li Jiancheng.
And Li Jiancheng gradually encroached on Li Shimin's forces, so that the Qin Palace will be completely suppressed by the Eastern Palace, and the group of heroes behind the Qin Palace is naturally unwilling, so Li Shimin, when forced to the final desperate road, can only lead his henchmen to ambush at Xuanwu Gate, and finally take advantage of the chaos to kill Li Jiancheng and Li Yuanji, but after this move, the Eastern Palace forces counterattacked, Xue Wanche almost attacked the Qin Palace, or Li Shimin took Li Jiancheng's head, only to quell the civil unrest. It can be seen that the change in Xuanwumen, if it were not for Li Jiancheng and Li Yuanji, Li Shimin would have been basically impossible to succeed if he wanted to start an incident in Chang'an, which shows that the general trend is not under Li Shimin's control.
In fact, all kinds of indications show that if it were not for Li Jiancheng's benevolence, Li Shimin's forces would have been wiped out long ago.
Under Li Shimin
Xuan Jia Army
4. Comprehensively deny the Sui Emperor
It is common for the latter dynasty to deny the last emperor of the previous dynasty, such as the Zhou Dynasty portraying the King of Qi as a tyrant of historical rank, or Wang Mang was made the head of the usurper and traitor, and his skull was collected by later dynasties for hundreds of years.
Li Shimin, on the other hand, completely denied the exploits of the Sui Emperor and portrayed him as a tyrant with poor military might.