''With copper as a mirror, you can wear a crown; with history as a mirror, you can know the rise and fall; with people as a mirror, you can see the gains and losses.'' ''
- Old Book of Tang, Biography of Wei Zheng, Li Shimin
Tang Taizong, who pioneered the "Rule of Zhenguan", was different from other emperors, especially for the use of people, which was not weaker than Liu Bang, the ancestor of Han Gao. Especially in the treatment of heroes, unlike other emperors who are worried about the heroes and heroes and deliberately kill them directly, they can properly handle the relationship between kings and subjects without bloodshed, which also lays a firm foundation for the prosperity of the Tang Dynasty.
Therefore, generally when we talk about the emperor of the imperial family, one is Liu Bang and the other is Li Shimin.
Li Shimin has hardly made any mistakes in the use of people in his life, but there is one person who makes him look away, and this is the prototype Li Ji of Xu Maogong in the biography of the Sui and Tang heroes we are familiar with.
Li Ji (李勣, Duke Zhenwu of England) (594-669, ''勣', yin', '绩''), originally known as Xu Shiji (徐世绩), was a Chinese poet.
Li Yuan, the emperor of Tang Gaozu, gave him the surname Li, and later changed his name to Li Ji (李绩), a Han Chinese, a native of Cao Prefecture (曹州離狐; southeast of present-day Dongming County, Heze, Shandong), a famous general of the early Tang Dynasty, who was also known as Li Jing, and was given the title of Duke of England and one of the twenty-four meritorious servants of Lingyange.
In his early years, Li Ji followed Li Shimin to pacify the four sides, and later became one of the main generals of the Tang Dynasty to expand the territory, breaking the Eastern Turks and Goguryeo, and made outstanding achievements.
It was this god man who almost let the Tang Dynasty perish. In fact, it is not all his fault, after all, the world is unpredictable, who would have thought that the so-called Ichisuke female stream would be so powerful that it almost overthrew the entire empire.
In the twenty-third year of Zhenguan (649), Li Shimin was sick in bed and said to his son Li Zhi: ''You have not given favor to Li Ji, and now I will degrade him to a foreign official, and after my death you will give him the official position of servant, so that he will accept your favor and will absolutely bow to you and be loyal to you.'" In the same year, Li Shimin died and Li Zhi succeeded to the throne, so Li Ji was given the title of Shangshu Zuo Servant, equivalent to the position of Chancellor and Prime Minister.
In the first year of Yonghui (650), Li Ji petitioned to be relieved of his servantship, but Li Zhi still ordered him to take the position of Kaifu Yi and the Third Division, and still be in charge of political affairs. In the fourth year of Yonghui (653), he was enshrined as Sikong. During the Zhenguan period, Li Shimin, because of his outstanding merits in the Lingyange Twenty-four Meritorious Deeds, once painted a portrait of him on the Lingyange (ranked twenty-third), and at this time, Li Zhi ordered him to be painted, and personally wrote a preface to the portrait.
From these few events, it is enough to see the trust of the Li Royal Family in Li Ji. However, in the sixth year of Yonghui (655), Li Ji almost destroyed the Tang Dynasty with a single sentence, which was really not right.
In this year, Li Zhi wanted to depose Empress Wang and make Wu Zetian the new empress, taking charge of the harem.
As soon as this idea was proposed, it was opposed by the ministers of the DPRK and The Chinese people persuaded Li Zhi to quickly dispel this idea, which was not good.
So Li Zhi found Li Ji and asked, "'Chu Suiliang intends to make Wu Zhaoyi empress, but Chu Suiliang is stubborn and thinks that it is impossible." Chu Suiliang is the minister of life, what should be done about this matter? ''
After Li Ji listened, he did not pay attention to his heart, but only said: "This is Your Majesty's family affair, why should I ask outsiders more?"'
Yeah, it's your own family affair, there's no need to ask anyone. In this way, Li Zhi strengthened his heart and must establish Wu Zetian as the queen. Therefore, Li Ji won the trust of Empress Wu again, and at the same time pushed the Tang Dynasty to a road of no return.
After the death of Emperor Gaozong of Tang and Li Zhi, he served as the empress dowager of Emperor Zhongzong of Tang and Emperor Ruizong of Tang. In the first year of Tianzhi (690), Wu Zetian was proclaimed emperor, changed the name of the country to Zhou, and set the capital Luoyang, called "Shendu", and established Wuzhou. The Tang Dynasty was interrupted here, although it was all ruled by the Li family, but it was obviously different, "In a sense", it was broken. It was not until the first year of shenlong (705) that the Li dynasty was restored with the efforts of the ministers, and on December 16 of the same year, Wu Zetian died of illness at Shangyang Palace at the age of eighty-two, and later buried Qianling with Emperor Gaozong, leaving a wordless monument.
As for Li Ji, he didn't know that because of a sentence that he wanted to stay out of the matter, he almost destroyed the entire Datang Dynasty.
When we look at this matter from the perspective of a monarch, we will understand why Li Ji said such a thing.
Kings and princes, first of all, we must clearly distinguish what is a king and what is a subject. The matter that Li Zhi asked about itself has certain problems, and there are too many relationships involved in the middle, especially li zhi's psychological aspects; since I believe in you Li Ji, the answer you gave me must conform to my wishes, and I can only say good, not refute. So Li Ji simply acted as an intermediary, neither side helped, and your own family affairs were solved by yourself. It seems that both sides are not touched, and the result is still on the same side as Li Zhi, even if it is for their own consideration, but also for future generations, after all, no one wants to be liquidated after a hundred years, especially offending the emperor.
On December 31, 669, Li Ji died at the age of seventy-six. Li Zhi held a funeral for him, stopped going to the court for seven days, gave him the title of Taiwei and the Governor of Yangzhou, gave him the title of Zhenwu, gave him a coffin, let him accompany him to the funeral in Zhaoling, and ordered Si Ping Taichang bo Yang Rifang to supervise the funeral with Wen Zhengqing. On the day of the burial, Li Zhi went to weiyang ancient city, went upstairs to pay his funeral, looked at the hearse and cried bitterly, and made a memorial for him.
As a courtier, being able to enjoy such treatment after death can also be regarded as having no regrets in this life.