In 626, near the Xuanwu Gate of Chang'an, the capital of the new Tang Empire, a shocking coup d'état took place, and the crown prince Li Jiancheng and the Qi king Li Yuanji were killed by Li Shimin, the king of Qin, becoming the losers who had been left behind for thousands of years. Li Shimin, the King of Qin, completely grasped the initiative through this battle, and in just two months, he first became the crown prince and then became the emperor of Tang Gaozong, becoming the emperor and opening his own 23-year imperial road.
So in the change of Xuanwu Gate, not to mention the dead crown prince Li Jiancheng and the Qi king Li Yuanji, how Tang Gaozu Li Yuan saved his life, and how the victor Li Shimin, the king of Qin, took care of the aftermath.
First, Li Yuan's life-saving technique is to completely decentralize power
After killing the crown prince Li Jiancheng and the Qi king Li Yuanji, Li Shimin the Prince of Qin sent Wei Chi Jingde, who had just killed Li Yuanji the Prince of Qi, into the palace to "Su Wei" Tang Gaozu Li Yuan.
Of course, it seems to be a "Su Wei", but in fact, it is to send the murderous Wei Chi Jingde to deter Li Yuan and make Li Yuan more interesting, otherwise Wei Chi Jingde, who just killed the King of Qi, really has the courage to do something bold.
Li Yuan was shocked, so he asked, "Who is evil among the people who are in turmoil today?" What is the reason why the secretary is here"?
Wei Chi Jingde replied, "The King of Qin, with the prince and the king of Qi, rebelled and raised troops to rebuke him, fearing that he would alarm His Majesty and dispatch his ministers to Su Wei."
Li Yuan was obviously a little flustered at this time, so he asked Pei Huan and other important ministers around him: "I don't want to see this matter today, so why should I do it?" It means asking these ministers to see what their position is, if they support themselves, then it is easy to say anything, and if they do not support it, they can only accept their fate.
Xiao Yu and Chen Shuda, who were partial to Li Shimin, said: "Jiancheng, Yuan Jiben did not premeditate the plot, and did not contribute to the world, and the King of Qin was highly respected and conspired together. Now that the King of Qin has been rebuked, the King of Qin has covered the universe and returned to his heart, and if His Majesty is punished with Yuanliang, he will entrust the affairs of the state, and there will be no more trouble."
As soon as Li Yuan saw that the matter had reached this point, the important ministers around him expressed their support for Li Shimin, so he immediately obediently confessed his fate and said: "Good! This is my long-cherished heart also".
At that time, the Qin Dynasty palace was still fighting with the Eastern Palace and the Yu Dang of the Qi Palace, and Wei Chi Jingde asked Li Yuan to surrender his hand and order the troops to be punished by the King of Qin, and Li Yuan immediately agreed.
Li Yuan then sent the Yellow Gate Attendant Pei Zhi to the Eastern Palace Xiaozhi generals, and these generals were completely dispersed.
It can be said that Tang Gaozu Li Yuan was very good at judging the situation, seeing that the crown prince Li Jiancheng and the Qi king Li Yuanji were killed, Wei Chi Jingde appeared murderously, and the heavy ministers around him were still inclined to Li Shimin, and he did not have the determination to break the net. Therefore, in order to save his life, he immediately saw the wind and made the rudder, approved of Wei Chi Jingde's statement, agreed with the opinions of the important ministers around him, and wanted to reuse Li Shimin, the King of Qin, and said that this was his wish all along.
Li Yuan can be said to be quite decisive, since he has chosen to save his life, he will do it to the end. Therefore, it was pei who sent Pei Zhi again, and cooperated with Li Shimin to dismiss the soldiers of the Eastern Palace and the Qi Palace, so that Li Shimin completely locked in the victory.
Soon after, Li Yuan made Li Shimin crown prince. He also commanded: "From now on, the military and the state affairs, no matter how big or small, the prince was executed, and then he heard the music."
Two months later, Li Yuanchan was the crown prince Li Shimin, who himself became emperor taishang, and after nine years as emperor, he died of illness. Although he was like a high-ranking prisoner for nine years, he always died well.
To sum up, Li Yuan's way of saving his life was not necessarily very clever, but it was indeed the most beneficial method for him to save his life at that time. Otherwise, if he opposes Li Shimin with the mentality of breaking the net of fish death, then it is really possible to end up with a "violent collapse".
Second, Li Shimin's aftermath was to re-draw the second killing
After the change of Xuanwu Gate, after Li Shimin saw his father Li Yuan, he expressed his filial piety in public, "the people of the world knelt down and sucked on their breasts, and mourned for a long time." As for what Li Shimin really thinks, everyone will know it at once, of course, there are many performance components.
Just as the so-called cutting grass does not remove the roots, the spring wind blows and grows again. After Li Shimin killed the crown prince Li Jiancheng and the Qi king Li Yuanji, he simply killed Li Jiancheng and all of Li Yuanji's sons without stopping.
Although Li Shimin killed the heirs of the prince and the king of Qi, there was also a hint of humanity in addition to cold blood. He also left the daughters of the prince and the king of Qi, and reserved certain treatment for them. For example, the second daughter of the crown prince Li Jiancheng was crowned the lord of Wenxi County, and the fifth daughter was crowned the lord of Guide County.
Crown Princess Zheng was also arranged to live widowed in Changle Gate, raising her daughter and ending well.
At that time, Li Shimin and the generals still wanted to kill the remaining party of the crown prince Li Jiancheng and the Qi king Li Yuanji, and Wei Chi Jingde said: "The crime is in the second evil, and it is to ambush him; if he and the party are supported, they must not seek peace." Meaning that the crime was committed against the crown prince Li Jiancheng and the Qi king Li Yuanji, and Yu Dang should not be implicated.
After considering it, Li Shimin needed to win the hearts and minds of the people, and once he wanted to eliminate the remaining party of the prince and the king of Qi, it would definitely involve a lot of people and make people panic, so he adopted Wei Chi Jingde's opinion, so it was "a crime of fierce rebellion, which ended in Jiancheng, Yuanji, and the rest of the party and asked nothing." It is tantamount to reconciling with the prince and the yu party of the king of Qi, and no longer engaging in large-scale conspiracies.
At the same time, Li Shimin also had two moves, one was to use the old prince wei zheng and other people to show his atmosphere to the world. The second is to occupy the Yang clan of the Qi princess, which is criticized by many people, but Li Shimin also has political considerations in doing so, the Yang clan is from the door valve family, let her enter the palace, and can also win over the door valve family that is inclined to the prince and the king of Qi.
To sum up, after the change of Xuanwumen, Li Shimin was decisive, and since he had killed the crown prince Li Jiancheng and the Qi king Li Yuanji, he naturally had to eradicate the grass and remove the roots, so he killed all his heirs.
However, in addition to this killing, Li Shimin's focus is on winning people's hearts and minds and winning over all forces that can be co-opted. For example, the prince and the Qi king Yu Dang will no longer be pursued, so as to avoid large-scale retribution. Moreover, the old party, which was built with crown prince Li, also occupied the Yang clan of Princess Qi, in order to win over the door valve family behind it.
After Li Shimin ascended the throne as emperor and his rule was stable, he took two more actions against the dead crown prince Li Jiancheng and the King of Qi.
First, through the "History of the State", "Records of the State" and other historical books, the crown prince Li Jiancheng and the Qi king Li Yuanji were framed, so the "Old Book of Tang" is the same as this evaluation of these two people: "Built cruelly, is it the talent of the lord, the fierceness of Yuan Ji, there are traces of overturning the nest, if it were not for Emperor Taizong's rebellion and obedience, accumulating merit and merit, how could it be three hundred years of Yanhong, the heir of the twenty emperors?" Or if you insist on small sections, you will lose a lot of money, and you will not be able to compare with Qin II and the Sui Emperor." This means that if these two people are emperors, they are afraid that even Qin II and Sui Emperor are not as good, where will there be the Tang Dynasty's 289 years of Jiangshan, in order to highlight the wisdom and divine martial arts of Tang Taizong Li Shimin.
Second, although Li Shimin killed both the sons of the crown prince Li Jiancheng and Li Yuanji the Prince of Qi, after the throne was secured, he did not nominally let these two people die.
In the thirteenth year of Zhenguan, Emperor Taizong of Tang Li Shimin succeeded his thirteenth son, Li Fu the Prince of Zhao, to the crown prince Li Jianjian. Later, the fourteenth son, Li Ming the Prince of Cao, was succeeded to Li Yuanji's room.
At this point, the aftermath of the change of Xuanwumen, Tang Taizong Li Shimin was completed in every detail, involving all aspects, and even the evaluation of later generations was considered, which was really rare. It can be seen that behind many successes is the precise control of all aspects.
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