Li Yuan was born into an aristocracy, and his mother was the sister of Empress Wenwen, so Emperor Wen of Sui trusted and liked him very much. However, when he arrived at the Sui Emperor, because he was stationed at the border pass, he knew many people with lofty ideals, and this behavior made the Emperor a little jealous. But because in the process of fighting, he recruited rebels and constantly expanded his strength, which would make the uprising so smooth.
Li Shimin is the second son of Li Yuan, who has been very intelligent since he was a child, with a very far-reaching vision, and the key is to be informal and decisive. He joined the army at a very young age, participated in many battles, and made great achievements for the establishment and unification of the Tang Dynasty.
In the ninth year of WuDe, the crown prince Li Jiancheng and the Qi king Li Yuanji joined forces to plot to kill Li Shimin, and when Li Shimin learned of this, he launched a coup d'état near the Xuanwu Gate of the Taiji Palace and shot the crown prince. A few days later, Li Yuan made Li Shimin crown prince and handled national affairs. Two months later, Li Yuan passed the throne to Li Shimin. After being forced to abdicate by Li Shimin, did Li Yuan really have children at ease?
First, occupy the Taiji Palace
Taiji Palace was the political center of the Tang Dynasty, and the establishment of the Tang Dynasty began here. Li Yuan still lived here after his abdication, this point is a bit unspeakable, since he has already passed on the power to his son, what use can he have in occupying the palace! He occupied a large place and let the emperor and a group of ministers make up in a small place.
Li Shimin was certainly not satisfied with such an arrangement, and when he ascended the throne as emperor, he should have been admired by thousands of people, but as a result, there was not even a large hall. However, he had no way to do anything, he killed the two brothers and their entire families when he ascended the throne, and now he drove his father out of the palace, and his reputation would be ruined.
Perhaps this is Li Yuan venting his dissatisfaction, dissatisfaction with Li Shimin's killing of his brother, dissatisfaction with his forcing himself to abdicate, and dissatisfaction with his current desolate old age. It should be that he has not yet put himself in the right position, two months ago he was still the king of a country, and two months later he became an idle old man.
Three years have passed, and some ministers have directly said that Li Yuan should move out of the Taiji Palace, but they have all been reprimanded by Li Shimin, after all, the name is not right. At this time, Li Yuan seemed to be slowly adapting to his own life, and may have thought of something, he offered to move to Hongyi Palace to live, Li Shimin was of course happy to hear it, and immediately arranged for Li Yuan to move.
At this time, some ministers found that something was wrong, the Hongyi Palace was where Li Shimin lived when he was the crown prince, it was damp, and it had not been repaired for many years, and the decoration was much lower than that of the Taiji Palace, according to the rules of the old ancestors, this is definitely not right. At this time, it was difficult for Li Shimin to come back to the Taiji Palace, and he couldn't give it back to him.
This situation made Li Shimin very uncomfortable, this is going to go out, others will definitely say that he is not filial piety, let alone that he squeezed the Emperor Taishang moved away, and then how can he let the father live in the palace where his son lived? Li Shimin felt that something was wrong, so he ordered people to build a summer palace for Li Yuan on the high ground with good feng shui in Chang'an, which was later daming palace.
Second, it is not respected by the lower people
There is a story recorded in the Old Book of Tang that after Li Yuan moved to the Tai'an Palace, several smaller sons also lived in it. Li Shimin arranged for the Shang Palace around him to go to the Taishang Emperor every day to send some delicious food, and Li Shimin's eighteenth brother Li Yuanming was told by the people around him that he would perform a ritual when he saw this Shang Palace.
Li Yuanming did not understand, Shang Gong was just a maid by his second brother's side, how could he say that he was also a prince, why should he pay tribute to Shang Gong? From this small detail, it can be seen that the father and son living in the Tai'an Palace are not respected by the subordinates, let alone the princes born after the abdication of the Taishang Emperor.
Although the son did not care much about Li Yuan, his daughter-in-law, Empress Eldest Sun, was still very filial. She would go to the Tai'an Palace every morning and evening to bring some necessities or supplements to the Emperor Taishang. This can also be seen that except for the empress, no one else will go to the Tai'an Palace, and even Li Shimin only sent the Shang Palace around him to send something to his father.
In fact, li shimin lived not far from Li Yuan, but rarely went there to visit Li Yuan. It is said that Li Shimin goes out to escape the summer every summer, but he does not take Li Yuan with him once. Li Shimin's attitude is already very obvious, you just stay well in your Tai'an Palace, you have been squeezing me for three years in the palace affairs, and we had better not violate the river water.
Third, the contradiction between father and son
After Li Yuan attacked Chang'an, he married many concubines within a few years and gave birth to more than 20 young princes. After his abdication, Li Shimin and his people had many grievances against Emperor Taishang. One year there was a great drought in the country, and these people actually said that it was because Li Yuan had too many concubines and the yin qi was accumulated. It was unreasonable to listen, but Li Shimin cut more than 3,000 palace people around Li Yuan at the first order.
Li Yuan's most trusted minister during his reign was Pei Huan, who became Li Yuan's only favorite. However, after the Coup d'état at Xuanwumen, Pei Ning's situation was embarrassing, and Li Shimin tried to find his handle, and Pei Huan was also cautious and had never been found. In the third year of Zhenguan, Pei Huan went to listen to the sermons of the rebellious demon monks, and was caught by Li Shimin, who forced him to return to his hometown and later relegated to Jingzhou.
This matter had a great impact on Li Yuan, after all, he was the favorite of the year, and now that he was being punished like this, he was very unhappy in his heart, but he was also unable to protect himself. A few years later, Li Yuan died, and before he died, he arranged his funeral to be simple, and there was no need to keep the tomb for too long. As a result, Li Shimin really only took 4 months to build the mausoleum, and the burial products were the simplest in the Tang Tombs.
summary
After being forced to abdicate by Li Shimin, did Li Yuan really have children at ease? The opposite is true. First of all, his two sons were killed by Li Shimin, how could he not be distressed! Immediately after his own throne was also robbed, his life was basically over. Trapped in the Tai'an Palace for many years, it is good to listen to the elderly, this is not house arrest!
Looking at Li Shimin here, during his reign, he actively listened to the opinions of the Qunchen, attached importance to literary education, and was willing to listen to the opinions of the Qunchen. It is required that the whole country should not waste, start a frugal life from yourself, and let everyone learn more, including learning agricultural knowledge and raising silkworms to spin silk. Enabling the people to recuperate, Guotai and Min'an created the famous rule of Zhenguan in Chinese history.
In the years that followed, the father and son appeared together very rarely, the last time being when Li Jing led thousands of cavalry all the way to the Turkic lair and captured The Jili Khan to Chang'an. The Turks had been harassing the borders, which for many years had been the biggest headache for the emperors of the dynasty, and this victory was also the first ever.
Li Shimin was also very excited, and perhaps at this time he deeply realized the feeling that only their father and son could understand. So he raised a toast to his father for his birthday, and the father and son who loved and killed each other could finally speak face to face after many years. Just a year after this gathering, Li Yuan completed his life.