In the eyes of many people, Wu Zetian is a fierce and fierce generation of "poisonous women". She poisoned her children, suppressed dissidents, and became the only female emperor in Chinese history through power channeling. And in order to seize power, she did not even spare the dead like Xu Maogong.
Xu Maogong, that is, Li Ji, the founding hero of Li Tang, whom we are familiar with. Li Ji's real name was Xu Shixun, and he was later given the surname of Li Yuan for his merits, and changed his name to Li Shixun, "Add the right Wu Hou General, change the title of Duke of Cao, give Liangtian fifty acres, the first district of A".
After Emperor Taizong of Tang ascended the throne, Li Ji changed his name to "Li Ji" to avoid secrecy. And some people call it "Xu Maogong".
From Tang Gaozu Li Yuan's sentence "Xu Shixun felt the virtue of pushing merit, and shi chunchen also." "Since then, the Li family has attached great importance to Li Ji. And Li Ji also bowed to Li Tang after he surrendered to Li Yuan. Li Ji was born into a wealthy family of "many servants in a family with thousands of bells and thousands of bells" in Lihu District, Cao Prefecture (present-day Mudan District, Heze, Shandong Province), but began to participate in the uprising at the age of seventeen.
Originally, he had no relationship with Li Yuan, and defected to Zhai Rang, the local rebel leader in his hometown. Later, out of consideration for the situation, Li Ji and Wang Bo, the Junyi man, both suggested that Zhai Rang surrender to the more famous Pushan Gong Li Mi, which intersected with Li Yuan.
At that time, Li Mi was the leader of the Sui Dynasty's key uprising. Therefore, after the great defeat to the Sui Dynasty general Wang Shichong, Li Mi had no choice but to defect to Li Yuan. Li Ji, who was Li Mi's confidant, was pushed by Li Mi to be the new lord of the original stronghold. However, Li Ji believed that "since the Duke of Wei (Li Mi) belonged to the Tang Dynasty, now this person's land is also owned by the Duke of Wei." If I offer it above, it is the defeat of the lord, and I do my own work to invite riches, and I am ashamed of it. Now it is advisable to record the number of counties and the household registration of the soldiers, and to enlighten the Duke of Wei and listen to the gong's self-sacrifice, and this is also the merit of the Duke of Wei. So he insisted on returning the land to Li Mi and letting Li Mi dedicate it to Li Tang himself.
Li Yuan, who learned of this, was surprised by Li Ji's virtue, so he said the sentence "Xu Shijian felt the virtue of pushing merit, and shi chunchen also." And Li Ji used his actual actions to assist Emperor Li Tang of the Three Dynasties to verify that Li Yuan did not look away. Li Ji helped Li Tang quell Dou Jiande, who was rebelling in Jiangnan, and also defeated the Turkic tribes that invaded Li Tang, the Xueyantuo tribe, and even took the turbulent Goryeo.
Even Li Shimin sighed: "The Sui Emperor could not select the virtuous and pacify the border, but only build the Great Wall to prepare for the Turks, and the confusion of love and knowledge is over!" He appointed Li Shijian to Yu Prefecture( in hunan and then made the Turks flee in fear of power, and the walls were quiet, so wouldn't it be better to build the Great Wall in the distance? "
Li Ji and the three emperors of the early Tang Dynasty were all very good people. In the face of this important minister who had made great contributions to Li Tang, Li Yuan gave him a surname, and Li Shimin cut his beard for Li Ji when he needed a beard to make medicine, and personally wrote a preface to the portrait that Li Ji was going to hang in the Ling Yan Pavilion. Even Li Zhi, who was reminded by Li Shimin to be a little wary of Li Ji, would also visit Li Ji when Li Ji was ill. When Li Ji died, Li Zhideng weiyang ancient city saw liuche, and the crown prince also went to see him off.
Initially, the imperial court's tomb of Li Ji was arranged in the same specifications as that of Wei Qing and Huo Fuyi of the Western Han Dynasty. In the first year of Emperor Gaozong's reign (684), Li Ji was also allowed to enjoy the Taimiao Temple. However, in the first year of The Emperor 's reign ( 684 ) , all the honors that Li Ji had won were in vain.
Before Li Ji's death, he had held a "parting banquet" for himself. In front of the whole family, Li Ji said: "I saw Fang Xuanling, Du Ruyi, and Gao Jifu work hard to make a portal, and I also hoped that Hou Kun would be blessed, and I would be ruined by the idiots." In order to prevent such a tragedy from happening in his own home, Li Ji instructed his brother: "I have a guinea pig like Xu, and I will use Fu Ru to prevent it, and if I have bad conduct and non-sexual intercourse, I will kill him in a hurry, and then I will know." "
However, Li Ji's bitter heart was finally ruined by the younger generations. Li Jingye, the grandson of Li Ji, after Wu Zetian took power, was very dissatisfied with the seizure of the Li family and the sons of the Wu clan as important subjects, so he conspired with Wei Siwen and Xue Zhang to rebel. They not only occupied the area around Yangzhou, but also recruited troops in the name of Kuangfu Luling. Li Jingye also established the so-called "Three Provinces" - "one is Kuangfu Province, the second is known as the Ying GongFu, and the third is the Yangzhou Metropolitan Governor's Mansion", and calls himself the Metropolitan Governor of Yangzhou.
Not only that, Li Jingye also issued a long article listing Wu Zetian's crimes. Like we are familiar with "to add scorpions as hearts, jackals into nature, close to the foxes and evil, mutilate Zhongliang, kill sisters and brothers, kill the king's mother." "All were bluntly exposed by Li Jingye. Moreover, he also made sense of the world's Haojie and moved him with affection, pointing out that "the public or family heirloom Han Jue, or the earth association Zhou relatives, or the heavy sending of minions, or the orders of the Xuanfu." Words are still in the ear, but faithfulness is forgotten? A piece of soil has not dried, six feet of loneliness? If they can turn misfortune into blessing, send it to the residence, and jointly establish the master of the king, there is no abolition of the old king's order, and all the lords are rewarded, and the mountains and rivers are rifted. "
In this year, not long after Li Zhicai's death, Wu Zetian was at a critical moment in seizing power, and Li Jingye jumped out to oppose it so fiercely, how could Wu Zetian not severely punish him? Therefore, Wu Zetian not only sent 300,000 troops to suppress Li Jingye, but also "chased down Jingye's ancestors and fathers, cut the coffin, and restored the surname Xu."
In fact, looking back at China's feudal history for more than two thousand years, too many people have learned from Fang Xuanling and Du Ruyi to spend time protecting the future of the family. But how many people can see the future and control the future? Even if it is Li Ji, the mainstay of Li Tang, isn't it also the coffin that was cut open in the end?