First, Li Yuan's family
Li Yuan's original wife was named Dou Shi (窦氏), and was historically known as Empress Taimu. She can be called a female man, when she was young, she chose her husband, and she must be outstanding in martial arts. And his father also agreed very much, always thinking that my precious daughter must be a dragon and phoenix among people, how can she marry someone casually?
So her father came up with a way to draw two peacocks on the screen, and then announced to the outside world: Whoever can shoot these two peacock eyes with two arrows, my daughter will marry whom.
It should be noted that the Dou family belonged to the imperial family, and many people came at once, and as a result, dozens of people were defeated. At this time, Li Yuan appeared on the scene, with two arrows in the middle, and married Dou Shi as his wife. Later, Dou gave birth to four boys and one daughter to Li Yuan. The eldest son, Li Jiancheng, the second son, Li Shimin, the third son, Li Xuanba, the fourth son, Li Yuanji, and as for their daughter, they are the famous Princess Pingyang.
Li Xuanba died at the age of 6, and he was the prototype of the first good man Li Yuanba in the "Sui and Tang Dynasties". Li Jiancheng, Li Shimin, and Li Yuanji later launched a fierce battle for the throne. In the end, when the Xuanwu Gate changed, Li Shimin shot Li Jiancheng and killed Li Yuanji, which was the end.
However, although these things of the Li Yuan family are sealed in the historical records, there are still many places that people can't understand--for example, why did Li Shimin occupy his sister-in-law Princess Chao after the change of Xuanwu Gate? If you want to understand this problem, you must first start with Li Yuanji's appearance.
We all know that Li Yuanba in the "Sui and Tang Dynasty" was born with a sharp-billed monkey cheek, just like Lei Gong, why did he orchestrate Li Yuanba in this way? There is a historical foundation, this is Li Yuanji. According to the Old Book of Tang:
In the beginning, Yuan Jisheng, Empress Taimu was disgusted with her appearance, and did not lift, and the attendant Chen was kind and private.
When Li Yuanji was born, his appearance was so ugly and abnormal that even his mother Dou Shi was disgusted - I don't want it! Thanks to the maid Chen Xiangyi, who was around him, he secretly carried him home and raised Li Yuanji to grow up. But the problem is that looking at the records of Li Jiancheng and Li Shimin, there is nothing unusual, on the contrary, Li Shimin has been a handsome man since he was a child.
When Li Shimin was four years old, a gentleman suddenly came to face him, who first touted Li Yuan: "At first glance, he is not a mortal, and he will be expensive in the future." And even better, your son is the same. ”
As soon as the words fell, four-year-old Li Shimin appeared, immediately attracting the eyes of Xiang Shi, and after looking at it for a moment, he said:
The posture of the dragon and phoenix, the watch of the heavens and the sun, the year will be twenty, will be able to help the world and the people.
”
This means that this child is really handsome, refreshed, a table of talents, a look of great nobility, and when he reaches the age of twenty, he will be able to achieve a great career.
Let's not discuss how magical this Xiangshi is, only this matter: from the historical records, Li Shimin has obviously been a handsome man since he was a child, and Li Yuanji is ugly and sorry for the audience. But the question is, how can these two brothers be biological brothers, a mother and brother, how can they grow so far apart?
After all, the historical data is like iron, and the fact that Li Shimin and Li Yuanji are the biological brothers of the same father and mother is unshakable, which cannot be doubted and overturned. Therefore, the author believes that if you want to thoroughly understand this problem, you must see what Li Yuanji has done.
Second, Li Yuanji: Mixed world is too old
Li Yuanji's most famous thing is that he and his eldest brother Li Jiancheng formed a group to deal with Li Shimin together, and even more eager to kill Li Shimin than Li Jiancheng. Li Jiancheng stopped his action several times, otherwise Li Shimin would really have no chance and overturned at Xuanwu Gate.
But this was only after Li Yuan became emperor, so what about before? For example, after Li Yuanji was born, because he was too ugly, he was abandoned by his mother and secretly carried home by Chen Yiyi to raise him, and then what happened?
From the analysis of historical materials, Dou's abandonment of Li Yuanji is probably only difficult to accept for a while. After all, mother and son are connected, not to mention Li Yuan. So soon after Chen Yiyi raised Li Yuanji, Li Yuanji returned to his mother.
Ten years later, Dou died. Four years later, Li Yuanjinyang raised an army. At that time, Li Yuanji was about fifteen years old, Li Yuan took Li Jiancheng and Li Shimin to raid Chang'an, who guarded the old nest Jinyang (Taiyuan)? This heavy responsibility was entrusted to Li Yuanji.
As soon as Li Yuan's father and son left, Li Yuanji became a "little too old in the mixed world", and Hula suddenly got hundreds of concubines to play with himself. Moreover, he forced these delicate concubines to learn martial arts, put on battle robes, carry swords in their hands, and slash and kill each other, so the concubines died and were injured a lot.
The more Li Yuanji looked, the more excited he became, and he also ended up. The so-called sword has no eyes, and Li Yuanji was slashed without paying attention. His savior, Chen Yiyi, was heartbroken, and although he was nominally a master servant, in fact, Chen Yiyi regarded Li Yuanji as if he were his own son.
So Chen Yiyi stopped doing it, while bandaging Li Yuanji's wounds, while nagging like an old mother: Let Li Yuanji stop making a fuss, this is something that can lose his life. Unexpectedly, Li Yuanji was furious and actually ordered someone to kill Chen Yiyi.
From this record, we can see how ugly and twisted Li Yuanji was at that time! After killing Engong Chen, Li Yuanji completely lost his restraint. He began to hunt again, and every time he came back from hunting, he either robbed men and women, or prepared to rob men and women, which made Jinyang angry, and the people hated him to the bone.
Soon after, Li Yuanji's behavior in Jinyang was known to Li Yuan, and he quickly sent Ma Dousheng and the Right Guard general Yuwen Xin back to Jinyang to restrain and dissuade Li Yuanji.
Li Yuan will also choose people, and Dou Yu and Li Yuanji are the same as each other, and the two of them have a more fun time. Although Yuwen Xin was in a hurry, he couldn't take care of it, so he had to write a letter to Li Yuan, writing out Li Yuanji's affairs in 1510, saying: Or you old man personally shot it, others can't control this "chaotic little too old"!
Li Yuan was already happy to have entered Chang'an at that time, so he only dismissed Li Yuanji from the post of "governor of the prefecture" and did not mention anything else. But Li Yuanji was not happy, why don't you let me be a "big brother", I have to be.
So Li Yuanji found a group of people and asked them to rush to Chang'an, and when they went there, they all cried and shouted: Li Yuanji is a good person, Li Yuanji is a good official, Li Yuanji is the number one benevolent person in the world, and we in Jinyang can't do without him! Li Yuan waved a big hand: The will of the people is difficult to do, since this is the case, then the official reinstatement!
Iii. Li Shimin's revenge
It was this appointment that almost killed Li Yuan. Jinyang was so chicken and dog jumping, Liu Wuzhou and Song Jingang had already seen it in their eyes, so they sent troops to attack Jinyang and wanted to take Li Yuan's old nest. In March 619, a week after Li Yuanji was reinstated, Liu Wuzhou commanded 20,000 troops to kill.
Li Yuanji was very brave when he trained with those concubines, but when he encountered Liu Wuzhou's army, he was frightened and forced the general Zhang Da to take 2,000 soldiers and horses out of the city to meet the enemy! Zhang Da was confused, 2,000 to 20,000, how to fight this? If he didn't go, Li Yuanji dared to kill him on the spot.
Zhang Da went out to fight hard, there was no doubt that the whole army was destroyed, he was also captured, and immediately told Liu Wuzhou: Jinyang is Li Yuan's old lair, the city is high and strong, the built-in elite soldiers, grain and grass are also enough to support ten years, if you fight hard, you can't fight down. The outskirts of Jinyang should be cleared first, and then besieged by large armies. Li Yuanji's boy made Jinyang complain, and it wouldn't be long before he could take Jinyang.
Liu Wuzhou was overjoyed, do it! After Li Yuan learned the news, he rushed to send Li Zhongwen and Jiang Baoyi to rescue him, but he was hit by Song Jinbao's hammer halfway and failed miserably. Li Yuanji saw that things were not good, fled with the hundreds of concubines, and ran back to Chang'an, and Jinyang was immediately taken by Liu Wuzhou.
Li Yuan could not angrily rebuke Li Yuanji and offered his hand: Where is Erlang? Hurry up and retake the land of Longxing in our Tang Dynasty.
In this way, Li Shimin went out on the expedition, the famous Battle of Meiliangchuan, Qin Qiong defeated Wei Chigong, which happened at this time. Li Yuan was overjoyed and personally wrote to Qin Qiong:
Ignoring his wife, Qing came to vote for me from afar, and set up an effect. The flesh can be used by the Qing, and when it is cut to give the Qing, the children are jade? The secretary should be encouraged.
Why did Li Yuan cut his own flesh for Qin Qiong to eat, and said, even if my children want it, I will give it? Look at Li Yuanji to provoke this basket. If Li Shimin could not defeat Wei Chigong (Song Jingang) in this battle, he would not be able to overthrow Liu Wuzhou and retake Jinyang City.
So did Li Yuanji get punished? Not at all! First, he was the youngest of Li Yuan's concubines, and second, he was discarded by the Dou clan when he was a child, and Li Yuan naturally wanted to make up for it. But since then, Li Yuan has handed Over Li Yuanji to Li Shimin, apparently for Li Shimin to strictly discipline and cultivate.
Why did Li Yuanji later kill Li Shimin even more urgently than Li Jiancheng? No one knows more about Li Shimin's horrors than he does! He knew best that if he faced the gong and the drum, he would not be able to fight at all.
Now with reverse reasoning, will Li Shimin hate Li Yuanji even more? It was Li Shimin who transformed you from a "little too old in the mixed world" and painstakingly transformed you into a talent. Instead of being grateful, you are always trying to kill me—I am Li Shimin, not Chen Yiyi.
Why did Li Shimin take over his sister-in-law, Li Yuanji's wife, Princess Chao, after the change of Xuanwumen? From this point of view, Li Shimin does have a sense of revenge with "happiness and revenge".
After understanding What Li Yuanji did, coupled with the change of Xuanwu Gate, Li Shimin revised the records of historical materials, and after a comprehensive analysis of the two, the answer has come out: Li Shimin does not recognize Li Yuanji as a younger brother. Therefore, the record that Li Yuanji is too ugly and abandoned is somewhat mutated - it is not denied that Li Yuanji was abandoned, but it will not be the reason for "looking too ugly".