Since ancient times, the competition between the royal family has been very cruel, And Li Shimin even killed all his brothers and brothers of his father and mother in order to seize the throne, even his own nephews, which shows how terrible the royal family's struggle is. So why did Li Shimin leave behind his niece?
Li Shimin has been helping his father Li Yuan fight the world during the Sui Dynasty, and it can be said that in the last years of the Sui Dynasty, half of his father Li Yuan's world was fought down with the help of Li Shimin. This also led to Li Shimin's outstanding military achievements, and the prince's merit and prestige in the army were not as good as Li Shimin's, so Li Shimin became a jealousy in the heart of the prince. Later, in order to exclude Li Shimin, he and his brother Li Yuanji jointly wanted to frame Li Shimin, but Li Shimin launched a mutiny at Xuanwumen in order to protect himself, and personally killed the prince.
The change of Xuanwu Gate can be said to be the most painful memory of Li Shimin's life, he actually had a very good relationship with the crown prince and his younger brother Li Yuanji, but in the process of rebelling against Sui, Li Shimin served as a general because of his own ability. Later, after the establishment of the Tang Dynasty, as the eldest son of concubine, Li Jiancheng naturally became the crown prince, but his power in the imperial court and the military was obviously inferior to Li Shimin.
However, Li Jiancheng was very afraid of Li Shimin, but it was obvious that Emperor Gaozong of Tang had already begun to tilt toward Li Shimin, which made Li Jiancheng very afraid that his position as crown prince would not be secured. So he ran to Li Yuanji and usurped Li Yuanji to plot with him to kill Li Shimin. Li Yuanji did not agree at first, but Li Jiancheng told him that Li Shimin was likely to threaten the lives of the two, and Li Yuanji finally agreed to the rebellion under the persuasion of Li Jiancheng. The two of them originally planned to stir up dissension in front of Emperor Gaozong of Tang, but they did not expect that before they reached Emperor Gaozong of Tang, they were stopped by Li Shimin under the Xuanwu Gate.
In fact, their brothers did not need to make such a situation, but in the face of power, they could really make people crazy, so this happened to these three people. It is said that at that time, Li Yuanji did not pull the bow and arrow full twice because of his lack of heart, and finally Li Shimin shot Li Jiancheng with one arrow, and Li Yuanji was shot off his horse by Li Shimin's men. Li Yuanji's bow and arrow also startled Li Shimin's horse, and Li Shimin's horse ran wildly into the grass, and Li Yuanji jumped off his horse to prepare to strangle Li Shimin. At this time, Li Shimin's men shot Li Yuanji with an arrow, and this Xuanwumen mutiny ended with Li Shimin's victory.
Li Shimin immediately made a decision, so he ran to Tang Gaozong on horseback, hugged his father, and cried on his back, Li Yuan knew that his son had been wronged, and immediately said that all the mistakes were made by Li Jiancheng and Li Yuanji, and promised Li Shimin that the position of crown prince would be passed on to him. Two months after Li Shimin was made crown prince, Emperor Gaozong of Tang gave the throne to his son. As for the cronies of the former crown prince Li Jiancheng, Li Shimin's men suggested that they all be killed, but Li Shimin finally thought twice and did not kill them, but let his father Emperor Gaozong of Tang tell the world that all the culprits were Li Jiancheng and Li Yuanji, and the others would not be held accountable.
However, Li Shimin did not spare his own nephews, Li Yuanji and Li Jiancheng's more than a dozen sons were all killed, as for the women of the harem of the two of them, Li Shimin not only did not kill, but also received all the concubines of the harem of the two of them into his harem. In particular, Li Jiancheng's crown princess Zheng Guanyin, the wife of Li Yuanji the Prince of Qi, Yang Shi, and the daughters of both of them were not killed, but survived the coup d'état.
This was mainly because although the princesses of the Tang Dynasty were honorable at that time, they did not have the right to inherit, and Li Shimin killed all the sons of his brothers, which was already a very cruel thing. As for those women, Li Shimin was not willing to recreate too many killings, so he did not kill them, mainly because these women were not threatening enough to Li Shimin. Moreover, the maternal power behind Li Jiancheng and Li Yuanji's wife is also a very jealous existence of Li Shimin, since their husbands have been killed by themselves, they have also become concubines of their own harem, and they decide to directly take them for their own use.
It is said that Li Shimin had nightmares every night after killing his brother and nephew, and in order to make their souls no longer disturb him, Li Shimin specially found two of his most trusted generals and stood at the door as his own gatekeeper. Later, the two generals gradually became unable to bear their bodies because of their age, so Li Shimin had to allow them to paint two portraits and paste them in front of his door. Later, with the passage of time, these two generals became famous door gods.
This also directly shows that Li Shimin does not want to create so many sins, but these nephews are likely to be his future dangers, in order to avoid the existence of this threat, Li Shimin directly decided to cut the grass and remove the roots. In that era of male superiority and female inferiority, the existence of women was passed down from generation to generation, and the so-called married daughter spilled water, Li Shimin knew this truth, so he decided to leave these women behind and take them into his harem.
Li Yuanji's wife also gave birth to a son for Li Shimin when he entered Li Shimin's harem, and it can be said that Li Jiancheng and Li Yuanji's concubines were very much loved by Li Shimin. Li Yuanji's wife Yang Shi was particularly liked by Li Shimin, and it is said that after Empress Sun's death, Li Shimin even wanted to make yang an empress with a hot head. However, under the persuasion of Wei Zheng, Li Shimin gave up this absurd idea, and the children born to Li Shimin by Yang were also inherited from Li Shimin's younger brother Li Yuanji.
Although Li Shimin's practice of taking his brother's wife into the harem was very unhappy to later historians, it had to be admitted that Li Shimin did not treat his brother's woman badly. The daughters of Li Jiancheng and Li Yuanji were eventually divided into county lords and married to people who were related, and some of the girls were happier in the second half of their lives, and their husbands and wives had a harmonious relationship. Except for Princess Shouchun's bad luck, the other princesses were doing well.
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