#头条创作挑战赛 #
After Li Yuan established the Tang Dynasty, he successively pacified the separatist forces occupying all sides and completed the unification of the country, but within the Li clan, due to the suspicion between the heirs of Tang Gaozu Li Yuan, it caused the competition for power between the crown prince Li Jiancheng and the second son Li Shimin the King of Qin, Li Shimin launched a mutiny, successfully seized power, and created a brilliant Zhenguan prosperous era after assuming the throne.
Suspicion grew
Li Yuan's wife Dou Shi had four sons, and the eldest son Li Jiancheng was the crown prince, who was generous and capable, assisting Li Yuan in handling government affairs and stabilizing the rear; The second son, Li Shimin the King of Qin, was the first meritorious in the Jinyang army, and often led troops to battles, with outstanding combat achievements; the third son, Li Xuanba, died early; The fourth son, Li Yuanji, the king of Qi, befriended his eldest brother Li Jiancheng. Li Yuan had the idea of changing the crown prince because of his second son Li Shimin's outstanding military achievements.
Li Yuan had many concubines in his later years, giving birth to nearly twenty young princes such as Li Yuanying, the king of Teng, and the noble concubines in the palace competed to curry favor with the older princes to consolidate their status. Li Jiancheng and Li Yuanji both served the concubines, flattering and flattering, bribing, and gifting, in order to obtain good words from the concubines in front of their father Li Yuan and gain more favors. However, Li Shimin never curried favor with the concubines, which also caused the concubines to praise the crown prince Li Jiancheng in front of Li Yuan, and often slandered Li Shimin, the king of Qin.
At that time, the crown prince and the two kings of Qin and Qi entered the emperor's palace, all riding horses, carrying knives and bows, and only saluting each other according to their families. The fatwa issued by the prince, the two kings of Qin, and Qi went hand in hand with the emperor's edict, and the relevant departments did not know which order to listen to, but only according to the order received.
After Li Shimin defeated Luoyang Wang Shichong and Hebei Dou Jiande, Li Yuan and others entered Luoyang, selected Sui Dynasty palace maids and collected treasures from warehouses, and the concubines all privately asked Li Shimin for treasures and asked for officials for relatives, Li Shimin bluntly stated that the property had been registered and reported, and official positions could only be granted to talented people. Therefore, he did not agree to the concubines' request, which also caused the jealousy of the concubines.
Li Shimin allocated him dozens of acres of good land because Li Shentong, the king of Huai'an, had battle merits, and the noble concubine Zhang Jieyu's father requested these good fields from Li Yuan through Zhang Jieyu, and Li Yuan wrote a hand edict to give him, but Li Shentong did not give Tian because he received Li Shimin's fatwa first, and Zhang Jieyu complained to Li Yuan, and Li Yuan became angry with Li Shimin.
Another arrogant father of Yin Defei, Du Ruxi, an official in the Qin palace, passed by the gate of his mansion and was severely beaten for not dismounting, and preemptively let Yin Defei complain to Li Yuan that the Qin king's cronies had bullied his family. Li Yuan also blamed Li Shimin again, and despite Li Shimin's repeated defenses, he still failed to gain trust.
There are many such things, and at the instigation of the concubine beside him, Li Yuan's impression of his second son Li Shimin became worse and worse, so he broke off the idea of changing the crown prince, and instead became closer to his eldest son Li Jiancheng and others.
Later, as Li Shimin repeatedly led troops to pacify the remaining separatist forces in various places, his prestige increased day by day, and the crown prince Li Jiancheng worried that Li Shimin would become a hidden danger for his succession. After Li Shimin pacified Liu Heiyan, a subordinate of Dou Jiande in the Guandong Province, the crown prince Li Jiancheng was even more worried, and when Liu Heijian used the Turks to raise troops again, Li Jiancheng established his own prestige, and at the same time befriended Shandong Haojie, and took the initiative to ask for orders to fight Liu Heimin at the suggestion of his subordinates, and indeed successfully made meritorious achievements, defeated Liu Heimin, and pacified the Hebei prefectures.
Brothers turn against each other
After that, in order to strengthen his military power, Li Jiancheng privately recruited more than 2,000 brave men to guard the Changlin Gate on the left and right of the Eastern Palace, known as the "Changlin Soldier", and transferred 300 elite cavalry from Youzhou from Li Yi, the king of Yan, and placed them in various cities outside the East Palace, preparing to use them to supplement the low-ranking officers who served as guards in the East Palace.
In 624, Li Yuan went to Renzhi Palace to escape the summer, Li Jiancheng stayed in Chang'an, and Li Shimin and Li Yuanji accompanied him. Li Jiancheng then asked Li Yuanji to take advantage of this to murder Li Shimin, and sent weapons and armor to Yang Wengan, the governor of Gyeongju, who had befriended him. Later, the incident was reported, saying that the crown prince had instructed Yang Wengan to rebel and plot to usurp the throne, and Li Yuan was furious, summoned Li Jiancheng to the Renzhi Palace for investigation, and sent Yuwenying to Gyeongju to summon Yang Wengan.
After Yu Wenying arrived in Gyeongju, he joined forces with Yang Wengan to launch a rebellion, and when Li Yuan heard the news, he was worried that the matter would implicate the crown prince and that there might be many responders, so he sent Li Shimin to fight Yang Wengan and promised to make him crown prince after the matter was completed, and depose Li Jiancheng as the king of Shu.
However, after Li Shimin calmed the chaos, Li Yuan, at the request of Li Yuanji and the concubines and the lobbying of the ministers, changed his mind and still let Li Jiancheng return to Beijing, "only to blame brothers for discord", blamed Wang Jue, Wei Ting, and Du Yan, aides of the Eastern Palace and the Qin royal palace, and exiled him.
After that, the minister of the dynasty said that the reason why the Turks repeatedly invaded the Guanzhong region was because the population and wealth were concentrated in Guanzhong and if Chang'an was burned and the capital was moved to other places, then the Turks would no longer invade. Li Yuan felt that it made sense and summoned everyone to discuss, and the prince and others agreed, but Li Shimin opposed it and advocated the use of military means to subordinate the Turks, and Li Jiancheng and others secretly told Li Yuan that Li Shimin was actually trying to seize military power in order to usurp the imperial throne in the name of resisting the Turks.
Later, Li Yuan and his heirs went to hunt, ordered the three sons to ride and hunt, competing for victory, Li Jiancheng had a horse, fat and strong, but liked to be a hoof, Li Jiancheng gave this horse to Li Shimin, saying that this horse was good and fast, and let Li Shimin ride this horse. After Li Shimin rode, Hu Ma trampled many times during the hunting, but Li Shimin saved the day and did not fall off his horse.
Li Shimin said to his subordinates, the prince intends to use this horse to harm me, but people's life and death have their own fate, can they hurt me? When Li Jiancheng learned about it, he asked the concubine who had befriended him to frame Li Shimin to Li Yuan, saying that the King of Qin claimed that the heavens had ordered him to be the master of the world, how could he die in vain!
This incident once again aroused Li Yuan's anger and accusation against Li Shimin, Li Shimin took off his crown, kowtowed to the ground, and asked to hand himself over to the law enforcement department for interrogation to confirm that he had not said such disobedient words, and Li Yuan was still angry. Just at this time, someone came to report that the Turks were coming, and Li Yuan calmed his anger and discussed with Li Shimin how to fight the Turks. After that, every time a Turk came to commit a war, Li Shimin was allowed to resist, but after pacification, Li Yuan's suspicion of Li Shimin became more and more serious.
After that, the crown prince Li Jiancheng invited Li Shimin, the king of Qin, to come to the mansion to drink, secretly poisoned the wine, Li Shimin vomited several liters of blood in his heart, and returned to the mansion with the help of Li Shentong, the king of Huainan. Li Yuan went to visit him, inquired about his condition, and ordered Li Jiancheng not to summon Li Shimin to drink with him. In order to appease Li Shimin and ease the dispute between the two brothers, Li Yuan proposed to send Li Shimin to Luoyang, "from the east of Shaanxi, to the Lord of Yi", and could build the Son of Heaven Jing Banner, following the story of Liu Wu, the king of Liang Xiao of the Western Han Dynasty.
Just as Li Shimin was about to leave, Li Jiancheng and others thought that if Li Shimin was released at this time and let him go to Luoyang to control the army and land, he would no longer be able to do anything to him, and it would be easier to deal with him by leaving him in Chang'an. So he asked the minister to play Li Yuan in secret, claiming that the officials of the Qin king's mansion were all happy to see that the king of Qin was going to Luoyang, and if he really let him go to Luoyang, I am afraid that he would never return to Chang'an. At the same time, Li Yuan's favored officials persuaded Li Yuan to persuade Li Yuan with the advantages and disadvantages of the Qin king's stay, and Li Yuan changed his mind and shelved Li Shimin's trip to Luoyang.
After that, Li Jiancheng, Li Yuanji and the concubines of the harem continued to frame the people of the world to Gaozu day and night, and Gaozu believed that it was true, so he prepared to punish Li Shimin, but fortunately an official entered the court, and Li Yuan gave up. Later, the fourth son Li Yuanji asked Li Yuan to kill Li Shimin on the grounds that Li Shimin supported the army and was afraid that he would rebel, but Li Yuan did not agree.
Determined to get things done
The officials and officials of the Qin palace were very worried about Li Shimin's situation, and Fang Xuanling and Changsun Wuji persuaded the King of Qin to take actions similar to those of Zhou Gong's uncle and Cai Uncle to stabilize the country.
At the same time, Li Jiancheng also secretly bribed the general Wei Chigong in the Qin palace, and after being rejected, he framed Li Yuan and imprisoned him, only to save his life under Li Shimin's repeated pleas. Then Li Yuanji framed Cheng Yanjin and asked Li Yuan to release him. Li Yuanji bought Duan Zhixuan with gold and silver drapery, but he was still refused. Then he framed Fang Xuanling, Du Ruxian and others from Li Yuan, and expelled them all.
At this time, in the Qin King Mansion, most of Li Shimin's henchmen were transferred from Chang'an by the prince's side by various means, leaving only Changsun Wuji and others, Changsun Wuji and Wei Chigong and others persuaded Shimin day and night to kill Li Jiancheng and Li Yuanji, but Li Shimin still hesitated because of his brotherhood.
In June 626 AD, Taibai Venus appeared during the day at noon due south of the sky, which, according to the ancients, was a symbol of "changing the sky", a precursor to a revolution or a change of power, indicating that something big was about to happen. Just at this time, tens of thousands of Turkic cavalry broke into the border of the Great Wall, and the prince suggested that Li Yuanji replace Li Shimin's overseer of all the soldiers and horses to resist the Turks, and Li Yuan agreed and asked Li Yuanji to lead the army to support, and Li Yuanji took this opportunity to take away the generals of Qin Qiong, Cheng Yijin, and Wei Chigong in the Qin royal palace, and selected the elite soldiers under the Qin king's tent to go together.
Because there was Li Shimin's eye line in the Crown Prince's East Palace, Li Shimin was able to learn that the prince and others planned to murder themselves while they were doing Li Yuanji, and Changsun Wuji and others advised Li Shimin to preemptively, but Li Shimin still felt that he had to wait until after the disaster happened before attacking them, fratricide was a great crime. Changsun Wuji and the others said that if the King of Qin was unwilling to cause trouble, then they could only flee to the wilderness and could no longer follow the King of Qin.
Li Shimin had to gather his staff again to discuss, and the staff took the ancient emperor Shun as an example, Shun evaded his father and younger brother to fill in the soil on it when dredging the well, and then evaded his father and brother to set fire below when painting the granary, which led to the later Emperor Shun, grace spread throughout the world, and the law was passed down to future generations. Only then did Li Shimin make up his mind and decide to start an incident.
The change of Xuanwu Gate
After Li Shimin made up his mind to start the incident, he asked Changsun Wuji to recall Fang Xuanling and others, at first Fang Xuanling and others refused on the grounds that they had already been ordered by Li Yuan and could not be disobeyed, but after learning that Li Shimin had decided to start the incident, he secretly returned to Chang'an City in disguise and went to the residence of the King of Qin to discuss the matter.
In July, Taibai Venus once again appeared at noon due south of the sky during the day, and a minister played to Li Yuan, and Venus appeared on the division of Qin land, which was a sign that the King of Qin should have the world. Li Yuan showed this note to Li Shimin, and Li Shimin took advantage of the situation to secretly play his father Li Yuan, and the crown prince Li Jiancheng committed adultery with the harem concubines, and planned to kill himself when he went on a campaign. Li Yuan was surprised by this, and said that he would summon them tomorrow to interrogate the matter, so that Li Shimin could come to see him early tomorrow.
The noble concubine Zhang Jieyu secretly learned of Li Shimin's secret music to Li Yuan, so she informed Li Jiancheng and others, and Li Jiancheng and others decided to enter the dynasty to see and personally inquire about the news, and at the same time forced Li Yuan to express his position. At this time, the general guard in the palace, Chang He, was nominally a close confidant of the crown prince, but in fact, he followed Li Shimin on his expedition in his early years, and was in charge of the forbidden army on Li Shimin's order, stationed at the Xuanwu Gate, and the palace guard had already fallen to Li Shimin, the king of Qin, but Li Jiancheng and others did not know, and thought that all the people in the palace were his subordinates.
The next day, Li Shimin led Changsun Wuji, Wei Chigong, Qin Qiong and others into the dynasty, and buried an ambush at Xuanwu Gate. Came to the Linhu Hall, Li Jiancheng and others finally noticed the change, so they wanted to return to the East Palace and the Qi Royal Mansion immediately, Li Shimin chased and called behind him, Li Yuanji was weak-hearted, Zhang bow took an arrow to shoot at Li Shimin, but because of his impatience, he did not fill the bow two or three times in a row, and the arrow did not hit.
Li Shimin took a bow and shot at Li Jiancheng, and immediately shot him to death, Wei Chigong and others arrived, and his soldiers shot Li Yuanji off his horse, but at this time the mount of the King of Qin was surprised and rushed into the woods next to the Xuanwu Gate, Li Shimin was hung by the branches in the forest, fell from his horse, fell to the ground, and could not get up for a while. Li Yuanji quickly arrived, intending to strangle Li Shimin, just as Wei Chigong arrived on horseback and drank him, Li Yuanji quickly let go, and wanted to quickly run into the palace to seek Li Yuan's protection, but was shot by Wei Chigong.
The prince's subordinates learned that the prince was dead, and in order to repay the prince's favor during his lifetime, they led the people of the East Palace and the Qi palace to rush to Xuanwu Gate, intending to avenge him, but the palace gate had long been closed by Li Shimin's subordinates and could not enter. However, the Yunlu general Jing Junhong, who guarded the Xuanwu Gate, went out to fight with him, but was killed, and after that, the palace guards and the prince's subordinates fought at the Xuanwu Gate, and they held each other, until Wei Chigong came out with the prince and the head of the King of Qi, only to lose the will to fight, quickly collapsed, and fled into the southern mountain.
At that time, Li Yuan was boating in the sea pool, Wei Chigong was wearing armor and holding Changyu, and went straight to the boat where Gaozu was, Li Yuan was shocked and asked: "Who is making trouble today?" What are you doing here? Wei Chigong replied: "Because the prince and the king of Qi were in turmoil, the king of Qin raised troops to kill him, lest he alarm His Majesty, and sent a special minister to Suwei." ”
At that time, Li Yuan summoned Pei Yu, Xiao Yu, Chen Shuda, and others who had come to jointly interrogate the prince about the murder of the King of Qin to accompany them, and Li Yuan asked them, and both left and right advised Li Yuan to hand over all state affairs to the King of Qin in exchange for nothing. Li Yuan followed the advice and issued a warrant to "all armies and be punished by the King of Qin", which quelled the incident.
After that, Li Yuan made Li Shimin crown prince and issued an edict that "from now on, in military affairs, no matter how big or small, all princes will be appointed to execute, and then the emperor will be heard." Soon after, Li Yuan officially abdicated the throne and handed the throne to Li Shimin, and he himself abdicated as Emperor Taishang.
Li Shimin ascended the throne, known as Emperor Taizong of Tang, and after his reign, he created a prosperous era of zhenguan.