Copywriter|Aquatic smoker
Editor|Aquatic Smoker
preface
When it comes to Li Shimin, everyone will not be strange, a man with a brilliant life, pacifying Xue Ju, stabilizing the Central Plains, capturing Dou Jiande, Admiral Tiance , Heavenly Khan, Zhenguan Zhizhi and so on.
If he was not the emperor, then with his merits, he could be included in the Martial Temple, plus the front row of the Temple of Literature.
He relied on his merits to make his father Li Yuan, the ancestor of Tang Gaozu, the founder of the country the most non-existent in the most glorious dynasty.
But in Li Shimin's almost perfect life, there is a great regret, that is, he lived a little short, and died at the age of 51.
The life expectancy of 51 years old in China's emperors is actually not short, but the problem is Li Shimin, he is a real son of heaven!
You know, Ming Taizu, Ming Taizong or Han Gaozu Liu Bang, who is also emperor of the same emperor as Li Shimin, are all existences starting from 60.
So why is Li Shimin's life span so short? Is it because of lust, immortal seeking, or something else?
First, it is suspected to be a family genetic disease
The emperors of the Tang Dynasty seem to have ancestral diseases.
In today's words, wind disease should be cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases, the manifestation of the disease is generally dizziness, weakness of limbs, and if it is serious, it will often faint and even paralyzed.
It is a chronic disease that is hereditary and difficult to treat today.
Most of the deaths of Tang emperors seem to be inseparable from it.
For example, Li Yuan's later years were paralyzed after a fainting, unable to speak, unable to move his hands, and then passed away.
Talking about Li Yuan's later years, he actually did not live as bad as everyone imagined, but he should be very happy.
After Li Yuan abdicated, he was the emperor for nine years, during which Li Yuan, who had no troubles about state affairs, began to make a crazy baby and gave birth to 30 children!
Looking at this number, people have to worry, will Li Yuan die in bed one day and be a merry ghost?
In this way, Li Yuan still lived to be 68 years old, and if Li Yuan in his later years can cultivate and restrain himself, it is estimated that it will not be a big problem to live to the age of 70.
However, it is a pity that after Li Yuan, the emperors of the Great Tang inherited his wind disease, but rarely inherited his longevity.
Except for Tang Xuanzong, there is no one who can be 60 years old.
Among them, emperors such as Emperor Gaozong Li Zhi, Dezong Li Shi, Shunzong Li Chan, Wenzong Li Ang, Muzong Li Heng, and Xuanzong Li Chen all had obvious wind diseases.
In particular, the twilight years of Dezong and Shunzong were in the late stage of wind disease, paralyzed in bed, unable to speak.
Other emperors are better, but once they get older, most of them become half-wasted, such as Tang Gaozong, although he was not paralyzed, he was also tortured very badly.
The reason why Wu Zetian was able to take power was that Tang Gaozong later had frequent attacks due to wind and illness, and could not handle the twists and turns normally, so he could only let Wu Zetian replace the review, which allowed Wu Zetian to slowly have the opportunity to intervene in the court and appoint his cronies.
And Tang Taizong Li Shimin also had a very serious wind disease, from the tenth year of Zhenguan, the history books recorded:
"Shang (Li Shimin) has a disease, which has not healed for many years."
It stands to reason that Li Shimin was just 40 years old at that time, it was when he was rich and strong, plus he marched into the army in his early years, even after becoming an emperor, he would often hunt, military exercise, exercise, and his body was great, what kind of disease would make him stay all year round?
Could it be that the old wounds left on the battlefield before did not heal and then recurred?
The answer is no!
"There is a disease of qi, a summer drama, an ear to avoid."
This is Li Shimin's understanding of his physical illness in the history books, he does not tolerate high temperatures, and every summer, he feels chest tightness, shortness of breath, and dizziness.
It can be seen that Li Shimin's illness is already very serious at this time.
However, although the disease of "qi disease" is serious, but with Li Yuanzhuyu in front, if Li Shimin can live and recuperate, not to mention the 70-year-old mark like his father, but it may not be able to live to 60 years old.
Unfortunately, Li Shimin does not have his father's blessing, Li Shimin's old age is still very tossed, and it is a tossing that does not let him stop at home and abroad.
So what did Li Shimin experience in his later years?
Second, the sons rebelled and did not go well with Goryeo
Of all the great unified dynasties in China, which one has the lowest cost of supporting the clans? If it is almost negligible, it must be the Tang Dynasty.
Because in the nearly 300 years of the Tang Dynasty, the number of royal families of the Tang Dynasty has hardly exceeded 500!
Yes, that's right, compared to the thousands of other dynasties in the dynasty, the royal family of the Tang Dynasty is really less than the giant panda.
You know, when the Western Han Dynasty was first established, the Liu family had only twenty or thirty people, but after the fall of the Western Han Dynasty, the number of Han clansmen had exceeded 100,000.
And the reason why the Tang Dynasty royal family will be thin is not that the Tang Dynasty emperors have problems with their fertility, in fact, most of the emperors of the Tang Dynasty have strong fertility, but they can't bear to kill more ruthlessly!
Among the 21 emperors in the 300 years of the Tang Dynasty, from Li Yuan's rebellion to seize the world, to Li Shimin's coup to seize the world, and then to the subsequent emperors, most of them came to power in coups, even if they were legally inherited, they must have encountered royal coups.
It is really full of competition for posts and the spirit of self-improvement.
The same is true of Li Shimin, who also encountered the same embarrassing problem as his father after Xuanwumen killed his brothers Li Jiancheng and Li Yuanji and took the throne from his father Li Yuan.
The crown prince Li Chenggan and the Wei king Li Tai fought with each other, and Li Keying, the king of Wu, also had the appearance of a clear lord.
Alas, this is the sorrow of the emperor, the son is not a weapon, there is no one to inherit, too many sons become a weapon, and they will kill each other, and countless royal tragedies come from this.
In addition, there are "dragon set sons" with little ability, ambition and scarce brains like Li You, the king of Qi, and a large number of brothers and sisters left by his father.
Li Shimin's later years were basically spent watching the tragedy of his sons fighting with each other, fighting with his sons, fighting with his relatives, and watching his relatives.
In the eighteenth year of Zhenguan, Li You, the king of Qi, rebelled and was pacified by Li Shimin, and then found out that the crown prince Li Jiancheng and the general Hou Jun conspired to rebel! Immediately afterwards, Li Tai, the king of Wei, committed another crime, saying that he was willing to kill his son to show his loyalty to his father.
These are all heavy blows to Li Shimin.
After seeing that the heir of the empire who he had spent many years of hard work cultivating and the spare tire of the heir turned out to be such a virtue, Li Shimin was very disappointed and exiled them, confined.
Then he quickly cut through the mess, and Li Zhi, who did not have much conflict with his brothers, came to power, and Li Shimin should hope that this son could end the nightmare of the royal family killing each other.
But later it turned out that Li Zhi just looked kind, but his heart was very dark, after Tang Gaozong came to power, whether it was Changsun Wuji or Wu Zetian, these two knives in Gaozong's hands could fiercely purge Li Tangzong's room.
Well, then again, maybe it was watching the drama of his own family infighting, and he was really tired of watching, so Li Shimin ignored the dissuasion and decided to personally conquer Goguryeo.
At that time, Li Shimin was 48 years old, which can be regarded as entering his old age, coupled with many years of qi illness, Li Shimin's physical condition at this time was actually not suitable for going to war.
Moreover, the winter in the land of Goguryeo is bitterly cold, and the people of the Central Plains are really unbearable.
But for Li Shimin, the expedition to Goguryeo was not so much about adding another martial art, but about going out to relax and divert attention.
Li Shimin's performance on the battlefield was as sharp as ever, but the battle of Goguryeo was ultimately lost.
After half a year, although more than 40,000 people were beheaded, and more than 200,000 Goguryeo people were captured, and a large part of the homeland in eastern Liaoning was recovered, but with the cold winter approaching and a large number of war horses frostbitten, Li Shimin had to order the class to return to the dynasty, failing to complete the task of destroying Goguryeo.
Moreover, although it was only a short half-year journey, it had already made Li Shimin's body a little overwhelmed.
Was the Battle of Goguryeo the root cause of Li Shimin's death? The answer is still no, after the Battle of Goguryeo, although Li Shimin's physical condition was not good, it was far more than the point of untimely death.
What really accelerated Li Shimin's death was actually the pill.
Third, seek immortals and ask for medicine, and take their own death
For every feudal emperor, the most difficult temptation for them to refuse must be immortality, and only by staying alive can they hold the rivers and mountains in their hands and enjoy supreme power and everything that power brings.
From Qin Shi Huang being tricked by Fang Shi Xu Fukeng to cross east to Penglai Immortal Island to seek medicine, to Jiajing Emperor refining pills a million taels a year, to Yongzheng eating pills and dying violently.
Emperors of successive dynasties asked immortals to seek immortality, and the immortals abounded, and Emperor Taizong of Tang's later years was no exception.
Feeling that the life force is rapidly disappearing from his body, he feels that the God of Death is urging him to go to the Yellow Spring. Li Shimin was inevitably afraid, and he began to seek elixirs.
But although Li Shimin pursued the elixir of life, he still maintained his basic IQ, and everyone who told Li Shimin that he could make Li Shimin immortal was kicked out.
Because Li Shimin understands that immortality is not a drama, and it is possible to prolong life.
Logically speaking, Li Shimin's idea is good, and he successfully brushed off most of China's divine sticks with this move, but unfortunately India also has divine sticks.
Here is to mention a person, Wang Xuance, after completing the feat of destroying a country by one person, Wang Xuance also brought Li Shimin from Tianzhu a monk Naluo Linggran, this monk claimed that he had lived 200 years, and he also had a miracle medicine that could prolong Li Shimin's life for a hundred years.
Compared to immortality, living more than 100 years old, this seems to be much more reliable!
After all, the medicine king Sun Simiao at that time really lived more than 100 years, although the medicine king Sun Simiao was Taoist, and there seemed to be a professional mismatch with the Buddhist family, but it did not hinder the temptation of the long-lived hundred-year-old pill.
Therefore, Li Shimin immediately ordered local officials to offer divine medicine for this monk to use in refining pills.
Speaking of which, Li Shimin also asked Sun Simiao for advice on the method of longevity, and Sun Simiao said it directly:
"Your Majesty, you are in charge of the affairs of the world in your hands, and you must not be idle for a day, worrying about this mutiny every day, worrying about that rebellion, worrying about natural disasters, afraid of man-made disasters, sleeping all year round, and exhausting your mental strength."
"Coupled with the many beautiful harems, His Majesty will inevitably be greedy for a while, which will hurt his vitality."
If His Majesty really wants to live a long life, then he must be pure of his heart, give up his authority, cultivate his body, or live a long life.
Otherwise, even if Your Majesty, you have collected all the spiritual medicines of the world into the palace, it will be in vain.
Medicine supplement is not as good as food supplement, food supplement is not as good as rest.
Li Shimin didn't say anything more after hearing this, in fact, thinking that his father Li Yuan gave birth to 30 children after his abdication, and he could survive for another nine years, he should be Emperor Ming who wants to live more days, then don't worry so much.
But it's a pity that most of the emperors who don't worry can't even save their heads.
Li Shimin was unwilling to give up power, but he wanted to live forever, so he put all his hopes on Na Luo Qiangma, and in the twenty-third year of Zhenguan, this divine stick from India paid tribute to Li Shimin with his elixir of life.
Li Shimin took it in March, and then went into critical mode in May, and died on May 26 at the age of 51.
In addition, Wang Xuance, an excellent diplomat of the Great Tang Dynasty, was also unwilling to recommend inhumanities.
epilogue
It is that people are afraid of death and want to live longer, which is understandable.
But instead of wasting your time and energy by hoping to prolong your life or even live forever through foreign objects, it is better to seize your limited time and make your life as adequate as possible.