We all know that Tang Taizong Li Shimin was one of the most famous monarchs in history. He has two very obvious characteristics that are the most praised by people. First, he is good at recognizing and employing people, and almost all the talents in the world are under his command. The second is to be broad-minded and tolerant and generous. As long as the enemy military generals on the battlefield have talent, they will return to good deeds, and no matter what their origins, they will not refuse a hundred people. Emperor Taizong of Tang had 14 sons. As the saying goes, 'nine sons do not conspire against each other', and none of his sons seem to have inherited his good genes, or died young, or rebelled, or had no virtue, and most of them ended in tragedy.
Noble birth
Of his 14 sons, except for the second, eleventh, and twelfth sons who died untimely, and the thirteenth son, Li Fu, who died of mediocrity and incompetence, the other ten sons did not fare very well. Among them, the fate of The Emperor's third son, Li Ke, is even more sympathetic and regrettable. Because he was involved in a political struggle and eventually framed to death, the whole world was indignant about him. Li Ke was the third son of Emperor Taizong of Tang, his mother was the daughter of the former emperor Yang Guang, and Li Ke himself was quite talented, and the history books called him "good at riding and shooting, and both literary and martial arts". Tang Taizong thought that he was very similar to himself, because he himself was also a master of both literature and martial arts, so he was particularly fond of him. As a result, Li Ke's reputation among the people and ministers also grew. However, as the saying goes, "people are afraid of being famous and pigs are afraid of being strong", and Li Ke, who is too good, makes many princes who want to ascend to the throne see as a thorn in the flesh in their eyes. Although he was still protected by Tang Taizong at that time, he also laid the foundation for his "death".
High room infighting
In the fourth year of Yonghui (653), both Tang Taizong and Fang Xuanling had died at this time, but Tang Taizong's daughter Princess Gaoyang became more and more pampered. Princess Gaoyang, as a member of the representative of the "Royalist Party", wanted to completely eliminate all potential political threats such as Li Ke, the King of Wu, at any time and at any time in order to eradicate the troubles. At that time, Fang Xuanling's title originally belonged to the eldest son Fang Zhizhi, and in order to help her husband Fang win the title, she publicly framed Fang Zhizhi, saying that Fang Zhizhi molested her. And Fang Yizhi also exposed the various crimes of Princess Gaoyang, and the two sides attacked each other, from the family infighting all the way to everyone's knowledge. Emperor Gaozong of Tang, who could not bear it, then ordered his eldest son to deal with the matter. However, due to political struggles, Changsun Wuji hated this prince with former dynasty blood very much, so under the constant threat of Changsun Wujie, Fang Wei'ai could only frame Li Ke as his accomplice, and he hoped to alleviate his guilt in this way, which eventually led to the innocent Li Ke being implicated and imprisoned to death. There are many records of this unjust case in the history books, and without exception, they all agree that Li Ke was wronged.
Li Ke was framed
Although Changsun Wuji convicted Li Ke of treason, this practice was really unconvincing, after all, there were too many political struggles in the Tang Dynasty at that time. For this reason, the eldest grandson Wuji believes that it is necessary to block the gossip of the people of the world with a whole set of charges.
However, Li Ke did not make any major mistakes in his life, and his previous work experience was relatively simple. In the third year of Wude (620), Li Ke was made the King of Changsha County; in the eighth year of Wude (625), Li Ke was made the King of Hanzhong County; in the first year of Zhenguan (627), Li Ke was promoted to the title of King of Han; in the second year of Zhenguan (628), when Li Ke was only ten years old, he was renamed the King of Shu at a young age, and he was also awarded the title of Governor of Yizhou; in the eleventh year of Zhenguan (637), Li Ke was renamed King of Wu by Emperor Taizong of Tang, and was also awarded the title of Governor of Anzhou.
However, during Li Ke's tenure as the governor of Anzhou, he made a small mistake, because he went out hunting many times, destroyed many people's crops, and then was accused of many times, so that Tang Taizong dismissed Li Ke from his official position in anger. Although Tang Taizong was very angry, he could also understand. After all, At this time, Li Ke was only 19 years old, and he was a hot-blooded age. It was understandable to indulge in hunting, and Tang Taizong himself liked to hunt.
In fact, at that time, the entire Lee family was a hunting fanatic. However, it was such a small mistake that gave the eldest son Wuji the basis for believing that this was Li Ke's rebellion. Therefore, the eldest son indiscriminately complained to Tang Gaozong, saying that although Li Ke had indeed appeared to have reformed himself on the surface after being punished by Tang Taizong, his heart had become unusually vicious and sinister, and this person could not stay under any circumstances. Eldest Sun Wuji's inexplicable remarks did indeed bring Li Ke the misfortune of killing himself.
Political victims
In the whole process of framing Li Ke, Tang Gaozong did not seem to be involved, and he seemed to have just let the eldest son Wuji take full responsibility. Later history books also blamed this problem on the eldest grandson Wujie. Even before Li Ke's death, when he cursed the eldest son Wujie to "steal authority, frame the good, have a spiritual ancestor, and destroy his clan", he turned a blind eye. In fact, this was related to his first ascension to the throne, and his power could not compete with the GuanLong clique dominated by the eldest son Wujie. Although he tried his best to avoid Li Ke being sentenced to death, he was also very bitter, after all, he had just ascended to the throne, his power was unstable, and it was difficult to change the outcome of his brother Li Ke, so Tang Gaozong and Li Ke could only acquiesce that the case had been closed. When Li Ke died, he was only 35 years old, and his family was exiled to Lingnan, which was very miserable. As an innocent political victim, Li Ke's experience is very sympathetic. However, the heavenly path is good for reincarnation, and the heavens have spared no one. Less than two years after Li Ke's death, the eldest son Wuji actually fell out with Tang Gaozong. At this time, Emperor Gaozong of Tang was in full power. In order to completely eliminate the threat that eldest Sun Wuji posed to himself, he and Wu Zetian also used the same method and logic to frame Eldest Sun Wuji to death.
Vindicated
In any case, Tang Gaozong was an indirect participant in Li Ke's unjust case, and when the eldest son Wuji was still serving as prime minister, Li Ke's identity and status were stripped away, and he could only be buried as a Shuren. After the fall of the eldest son Wuji, Emperor Gaozong of Tang recognized Li Ke's imperial family in the fifth year of Xianqing (659), but did not admit anything else, after all, he was more or less involved in this unjust case. Fortunately, after a series of chaotic political struggles in the Tang Dynasty, finally during the Shenlong Period, in order to revitalize the Li Tang imperial family, Emperor Zhongzong of Tang's long-framed Li Ke's title and fiefdom were restored, and his descendants could return from exile. From this point of view, Li Ke can also be regarded as bitter and willing.
Reference: Old Book of Tang, Biography of Emperor Taizong's Sons