In the face of the throne and power, the family affection between fathers and sons and brothers often cannot become the fetters of the upper position, and the affection of the heavenly family is mainly reflected in this aspect; when fighting tiger brothers and brothers, father and son soldiers are talking about the friendship of fighting the country and sharing weal and evil, and when it is really time to inherit the great unification, these touching things have long been left behind.
Li Yuan, the founding emperor of the Tang Dynasty, had several good sons, and he thought that he was already a winner in life, but he didn't expect a Xuanwumen change to make him lose his son, and also lose everything he mastered.
1. A good mood to sit firmly on the throne
Like most of the founding emperors, Li Yuan was also an important minister of the former dynasty, and his relationship with the imperial family was not ordinary, and if he really had to go back in time, the Li family in Longxi might have been related to Li Xin, a famous general of the Qin state, and Li Guang, a general of the Han Dynasty! The Li family was born as a military general, and he had a lot of experience in dealing with nomads, and Li Yuan was also entrusted with important tasks and led troops to expeditions many times.
My aunt is the Empress of the Great Sui, and Emperor Wen of Sui is Li Yuan's uncle, with this relationship, the Li family can be said to be a first-class noble family in the Great Sui;
Although Yang Guang has the heart to guard against his cousin, there are too many bad things in the Great Sui, Li Yuan is one of the few capable people in the court, and he still has to count on others at critical moments, especially after the trouble is solved, there will definitely be some rewards, which also makes Emperor Yang of Sui very depressed.
In fact, Emperor Wen of Sui's worries are not unreasonable, the Li family is anti-minded, but it is not shown on the bright side, the rule of the Sui Dynasty is gradually going downhill, but the strength accumulated in the early stage is still there, and the Li family is waiting for a suitable time to start an incident; however, Li Yuan's character is a little indecisive, far less decisive than his second son Li Shimin.
In addition to Li Jiancheng and Li Shimin, Li Yuan's daughter and son-in-law also formed a women's army to echo them, and finally took the lead in breaking the gate of Chang'an, stabilizing the Guanzhong area in one fell swoop, and using this as the foundation, it quickly expanded to the surrounding areas.
In 618 A.D., Emperor Gong of Sui ascended the throne of Li Yuan, officially called the emperor, and named the country Tang, opening a new era of the dynasty;
Second, the bane of the brotherly wall
In the early days of the Li family's uprising, Li Yuan's sons and daughters all showed their abilities and made a lot of achievements for Li Tang's country, and with the gradual improvement of the later period, the division of labor among them was also different; Li Jiancheng was mainly responsible for the front end and rear affairs of the war, and participated less in the real tough battles, but also made outstanding contributions to stabilizing the rear of the Tang army.
And Li Shimin's exploits are mainly on the battlefield, several fateful wars were won under his leadership and command, it can be said that half of the Tang Dynasty was fought by Li Shimin, and he included a group of famous Sui and Tang generals who could fight well, all of whom were his loyal supporters.
Especially when beating Wang Shichong, Li Yuan once promised Li Shimin that if he won a big victory this time, then the crown prince would be his; it was because of this promise that Li Shimin and Li Jiancheng turned against each other, and the culprit was this unreliable old father.
Li Yuan still hoped in his heart that his eldest son could inherit the throne, but he understood that he still had to rely on his second son to solve Wang Shichong, so he had this promise; when Li Shimin returned triumphantly, he only got the title of King of Qin, which was completely different from the attitude of his father, no matter how he looked at it, it was a posture of crossing the river and demolishing the bridge.
Li Yuan also saw the battle between the crown prince and the king of Qin, but he did not reconcile it, maybe he was too confident in his education, or it could be because the emperor sitting in a high position didn't care about the "small fights" between the princes and princes, and still thought that it was an awkward quarrel between brothers, not the beginning that could shake the country's foundation.
It is precisely because of Li Yuan's indulgence that the competition between the crown prince and the king of Qin has come to the fore from the dark, and many ministers in the court have also begun to stand in line, which is not a good thing for the Tang Dynasty not long after the founding of the country, and the example of the death of the second Sui Dynasty has only passed a few years, Li Yuan is also a personal experiencer, but he does not have the slightest vigilance.
Third, the emperor also has troubles
The ultimate flashpoint of the contradiction between Li Jiancheng and Li Shimin was in the use of troops against the Turks, at that time the imperial court wanted to fight the Turks, and there was no problem in formulating a battle plan and preparing military supplies, and the focus of the dispute was who to let lead the troops to the battle.
Anyone with a discerning eye can see that the king of Qin still needs to go out to fight a tough battle, but the prince and others have figured out the emperor's thoughts, and bluntly said that the merits of the king of Qin are too high, and after the victory of this expedition, there is almost no seal, and he is already a master of high merit, and no one will be able to suppress the king of Qin in the future; moreover, the prince wants to separate part of the military power from the king of Qin, so as to suppress Li Shimin.
So when the minister talked about the person in charge, Li Jiancheng did not hesitate to promote his brother Li Yuanji, who supported him, Li Yuan failed to make up his mind at the first time, he was very clear about the ability of his sons, and the court argued endlessly, and failed to set a result, so he could only discuss it later.
But Li Jiancheng didn't want to dream a lot at night, he wanted to design to kill Li Shimin, but Li Shimin knew the plan in advance; King Qin planned to arrange the plan in advance in the Xuanwu Gate, and directly killed the prince and the king of Qi in the Xuanwu Gate after Li Jiancheng, Li Yuanji and his subordinates appeared, and then asked Wei Chigong to explain the situation to Li Yuan, Li Yuan was shocked.
Li Yuan also knew that he had no power to return to heaven, so he had no choice but to crown Li Shimin as the crown prince, and he abdicated a few days later, but he still lived in the Taiji Palace, but he didn't care about anything; after Li Shimin took the throne, he openly and secretly squeezed his old father, and abolished a lot of the policies and regulations he had promulgated before, and Li Yuan also knew that he should leave the Taiji Palace, so he moved to Da'an Palace.
This palace is extremely desolate compared to the Taiji Palace, there is no brocade clothes and jade food and a group of slaves, Li Yuan has also become a lonely old man who has lost his relatives and friends, he is not willing to retire, but he can no longer stop Li Shimin's footsteps; day by day in the palace aging, declining, and passing away in a few years, compared to the spirit when he pointed out the country before, it is indeed very bleak.
Summary:
As the founder of the Tang Dynasty, Li Yuan made indelible contributions to the great cause of the unification of Li and Tang.
is such a founding king, because of his miscalculation of his sons, he has no children and grandchildren to accompany him in his later years, and he is very lonely and miserable; if Li Yuan could formalize the issue of the two princes, and did not easily promise the position of the crown prince, it would not have caused such a deep contradiction among the princes, and the poor man has his own hate, no wonder few people in later generations sympathized with him.