In the seventeenth year of Zhenguan (643), Li Chengqian, then the crown prince of the Tang Dynasty, decided to force his father to abdicate.
Li Chengqian is already the crown prince, and the world will be his, so why is he still eager to rebel? The reason is that Tang Taizong favored Li Tai, the king of Wei, and treated him and rewarded him on the same level as his own crown prince.
While his father was alienated from him, Li Tai planned to seize the crown prince, which also made Li Chengqian think that his position as the crown prince was in jeopardy, and in a fit of anger, he germinated the idea of usurping the throne.
Mr. Ma Yue's Tang Taizong, one of my favorite film and television images
This idea coincides with Hou Junji, who was constantly suppressed, and the two sides continued to plot, and when the time was ripe, they forced Tang Taizong to abdicate.
But before he could act, Li You, the king of Qi, took the lead in rebellion, and after the trial, Li Chengqian's guard was actually involved.
In order to protect himself, Su Gan Chengji confessed that Li Chengqian had conspired against him, which completely shocked the government and the opposition.
The prince who failed to rebel in history only ended up with a different head.
But Li Chengqian is the beloved son that Tang Taizong has painstakingly cultivated for so many years, and how to deal with him has become a question that Tang Taizong thinks about day and night.
According to historical records, the general affairs and people came to stand up: "Your Majesty is a loving father, and if you live all your days, you will be good." ”
Subsequently, Tang Taizong deposed Li Chengqian as a concubine and exiled him to Qianzhou.
Looking at it this way, Tang Taizong's beloved son was very heartfelt, and even if Li Chengqian rebelled, he still saved his life.
Li Chengqian
Then, according to the "Old Tang Book: The Biography of Taizong's Sons", Li Chengqian died of illness in Qianzhou in the nineteenth year of Zhenguan (645), and Tang Taizong was still very sad to abolish the dynasty one day and bury Li Chengqian with the rites of the national prince.
Looking at it this way, Tang Taizong is benevolent and righteous to his son, showing his deep love for his son, but is this really the case?
"Old Tang Book: Taizong Benji" :(18th year) December Xin Chou (the first day of the first month), Shu people Cheng Qian died.
"New Tang Dynasty Book: Taizong Benji" :(18th year) December Renyin (the second day of the first month), the Shu people inherited the cadres. Wu Wu, Li Simo's tribe rebelled.
According to the two "Taizong Benji", the difference between the time of Li Chengqian's death is one day, which can basically be regarded as the same time, but in the old Tang book, it is vaguely said that he died in 19 years.
Although there is a difference of one year, it is related to Tang Taizong's attitude towards Li Chengqian and whether Li Chengqian died a normal death.
Of course, the specific day of death, put it aside, I will talk about the specific time later, and then take a look at Li Chengqian's burial place.
In the beginning, Li Chengqian was buried in Qianzhou, the place of exile, in other words, Tang Taizong did not let Li Chengqian accompany him to the burial of his Zhaoling, when was he relocated? It was during the period of Tang Xuanzong.
Li Chengqian cemetery
In the twenty-seventh year of Kaiyuan (739), Li Shi, the grandson of Li Chengqian, who was then the governor of Youzhou, wrote to Tang Xuanzong, requesting that his grandfather Li Chengqian and his father Li Xiang be buried in Zhaoling, which was approved by Tang Xuanzong.
In the same year, Tang Xuanzong posthumously presented Li Chengqian as the king of Hengshan and moved to the tomb of Taizong Zhaoling.
According to historical records, the funeral of this relocation was very grand, but in hindsight, it was extremely shabby, after all, Tang Taizong and Tang Xuanzong did not expect that thousands of years later, someone would actually dig up Li Chengqian's tomb.
Because the Zhaoling Tomb has been destroyed and excavated many times, since 1965, the state began to investigate the historical remains of the cemetery, and finally unearthed Li Chengqian's epitaph in 1972.
Excavated epitaph rubbing
As the former crown prince, Li Chengqian's epitaph is only one hundred and three crosses, a few words, a simple record of Li Chengqian's life, and of course, the specific time of Li Chengqian's death: October 1, the seventeenth year of Zhenguan (643).
Tomb Zhi Yuan
This record is also two months ahead of the two "Taizong Benji".
The epitaph is the responsibility of Li Chengqian's grandson, and the probability of writing it wrong is very small, after all, it is the time of his grandfather's death, and he may not have seen it, but his parents will always remember and mention it, and in ancient times, he would pay tribute on the day of the death of his relatives, and he must not be mistaken, so the day of Li Chengqian's death is basically determined to be this time.
Then, extrapolating from this time, then a very unexpected conclusion will be drawn that Li Chengqian may have been executed by order of Tang Taizong.
Li Chengqian set off on the seventh day of the ninth month of the seventeenth year of Zhenguan (643), and died on the first day of October, a total of 23 days before and after.
1. Li Chengqian had diabetic foot, and died of aggravated bumps on the road;
2. After being imprisoned in Chang'an for a few months, he contracted an illness and died on the way;
3. On the way, he was secretly executed by Tang Taizong;
But no matter which one it is, Li Chengqian's death was too sudden, and it can't even be ruled out that it was preset by Tang Taizong, and because he died halfway through, it may not be very far from Chang'an, but if Tang Taizong really loves his son, why not arrange to come back for burial?
There has always been no royal affection
Even if you can't accompany the burial of Zhaoling, you can find a good place to bury in Chang'an.
However, none of these are true, on the contrary, the history books have repeatedly emphasized that Li Chengqian was buried in Qianzhou, if this is the case, then the epitaph and the historical records are not contradictory, after all, the events recorded in the historical books may be the time when the news of Li Chengqian's burial in Qianzhou reached Chang'an.
Taking a step back, even if he died within three months recorded in the history books, Chang'an in the Tang Dynasty was thousands of miles away from Qianzhou, and it was necessary to cross the Qinling Mountains, turn over Ba Mountain, and wade through Shu water, which Li Bai called the Shu Road difficult to go to the blue sky.
Epitaphs and history books corroborate each other, Li Chengqian will inevitably die on the road.
In addition, the scale of Li Chengqian's tomb after the relocation is also quite shabby, the widest part of the tomb is only more than one meter, and the sealed soil is only 2.5 meters high.
The specifications of the burial goods are low, there are neither tomb beasts nor Tang Sancai, far from reaching the water of the Tang Shiguo Cemetery, which is basically similar to the tomb of the palace people who are not sealed or trees in the Zhaoling Tomb, and cannot be compared with other civil servants and military generals who accompany the burial.
Therefore, the "funeral is very prosperous" recorded in the history books is basically nothing.
Shōryū
Since the scale of the relocation and burial is so shabby, the purpose of the burial in Qianzhou is probably not to take a coffin and bury it on the spot.
In addition, we can refer to Li Chengqian's accomplice Li Yuanchang, the king of Han, from the time he was exposed to the death of his family, it was only six days before and after, and Li Chengqian's fate was naturally not much better.
Therefore, the history books record that Tang Taizong thought of the love of licking calves, and the prince rebelled and did not kill but was demoted to a concubine, and even learned that after Li Chengqian died of illness, he also called the dynasty for this reason and was buried with a national ceremony, which is most likely fictional by the historian, just to cover up the evil of Tang Taizong's killing of his son.
There are many imprisoned fathers in history, many brothers who compete for the throne and slaughter brothers, and many who kill sons, but they don't do much.