Preface
Li Chengqian, as the eldest son of Li Shimin and Empress Changsun, can be said to have doomed him to an extraordinary life from the day he was born. But it is a pity that Li Chengqian sat on the throne of the crown prince for 17 years, but in the end he did not get on the throne. As soon as the road of rebellion goes, what awaits him is destined to be an abyss from which he will never recover.
I believe many people don't understand that Li Chengqian, who is the crown prince, is the orthodox heir to the throne. Why did he have such a rebellious rebellion? Here he can only sigh that Tang Taizong was brilliant and strategic all his life, but he was indeed not good at educating his children, so he caused such consequences.
1. The prince for many years
Soon after Li Shimin ascended the throne, he made himself and the eldest son of Empress Changsun, Li Chengqian, the crown prince. Li Chengqian has been sitting on the throne of the crown prince for 17 years, but in these 17 years, there is not a single day that Li Chengqian has not been sincerely afraid.
Although the crown prince is the most honorable person in the entire dynasty except for the emperor, while enjoying the glory brought by this, he also has to experience the uneasiness he brings. It can be said that Li Chengqian is also a regrettable prince in history, he could have a bright future, but for various reasons, this prince who received education in governing the country since he was a child died depressed.
In the early days, Li Chengqian's position as the crown prince was still very stable, and Li Shimin was appointed the crown prince just two months after he ascended the throne. What I have to say here is that throughout history, any prince who has been sitting on the throne for a long time has rarely been able to ascend the throne smoothly.
At this time, Li Chengqian was only eight years old, although Li Chengqian suffered from foot disease, but Li Chengqian was extremely intelligent, and Li Shimin was very fond of this eldest son. I believe that through his name, it can also be seen that the word "Chengqian" indicates that he is bound to be the future Son of Heaven.
After that, Li Shimin began to vigorously train Li Chengqian, and when he was 12 years old, Li Shimin began to expose Li Chengqian to the affairs of the DPRK and China. In the year of Li Yuan's death, Li Shimin left Li Chengqian in the capital to supervise the country.
It can be said that Li Chengqian at this time never thought that he would do something rebellious, all these changes were in Zhenguan ten years, this year the eldest Empress Sun died, this year Li Shimin began to value King Wei.
2. Tang Taizong's failed education
Li Shimin was certainly an outstanding emperor in Chinese history, and during his reign he pushed the entire Tang Dynasty to a new height, and also created the "rule of Zhenguan". But even such an eloquent and inspiring emperor has shortcomings, and Li Shimin's shortcomings are reflected in the education of children.
It can be said that a large part of the reason for Li Chengqian's tragedy is Li Shimin. Later generations put the words dull and stupid on Li Chengqian, but how could Li Chengqian, who had been educated by the prince since he was a child, be stupid. It's just that Li Shimin's behavior made Li Chengqian start to give up on himself, so he became disheartened.
Although Li Chengqian is his son-in-law and the heir to the future throne, he is also extremely inferior because he has physical defects. Especially after the death of Empress Changsun, Li Chengqian became more and more inferior.
Although Li Chengqian was an adult at that time, he lacked maternal love, and his father doted on others, which brought great harm to Li Chengqian's heart. The death of his mother made Li Chengqian sad, and Li Chengqian at this time was in need of Li Shimin's comfort and encouragement. But what was Li Shimin doing at this time, he gave all his love to Li Tai, the king of Wei, at this time.
Just like Li Shimin himself said, he never thought about Yi Chu, but every act he did gave others this kind of thought, not to mention the sensitive Li Chengqian, even the officials in the court at that time could see it.
It is well known that Li Tai, the king of Wei, is in good health, and he is also very talented. It can be said that class is very important in the feudal dynasty, and even if Li Shimin favors Li Tai, he should not let his reward exceed that of Li Chengqian, but Li Shimin has never considered this.
It can be said that since Zhenguan ten years ago, Li Shimin's eyes began to gradually focus on Li Tai's body, and the kings of the Tang Dynasty should go to the local office, but Li Shimin doted on Li Tai, so he let him stay in the capital, and even wanted Li Tai to live in the Wude Palace. It is precisely because of Li Shimin's indiscriminate favor that Li Tai has given him an illusion, an illusion that his father may want to make himself the prince.
However, although Li Shimin's behavior was inappropriate, he never wavered in his heart Li Chengqian's position as the crown prince. On the occasion of the nineteenth year of Zhenguan, Li Shimin asked Li Chengqian to supervise the country, which can be seen. At this time, although he favored Li Tai, he still handed over the matter of supervising the country to Li Chengqian.
I believe that it can also be seen that if Li Shimin dotes on a child, he is extremely pampered, so that other children are dissatisfied. It is worth mentioning that the tragedy caused by these children is precisely because of Li Shimin's doting, it is conceivable that Li Zhidu is already sixteen years old and still lives in the same palace with Li Shimin.
As the eldest son of Li Chengqian, it is inevitable that Li Shimin will have high hopes for him, but the educational methods used by Li Shimin are repressive education, including the education methods of the eldest grandson Empress and the teachers of the East Palace for Li Chengqian.
still remembers what I said earlier, Li Chengqian has always had low self-esteem because of his own reasons, and you can imagine what kind of psychological pressure Li Shimin's repressive education brought to the prince. Empress Changsun and Li Shimin's repressive education is still understandable, after all, they are parents, but even the ministers are like this, then there is only one possibility, it is all instructed by Li Shimin.
Whenever a minister said that Li Chengqian was not, Li Shimin, without exception, praised the minister without understanding Li Chengqian's psychology. His father's harshness, the accusations of the ministers, and the cold eyes of his brothers finally made Li Chengqianjian go sideways.
Third, the sword goes sideways
"Love is more than the heir, and the concubine is not distinguished" This is Chu Suiliang's evaluation of Tang Taizong's favor of Li Tai, the king of Wei. It can be said that there was already a gap between Li Shimin and Li Chengqian at this time, and Li Shimin's actions undoubtedly made Li Chengqian uneasy.
Even Chu Suiliang, who is a minister, can say such things, and one can imagine how difficult Li Chengqian is. It can be said that Li Chengqian never felt Li Shimin's praise and encouragement in the first half of his life, and all that greeted him was his father's criticism.
Especially after a musician in the East Palace was killed by Li Shimin's order, Li Chengqian became even more uneasy. But at this time, the favor of the king of Wei was still undiminished. Li Chengqian later chose to go off the rails with his sword, and directly dealt with Li Tai, who was hindering his throne.
It is a pity that the assassination operation failed, and Li Chengqian at this time also knew that after this operation, he was completely out of touch with the throne, so it was better to start a rebellion without doing anything.
Of course, in the end, it still ended in failure, and Li Shimin was very puzzled in the face of his son's actions, he didn't understand why Li Chengqian would take this road, he was already the prince.
Faced with his father's questioning, Li Chengqian said that he just wanted to consolidate his position as the crown prince. After all, it was his own son, even so, Li Shimin was still reluctant to kill Li Chengqian, but imprisoned him.
It can only be said that if Li Shimin had discovered his son's thoughts earlier, he would not have been separated from father and son, resulting in the tragedy that the son does not know his father, and the father does not know his son.
epilogue
As the saying goes, "if the son does not teach, the father will make the mistake." It can be said that Li Chengqian embarked on the road of rebellion, and Li Shimin should bear most of the responsibility. It is not only Li Chengqian, but Li Tai shows his covetousness for the throne and thus takes the wrong path, which is also Li Shimin's responsibility.
I have to sigh that even if he is an emperor through the ages, in terms of educating children, Li Shimin may not be as good as the father of an ordinary family.