On July 2, 626, the Xuanwu Gate changed. The family surnamed Li in the Tang Dynasty has always been ridiculed for being filial piety to fathers and sons, and brothers and brothers. Among them, the brother and friend Brother Gong is the story of Li Shimin, the king of the Tang Dynasty, who killed the prince's brother and successfully seized power and ascended to the throne in the Xuanwumen Rebellion.
The records of the Xuanwumen Revolution are mainly about Li Shimin being excluded by his brothers, and the crown prince Li Jiancheng and Li Yuanji, the king of Qi, who were in the court, wanted to seize Li Shimin's military power out of jealousy and worry about Li Shimin, so that Li Shimin had no support, so as to completely snub Li Shimin in the court.
Li Shimin carried out the Xuanwumen Rebellion to kill his brother after knowing about it, and Li Yuan was forced to make Li Shimin the crown prince, and two months later, the throne was passed on to Li Shimin. However, there is no record of the specific process of the most critical Xuanwumen Change, but the truth is revealed on an inscription in Paris.
The reason why Li Shimin must fight for power
Li Jiancheng, as the ten-year-old elder brother of the elder Li Shimin, has been pinned on by his father Li Yuan since he was a child, assuming the identity of the prince, and guarding Chang'an in the rear when the men of the family go out to fight. As the second eldest, Li Shimin was entrusted by his father with an important task because of his outstanding military talent, and became a general who fought in all directions.
Li Jiancheng himself is the crown prince, and he has the bonus of identity, so he has a hierarchical advantage above the court, after all, in a feudal society with the primogeniture inheritance system, Li Jiancheng's succession is a logical thing.
However, Li Shimin's identity is even more special, in terms of blood, he is the second son second only to the eldest son is dependent on his father, that is, the son of the then emperor Li Yuan, and the crown prince as the prince of the East Palace is more threatening to the emperor to a certain extent, after all, the prince has more reasons and possibilities to force the emperor to take the throne.
From the perspective of the identity of the political group, the crown prince Li Jiancheng has his own court group - East Palace, and has a special group of people to give advice for himself. On the other hand, Li Shimin's military power comes from the emperor Li Yuan, and Li Shimin's interests after his military exploits are also divided between the officials and interest groups belonging to the emperor.
Therefore, for the interest groups that rely on the emperor, Li Shimin's existence is more beneficial to himself than to the crown prince Li Jiancheng. This also determines that they will be inclined to turn to Li Shimin.
Therefore, in order to obtain higher benefits for themselves in the future, these officials will be more inclined to encourage Li Shimin to compete for power. After all, when Li Jiancheng succeeded to the throne, the political group to which he belonged would occupy the center of the court, not the officials who followed the emperor or Li Shimin.
Regarding these truths, Li Shimin also knew in his heart that he had already had a different connection with these officials who were supposed to serve the emperor. If you are unable to fight for their interests, you will become a thorn in your side, a thorn in your flesh, and finally be ostracized and abandoned by officials, and then your proud military exploits will be useless.
The most special person in the Xuanwu Gate Change - Chang He
Chang He, as a general, after returning to the Tang Dynasty, successively followed the Tang King Li Shimin and the crown prince Li Jiancheng to fight in all directions. As a military general, the relationship between him and Tang King Li Shimin is also very close.
Chang He Zhen's position as the Zhonglang general guarding the Xuanwu Gate was obtained after Li Shimin was promoted. As the general of the Xuanwu Gate, if he did not let Li Shimin go when he launched the Xuanwu Gate Rebellion, then Li Shimin would not have succeeded at all. Therefore, in the books and literature of later generations, Chang He is often written as Li Shimin's own person who was placed in the prince's mansion, specifically to help Li Shimin.
The relationship between Chang He and Li Shimin is also harmonious after becoming a monarch and minister, in the fifth year of Zhenguan, Li Shimin asked the officials to write an article about current affairs and hand it in, Chang He because he was not proficient in literature because of his military general, so he entrusted the doorman Ma Zhou to write on his behalf, and after being found by Li Shimin, he generously admitted that the article was not written by himself.
Later, Li Shimin not only recruited Ma Zhou, a doorman, to become an official of the DPRK and China, but also praised Chang He for his honesty. It can be seen that the relationship between Chang He and Li Shimin is very relaxed and harmonious.
The origin of the Xuanwumen change was because of Li Jiancheng's wrong plan
When Li Shimin was gradually becoming stronger, Li Jiancheng saw everything in his eyes, and Li Jiancheng understood that this younger brother would definitely become the biggest obstacle on his way to becoming emperor, so for his own future, Li Jiancheng began to suppress Li Shimin everywhere.
first distorted the facts to provoke the father-son relationship between Li Yuan and Li Shimin, making Li Yuan think that Li Shimin had a heart of disobedience. And the most powerful thing in Li Shimin's hands is the military power in his hands, so Li Jiancheng set his sights on how to deprive Li Shimin of military power.
In order to better weaken the military power, Li Jiancheng began to secretly buy the generals around Li Shimin, but the effect was very small, and he repeatedly hit a wall. The most excessive one is the direct cause of the Xuanwumen Change.
Li Jiancheng saw that there was no hope of bribery, so when the Turks invaded Li Yuan and wanted Li Shimin to send troops to punish him, he took the opportunity to propose that all Li Shimin's subordinates should be submitted to the hands of Li Yuanji, the king of Qi, so that Li Shimin would have no troops available in his hands and lose his foundation in the court.
Under such persecution by Li Jiancheng, Li Shimin finally couldn't bear it anymore and launched a counterattack. And in order to avoid long nights and dreams, the first thing Li Shimin did after launching the coup d'état was to kill his only two brothers with his own hands, completely cutting off the possibility of them competing for power with himself. In this way, Li Jiancheng did everything that he thought could gradually remove the power of his second brother, but he forgot to do it gradually His purpose was too urgent and direct, so that Li Shimin could not bear it anymore in the end, and Li Jiancheng also forgot the truth of death, did not protect his life, and lost his life under Li Shimin's arrow.
The inscription on the tomb of Chang He reveals the key to the change of Xuanwu Gate
In the inscription of Chang He, it is recorded in detail how Chang He completed the preparations for the Xuanwumen Revolution under the instructions of Li Shimin. As a key figure in the coup, it can be seen in Chang He's inscription that Li Shimin gave Chang He a large amount of gold to buy people's hearts and recruit brave and warlike soldiers to secretly submit to Li Shimin, the king of Qin.
Chang He himself admired Li Shimin very much, and recorded in detail in the inscription that Chang He followed Li Shimin to make meritorious contributions, and even saw Li Shimin distribute the rewards to his subordinates with his own eyes, and he couldn't believe it in his heart, and he was full of sincere feelings. There are only very few evaluations of the prince's fever, after all, following the prince cannot be rewarded for meritorious service.
Therefore, Chang He's inscription also explains to a certain extent why Chang He willingly followed Li Shimin to buy people's hearts for Li Shimin, and pretended to accept Li Jiancheng when he saw Li Jiancheng buying people's hearts, but secretly collected intelligence for Li Shimin, helped Li Shimin smoothly carry out the Xuanwu Gate Change, and opened the door of Xuanwu Gate to make Li Jiancheng die in Huangquan.