The fifth article of the "Seventeen Years of Zhenguan" series, talks about the death of Prime Minister Liu Xun; according to the history books, he was falsely accused and framed to death by Chu Suiliang, which has also become the biggest stain on Chu Suiliang's life.
One
In November of the first year of Wude (618), Li Shimin defeated Xue Rengao, escorted him to Chang'an to be beheaded, and incorporated Xue Rengao's old troops for his own use. Chu Suiliang is one of them, and he entered the Li Tang Dynasty in this way.
Three years later, Xiao Milling of the Liang Dynasty, who occupied Jiangnan, was defeated. His subordinate Liu Xun returned to the Tang Dynasty with dozens of cities in Lingnan and was awarded the history of the governor of Nankang Prefecture.
Since then, the two eternal enemies have gathered in the Tang Dynasty and are about to start a period of unexplained grievances.
Chu Suiliang and Liu Xun have a lot in common, they are both upright ministers and dare to speak out. Similarly, neither of them entered the inner circle of power in the Wude Dynasty, and it was not until the Zhenguan Dynasty that they were able to display their talents and realize their ambitions.
In the eleventh year of Zhenguan (637), Liu Xun was reappointed as the secretary of the imperial history and entered the power core circle of the Tang Dynasty. Yu Shinan died the following year, and Wei Zheng recommended Chu Suiliang to Li Shimin, and Taizong ordered him to be a "servant" and accompany him at any time.
In the eighteenth year of Zhenguan (644), the two entered the power center of the Tang Dynasty together, Liu Xun was promoted to the prime minister, and Chu Suiliang began to participate in the decision-making of the court as a waiter of the Yellow Gate.
It can be said that Chu Suiliang and Liu Xun have a lot of acquaintances, but the two choose to stand on the opposite side of each other.
Two
Chu Suiliang and Liu Xun are both the kind of people who dare to give direct advice, Liu Xun is more direct, and Chu Suiliang is more tactful.
As we all know, Li Shimin loves calligraphy, especially likes to copy Wang Xizhi's works, and has a deep accomplishment. He would occasionally feast guests at the Xuanwu Gate and give his calligraphy to officials above the third grade.
A work with the charm of Wang Xi and the imperial pen of the Son of Heaven will naturally be snatched up by dignitaries. In order to grab calligraphy, many people even forget about the gifts of the monarch and ministers.
Liu Xun is such a person, he was afraid that he would not be able to grab it, so he climbed directly onto the dragon bed and snatched it from the emperor, and the ministers were angry and started to play: "Li Xun is good at the throne, despises the master, and should be beheaded according to the law." ”
Of course, Li Shimin would not kill people because of this incident, but he just smiled slightly, and even if the matter was over, he had a trace of disgust for Liu Xun in his heart.
Later, one day, Li Shimin came to the court on a whim to find out how the historians wrote about themselves, so he asked Liu Xun and Chu Suiliang to read "Living Note".
Chu Suiliang will definitely not do it, he knows very well that once this precedent is opened, the historian will not dare to truly record the emperor's mistakes in the future, and in that case, the historian will lose his original value. He politely refused, saying: "The living note is to record the gains and losses of the king's words and deeds, and I have never heard of the Son of Heaven taking it for himself." ”
Li Shimin asked curiously: "If I say something bad or do something bad, it will also be recorded?"
Chu Suiliang said euphemistically: "Where the minister's duty lies, I dare not remember ......"
Before he finished speaking, Liu Xun on the side took over the conversation and said: "Even if Chu Suiliang doesn't remember it, the people of the world will remember it." ”
Li Shimin's face immediately darkened, and he scolded Liu Xun in his heart. Originally, it was just a tentative question, and it was okay if he didn't show it, but Liu Xun used the people of the world to pressure himself and embarrass himself, and this hatred was recorded.
Three
I don't know when Chu Suiliang and Liu Xun had serious political differences. Liu Xun became a supporter of Li Tai, the king of Wei, and Chu Suiliang fell to Li Zhi, the king of Jin.
In April of the seventeenth year of Zhenguan (643), the crown prince Li Chengqian was deposed for rebellion, and the position of prince was vacant.
When the crown prince was re-proposed, the ministers led by Cen Wenwen and Liu Bo supported Li Tai as the crown prince, and on the other side, the eldest grandson Wuji and Chu Suiliang supported Li Zhi, the king of Jin.
From this moment on, Chu Suiliang and Liu Xun officially went to the opposite side, which is also the source of the motive for Chu Suiliang to falsely accuse Liu Xun.
When Li Tai said the sentence "The minister has only one son, and after a hundred years, he should be killed for His Majesty and passed on to the king of the country", and the position of the prince basically had nothing to do with him.
Li Tai was the second son-in-law, and after Li Chengqian's rebellion, he was in line with the throne; he was indeed very talented, and there were many people in the court who supported him.
It's a pity that he was too anxious, and this sentence exposed his true nature.
Li Tai said that after he became emperor, he would kill his own son and wait for a hundred years to pass on the throne to his younger brother Li Zhi. This sentence shows both his viciousness and his political immaturity. A person who is willing to kill his own son for the sake of the throne, what else can't be done.
When choosing who to appoint as the crown prince, an important factor affecting Li Shimin's decision-making was how to avoid the tragedy of fratricidal brotherhood.
Li Tai's words made Li Shimin understand: If Li Tai is established, Li Zhi and Li Chengqian must die, and if Li Zhi is established, Li Tai and Li Chengqian can live.
As a result, Li Tai was brushed down, and those ministers who supported Li Tai were naturally implicated. However, Liu Xun not only escaped the catastrophe, but was blessed by misfortune.
After Li Zhi was made the crown prince, Liu Xun immediately said: "The prince should be diligent and inquisitive, and be kind to teachers and friends." Li Shimin felt that it made sense, so he asked Liu Xun, Cen Wenwen, Chu Suiliang, Ma Zhou and others to take turns to go to the East Palace to discuss political affairs with the prince.
Soon, Liu Xun was promoted to the provincial governor and became the prime minister of the Tang Dynasty, and his career has been smooth since then.
Four
In the nineteenth year of Zhenguan (645), Li Shimin personally conquered Goguryeo and ordered the crown prince Li Zhi to be in prison, with Ma Zhou, Liu Xun and Gao Shilian assisting.
Before leaving, Li Shimin said to Liu Xun: "Now that I am going on an expedition, Aiqing must assist the prince with his heart, and the safety of the country depends on Aiqing, I hope Aiqing will not live up to my expectations." ”
Seeing that the emperor valued himself so much, Liu Xun was very moved, and replied categorically: "Your Majesty doesn't have to worry, if the minister is guilty, the minister will not be spared." ”
Li Shimin never imagined that Liu Xun would say such a thing.
No matter how big the minister committed, only the emperor can execute him, and if the emperor is not there, there is still the crown prince in prison, which turn will it be the prime minister?
Liu Xun's words revealed that he didn't take the crown prince Li Zhi seriously at all. Li Shimin began to wonder if Liu Xun could really assist the prince.
It's just that the expedition is imminent, and the temporary change of appearance is not suitable, so everything can only be said after I come back.
Li Shimin left a sentence to Liu Xun with a gloomy face: "You are not cautious in your words, and you are too reckless in doing things, sooner or later you will fall into trouble, you must be cautious!"
Then, he led the army to the battle.
Five
In December of the same year, Li Shimin fell ill on the way, Liu Xun and Ma Zhou went to visit, and afterwards Chu Suiliang talked about Taizong's condition, and Liu Xun cried and said: "The Holy Body suffers from carbuncles, which is frightening. ”
There is nothing wrong with this statement itself.
Who knew that Chu Suiliang turned his head and ran to falsely accuse Liu Xun, saying: "Liu Xun saw that the emperor was seriously ill, and privately said that the major affairs of the court were not enough to worry about, as long as he assisted the young prince like Yi Yin and Huo Guang, and killed the ministers with two hearts, it would be fine." ”
Now, Li Shimin is not calm!
Who is Huo Guangna? The powerful minister of the Western Han Dynasty, the Liu family was almost about to fall into his hands. When Liu Xun said such things, didn't he clearly see that the prince was cowardly, and he wanted to become a powerful minister like Huo Guang!
So, he called Liu Xun to confront him.
Liu Xun resolutely refused to admit that he had said such a thing, and asked Ma Zhou to come out to testify, but Chu Suiliang insisted that he had said it.
Li Shimin was suspicious and jealous, and would rather kill by mistake than let go, and ordered Liu Xun to commit suicide.
The dignified prime minister of the Tang Dynasty was unjustly killed like this!
Six
Out of fear of his son's succession, Li Shimin was very sensitive to those powerful ministers who "did not have the same heart" as Li Zhi.
The so-called "conspiring to govern the dynasty and deal with Yihuo by himself" is just a public crime imposed on Liu Xun, but in fact, Chu Suiliang took advantage of Li Shimin's serious illness, implying that Li Shimin and Liu Xun did not deal with the crown prince and would become a figure who endangered the imperial power in the future, which was exactly what Li Shimin's concerns were.
There was a remark that Liu Xun was not self-respecting, and then there was a false accusation by Chu Suiliang, and Li Shimin pushed the boat down the river to give Liu Xun to death.
Liu Xun was framed to death, which is not uncommon in the officialdom politics of previous dynasties, so it should not be groundless to record that Liu Xun was killed by Chu Suiliang in the history books.
This eventually became the biggest stain on Chu Suiliang's life!
In the first year of Xianqing (656), Liu Hongye, the son of Liu Xun, went to Emperor Gaozong and avenged his father, saying that he was framed by Chu Suiliang.
Tang Gaozong was hindered by the face of the former emperor Li Shimin, so he did not mention it. It was not until the first year of civilization (684) that after the death of Gaozong Li Zhi, Wu Zecai issued an edict to rehabilitate Liu Xun and restore his official title.