On May 26, the twenty-third year of Zhenguan (649), Li Shimin died in the Hanfeng Hall of Cuiwei Palace at the age of fifty-two.
One
Before he died, he entrusted the crown prince Li Zhi to the eldest grandson Wuji, and said a meaningful word to Chu Suiliang on the side, Wuji is loyal to me, don't let the slander separate him.
10 years later, the eldest grandson Wuji was executed for rebellion, and the entire clan was killed.
As Li Zhi's own uncle and the minister of Tuogu, why did he end up like this? In fact, all this was expected by Li Shimin a long time ago!
It has to start from the seventeenth year of Zhenguan (642)!
On the sixth day of the fourth month, the former crown prince Li Chengqian was demoted to a civilian for rebellion. The next day, Li Shimin issued an order to change the Jin King Li Zhi as the crown prince and implement a general amnesty.
Since then, the position of the East Palace has been decided, and Li Shimin can breathe a sigh of relief.
However, after a period of investigation, Li Shimin found that Li Zhi, the crown prince, was not qualified. Li Zhi is not only cowardly, too conformist, and lacks wolf nature, so it is difficult to become a shrewd and capable emperor.
Li Shimin even moved the heart of abolishing the prince and wanted to change the establishment of Li Ke, the king of Wu, he felt that Li Ke was brave and brave like himself, and later under the strong opposition of the eldest grandson Wuji, he finally gave up.
Since the position of the crown prince can't be moved, he can only worry more about himself. Li Shimin began a series of layouts, he wanted to help Li Zhi before he died, and remove all the unstable factors.
Two
When it comes to instability, the first thing that comes to mind is people, especially those who have made meritorious contributions.
Attentive readers will find that in the early and middle years of Li Shimin's administration, there were very few killings of meritorious heroes, and in the later period of his reign, there were more and more murders of meritorious heroes.
Li Junxian was killed because of the rumor that "the heroine Wuwang has the world", and I have to say that he is really wronged.
In the late Zhenguan period, there has been a proverb among the people: "After three generations of the Tang Dynasty, the heroine King Wu replaced the Li family and owned the world." Li Shimin hated this and doubted all people and things related to "martial arts."
It just so happens that Li Junxian's resume has too much to do with the word "Wu": his hometown is Wu'an, Zhaozhou, he is knighted as the Duke of Wulian County, and his official is General Zuo Wuwei, and his office is in Xuanwumen.
What's worse is that Li Junxian's nickname is "Five Niangzi".
With so many coincidences in one, no matter how Li Shimin looks at it, he thinks that this kid has the idea of taking the Li family's world. I can still hold it down if I live, but if I die, with the prince's benevolent and weak character, I really can't do it!
Adhering to the principle of preferring to kill by mistake rather than let go. Li Junxian was ordered to be executed by Li Shimin on the charge of "bullying the monarch and oppressing the people".
It wasn't until 43 years later that Wu Zecai rehabilitated him, issued an edict to recover Li Junxian's official title, and changed the burial with ceremonies.
Three
Li Junxian's death was burdened by rumors, not because he had the ability to threaten Li Zhi's imperial power. And Zhang Liang, one of the "Twenty-four Heroes of Lingyan Pavilion", is different.
Although Zhang Liang did not participate in the "Xuanwumen Change", he was also a great hero of the Zhenguan Dynasty and was regarded as Li Shimin's confidant. Before the Xuanwumen Change, Li Shimin had already chosen Luoyang as the retreat route, and he gave most of his family wealth to Zhang Liang, and asked Zhang Liang to go to Luoyang to arrange it, ready to respond at any time.
Before Hou Junji rebelled, he instigated Zhang Liang to do it together, and Zhang Liang turned his head and informed Li Shimin of the matter, which shows his loyalty.
In the twentieth year of Zhenguan (646), someone accused Zhang Liang of raising 500 righteous sons privately and deliberately rebelling.
If Zhang Liang wants to rebel, Li Shimin will definitely not believe it. However, Zhang Liang touched Li Shimin's sensitive area and privately raised more than 500 celebrities.
These 500 righteous sons are 500 private soldiers, and when Li Shimin launched the Xuanwumen Rebellion, he killed the crown prince Li Jiancheng and Li Yuanji, the king of Qi, with 800 private soldiers. As soon as this incident came out, it was difficult not to make Li Shimin suspicious.
When Li Shimin learned of this, he was furious: "What can Zhang Liang do when he raises so many righteous sons? Isn't it just to rebel!"
So, he ordered Zhang Liang to be killed. Li Shimin is borrowing Zhang Liang's head to warn those heroes and nobles not to raise private soldiers, don't have any crooked thoughts, those are all leftovers for their own play.
Four
With Zhang Liang being killed, Li Shimin's treatment of the generals has come to an end, and the next step is to attack Wenchen.
Prime Minister Liu Xun, who was originally a supporter of Li Tai, the king of Wei, after Li Chengqian was deposed, he strongly recommended Li Tai as the crown prince, which made him a good relationship with Chu Suiliang.
When Li Shimin personally conquered Goryeo, he asked the crown prince Li Zhi to supervise the country, Liu Xun and Gao Shilian and Ma Zhou to assist. On the way back to the teacher, Li Shimin suddenly fell ill, and Liu Xun went to visit.
Afterwards, Chu Suiliang asked about the emperor's condition, and Liu Xun worriedly told Chu Suiliang that the emperor was suffering from carbuncles, which was frightening.
After Chu Suiliang listened to Liu Xun's words, he suddenly had a plan in his heart. After he waited for Li Shimin to recover from his illness, he denounced Liu Xun, saying that Liu Xun had a heart of disobedience and wanted to be a powerful minister like Huo Guang.
At this moment, Li Shimin laughed!
Originally, he was going to take the court to open the knife, but he was worried that he couldn't find a reason, but this Liu Xun was good and sent it to the door by himself.
Who is Huo Guang? The powerful minister of the Western Han Dynasty, the Liu family almost fell into his hands. Li Shimin is not dead yet, you Liu Xun dare to say such a thing; when he is really dead, what else can Liu Xun not do?
So, Li Shimin ordered Liu Xun to commit suicide.
The dignified prime minister of the Tang Dynasty was unjustly killed in this way, and it was not until the reign of Gaozong Li Zhi that he was rehabilitated.
With the death of Liu Xun, the unstable factors in the court were basically cleared.
As for old heroes like Fang Xuanling and Li Jing, they all died in front of Li Shimin, so there would be no threat to Li Zhi. Meritorious generals such as Wei Chigong and Li Daozong asked for retirement early and did not associate with others.
Li Shimin was also relieved of them, rewarding them with glory and wealth and allowing them to retire with peace of mind.
There are also fierce generals in the army like Xue Wanche, who are often arrogant and domineering. Li Shimin directly issued an edict to dismiss him from office and exile him to Xiangzhou (now Guilin, Guangxi), which would not pose any threat to Li Zhi.
Since then, Li Shimin has helped the crown prince Li Zhi to clean up the internal instability.
Five
After the internal is done, the external ones can't be left behind, or they all help Li Zhi eradicate them together.
After Li Shimin ascended the throne, he basically adhered to the policy of cherishing the people's strength, and the foreign wars in the early and middle stages of Zhenguan were all fought every five years, and what he was afraid of was increasing the burden on the people.
In his later years, he had to fight frequently with foreign countries, not because he was afraid that Li Zhi would not be able to handle it. In order to help his son cut off the external enemy, Li Shimin was so old and in poor health, he rashly conquered Goryeo.
At the time of Li Shimin's death, the international pattern left to Li Zhi was almost perfect.
Tubo, who tried to go eastward, was firmly locked in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau by the four towns of Anxi, and there was no road to get out at all.
The establishment of the Shan Yu Protectorate in the south of the Mo and the establishment of the Anbei Protectorate in the north of the Mo Dynasty, taking advantage of the feuding relationship between the Turks and the Tiele people, as long as one side becomes bigger, the Tang army will assist the other side to weaken it, so the south and north of the desert are firmly controlled by the Tang.
The Khitan in the northeast trembled under the threat of Tang Tianwei, and only dared to be a follower, but he couldn't become a climate. Goguryeo was beaten and half crippled, and until it perished, it did not dare to be tough with the Tang army, but only dared to hold on to the city.
As for the countries in the Western Regions, when the Tang army needed their assistance, they asked for food and people for people, for fear that the Tang army would attack itself if it was not happy.
The countries surrounding Datang check and balance each other, and no one can sit on a big seat or be strong, and they cannot threaten Datang, and Datang can achieve such a balance at a very small cost.
At this point, Li Shimin can finally breathe a sigh of relief, the internal and external affairs are almost dealt with, and the rest is the auxiliary minister.
Six
Auxiliary ministers were crucial to assist the new emperor and to prevent them from becoming too powerful and threatening the imperial power.
After all, the Northern Zhou Dynasty of the Sui Dynasty and the Sui Dynasty of the Tang Dynasty were all due to the excessive power of the auxiliary ministers, which led to the deception of the monarch and usurpation of the throne. It's only been a few decades, and Li Shimin will definitely not let this happen to his son.
In order for Li Zhi to sit on the throne, Li Shimin carefully built a set of auxiliary political teams for him: eldest grandson Wuji, Chu Suiliang, and Li Ji.
These three people represent different power groups, and the three parties contain each other, so that one party does not sit on the throne and threaten the imperial power.
Among them, Li Ji in the military circles is the most important link, and Li Shimin deliberately belittled Li Ji for no reason in order to test Li Ji's loyalty. If he obeys the order and executes it immediately, let Li Zhi be reused after he ascends the throne, and if he delays and does not leave, then he will be killed directly and will never be troubled in the future.
Li Shimin's imperial mind is not only used on Li Ji, but even his brother-in-law's eldest grandson Wuji has not let go.
In fact, Li Shimin has always been uneasy about this brother-in-law. If he could, he really wouldn't want him to be an auxiliary minister.
Before Li Shimin died, he privately summoned the eldest grandson Wuji into the Hanfeng Palace, stretched out his hand to caress the eldest grandson Wuji's cheek, but he couldn't say a word.
It can be imagined how helpless Li Shimin was at that time.
Seven
On May 26, the twenty-third year of Zhenguan (649), before Li Shimin died, he once again summoned the eldest grandson Wuji and Chu Suiliang to the bed to talk, and the crown prince Li Zhi was also serving in front of the bed.
Li Shimin said to them: "I will entrust you with all the aftermath today. Prince Renxiao, you have to assist him well!"
He also said to the prince: "Wuji, Sui Liang is here, you don't have to worry about the world!"
Li Shimin said to Chu Suiliang again: "Wuji is loyal to me, and I can have the world, a lot of it depends on his strength." After I die, don't let the slanderers separate him. ”
Not long after speaking, Taizong Li Shimin died.
This sentence seems to be telling Chu Suiliang to protect the eldest grandson Wuji, but in fact it has another deep meaning.
Normally, if Li Shimin really wants to protect his eldest grandson Wuji, he should tell the future emperor Li Zhicai, how could he say such a thing to Chu Suiliang?
Li Shimin is saying ugly things in front of him, and warned the eldest grandson Wuji not to swell, so as not to be criticized by the government and the opposition.
For Chu Suiliang, the pot of the fall of the eldest grandson Wuji was placed on him in advance, and if something happened to the eldest grandson Wuji in the future, it was Chu Suiliang who did not protect him.
Eight
I have to say that Li Shimin really broke his heart for Li Zhi. would rather bear the infamy of slaughtering heroes, but also help Li Zhi deal with the instability.
Even after his death, there may be a struggle for supreme power, and Li Shimin has arranged Chu Suiliang as a scapegoat in advance.
In the future, in order to centralize power, Li Zhi will attack the eldest grandson Wuji, and the fault is not Li Zhi, but Chu Suiliang did not play a role in persuasion. Li Zhi is innocent, he did not kill his uncle, nor did he massacre the auxiliary minister, all of this is the eldest grandson's own fault.
Li Shimin left Li Zhi a good situation for the ages, but unfortunately Li Zhi didn't know how to cherish it, and all kinds of blind tossing.
Due to Li Zhi's short-sightedness, he allowed Tubo to conquer Tuyuhun, and as a result, after Tubo became bigger, the Western Regions were invaded by Tubo and Turkic and gradually declined, so that he could only give up the four towns of Anxi, and the international pattern of mutual constraints between countries was completely gone.
Not only that, in the middle and late stages of Li Zhi's reign, he arbitrarily refused to accept the advice of the virtuous, and the labor of the palace was heavy, which made "the world disappointed". Li Shimin fought wars for a maximum of half a year and a year, and only launched a war once in a few years. Li Zhi was beaten for a few years, and the soldiers couldn't stand it and chose to flee one after another.
The most terrible thing is that Li Zhi was afraid that the powerful ministers would threaten the imperial power, so he delegated power to the empress Wu Zetian, and in the end even the country was tossed.
The Tang Dynasty changed to the Wu Zhou, and the Li Tang clan was basically slaughtered. If Li Shimin had knowledge, I don't know how he would feel!