Text/Great Lychee
The superiors who seize the opportunity at the turning point of history, and the inspirational people who climb from the bottom to the highest, they all have one common characteristic: they are brilliant and decisive.
It is their weapon to change their destiny, and it also casts the demons in their hearts that cannot be overcome.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" >01 Tang Taizong Li Shiming</h1>
In the eighth year of the establishment of the Tang Dynasty, the imperial court tended to be stable, and the jiangshan that had been plagued by war for many years slowly looked back on the vitality of the past, and a stable imperial court was bound to consider future development, and the establishment of the heir was the vane of the major forces. Gamble on the crown prince, infinite glory; bet on the wrong crown prince, the whole family becomes a grain of dust in the imperial power struggle, paving the way for the superior.
Most talented people are reluctant to submit to others, and the sons of ordinary people are mostly disputes over family property, and the royal family is a dispute for life. A prince bears not only his own life and future, but also the fate and future of his followers, and he has no ability to fight for it.
Liu Zhun, the Shun Emperor of the Southern Dynasty, said: May eternal life and eternal life, no longer born in the imperial family, is the most cruel portrayal of the life of the prince.
In the cold moonlight, there were rapid and neat footsteps under the Xuanwu Gate, and a group of well-equipped soldiers ran into the Xuanwu Gate.
On the west side of the Xuanwu Gate, another group of prisoner-like people armed with various weapons passed through the Fanglin Gate and quietly lurked in the grass, their wary eyes gleaming in the night.
The coup d'état known as the Xuanwu Rebellion came to an end a few hours later, with the abdication of Li Yuan and the ascension of Li Shimin to the throne, creating the prosperous era of the Tang Dynasty.
During Li Shimin's reign, the Tang cavalry defeated the Turks in the north, the fierce steppe overlords submitted to the Tang, and the royal court ball was held.
According to historical records, at this banquet, Tang Taizong danced in front of the public, and Li Yuan, the Emperor taishang, used a pipa to help him. The rhythm of the pipa gradually accelerated, Li Yuan was completely immersed in the music, in order to conform to the melody of the pipa, Li Shimin had to speed up his pace. The rhythm of the pipa is getting faster and faster, it has reached the point where it can no longer be fast, the rapidly rotating Li Shimin feels that he is about to suffocate, Li Yuan's hands manipulating the strings are beating wildly, and the cheerful sound of the pipa still becomes an indictment.
Suddenly, the sound of the pipa suddenly stopped, because of the excessive force, Li Yuan's pipa strings broke.
The most ruthless imperial family, the change of Xuanwu Gate left Li Yuan with a psychological wound in his eyes, in front of the throne, blood and affection seemed to be worthless, and father and son were like strangers.
If Li Shimin acquiesced to the estrangement of Li Yuan's father and son, perhaps the fate of the Tang Dynasty would be rewritten, Li Zhi would not take the throne, and there would be no empress Wu Zetian.
But because Li Shimin was a perfectionist emperor, he not only worked hard to create a prosperous world, but also hoped to become a morally perfect emperor in the traditional ethical framework. The change of Xuanwu Gate, the killing of his brothers, and the forcing of his father to abdicate have always caused Li Shimin to suffer in his heart.
Crown Prince Li Chengqian staged a coup d'état and was demoted to a commoner. In order not to let history repeat itself, Emperor Taizong was able to enjoy his old age on the throne, and Li Zhi, the weakest of his brothers, became the best candidate for the crown prince.
Tang Taizong knew too well how he had obtained the throne, so he wanted to prevent such a tragedy from happening to him. Talents with mediocre ambitions and abilities are easy for him to control.
In an interview, Ying Cai'er was asked how to become the wife of the pheasant brother, and she said that she first became a buddy with him, and then slowly developed feelings. Therefore, she would not allow Brother Pheasant to treat any woman as a buddy.
Although it is a joke, maybe the pheasant brother will eat this set.
Tang Taizong Li Shimin was also afraid that future generations would follow suit him, so he made strategic adjustments in advance to put an end to future troubles.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" >02 Empress Wu Zetian</h1>
Li Zhi grew up physically weak, may suffer from his mother's inherited headache disease, and it becomes more and more serious as he grows older.
Most people with weak personalities did not have much desire for power, which was the reason why Tang Taizong chose Li Zhi, and also the reason why Wu Zetian had the opportunity to participate in the government.
Seeing that Wu Zetian handled things with ease, and everything was issued in his own name, Li Zhi was relieved to hand over the government to Wu Zetian.
During the administration of the dynasty, Wu Zetian slowly gathered his own forces, suppressed former imperial ministers, and promoted Hanmen talents, and these new forces that were appreciated were willing to be loyal to Wu Zetian, laying a powerful seed for Wu Zetian to become emperor in the future.
Emperor Gaozong of Tang, who was seriously ill, made Li Hong crown prince, and as he watched as he grew closer to the throne, his son Li Hong became a stumbling block to his ability to reach the center of power. Outside the scenic Chang'an City, a royal army slowly marched forward, and inside the carriage were Li Zhi, Wu Zetian, and Li Hong, the crown prince, and a family of three took an outing to escape the summer.
On the eve of the dinner, Empress Wu sprinkled poison in the wine pot, and the unsuspecting prince drank it all, and that night, the 24-year-old prince was poisoned and killed.
Crown Prince Li Hong was loyal and deeply loved by the ministers.
A month after her brother's death, Empress Wu's second son Li Xian took the throne, and like her brother Li Hong, Li Xian was brilliant and showed outstanding talent in government affairs. Wu Zetian once again felt a crisis, and late one night, the imperial guards besieged the Crown Prince's Mansion, and Li Xian was deposed on the charge of coveting women and attempting to seize the throne.
Li Xian was reduced to a commoner and exiled to a desolate place beyond the Great Desert. To be relegated to the status of a commoner means to leave the center of power.
The day after Li Xian was deposed, Li Xian was made crown prince.
Since then, Emperor Gaozong's condition has become more serious, and floods and droughts have occurred frequently within his jurisdiction, and Gaozong, who has shown the style of the king in dealing with these thorny problems, chose to escape this time and move the capital to Luoyang. In the second year of arriving in Luoyang, Tang Gaozong's illness became more serious, and the bedridden Li Zhi looked in the direction of Chang'an and sighed: If heaven extends me another month or two so that I can return to Chang'an, then I will die without regrets.
Emperor Gaozong's exclamation made people think of it, or leaving Chang'an was not his intention.
Emperor Gaozong died and Li Xian ascended the throne. Because of Li Xian's mediocrity, Empress Wu did not take him as an obstacle, but his absurdity made Wu Zetian look unhappy, and the throne was driven down by his mother before it was hot.
Li Xian wanted his father-in-law to be the prime minister, but when the chancellor objected, he could not help but say, "I just gave him the world, so what can I do?" After plotting for half a lifetime, he did not hesitate to kill his son, cutting off Li Zhi's empress and concubines' hands and feet to become an adult (a particularly harsh punishment, he could not bear to elaborate, and what he wanted to know could be searched), and the nightmares reached the position one after another, how could he make him so talkative.
On the third day of Li Xian's depose, Li Xian, the second son who was exiled from the desert, was assassinated, which was planned by Wu Zetian, and those who were related to Li Xian were all subjected to the curtain. It can be seen that wu Zetian had already made arrangements for driving Li Xian to step down.
Seeing the fate of his brothers, Li Dan, who was pushed to a position, had a lingering feeling in his heart and obediently became a puppet of his mother, and Wu Zetian cleared all obstacles to ascending to the throne and waited for the opportunity.
Wu Zetian ascended to the coveted throne by any means, the means were too frightening, often dreaming that the empress and Xiao Shufei were wearing shawls to avenge her, and often woke up in nightmares.
Because of her thunderous means, her son was either killed by her, or did not dare to approach her and respected her.
Tang Taizong and Wu Zetian gained the rights they had dreamed of, but they also lost the joy of enjoying the brotherhood of father and son, and the joy of their children and grandchildren.
Those who can achieve great things must have extraordinary means, and if they want to wear their crowns, they must bear their weight, let alone the position of emperor.
When they were young, they were full of spirit, killing their brothers and killing their children only for plots; in their later years, they preferred stability and warmth, but for this position, they had long turned away their family affection, and they could not take it back after that.
The irreparable filial piety, the nightmare of demanding their lives, is the inner demon that they cannot overcome in their lifetime.
Think about it, it is not a blessing to be an ordinary person.