(Tang Daming Palace)
In June of the second year of Zhenguan, 618 AD.
The wind and the sun are beautiful, and the sky is clear.
A baby was born in the Lizheng Hall of the Tang Dynasty Palace.
This was already the ninth son of Emperor Taizong of Tang, Li Shimin.
The servants and subordinates in the palace all knelt on the ground in unison to congratulate the emperor on the harvest of the dragon son, but Li Shimin did not feel very happy.
Because his favorite sons were the crown prince Li Chengqian and the fourth son, Li Tai the Prince of Wei.
The crying child in front of him could only make him feel a burst of upset.
But after all, this is still his own flesh and bones, Li Shimin still took the baby from the hand of Ya Gui, and gave the baby boy a name: Li Zhi.
After naming the baby, he hurried away, because he had not seen the prince and the king of Wei for many days, and his heart was very worried.
As the eldest son and crown prince of Li Shimin, Li Chengqian was stable and generous, intelligent and brilliant, and has always been very popular with Li Shimin.
Although Li Tai, the King of Wei, ranked fourth, he was the most capable of all the princes, and he also attracted the attention of Li Shimin.
In contrast, Li Zhi appeared unremarkable, only being crowned a small King of Jin, and then he was not killed.
No one cared about this seemingly demure prince, and even many ministers in the court did not know the name of this inconspicuous King of Jin.
For a long time, Li Zhi's role in the history of the Tang Dynasty was only that of an idle, unappreciated prince, and there was no indication that he would have any direct relationship with the future throne.
But history will always change its course unexpectedly.
No one expected that Li Chengqian, the prince who had always been gentle and humble, had actually rebelled.
Li Chengqian's plan was very elaborate, controlling the defenders of Chang'an City and the palace garrison, carrying out armed mutinies, and the Golden Palace forced the palace to force Li Shimin to take the throne to himself.
But the matter was soon revealed, because the young Li Chengqian was too underestimating his father.
Many years ago, Li Shimin won the throne from a bloody power struggle, and Li Chengqian's trick was too small for Li Shimin.
If Li Chengqian's conspiracy is to graduate from elementary school, then Li Shimin's city government strategy is a university undergraduate, and the two people are not at the same level at all.
After the matter was revealed, Li Chengqian was controlled.
He was desperate, because he knew that in the royal family, there was no affection, only power, and his father would never forgive himself for his rebellious behavior, and only death awaited him.
Because in the history of the past and the present, almost no prince can retreat after the failure of the rebellion and be safe.
But what he didn't expect was that he would be the first person in this ancient history.
Li Shimin forgave Li Chengqian.
In the face of Li Chengqian's rebellion, Li Shimin chose silence.
The ministers in the court gritted their teeth and persuaded the emperor to kill the disloyal and filial prince, but Li Shimin only reduced Li Chengqian to a commoner and exiled him to Qianzhou.
During the Taizong period, the seas rose to peace and the eight parties worshiped, he was the ruler of the empire from above, but in front of Li Chengqian, he was just an ordinary father.
(Li Chengqian's image in film and television dramas)
Li Chengqian left his hometown, the position of crown prince was vacant, and Li Shimin began to look for a new heir.
This heir was still not Li Zhi, but his fourth son, Li Tai the Prince of Wei.
But Li Chengqian's words before leaving made Li Shimin completely change his mind.
He told Li Shimin that the reason why he rebelled was precisely because Li Tai, the King of Wei, always competed with him for the position of crown prince, and if it were not for Li Tai's bitter compulsion, he would definitely not have gone to the step of forcing the palace.
It was at this moment that Li Shimin suddenly understood a truth.
His sons, who usually seem to be in love with each other, are actually surging in private, tit-for-tat, and the head of the head that is fighting for power is bleeding.
Isn't this the same as the bloody and brutal power struggle he launched at XuanwuMen?
For Li Shimin himself, the "change of Xuanwumen" has always been a past that he cannot mention and cannot look back on, and he has not been able to get out of the shadow of killing his brother and destroying his brother.
He would never allow the same tragedy to happen before his own eyes.
So he gave up Li Tai.
He believes that Li Tai is no longer the son he originally preferred, but has become an egoist with a lust for profit.
But look around, who is worthy of this big position?
Li Zhi finally entered Li Shimin's field of vision.
Compared with the (former) crown prince Li Chengqian, Li Zhi looked stupid and very mediocre.
Compared with the talented Wei king Li Tai, Li Zhi did not have any praiseworthy strengths.
For a long time when he really entered the scope of Li Shimin, Li Zhi was such an ordinary prince who could no longer be ordinary.
There is no superiority, and there is no imperial weather.
But Li Shimin finally chose him.
Because Li Shimin felt that although Li Zhi at that time did not have any great talent and strategy, he was far away from the vortex of power and the court of right and wrong, not obsessed with power, and did not harm his father and brothers and children, which was exactly what Li Shimin wanted.
In any case, he no longer wanted the scene of the blood spattered palace door to be staged again.
Li Zhi was very confused.
He had been far away from the court for so many years, and he didn't even know where the main entrance of the Daming Palace was, and suddenly he was told by his father, who had always been unsmiling, that you would come to be the prince in the future.
From the obscure prince to the world's attention prince, Li Zhi's upgrade speed is about the same as riding a rocket.
He was nervous, but not because he wasn't ready to be the prince, but because of another ulterior motive.
He and his father's talented wu meiniang (Wu Zetian) had an improper relationship between men and women a long time ago.
(Wu Meiniang and Li Zhi stills)
That is to say, Li Zhi actually took his father Li Shimin's sister.
When everyone thought that Li Zhi, the King of Jin, was a lucky man and became the chosen son, only he knew in his heart that every step from becoming the crown prince must be cautious and cautious, and there must be no mistakes. If this matter happens in the east window, he will be in a situation of no return.
Because Li Shimin can forgive his son for raising an army to rebel, but he will certainly not forgive his son for sleeping with his own woman.
No one could have imagined that Li Zhi, who looked thick and honest, could actually do such a thing.
Even Li Zhi himself did not expect it.
If it wasn't for the time I saw Wu Meiniang at the banquet...
If it wasn't for the two of them bumping into each other in the Royal Garden that day...
If not...
Wu Meiniang was so beautiful that Li Zhi could not resist her temptation.
But The wood has become a boat, he has fallen in love with this graceful woman, he can only choose to take this road of no return to the end.
Li Zhi began the years when he was often with Li Shimin.
He must learn all the governing skills of his father as soon as possible to ensure that he is foolproof in his position as prince.
As it turned out, Li Zhi was not as stupid as he seemed.
In a way, he was even much smarter than his two older brothers.
Although he is dull, he is diligent, and although he is not intelligent, he is good at learning.
Li Shimin was finally relieved.
The prince in front of him, sincere, kind, kind, and kind, has all the qualities that a future emperor should have.
He looked at Li Zhi, who had grown up day by day, and suddenly found that he had really made an incomparably correct decision.
Go down, child, with my imperial will.
For me, the great ship of the Tang Dynasty sailed farther afield.
(Death of Emperor Taizong of Tang)
On May 26, 649, the 23rd year of Zhenguan, Li Shimin, the emperor of tang Taizong, died at the Cuiwei Palace on Zhongnan Mountain, ending his magnificent life.
But the secret he will never know is that his beloved son, Li Zhi, has already firmly put a green hat on him.
Li Zhi ascended the throne, and he became the third master of the Tang Empire.
But his mood at the moment is not very happy.
Because according to the rules, her beloved woman Wu Meiniang was the woman of her father Li Shimin, after Li Shimin's death, as the woman of the previous emperor, Wu Meiniang wanted to leave the palace and go to the Ganye Temple to become a nun.
Li Zhi's mentality collapsed.
He and Wu Meiniang have had an underground relationship for so many years, and now that they have ascended the throne as emperor, they can cultivate the right results when they see them.
As a result, according to the ancestral system of the Tang Dynasty, Wu Meiniang had to leave him.
Even if he was already a son of heaven at this moment, there was no way for him to transcend the ancestral system.
A pair of beautiful people, both separated, may even die and never see each other again.
Wu Meiniang left, and Shun took Li Zhi'er's soul away as well.
This time, Li Zhi's mentality collapsed even more.
Eating is not fragrant, sleeping and sleeping, from morning to night are full of Wu Meiniang's beautiful qianying.
Li Zhi said: Without Wu Meiniang, he can't live.
Therefore, despite the opposition of Manchu Wenwu, he not only took Wu Meiniang back, but also made her empress.
It is said that the emperor is the most ruthless, but Li Zhi is a lover.
But what he didn't know was that wu Meiniang, who was a bird by his side at the moment, would become the biggest hidden danger and threat to the Tang Empire in the near future.
Now that his career is successful and his love is complete, he can finally start working with peace of mind.
He codified laws, improved systems, and developed datang's economy and people's livelihood.
After keeping the empire that his father had left to him in order, he began the most glorious years of his life.
He successively destroyed the Western Turks, Baekje, Goguryeo, and Pingding Mobei, and during the reign of Li Zhi, the Tang Dynasty reached its largest territory in history.
(Li Zhi's image in film and television dramas)
Adhering to the will of his ancestors, he established a powerful empire stretching from the Korean Peninsula in the east, to central Vietnam in the south, to the Aral Sea in the west, and to Lake Baikal in the north.
He was an exceptionally good emperor and did not disappoint his father.
But in the field of later generations of historiography, Li Zhi became a very non-existent emperor.
Because his father was a great emperor who had been famous for thousands of years, the brilliance of Tang Taizong Li Shimin almost covered up the merits of his equally excellent son.
After Li Zhi, there was the only generation of empress Wu Zetian in Chinese history for five thousand years, and this female emperor who had never been before or since had come almost completely snatched li zhi's limelight.
Perhaps the biggest failure of Li Zhi's life was to bring Wu Meiniang into the power center of Datang politics.
Even, to some extent, it was he who personally sent Wu Meiniang to the altar.
He thought that his love affair with Wu Meiniang was long-term, simple and pure.
Everything was just what he thought.
He did not deserve to be insulted, nor was there any need to sincerely apologize to the whole world in the history books.
Because history treats everyone fairly.
The merits of Emperor Gaozong of Tang and Li Zhi are equally brilliant, and his dedication to the Tang Empire will forever be engraved under the starry sky of history, shining brightly and indelibly.
Even if he loves the wrong person.