Emperor Xuanzong of Tang, Li Longji, was a legendary emperor of the Tang Dynasty, and he was the longest reigning emperor of the Tang Dynasty, lasting 44 years. During his reign, he made great efforts to open up the famous Kaiyuan era of the Tang Dynasty, which brought the economic and cultural development of the Tang Dynasty to the peak.
However, Tang Xuanzong was still a fierce emperor, as the saying goes, "The tiger poisons and does not eat children", but Tang Xuanzong listened to rumors and killed his three own sons. But later, his son Li Heng established himself as emperor, but Tang Xuanzong gladly accepted.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="3" > (1) The three kings rebelled</h1>
In fact, Tang Xuanzong's experience is very similar to that of the ancient Shang Emperor, the Sui Emperor and other emperors, they are very capable, they have ambitions when they are young, and their civil and martial arts are excellent, so that the national strength can be greatly improved. But with the passage of time, the ambition dissipated little by little, and eventually coveted pleasure and became a generation of dark lords. Tang Xuanzong was much luckier than the first two, because although he had also experienced rebellion and lost most of the country, after all, he had not perished the country, had not been the king of the country, and had been able to die well.
In the twenty-fifth year of the new century (737 AD), in order to make her son have a higher status, Wu Huifei competed for the crown prince's throne, conspired with the traitor Li Linfu, devised that there were thieves in the palace, and deceived the crown prince Li Ying, Li Yao the Prince of E, and Li Ju the Prince of Guang to come to the palace to catch the thief.
When the Three Kings arrived, they reported the Three Kings for rebellion. Emperor Xuanzong of Tang then deposed the Three Kings as Shuren, and it wasn't long before the three princes died inexplicably. It can be seen that Tang Xuanzong, as a relatively successful emperor, was indeed very fierce.
So why did such a fierce-hearted emperor not oppose his son Li Heng when he established himself as emperor, but gladly accepted it? The main reason is that Li Heng's power is huge, and he is already in turmoil, he can only barely protect himself, and it is useless to want to oppose.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="8" > (ii) Ma Song Mutiny</h1>
After the Ma Songpo Mutiny, Tang Xuanzong continued to flee westward, while Li Heng went north to Lingwu to collect soldiers and horses. Li Heng then took over Du Hongwei and Pei Mian of the Shuofang Legion, and his strength increased greatly in an instant, and he also became the leader of the rebels who led the rebellion against An Shi. Under such circumstances, the generals and ministers around him persuaded him to advance, and finally Li Heng declared himself emperor and honored his father Tang Xuanzong as emperor Taishang.
And Tang Xuanzong had neither soldiers nor territory in his hands, unable to prevent his son from being proclaimed emperor, and his previous series of actions led to the loss of the people's hearts, and he also knew that no one would support him, so he had to gladly accept the fact that Li Heng was called emperor.
In addition, there was another reason that Tang Xuanzong was already old at that time, already 71 years old. For an old man who was a rare old man, after experiencing so many changes, Tang Xuanzong at this time only wanted to be able to live in peace and stability, and he no longer had such a great desire for power. Therefore, it is also a good choice to cede the throne to his son, who will recover the lost land for the Tang Dynasty.
To sum up, the main reason why Tang Xuanzong treated his sons differently was that when he executed his three sons, he was in his prime and did not allow others to threaten his rule; and by the time the crown prince Li Heng was proclaimed emperor, Tang Xuanzong was already old and had little energy, and the so-called "xinran" actually had a meaning of throwing the pot in it.