In the feudal dynasty, the emperor had many concubines in the three palaces and six courtyards, and in order to ensure the continuation of the royal bloodline, basically many emperors would give birth to multiple princes.
Although there are many princes, only one can inherit the throne, and the ancients respected the eldest son, if it is not a special reason, even if you are an emperor, you cannot abolish the long and young.
In this way, the eldest son of the concubine has become a thorn in the eye and a thorn in the flesh of many princes, and when the emperor has not yet abdicated, he will fight with the eldest son to the end, and after the eldest son succeeds to the throne, he will try his best to get rid of other brothers who can threaten him.
In history, there was such a prince, who escaped by pretending to be crazy and stupid, and survived the death of four emperors before it was his turn to be the emperor, he was the emperor of the Tang Dynasty, Li Chen.
Li Chen of Tang Xuanzong was the thirteenth son of Li Chun of Tang Xianzong and the half-brother of Li Heng of Tang Muzong.
Li Chen's mother, Zheng Shi, was originally a concubine of Li Kun, the envoy of Zhenhai Jiedu, but later Li Kun's plot failed, and Zheng Shi entered the palace to become Guo Guifei's maid.
Later, Tang Xianzong went to Guo Guifei to find the Zheng clan, which although the status of the Zheng clan was humble, she had a bit of a posture, so Tang Xianzong blessed the Zheng clan and gave birth to the crown prince Li Chen.
When Li Chen was young, he was dependent on the humble Zheng clan, and although these two were the women and sons of Tang Xianzong, they could only survive in the intricate palace of power.
Li Chen often pretended to be crazy and stupid, and said something that he didn't know why, and everyone in the palace felt that this prince was a fool, even the eunuch palace women thought so.
Later, Li Chen often dreamed of riding a flying dragon to the sky, and he excitedly told his mother Zheng about this matter, but Zheng Was so frightened that he quickly told Li Chen not to tell anyone about this matter.
Tang Xianzong's favorite eldest son, originally intended to make the eldest son the crown prince, but unexpectedly the eldest son suddenly died of illness two years after becoming the crown prince, only 19 years old, Tang Xianzong was in pain.
After the death of the eldest son, the second son should have inherited, but the second son's mother was of humble status, and even the name could not be left in the history books, the third son Li Huan was the son of Guo Guifei, and the Guo Guifei family was extremely powerful in the dynasty, and Tang Xianzong had no choice but to make Li Huan the crown prince.
In 820, Tang Xianzong died violently, and under the operation of Guo Guifei and others, Li Huan successfully ascended the throne for Tang Muzong, and many eunuchs trusted by Tang Xianzong during his lifetime were executed.
After Tang Muzong ascended the throne, he eliminated all those who were enemies of him, but only for this "brainless" brother Li Chen, who was very good, and when others thought he was a fool, Tang Muzong called Li Chen a wise figure in their family and made Li Chen the King of Light.
In 824, Tang Muzong died of illness, it is said that he was obsessed with immortality, swallowed the elixir of immortality from nowhere, died, and after Tang Muzong's death, his eldest son Li Zhan, Tang Jingzong, succeeded to the throne.
During Li Zhan's reign, he only knew how to have fun, and took people to hunt foxes late at night for fun, which was called "fighting night foxes" in the palace.
After a night fox fight, Li Zhan, the eunuch Liu Keming and others were drinking and having fun at the banquet, during which the lights in the hall were suddenly extinguished, and Li Zhan was subsequently killed in the temple.
After Li Zhan's death, Tang Muzong's second son Li Ang succeeded to the throne, and after Li Ang succeeded to the throne, he exerted great efforts to govern and launched the Ganlu Rebellion in an attempt to eliminate the eunuch forces, but after failure, he was placed under house arrest and depressed.
After Li Ang's death, Emperor Muzong of Tang's fifth son, Emperor Wuzong of Tang, succeeded to the throne.
Li Yan was also keen on immortality, and took the elixir of immortality for a long time, and died in 846 AD.
During the reign of Li Ang and Li Yan, Li Chentao was obscure and did not speak when he was with everyone, and Li Ang and Li Yan often forced Li Chen to speak for pleasure, especially during Li Yan's reign, he always looked down on him as an imperial uncle.
After the death of Emperor Wuzong of Tang, the eunuch forces felt that Li Chen, the King of Light, was not bright and could be more controlled, so they supported Li Chen as emperor.
Li Chen, who successfully ascended to the throne, did not need to be obscure at this time, he showdown, he did not pretend, after ascending the throne, he used thunderous means to suppress the excessive expansion of eunuch power; crack down on illegal magnates and foreign relatives. He showed all the hundred officials who died in the Ganlu Rebellion except Zheng Zhu and Li Xun.
Zizhi Tongjian Vol. 249 Tang Ji Sixty-five: With the change of ganlu, only Li Xun and Zheng Zhu died, and Wang Ya and Jia Yu were not guilty.
Li Chen took Tang Taizong Li Shimin as his goal, and he loved the "Zhenguan Important Government" very much, was clear and determined, obeyed like a stream, was respectful and frugal, and loved the people and things. During his reign, the country was relatively stable and prosperous, and history called this period the "rule of the great middle". Therefore, until the fall of the Tang Dynasty, the people still thought about it and called Li Chen "Little Taizong".