Wei Zheng, a statesman and thinker in the early Tang Dynasty, ranked fourth among the twenty-four heroes of Lingyange, was a former official who worshiped the prime minister and was known for his outspokenness. Tang Taizong Li Shimin had a high evaluation of Wei Zheng: "With copper as a mirror, you can wear a crown; Taking history as a mirror, we can know the rise and fall; Taking people as a mirror can make clear the gains and losses. Now that Wei Zheng is gone, I have lost a mirror. Interested readers can follow the small editor of Zhixiu Network to take a look.
The relationship between Li Shimin and Wei Zheng's monarchs and subjects is exemplary. However, it was such a relationship that Li Shimin demolished Wei Zheng's tombstone after Wei Zheng's death. Just as the so-called people die like lights go out, people die and everything is done, but the dead are not at peace, which is a bit excessive. Then a generation of famous ministers Wei Zheng, who was favored before he was born, was pushed to the grave after his death, why is this?
Wei Zheng was originally a strategist of Li Mi, the leader of the Wagang Army during the Sui and Tang Peasants' War, but he was not reused, and then Li Mi surrendered to the Tang, and naturally Wei Zheng was the same.
Wei Zheng was later captured by Dou Jiande, and Li Shimin led an army to defeat Dou Jiande and save Wei Zheng. However, Wei Zheng did not become Li Shimin's person, but instead became a counselor of the crown prince Li Jiancheng.
In the process of Li Jiancheng and Li Shimin competing for the throne, Wei Zheng gave Li Jiancheng a lot of ideas, which once made Li Shimin very resentful. However, as Wei Zheng later said, if the crown prince did as he said, then there would be nothing for Li Shimin.
Therefore, after the change of XuanwuMen, Li Shimin saw that Wei Zheng was a talent and appointed Wei Zheng as Shang Shu Zuo Cheng. Li Shimin had the ambition to establish a prosperous world, and repeatedly summoned Wei Zheng to inquire about gains and losses in the bed, Wei Zheng was blunt, and he consulted more than two hundred things before and after, and Li Shimin fully accepted it.
Li Shimin ordered Yan Liben to paint twenty-four statues of heroes into the Ling Yan Pavilion, and Wei Zheng ranked fourth.
It can be seen that Li Shimin still has in mind the merits of Wei Zheng. Especially in Wei Zheng's serious illness, Li Shimin visited the Wei family twice, and the second time he also brought the prince and princess, and even mated princess Xu of Hengshan to Wei Zheng's son Shuyu on the spot, which was also Chong Xi, of course, more to reassure Wei Zheng and recognize Wei Zheng's role.
However, after Wei Zheng's death, Li Shimin's practice of pushing him to the grave was really chilling. If it is said that the time has been long, or the emperor after Li Shimin is still excusable, after all, he and Wei Zheng do not have much affection and contact. But how long has it been, and it is so contradictory that it is difficult to understand.
Some people say that the reason why Li Shimin reused Wei Zheng is entirely to block the mouths of the people of the world and let the world see how reckless Li Shimin is. If Li Shimin really reused Li Jiancheng's people in order to shape himself into a Ming Jun, then why did Li Shimin toss himself for more than ten years? Just find a reason.
In fact, there are many opinions on this point.
Some people also say that it is because Wei Zheng was implicated, so how to be implicated after death, which means that the two people recommended to Li Shimin by Wei Zheng before his death, Hou Junji and Du Zhenglun. It was precisely in Li Chengqian's rebellion that both were implicated. This made Li Shimin a little cranky, how could the two people recommended by Lao Wei to himself rebel, so what did Lao Wei really think? The more I thought about Li Shimin, the more I couldn't figure it out, and the more I felt that things were terrible.
There was another thing, that is, Wei Zheng had collected all the words and deeds of his own advice before his death, and as for the reason, only he knew it, it might be just a record, or it might be for his own reputation. Anyway, after Li Shimin knew about this, he was furious.
In extreme anger, Li Shimin did something against common sense, but although Wei Zheng's tombstone was smashed, Wei Zheng still accompanied Zhaoling, and the eldest son Wei Shuyu still inherited the dukedom of Zhengguo, but the marriage contract with the princess was canceled, and the horse could not be done.