The Tang Dynasty had the "Four Famous Faces", Fang Xuanling was the first, and this article interpreted Fang Xuanling's last words and Li Shimin's related practices through the "Zizhi Tongjian".
The twenty-second year of Zhenguan in the Tang Dynasty, which was the penultimate year of The Tang Taizong Li Shimin's life, at this time Li Shimin was already bedridden. The trivial affairs of the imperial court were handled by the crown prince and the eldest grandson Wuji and others, and when they really encountered major events, the crown prince Li Zhi dared to come to Li Shimin for advice. But there was one thing, although it was not a major military affair, Li Zhi did not dare not tell Li Shimin, because Sikong Fang Xuanling was seriously ill.
The news of Fang Xuanling's illness, Li Shimin already knew, he sent the imperial doctor to treat Fang Xuanling many times, but he did not expect that Fang Xuanling's limit was approaching. Zizhi Tongjian Cloud:
Xuan Ling was ill, went up to the Yuhua Palace, shouldered into the temple, and went to the side of the throne, relatively drooling.
In order to see Fang Xuanling's side, Li Shimin sent someone to carry Fang Xuanling into the Yuhua Palace with a small car on his shoulder, and at the bedside, Li Shimin and Fang Xuanling, the two "sick numbers", cried at the "old guys" who had accompanied each other for many years.
Soon after, Fang Xuanling died of illness at the age of 70. Li Shimin's condition worsened because he was too sad. For Fang Xuanling to quit the dynasty for three days, he was entitled to the Taimiao Temple.
Why is Li Shimin's feelings for Fang Xuanling so deep? Let's briefly review the glory days of the two of them.
In 617, Li Shimin and his father Li Yuan rebelled against the Sui from Taiyuan, and the army marched to the shores of the Weishui River, and Fang Xuanling took the initiative to come to Li Shimin. Li Yuan's father and son were not the strongest among the many rebel armies at the end of the Sui Dynasty, but because Fang Xuanling's army strategized and recruited talents, which eventually unified the Tang army, Li Shimin called Fang Xuanling the following: Fang Xuanling (Zhang Liang), my son.
In 626, (the ninth year of Wu De), under the suppression of Li Jiancheng and Li Yuanji, Li Shimin's situation was greatly threatened. At this time, Fang Xuanling, Du Ruyi and others helped Li Shimin carefully plan the "Xuanwumen Change" and prompted Li Shimin to ascend to the throne. It is precisely because Fang Xuanling has made great contributions to the unification of the world by the Tang Dynasty and to Li Shimin's ascension to the throne that Li Shimin said:
Before Zhenguan, from the decay of the world, Xuan Ling's merits are also. (Zizhi Tongjian)
After that, as the prime minister of the Tang Dynasty, Fang Xuanling was not proud of his achievements, and assisted Li Shimin in every detail, and whenever Li Shimin admonished others, Fang Xuanling would tremble and repeatedly introspect himself.
In order to thank Fang Xuanling for his merits, Li Shimin married his daughter Princess Gaoyang to Fang Xuanling's second son Fang Xuanling. He also betrothed Fang Xuanling's daughter Xu to Li Yuanjia, the eleventh son of Li Yuan.
In 644 (the eighteenth year of Zhenguan), Li Shimin personally conquered Goguryeo and entrusted Fang Xuanling with the task of guarding Chang'an and acting as the government. However, as soon as Li Shimin arrived in Liaodong, someone informed Li Shimin that Fang Xuanling was plotting a rebellion in Chang'an. Li Shimin did not say a word and immediately beheaded the informer. It can be seen that Li Shimin's trust in Fang Xuanling is incomparable.
When Li Shimin returned from conquest of Goguryeo, Fang Xuanling was already over the age of huajia, slow thinking, and inconvenient to move, so there were some minor mistakes in the court. Once, Li Shimin was angry for a moment and relegated Fang Xuanling to his home, and Fang Xuanling's sons were very depressed. The next day, Fang Xuanling asked his sons to clean the courtyard, and the sons were puzzled, and Fang Xuanling said, "The emperor will definitely come back today." Sure enough, Li Shimin found an excuse to deliberately pass by the door of Fang Xuanling's house, and seeing that Fang Xuanling was already waiting at the door, he took Fang Xuanling's hand and got into the emperor's special carriage and entered the palace together.
Because the two have been together for many years, they have long been inseparable from each other.
From 617 AD to the King of Qin, to his death in 648 AD, Fang Xuanling assisted Li Shimin for 32 years, and in these 32 years, Fang Xuanling can be described as bowing down to exhaustion, and he was one of the main traders of the "Rule of Zhenguan", and he was also a model of good looks. Therefore, later generations referred to him and Du, Yao, and Song as the "Four Famous Faces of the Tang Dynasty".
Fang Xuanling was posthumously given the title of Taiwei (司空), and after his death, he was posthumously given the title of Taiwei and worthy of the Taimiao Temple, which can be said to have received the highest treatment of ancient civil officials, however, Fang Xuanling had regrets before his death. According to the Zizhi Tongjian, he said to his sons:
I am grateful to the Emperor for his kindness, such as today's Taiping, but the Emperor has always wanted to conquer Goguryeo again, and the courtiers dare not advise, I know that this is not right, but I have not opened my mouth to persuade. If you die, and you have not been able to say the words in your heart to the emperor, it is really a death.
Therefore, Fang Xuanling used his last breath in his life to write a last word of more than 200 words, which roughly means:
"Lao Tzu" once said that "contentment and happiness", since His Majesty ascended the throne, he has expanded his territory, swept across the four seas, and all the nations have come to the dynasty, creating a prosperous and prosperous world that has never been seen before. Whenever a prisoner is executed after the autumn, His Majesty repeatedly examines it, for fear of killing a person by mistake. However, in order to conquer Goguryeo, His Majesty let hundreds of people and soldiers die in other places, and their lives were not enough for us to have mercy?
If Goguryeo had taken the lead in invading our territory and killing our people, it would have been enough, but Goguryeo did not do so. Now that Goguryeo is already very afraid of us and is willing to reconcile with us, why should we pursue and beat them up and kill many of our people and soldiers? I will soon be dying, and I hope that His Majesty will take in the lament of the dead.
In fact, Fang Xuanling's last words have a certain truth. The reason why Li Shimin attacked Goguryeo was not because Goguryeo invaded the Tang Dynasty first, but because the Tang Dynasty wanted to avenge its little brother Silla. Li Shimin personally returned from the conquest of Goguryeo and declared to the outside world that it was the victory of the Tang Dynasty, but in fact the Tang Dynasty did not achieve the expected results, and the Tang Dynasty soldiers were killed and wounded tens of thousands in Liaodong, and after Li Shimin withdrew, he once expressed regret for this conquest: "If Wei Zheng is there, I will not be able to do it." (Zizhi Tongjian)
Because Wei Zheng had died before the expedition, no one could really stop Li Shimin's conquest.
However, after Li Shimin returned to Chang'an, in order to prove that the Tang Dynasty would be able to conquer Goguryeo, Li Shimin vigorously attacked and harassed Goguryeo, building warships, and repeatedly sending troops to attack and harass Goguryeo, saying that he was avenging Silla, but in fact he was just gambling on the lives of his generals in the name of "shame before the snow".
No one dared to say these words to Li Shimin. Before his death, Fang Xuanling said all the words in his heart, hoping that Li Shimin could dismiss the sword and let the people live a stable life.
Unfortunately, after Fang Xuanling's death, Li Shimin gave him a high enough honor to not only turn a blind eye to his last words, but also do the opposite. As soon as Fang Xuanling's funeral was over, Li Shimin immediately ordered that more than a hundred large warships be built in Yuezhou, Lizhou, Hongzhou and other places to prepare for another battle in Goguryeo.
As we all know about the latter matter, Li Shimin chased and beat Goguryeo fiercely, and before his death, he still believed that "If Goguryeo is not removed, it will be a great trouble", after Tang Gaozong succeeded to the throne, he continued to attack Goguryeo, after two generations of efforts, under the repeated attacks of Generals such as Li Ji, Su Dingfang, and Xue Rengui, in 668 AD, Goguryeo finally perished because it was unable to defeat the Tang Dynasty. At this time, Li Shimin had been dead for 20 years. Goguryeo was not so much destroyed by Emperor Gaozong of Tang as it was set during the reign of Emperor Taizong of Tang.
In order to attack Goguryeo, what price did the Tang Dynasty pay? To give a few examples, the Zizhi Tongjian Cloud:
"Conscripting the people to build ships ... The Shu people fought hard to build a ship"--In order to build a battlefield, the people need to bear the pain of labor.
"The people cannot sell their farmhouses and their children, and the grain prices are very high" -- in order to make up for the military expenses, the people had to sell their farmhouses and sell their children. Food prices have risen, and the people have suffered unspeakably.
The success of a general was exhausted, and the casualties of the Tang Dynasty soldiers on the battlefield were even greater. It can be said that the Tang Dynasty paid a huge price in order to conquer Goguryeo, although it did not shake the foundation of the dynasty, but in the end it was the people who suffered.
Fang Xuanling suggested a boycott of the troops, but Li Shimin still insisted on attacking, and it is difficult to say clearly today whether they are right or wrong. But what is certain is that Fang Xuanling, as the prime minister of the Tang Dynasty, had a cangsheng in his heart, and he suggested that the conquest of Goguryeo should be stopped, which was the heart of the world.
As a man at the top of feudal society, Li Shimin attacked Goguryeo, in addition to revenge, he also defeated this enemy to deter the surrounding countries in exchange for greater peace.
Although Fang Xuanling and Li Shimin stood on two roads, the direction of these two roads was generally the same.
The above content is based on Sima Guang's "Zizhi Tongjian", this book, let us have a clear vertical understanding of the complicated history of the Tang Dynasty, therefore, if we want to understand history according to the timeline, we should read intensively, carefully read, read more "Zizhi Tongjian", because in all history books, "Zizhi Tongjian" is a book that can make people improve their quality in many aspects, and reading it is equivalent to living for 1300 years.
Zeng Guofan once said: "The book of the first philosophers, Mo is good at the Zizhi Tongjian. ”
Liang Qichao once said: "Sima Guangzhi's Zizhi Tongjian is a great literary book in heaven and earth. ”
Because the "Zizhi Tongjian" not only records the history of these 1300 years, it records more politics, power plots, human nature, rise and fall and vicissitudes.
But for the general public, reading the text is still more difficult. Therefore, the author recommends a set of good books to everyone - "Vernacular Zizhi Tongjian". This set of books was co-translated in the 1980s by Huang Jinfeng, professor of Chinese language and doctoral supervisor of National Taiwan University, and a collection of 27 professors of chinese studies over a period of three years.
Because the compilers are all Guoxue masters, this set of books is by no means the Zizhi Tongjian that is shoddily made and carries private goods on the market now. Instead, it respects the original text, translates it word by word, and adds no more than one word, so as to get close to and restore the original meaning of the "Zizhi Tongjian".
As a history lover, it is very cost-effective to start this set, because this set of activities in the headlines, a set of ten books, the original price of 498, now the headline readers as long as 208, it can be said that it is very valuable. You can click on the link below to purchase. The previous 14,000 sets have been robbed, and now a new batch has been added, the number is not much, it is almost out of stock, support 7 days without reason to return:
Vernacular Zizhi Tongjian [a full set of 10 books] ¥208 to buy