Before the Xuanwumen Incident, Li Shimin was already Situ, Shang Shu Ling, Zhongshu Ling, King of Qin, General Tiance, and Shang Shu Ling of Daxingtai in Shaanxi Province.
It can be said that this is an extremely terrifying power, not only the prince, but also the emperor Li Yuan is jealous of it.
Situ, one of the three dukes, was an official of the First Rank. He is in charge of the taxation and household registration of the whole country.
Shang Shu Ling (尚書令) is the chief executive of Shangshu Province. Zhongshu Ling (中書令) is the chief executive of Zhongshu Province. The Tang Dynasty was a three-province, six-minister system, and the governors of the three provinces in the central government were all prime ministers. Li Shimin was the governor of two of the provinces.
Among them, the position of Shang Shuling was extremely high, and in the entire Tang Dynasty, only Li Shimin himself held this official position. Later generations either did not seal it, or ordinary officials did not dare to hold this official position. First of all, of course, the great Emperor Taizong held this official position, which official dared to match Taizong? Secondly, Shangshu Province commanded the six departments of the Central Committee (officials, soldiers, households, ceremonies, criminals, and workers), and the power was too great to be bound.
The King of Qin, throughout the dynasties, the King of Qin is one of the heaviest of all the kings.
General Tiance, this is an unprecedented official position, and only Li Shimin has held it in the entire Tang Dynasty. Because at that time, Li Shimin in the Battle of Hu prison pass, in the first world war to pacify Dou Jiande and Wang Shichong two major separatist forces, there is no force in the world that can pose a threat to the Tang Dynasty, and it is only a matter of time before the Tang Dynasty unifies the world. Therefore, in the entire Tang Dynasty, only Li Shimin was qualified to be appointed to this official post.
The position of General Tiance was above the Three Dukes, and its actual power was even greater than people could imagine. For example, the Tiance Government can set up its own official office and recruit its own officials.
There were a total of 37 officials in tiance province, and general Tiance himself was Li Shimin, and his rank was not to be said. Among them, The Changshi of Tiance Prefecture and Sima of Tiance Prefecture were both Sanpin officials. The Tang Dynasty Sanpin officials are not small! As the supreme leader of the later Shangshu Province, shangshu zuo was a veritable prime minister who was only a sanpin official. This shows how high the status of Tiance Fu was in the Tang Dynasty! It is not an exaggeration to say that Tiance Mansion was a small imperial court of the Tang Dynasty.
As an incidental reward for the Battle of Tiger Prison Pass, Li Shimin received four coin-casting furnaces from Li Yuan! That is to say, as long as Li Shimin is willing, he can mint money like crazy, without considering the national economic policy or inflation. Whether he spends this money himself or gives it to others, it is his freedom.
Here, let's introduce the official positions that everyone is not familiar with, the Daxingtai Shangshu Ling of Shaanxi Eastern Province!
This was also an official position that no one held after Li Shimin, because although this official position was not very famous, its power and role were no less than those of General Tiance and Shang Shuling.
Like the central Shangshu Province, the highest official is Shangshu Ling, and there are also official positions such as left and right servants, left and right servants, left and right servants, and six Shangshu, and the scope of jurisdiction is very large. Within the jurisdiction, all the economy, administration, and military affairs were decided by Shang Shuling alone, almost equivalent to another kingdom.
So, how big is the jurisdiction of Daxingtai in Shaanxi Province?
It can be said that it is very large, almost half of the Tang Dynasty! It includes almost the entire area east of the Yellow River, which is roughly equivalent to the sum of the territory of Dou Jiande and Wang Shichong. Including the current Henan, Hebei, Shandong and other regions, it can even affect the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River.
Daxingtai was located in Luoyang, and Luoyang's political status in the Tang Dynasty was second only to Chang'an.
The officials of Daxingtai in Eastern Shaanxi Province, such as the Left Servant Shooting, the Left and Right Servants, the Six Shangshu, etc., Li Shimin would seal whomever he wanted, and Li Yuan would not ask.
On the eve of the Xuanwumen Incident, Zhang Liang, an important confidant of Li Shimin and one of the twenty-four heroes of the later Lingyange, was ordered to Luoyang to contact Shandong Haojie. Shandong here does not refer to Shandong Province. And it refers to the east of Kunshan Mountain! In fact, it refers to the people under the jurisdiction of Daxingtai in Shaanxi Province.
It can be seen from this that the jurisdiction of Daxingtai in Eastern Shaanxi Province has become the most solid back road for Li Shimin. If the Xuanwumen Incident fails and Li Shimin retreats to Luoyang, it will be another new world.
You can imagine how important this official position is!
In fact, in the period before the Xuanwumen Incident, when the struggle between the crown prince and Li Shimin was becoming increasingly fierce, Li Yuan had the idea of letting Li Shimin leave the capital Chang'an and go to Luoyang. But the prince firmly disagreed! Because if Li Shimin arrived in Luoyang, no one would be able to cure him!
The above only explains Li Shimin's official position, title, and power. But this was already enough to shake the strength of Li Yuan! In other words, as long as Li Shimin launched a fierce rebellion, it would be difficult for Li Yuan to defeat Li Shimin.
But these were not the peaks of Li Shimin's power, in addition to the above, Li Shimin's long-term conquests formed a high personal prestige, and his orders could compete with the emperor's edicts and the prince's edicts for a long time. These are both the capital for his participation in the power struggle and the fuse for the intensification of contradictions.
What's more, if not for special reasons, all officials are listening to whoever arrives first on whose orders they do.
For example, after the Battle of Tiger Prison Pass, Li Shimin escorted Wang Shichong and Dou Jiande to Chang'an. Li Yuan wanted to chop Wang Shichong up! However, Wang Shichong said that the King of Qin had promised not to kill me!
So what can Li Yuan do? In the battlefield situation at that time, li Shimin was not wrong to exchange the smallest price for the greatest victory.
If Li Yuan forcibly killed Wang Shichong, then what Li Shimin said later would not be convincing in the army! But At that time, Li Shimin's status and important role in the imperial court were irreplaceable. Coupled with Li Shimin's foreign conquests, it represents the entire Li Tang. From these two points, Li Yuan is also not allowed to kill Wang Shichong and punch Li Shimin in the face, and he must maintain the authority of Li Shimin's speech.
However, this also really blocked Li Yuan's sense of pleasure in killing whoever he wanted. In other words, although he is the emperor, he may not be able to say one thing or the other.
If this incident is because of the court, Li Yuan does not want to bo Li Shimin's face to make a hidden forbearance. The following events are enough to show that Li Yuan is very dissatisfied with Li Shimin.
After Li Shimin pacified Wang Shichong and Luoyang, the chang'an soldiers and civilians welcomed Li Shimin back to Beijing with the courtesy of the emperor. This was a very taboo thing, but it was not arranged by Li Shimin, and Li Yuan could not say anything. But this did indeed touch Li Yuan's reverse scales.
At that time, Li Yuan sent several noble concubines to Luoyang to choose treasures, and the noble concubines also privately asked Li Shimin for an official and a half-job for his relatives. But Li Shimin said that the treasure had been registered and played in the imperial court. Everyone paid attention to whether or not, the noble concubine came to choose the treasure, it was Li Yuan's meaning, in other words, this was the Holy Will! Li Shimin's behavior is almost equivalent to resisting the will!
As for the noble concubines' request for official positions, Li Shimin said that official positions are only given to those who have meritorious service! This greatly swept away the face of the noble concubine.
Third, Li Shentong, the king of Huai'an, made great contributions, and Li Shimin issued a religious order and allocated dozens of acres of land to Li Shentong. At that time, Zhang Jieyu's father also wanted these fields, so he asked Zhang Jieyu to ask Li Yuan. Li Yuan wrote an edict and gave these fields to Zhang Jieyu's father.
Li Shentong refused to give up his field because he had the qin king's order first. Zhang Jieyu complained to Li Yuan: "The land that Your Majesty gave to my father was taken away by the King of Qin and given to Li Shentong. Li Yuan rebuked Li Shimin, saying, "Isn't my hand edict inferior to your teachings?" ”
The above three events fully reflect Li Yuan's dissatisfaction with Li Shimin. But it also shows that Li Shimin's edict was very useful at that time and could counter Li Yuan's edict.
And Li Shimin also issued a lot of religious orders.
In fact, Li Shimin was able to issue the teaching order, and the people below could obey it as a whole, indicating that the Tang Dynasty recognized the legitimacy of Li Shimin's teaching order.
Li Shimin passed the order to let the meritorious people who followed him in the conquest be rewarded, in fact, it was also to establish personal prestige and buy people's hearts. Of course, he could also ask the emperor, who would reward these people. But in this case, his personal prestige will likely be reduced. Because the emperor may not approve of these rewards in order to prevent Li Shimin from buying people's hearts.
Since his own teaching order was legal and valid, Li Shimin used his own teaching order to reward many soldiers. In this way, Li Shimin was able to bribe a large number of people who were loyal to him.
At the same time, it also showed in front of the world: What I Li Shimin said to you counted!
For the above, Li Yuan is also helpless! Needless to say, Li Shimin's high merits and long-term conquests and the need to establish authority in front of the soldiers are sometimes determined by the situation on the battlefield. For example, Li Shimin said to a certain general, if you conquer this city, I will reward you with dozens of hectares of land; if you conquer this pass, I will seal you as an official; how many enemy troops you cut off, how many treasures I will give you...
Rewarding meritorious service is an important means of rallying people's hearts and minds on the battlefield and improving morale, and Li Shimin is not wrong.
But Li Shimin's personal authority went up, and Li Yuan's imperial power was threatened.
This is also an inevitable contradiction caused by the Lord of Gong Gao Zhen.
Therefore, before the change of Xuanwu Gate, Li Shimin's power was already very powerful!
On the surface, the power is smaller than Li Yuan and less than that of the crown prince Li Jiancheng. At the time of the Xuanwumen Revolution, Li Shimin only had 800 soldiers, and the soldiers made dangerous moves.
But the situation is far more optimistic than it seems.
For example, the Xuanwu Gatekeeper was originally a prince, but he did not know when he was bribed by Li Shimin.
This is rebellion! Li Shimin was able to bribe a person from a hostile force to rebel against himself, which shows how great his power and influence were at that time.
In summary, Li Shimin's official title, title, power, influence, and personal prestige have reached their peak. Even if the Xuanwumen Incident fails, retreats to Luoyang, with the vast hinterland of The Great Route of Shaanxi Province, and with Li Shimin's powerful military ability, it will be very difficult for the princely party to compete with Li Shimin for the world.
Therefore, Li Shimin became the biggest obstacle to the ascension of crown prince Li Jiancheng to the throne.
Whether Li Shimin has ambitions to compete for the throne is not important, what is important is that his existence poses a great threat to Li Jiancheng.
As a politician, such a threat cannot be allowed to exist.
Therefore, the contradiction between Li Jiancheng and Li Shimin inevitably arose.
These are ostensibly contradictions between Li Jiancheng and Li Shimin, but in fact, this is also some arrangements made by Li Yuan as emperor in order to balance the forces between Li Jiancheng and Li Shimin.
Like what:
Li Yuan promised Li Shimin to be crown prince twice, first when Li Yuan had just ascended the throne, and second when Li Jiancheng's subordinate Yang Wengan rebelled. This not only aroused Li Shimin's ambitions, but also made Li Jiancheng very wary of Li Shimin, and aggravated the contradictions between brothers.
Moreover, when Li Shimin's merits were too great and threatened the authority of Li Jiancheng, and even Li Yuan himself, Li Yuan listened to the opinions of Li Jiancheng and Li Yuanji and drew a lot of money from the Qin Dynasty's palace, which greatly dealt a blow to the forces of Li Shimin, the King of Qin. Even Liu Wenjing, an important close confidant of Li Shimin, was not allowed to communicate with people from the Qin Dynasty palace, so as to achieve the goal of knocking out mountains and shocking tigers.
Li Yuan's imperial balancing technique not only intensified the contradictions between Li Jiancheng and Li Shimin's brothers, but also made them aware of their own crisis. If the other party ascends the throne in the future, he will certainly die without a place to bury.
Under such circumstances, the contradictions between the two brothers intensified, and finally reached the point of fratricide. At the same time, Li Yuan, as an important promoter of intensifying the brotherly contradictions, whether Li Jiancheng wins or Li Shimin wins, will control Li Yuan and force him to abdicate.
In the end, Li Shimin, who had been in the battlefield for a long time and killed decisively, defeated Li Jiancheng, the prince who still had a hint of benevolence. After killing Li Jiancheng and Li Yuanji, Li Shimin killed their respective sons cleanly, and the means could not be described as cruel!
He Was born in the Emperor's house!