The Tang Dynasty implemented the "group phase system", that is, there were multiple "prime ministers" in the same period, so there were particularly many prime ministers in the Tang Dynasty, for example, Tang Taizong Li Shimin reigned for 23 years, and there were 29 prime ministers before and after. Throughout the Tang Dynasty, there were hundreds of people who served as prime ministers. Among these hundreds of people, the most outstanding prime minister is only four, and the descendants are cloudy:
"The Tang Dynasty Xianxiang, there is Fang Du in the front, and there is Yao Song in the back."
Later generations called Fang Xuanling and Du Ruhan, who founded the rule of Zhenguan, and Yao Chong, Song Jing, who created the Kaiyuan prosperous era, the "Four Great Sages of the Tang Dynasty", of which Fang Xuanling was the first!
Therefore, some people say that Fang Xuanling is the first phase of the Tang Dynasty. The author deeply believes that this statement is true.
<h1 class = "pgc-h-arrow-right" > one, ten thousand people above, two people below</h1>
Three months after the change of Xuanwu Gate, Li Shimin ascended the throne for Emperor Taizong of Tang, and Fang Xuanling was appointed by Li Shimin as the left servant of Shangshu. Because the position of "Shang Shu Ling" in the Tang Dynasty had been vacant for a long time, the left servant of Shang Shu was actually the head of all the prime ministers, so Fang Xuanling's position could be described as above ten thousand people and below one person. In fact, Fang Xuanling is not "under one person", but "under two people", because in addition to his boss Li Shimin, there is also his wife Lu Shi.
Regarding Fang Xuanling's fear of his wife, there is an interesting record in the Sui and Tang Jia Dialect:
Lady Liang was extremely jealous, and Emperor Taizong would give gongmei a beautiful person, and repeatedly resigned... Emperor Nai Ling said, "If Ning is not born of jealousy, would rather die of jealousy?" "Concubines die of jealousy." He drank the wine with him, saying, "If so, drink this wine." "In one fell swoop, nothing is left behind." Emperor Yue: "I am still afraid to see it, let alone Yu Xuanling!" ”
This means that Fang Xuanling is afraid of his wife, his wife Lu Shi is strong by nature, and is jealous, and does not let Fang Xuanling take a concubine, Li Shimin is distressed about Fang Xuan, and several times he sends beautiful women to Fang Xuanling's mansion, but lu clans are returned. Enraged, Li Shimin summoned Lu Shi into the palace in the name of Empress Eldest Sun and asked him whether he wanted to "live without jealousy" or "die with jealousy"? Lu Shi told Li Shimin categorically: "Concubine Ning died of jealousy! ”
Li Shimin was furious, and since you were going to die, he would give you a glass of poisoned wine. Lu Shi listened, did not hesitate, picked up the wine glass and drank it all. Li Shimin was stunned, and immediately said, such a woman, even I am afraid, let alone Fang Xuanling?
Lu's wine went into the intestines, and Fang knew that this was not poisonous wine at all, but vinegar. You know, li Shimin prides himself on being a ming monarch of the generation, how could he kill the wife of the minister?
Since then, the word "jealousy" has become synonymous with jealousy in love.
From another point of view, although Fang Xuanling's wife Lu Shi is fierce and jealous, she is a defender of loyalty and single-minded love in feudal society.
<h1 class = "pgc-h-arrow-right" > second, the prime minister, the ruler of the world, the emperor</h1>
Fang Xuanling, as the prime minister, commanded hundreds of officials every day, but when he returned home, he was afraid of his wife, and he never took concubines in his life, in the eyes of those pedantic literati, Fang Xuanling seemed to be a little different. However, the real Fang Xuanling can not only spoil his wife at home, but also help Li Shimin win the world outside!
In the last year of the Sui Dynasty, Li Yuan raised an army in Taiyuan and attacked Chang'an all the way, and when the army passed through the north of Weishui, Fang Xuanling took a cane and walked to li Shimin's tent and came to join Li Shimin. It should be known that if Li Yuan succeeds, the biggest beneficiary is also his eldest son Li Jiancheng, but Fang Xuanling defected to Li Shimin. Why did Fang Xuanling do this? There can be two possible reasons:
First, Fang Xuanling had already observed the Li brothers, and with a sharp eye, he was sure that the second elder would definitely have more achievements than the eldest in the future.
Second, Fang Xuanling is talented, he likes to burn "cold stove", only by burning the cold stove can he realize his own value.
The author believes that the first reason is more likely, Fang Xuanling is not a publicity person, but he has a very sharp feature, that is: to see people very accurately.
Next, On the one hand, Fang Xuanling assisted Li Shimin in marching and fighting, and on the other hand, he helped Li Shimin to recruit talents, and the "stars" under Li Shimin such as Du Ruhan, Xue Shuo, and Zhang Liang were all recommended by Fang Xuanling to Li Shimin. Based on this, Fang Xuanling can be a Bole who is famous in history, even if he is not the prime minister.
Fang Xuanling served in the Qin dynasty for decades, he was strategic, and his other partner Du Ruhan was good at decision-making, the two were collectively known as "Fang Mou Du Duan", Li Shimin repeatedly praised Fang Xuanling, believing that Fang Xuanling was his "Zhang Liang".
Sure enough, in the "Change of Xuanwu Gate" in the ninth year of Wu De, Fang Xuanling and Du Ruyi, as the chief planners, planned a world-famous battle for Li Shimin to seize the throne, and after Li Shimin ascended the throne, he identified Fang Xuanling, Du Ruyi, Changsun Wuji, Wei Chigong, and Hou Junji, who participated in the change of Xuanwumen, as the first heroes. Among them, Wei Chigong and Hou Junji were military generals, bleeding and sweating; the eldest son Wuji was Li Shimin's brother-in-law and could only support Li Shimin; while Fang Xuanling and Du Ruyi were the chief planners, without whom Wei Chigong and others would not even have the opportunity to make meritorious contributions. The so-called "planning in the curtain" refers to talents such as Fang and Du.
Li Shimin has said many times: Fang Xuanling has planned and planned, and has the merit of fixing the society! What is "Dingsheji"? Subconsciously, it is said that without Fang Xuanling, Li Shimin can be the emperor?
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > three, can see through the king's heart</h1>
Tang Taizong reigned for 23 years, after 29 prime ministers, there were only two people who could stand firm for more than 20 years, one was Fang Xuanling, and the other was Li Shimin's brother-in-law, Changsun Wuji. Both of them have a common trait, they understand Li Shimin!
Reading the history of the Tang Dynasty, I found a very interesting phenomenon, Li Shimin had many slanderers around him, that is, ministers who liked to give advice to Li Shimin, such as Wei Zheng, Wang Jue, Ma Zhou, and so on. But it is strange that these courtiers are not Li Shimin's concubine troops, Wei Zheng and Wang Jue were originally Li Jiancheng's subordinates, and Ma Zhou only ascended to the court in the later period. When Li Shimin was the King of Qin, there were many concubine ministers under his command, but these people were reluctant to point out Li Shimin's shortcomings. Fang Xuanling is this category, some people say that Fang Xuanling has a humble personality, in fact, this is only one aspect, the main reason, or because Fang Xuanling and Li Shimin have been too long, he understands Li Shimin: The historical Li Shimin is not a person who likes ministers to give him advice!
From the "Old Book of Tang" and other historical materials, it can be seen that Li Shimin's personality is actually very grumpy, and once he lost chess with the official Shangshu Wang Jian, blaming Wang Jian for not letting himself, and almost demoting Wang Jian to Tanzhou.
Wei Zheng repeatedly pointed out Li Shimin's shortcomings, and Li Shimin was furious. Once, he even wanted to kill Wei Zheng, and if it were not for the clever advice of Empress Eldest Sun, I am afraid that Wei Zheng would not have been spared.
Once, Li Shimin suddenly remembered that Fang Xuanling never criticized himself, so he said to Fang Xuanling: "Old Fang, you are now the prime minister, assist me, if I do something wrong, you have to bring it up." ”
After Fang Xuanling listened, he couldn't help but casually put forward an opinion: When I entered the palace, I saw that there were craftsmen repairing the North City Gate, in fact, the North City Gate was still intact, so why bother the people and hurt their money?
When Li Shimin heard this, he was not happy: "Good you old house, let you be the prime minister, is to let you manage the six departments, why do you manage these small things?" ”
Wei Zheng next to him couldn't look at it anymore, and he angrily scolded Li Shimin: "There are no small things in the imperial city, and Fang Xiang is the prime minister, so why can't he do it?" ”
Li Shimin immediately realized that he was wrong and quickly apologized to Fang Xuanling! Fang Xuanling's wrinkled face suddenly smiled, revealing a slight shyness.
What Fang Xuanling saw was the real Li Shimin, while the Li Shimin that Wei Zheng saw was the li shimin in the fantasy.
< h1 class = "pgc-h-arrow-right" > fourth, credit is led</h1>
The Tang Dynasty historian Liu Fang once said:
Fang Xuanling Zuo Taizong fixed the world, and the final phase, where thirty-two years, the world number is xianxiang. But there is no trace, and the virtue is also complete.
This means that Fang Xuanling assisted Li Shimin for many years and was a sage in the world. However, what specific contributions Fang Xuanling has made, it seems that it is impossible to say, the first minister of the Tang Dynasty, why fang Xuanling has no deeds to find?
In fact, Fang Xuanling is an idle prime minister, he assists Li Shimin, conscientious, diligent and earnest, and has made countless contributions, but Li Shimin prides himself on being a "Ming Jun", Fang Xuanling knows Li Shimin too well, as a prime minister, his duty lies in assisting the king, so why should he compete with the king for merit? It is better to flaunt the credit to Li Shimin, such a Fang Xuanling is Li Shimin's favorite Fang Xuanling.
In 645 (the nineteenth year of Zhenguan), Li Shimin personally conquered Goguryeo, leaving Fang Xuanling and the crown prince Li Zhi to stay in the capital, at this time, an official scolded Fang Xuanling for acting arbitrarily and wanting to rebel. Fang Xuanling did not punish this person, but sent someone to send the official to the northeast and hand it over to Li Shimin for handling. After Li Shimin listened, he didn't say a word, and then ordered someone to pull this person out and behead him.
Zizhi Tongjian Cloud:
Asked who the informant was, he said, "Fang Xuanling." Shang: "Sure enough." "Cut off your waist." The seal book made Xuan Ling feel unable to be confident, "Those who are more like this can be decided." ”
After Li Shimin finished killing people, he wrote a seal letter to Fang Xuanling and told Fang Xuanling: "Old Fang, can you be confident, I still don't trust you, there will be such a person in the future, you can kill it directly." ”
In fact, Fang Xuanling dared to hand people over to Li Shimin, which showed that he himself was not ashamed. However, if he really killed people privately, he would not be able to defeat the leisurely mouths of the people. Therefore, only by handing people over to Li Shimin can we wash away their own stigma. More importantly, he believes that Li Shimin is blaming him in his mouth, but in fact he still agrees with his approach in his heart, because he understands Li Shimin.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > five, fame and wealth are like clouds of smoke</h1>
In the twenty-second year of Zhenguan, Fang Xuanling was seriously ill, and Li Shimin dragged the sick body to send one Tai Doctor after another to see Fang Xuanling, but he still failed to keep the old man's life. Before Fang Xuanling died, he left a letter to Li Shimin, and in his last words, he finally said a word of truth:
The soldiers of today, without a single crime, are driven between the lines for no reason, and are entrusted to the blade, so that the liver and brain are destroyed, and the soul is homeless, so that their old fathers, orphans, widows and mothers ...
What Fang Xuanling wanted to express most was: Your Majesty, it is always the people who will suffer, for the sake of the world, don't send troops to attack Goguryeo anymore!
After Li Shimin saw Fang Xuanling's posthumous work, he cried bitterly, and it turned out that the old man who had accompanied him for many years was not without opinions to mention to himself, but had not been mentioned. At the last moment of Fang Xuanling's life, he knew that if he didn't give an opinion again, he was afraid that he would be in trouble, so, for the sake of the world's life, Fang Xuanling said what he wanted to say.
Li Shimin sighed: "Before Fang Xiang died, he was still so worried about the country and the people, and it was worthy of being a humerus that had been used for 22 years. ”
Li Shimin is like this, when praising others, he does not forget to bring himself, as if Fang Xuanling has become a famous person, completely because Li Shimin is good at using people.
Fang Xuanling followed Li Shimin for 31 years, and served as the prime minister of the Tang Dynasty for 22 years, always standing firm, in addition to his diligence and sincerity, worrying about the country and the people, there is also a fundamental trick, that is, he understands Li Shimin. Note that Fang Xuanling's understanding of Li Shimin is not blindly patting Li Shimin's ass, what he has done is only to do a better job of a prime minister under the premise of understanding Li Shimin, after all, only by understanding the king can he better assist the king. As stated in the "Fang Xuanling Monument": The sages and sages are of the same virtue, and the emperors and subjects are in harmony...
What Fang Xuanling could not imagine was that he had been cautious and diligent for more than thirty years in his life, but in the end he was defeated at the hands of his son and daughter-in-law. 5 years after Fang Xuanling's death, his second son Fang Yi'ai and daughter-in-law Princess Gaoyang rebelled, and the East Window Incident occurred, Fang Xuanling's family suffered, and Fang Xuanling's family fell. Fang Xuanling's portrait was also removed from the Ling Yan Pavilion. It is true: not to be humbled and descendants do not stay together, and fame and wealth are like clouds of smoke!