Yuan Li
However, happiness comes too suddenly, and misfortune comes soon. Just as Tang Gaozu wanted to continue to revel in the throne, Li Shimin initiated the change of Xuanwu Gate, and Tang Gaozu was kicked off the throne by his son. Next, Ethan was neither adapted nor happy. He barely lived to be 65,438+00 years old, gave birth to several children and drove a crane to the west. Therefore, the world thinks that Li Yuan is too timid, obviously the most powerful, and there are tens of thousands of imperial guards. Why did he let his son seize power in an instant?
Li Yuan's Road to Prosperity Since the Han Dynasty, Taiyuan (Jinyang) has always been the northern military center guarding Chang 'an, and it is also the first barrier to prevent the centaurs from going south. For example, in the early years of the Western Han Dynasty, Liu Bang sent Han Wangxin to Taiyuan to resist the Xiongnu, while Han Wangxin went to Mayi (now Shuozhou, Shanxi) which was closer to the Xiongnu in a rage. As a result, the Huns raided and surrendered to Wang xin, which caught the Han Dynasty off guard. In desperation, Liu Bang had to make a personal expedition, and finally paid a painful price for Deng Bai being besieged for seven days and seven nights.
This shows that the importance of Taiyuan's strategic position is self-evident. Therefore, the Sui Dynasty was regarded as the "northern capital", just like Chang 'an and Luoyang. Therefore, the pleasure-seeking Yang Di also built a luxurious palace in Taiyuan, equipped with many beautiful women for his own inspection. Li Yuan is Yang Di's cousin. Although Yang Di hated him very much, as a close relative, he was entrusted with the important task of guarding Taiyuan. However, due to the children's songs of "Peach and Plum" flying all over the sky, Yang Di had a bad feeling towards Li Yuan, so he took advantage of it and took precautions against it, and sent his cronies Wang Wei and Gao Junya to monitor Li Yuan's actions.
Nevertheless, under the arrangement of Pei Ji, the supervisor in Jin Yanggong, Tang Gaozu went to the palace in Yang Di and had a good time. Like a wild boar in a cabbage field, the whole palace is in chaos. Obviously, Tang gaozu regarded the capital as his own territory and even failed to live up to Yang Di's expectations. In 6 17 AD, Li Yuan assembled 30,000 troops to kill Chang 'an. In July, Tang Gaozu sent his troops; In October, Song Huoyi and Qu Tutong from Hedong also arrived at the gates of Chang 'an. The speed is amazing.
Of course, it's not that Tang Gaozu is heroic and invincible, but that the anti-Sui forces are fighting for supremacy in Luoyang, which makes Chang 'an a vacuum that nobody cares about, so Tang Gaozu just takes advantage of it. On November 9th, Tang Gaozu captured Chang 'an, and honored Yang Di, who was far away in Jiangdu (Yangzhou), as the emperor's father, and You Yang, the grandson of Yang Di, as the emperor. Li Yuan condescended to the Tang King. However, Emperor Yang Di soon died in Jiangdu, and Tang Gaozu, who was in heaven, ascended the throne in a few days.
After Li Shimin proclaimed himself emperor, he made his eldest son Li Jian the prince, his second son Li Shimin the king of Qin, and his fourth son Li Yuanji the king of Qi. As the heir of the empire, the crown prince should not meet the sword and soldiers. Young Li Yuanji was unable to take responsibility, so Li Shimin, who was both wise and brave, sang the leading role of unifying the world.
First of all, Li Shimin destroyed Xue Ju and Xue, and then expelled Liu Wuzhou and Song Jingang who set fire to Jinyang in the backyard of the Tang Dynasty. Then, he led the army eastward to destroy Luoyang, Wang and Dou Jiande. Finally, Liu Heita, the former subordinate of Dou Jiande, and Fugong Temple in the south of the Yangtze River were gradually pacified. In 624 AD, the great cause of reunification was basically completed in the Tang Dynasty. Next, Li Yuan could have carried out drastic internal reforms. Unexpectedly, a palace coup quietly brewing, but also shattered his dream of the Spring and Autumn Period.
When Li Shimin seized power from the Zhou Dynasty, there was a rule called "patriarchal clan system" in the families of emperors in past dynasties, that is, the eldest son must inherit the property or power of the previous generation. The so-called eldest son means that his biological mother was his father's first original wife and was established as the first wife. This rule has been handed down for thousands of years, and it has been stumbling to the Tang Dynasty, and it has also been regarded as a standard. Therefore, if Li Shimin holds the principle of "distribution according to work", it will not work, but he is unwilling to pay a disproportionate gap with the return. So he never gave up his plan to replace his brother for a moment. For Li Lai, the fat in his mouth will not be easily spit out. This is the most realistic problem. Brothers will fight for power and profit, and then turn against each other.
He was preoccupied with how to replace his eldest brother, and made great efforts to this end, and Li also made great efforts to eliminate his brother's threat. In the face of the infighting between the two brothers, Tang Gaozu either turned a blind eye or perfunctory. Tang Gaozu also verbally promised to make Li Shimin a prince, but later he didn't say a word. However, Tang Gaozu kept promoting Li Shimin, and he was also a "Tiance General" and a "Shaanxi official", which made Li Shimin look like another imperial court. Instead of balancing the psychology of the two brothers, this is like adding fuel to the fire. Because he is eating "sugar", Li is bitter in his heart. For Li Shimin, what matters is the position of the future emperor, not the comfort of his father.
In the end, the two brothers were at odds. Li invited the guests to drink and instigated Li Yuanji to poison them. Li Shimin swallowed several liters of blood and narrowly escaped death, so he took a vicious measure. On the eve of the Xuanwu Gate Rebellion, Li Shimin said to his father: Your two precious sons are closely related to the concubines in the harem. Tang Gaozu blushed at this and immediately lost his temper. He decided to teach two black sheep a lesson tomorrow morning. I was furious. When his son didn't show up, Li had to defend himself early the next morning. In this way, he successfully turned his attention to the woman, while he ambushed 800 strong men around Xuanwu Gate unnoticed, waiting for Li to be slaughtered.
It turned out that Li and Li Yuanji had already made plans to take advantage of the opportunity to go to Turkey to destroy their henchmen, but they were also worried that their father would suddenly die, but they still made his "three thousand servants" well prepared, and they and their younger brother Li Yuanji entered the palace with a small number of followers. When they first arrived at Xuanwu Gate, their arrows had already been shot at Li. The archer, who hit the target, was killed in Lee. Genial smile that Li Yuanji, dial the horse to flee, Wei Chijingde flattery took his life. At this time, our "three thousand servants" Li Chong rushed out, and our 800 strong men were quickly dispersed. In order to save the day, I rushed to the tower with the heads of Li Yuanji and Li to scare off my opponents, and then I went to "protect" Tang Gaozu.
Tang Gaozu was frightened by Wei Chijingde, who was covered in blood, but he pretended to calmly express his idea of making Li Shimin a prince. The next day, Li Shimin continued to operate on ten nephews, and Tang Gaozu was in tears and helpless. At this moment, Tang Gaozu's heart was dying, and he was full of fear and boredom about the throne that ten thousand people yearned for, so he set out to transfer the throne. Two months later, Li Shimin became the emperor of the Tang Dynasty.
Where is Tang gaozu's imperial army? Why didn't he come to save the Tang Dynasty? It continued the military system of Sui and Tang Dynasties, but the military system was established and improved after Li Shimin succeeded to the throne. Initially, Tang Gaozu led 30,000 troops from Taiyuan, and after half a year, it has grown to more than 200,000 in Chang 'an. It is with this team that Li Yuan realized his dream of unifying the world, but the problem that cannot be ignored is that the actual leader of this army is Li Shimin. After the great cause of reunification was completed, Tang Gaozu reduced its army by more than 200,000, leaving only 30,000 people guarding the Forbidden City in Beijing. And this 30,000-strong army is also called "Yuan Congjun", which means the old team of Li Yuan. How many of them are Li Shimin's cronies? The answer is self-evident. Later, Tang Gaozu distributed the high-quality cultivated land to 30,000 soldiers along the Weihe River, while he was usually stationed in the camp in Beiyuan.
Beiyuan is a royal forbidden garden, located in the north of the imperial city, just separated from the palace by a wall. However, Li Shimin directly took the "heart" with a scalpel, so he was caught off guard by Tang Gaozu. When Tang Gaozu was controlled by Li Shimin, there was obviously no chance to mobilize troops. Besides, two sons, ten nephews and many people involved were killed overnight. Will Tang Gaozu attack the last remaining Di Zi again? Obviously not. Because, to put it bluntly, they are all members of their own family, and Tang Gaozu is not an old fool. Besides, even if the imperial army is mobilized, how many people are willing to confront their "old leaders"? I think Tang Gaozu's heart is uncertain. Besides, since Li Shimin has made such a big move, it is impossible not to take preventive or counter-measures against the Imperial Army in advance. Therefore, Li Yuan still weighed the pros and cons with a clear head and finally made the most helpless and correct choice.