Chapter 2 Li Shimin wants to abolish the prince

Li Chengqian, the eldest son of Li Shimin, was born in the Chengqian Hall of Taiji Palace in the second year of Wude (619 A.D.), so he was named after this hall. He was smart and agile since he was a child, and has always been loved by Li Shimin. In the ninth year of Wude (626 AD), Li Shimin ascended the throne as emperor, and at the same time made eight-year-old Li Chengqian the crown prince.In the ninth year of Zhenguan, the Supreme Emperor Li Yuan passed away. Li Shimin kept his filial piety for his ancestors according to the etiquette system. During that period, the government affairs of the court were all decided by the prince. I trust him very much, "every time I am lucky, I often make the prince stay in the prison country" ("Old Tang Book · Hengshan Wang Chengqian Biography"), and I have never seen him make any mistakes.

Throughout the early days of Zhenguan, Li Shimin was quite satisfied with the prince.Later, although he noticed some bad habits of the prince, Li Shimin still placed high hopes on him, and repeatedly said to the assistant ministers of the East Palace: "The prince grew up in a deep palace, and the people were in hardship. He didn't get involved with his ears and eyes. How can he be free from arrogance! You can't wait." Do not remonstrate extremely!" (Volume 194) However, Li Chengqian never realized Li Shimin's painstaking efforts. Almost from the tenth year of Zhenguan, Li Chengqian's dandyism became more and more serious.He began to indulge in sensuality, archery, hunting, playing and feasting all day long without restraint.

Of course, these things were done behind the backs of those rigid and strict ministers. Since he received a relatively good imperial education since he was a child, Li Chengqian is quite knowledgeable and his eloquence is absolutely first-rate.Whenever he was in public, Li Chengqian always sat upright, talking about the learning of Confucius and Mencius and the way of loyalty and filial piety.When it comes to critical points, he will even act impassioned and tearful.The ministers were all shocked and praised him. But as soon as he returned to the East Palace, Li Chengqian took off his court clothes and kicked on his boots, and immediately changed into a different person. He "profaned with the group of young men" all day long, played as he wanted, and threw all the knowledge of the sages to Java.

If he played too crazy for several days in a row, Li Chengqian expected that the ministers would definitely come to remonstrate, so he would take the initiative to go out to greet them. He carried out profound self-criticism with a serious and sincere attitude, and blocked all the rhetoric carefully prepared by the ministers, making them look embarrassed and "overwhelmed with answers" ("Old Tang Book·Hengshan "Wang Chengqian Biography"). Because Li Chengqian was well versed in face-changing skills, in the early days when he was the prince, the public opinion in the government and the public unanimously believed that he was a wise prince.

Li Chengqian thought that the throne belonged to him, so he became more and more unscrupulous, and the games he played became more and more unreliable. I don't know when it started, he suddenly fell in love with the culture of ethnic minorities, especially the customs and habits of the Turkic people. He began to speak Turkic, wore Turkic clothes, and specially selected a group of people who looked exactly like Turkic people as attendants. He organized them into a mini-tribe in groups of five and asked them to comb their hair into pigtails and wear Sheepskin clothes, shepherd the sheep on the grass of the East Palace; put a big banner with five wolf heads embroidered next to it, and set up a tent, and then live in it by herself, kill the sheep by herself every day, and after roasting, she draws out her saber and cuts the sheep. Into a piece to share with the left and right.

After doing this, Li Chengqian was still not satisfied, and one day he suddenly said to the left and right: "I pretended to be a Khan, but now I have my braids up, and you follow the Turkic custom to hold my funeral." He fell, and immediately remained motionless.So the attendants on the left and right rode around Li Chengqian's "corpse" and mourned while circling, and cut their faces according to the Turkic custom to express their deep mourning for the "dead Khan". After a long time, Li Chengqian jumped up happily and said: "One day I will inherit the world, and I will lead tens of thousands of cavalry to the west of Jincheng (now Lanzhou City, Gansu Province) to hunt, and then untie my hair to become a Turkic man and join Ashinas. Mo, as long as I am a Turkic general, I will never fall behind."

After succeeding to the throne, the majestic prince of the Tang Dynasty actually wanted to abandon his country and people, commit himself to the Turkic general Ashina Simo, and become a small general under him. Isn't this a ridiculous thing in the world? After all, paper cannot contain fire, and such absurd words and deeds soon fell into the ears of the ministers.The ministers of the East Palace Yu Zhining, Zhang Xuansu, Kong Yingda and others were frightened, and hurriedly tried to persuade the prince. But the prince couldn't hear a word. Li Chengqian didn't even bother to change his face now.

He decided to use a new method to deal with his ministers. any solution? kill. In a rage, Li Chengqian dispatched several killers, intending to kill Yu Zhining and others in one fell swoop.Although the assassination failed later, but from then on, Prince Li Chengqian broke with the ministers of the East Palace completely, and at the same time completely embarked on a road of no return from Li Tang Sheji. Among the royal family of Li and Tang, Li Chengqian was not the only one who planned to exterminate himself from the ancestral temple. There is also a clan prince who is not a good bird like Li Chengqian.

He is the seventh son of Emperor Gaozu Li Yuan—Han King Li Yuanchang. Relying on his status as a prince, Li Yuanchang often committed crimes and violated national laws, so he was repeatedly condemned by Taizong Li Shimin.Li Yuanchang held a grudge for this, so he naturally came together with Prince Li Chengqian. These two guys can be regarded as a pair of congenial living treasures - Prince Li Chengqian is young and frivolous, while Hanwang Li Yuanchang is old and disrespectful! When this pair of critters get together, they like to play war games best.They often lead a team of people, put on armor, hold bamboo spears and bamboo knives, and then set up camp and fight in battle, taking pleasure in this.All the subordinates were stabbed with blood. If anyone dared to disobey the order, he would be tied to a tree and beaten severely, or even beaten to death.Li Chengqian declared: "Let me be the son of heaven today, and tomorrow I will set up a camp of ten thousand people in the garden, and divide the generals with the king of Han, and watch him fight. Wouldn't it be fun!" Kill them, but kill hundreds of people, everyone decides for themselves." (Volume 196)

If this living treasure really becomes the emperor of the Tang Dynasty, then within a few years, the Tang Dynasty will be over immediately like the Sui Dynasty. But people like Li Chengqian are destined not to be emperors. In the end, what he did would not have any other results other than playing himself to death. There is one person who sees this more clearly than anyone else.The more outrageous Li Chengqian played, the happier this person was.He wished that Li Chengqian would play more out of line and play himself to death as soon as possible. This person is Li Chengqian's mother and compatriot - Wei Wang Li Tai.

Li Tai is the second son of Li Shimin and Empress Changsun. That is to say, once Li Chengqian is deposed, Wei Wang Li Tai, who is the second son, is the logical successor. Li Tai was born in the third year of Wude (AD 620). He was "good at literature" and "multi-artistic" since he was a child, and won Taizong's favor.In the second year of Zhenguan (628 A.D.), Li Tai, who was only nine years old, took the post of governor of Yangzhou from a distance. After that, he also served as the governor of Yongzhou, the general of Zuowuhou, the governor of Fuzhou, and the governor of Xiangzhou. In the tenth year of Zhenguan (636 A.D.), he was renamed King Wei. From the tenth year of Zhenguan, as the prince Li Chengqian became depraved and refused to mend his ways despite repeated admonitions, Li Shimin's inner balance began to gradually tilt towards Wei Wang Li Tai. "Shitai was favored, the prince inherited many faults, and Taizong had a slight intention of abolishing the establishment." ("Old Tang Book·Wei Ting Biography") Because Li Tai loves literature, Li Shimin specially allowed him to open a literature museum in Wei Wangfu, allowing him to recruit celebrities from all over the world.Many courtiers with a keen political sense immediately realized that this was a political signal intentionally released by the emperor. Didn't Li Shimin, the king of Qin at that time, recruit talents and build up his prestige through the literature museum, and then replaced Li Jiancheng's crown prince, and finally ascended to the throne of emperor? Since the Son of Heaven sent out such a political signal, of course people with a heart flocked to Wei Wang Li Tai, so "there are many scholars with literary talents, and the children of nobles and wanderers are more likely to borrow from each other." ). However, not all courtiers wanted to climb Wei Wang Li Tai's thigh. For example, Wei Zheng, Wang Gui, Xuan Suiliang and other important court officials who adhered to the principle of the first-line elder system did not buy Li Tai's account at all. Perhaps because he was aware of this, Li Tai secretly instructed some courtiers to complain before the emperor, saying that most of the senior officials above the third rank in the court despised the king of Wei.In order to establish Li Tai's prestige so that he can enter the East Palace in the future, Li Shimin summoned all the chief ministers and reprimanded him sternly: "In the era of Emperor Wen of the Sui Dynasty, officials below the first rank of the court should be humble in front of the kings. The emperor's son, why is my dynasty different? I just have stricter requirements on the kings, but I heard that officials above the third rank in the court don't pay attention to the kings. If I no longer strictly control them , wouldn’t the kings still insult you?” As soon as this remark came out, the ministers headed by Fang Xuanling were all panicked and sweaty, and knelt down to apologize.Only Wei Zheng stood upright, and said disapprovingly: "I think that today's civil and military officials, absolutely no one despises King Wei. In terms of etiquette, the emperor's subjects are equal to his sons; according to the "Spring and Autumn" records, Zhou The court envoys sent by the king are even above the princes. Therefore, all those who are above the third rank are court ministers, and even your majesty should respect and respect them. If Ji Gang is bad in troubled times, then of course nothing will be said. Needless to say, but now that the sage is in power, the King of Wei has absolutely no reason to humiliate his officials. Emperor Wen of the Sui Dynasty indulged the princes, let them do evil, and finally lead to their own destruction. How can such an example be followed?" Wei Zheng's rebuttal was strict, reasonable and restrained. Li Shimin had no words to answer, so he forced a smile on his face and said, "I have to obey what is reasonable. I forget justice with selfish love, and feel angry with others. Doubt, and hear Zhengyan, only then will know why." (Volume 194) However, Li Shimin's compromise is only superficial after all.In his heart, he never gave up on abolishing Li Tai, so he still defended Li Tai everywhere.In the first month of the twelfth year of Zhenguan (AD 638), Wang Yu, Minister of the Ministry of Rites, said: "Officials of the third rank and above should get out of the car and kowtow when they meet the prince's car. This is not in accordance with the etiquette system." Li Shimin became angry when he heard it: "You all think you are noble, and you all look down on my sons, don't you?" Wei Zheng immediately stood up and said: "All the kings are below the three princes. Now, the nine ministers and eight officials (the left and right servants and the six ministers) of the imperial court are all third-rank officials. When they meet the prince, they have to get out of the car and salute. This is really against the rules of etiquette. .” This time Li Shimin didn't give in anymore, he simply opened the skylight and said bluntly: "Life's life is dying, and if the prince is unfortunate, how can you know that the kings will not be the masters of the public in the future? Why take it lightly!" (Volume 19 Fives) This is already very blatant.The civil and military officials of the Manchu Dynasty knew very well that the so-called "kings" by the emperor actually refers to the king of Wei. Here, the emperor's desire to abolish and establish has been fully revealed. Everyone was silent after hearing this, only Wei Zheng firmly disagreed with the emperor's statement: "Since the Zhou Dynasty, the throne has been succeeded by father and son, and there has never been a brother's share. This is what you should be most vigilant about.” Li Shimin knew that the abolition of the crown prince was a major event, and the slightest carelessness would shake the foundation of the country.If you really want to depose Cheng Qian and replace Li Tai, you will definitely encounter great resistance among the courtiers, and Wei Zheng is definitely not the only one who opposes it.What's more, in the current situation that the prince has no major faults, it is too early to talk about abolishing the establishment.Thinking about this, Li Shimin had no choice but to give in again and approved Wang Gui's memorial. Although Li Shimin has repeatedly made concessions to the courtiers on issues related to the king of Wei, his love for the king of Wei still continues unabated. Because Li Tai was obese and unable to move freely, Li Shimin was extra merciful and allowed him to take a small sedan chair when he entered the palace to pay homage.This kind of favor was unique among the civil and military officials of the Manchu Dynasty and all the princes. Li Tai is a smart man, of course he will not let down his father Li Shimin's trust and love for him.In the twelfth year of Zhenguan (AD 638), Li Tai followed Sima Suxu's suggestion and believed that "the famous kings have attracted more guests since ancient times, and their writings are the beauty" ("Old Tang Book·Pu Wangtai Biography"), so "opened the library , extensive and time-honored, the characters converge, and the family is like a market" (Volume 196), and began to compile "Kuo Di Zhi" with great fanfare. "Kuo Di Zhi" is a large-scale geography work, with 550 volumes of main text and 5 volumes of preface. It comprehensively records the territorial division and the establishment of prefectures and counties in Zhenguan period. It contains the history of the establishment of various political districts, mountains and rivers, products, historic sites, customs, characters, anecdotes, etc., which undoubtedly had strong practical and political significance at that time. This book was completed in three years. In the first month of the 16th year of Zhenguan (642 AD), King Li Tai of Wei respectfully presented this book to the emperor.Li Shimin Longyan was very happy, and ordered people to store the book in the secret pavilion in the palace, and rewarded Li Taihe and the people who participated in the compilation. Since Li Tai began to compile "Kuo Di Zhi", Li Shimin's money and material rewards to Wei Wangfu have increased year by year, and the amount far exceeds that of Prince Li Chengqian. Shortly after the completion of "Annals", Li Shimin ordered Li Tai to live in the Wude Hall so as to facilitate "attendance and exchange". For these practices, Xuan Suiliang, Wei Zheng and others were deeply disturbed, so they went to Shushu to directly advise.Xuan Suiliang remonstrated generously against the emperor's rewards to the King of Wei: "If there is a country, there must be concubines. However, although the concubine loves it, it must not surpass it; the legitimate son must be respected...The role of a minister is to admonish and argue, and there is no room for silence. Fushimi The crown prince's material, turned to Shao Wei Wang, and the government and the public have seen and heard it, but they don't think it is true." Wei Zheng remonstrated against King Wei's entry into the Wude Hall: "Inside this hall, the place is spacious, and it is very convenient to visit and worship. But since King Wei is his beloved son, His Majesty always wants him to be safe, and restrains his arrogance and extravagance in everything. , not in a place of suspicion. Now this hall is moved to the west of the East Palace, where Hailing (Li Yuanji) used to live, and people thought it was impossible." ("Old Tang Book·Pu Wangtai Biography") In the face of their outspoken advice and strong opposition, Li Shimin had to restrain himself in rewards, and withdrew his order to let Li Tai enter Wude Palace. Although Xuan Suiliang, Wei Zheng and others have been trying their best to curb the momentum of King Wei's seizure of the throne, after all, the emperor is behind him to support him, so the popularity index of King Wei Li Tai in the Li and Tang courts is still rising, and many courtiers and dignitaries naturally appeal to him. He moves closer. Taizong Li Shimin had successively dispatched Wei Ting, Minister of the Huangmen, and Du Chuke (Du Ruhui's younger brother), Shangshu of the Ministry of Industry, as the chief ministers of the Wei Palace.And these two people naturally became the spokespersons of Wei Wang Li Tai's interests. They worked very hard to help Li Tai and make friends with a large number of court officials.Du Chuke even spared no hesitation in bribing the dignitaries of the court with a lot of money, and strongly praised King Wei for his wisdom, saying that he was the only heir to the throne with the most qualifications.In order to find political backers in the future, the dignitaries were of course willing to bet their chips on the king of Wei who had a higher chance of winning. Among them were the son of Chai Shao, the captain-in-law Chai Lingwu, and Fang Xuanling's son-in-law Yiai. In just a few years, Li Tai established a Wei Wang Party with him as the core among the top political leaders of the empire. Its political goal is very clear, which is two words - seizing the heir. Facing the heir apparent of the Tang Empire, Wei Wang Li Tai and his followers are eager to move, and they are determined to win. An undercurrent of seizing the heirloom has surged violently in the political arena of the Tang Empire. Li Tai firmly believed: Li Chengqian, a useless cripple, would get out of the prince's position sooner or later, and only he, the well-versed and well-respected king of Wei, was the best candidate for the East Palace!