"Dad, you should abdicate!" Li Shimin threw the two heads of Li Jiancheng and Li Yuanji in front of Li Yuan, and while laughing, he sincerely asked Li Yuan to abdicate.
Everything came too suddenly, the change of Xuanwumen was ostensibly a decisive battle between Li Shimin and Li Jiancheng, but in fact, Li Yuan played with power and smashed!
At first, he wanted to use Li Shimin to balance the power of the crown prince Li Jiancheng, but it turned out that Li Shimin was too good to control at all. If you play it completely, you can only admit your fate. Looking at the bloody steel knife in Li Er's hand, Li Yuan bowed his head and said nothing.
A month later, Li Yuan announced his abdication, passing the throne of the Tang Dynasty to his second son, Li Shimin. So what kind of life did Li Yuan live after retirement?
First, the loss of freedom.
After retirement, Li Yuan originally still lived in the Taiji Palace. But this place was where the emperor and his daughters-in-law lived. Now that the emperor has changed, then the owner of the Taiji Palace will naturally change.
After three years of Zhenguan, Li Shimin felt that it was a bit unpleasant for his father to continue to lie in the Taiji Palace and not leave. Therefore, Li Yuan was relocated to Da'an Palace. Until the ninth year of Zhenguan, Li Yuan died of illness and lived in Da'an Palace.
Although he was known as the Emperor Taishang, Li Yuan not only had no power, but even freedom. In the 9 years that he was emperor, he never left the palace where he lived, so he asked you, if you were allowed to go, would you like to?
Normal people are unwilling, not to mention Li Yuan, who was the king of the world, so Li Yuan is sullen about it. Even when Li Shimin went out to escape the summer and wanted to pull up his father, Li Yuan would refuse.
Why? The answer is simple, Li Shimin must guard against his father. Even if they are biological fathers and sons, to this point, there is actually no family affection in them. Li Yuan resented Li Shimin for killing his brother and imprisoned himself. Li Shimin was afraid that Li Yuan would lose control and regain power. That's all.
2. Forced to operate.
This is even more tragic, li yuan was the son of heaven, and all diplomatic activities were personally attended by him. But now that Li Yuan has become the Emperor Taishang and has not died, how should this matter be explained to his friends?
Say Li Yuan died? It seems inappropriate, so say that Li Yuan took the initiative to Zen Concession? The Gentiles certainly could not understand. Therefore, thinking about it, Li Shimin decided to let Li Yuan personally come out and chat with the foreign envoys and explain all this.
Li Yuan was naturally very cooperative, there was no way, his son now held his own life and death power, and he couldn't take care of so much. Therefore, li yuan still had to participate in diplomatic activities, and he had to make it clear to the foreign emissaries: I am not strong, but my son is very strong!
For example, at the beginning of the eighth year of Zhenguan, when the Western Turk envoys came to visit, Li Yuan once moved back to the Taiji Palace and organized a banquet to communicate with the Western Turk envoys.
At this time, Li Yuan is like the little mascot of the Tang Dynasty, you have to say that without him, it is not impossible. But with this little mascot, you can add the color of the Tang Dynasty.
In addition to external activities, Which require Li Yuan to attend, in fact, li Yuan must also appear in internal activities. Why? Because Li Shimin wants to show the scene of fatherly kindness and filial piety to the subjects of the world.
For example, at the end of the eighth year of Zhenguan, Li Shimin once inspected the Tang army with Li Yuan in the west of Chang'an City. The two even worked together to comfort the soldiers who had made meritorious achievements in battle.
Three, have a lot of children?
This is something that many people often hang on their lips at present, and everyone says that Li Yuan has given birth to a number of children after retirement, so his life must be very good. It seems that Li Shimin is very good to him.
In fact, if we analyze it carefully, we will find that there are great loopholes behind this conclusion.
First, Li Yuan had 21 sons and 19 daughters.
Second, the Xuanwumen Revolution occurred in July 626.
Moreover, among Li Yuan's 40 children, it is clearly recorded that only one li yuanbao, the king of Teng, was born after the change of Xuanwu Gate!
Li Yuannian was born in 628 AD, two years after the Xuanwumen Rebellion. In addition, among Li Yuan's remaining 39 children, it is not clearly recorded that they were born after the Xuanwumen Revolution.
Therefore, there is only one Li Yuan baby, which does not explain anything. Among the remaining 20 sons, Li Yuanji, Li Yuanming, and Li Yuanxiao did not even record their birth year, which is too absurd, right?
If Li Shimin really cares about his father and these younger brothers, at least record the birth year of others clearly. On the contrary, it is the youngest Li Yuanbao, but there is a clear year record.
This matter is not reliable to think about, so we have every reason to believe that Li Yuanbao's identity information is problematic! Either li yuanniang's birth year is unreliable, or li yuanniang's biological father has someone else.
Successive emperors like to whitewash Taiping, and Li Shimin naturally does not ignore the project of adding points to himself. Therefore, it seems normal to take such a typical example as Li Yuannian to prove that he is still good to his father: you see, my father retired and gave birth to a younger brother, which shows that my father's retirement life has a taste!
Actually? What kind of heart does a grandfather who is about the same as a prisoner, and his son and brother cannibalism, what else does he have in mind to have children? The remaining 3 children do not give a specific date of birth, perhaps to confuse the public. After all, there are too many counterfeits, and it is easy to be debunked.
Summary: Li Yuan, the Emperor Taishang, is too depressed.
Eating and drinking in the harem, Li Shimin will definitely not neglect his father. This basic requirement cannot be met, then he is still a person! But in other respects, Li Shimin is not so generous.
For example, many people say that Li Yuan gave birth to children in the harem, but there is no record that Li Yuan found a new daughter-in-law during this period! There is also too much psychological pressure.
His son Li Shimin seized Li Yuan's power, killed Li Yuan's boy, restricted Li Yuan's freedom, and even let Li Yuan come out to operate under such circumstances.
References: Old Book of Tang, New Book of Tang