In the first month of the seventeenth year of Zhenguan, Wei Zheng (魏征) died of illness at the age of 64.
When Emperor Taizong of Tang heard this bad news, Li Shimin was very sad and even wept bitterly, and immediately announced that Wei Zheng had abolished the dynasty for five days, and ordered hundreds of officials inside and outside to attend the funeral together with officials in Chang'an.
In order to express his affirmation of Wei Zheng, Li Shimin also specially arranged for the crown prince Li Chengqian to mourn for him at Xihua Hall
It can be said that Wei Zheng was elevated to a fairly lofty position.
Seeing Li Shimin's sadness, some of the courtiers planned to show something, so they went to persuade Tang Taizong to mourn and change, but Tang Taizong said to the courtiers:
A person who uses copper as a mirror can straighten his own clothes, use history as a mirror, can know the rise and fall, take people as a mirror, can see the gains and losses, and often use this way to examine himself to prevent himself from making mistakes, but now that Wei Zheng has passed away, I have lost a good mirror.
Later, Li Shimin also personally participated in Wei Zheng's funeral, and posthumously presented him as the governor of Sikong and Xiangzhou, allowing him to accompany him to the funeral of Zhaoling, and personally made a memorial inscription for him.
In the second month after Wei Zheng's death, Li Shimin ordered Yan Liben to paint portraits of twenty-four heroes he considered to have made great contributions, and displayed their portraits in the Ling Yan Pavilion, while Wei Zheng ranked fourth, second only to the eldest son Wuji, Li Xiaogong, and Du Ruqian.
In this way, at first glance, the relationship between Li Shimin and Wei Zheng is indeed very harmonious, one is outspoken and advised, the other is humble, and he is really a model monarch in the feudal imperial period
But is this really the case with real history?
In fact, it is not necessarily that Li Shimin's advice to Wei Zhengjin is not as obedient as we think.
Li Shimin even said to the people around him after he once retired from the DPRK: When you have the opportunity, you must kill this countryman.
Two short stories reveal the true relationship between Tang Taizong and Wei Zheng, let's take a look.
Tang Taizong played with eagles
Ancient science and technology were not developed, not as moist as the current life, and there were many pastimes, but as an emperor, he would always try his best to make himself happy, so
In history, there have been many emperors with special habits.
For example, there are those who covet the beauty of the harem, for example, there are those who are committed to seeking immortality and alchemy, for example, there are those who aspire to be a good carpenter and do carpentry work all day long, and for example, there are those who want to experience the feeling of eating and pretend to be beggars.
As Li Shimin, who had a good reputation in later generations, he was not a workaholic, and he also had his own small hobbies on weekdays, and his hobby was playing with eagles.
Someone once paid tribute to Li Shimin with a very brave falcon, and in his spare time, Li Shimin would always play in the garden, watching the falcon flapping its wings on its arms, which seemed to be an indescribable happiness.
However, Li Shimin couldn't play with the eagle freely, because he was afraid that Wei Zheng would use this matter to talk about it, so where There was Wei Zheng, he would never take out this falcon.
Who would have thought that the news that Li Shimin often played with eagles was still known to Wei Zheng, as a model of outspoken advice, Wei Zheng naturally could not bear it, but
This time, he did not choose to use words to persuade, but chose to use practical actions to make Li Shimin give up playing with eagles.
Once, when Wei Zheng learned that Li Shimin was playing with eagles, he went straight to see Li Shimin, and Li Shimin's close associates all knew Wei Zheng's ability, but no one came to stop him, but this frightened Li Shimin, who was playing with eagles.
Seeing Wei Zheng approaching, Li Shimin quickly hid the falcon in his arms, and Wei Zheng pretended not to see it and chatted with Li Shimin about his daily routine
Wei Zhengdong and Li Shimin chatted, Li Shimin was anxious, after all, there was still a falcon in his arms, but Wei Zheng just did not retreat.
After a long time, Wei Zheng retreated, and Li Shimin hurriedly took out the falcon in his arms, but it had already been smothered, and Li Shimin was very angry and cursed at the people around him:
I knew he wasn't going to give up, he must have meant it, this countryman.
Emperor Taizong of Tang greatly built civil engineering
After eight years of Zhenguan, the world was at peace, and Li Shimin had nothing to do, so he decided to carry the minister behind his back to build a large number of buildings at the north gate of the palace to soothe his already lonely heart.
At that time, the person in charge of this project was Dou Desu, the superintendent of the Shaofu, whose task was to secretly complete the construction of the north gate of the imperial palace
There was a project at the north gate of the palace, and the ministers were naturally more curious, and The chancellor Fang Xuanling asked Dou Desu what the north gate was building.
Dou Desu was vague and confused, so he hurriedly reported the matter to Li Shimin, and when Li Shimin learned of it, he immediately summoned Fang Xuanling to reprimand him:
You just need to take care of the affairs of the South Gate, what is the North Gate built, what is the matter with you?
Fang Xuanling saw that the master was angry, frightened, and immediately prostrated his head and confessed his mistake, which made Li Shimin very useful, so he continued to build a large number of construction projects at the North Gate, and after Wei Zheng heard about this, he said that he could not bear it, so he directly raised this matter in the shang dynasty the next day.
Wei Zheng advised in front of the hundred officials of the Civil and Military Forces:
I don't understand why His Majesty blames the Minister, nor why the Minister admits that he is wrong, since he is a minister, what is the construction of the North Gate, why can't he let him know? If the project is beneficial and the arrangement is reasonable, the Minister should help His Majesty to complete it, and if the project is unfavorable, even if the work is started, he has the right to demand that it be stopped, which is the reason why the Minister serves His Majesty and His Majesty appoints the Minister.
Emperor Taizong of Tang was so embarrassed by this grand number that he had no choice but to announce the cessation of the north gate project, but after retiring from the dynasty, Li Shimin said to his close courtiers:
When you have the chance, you must kill this countryman.
Why Emperor Taizong tolerated Wei Zheng
From these two short stories, it is not difficult for us to see that Li Shimin was very disgusted with Wei Zheng's criminal Yan Jinzhi, even to the point of intolerability, so why did Li Shimin tolerate Wei Zheng and did not get rid of him?
The root cause is political necessity.
When Li Shimin was in the right place, when he first became emperor, the domestic situation was not yet stable, the separatist forces had not been completely eliminated, the remnants of Li Jiancheng and Li Yuanji were still distributed everywhere, and the Turkic army outside Guanwai was even more eager to see the tiger, so what Li Shimin needed to do was to unite all the forces that could be united.
At that time, the largest power in the Tang Dynasty was the Dongshi clan of the Mountains (Taihang Mountains), and Wei Zheng was from the Wei clan of The Giant Deer in Hebei
Since Northern Qi, this family has been a famous and prestigious clan in Shandong, and it is Li Shimin's strategy to get the support of the Wei clan, and if the Wei clan wants to support him, it is necessary to reuse Wei Zheng.
furthermore
Tang Taizong was an excellent strategist who was extremely good at politics, and he saw his own needs in Wei Zheng, and he could use Wei Zheng to shape himself into a wise emperor who was humble and obedient.
It was precisely because of these two considerations that Li Shimin could not tolerate Wei Zheng and had to endure, and even had to accept many times from Wei Zheng happily.
Of course, Li Shimin also killed Wei Zheng, and he also wanted to kill this countryman for a hundred years, but Empress Changsun persuaded him with "Lord Ming Chenzhi", if it were not for Empress Xiande of The Eldest Sun, perhaps there would really be no beautiful story of Wei Zheng and Tang Taizong later.
Thus
The real relationship between Li Shimin and Wei Zheng is not as harmonious as imagined, Wei Zheng geng is straight by nature, and Li Shimin uses this character to stage a "political show" for the people of the world.
References: Old Book of Tang, New Book of Tang, etc.
(Figure net, invasion and deletion)