52 years old should be regarded as a high life expectancy for ancient emperors. After all, the average life expectancy of China's emperors was only 40 years. So why do you say that Li Shimin died prematurely? In fact, it is said that Li Shimin should have lived longer, but because of what he did, he only lived to the age of 52.
We all know that after the ancient emperors reached their old age, they all highly respected the theory of alchemists. What is Alchemist? In the ancient times of our country, those who claimed to be able to visit the gods and immortals and refine elixirs to live forever were called alchemists. Among the feudal emperors in our country, many emperors trusted the alchemists.
For example, Qin Shi Huang once sent Xu Fudongdu to Penglai to find immortals, thus obtaining the art of immortality. In his later years, Emperor Wu of Han was also obsessed with alchemists. In his old age, Li Shimin did not flee the fangshi's sayings, and even obeyed the other soldiers' words.
In the twenty-second year of Zhenguan, Wang Xuance presented the captive Fang Shi Na Luo to Li Shimin. This person claimed to know the gods, and he also knew how to refine the elixir, which could make a person immortal. At that time, Li Shimin was unable to treat all the doctors because of the root cause of the disease that fell from his body when he was young. Therefore, Li Shimin could only pin his hopes on the alchemist.
So from then on, Li Shimin no longer took the medicine well, but ate the elixir refined by the alchemist. As a result, it didn't take long for his life to die. Some experts said that if Li Shimin took medicine well, there should be no problem in living for a few more years. However, he believed in the fangshi's saying, only taking the dan medicine, which led to an aggravation of the disease, so he died early.
In fact, the alchemist is a group of people who cheat and drink, and they do not have any panacea. Therefore, in the history books of the Tang Dynasty, it is only recorded that Li Shimin died of illness, and the details of it are not recorded. Because a generation of Ming Jun died at the hands of a liar, it is too humiliating to say.