Li Jiancheng, the founding prince of the Tang Dynasty, why did the army defeat Xuanwumen? A tombstone 1300 years later tells the truth
The Tang Dynasty was a very brilliant dynasty in the history of the mainland. After Li Yuan, the emperor of Tang Gaozu, established the Tang Dynasty, his heirs became the focus of people's attention. According to the old practice, Li Yuan established his eldest son Li Jian as the founding prince of the Tang Dynasty.
However, just when Li Jiancheng was full of expectations for his ascension to the throne and became emperor, Li Shimin launched the Xuanwumen Incident and killed him. Why was Li Jiancheng, as the crown prince, defeated by Li Shimin in the Xuanwumen Incident? 1300 years later, a tombstone records the truth of that year.
First, the founding prince Li Jiancheng
Li Jiancheng was the first son of Li Yuan and Empress Dowager Taimu of the Dou clan, in other words, he was the eldest son of Li Yuan.com. In ancient times, the succession to the throne was usually the inheritance system of the eldest son, "the long is not the sage, and the son is expensive but not the long." Therefore, when Li Jiancheng was born, he was destined to be the most advantageous of the brothers, the one closest to the throne.
However, the premise of becoming a prince was that his father was the emperor. His father Li Yuan was not an emperor, his world was fought down, and in the process of fighting the world, li Jiancheng, the eldest son of the concubine, helped him a lot. At the beginning of the army, it was thirteen years for the great cause, and In that year Li Jiancheng was twenty-eight years old.
At that time, Li Yuan was appointed as the retainer of Taiyuan, and while he was in Taiyuan, the matter of starting an army was of great importance, and someone needed to "cooperate with him inside and outside", so Li Jiancheng, who lived with his family and family in Hedong, was given a heavy responsibility by Li Yuan. Li Jiancheng began to make friends with people of insight in Hedong to prepare for the uprising.
In February of the same year, Liu Wuzhou could not sit still, he wanted to rebel one step ahead of others, so he directly claimed to be the Son of Heaven according to the city. As soon as his rebellion came out, it provided an excellent excuse for Li Yuan's army. Therefore, Li Yuan, while recruiting troops in the name of revenge against thieves, secretly summoned his eldest son Li Jiancheng to Taiyuan to prepare for the army.
It can be seen from this that Li Jiancheng has always occupied a relatively important position in the minds of his father Li Yuan, and even the uprising of the army will not begin until after he comes. Li Jiancheng also had his own ideas about marching and fighting, and he was worried that these recruited soldiers would not be able to fight directly, so he established military law to rectify the three armies and enhance their combat effectiveness.
On the way to march and fight, Li Jiancheng was even more a pioneer. He shared the happiness and suffering with the soldiers, restrained the soldiers under his hands, and did not harm the people, such as paying for food, and resolutely could not rob. Because the army he led was highly disciplined and deeply loved by the people, when he attacked Xihe on Li Yuan's orders, he returned victorious in only 9 days.
The 9 days also included time for him to travel back and forth on the road. After Li Yuan saw Li Jiancheng, he repeatedly said that he could run amok in the world with his troops in this way. In the subsequent battles, Li Jiancheng's performance was also very satisfactory to Li Yuan.
After Li Yuan became emperor, Shunshi made Li Jiancheng crown prince, and Li Jiancheng did not live up to his expectations, always being generous and talented, at the behest of Li Yuan, assisting him in handling government affairs, and gradually he became more and more sacred. But at the same time, he also became a thorn in the eyes and a thorn in the flesh of the other brothers.
In the process of Li Yuan's army, in addition to Li Jiancheng's quite meritorious achievements, there was another person who also performed prominently, even surpassing Li Jiancheng, and he was Li Shimin. According to historical records, Li Yuan once promised Li Shimin that if the rebellion was successful and he won the world, then Li Shimin would be the crown prince. How did Li Shimin behave in the uprising?
Li Shimin could lead the way in the Jinyang uprising. He has been leading troops to fight, winning repeatedly, in a sense he laid the winning point. But even so, Li Shimin was still not made crown prince by his father Li Yuan, how could he not have any waves in his heart? How could Prince Li Jiancheng not be angry?
2. Defeat of Xuanwu Gate
Li Jiancheng knew that even though he had already been crowned crown prince, the struggle for the throne had only just begun. The battle for the throne was raging, and he knew that the other brothers were not afraid, and his greatest threat was Li Shimin. Li Shimin is a meritorious man and is quite loved by the people, and it is very easy if he wants to achieve things.
After having a grudge, Li Jiancheng, together with his younger brother Li Yuanji, calculated Li Shimin and wanted to prevent trouble before it happened. Li Shimin is not a vegetarian, and since Li Jiancheng has moved, he will definitely fight back. The ministers also experienced the dark tide surging between the two princes, and some ministers chose to take sides in order to establish the "merit of the dragon".
The two factions began to make no concessions to each other, and the tilt towards the hall intensified. When Li Shimin's spies in the palace in the ninth year of Wu De said that the crown prince Li Jiancheng was ready to kill the King of Qin (Li Shimin) in Kunming Pond, Li Shimin decided to attack first.
On the fourth day of June in the ninth year of Wu De, Li Shimin used Li Jiancheng's conspiracy as an excuse to shoot Li Jiancheng near Xuanwu Gate and remove him from his name. When Later generations discovered Li Jiancheng's tombstone, they found that his epitaph was very simple, and even his life's deeds and life were not recorded.
This is the record of the Xuanwumen Incident in the historical records. Through this incident, Li Shimin got his wish, was made crown prince, and later became emperor. Under him, the Tang Dynasty developed greatly, and history called the rule of Zhenguan.
Third, the truth of the tombstone road
Regarding Li Jiancheng's death, posterity has been talking about it. Some people think that he really committed the crime of rebellion and was shot and killed by Li Shimin, while others think that Li Shimin just made an excuse at random. What is the truth of the matter? After becoming emperor, Li Shimin repeatedly proposed to historians that he should read the "Notes on Living" that recorded the emperor's words and deeds.
His reason was that he wanted to see the shiguan's account of the Xuanwumen Incident. At first, the historian shirked and did not give it, but later because the emperor insisted on this, Fang Xuanling and Xu Jingzong deleted it, which caused great difficulties for future generations to understand the Xuanwumen Incident. This act of his is quite abnormal, and one has to suspect that he "falsified history" in order to gain a good name after his death.
According to 1,300 years after his accession to the throne, in 1920, a stone stele was unearthed from the Dunhuang Tibetan Scripture Cave in Gansu Province, called "Chang He Tombstone", which tells the truth of that year. Chang He was originally a general under Li Yuan, and after Li Jiancheng was made crown prince, Chang He gradually moved closer to Li Jiancheng. #历史 #
