Who wants to harm who after the change of Xuanwu Gate?

On July 2nd, 627 (June 4th, 9th year of Tang Wude), Li Shimin, the king of Qin, ambushed and killed his first brother and the first prince outside the north gate of the palace. After Yuanji, the king of Qi, was completed, he slaughtered all his nephews and nieces, and then forced his father, Gao-zu Li Yuanxun, to ascend to the throne, which is known as the change of Xuanwu Gate.

Historians have debated the fact and moral evaluation of the "Xuanwumen Change" for thousands of years. On the one hand, Li Shimin slaughtered all his brothers for the position of an emperor, and none of his nieces and nephews were spared. Such extreme behavior completely broke the bottom line of human ethics and made future generations feel aggrieved at the tragic death. More importantly, on the other hand, Li Shimin personally intervened in the compilation of the history of the early Tang Dynasty, which made it difficult to find out the truth of the "Xuanwu Gate Change".

There are three official histories about the change of Xuanwu Gate: Old Tang Book, New Tang Book and Zi Jian. Among them, The Book of Old Tang Dynasty was written according to the official historical materials of the Five Dynasties and the later Jin and Tang Dynasties. At that time, the society was in turmoil, and there was no condition to identify and discriminate historical materials, so I wrote a book in a hurry, and never thought it was a history of faith. Therefore, the history of the Tang Dynasty was rebuilt in the Song Dynasty, and unofficial history was added to the Old Book of the Tang Dynasty, which was called the New Book of the Tang Dynasty. On the basis of the first two books, Zi Tongzhi Bamboo Slips has been supplemented. But in short, the three books are basically based on the official historical materials of the Tang Dynasty. The official records of the "Xuanwumen Change" in the Tang Dynasty are basically concentrated in the Records of Emperor Gaozu and Records of Emperor Taizong compiled by Li Shimin. According to Zhang Taiyan, a modern scholar, "Emperor Taizong ascended the throne and was afraid of becoming famous after his death. He began to supervise the revision of national history with the prime minister, so there were no words in the records of the two dynasties." In this way, the three historical books greatly reduced the authenticity of the records in the early Tang Dynasty.

Although the emperor has a life, historians should also "hide for the venerable and keep secrets for the saints", but straight writing is always the ideal pursuit of historians and is related to the safety of their heads. If they can't fight openly, they will go into darkness. One of the ingenious ways is to use the "Qubi" to deliberately leave contradictory records, so that future generations can find out the facts that have been "hidden" and "taboo". However, the authors of the Book of the New Tang Dynasty and the Book of Learning from the Same Resources as a Mirror all know that the official records of the Tang Dynasty are not completely reliable. Therefore, although there are contradictions in quotations from different sources, they all try to keep them so that future generations can infer the clues of the truth from them.

According to comprehensive historical records, Li Shimin found three reasons for his mutiny and seizure of power: first, he fired the first shot of Li Tang's founding-Taiyuan's army was initiated by him first; Second, he made the greatest contribution to farmland. Dad Tang Gaozu Tang Gaozu repeatedly promised to make him a prince in return, but he didn't deliver. Third, Prince Li wanted to kill him, and the change of Xuanwu Gate was just a "self-defense counterattack". After reading several history books, the author found that these three seemingly hard truths are actually full of doubts.

Let's talk about the Taiyuan uprising first. Three history books all say that it was initiated by Li Shimin, and dad Tang gaozu only passively obeyed. There is also a dramatic plot in The Book of the New Tang Dynasty, in which Li Shimin set up a beauty bureau to force his father to rebel: it is said that Li Shimin was bent on rebelling against the Sui Dynasty, but he was afraid that he had a deep affection with Wendi, which was not tolerated by Yang Di's cousin's father, so he went to consult his father's confidant Pei Ji. Pei Ji was in charge of Jin Yanggong for Yang Di, so he chose a maid-in-waiting to serve Tang gaozu. Afterwards, tell the whole story of Li Er's rebellion. Tang Gaozu was afraid and refused. Pei Ji said, "You slept with your emperor's cousin's woman, which is also a death. To do this, you must fight. " Tang Gaozu still complains about the delay. However, Wen Daya's Notes on Datang Entrepreneurship has a different view. According to records, Li Yuan was the first planner and organizer of Taiyuan army. His eldest son has achieved the same achievements as his second son Shimin, and Shimin is no different. Reading this book helps to understand how historians in the early Tang Dynasty tampered with historical facts according to Emperor Taizong's wishes.

Secondly, whether Tang Gaozu promised to turn Li Shimin into a prince. Not to mention, according to the Records of Datang Entrepreneurship, Shimin made no special contribution to the completion of the project. Even if there is a special contribution, it is a very dangerous logic for the supreme ruler to decide who should be the emperor with the greatest contribution. It is doubtful whether Tang Gaozu will replace the Crown Prince accordingly. The most suspicious thing is that the historian Li Yuan told Li Shimin many times that if he wanted to be a Chu army, why didn't he put it into practice and maintain many places? How great is it to open a shop? Can it be said that it is for fun? Is Tang Gaozu a king who is extremely confused? In fact, Li Yuan was not fatuous, but he was quite resourceful in the process of establishing the Tang Dynasty. All kinds of unnatural places can only show that the so-called commitment to change position must be a rumor released by Li Shimin at that time, or a plot added when historical facts were revised later.

Thirdly, there are contradictions and loopholes in the records of Prince Li and attempted murder in the three history books. All three books have such a detail: once Yuanji told Cheng Jian that he would take his place and kill his second child. The establishment of good character is quite unbearable and was soon stopped. On the one hand, I affirmed the completion of the project and couldn't bear to kill my own brother. On the other hand, three history books record two plots of murdering people, which is a bit strange to read: once, after the project was completed, a rotten horse was deliberately given to the people, and if you want to fall, you will be disabled. SHEN WOO, the king of Qin, is wise and SHEN WOO, so he will not fail. The plan failed and Shimin was invited to drink at home. As a result, Shimin had a severe stomachache and had to be helped home and vomited several liters of blood. It turns out that Li Shimin is a legendary martial arts master, and he can use his own strength to expel toxic substances from his body. It was foolish to build this schemer, not only secretly poisoning, but also starting work at his own banquet to let everyone know that he did it, and even poisoned people's lives! The most interesting thing is that after Li Yuan knew about the poisoning incident, he just warned Cheng Jian: "Your brother can't drink, so don't drink together in the future." Is this to remind the boss that you can't afford to hide? Another important circumstantial evidence to prove that the project was completed without murdering Shimin is that after the change of Xuanwu Gate, Shimin asked Wei Zhi, "Why did you instruct the boss to deal with me?" Wei Zhi replied, "If the prince had listened to me earlier, he would not have died." So, although the boss didn't want the second child to die, the second child thought it was necessary to do so. So Shimin went into the palace and told his father that Yuanji was a vicious and filthy harem: "Dad, how many cuckolded brothers have given you!" " So, early the next morning, Tang Gaozu let the three brothers into the palace and confronted them in front of all the ministers. Hearing the accusation that "it is tolerable, but not tolerable", the history books did not record that Li Yuan was "furious" on the spot, but was startled, and then calmly asked his three sons to make it clear in front of the minister the next day. Even in modern society, similar cases involving privacy will not be heard in public. Ethan's attitude seems to show that he doesn't believe the accusation of his second son. Li Shimin, the plaintiff, knows better that his accusation is untenable. All he wants is a chance, a chance to assassinate Cheng Jian and Yuan Ji. In the early morning of June 4th, Wu De, led by Wuji, Fang, Du Ruhui, Yu, Gao Shilian, Hou, Qin Baoshu, Duan Zhixuan, Qu Tutong and Zhang Shigui ambushed Jiancheng and Yuanji outside Xuanwu Gate. When they found something was wrong, they turned and ran. Yuanji shot three arrows at Shimin, but they all missed. Shimin shot his brother with an arrow. Killing expert Li Yuanji is much more complicated than shooting Lee. Li Yuanji, as light as an owl, fled to the dense forest, showing Li Shimin's long handle again and again. Finally, Li Yuanji waited for the chance to fight back. Li Shimin struck hard, and after being flashed again, his clothes were caught by the branches. He lost his center of gravity and fell off his horse. Long Yun drew an arc and fell more than ten paces away. Li Yuanji immediately turned and pounced on Li Shimin, reached out his hands and grabbed his throat. Li Yuanji's brawn is amazing, and all the three armed forces know his bravery. No matter how hard Li Shimin struggled, he couldn't break free. Seeing that he was desperate in an instant, a bowstring sounded, Li Yuanji leaned over and Jinsong came down. An arrow went through his head, and hot blood immediately sprayed on Li Shimin's face. Li Shimin forcibly pushed his body aside, took a deep breath, and then rolled over and stood up, only to see Wei Chijingde standing next to a tree fifty paces away, looking at himself. This scene was described by Wang Fuzhi, a great scholar in the Qing Dynasty, as "terrible, and the people's hearts were unscathed". Historically, Li Shimin was forced to do it by his generals. Why are brave soldiers who are eager to make meritorious deeds not in a hurry to share a share with their sons, but are stained with the blood of their brothers by the people themselves? Is it because they are guilty and soft-hearted in front of the innocent prince? Or killing the prince is the firm opinion of the people themselves. Most of his subordinates are just being held hostage by their companions, and Li Shimin must do it himself. According to the Nine Years of Tongzhi Jane Wude, Li Shimin's two confidants, Li Jing and Li Shikeng, refused to take part in the operation. Fang and Du Ruhui refused to come, so Shimin drew his sword and said, "Are you going to betray me? Cut them if you don't come. " The two of them had to follow. After the coup, Li Shimin built a prince, killed all five sons of Yuan Ji, the king of Qi, and put Yan Jue's sister-in-law and Yang, the princess of Qi who had been adultery for many years (a son and a daughter were beheaded by Li Shimin after the Xuanwumen rebellion) in the harem. It was very lucky. For a time, she even wanted to abolish the virtuous grandson queen and change Yang's status, but advised her to stop.

To sum up, the change of Xuanwu Gate was a coup plot of Li Shimin, not a counterattack in self-defense. However, the winner is the king and the loser is the enemy. This is history. The so-called political power comes out of the barrel of a gun, and goodness can't get the world.