Above Xuanwu Gate, brothers behead brothers. How bloody is it? How cruel? Is Li Shimin planning for a long time or being forced?

Since modern times, many famous experts and scholars have published more than 100 articles on this subject. But the truth is not yet universal. Who only passed! . . . Sad! ! ! !

After reading the following two sections, everything is self-evident.

1. How to form a political group with Li Shimin as the core is a long story.

Since the aristocratic landlords dominated in the Northern and Southern Dynasties, reflected in politics, there has been a situation in which aristocratic clans fought for power and profit. Within the royal family, the prince and the king also formed various political factions accordingly. The possession of the East Palace by the Prince is equivalent to the formation of a small court in the capital. Kings are more likely to gather local forces and some military forces as their backing, and all strive for the highest power to inherit the throne. In the distance, people witnessed the cruel struggle between Emperor Wendi of Sui Dynasty, the Prince and the father and son Jin. The struggle between Tang Gaozu, Li Shimin, Cheng Jian and Yuan Ji was also carried out according to this law. Although the specific process and outcome are different, there are similarities in the Grand View Plan. The most obvious thing is that they all use the opportunity of opening the government and collecting the town as the second son to gather strength and gain the throne.

There is a tradition in ancient China that the eldest son of a prince is generally the legal prince. When he becomes a prince, he must be with him often. In case of major military action, when you don't trust to appoint a general with a foreign surname, you often send a son other than the prince as the commander-in-chief. Sometimes the monarch personally expeditions, leaving the task of staying in the capital to the prince, and rarely sending the prince to war. The so-called "the heir of the monarch should not be a handsome teacher" has become a common practice. Therefore, when Emperor Wendi of Sui attacked Chen, he did not send a prince, but called the second son of Jin as the marshal of the March, and successively made him the general manager of important areas such as Bing and Yangzhou. In the future, Yang Guang was able to replace Yong Yang as a prince, and won the support of military minister Su Yang and others. This has a lot to do with it. This is by no means a trick in front of Queen Dugu. So is Li Shimin. After Li Yuan, Dou gave birth to four sons: Cheng Jian, Shimin, Xuanba and Yuanji. Xuanba died young. When Li Yuan started his army in Taiyuan, he was 29 years old, 20 years old Shimin, 15 years old Yuanji. Fifteen years old is too young, so it was first built, and the people took Xihe; Later, he entered the customs and was built as the commander-in-chief of Longxi and Zuosanjun, while Shimin was the commander-in-chief of Dunhuang and Zuosanjun. Yuanji was allowed to stay in Jinyang and was the chief of Taiyuan. After the capture of Chang 'an, it was built as Marshal Zuo and Marshal Shimin as Marshal Right. However, after Tang Gaozu officially proclaimed himself Crown Prince, he sent his second son, Li Shimin, as usual as commander-in-chief, which objectively created conditions for Li Shimin to expand its strength.

During this period, Li Shimin served as the commander-in-chief of several major battles: (1) From June to July of the first year of Wude, Marshal Ren Qiuxi refused Xue Ju to stay in Jingzhou, which was a great defeat. (2) In August, Xue Ju died and was appointed as a marshal to raise Xue Gaoren in the Western Expedition. In November, Gao Ren was broken and Longyou was leveled. (3) In December, I called on Qiu Shaanxi East Road, Changchun Palace Town and Guandong Military Forces to be saved, and began to shoulder the heavy responsibility of running Shandong. (4) From October 2002 to April 2003, Wude defeated Liu Wuzhou, Song Jingang and Pingbing. (5) In July of three years, Wu De led President Yuanji's army to conquer Wang, Luoyang, Wang Zhanling; In March of four years, Dou Jiande saved the king; In May, Dou Jiande was captured and surrendered to the king; In October, General Ce Tian was appointed as a maharaja to lead the secretariat of Stuart Mountain Platform. (6) In July of the fourth year of Wude, Liu Heita, the remnant of Dou Jiande, revolted again in Hebei; In August, Xu Yuanlang rallied and responded; In December, Yuanji attacked Liu Heita; In March of five years, Liu Heita was defeated; Then Hebei was taken; Wang Shentong and Li of Huai 'an smashed Xu Yuanlang. As early as breaking Xue's "capture of more than 10,000 soldiers", he "swam and shot with him, but nothing happened. The thief was frightened by Horn, and he wanted to die. " After passing through Shandong, I will try my best to attract talents and cultivate private parties. There are documents available. For example, a general from Wuzhou, Liu Ben, Wei Chijingde, once defected to Li Shimin and "hosted a banquet to lead the army to Tianzifu". Qin's family and origin are both Shi Biao, and later they returned to Wang. They surrendered when the town of Li Shimin was in Changchun Palace. Uncle Bao "serves Qin Zheng", "worships Ma Jun as a general", "asks the right army of Qin Wang" and "gives the left army of Qin Gong". Zhang "was once the governor king" and "returned to China as the governor", and "Li suddenly recommended it to Taizong, which was also said to be introduced by the shogunate". Liu Shili was "the first General Wang", "Luoyang Ping should be punished, Taizong cherished his talents, and besides, he was a left-behind guard". Duan "begged the king" and "moved to the second right-back army of Qin Wangfu". Sun Wuda's "Wu Dechu went to Changchun Palace to see Taizong, from begging for Liu Wuzhou ... and from Dou Jiande, he moved to Qin's right army to ride a title of generals in ancient times". Qu Tutong "made a long history for marshal Taizong's marching, and learned to be a snow chrysanthemum", "asked Shaanxi East Road to be the servant of this official, and then asked the king to be in Taizong", "asked Shaanxi Dongda to be the right servant and settle in Luoyang". Then "from Taizong to", "moved to Qin Wei a title of generals in ancient times palace, and from the king to Dou Jiande". When Li Shimin attacked Luoyang as the right marshal, Xiao Yu was "Sima for politics". At the same time, Feng Deyi was appointed as a "staff officer". Qian Jiulong "tied Xue and Liu Wuzhou" from Taizong, and "captured Dou Jiande and tied the king" from Taizong. Xing Fan "defeated Emperor Taizong Xue Ju and leveled the king and Dou Jiande". Li Anyuan's "conquest of Taizong was especially gracious". All the above 14 people were invited by Li Shimin to surrender in Lu, and 27 people, accounting for more than half, were included in the list of "true seal heroes" because they stood on Li Shimin's side and made contributions to his seizure of power. In addition, Li Junxian is not included in this list: "He was a title of generals in ancient times for the first time" and "When he returned from rebellion, Taizong led him around". Tian Liu 'an is a general of Wang Nanzheng. When handsome men return, Liu An is the fourth right army. Hei Hei Ta and Jin Niu Da Ye rebelled against the king together with Qin. Zhang Shigui "from the capital of Pingtung" participated in the Battle of Xuanwu Gate. Xue followed Se at first, "and Taizong blacked him, both of whom were the second right-back army". Dai Zhou was a courtier of Dong and Wang, and was "captured by Emperor Taizong and led to join the army". In addition, Dou Jiande and the Queen were destroyed in Wude for four years. Because of their "gradual peace at home" and "passion for classics", they opened a literature museum, which was open to the whole world. Eight of the ten people, including Du Ruhui, a famous doctor in Taiwan Province, were bachelors. He is more upright and gentle every time. He discussed with him about his righteousness and left at night. " In fact, it is a government advisory group composed of two closely related scribes, Du Ruhui and Fang. Among these bachelors, Lu Deming and Kong Yuan are Wang and Wang, and they were cited as "Bachelor of Arts". Li Xuandao has served as the secretary of Shi Biao and Wang's book Zuo Lang, Ping, and Emperor Taizong has been appointed as the master book of Qin and a bachelor's degree in literature museum. Li Shousu "took the place of Wang Ping and Shi Chong, the famous Emperor Taizong of Shandong Province, and was recruited as a bachelor of literature. Cao Cao joined the army in Ce Tian". Yu Shinan was the first assistant minister of Huangmen, Dou Jiande. "Emperor Taizong destroyed Jiande, led Fu Qin to join the army, found the archives, and still awarded the bachelor's degree in Hong Wen Pavilion". Cai Yungong "don't go to Dou Jiande, Eastern Xia, emperor Taizong as a bachelor of military literature museum". Liu is the advocate of his younger brother Wang, "Luoyang Ping" and "Emperor Taizong called him a bachelor of Qin government". /kloc-7 out of 0/8 undergraduate degrees, accounting for 39%, made money after being tied to Wang. All these illustrate a fact: the strength of running a school in Li Shimin has been greatly enhanced. Later, when it was built, Yuanji attacked him and said that "most people around the king of Qin were from the East", which was indeed based on facts.

Second, the expansion of the Qin government's power, what countermeasures Li Yuan, Cheng Jian and Yuan Ji took.

As mentioned above, Li Yuan is talented, not "fatuous and incompetent" or "unable to be the king of the mean" as mentioned in popular history books. How can he allow factions and cliques to endanger his power? When Liu Wenjing and Li Shimin invited each other in the early years of Wude and clashed with Peiji, Tang Gaozu's number one confidant, Tang Gaozu resolutely got rid of Liu Wenjing in order to maintain his dignity. But it seems that my son is more reliable than an outsider, so I still follow the traditional custom, and let Li Shimin shoulder the heavy responsibility of managing Shandong. At the same time, I called Yuanji Li Shimin's assistant, which also meant to contain Li Shimin. But Li Shimin's ambition cannot be suppressed by killing a Liu Wenjing. Yuanji is a cinch, openly taking the fruits of the victory of pacifying Shandong, which should have been handed over to the public, as his own. He not only regarded the collected elite soldiers as Fu Qin's private armor, but also regarded Shandong's scribes and counselors as his own brains, and opposed Tang Gaozu's imperial edict by virtue of the privilege of "having special punishment in the tube". This made Li Yuan realize the seriousness of the problem and said to Pei Ji and other cronies: "This son has been a soldier for a long time and is arbitrary outside. He was taught by a scholar, not my son. " "Naturally, the ceremony of Emperor Taizong is getting thinner." "After the completion, Yuanji will be favored."

Cheng Jian and Yuan Ji are by no means "rogues" and "dangerous people" criticized in history books. "Old Tang Book" said: "Although building a house is cruel, it is the master, and Yuan is crazy for good or ill luck, and there are traces of overlapping nests. If it wasn't for Emperor Taizong's disobedience, why could he continue for three hundred years and be the heir of the twentieth emperor? Still stick to moral integrity, you will lose a lot, not as good as Qin Ershi and Yang Di. " From this point of view, if Cheng Jian and Yuanji became emperors, the regime of the Tang Dynasty would collapse soon, and even the ending of emperors Qin Ershi and Yang Di would be even worse, which was nothing more than the influence of the framed words in Historical Records of National History on Cheng Jian and Yuanji. However, tampering with history is always a stupid thing. Today, by studying these documents carefully, it is not difficult to see the positive influence of Cheng Jian and Yuan Ji on the royal family in Tang Dynasty. After Tang gaozu's uprising in Taiyuan, Cheng Jian and Shimin were always served as commanders until he officially proclaimed himself emperor. During this period, Cheng Jian and Shimin both completed their tasks, and there was no significant difference between them. Yuanji is young and stays in Taiyuan as a mentor. In the second year of Wude (6 19), Bing was only seventeen when he was captured by Liu Wuzhou. I'm afraid Dou Dan and Yu Wenxin, who assisted him, should bear more responsibility for the failure. Besides, Li Shimin was not a victorious general. In July of the first year of Wu, the main force he commanded was defeated by Xue Ju in Jingzhou. Later, Wang, Dou Jiande, and Liu Heita won under the command of, but Yuanji also took part in the command. Such as a decisive battle with Dou Jiande, "Yuanji and Qu Tutong surrounded the king in the east, and the world invaded and refused to fight. Yuanji ambushed and smashed, beheaded its 800 ranks, and captured its general Le Renyun and thousands of troops alive, which made Li Shimin have no worries. At this time, Yuanji was only nineteen years old and was a precocious military talent in the feudal ruling class. As for politics, after he became a prince, "Gaozu was worried that he lacked political talent. Every time he studied politics, it was not a military event, but he was informed to decide." That is, let him learn to preside over his daily work. History books can't find out how badly he did in politics at this time. On the contrary, he is at least more experienced than Li Shimin in this respect.

Li Shimin's power to pacify Shandong is increasing, which of course makes him feel oppressed when he is building a prince. Yuanji also has his own plans and is unwilling to be demoted to Li Shimin. So unite against Li Shimin. (1) On the issue of going to war, the former set up Chang 'an as a prince to practice political affairs. Except that Wude sent troops to suppress the "bandits wishing for mountains and seas" in Sizhuyuan in two years, and sent troops to Zhangzhou in four years to crush Ji Hushuai Liu Cheng's tribe, he did not undertake military tasks. Moreover, these two battles were fought on a small scale near Chang 'an, so we can go back to Chang 'an, and we can't train private military forces like Li Shimin. Although Yuanji went to Shandong, he was always Li Shimin's deputy and didn't get much benefit. Now, although Li Shimin spared Tang Gaozu, they soon tried to become the commander-in-chief of this great battle. According to the old Tang book? Gao Zuji ",in August of the fifth year of Wude (622)," Turkic Li Jiekou closed the door "and" sent the crown prince and the king of Qin to attack and defeat ". In October, "send Qi Wang Yuanji to attack Liu Heita in Mingzhou". In November, "the Crown Prince was ordered to lead troops to Liu Heita". In December, "The Crown Prince broke Liu Heita in Weizhou, cut it and leveled it in Shandong". In July of six years, "the Turks took Koushuozhou and sent the Crown Prince and the King of Qin to prepare it". In June of eight years, "the Turks decided to take Dingzhou, ordered the Crown Prince to go to Youzhou, and the king of Qin went to Bingzhou to prepare for the Turks". In the last nine years, "the Turks invaded the border, which made Yuanji lead the division to refuse", which fell through because of the change of Xuanwu Gate. It can be seen that in the late Wude period, Li Shimin was no longer the commander-in-chief of the war, and this important position was gradually replaced by Cheng Jian and Yuan Ji. (2) Not only openly changing the power of the commander-in-chief, but also openly or secretly disintegrating the factional forces assembled in Li Shimin. The generals of the State of Qin, such as Duan, Duan, and Zhou, were seduced by gold and silk, but they failed to get rid of them. On one occasion, they went to Wei Chijingde and wrote a letter to the prison, asking Cheng Zhijie to be the secretariat of Kangzhou. Even Fang and Du Ruhui, two great advisers, were fired by the Qin government. On the eve of the change of Xuanwu Gate in the ninth year of Wude, he also used Yuanji's division to repel the Turks, and "made Qin, Duan, and other generals of the Qin government go with them to pursue the soldiers of the Qin government in order to take the soldiers of Taizong to benefit his administration", so that he died heroically with his bare hands. (3) Like Li Shimin, engage in cronyism and expand the power of the East Palace and blessing. Li Shimin has counselors headed by Du Ruhui and Fang, 18 bachelors from the Literature Museum, and "special" officials from the East Palace, such as Xima, Lord Zhongyun and Wei Ting. Yuan Ji also has literature of equal quality. Li Shimin has a private armor of the Qin government. After the completion, it will "call the brave from all directions privately" and raise more than 2,000 vicious teenagers in Chang 'an. The livestock will be Gongjia, divided into the East Palace and the left and right Changlinmen, and the number is Changlinbing. " Yuanji will also "raise strong men and hide many sinners." There are warriors such as, Qin,, Duan, Jian, and so on, and Yuan Ji has warriors such as Xie Fangshu. Li Shimin's foreign aid includes Xi 'an in Luoyang and Wang Junkuo in Youzhou, while, the secretariat of Youzhou, Wang Zhen, Li Zhian, Gan Niu Qian and Qi Wang Li in Hebei are foreign aid from Cheng Jian and Yuan Ji. It's hard to say which aspect is strong outside, but when it was built in Beijing, the strength of Yuanji finally surpassed that of Li Shimin, which is obvious in the change of Xuanwu Gate, which will be mentioned later.

After its completion, Yuanji did so, apparently with the consent and support of Tang Gaozu. These include replacing him as commander-in-chief, expelling Fang and Du Ruhui, and transferring his elite to Yuanji. , it is more necessary, some of which may be Tang Gaozu's idea. But Li Shimin is his own son after all, so he should take good care of his father and son to deal with this matter. He can't be as decisive and crisp as solving other political cases. For example, in the seventh year of Wude, Yang Wengan, governor of Gyeongju, rebelled. This person "tasted the Weidong Palace and built it near", and others falsely claimed that "the prince ordered Weng 'an to send troops and wanted to combine internal and external affairs", which was probably done by Li Shimin and his gang, but Tang Gaozu did not investigate it thoroughly. "The only responsibility is brother discord, and it is attributed to [Prince] Zhong and [Prince] left-back Jue. Therefore, two years later, the contradiction between Li Shimin and Cheng Jian and Yuan Ji became more acute. When water and fire are incompatible, I still don't want to take decisive measures, but I'm going to gather these three sons together, together with his etiquette, such as Pei Ji, Xiao Yu, Chen, the scribe, Dou Dan and Yan Shigu, to judge the merits. I didn't expect Li Shimin to launch a military coup in Xuanwu Gate and make a surprise attack. As a result, it was not only built, but also Yuan Ji was attacked and killed on the spot. Tang Gaozu was forced to establish Li Shimin as the Crown Prince, which was "decisive". Two months later, he was forced to meditate and became a truly "lonely" emperor's father without power. He died as a high political prisoner for nine years, better than Emperor Wen of Sui who was killed by Yang Guang.

Mr. Chen Yinque has already discussed the change of Xuanwu Gate in Wude on June 4th and 9th. There is only one difference with Mr. Chen's point of view here, that is, this military coup was a "desperate attempt" on Li Shimin. At that time, it was obvious that Li Yuanzhi supported the establishment of Yuanji and Li Shimin (which was one of the reasons why Li Yuanzhi was eager to abdicate to Emperor Tai-huang after the coup). On June 4th, the judgment cut off Li Shimin's wing, Pei Ji of Liu Wenjing, as the chief minister, and the result was unfavorable to Li Shimin. Even if the status quo is maintained after arbitration, it is imperative for Yuanji to seize the elite of the Qin government, and Li Shimin will soon become an empty prince with little strength. As far as the military strength of both sides at that time is concerned, the comprehensive strength of Orient House and Clifford is far stronger than that of the capital Li Shimin. If it hadn't been built and attacked by Yuanji before the arrival of the East Palace and the praying soldiers, Li Shimin would surely fail. This force? Lost, Li Shimin and others, are battle-hardened people, it is impossible to know. Therefore, the change of Xuanwu Gate is an adventure of Li Shimin and others in an extremely unfavorable predicament, and its success or failure depends on the completion of surprise arbitration and the attack of Yuanji. This, of course, is not very sure, which makes Li Shimin, who has seen the world, extremely nervous and wants to predict good or ill luck.

The primary task of studying history is of course to explore its inevitability, but contingency should not be ignored, let alone denied. As far as the historical conditions at that time were concerned, it was inevitable that the prince and the vassal even competed for the supreme power over the emperor, but whoever won or lost, like the ending of Xuanwu Gate, was undeniably accidental.