How to understand Li Shimin asked Yuan Tiangang how long the Tang Dynasty could last, and Yuan Tiangang replied that pigs could climb trees?

Yuan Tiangang means that the national culture of the Tang Dynasty can last forever.

In fact, since Qin Shihuang unified the six countries, basically every dynasty could not escape the 300-year spell. With the development of the dynasty, there is actually a process of beginning, development, climax and end. The rule of any dynasty will not be perfect, and all kinds of problems will gradually arise. There will also be various contradictions between society and class.

Since the change of Xuanwu Gate, Emperor Taizong initiated the rule of Zhenguan. During the reign of Tang Gaozong and Wu Zetian, it developed to Li Longji, and the development of Datang reached a climax. Li Longji was addicted to beauty until his later years. An Anshi rebellion broke the original prosperity and began to decline. By the late Tang Dynasty, the emperor had basically become a puppet. In 904, Zhu Wen replaced Tang Aidi.

But why did Li Shimin ask Yuan Tiangang how long the Tang Dynasty could last, because he had no confidence in his dynasty? In fact, this still comes from a prophecy. Three generations of the Tang Dynasty died, and the female master Wu Shi took its place. As an expert in divination, Yuan Tiangang once said that when three generations of Tang Dynasty died, a woman named Wu would take her place. Li Shimin is also worried every day. A man named, almost all Wu characters are related to him, which forced him to think of prophecy, so in order to prevent it from happening, he

Even so, Li Shimin has not changed this? Three generations of the Tang Dynasty died, and the female master Wu Shi took its place? It is predicted that when Wu Zetian was born, her mother had let Yuan Tiangang divine divination, which meant that if he was a girl, he would be a generation of emperors, because she was still a baby at that time and could not distinguish between men and women. This shows the accuracy of Yuan Tiangang's prediction.

But Emperor Taizong asked him how long the Tang Dynasty could last, so why did he say that when pigs could climb trees, the Tang Dynasty might perish, that is, pigs would never climb trees, that is, the Tang Dynasty would last forever. So now that he has worked out that Wu Zetian will have the spirit of an emperor in the future, and the Li Dynasty will be replaced by a woman named Wu in the future, how can it be better than the Tang Dynasty in 300 years?

From this point of view, Yuan Tiangang still has scruples. Although he is well informed, he can't say everything in front of the emperor. Any emperor wants his dynasty to be handed down from generation to generation, and Li Shimin is no exception. So some people think that this is Yuan Tiangang's kneeling to Li Shimin. How can the Tang Dynasty perish in such a prosperous time?

Another meaning of this sentence is that people with Zhu's surname may be above Li's surname, and pigs are just homophones of Zhu, suggesting that Zhu Wen destroyed the Tang Dynasty and Zhu Wen was the terminator of the Tang Dynasty, and this? When can pigs climb trees? It means that when a man named Zhu Can rises, the Tang Dynasty will perish.

So this sentence is likely to kill two birds with one stone. One is that Yuan Tiangang, as a minister, touted the emperor and wanted the Tang Dynasty to perish unless pigs could climb trees. The other is the speculation that the pig refers to Zhu Wen above. Obviously, the latter statement is more convincing, but this is only the understanding of this sentence by future generations.