Chapter 47 Changes in Xuanwu Gate

Han Dynasty, the fourth year of Yuanshou.

Liu Che frowned, thinking that this was not right. He understood the politics of relatives and nobles. Although he often employed people without any restrictions, in fact many of them came from relatives and nobles. He had talked about the intricate marriage relationships of the Guanlong Group before. It was normal for Li Yuan to rely on his relatives and nobles.

But it was not normal that he pushed many of the founding heroes to Li Shimin's side - there was nothing wrong with suppressing the group of heroes, and it was a normal practice to consolidate power, but why did you create a group of heroes around Li Shimin?
Indeed, when people are oppressed, they will inevitably seek ways to break the situation, or find a leader who is qualified enough to fight for their interests. But Li Yuan, why don't you split it up as soon as possible?

Even if you regard Li Shimin as an object that needs to be suppressed, you should not let them gather together.

"Your Majesty, perhaps it is not that Li Yuan does not want to, but that he cannot do it for the time being." Huo Qubing said. In his opinion, if it can be done, it should be done sooner rather than later. If an interest group is allowed to form, it is very likely that it will not be possible to stop it in a short time.

Liu Che realized that he had just said it out loud and nodded, indicating his confirmation of this speculation.

It’s not that Li Yuan absolutely could not split up, but as he had many concerns, was initially unwilling to break up directly, and still had a little love for his son, he failed to stop it.

【Li Yuan was constantly consolidating power, weakening meritorious officials and local forces. At the same time, he maintained a balance among all parties in the court, including the crown prince and the King of Qin.

The actions of Li Jiancheng and Li Yuanji were implemented together at this time.

Let’s talk about Li Yuanji first. Although Li Yuanji has always been on Li Jiancheng’s side, he really lives up to the reputation of being “sly and warlike” and “ferocious”.

As early as the sixth year of Wude, when Li Shimin followed Li Yuan to Li Yuanji's residence, Li Yuanji took his bodyguard Yuwen Bao to ambush in the bedroom, intending to assassinate Li Shimin, but was stopped by Li Jiancheng.

Later, Li Yuan went to Taihe Palace to escape the summer heat, taking Li Shimin and Li Yuanji with him. Li Yuanji told Li Jiancheng that he would use elite troops to capture Li Shimin when he arrived at Taihe Palace.

While they were avoiding the summer heat, the Turks attacked again. Li Jiancheng recommended Li Yuanji as the commander-in-chief to march north to fight against the Turks. He also asked Qin Shubao, Yuchi Jingde, Cheng Zhijie, Duan Zhixuan and other generals from the Qin Palace to set out together. Also setting out together were the elite soldiers selected from the list of Qin Palace soldiers.

The early years of the Han Dynasty.

Liu Bang smiled and said, "Li Yuan is ready to take action." Li Yuanji was indeed ferocious and wanted to kill him many times. Although Li Jiancheng had many plans, such conventional plans could not be separated from the approval of the highest authority. The fact that Li Yuanji could serve as the commander-in-chief and the generals and soldiers of the Qin Palace could be transferred away all showed that Li Yuan himself began to have the intention to kill.

"Such a method will inevitably irritate Li Shimin and the military groups around him." Xiao He shook his head, thinking that this approach was a bit crude and not a good strategy. Even a rabbit can bite when it is angry, let alone Li Shimin, who is a key force of the interest group.

Ming Dynasty, Hongwu Years.

Zhu Xiongying skipped over the specific circumstances and focused on something that was mentioned briefly but did not become a fact in history: "Grandpa, why was Li Yuanji able to use elite troops to capture Emperor Taizong of Tang in the Taihe Palace?" Was it possible that the power of Li Yuanji and Li Jiancheng could also infiltrate Li Yuan's palace, or did they have instructions from Li Yuan?

[In addition to transferring Li Shimin's generals and soldiers, Li Jiancheng and Li Yuanji also falsely accused Du Ruhui and Fang Xuanling, two civil servants of the Qin Palace, and drove them back home.

After pacifying Wang Shichong and Dou Jiande, Li Shimin established the Academy of Literature and appointed 18 scholars, with whom he often discussed the meaning of classics. Fang Xuanling and Du Ruhui were two of the 18 scholars.

After doing all this, Li Yuanji did not end his action. He took the opportunity to suggest to Li Yuan that Li Shimin should be eliminated.

Li Yuan's answer was very interesting. He was not angry because Li Yuanji said he wanted to get rid of his own brothers. Instead, he said, "These people have made great contributions to the world, and their crimes have not been seen. If you want to kill them, what's the excuse?"

Li Yuanji replied: "The King of Qin often disobeyed the imperial edict. After pacifying Luoyang, he was arrogant and complacent. He did not know how to return to the capital immediately. Instead, he distributed money and goods to establish his favor. Isn't this rebellion?"

In this case, of course, "We must kill him quickly, and there will be no shortage of excuses!"

After Li Yuanji said all this, Li Yuan just said "No", and did not respond. Then Li Yuanji left. 】

Song Dynasty, the first year of Kaibao.

Zhao Kuangyin shook his head: "The roots of the court and royal struggles in the Tang Dynasty were actually planted as early as the founding of the country. It is not all the fault of Emperor Taizong of Tang." The Xuanwu Gate Incident that Emperor Taizong of Tang instigated did have an impact on the later generations of the Tang Dynasty, but tracing back to the source, the Xuanwu Gate Incident was not the beginning of such negative impact.

Zhao Dezhao and others nodded in agreement. In fact, the root of the problem had already arisen with Li Yuan.

No matter how fierce the fight between Li Jiancheng, Li Yuanji and Li Shimin was, whether they had already started to attack each other's lives in private, these should be private matters and must not be exposed to the sun.

It was wrong for Li Yuan to let his sons fight to such an extent. At this time, Li Yuanji directly told him that he wanted to kill Li Shimin. As a father, if one or two sons told him that they wanted to kill another son, this should be strictly stopped. At the very least, he should show an attitude.

But what about Li Yuan? He first said "Why should I say so?" and then "Emperor Gaozu was wrong", which fully shows that he had the intention to kill.

Could Li Yuanji and Li Jiancheng have noticed it? Of course they could.

The two men who realized that Li Yuan had murderous intentions towards Li Shimin, besides feeling that there was no obstacle to their actions, what else would they think? They would also think that since Li Yuan was like this towards Li Shimin, then was he also dissatisfied with them...

[Li Yuanji was about to lead Li Shimin's elite troops to counterattack the Turks. Li Jiancheng told him his plan before he took action.

"Since you have obtained the King of Qin's elite troops and commanded tens of thousands of people," that will be easy. When Li Shimin and I arrive at Kunming Lake to see you off, we will let the warriors kill him behind the curtain and then say that he died suddenly. I believe that "the Lord will believe it."

Then I asked someone to persuade Ye Ye to "let me handle the affairs of state". I asked him to hand over all the government affairs to me. When I ascend the throne, I will make you the crown prince.

As for Yuchi Jingde and others, since they have fallen into your hands, who dares not to obey when the time comes to kill them? 】

Qin Dynasty.

Ying Zheng wanted to sneer. This Li family was truly amazing.

Li Yuan wanted to kill one of his sons, and even said nothing when another son told him to kill his brother; although Li Shimin had not been released yet, judging from the final result, he had obviously taken action as well; needless to say, Li Yuanji had planned it many times.

What about the crown prince Li Jiancheng? Not to mention brothers, he is not even a good son. Killing Li Shimin is a natural thing. The promise to establish a younger brother as the crown prince is probably just empty talk. If Li Shimin really died, Li Jiancheng and Li Yuanji would have to fight to the death. But this "order to entrust me with state affairs" is not just to make Li Yuan hand over power and turn it into an empty shell?
However, these people in the Li family are probably not good sons, and their father is not a good father either.

Tang Dynasty, the eighth year of Wude.

The Xuanwu Gate Incident had already occurred in the ninth year of Wude, and although the situation was also quite tense at this time, the atmosphere gradually relaxed after the miracle pointed out Li Shimin's brilliant achievements.

However, at this time, all the court officials and nobles lowered their heads again. The emperor's family affairs, especially such explosive family affairs, are better to watch less.

Unlike the court officials, the people named by the miracle, Li Yuan, Li Shimin, Li Jiancheng, and Li Yuanji, all stood upright and looked calm, seemingly not affected by these things at all. [This incident was discovered by Wang Chao, the spy planted by Li Shimin in the Eastern Palace, and then reported to Li Shimin.

Everyone in the Qin Palace began to urge Li Shimin to take action. Although Li Shimin had not yet made a decision, he did not stop contacting his various forces.

For example, in order to be on the safe side, he sent Zhang Liang, the General of Chariots and Cavalry of the Tian Ce Palace, to Luoyang to secretly contact Shandong heroes in case of any emergency. This matter was discovered by Li Yuanji and reported to Li Yuan, but Zhang Liang did not reveal a single word under torture and was eventually released back to Luoyang.

Then, a big event happened: Taibai passed through the sky.

In May of the ninth year of Wude, Taibai appeared in the daytime. Fu Yi, then the Grand Historian, secretly reported to Li Yuan that Taibai saw the Qin Dynasty was divided and the King of Qin should rule the world. Li Yuan handed this secret report to Li Shimin.

But Taibai Jingtian did not end there.

On the first day of June, Taibai passed through the sky; on the third day, it passed through the sky again, still in Qinfen.

The rulers and ministers of dynasties after the Tang Dynasty knew about Taibai Jingtian, but the rulers and ministers of dynasties before that were all shocked.

Han Dynasty, the fourth year of Yuanshou.

"It would be fine if Taibai passed through the sky once, but it appeared three times during the day, and all of them were in Qin," Liu Che's opinion of Li Shimin changed again. "This is the will of God for the King of Qin to rule the world and shepherd the people!"

The ministers nodded one after another. If this astrological sign wasn’t God’s will, what else could it be?
The early years of the Han Dynasty.

"It turns out that Taibai passed through the sky three times." Xiao He sighed. This was the key that prompted the three parties of the Tang Dynasty to take the final step.

Three times! Three times, Taibai saw Qin divided, and the King of Qin/Qin should rule the world. If it was once, Li Yuan could still fool around, but three times, no emperor could let such a situation go.

When Li Yuan started to deal with it, if Li Shimin did not respond, the outcome would be predictable.

Liu Bang smiled meaningfully: "Tell me, how did Emperor Taizong of Tang accomplish this palace coup?"

In other words, the first target of this palace coup was Li Yuan, Li Jiancheng or Li Yuanji.

It was Xiao He who answered first: "If it is possible, the best option is of course to control Li Yuan." The fight between the Li family has long ceased to be a fight for the throne between princes, but a fight for the throne, and Li Yuan has already been involved - regardless of whether he is willing to join in or not, he has been pulled in and can no longer sit on the sidelines like his father in the traditional fight for the throne.

In this case, the best option is of course to control the emperor first, and then deal with Li Jiancheng and Li Yuanji, and the matter will be resolved satisfactorily.

"The next best option is to deal with Li Jiancheng and Li Yuanji first, and then go find Li Yuan." But the problem with this method is that Li Yuan is the emperor after all. If he is given time to react, he will still be able to mobilize the power of Chang'an, and the situation will not look good at that time.

Qing Dynasty, the 28th year of Kangxi's reign.

Kangxi watched the princes of the early Tang Dynasty fighting with each other, not only killing each other but also trying to attack their fathers. He couldn't help but feel somewhat satisfied with his own sons: My sons are pretty good, although sometimes they are not thoughtful enough and have been misled by treacherous officials in the court, but they are still filial after all!
I will teach my son!
[During this period, Li Shimin's confidants were repeatedly transferred away from Chang'an, and the palace was left with only 800 soldiers. Coupled with the news delivered by Wang Xu, the planning of the Qin Palace was further accelerated.

Although Li Shimin did not make a final decision at the beginning, as the situation changed and after being persuaded by Zhangsun Wuji, Gao Shilian, Yuchi Jingde and others, he finally decided to seize power by force.

So he sent Yuchi Jingde with his sword to secretly meet Fang Xuanling and Du Ruhui, and disguised them as Taoists and brought them into the mansion.

On the third day of June, after Taibai appeared three times across the sky, Li Shimin secretly reported to Li Yuan, accusing Li Jiancheng and Li Yuanji of committing adultery in the harem.

But this memorial was also a showdown, because Li Shimin said, "I have never let my brothers down in the slightest, yet you want to kill me." These two sentences, like Li Yuanji's request to kill Li Shimin, made all the situations clear to Li Yuan.

How did Li Yuan react? He was very surprised and finally said to Li Shimin: "I will interrogate this matter tomorrow. You should have reported it earlier."

Ming Dynasty, Hongwu Years.

In the prince's small circle, Zhu Bo complained again: "What did Emperor Gaozu of Tang say? What did he want Emperor Taizong of Tang to report earlier? What was he so shocked about?"

Did Li Yuan want Li Shimin to report his brothers as soon as possible so that he could be killed, or did he want his brothers to defile the harem?

Well, Zhu Bo personally thought that what Li Yuan was surprised about and wanted Li Shimin to report was the fact that Li Jiancheng and Li Yuanji had defiled the harem. After all, he already knew that his sons wanted to kill each other, didn't he?

[Next, it’s time to take action.]

On the fourth day of June, the famous Tang Dynasty palace coup, the Xuanwu Gate Incident, took place.

Let’s first briefly talk about the general process.

On the fourth day of June, Li Shimin took Zhangsun Wuji, Yuchi Jingde, Fang Xuanling, Du Ruhui, Gao Shilian and others into the palace to ambush. At this time, Li Yuan had already called Pei Ji, Xiao Yu, Chen Shuda, Feng Deyi, Yuwen Shiji, Dou Dan, Yan Shigu and others to deal with his son's affairs.

By the way, if you want to watch the Xuanwu Gate Incident, you must look at the floor plan of the Tang Dynasty Imperial Palace at that time.

Li Jiancheng and Li Yuanji rode their horses with weapons to the Linhu Palace, and suddenly realized something was wrong, so they planned to retreat to the East Palace immediately. But before they could do so, they were killed by Li Shimin and his men.

Afterwards, two thousand elite soldiers from the Eastern Palace and the Prince of Qi's Palace formed a battle formation to attack Xuanwu Gate, but were blocked by the guards. After a long battle, Li Shimin's generals came to support with more than a hundred cavalrymen, and the troops from the Eastern Palace and the Prince of Qi's Palace then retreated.

At this time, Li Yuan was boating on the sea pool with his ministers. When he learned that Li Jiancheng and Li Yuanji were dead, he was shocked and asked Pei Ji and others: "What happened today?" What should I do?
Xiao Yu and Chen Shuda replied, "I have heard that there is endless conflict between the inside and the outside, and the father and son are not close. If you don't make a decision when you should, you will suffer the consequences. Jiancheng and Yuanji did not make any plans when the righteous banner was first established; after the establishment, they have no merits and are always worried. They help each other to do evil, and cause internal strife, which has led to what is happening today." As a father, you must make a decision when you should, and the current situation of internal strife is all the fault of Li Jiancheng and Li Yuanji.

"The King of Qin has made great contributions to the country and the people are loyal to him. If you appoint him as the crown prince and let him handle state affairs, your majesty will be relieved of the burden and the people will naturally be at peace." The King of Qin has made great contributions to the country and everyone agrees that if you appoint him as the crown prince and let him handle state affairs, your majesty will be relieved of the burden and the people will naturally be at peace. This is a good thing!
Li Yuan then said: "Okay! This is what I have always thought."

So he ordered Li Shimin to be summoned and comforted him: "Recently, I was almost deceived by those rumors."

Afterwards, Li Shimin was made the crown prince and was in charge of government affairs.

……

(End of this chapter)