As Li Shimin's favorite son, he was made the crown prince when he was young, but he admired the Turks when he became an adult, not only openly led the palace people to dress up as Turks, imitate the diet and daily life of the Turks, but also turned against his father for a ten-year-old stunning male favorite. But even so, Li Shimin never thought of abolishing the prince and standing again.
Who is this prince who makes the brothers jealous?Why is Li Shimin's feelings for him so different?
In 631 A.D. (the fifth year of Zhenguan), Li Shimin, who had always been calm, had been absent-minded when he went to the last court, and after the next court, he went straight to the palace of the eldest grandson empress, and asked repeatedly: "How is Qian'er's illness?"His illness was not good, and my heart was like tormenting in a pan of oil. ”
Knowing that Li Chengqian's illness still did not improve, Li Shimin, who did not believe in gods and Buddhas, actually began to pray to God and worship Buddha with Empress Changsun, and promised the Buddha that if Li Chengqian's condition improved, he would worship the ancestral temple, build temples on a large scale, and also recruit 3,000 people to become monks.
Empress Changsun asked Li Shimin: "Your Majesty, you have never believed in gods and Buddhas, why do you want to do this?"”
Li Shimin replied: "As long as there is a glimmer of hope, as long as I can save Qian'er, any method for me is worth trying, even if I want to cut my blood and flesh!"”
While speaking, Li Shimin seemed to see his son struggling and crying when he was just born.
This is Li Shimin and Empress Changsun's first child, Li Chengqian. At that time, Li Shimin was still the king of Qin, very young, and Li Chengqian's arrival made him experience the joy of being a father for the first time, and also pinned his hope for the future and the awe of the continuation of life, so his status in his heart was very different.
According to historical records, Li Chengqian was born in the Chengqian Hall of Taiji Palace, so he was personally named "Chengqian" by Li Yuan, the ancestor of the Tang Dynasty. This name not only represents the dignity of the birthplace, but also means "inheriting the imperial industry and leading the world", which entrusts Tang Gaozu with high hopes for the emperor's eldest grandson.
It is said that reincarnation is a technical job, and Li Chengqian must have been full of skill points when he was reincarnated.
In 620 A.D. (the third year of Wude), Li Chengqian, who was still in infancy, was named the king of Hengshan, which can be said to be a real "lying to win" by birth;
In 622 A.D. (the third year of Wude), Li Chengqian was three years old, and the nephew of the princess of Qin, the grandson of the eldest grandson, and the eldest grandson Jiaqing were appointed as Li Chengqian's attendants
In 624 A.D. (the seventh year of Wude), Li Chengqian was 5 years old, migrated to the king of Zhongshan, and studied Confucian classics under the teaching of Lu Deming and Kong Yingda, two Confucian masters, which is equivalent to having two academician teachers during kindergarten;
In 626 A.D. (the ninth year of Wude), Li Shimin ascended the throne, and Li Chengqian, who was only 8 years old, was canonized as the crown prince.
In order to make Li Chengqian a qualified person, Li Shimin, like many parents in the era of involution, incarnated as a "wolf father" and provided sufficient hardware conditions.
In his studies and life, Li Shimin devoted a lot of effort to Li Chengqian, not only found him a companion with excellent qualifications and family backgrounds, and invited a well-known contemporary Confucian, but also took him into contact with different government affairs since he was a child in order to cultivate Li Chengqian's ability to handle government affairs.
Li Chengqian did not disappoint Li Shimin, and has always played the role of a good son and a good prince. At the age of twelve, he was already able to handle political affairs for Li Shimin with ease.
Li Shimin even ordered that as long as there was a case that could not be resolved, the plaintiff could go to Li Chengqian's East Palace to file a lawsuit. When Li Shimin went out to inspect the people's situation, he also asked Li Chengqian to supervise the state and handle the affairs of the DPRK and China.
For Li Chengqian, as long as he enjoys his father's favor steadily, he can directly succeed to the throne when his father dies.
But who would have thought that more than 20 years later, he would rebel when Li Shimin still loves him and has no desire to waste his savings!The rebellion is just that, and the process is extremely sloppy and absurd, what is going on?
In 636 AD, Empress Changsun died, and Li Chengqian lost his biological mother and the most unconditional gentleness, tolerance and protection. He was 18 years old this year, and his life was divided into two very different periods.
One day three years later, approaching the birthday of Empress Changsun, Li Shimin missed his wife and was sad, so he only took his personal attendant to relax in the palace, and walked to Li Chengqian's residence. This is the first child he and Empress Changsun had, and it was also the child that Empress Changsun missed the most when she died.
Li Shimin's heart moved, and he planned to go to his son for a drink and talk about his heart, but as soon as he walked to the door, he heard a noise inside, mixed with Chinese and Turkic languages, as well as cheers and vulgar jokes. The little eunuch guarding the door was so frightened that his face turned pale and trembled, but he didn't dare to say a word under Li Shimin's signal.
Li Shimin leaned on the door and listened for a moment, and pushed open the door with a blue face, only to see Li Chengqian and the others dressed up as Turkic, lighting a bonfire and setting up a tent in the courtyard, and two palace maids in leather skirts roasting mutton on the bonfireThere was also a boy with a soft demeanor sitting on Li Chengqian's lap, and he was bringing a glass of wine to his mouth.
Li Chengqian did not open his mouth to take the wine, but licked the boy's hand with a demeanor, and then held the wine glass and drank it up after a coquettish white eye.
At this time, Li Shimin, who was standing at the door, was so angry that he could barely speak, and only after everything absurd in the courtyard was quickly cleaned up by the inner guards, Li Shimin came to his senses a little. Under his thunderous rage, the male pet who sat on Li Chengqian's lap and flattered was executed on the spot, and all the palace people who followed Li Chengqian to mess around were sent to prison and severely punished.
I thought that the matter would end here, after all, the matter of Li Chengqian's pampering of a ten-year-old boy had long been rumored, but no matter how the courtiers wrote to accuse Li Chengqian, Li Shimin's attitude was always firm to protect his son.
Now that this male pet is dead, Li Chengqian must have repented after this incident, right?
How do you know that instead of repenting, he set up a memorial place for the male pet in the palace, and built a tomb and a monument, and often paid tribute. The death of the male pet aroused the long-hidden rebellion in Li Chengqian's heart, and his behavior became even more absurd from then on.
He had a huge pot forged, and fugitive slaves were hired to steal the people's livestock, and then he himself boiled the stolen animals in a cauldron and shared them with his men. He also openly declared: "In the future, when I become emperor, I must enjoy all the pleasures to the fullest, and if someone advises me, I will immediately kill them, and after killing hundreds of people, those who admonish me will not dare to speak anymore." ”
As soon as these words came out, the ministers were in an uproar.
Li Shimin can see Li Chengqian's tremendous changes and rejection and alienation of himself clearly, but he can't figure out why his son, who has always been sensible, suddenly became like this
As a matter of fact, the root cause of Li Chengqian's "deterioration" lies in Li Shimin.
As a father, Li Shimin is an out-and-out "wolf father", he believes that as long as he gives his son the best education and the best care, his son should grow up according to his vision, until he grows into what he expects.
But he only paid attention to his son's daily life, but did not pay attention to his son's mental health.
As the crown prince, Li Chengqian has enjoyed the best education, but he is also burdened with the greatest pressure, and even has been suppressed from his child's nature. He can't play wantonly, he can't show fear, weakness, and he must be "humble and thirsty" in the face of courtiers, and he can't show the slightest dissatisfaction or resistance.
Just imagine, even Li Shimin himself was often angry in the face of important ministers such as Wei Zheng and Pei Lian, and even almost beheaded Wei Zheng once, not to mention Li Chengqian, a child who was still a minor?
In the past, these suppressed emotions and grievances were gently relieved by his mother, Empress Changsun, but since his mother's death, no one cares about whether the young Li Chengqian has the emotions that a "person" should have.
Under heavy pressure, it will inevitably erupt, and Li Chengqian's "rebellious period" will come quickly and violently.
In addition, the foot disease caused by frailty since childhood continued to worsen with age, and as the lame walking became more and more obvious, Li Chengqian's heart gradually distorted and began to indulge his desires, but it also attracted more fierce criticism from the courtiers.
According to historical records, in 639 AD, when Li Chengqian was 21 years old, he built a house with his own design drawings, and the ministers criticized the prince for being too extravagantSeeing the crown prince playing games with the eunuchs in the palace, he compared the prince to Qin II.
Li Chengqian's nursing mother once persuaded the prince's auxiliary minister Kong Yingda to let him take care of the prince's face, but Kong Yingda said that he should say it even if he died, this seems to be the duty of a courtier, how can there be no self-proclaimed "minister" in it?
It was precisely these "admonishing ministers" who stepped on the prince's reputation for virtue that caused Li Chengqian to be extremely disgusted with the auxiliary ministers, and in the end, the more they admonished, the more Li Chengqian did the opposite.
In the face of the contradictions between the crown prince and the important ministers, Li Shimin repeatedly made it clear that he would "never be a different prince", and he was always looking for various ways to save his son, but Li Chengqian made a sloppy and absurd move, completely ruining his future.
His father's obvious alienation from himself, the increasingly outstanding performance of his younger brothers, and his inferiority complex for his leg disease made Li Chengqian's inner security less and less, and despair seemed to engulf him.
Li Chengqian didn't realize that a lot of the panic in his heart was actually a projection of his own dissatisfaction with himself. In fact, his father is still the father who loves him, and his younger brother's excellence has never shaken Li Shimin's maintenance of the orthodoxy of his grandson.
Not to mention that Li Shimin, who had experienced the Xuanwumen Change, paid more attention to the maintenance of orthodoxy in order to prevent the world from criticizing, and there are even historical records that after Li Chengqian's conspiracy against Li Chengqian was exposed, Li Shimin and Li Chengqian had such a dialogue:
You didn't want to destroy you when your feet were crippled, so why did you do this?”
You left the King of Wei in Chang'an and didn't let him go to the fiefdom, have you ever thought about how I feel as a prince?”
Li Chengqian's despair, inferiority, and helplessness can be seen. It was under the impetus of these emotions that Li Chengqian developed his opposition to his father to the extreme, and he began to plan a coup d'état, wanting to sit in a high position through extraordinary means like his father.
However, Li Chengqian lacked military power, and at this time, Hou Junji appeared.
Because he was greedy for ink and concealed his personal interests in the battle of Gaochang and did not receive Li Shimin's reward, Hou Junji has always had a lot of resentment in his heart, so when Li Chengqian invited him to discuss major affairs, he did not hesitate to take refuge in Li Chengqian and actively helped Li Chengqian plan a coup d'état.
Unfortunately, but fortunately, before the mutiny, Li Chengqian's attempt to rebel was discovered by Li Shimin.
Li Shimin was furious and imprisoned Li Chengqian, and the main participants included his fifth son, Li You, all of whom were given to death without exception. But in the face of the mastermind, Li Shimin hesitated, he poured a lot of effort into Li Chengqian, and never expected such an ending.
In the end, Li Shimin tried his best to ignore public opinion, showed mercy outside the law, and gave Li Chengqian a way out, he demoted Li Chengqian to a concubine, and exiled him to Qianzhou. At the same time, in order to avoid the execution of Li Chengqian after other sons ascended the throne, Li Shimin chose Li Zhi, who was the most kind-hearted, as the crown prince.
It's a pity that although Li Shimin paved the way for Li Chengqian, a year later, Li Chengqian finally died of illness in Qianzhou due to too much depression in his heart, at the age of 26. Li Shimin once again made an exception for him and issued an edict to bury him with a national ceremony.
It can be said that if Li Chengqian had not rebelled, Li Shimin would most likely not have deposed the crown prince, and this can be seen from his dialogue with Li Chengqian after Li Chengqian's defeat and his handling of Li Chengqian's many extrajudicial favors.
Li Shimin is a Ming monarch, but as a father, he failed, which is also what he regretted the most in his later years.
Judging from his early performance, Li Chengqian is undoubtedly highly qualified, but no matter how good his qualifications are, he will be bent and deformed in the face of strong pressure. Just like in modern society, how many children have low self-esteem, negativity and even depression under the shadow and pressure brought by "other people's children"?And Li Chengqian is even more unfortunate, he has to be the "child of someone else's family", and there is no way back.
The root of Li Chengqian's depravity lies in the long-term high-pressure control and meticulous arrangements, which made him lose the opportunity for self-exploration.
It's just that when the final ending came, did they ever think that if the gentle Empress Eldest Sun hadn't died, would Li Chengqian have come to such a desperate situation?What do you think?