For the son of Tang Gaozu Li Yuan, most people only know Li Shimin, Li Jiancheng, and Li Yuanji. But if you have an in-depth understanding of Tang history, you will find that Li Yuan actually had twenty-two sons, while the other sons are little known.
Li Yuan's other sons are not conspicuous in history and have not contributed much, but his sixth son, Li Yuanjing, is a noteworthy figure. Although he did not leave a lot of traces in history, during the reign of Tang Gaozong Li Zhi, he became a central figure in a rebellion case.
The rebellion he led had a profound impact on the high-level political landscape of the early Tang Dynasty.
Li Yuanjing was born in 618 AD, the same year that the Tang Dynasty was founded. Before this, Li Yuan and his wife Dou had four sons, of which the third Li Xuanba died early, and the rest were Li Jiancheng, Li Shimin, and Li Yuanji.
After Li Yuan raised an army against the Sui, Li Zhiyun, the fifth son born to the concubine, was unfortunately killed. When the Tang Dynasty was founded, Li Yuan actually had only three sons. As the founding emperor, having only three sons was not enough.
Therefore, when Li Yuan occupied Chang'an, he immediately began to take concubines and give birth to children. At this time, his wife Dou had been dead for many years, and no one could stop him. Li Yuanjing was born in this context.
Li Yuanjing was the first son of Li Yuan after the founding of the Tang Dynasty. Although Li Yuan was overjoyed by his arrival, when the Tang Dynasty was first established, Li Yuan faced war.
Not long after Li Yuanjing was born, Liu Wuzhou attacked Taiyuan, and Li Yuanji, Li Yuanji, the third eldest of Li Yuan, fled directly, which made Li Yuan very dissatisfied. Taiyuan was the birthplace of Li Yuan, and he was unwilling to give up, so he sent Li Shimin to attack Liu Wuzhou, which was full of twists and turns.
It is conceivable that in the face of so many state affairs, Li Yuan should not have time to take care of the children, especially Li Yuanjing, who is just a concubine and cannot be compared with the three elder brothers in front of him.
In the following years, the Tang Dynasty gradually achieved the unification of the whole world, and the country's strength grew day by day. As a prince, Li Yuanjing is living a good life. At the age of three, he was named King of Zhao, and at the age of eight, he became the governor of Anzhou.
I have to admit that reincarnation is really a technical job. A child, when he doesn't understand anything, has been promoted to a powerful minister and crowned a king. However, those heroes who fought bloodily for the Li family in the process of the founding of the Tang Dynasty may not be able to get such an honor.
For example, Qin Qiong, the second master of Qin, who was famous in history, was only posthumously awarded the governor of Xuzhou after his death, which was almost the same as Li Yuanjing's treatment when he was eight years old. However, when Li Yuanjing was nine years old, the famous Xuanwumen Incident broke out in Chang'an City, and his second brother defeated his eldest and third brothers, and then forced his father to abdicate and ascend the throne himself as emperor.
Li Yuan has 22 sons, why is it that only Li Shimin, Li Jiancheng and Li Yuanji are fighting so fiercely? This is mainly because Li Yuanjing is only 9 years old, he is a concubine, he has no background, and the fight for the throne is meaningless to him at all.
After Li Shimin ascended the throne, he was okay with his other younger brothers, because they did not pose a threat. Li Yuanjing later became a king who kept to himself, did not do anything bad, he was already very lucky, and he didn't think about anything more.
However, Li Shimin treated Li Yuanjing quite well and gave him a lot of positions.
Li Yuanjing was promoted from King Zhao to King Jing, and although his title was lowered, he actually had more power. The clan of the Tang Dynasty could be an official, and Li Yuanjing gained real power when he grew up, so it can be said that he was promoted.
When he was 32 years old, his elder brother Li Shimin died, and his son Li Zhi ascended the throne, and Li Yuanjing's power was further enhanced.
Li Shimin died, and Li Yuanjing's ambitions began to swell. When Li Shimin was alive, Li Yuanjing naturally did not dare to think about it. However, Li Shimin's death and Li Zhi's succession to the throne were only 22 years old, and his strength was weak and difficult to convince the public.
At this time, Li Yuanjing had a dream in which he held the sun and moon, which was considered an omen in ancient times. Therefore, Li Yuanjing's ambition gradually swelled and he wanted to become emperor through a coup d'état.
However, it was not easy to realize this ambition, so Li Yuanjing found several helpers.
These assistants include Fang Xuanling's second son Fang Yiai, Li Shimin's seventeenth daughter Princess Gaoyang, Li Shimin's brother-in-law Xue Wanche and Li Yuan's grandson Chai Lingwu. Although they are all direct descendants of the high-level of the Tang Dynasty, they have lived a good life since they were children, and they have never suffered losses or been beaten, but they all have naughty personalities, like a group of bear children.
In particular, Princess Gaoyang had an affair with a monk and had an affair with Xuanzang, and was reprimanded by Li Shimin.
It would be inconceivable that these few people could successfully carry out a coup d'état! The only exception is Xue Wanche. He was indeed a brave and warlike general, who had already shown extraordinary combat effectiveness during the Sui Dynasty, and later followed Li Jiancheng.
During the Xuanwumen Rebellion, he led the Prince's Mansion army to the rescue, but unfortunately, when he arrived, Li Jiancheng had already died. Fortunately, Li Shimin was magnanimous, spared his life, and continued to reuse him.
The only motive why Xue Wanche was willing to get involved with this group of young people was that he had a discordant relationship with the new Li Zhi, and he was worried that Li Zhi would retaliate against him, so he chose to strike first.
In this small coup group, Xue Wanche is clearly the only member with sense. If the other members also possessed the wisdom of Xue Wanche, then they might pose a real threat to Li Zhi.
However, the rest of the members except him were incompetent and simply dragged their feet. The chances of this coup succeeding are almost nil. In fact, the coup was already doomed to failure since the small group began planning it.
Because although Li Zhi is still very young, the Zhenguan ministers left by Li Shimin are still alive, and everyone is very strong. Especially Li Zhi's uncle, the eldest grandson Wuji, he is the first person on the list of heroes of Lingyan Pavilion, and he was a fierce general who followed Li Shimin to death back then!
For this small group's little tricks, how could the eldest grandson Wuji not understand?
The eldest grandson, Wuji, acted in advance and successfully prevented the rebellion. Although Xue Wanche was tough, he was finally tortured to extract a confession and confessed to all. Li Yuanjing, like several other children, immediately collapsed in the face of torture to extract confessions.
The strength of the eldest grandson Wuji made Li Yuanjing and the others powerless to fight back. The fate of Li Yuanjing and his son warns us not to kill ourselves. However, Li Yuanjing's rebellion did not end because of this failure, but caused a greater impact in the years to come.
The eldest grandson Wuji, the head of the old ministers of Zhenguan, has always been in control of the situation. Li Yuanjing's small group plans are all under his control. He skillfully exploited this small group and turned it into his pawn.
After the rebellion case was exposed, he took this opportunity to connect many people and stabilize his position in the court. However, his power and status also threatened Li Zhi's position.
As Li Zhi's uncle and the number one hero on the list of Lingyan Pavilion, the eldest grandson Wuji's power is getting bigger and bigger, making Li Zhi feel that he is the biggest obstacle. In order to solve this problem, Li Zhi had to cooperate with his concubine Wu Meiniang and successfully got rid of the eldest grandson Wuji.
This incident paved the way for Wu Zetian's ascension.
If it weren't for this rebellion, the eldest grandson Wuji might not have such a high level of power, and perhaps there would not have been a series of events that happened later. On today's headlines, I wrote a book called "Those People and Things in the Tang Dynasty", for friends who are interested in Tang history, you can click the link to read it for free!