Du Fu once wrote a poem "Jiangnan in the Year of the Turtle": "It is often seen in the palace of King Qi, and I listened to it several times in front of Cui Jiutang. This little poem describes how he and Li Guinian met several times at the home of King Qi and Li Guinian to reminisce about old love.
I don't know if you will be wondered, why did Du Fu specifically mention King Qi and Cui Jiu? In fact, Du Fu's poem was not chosen randomly, and it has another meaning.
Whether it is King Qi or Cui Jiu in the Kaiyuan period, they all have an extraordinary status. "Cui Jiu" is Tang Xuanzong's favorite minister Cui Di, and "Qi Wang" is Tang Xuanzong's brother Li Fan.
You must know that during the reign of Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty, King Qi had extraordinary power. If you want to know how powerful this Qi King is, you have to start with a few things in the Li family.
Li Longfan, the king of Qi, was born in 686 AD in the family of an emperor, and his name was "Long Fan". As a prince, his background is not simple. His father, Emperor Li Dan, not only ascended the throne, but also carved a special trace in the history books.
After the death of Tang Gaozong Li Zhi, Li Dan's third brother Li Xian succeeded to the throne, that is, Tang Zhongzong, the founding emperor of the Tang Dynasty, the world was in chaos, the world was in chaos. However, the world is impermanent, and not long after Li Xian ascended the throne, he was overthrown by Wu Zetian as the queen mother, and Li Dan ascended the throne.
Li Longfan has been in a unique position since the day he was born, and his life's experiences are closely related to the rise and fall of the nation.
Li Dan's ascension to the throne was actually under the control of Wu Zetian, who lost his freedom and was confined in the palace, isolated from the outside world. As a result, there was his youngest son, Li Longfan.
Li Longfan is neither the son of Li Dan, nor the son of a descendant, let alone a descendant. Before he ascended the throne, he had two sons: the eldest son Li Chengqi and the second son Li Chengyi. After Li Dan became emperor, he and Dou Guifei had a third son, Li Longji, who was also his father.
In the next two years, Li Dan had three sons, but the sixth died early, and the fourth Li Longfan inherited the position of the Qi Palace.
As soon as Li Longfan was born, the whole family was locked up in the deep palace. When Li Longfan was 6 years old, the powerful Wu Zetian overthrew Li Dan and proclaimed himself emperor.
Li Dan was named the prince, but Wu Zetian did not relax his surveillance of Li Dan's family and still locked them in the palace. Eight years later, Wu Zetian finally changed his mind and canonized his third son Li Xian as the prince, and Li Dan was also canonized as the prime minister of the Chengwang Mansion.
Since then, Li Dan has never had the throne, and there is no chance to fight for power and profit, and their family can be regarded as a relief. Li Dan's five children have been imprisoned for more than ten years, so they have a good relationship with each other.
Because Li Longfan was under house arrest and was strictly guarded, he received an education that was different from that of ordinary aristocratic families. After being confined, his love for ** deepened, and it can almost be said that he is a lifelong wish.
Among Li Dan's five sons, except for Li Longji, the other four are similar to him. Due to the particularity of their early life, their hobbies for piano, chess, and painting, but it is this difference that makes Li Longji have a mind and ambition that is different from ordinary people. This, of course, provided a stage for many of the events that followed.
Li Dan's family, during that time, finally got out of the whirlpool of power disputes and gained a period of peace. But in 705, when Wu Zetian was seriously ill, Zhang Cambodia launched a rebellion when she was seriously ill, forcing Wu Zetian to abdicate and hand over power to Li Xian.
This is known as the "Shenlong Coup".
When Li Longfan was twenty years old, "Shenlong" staged a coup d'état. Since Li Xian returned to the throne, Li Dan's family has regained their freedom, and several of his children can also embark on official careers. Although Li Longfan has joined the office, he has never been involved in politics, and his life is good.
His imperial brother, Li Longji, was an extremely ambitious man who made good connections and laid good conditions for launching a rebellion in the future. During this time, the life of Li Dan's family has been much better, but the fighting in the court has not stopped.
After Lee Hsien returned to power, Webster's mother was also a careerist, and in order to eradicate her enemies, she once again caused a bloody war. A few years later, when Wei took power, she poisoned Li Xian, and supported the young emperor to succeed to the throne with the respect of the queen mother, in an attempt to restore the glory of Wu Zetian.
At this juncture, Li Longji suddenly appeared and rebelled with his aunt, Princess Peace, killing Wei and putting Li Dan on the throne. After Li Dan ascended the throne, Li Longji was made the prince, and Li Fan was restored to his title.
He was canonized as the "King of Qi", and the general of the left imperial forest, responsible for guarding the palace, so he had the name of "King Qi". However, after Li Dan ascended the throne, the battle in the court was still very fierce, and Princess Taiping's ambitions were getting bigger and bigger, and she wanted to further strengthen her power.
As a result, Li Longji became Wu Zetian's first target, and a dispute between uncle and nephew began.
However, this time the nephew dispute turned out to be beyond everyone's expectations. Princess Taiping is ready to abolish Li Longji's position as the prince on the grounds that Li Longji is not the son of the main family, and let Li Dan's heirs inherit the throne.
Compared with Li Longji, these princes are more weak in temperament and easier to control. However, Li Longji's four elder brothers all strongly opposed it, and they all unswervingly supported Li Longji and assisted him and Princess Taiping in their struggle for power.
In ancient China, brothers often fought for power, even to the death. But there was also a time when in front of power and the throne, they resolutely said no, and even helped their brother seize power.
That's a rarity. What's going on? I don't know if it was because of the lock-up in the first place, the relationship between these brothers has become so close. What's more, after being imprisoned for many years, they have long seen through the sinister power struggle, and they are even more unwilling to work for power.
All in all, none of them made concessions to their aunt's kindness, but resolutely supported Li Longji. Among these people, Li Longfan is the most resolute.
Later, Li Dan, as the king of a country, decided to pass the throne to Li Longji and make him the emperor in order to calm down this hatred and prevent any bloody storm. But no one expected that Princess Taiping would not give up, and was even ready to launch a rebellion again and oust Li Longji from the throne.
When Princess Taiping was plotting to rebel, Li Longji took the initiative to attack and kill all his party members. In the end, it was she herself who was put to death. In this famous "congenital coup" in the history of the rebellion, Li Longfan always charged forward with the former general of the left emperor and the imperial forest emperor to ensure that Li Longji successfully ascended the throne.
In addition, several of Li Longji's elder brothers also contributed to the rebellion together. Li Longji consolidated his position after the coup d'état, and the rest of his brothers did not covet power, and all chose to live freely.