In the twenty-third year of Tang Zhenguan (649 AD), Li Shimin, another Tang Taizong who could be crowned with the title of "Great Emperor" after Emperor Qin and Han Wu, died. When the news came out, it was natural that the world should be vegetarian and all the people should mourn together, and all entertainment activities should be banned, but this is a regular routine that must be followed after the death of the emperor, and people are accustomed to it. What's more, this Emperor Taizong has always been diligent in government and loves the people, and the people have lived a good life in the more than 20 years he has been in power, so the heart of mourning will naturally have a few more true feelings than usual, but that's almost it.
Li Shimin is a good emperor worthy of the memory of his time and future generations, except for his relatives.
Although His Majesty the Emperor claims to be the "monarch father" of all the people in the world, in fact, no one really regards him as his own father. Therefore, those who can shed a few tears without squeezing during mourning are considered loyal, and most people may find it difficult to fool the scene without the help of some ginger mustard. After all, the people of Shengdou are most concerned about the firewood, rice, oil and salt in front of them, no matter how good the emperor is, he is too far away, and it is difficult to empathize.
But soon the people of Chang'an, the capital of Beijing, were frightened by the "performance art" of a group of outsiders:
"Hundreds of people from the four Yi entered the court and came to pay tribute, and they all wept when they heard the mourning, cut their hair, cut their faces, cut their ears, and shed blood on the ground. (Zizhi Tongjian, Volume 199, Tang Ji 15).In fact, this is just a highly civilized Tang people who have long been "rare and strange" - self-mutilation such as cutting hair, fingers, ears, and noodles (剺音 "lí", that is, cutting the cheeks with a knife) and other self-mutilation behaviors are unique funeral rites of northern nomads, and they often do this when a close relative or big person dies to express their mourning. Although the customs and habits of the ethnic groups from the Xiongnu, Xianbei to the Turks are slightly different, they are basically mixed together, and it is reasonable to make any way to get them.
And compared with simple crying and worship, although this way of commemoration is scary and not in line with Tang customs, it seems to be much more sincere after all, so Li Zhi, who has just ascended the throne of Tang Gaozong, can only let it go.
But soon he couldn't sit still, because the Duke of Bi Guo, Ashina Sheer (Turkic), and the Duke of Yuguo, Qibi He Li (Tiele people), came to him and asked to be martyred and follow the first emperor!
Human martyrdom was popular in the pre-Qin period, but with the increasing popularity of Confucian values, it gradually declined, and although it was not extinct, it was no longer the mainstream. However, it was different outside the Saiwai, and it was not until the twelfth year of Kangxi in the Qing Dynasty (1674 AD) that the bad custom of human martyrdom was completely banned, so every time there was a khan or something hanging in the Tang Dynasty, a large number of living people had to be buried at every turn. However, at that time, the people who were buried were usually wives and concubines or slaves, and they were basically forced, and nobles like Ashina Sheer and Qibi He Li were generally not required to be buried, unless they felt that they were a scourge and had to be killed.
In China, where civilization is highly developed, inhumane martyrdom has long been replaced by clay figurines and stone statues.
It can be seen that these two people are truly loyal to Emperor Li, and they must follow and serve even if they go underground. But Li Zhi couldn't agree to this - regardless of the fact that the morals and values at that time no longer supported this inhumane funeral, he said that even the "foreigners" of the family had to be martyred for the first emperor, where did you put the face of the nobles of the Manchu clan and the important ministers of the civil and military forces? Can they all be buried? Li Zhi still wants his son to inherit his father's business and create brilliance, how can he not have the assistance of these guys?
So Li Zhi had no choice but to fool these two honest grassland men, saying that my father knew that you were great loyal ministers, and he would definitely make a fuss after his death, so he had already "taken the predicate and did not allow it" ("Old Tang Book, Volume 19, Biography 59"). Since you are loyal ministers, you have to be obedient, go back and live a good life, and don't talk about this kind of moth anymore.
In fact, I searched through all kinds of official histories, and I didn't find the original text of Emperor Li's "Ancestral Decree", and it is estimated that it is Li Zhi's "false holy decree". However, this anecdote also shows that Li Shimin has indeed won the hearts of the people and won the heartfelt love and loyalty of his courtiers.
A very important reason is that he is generous - as the actual founding monarch who is most worthy of the title of "although it is said to be successful, it is actually the same as creation", in Li Shimin's life, he basically did not kill heroes indiscriminately.
Ashina Sheer was the son of Ashina Lifu, the Eastern Turk Khan of the Luo Khan. Before the ninth year of Zhenguan (635 AD) was attached to the Tang Dynasty, the theme word of his life for more than 30 years was the word "betrayal" - both people betrayed themselves and others, and those who betrayed each other with him were either close relatives or friends. At that time, if anyone told Sheer that "there is true love in the world", it was estimated that he would be able to spit on him.
The Tang Dynasty was tolerant and generous to the Hu people, and most of the Hu people were also loyal to the Tang Dynasty, and scourges like An Lushan were only a very rare phenomenon.
The same is true of the situation of Chebi Holi. In the blizzard and wind on the grassland, there is never such a thing as loyalty, filial piety, benevolence and righteousness, and the only thing that can support people to live is that people are not for themselves, and the heavens and the earth will be destroyed. Therefore, in the hearts of Sheer and He Li at that time, I am afraid that there has never been such a word as loyalty and death, and the only reason why they voted for Tang is that they can't go on anymore, and they are just breathing for a while under the wings of Datang for the time being. If one day the waist is stiff, it is inevitable to betray again, and there will be no psychological burden.
However, they soon discovered to their astonishment that they had come and surrendered, but they could never return.
Why? Because Li Shimin was too good to them. Not only is there no shortage of population and land, but there is also a lot of more, and there is no shortage of officials and rewards, and princesses and clan daughters are also given as wives. The most important thing is that His Majesty the Emperor did not raise them as pigs, let alone simply as horse bones for fishing, but sincerely trusted and used them. For example, when the troops were sent to conquer, the imaginary fate of cannon fodder did not appear in the tribal soldiers of Sheer and He Li, on the contrary, there were often scenes of the Tang army gnawing hard bones and cooperating with the soldiers eating meat and drinking soup. Even Emperor Li often didn't care about letting She'er and He Litong lead the Tang army to battle, and didn't treat them as outsiders at all.
Only the human heart is the most unpredictable in the world, but some people will take revenge, and some people will repay their kindness. Ashina Sheer and Qibi He Li were obviously the latter, and they were completely moved by Li Shimin's generosity and trust, so they took the initiative to ask for a funeral.
In addition to these alien people, who are considered by many to be "their hearts must be different", Li Shimin's generosity towards his subordinates is very rare among the emperors of previous dynasties.
In fact, with the chaotic and coaxing virtue of Li Shimin's military ministers, any one of the founding kings of the country will probably be tempted to pick up the butcher's knife and cut him with a river of blood.
Why? Just look at the composition of the Tang Dynasty in the early years of Zhenguan, which makes people can't help but have a headache for Emperor Li.
Li Shimin's eighteen bachelors actually rely on Fang Du to support the façade.
When it comes to Zhenguan Wenchen, there are always people who will mention the eighteen bachelors of the Literature Museum. In fact, in addition to "Fang Mou Du Xuan" among the eighteen bachelors, Du Ruhui couldn't wait to hang up in the fourth year of Zhenguan (630 AD), and Yu Zhining and Xu Jingzong still had some ability to manage things, but when they came out, it was already a matter of Li Zhi being the emperor. The rest of the one counts as one, and it is competent to study knowledge or teach students, and don't expect the rest.
Therefore, in the political situation during the Zhenguan period, Li Shimin actually relied on Fang Xuanling, a "personal person" like Fang Xuanling, who was struggling to support (Gao Shilian could only be counted as half because of his ability), and later had to change his brother-in-law's eldest grandson Wuji to a civilian assistant. The rest are either old ministers left by the Wude Dynasty such as Pei Lian, Xiao Yu, Chen Shuda, Wen Yanbo, and Yang Shidao, or vassals such as Yu Wenshi, Cen Wenwen, Wei Zheng, Liu Xun, and Chu Suiliang. In the end, as a last resort, Emperor Li had no choice but to continue to let military generals like Li Jing, Hou Junji, Zhang Liang, and Li Shiyun become prime ministers, and as a result, a lot of grand occasions of "entering and exiting the prime minister" were created.
When Li Shimin couldn't find anyone to be the prime minister, he always endlessly "filled in the text with force", could it be that the generals under his command were more loyal and upright than the civil ministers? In fact, on the contrary, the situation is simply worse than that of Wenchen.
One of the largest groups is the demote. For example, Li Jing, Li Shiyun, Wei Chigong, Cheng Zhijie, Qin Qiong, Qu Tutong, Zhang Liang, Zhang Gongjin, and Li Daliang, Li Mengwei, Liu Shili, Niu Jinda, Li Junxian and others, who were not ranked among the 24 meritorious heroes of Lingyan Pavilion, did not start with the old Li family at the earliest. And among them, there are many rebels who have rebelled against Qin and Twilight, and even again and again, and almost all of them are women who have milk.
The second is clan generals like Li Xiaogong and Li Shentong. It is said that the clan has always been the most troublesome group for the emperor, and if there is no one, it will not work, and if there is more, it will be a disaster. And these guys definitely have no opinion on the old Li family, but it's hard to say how loyal they are to the person surnamed Li who sits on the dragon chair, so they can't be trusted much.
The rest are the emperor's henchmen, such as the eldest grandson Wuji, Duan Zhixuan, Chai Shao, Hou Junji, Liu Hongji, etc. However, this group of people is not only too small in number, but also either injured or died early (Duan Zhixuan, Chai Shao), or unbearable (Liu Hongji), or simply had a second heart (Hou Junji), so Li Shimin had to take his uncle as a panacea, **out of the hole** to make up for it.
Among the twenty-four heroes of Lingyan Pavilion, there are very few who can "start from the beginning".
In such a difficult situation of personnel, I am afraid that an emperor like Liu Bang and Zhu Yuanzhang will have to wash the court in blood a long time ago. But during Li Shimin's reign of 23 years, he only killed Hou Junji, Zhang Liang and Li Junxian, three important ministers, which is not only because of his generosity, but also reflects his high degree of self-confidence and superb imperial means.
And among them, Hou Junji and Zhang Liang, as a change, in which dynasty and which generation they are, they should be cut by a thousand cuts. The only one who was killed in vain may be Li Junxian, the unlucky guy:
"At the beginning of Zhenguan, Taibai saw it frequently during the day, and Taishi Zhan said: 'Female Sanchang. There are also rumors: 'There should be a warrior king.' 'Taizong's evil ......Taizong made a wine order because of the military attaché's internal banquet, and each said a nickname. Jun Xian claimed to be nicknamed 'Five Niangzi', Taizong was stunned, because he laughed and said: 'What a woman, so brave! 'And the envy of the feudal towns and subordinate counties all have the word 'martial', which is deeply hated. Hui Yu Shi Jun Xian and the demon Dao Xin conspired with each other, and they would be wrong, so they issued an edict. (Old Tang Book, Volume 69, Biography 19).Li Shimin is a wise man through the ages, so naturally he will not kill heroes indiscriminately, which is not surprising. But in fact, unlike the mindset that almost equates the founding of the country with the killing of meritorious heroes in the minds of many people, the phenomenon of killing a wave of meritorious heroes every time the foundation is established in China's more than 2,000 years of dynastic history is a very rare phenomenon, not a common phenomenon.
With the domineering of the first emperor, he didn't bother to use murder to establish his authority.
Qin destroyed the Six Kingdoms, who did the First Emperor kill? Someone may come as soon as they open their mouths - Meng Tian, Meng Yi, Li Si! In fact, these people, including Feng Zheng and Feng Quji, were killed by Hu Hai and Zhao Gao. Moreover, the first emperor has swept the world, Hu Hai is a second ancestor, and it is not his turn to start the country.
In fact, if the first emperor wanted to kill the heroes, the most important thing to kill was Wang Jian and Wang Ben's father and son. Why? Because of the Qin annihilation of the Six Kingdoms, almost all of them died at the hands of these two men except for South Korea, this is no longer a problem of high merit and high power. But if the first emperor is a little smaller, no matter how good old Wang Jian is at self-pollution, I am afraid that he will not be able to escape the fate of being unloaded and killed by the donkey.
But that didn't happen. Probably the First Emperor felt that it was unnecessary, because people were so confident.
And Han Taizu Liu Bang does not have this kind of self-confidence. When he wanted to be beaten into a dog, Lao Pi pulled down his face and desperately bribed the kings who were divided by Xiang Yu, and the generals under his command made contributions, and he did not hesitate to reward the princes. But after the ass sat firmly in the world, he immediately turned his face and didn't recognize people - Han Wangxin was forced to surrender to the Huns, Peng Yue was chopped into meat sauce, Zang Di and Yingbu were defeated and killed, and a generation of soldiers Han Xin could not escape death, and even Lu Xuan, who was close to the "hair small", was so frightened that he fled outside the Saiwai. The reason why Zhang Liang and Xiao He, who were both the three heroes of the early Han Dynasty, were spared was not because Lao Liu's knife was unfavorable, but because the former did not love power and knew how to avoid trouble, while the latter was good at self-pollution, so he escaped.
After getting rid of a large number of kings with different surnames, Liu Bang simply forced his courtiers to sign a white horse oath with him in order to prevent future troubles:
"If you are not the king of the Liu family, if you do not do what you want, the world will punish you. (Historical Records, Volume 17, Preface to the Chronology of Princes and Kings since the Han Dynasty).After the founding of the People's Republic of China, it was Liu Bang who set up the first example of large-scale meritorious heroes. It is Liu Bang who uses clear grammar to eliminate kings with different surnames and make the world a family with one surname.
However, after 200 years of wealth, the descendants of the old splashy skin have also grown a little cheeky, and after Emperor Guangwu Liu Xiu returned to the Han Dynasty, he killed Liu Yang, Deng Feng, Pang Meng, Jiang Heng, Han Xin, Ouyang She and several others. Among them, the first 4 people rebelled, and Ouyang She was too ruthless, and they all deserved to die, but Han Xin was forced to commit suicide because of his direct advice, which can be regarded as Liu Xiu's stain. As for the main heroes who followed him to fight the world, such as the 28 generals of Yuntai, they basically got a good death.
Compared with the ancestor Liu Bang, Liu Xiu is already a noble royal nobleman, and he can calm people's hearts without killing people.
**The family generation Wei basically did not use swords, so Sima Yan could not commit slashing people wantonly. And the weakness of the imperial power of the Eastern Jin Dynasty can be called the crown of all dynasties, the Jin Yuan Emperor Sima Rui was not hacked to death by the ministers under his hands, and it was a blessing to have a good end, and he still wanted to cut people? He has to have this ability, too!
In fact, in addition to the two Jin Dynasty, from the end of the Han Dynasty to the Sui Dynasty in the nearly 400 years, every time there was a change of dynasty, it became almost common to kill heroes. Why? Because if you don't kill, you can't do it, even if you kill the remaining few you miss, it's a scourge, because maybe another day they will carry a knife to slaughter the old master and set themselves up as emperors. For example, before the famous Liu Song general Tan Daoji was killed by suspicion, he said angrily "It is the Great Wall of Ru Wanli" ("Book of Song, Volume 43, Lie Biography III") Is there any reason? Certainly makes sense. But Emperor Wen of the Song Dynasty Liu Yilong also has his reason - your Lao Tan may not have any objections today, but who can guarantee that there will be no in the future? The Wei of the Northern Dynasty divided the east and the west into Zhou and Qi, which was not done by the powerful ministers who held military power? Before the Southern Dynasty in the Song Dynasty, before the Jin Dynasty, Qi usurped the Song, Liang seized Qi, and Chen changed Liang, which of Liu Yu, Xiao Daocheng, Xiao Yan, and Chen Baxian did not claim to be loyal courtiers?
It may be that this trend is too fierce and the inertia is too great, so Emperor Wen of Sui and Yang Jian did not stop the car after he ruled the world, and killed nearly 10 important ministers such as Er Zhuji, Wang Yi, Liang Shiyan, Yu Wenxin, Liu Fang, Yuan Harmonic, Yu Qingze, and Shi Wansui. Immediately afterwards, his son Yang Guang made persistent efforts, and slaughtered Gao Gong, Yu Wenbi, He Ruobi, and Yu Juluo, and forced the founding father Yang Su to death.
Fortunately, Li Yuan, Li Shimin's father and son stepped on the brakes - Li Shimin also slaughtered 3 heroes, and Li Yuan seemed to have killed one Liu Wenjing, and he still listened to Pei Lian's slander. However, the Li family father and son were very unfriendly to the heroes of the late Sui Dynasty who had "fought side by side" with them back then, such as Dou Jiande, Li Mi, Wang Shichong, Luo Yi, Du Fuwei, Xiao Mi, Xue Rengao and others, regardless of whether they were captured alive or surrendered, they could not escape death in the end.
The emperor of the Zhao family of the Great Song Dynasty was known for his leniency, and in fact, they were better at using the ** name of the soft knife, so there seems to be only one unlucky person who really tasted the taste of steel knives when the Northern Song Dynasty was founded. However, the unscrupulous descendants of the old Zhao family, Song Gaozong Zhao Gou was more ruthless, first slaughtered Zhang Bangchang, who "abdicated to make way for Xian", and supported him to the throne, and then killed the outspoken celebrities Chen Dong and Ouyang Che, and then let a generation of anti-gold famous general Yue Fei die unjustly.
It is said that the Song Dynasty does not kill ministers - if Zhao Gou knew about it, he would definitely not agree.
Kublai Khan, the ancestor of the Yuan dynasty, did not have any bad deeds of killing heroes, but I think it may not be that he didn't want to kill, but that he didn't have the time to kill. Why? Because not only Kublai Khan, but also all the emperors of the Yuan Dynasty were busy with one thing in their lives - either killing relatives or being killed by relatives. As for killing heroes, because the "priority" is too low and the Great Yuan Dynasty is too short, it has never been ranked.
Since then, the situation of Ming Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang has been diametrically opposite. Because he loves his children and grandchildren too much, for the sake of the old Zhu family's country for thousands of years, and his children and grandchildren will be the Taiping Emperor, so Lao Zhu is ruthless, and he has to eradicate all the hidden dangers that may exist in the Ming Dynasty.
What is the biggest scourge of the Ming Dynasty? In Lao Zhu's view, it was the proud generals who had made countless feats in the process of founding the country, so he did not hesitate to kill to prevent trouble.
Therefore, just one Hu Weiyong case and the Lanyu case have almost changed the size of the country, and the dignitaries and nobles of the dukes are even more miserable, and they can escape the old Zhu butcher's knife together, and they can't put a few tables of mahjong ......
Zhu Yuanzhang killed heroes to the extent that there was no one before or after, and the subsequent Qing Dynasty had to copy all the rules of the Ming Dynasty because the level of civilization was too low, even killing heroes was no exception. Therefore, the fate of people like Mang Gurtai, Dege, Tunbulu, Aibali, Amin, Azig, and Ao Bai is no better than that of Hu Weiyong and Lan Yu.
Let's go back to Li Shimin.
If you have to say that the courtiers of the Manchu Dynasty do not have the same heart as themselves, then the situation faced by Li Shimin is very bad in the great unified dynasties of the past dynasties, and it is better than the old pimpy Liu Bang, anyway, it is much stronger than the serial killer Zhu Yuanzhang.
The princes who were still alive after the founding of the Ming Dynasty were almost killed by Zhu Yuanzhang.
For example, Hu Weiyong. This is indeed arrogant and authoritarian, but all the evidence that accuses him of rebellion cannot stand scrutiny when examined in detail. If Lao Hu really wanted to rebel, just by virtue of the more than 30,000 "comrades" he had been killed, how could Lao Zhu still be arrested and killed? In fact, it was not that Hu Weiyong wanted to rebel, but that Lao Zhu saw that his position as prime minister was not pleasing to the eye, purely to take power and kill another wave by the way. As for Lan Yu, he was even more unlucky - he was originally left by Lao Zhu to the crown prince Zhu Biao, but the latter died early, and now Lan Yu is too powerful and prestige compared to the imperial grandson Zhu Yunwen. Lao Zhu was worried that his grandson would not be able to suppress this Duke of Liangguo, so he simply killed him to save trouble, and cleaned up the unpleasant goods in the army.
And what about Li Shimin? People like Li Jing, Li Shiyun and others have the merit of destroying the country in their hands, which is incomparable to Xu Da and Chang Yuchun, do they have to give them stewed goose in an iron pot every day to feel at ease? How can you easily pass the test just by relying on a "closed door and self-defense" (Li Jing was so frightened that he closed the door and didn't dare to show his head when he was the imperial history)? Another example is a guy like Wei Zheng who dares to grab the emperor and spit at every turn, does he have to chop him alive? Look at Lao Zhu, even if he is as arrogant as Hu Weiyong, he is so frightened that he kowtows and begs for mercy when he stares at him.
is also an emperor, and they are both Ming monarchs, why is the gap so big?
One of the important reasons is the difference in origin.
Let's don't care whether the Li Tang royal family's claim to be from the Li family in Longxi is a fake ancestor, but at least from Li Yuan's grandfather's generation, he has been ranked among the Eight Pillars of the Western Wei Dynasty, and he has been a captain and worships the Duke of Tang (so Li Yuan's temple number can only be Gaozu, and he can't be called Taizu). Therefore, by the two generations of Li Yuan and Li Shimin's father and son, they are already a proper eunuch family, even if they are not as good as the thousand-year-old family like the Seven Sects and Five Surnames, they can be called upstarts.
In ancient times, the influence and authority of the nobles were far beyond our imagination.
As a nobleman, although there are a lot of problems, the benefits are even greater. For example, there are many relatives and a big face - Li Yuan is Yang Jian's nephew, and Li Shimin has to call Yang Guang his cousin (or his father-in-law). This kind of kinship that has turned the corner may not be very valuable in ordinary times, but on the premise of determining that the Great Sui Dynasty has finished its calves, compared with Li Mi, Dou Jiande, a mud-legged man, and Wang Shichong, a "foreign devil" (Lao Wang's original surname is a branch, he is a Hu person born in the Western Regions), does the old Li family make people, especially those who are ** and loyalists of the former Sui Dynasty, look more reliable and pleasing to the eye? Therefore, the process of Li Yuan's claim to be the emperor can be called uneventful, and those former Sui ** can even save the procedure of twisting and directly join the new master, even if they are in the "enemy-occupied area", they are willing to take risks to vote. It was precisely under such a favorable situation that the Tang Dynasty effortlessly occupied the commanding heights of orthodoxy and righteousness as soon as it was founded, and was able to dominate the world in just a few years.
Another advantage is that the nobles of the family have a sleek management skill, are good at compromise, and rarely go to extremes. For example, Li Shimin hated the Shi clan gate lord the most, and also adopted some tougher measures to suppress it, such as rebuilding the "Clan Chronicles" to achieve the goal of strengthening the imperial power. But more often than not, he prefers to use more indirect or soft means, preferring to spend more time and energy to achieve his goals than to exacerbate conflicts.
For example, Wei Zheng. For this "six-surnamed slave" who rebelled against Sui, Wagang, Tang, Dou Jiande, and Li Jiancheng, the sixth master, why would Li Shimin tolerate and treat him kindly? also praised him to a very high position, became a representative of the loyal ministers through the ages, and even praised him as a "human mirror"? Does Li Shimin like to be pointed at and scolded every day?
The answer is very simple, that is, the important ministers who had a bit of weight in the Tang Dynasty in the early years of Zhenguan were basically born in Heluo, Guanzhong and Longyou, and they could all be classified into the ranks of the emerging Guanlong Xungui group. Even if there are a few people from Shandong (referring to the east of the Kunshan Mountains), such as Fang Xuanling, Gao Shilian, Duan Zhixuan, Cheng Zhijie, and Li Shixian, their personal and family futures are closely tied to Guan Longxun's nobles, and they cannot become the spokesperson of the Shandong Shi clan. And Wei Zheng, whose ancestral home is Julu Qucheng (now Jinzhou, Hebei), has no historical relationship with Li Shimin, nor is he his descendant, and his reputation is quite high, which is just suitable for the weight of the balance court.
It is normal for the relationship between monarchs and ministers to be both antagonistic and cooperative, and it will do more harm than good to be dominant.
Guan Longxungui is the foundation of Li Yuan and Li Shimin's father and son. But when he became the emperor, his thoughts were naturally different, and he would never tolerate losing balance in the court and having a dominant family, which would threaten the imperial power. As a Ming monarch who came out once in a thousand years, Li Shimin certainly knew very well that if this situation was allowed to develop, the result would be that the royal family and Guan Longxungui would turn against each other, which would be tantamount to digging his own foundation - his bear son Li Zhi was not as smart as Lao Tzu, and he was stunned to cripple Guan Longxungui headed by his uncle Sun Wuji, otherwise Wu Zetian would not be so easy to usurp Tang with Zhou.
Therefore, Li Shimin would rather properly elevate the Shandong Shi clan that he hated the most, and avoid this happening. Therefore, most of the credit for Wei Zheng's fame should be attributed to Li Shimin's deliberate actions, rather than his natural penchant for advice. In fact, after Ma Zhou (a native of Chiping, Qinghe, belonging to present-day Liaocheng, Shandong), Chu Suiliang (a native of Qiantang in Hangzhou, belonging to present-day Hangzhou, Zhejiang), Cen Wenwen (a native of Jianyang, Dengzhou, belonging to present-day Xinye, Henan), Gao Jifu (a native of Beixian County, Bohai, belonging to present-day Jingxian County, Hebei), Zhang Xingcheng (a native of Yifeng, Dingzhou, belonging to present-day Anguo, Hebei)) and other talents who were not from the Guanlong Group were discovered and grew up, Emperor Li no longer refused to accept Wei Zheng's anger, not only dug his grave, but also promised to marry his eldest son Wei Shuyu, Princess Hengshan, who repented of her marriage.
Therefore, Li Shimin, who has an extraordinary background, a great face and a good aristocratic education, has sleek and gentle means to achieve his goals, and he will rarely be subjected to **, so why use such an extreme method as killing people to solve the problem?
Compared with Li Shimin, in terms of personal ambition and ability, Liu Bang, Taizu of the Han Dynasty, and Zhu Yuanzhang, Taizu of the Ming Dynasty, are not necessarily far behind, and even only strong but not weak in some aspects. But when it comes to face, pomp and the stability of the dragon chair under the buttocks, Lao Li can throw Lao Liu and Lao Zhu out of the eight streets.
The influence of a high family and a poor family on a person may be a world of difference in ancient times.
Why? Who made Lao Liu and Lao Zhu both born with mud legs - even a mud leg can become the supreme in the world overlooking all living beings, will it immediately make people involuntarily think of the sentence "Princes and generals, rather have a kind"?
He can do it, why can't I? The eldest husband can't eat five tripods in life, and there is nothing great about cooking five tripods when he dies, so why not do it perversely? There must be no fewer people who knelt down under Lao Liu and Lao Zhu and had such thoughts.
Even if there is no such person, or even if you think of it, you don't dare to put it into practice, but if we are Lao Liu or Lao Zhu, can we believe it? Can you believe it?
And Lao Li does not have such a serious problem. Regardless of whether it is true or false that his family climbed their ancestors to Li Wei, the king of Wuzhao in Xiliang, and even Li Er, the ancestor of Taoism, but the fact that people have been nobles for generations and are related to Yang Sui is like a fake, and it is also a fact that relatives and friends are old and protégés are all over the world. Therefore, when people become emperors, they almost naturally occupy the position of orthodoxy and righteousness, and even if some people are dissatisfied, they cannot find any strong reason to oppose it, let alone receive widespread support. Therefore, although rebellions were not uncommon in the early Tang Dynasty, there were basically no rebellions in the world, and Li Yuan and Li Shimin basically did not take it seriously.
But what about Liu Bang? Just a Shang Shan Sihao, who had never heard of any real skills, came out of the mountain, and he was so scared that he didn't dare to save easily. Why? It's hard to get the crowd up. Zhu Yuanzhang conquered Zhejiang, and when he heard that Song Lian and Liu Ji were very famous, he visited them and wanted to invite them out of the mountain, but after three invitations and five invitations, they just didn't agree. Why? The high-ranking scholars look down on the mud legs who have just learned to read and hyphenation. Lao Zhu, who was half angry to death, said that the emperor humiliated the two great Confucians, Song and Liu, but as a result, countless so-called "wise men" would rather hide in the mountains and countryside to eat soil than come out to be officials. What can I do?
Scholars and doctors are all dog-eyed and low-looking goods, and if they want them to be obedient, they are either naturally noble, or they use knives to talk.
Easy to do! Zhu Yuanzhang, a fierce man through the ages, showed his magic weapon - if you don't work for Lao Tzu, then you can die:
"On the shore of the land, it is not the king's minister. Sergeant Huan is not for the king's use, he is a teacher from outside, and he is punished without his family, and he is not wronged. (The Third Part of the Imperial Decree - The Thirteenth of Suzhou Talents).Facts have also proved that Lao Zhu, who was born lower than Lao Liu (Liu is a rich peasant, Zhu is abject poor), is more ruthless and has better results. He soon recognized that those self-proclaimed high-ranking scholars and doctors were actually cheap skins who ate hard rather than soft, and as long as they killed a few waves, they would cry and shout and kneel at their feet, and let them do whatever they wanted.
Therefore, after the founding of the country, whether to kill heroes or not, and how many heroes to kill, are actually just means, not ends. It's just that some emperors such as Li Shimin don't need such means at all, and some emperors such as Liu Bang and Zhu Yuanzhang have to be killed.
For example, Liu Xiu. This descendant of the mud legs, after the ninth generation and 200 years of accumulation and baptism, has long become a recognized son of the royal family, which is unspeakably expensive. And after people become emperors, they don't need to kill like their ancestors, even if there are still ambitious and immortal guys jumping out, they won't be able to make any waves.