In academic circles, there is a widely accepted but difficult to confirm view that Tang history may have been tampered with. Many historians believe that the history of the Tang Dynasty, especially those related to Li Shimin, may have been tampered with, and even some official histories such as the Old Tang Book or the New Tang Book are problematic.
There are actually many reasons for this phenomenon. One of the most important reasons may be that Li Shimin's throne is not justified. Everyone knows that the throne of Li Shimin, Taizong of the Tang Dynasty, was taken from his brother and father by the Xuanwumen Change.
Since the means of obtaining the position are not correct, Li Shimin naturally wants to find a reason to make himself more reasonable. As a result, he took various actions to try to influence the historians and make the history books speak more positively about him.
Li Shimin's behavior is recorded in the history books, and it is not fabricated by later generations. In particular, part of the history of the founding of the Tang Dynasty is known only to Li Yuan, Li Shimin and Li Jiancheng, father and son.
However, Li Jiancheng was killed, Li Yuan abdicated, and Li Shimin was the only one left who knew the truth. Therefore, what Li Shimin said naturally became irrefutable. However, when later historians studied this period of history, they still found a lot of evidence to prove that Li Shimin tampered with history.
Among them, the existence of a book is the most direct evidence!
Datang Entrepreneurship Note: Revealing the Historical Truth of Li Shimin's Tampering with History Are you curious about Li Shimin's tampering with history? Then, this book "Datang Entrepreneurship Life Note" may be able to reveal this historical mystery for you.
The book records in detail various historical events during the reign of Li Shimin, Taizong of the Tang Dynasty, and its author, Wen Daya, was a famous scholar in the late Sui and early Tang dynasties. If you want to understand the truth of Li Shimin's falsification of history, you might as well read this book, follow Wen Daya's footsteps, and explore the context of this history.
Wen Daya's character Yanhong, born in the seventh year of Tianhe in the Northern Zhou Dynasty, is six years younger than Li Yuan. He was born in a family of scholars, and his father, Wen Junyou, served as a bachelor of the Wenlin Pavilion during the Northern Qi Dynasty. Subsequently, the Northern Zhou Dynasty destroyed the Northern Qi Dynasty, Yang Jian usurped the throne and established the Sui Dynasty, and Wen Daya also became the Sui Dynasty**, and served as Sima of Sizhou.
In the last years of the emperor's reign, he served as a bachelor of the East Palace, and in the last years of the great cause, because of the death of his father, according to the system at that time, he temporarily resigned and went home to mourn for three years. Although there is nothing particularly noteworthy about Wen Daya's career experience, at least compared to those real officials, this resume seems a little shabby.
However, Wen Daya's other identity is very important. At that time, when the Sui Dynasty scholar group mentioned culture, education and family learning, they would definitely mention the Yan and Wen families first. To put it simply, at that time, the Yan and Wen families were recognized as the strongest in family learning.
During the Sui Dynasty, although the imperial examination system had been established, the system of electing officials at that time was still dominated by family succession, and this situation continued until the Song Dynasty. If a family's pedigree reached the highest level of acknowledgement, then the family would become the leader of the scholarly field, with the status of today's scholars.
Wen Daya was born in such a family, he is the leader of this family, and his brothers Wen Dayou and Wen Yanbo are known as the Wen Three Heroes, and they are the representatives of the Wen family in the academic world.
A family like Wen Daya is deeply involved in academics and is reluctant to get involved in the struggle of the imperial court. During the Sui Dynasty, his career experience fully reflected this. However, things changed when he returned home for the funeral.
He returned to his ancestral hometown of Shanxi and lived in Taiyuan with his younger brother Wen Dayou. At this time, Taiyuan was under the jurisdiction of Li Yuan, the ancestor of the Tang Dynasty. Li Yuan was secretly preparing for the anti-Sui work, and invited the Wen Daya brothers with heavy courtesy.
Although the Wen Daya brothers did not want to follow Li Yuan at first, they had no choice but to join Li Yuan's camp and become Li Yuan's core staff. After becoming Li Yuan's staff, Wen Daya quickly became Li Yuan's right-hand man by virtue of his knowledge, and was hired by Li Yuan to join the army as a secretary, grasp the secrets, and assist Li Yuan in analyzing current affairs, planning strategies, and formulating plans for raising troops.
In July of the thirteenth year of the Great Cause, Li Yuan raised troops in Taiyuan, and after a short period of preparation and strategic deployment, he fought all the way to Chang'an, and took Yang Yu, the acting king, hostage and became the emperor.
A few months later, a coup d'état broke out in Jiangdu, and Li Yuan pushed the boat down the river and forced Yang Yu to take the throne for himself. The person who presided over this Zen ceremony was Wen Daya, whose work may not seem important, but it was of great significance in ancient societies that valued etiquette.
After Li Yuan ascended the throne, Wen Daya was appointed as a squire of the Yellow Gate, a role similar to that of the emperor's secretary, whose main duty was to assist the emperor in handling government affairs. At this time, Wen Daya had already entered the core power structure of the Li Tang Dynasty.
What's even more rare is that his younger brother Wen Yanbo is also in the center of power, and the official is the internal history squire, which is equivalent to the prime minister's deputy.
Wen Daya is in the same high position with her younger brother and is known as a good story. However, after deep reflection, he thought that this situation might attract criticism, so he took the initiative to resign and transfer to the Ministry of Works.
Soon, he was invited by Li Shimin to serve as the Daxingtai of Eastern Shaanxi Province and the secretary of the Ministry of Industry. Later, as the contradiction between the crown prince Li Jiancheng and the Qin king Li Shimin for the throne intensified, the importance of the eastern Shaanxi province under Wen Daya's jurisdiction was self-evident.
Eastern Shaanxi Province covers Luoyang, Henan, Shandong, Hebei, Shanxi and other vast areas, and is the base of most of Li Shimin's troops. Therefore, Wen Daya had to side with Li Shimin, who was appointed as the Grand Xingtai of Eastern Shaanxi Province and had full authority to command Li Shimin's descendants in Henan.
In the ninth year of Wude, he was sent to Luoyang to guard the town to ensure that Li Shimin's forces were not threatened.
Historians speculate that Li Shimin had made detailed arrangements before the Xuanwumen Incident. If the incident fails, he will quickly flee to Luoyang, using the descendant army there **Chang'an.
And the fierce general Qin Shubao did not appear in the list of Xuanwumen incidents because he was guarding the road to Luoyang at that time. As for Wen Daya, he is obviously Li Shimin's most important candidate outside the Xuanwu Sect.
Fortunately, Li Shimin won the Xuanwumen Incident, and Wen Daya's preparatory plan was not activated. However, Wen Daya was still promoted to the secretary of the Ministry of Rites and was named the Duke of Li Guo.
In the third year of Zhenguan, Wen Daya died of illness in Chang'an due to long-term hard work at the age of 57, and was nicknamed 'filial piety'. In the fifth year of Yonghui, he was posthumously awarded the right servant of Shangshu. Although Wen Daya's contributions are known in the court party struggle, his contributions go far beyond that.
As a scholarly leader, he made even greater contributions to writing. Wen Daya has been a core aide to Li Yuan since the beginning of Li Yuan's Taiyuan uprising, and with his outstanding knowledge, he has outstanding abilities in etiquette and writing.
This is a talent that cannot be overlooked. Li Shimin and Li Xiaogong and other front-line fighters unified the Central Plains with iron-blooded means, while Wen Daya and others strengthened the soft power of the Li Tang Dynasty through their work.
After Li Yuan captured Chang'an, Wen Daya was mainly responsible for participating in the formulation of etiquette and planning confidential government affairs. In the years from the third year of Wude to the eighth year of Wude, he compiled three historical books: "The Records of the Officials and Subordinates of the Tang Dynasty", "The Records of the King of the Tang Dynasty" and "The Notes on the Entrepreneurship and Living of the Tang Dynasty".
These three books became one of the indispensable cultural soft powers of the Li and Tang dynasties, especially the "Notes on the Entrepreneurship and Living of the Tang Dynasty", which became one of the books that all scholars who studied Tang history must come into contact with in later generations.
The history told in these books was written by Wen Daya. Although he was not a fully qualified historian, he often adapted his history to the needs of the Li Tang dynasty.
From the historian's point of view, his work was not entirely qualified. However, for the Li Tang regime at the time, the significance of these books was very significant, as it conveyed"Canonical history"concept.
For example, in the early days of Li Yuan's army, in order to capture Chang'an as soon as possible, he needed the support of the northern Turks. Later researchers have concluded through a variety of sources that Li Yuan at that time was very likely to be subservient to the Turks.
This may not have been important at the time, as several northern powers, such as Liang Shidu, Liu Wuzhou, and Dou Jiande, were in contact with the Turks. However, the problem is that after the Li family unified the country, this kind of behavior was not allowed.
Wen Daya, a prominent historian of the Tang Dynasty, was tasked with maintaining the legitimacy of the Tang Dynasty by downplaying or even erasing the black history of the Tang Dynasty's submission to the northern nomads.
His lifelong learning and fame were all used in exchange for the glorious image of the Li family in the hearts of the people. However, the book "Notes on the Entrepreneurship of the Tang Dynasty" written by him has become evidence that Li Shimin has tampered with history.
This book records the 357-day history of Li Yuan's Taiyuan army to Chang'an's ascension to the throne, because Wen Daya was in the center and mastered confidential work, so many historical facts in the book are first-hand information and have high research value.
The "Datang Entrepreneurship and Living Note" clearly records Taiyuan's plan to raise troops for Li Yuan, and records his actions in that year. However, the "Old Tang Book" and the "New Tang Book" claimed that the Taiyuan army was mainly due to Li Shimin.
In fact, historians generally agree that the former is more accurate. The reason why the "Old Tang Book" and the "New Tang Book" are recorded in this way is mainly because after Li Shimin took power, he tried his best to revise this history.
There are some things that only he, Li Yuan and Li Jiancheng know, and with the death of Li Yuan and the killing of Li Jiancheng, many facts cannot be verified, so Li Shimin was able to tamper with history at will.
Although Li Shimin once tried to cover up the truth of history, the truth of history cannot be changed. Even if Li Shimin's most trusted minister wrote this book, it could not change the fact that he falsified history.