He was thrown into a dung pit, honed for 36 years, and became a dry ancient emperor after ascending the throne
In ancient times, the change of the throne was often accompanied by bloody rain, full of treacherous waves, and even involved the murder of the father and brother, and family affection almost became a luxury.
However, in the long history of the Tang Dynasty, there was an emperor who was as famous as Li Shimin, and later generations respected him as "Little Taizong". With 36 years of resourcefulness, this famous monarch successfully pretended to be crazy and stupid, and escaped countless assassinations. Although during this time, he was humiliated and toyed with by others, but in the end he sat on the throne and unified the world.
Which emperor of the Tang Dynasty was he? How did he cleverly hide from everyone's eyes by pretending to be crazy and stupid?
The time of the Tang Dynasty is frozen in 810, in an old and cramped palace, a humble maid is struggling to give birth. The midwife who delivered the baby seemed a little indifferent, even if she knew that she was delivering the prince of the dynasty, she did not change her degree. After all, how much profit can a maid give birth?
Soon after, a loud cry pierced the silent night, and Li Yi (later named: Li Chen), the thirteenth son of Tang Xianzong Li Chun, was born. However, due to the humble status of his biological mother, Zheng, he has not been given the attention he deserves, and is even bullied by others from time to time.
Zheng was originally the concubine of Li Qi, the envoy of Zhenhai Jiedu, and at that time, because a scholar predicted that Zheng would give birth to a son of heaven in the future, Li Qi included her in the palace.
In the early years of Tang Xianzong's reign, Li Qi's plan to rebel was in the making, but it was reported before he could take substantive action. After a detailed investigation, Li Qi's rebellious attempts were confirmed, which eventually led to his execution. His servants and concubines were exiled and his property confiscated. The only lucky Zheng was assigned to the palace and became a lady-in-waiting.
After Zheng entered the palace, he had been cautious and tried to please her master. She herself came from an ordinary background, and she was used to doing rough work at home, but only because of her outstanding appearance was selected by Li Qi and enjoyed a short period of superior life.
Because Zheng has always kept a low profile and is smart and efficient in her work, she was soon transferred to serve by Tang Xianzong's original partner Guo.
Around the Guo family, there are many palace maids, and many things are competing to do. As a result, Zheng was relatively relaxed during this time. It was during this period that Tang Xianzong noticed her and had an intimate relationship with her.
This incident has always been a thorn in Guo's heart. It was unacceptable for her to have intimate contact with her husband and even give birth to a child.
Therefore, Guo has been using Zheng's background to make a fuss. Even if the Zheng family gave birth to a prince, she did not get the favor and status she deserved, and her son Li Yi was also bullied in the palace.
Even if Li Yi was named the King of Light, it did not change the plight of the mother and son in the palace. Tang Xianzong's indifferent attitude and Guo's deliberate suppression made the two of them live in the deep palace.
This also caused Li Yi to become reticent and unwilling to socialize with people since she was a child. Even when his biological mother, Zheng, spoke to him, he behaved indifferently and remained silent.
The New Tang Dynasty Book once euphemistically said of Li Yi's evaluation: "The emperor is obscure and inward, seriously silent, and has a peculiar vision, and he thought he was not wise in the palace when he was a child." ”
In general, it means that Li Yi is not smart, and even a little stupid. Because of this, Li Yi has been bullied by her brothers since she was a child.
Because of "naivety" is frequently humiliated].
Because Tang Xianzong already had many sons, in the harem of the Tang Dynasty at that time, there was no longer the phenomenon of "the mother is expensive by the son", on the contrary, "the son is expensive by the mother" has become the norm.
Zheng's humble status doomed her son to find it difficult to gain a foothold in the harem and other princes.
However, Zheng knew why she was chosen by Li Qi at the time, so she had high hopes for her son, even if he was taciturn and a little naïve. Zheng never gave up on this child, and even used his meager income to buy books to raise Li Yi.
Li Yi's innocence has spread, and the eunuchs and palace maids in the palace have looked down on this King of Light. They began to laugh and torture Li Yi as a kind of fun.
Those palace maids and eunuchs who have been bullied all the year round have been twisted in their hearts, and bullying the emperor's son gives them indescribable satisfaction. Even if Li Yi's emperor father found out, he never stood up for him and supported him.
Li Yi's royal brothers are also very disgusted with this low-born and naïve younger brother. Every time they saw him, they would pick up stones and throw them, and even hit Li Yi with wooden swords.
At night, when Zheng changed Li Yi's clothes, he found the scars on his son's body, but he didn't dare to speak. She could only apply ointment to her son with pity, and covered her mouth alone late at night and cried bitterly.
Zheng saw this cruel palace thoroughly and told his son softly: Here, people with no background and no background have only two ways to survive: either become stronger; Either pretend to be naïve and act stupid.
Since his son is already a little naïve, Zheng hopes that he can continue to maintain this state. Although you will be bullied by others and will not be able to enjoy the glory and wealth, you can at least survive and live your life in peace.
However, since the Xiangshi predicted that the Zheng family would give birth to the Son ......of Heaven, Li Yi's fate was not destined to be so ordinary
Repeatedly caught in assassination crises].
Tang Xianzong died in 820 of the Tang Dynasty, and he had already drawn up an edict before his death. His third son, Li Heng, naturally inherited the throne and became Tang Muzong.
Tang Muzong was the only person in the deep palace who cared about Li Yi, never treated him maliciously, and even took the initiative to protect this younger brother who suffered from dementia.
Normally, the new monarch would purge dissidents when he ascended the throne, and the brothers who had once competed for the throne were charged with various crimes and killed under Tang Muzong's rule, with only Li Yi, a prince suffering from dementia, surviving.
However, one day, when Li Yi went to ask the Empress Dowager Yi'an for peace, he was assassinated. Fortunately, he was safe and sound under the protection of the guards, but since then, Li Yi has become more reticent and even developed hysteria in the middle of the night.
Perhaps out of pity for Li Yi, Tang Muzong gave him a large amount of gold, silver and jewelry to appease his soul.
However, the good times did not last long, and Tang Muzong, the only emperor in the palace who cared for and protected him, became obsessed with the medicine of gold and stone (alchemy) at the age of 30 due to a stroke, and finally fell ill due to ingesting the pill by mistake, and unfortunately died on the dragon bed.
As a result, the darkest, most helpless, and most unlucky time in Li Yi's life came to ......
After the death of Tang Muzong, his son Li Ang ascended the throne and became the fifteenth emperor of the Tang Dynasty, Tang Wenzong.
Although Li Ang is frugal and elegant, erudite and talented, he is extremely harsh on his uncle Li Yi, and it can be said that he does not care about the family relationship between the two. He sees Li Yi as a fool who can be teased and ridiculed at will. With his acquiescence and manipulation, Li Yi became the target of special ridicule and teasing, and even the courtiers could mock him at will.
At a family gathering, Tang Wenzong actually ordered everyone to make fun of Li Yi.
At that time, there was a lot of laughter and laughter during the banquet, but Li Yi was the only one with a serious expression, sitting there silently and tasting the food. If you don't know that he is a "stupid" person, it is easy to be confused by his indifference, as if he is a noble and cold-faced prince.
Tang Wenzong looked at his stupid imperial uncle, and suddenly proposed in a loud voice: "Everyone, whoever can let my Uncle Guangwang speak, I will definitely be rewarded, hahaha......."After saying that, he couldn't help but laugh.
And Li Yi still maintained her usual calmness when her nephew teased her like this, and there was no wave on her face, as if this ridicule was not aimed at him.
The people present threw themselves into the insults to Li Yi, and even his mother, Zheng, became the object of ridicule. Tang Wenzong sat in the hall, listening to the ridicule and foul language of his subordinates, and did not make a fuss, but laughed happily, and was in a very happy mood.
However, Yingwang Li Yan never made fun of Li Yi, but stared at him tightly with a pair of wise eyes. He thought to himself: if a person is not really stupid, but is unmoved in the face of insults, it is terrible to think about this scene.
From this moment on, Li Yan deliberately observed Li Yi and kept his guard against him, for fear that he was just pretending to be stupid and would suddenly "bite" at a critical moment.
Until Tang Wenzong died of depression at the age of 31, there was no suitable son to inherit the throne. His younger brother Tang Wuzong Li Yan successfully ascended the throne as emperor.
However, Li Yan did not treat Li Yi as a fool, but sensed his horror and longed to eliminate this potential threat. But considering that he is his imperial uncle after all, and he has been playing the image of a fool for a long time, rashly dealing with him seems cold-blooded and ruthless, which may attract the world's accusations.
Since it doesn't work on the surface, start in the dark. Tang Wuzong decided to create an "accident" and completely get rid of this "dangerous person" around him.
During that time, Li Yi was always mysteriously frequently injured, and no matter what she did, it was accompanied by so-called "accidents". For example, when riding a horse, the horse suddenly became angry and threw him down, and even tried to trample him; Also, when walking, if you walk next to a rockery or a living attic, you will be attacked by falling stones and flower pots.
However, each time Li Yi only suffered some minor skin trauma, which was never fatal. Sometimes, he could even dodge it easily, which made Tang Wuzong feel very annoyed, and he almost couldn't help but draw his sword and stab Li Yi to death.
A series of assassination failures made Tang Wuzong even more convinced that Li Yi was really pretending to be crazy and stupid. Therefore, he decided to take the most disgusting way and end the life of his imperial uncle once and for all.
Tang Wuzong ordered the eunuch Qiu Gongwu and several eunuchs to pick up Li Yi**, take him directly into the latrine with his head covered, and throw him in mercilessly. No matter how Li Yi struggled and begged for mercy, those eunuchs covered their noses and watched coldly.
Suddenly, Qiu Gongwu looked at Li Yi who was struggling in the dung pit, and had a plan to order someone to pull him out and prevent him from drowning there.
Qiu Gongwu himself went to tell Tang Wuzong, saying that a stupid person like Li Yi had a big life, and if he died like this in the palace, it might have a bad impact. Therefore, he suggested that Li Yi be pulled out of the palace and stabbed to death with a knife to prevent future troubles.
Tang Wuzong thought that Qiu Gongwu was reasonable, especially when people believed in ghosts and gods in ancient times. So, Li Yi was pulled out of the palace by Qiu Gongwu in a dung truck.
The reason why Qiu Gongwu saved Li Yi was because he took a fancy to Li Yi's stupidity. If he can assist Li Yi to become the emperor, he can easily manipulate this stupid emperor and become a real minister!
So, Qiu Gongwu, who had a ghost in his heart, took Li Yi away from the palace full of conspiracy. In order to avoid Tang Wuzong's surveillance, he led Li Yi all the way to the south, and finally sent him to Anguo Temple in Haining, Zhejiang Province today, where he shaved his hair and became a monk.
Since then, Li Yi has been a monk for several years, he has traveled to many places, seen many things, and accumulated a lot of knowledge. His mind became more determined during this time.
In 846 AD, Li Yi's fortunes underwent a drastic change. Tang Wuzong Li Yan died of illness in Daming Palace due to long-term pills, the crown prince failed to succeed to the throne in time, and the sons around him were too young to perform such an important duty.
At this moment, Qiu Gongwu realized that he had ushered in an opportunity, and quickly took Li Yi back to the Chang'an Palace, and conspired with another eunuch, Ma Yuanzhen, to plan to support Li Yi to ascend the throne as emperor and use him as a puppet to better control the government.
Their first task was to enable Li Yi to openly handle the affairs of the court, so they teamed up to plot to make Li Yi the imperial uncle and renamed Li Chen, so that he would officially become the heir to the throne in an upright and upright manner.
Li Chen has been pretending to be crazy and stupid for 36 years, and except for the late Tang Wuzong, no one doubts whether he is really stupid.
However, when Li Chen officially ascended the throne, everyone was surprised, he abandoned his previous stupid state, and his whole person was refreshed, his manners were decent, and his eyes became shrewd and wise.
Only then did everyone realize that Tang Wuzong was not mistaken, this so-called stupid person had actually been pretending to be smarter than anyone else. He managed to save himself in round after round of throne changes, and survived 4 generations of emperors, and finally ascended to the throne and became the seventeenth emperor of the Tang Dynasty, Tang Xuanzong.
After Li Chen ascended the throne, he decisively carried out a series of court reforms, deposed Prime Minister Li Deyu through tough means, and ended the more than ten years of party struggle between Niu and Li.
Subsequently, his hand reached out to the restless eunuchs, and the first to bear the brunt was the great eunuch Ma Yuanzhen. Although it failed to completely eliminate the deep-rooted eunuch forces, this action had the effect of setting an example for the chickens and monkeys, and dealt a severe blow to their arrogance.
Qiu Gongwu and the eunuchs once pinned their hopes on mastering the plot of power, but it was in vain due to Li Chen's complete change. Under Li Chen's strict beating, these eunuchs could not turn over, and Li Chen rehabilitated Zhaoxue for the loyal ministers and generals who were killed before, and won the loyalty of most people in the court.
Li Chen had insight into the weak situation of the current Tang Dynasty, so he abandoned the extravagance and waste of the court, advocated diligence and thrift, and gave the people tax exemptions. This move won praise both inside and outside the palace, and Tang Xuanzong Li Chen's exploits were highly respected.
Li Chen, who has lost his stupid disguise, shows an outstanding Mingjun, and is even expected to be as famous as Li Shimin. It can be said that if there was no Li Chen, Datang might have perished more than 60 years ago.
Before Li Chen ascended the throne, the fate of the Tang Dynasty had already come to an end, and the surrounding small countries were ready to move, trying to join forces to devour this behemoth. However, Li Chen's appearance allowed them to temporarily calm their inner restlessness for a while. Li Chen's reign of logistics to govern the country, rectify officials, and care about the lives of the people made the late Tang Dynasty once again usher in the "Zhongxing Era", and at the same time became a memorable monarch in history.