In 705 AD, 81-year-old Wu Zetian was critically ill. She only allowed the Zhang brothers to be by her side, and even her sons Li Xian and Li Dan could not serve her, which caused panic among the civil and military officials in the court.
The court officials led by Prime Minister Zhang Jianzhi can no longer sit still and wait for death, so they launched the Shenlong coup , eliminating the Zhang brothers, forcing Wu Zetian to abdicate, and returning the throne to the Li family.
After Li Xian officially ascended the throne, he was very good to his younger brother Li Dan's family, especially to Li Chengqi . After all, Li Chengqi is Li Dan's eldest son.
Li Xian not only promoted Li Chengqi to the title, but also wanted to entrust him with important tasks many times. However, Li Chengqi still shirked it out for various reasons.
Li Chengqi knew very well that although the world had returned to the Li family, the situation was not calm. Staying at a high position does not mean it is a good thing, but it will cause trouble.
Li Chengqi spent the rest of his life in peace and wealth without fighting with the world. After his death, he was posthumously named "Emperor of Letter". Many people may find it difficult to understand that they are not allowed to sit well and stay out of the matter.
So, how did Li Chengqi not be moved by imperial power? Let's go back to the years he was in to find out.
Empress Wu Zetian abdicated, Li Chengqi fell freely in feudal society, imperial power was considered supreme power. Therefore, many people met in order to compete for the throne. Therefore, countless struggles of all sizes were left in history.
. Among them, there are some people who could have ascended the throne naturally, but they gave in. The most famous one is Li Xian of the Tang Dynasty .
Li Longji
Li Xian, whose original name is Li Chengqi, and he and Tang Xuanzong Li Long are basically half-brothers of the same father and eldest son. He was personally enthroned as crown prince by Wu Zetian and later deposed.
This time, even though his own uncle became emperor, Li Xian did not enter the court, but instead yearned for life outside the court.
The reason is that he had already seen clearly that Li Xian was not actually the one who held real power at this time. The one who really had the final say was his wife Queen Wei . Empress Wei witnessed with her own eyes how mighty her mother-in-law, Wu Zetian, was when she was the queen.
Therefore, Queen Wei dreamed that one day would be like Wu Zetian. Under her influence, her daughter, , Princess Anle, also longs to become the crown princess one day.
However, on the way to realize the dream of Empress Wei and Princess Anle, one person became a stumbling block, that is Prince Li Chongjun . After all, he is not the biological flesh and blood of Queen Wei.
At this time, in the camp of Queen Wei and Princess Anle, there was an additional helper - Shangguan Wan'er. She was originally a female official next to Wu Zetian, but later joined Li Xian.
But Shangguan Wan'er also knew that Li Xian was unreliable, so she defected to Empress Wei and his daughter. With Shangguan Wan'er's magical help, Prince Li Chongjun was executed by Li Xian. After
, Empress Wei and her daughter plotted to poison Li Xian to death and assisted her youngest son Li Chongmao to become emperor. At this point, the Tang Dynasty completely fell into the hands of Empress Wei and Princess Anle.
When the political situation was in turmoil again, one of the Li family stood up. This person is either Li Chengqi's younger brother Li Longji.
is contrary to my brother's desirelessness. Although Li Longji has experienced the same experience, this person has extraordinary ambitions and ambitions. Perhaps from that time on, the different destinies of the two brothers were doomed.
Li Longji found his aunt Princess Taiping and joined forces with her to launch the "Tanglong Coup ", eliminating Empress Wei, Princess Anle and his followers, including Shangguan Wan'er and others. But although the two did the same thing, they had different purposes.
Li Longji longs to recreate the glory of the Li Tang Dynasty one day, but Princess Taiping also dreams of the queen.She knew that Li Dan was as weak as Li Xian, and she could only be able to get rid of Li Longji in the future.
What is Li Chengqi doing in these noisy years? He was busy playing music at his home. Even when Li Longji and Princess Taiping entered Chang'an City , Li Chengqi's mansion was still singing and dancing to rise to peace.
And when he is interested in the banquet Shangrao , he will also come to the section in person to win applause. All the chaos in the outside world has nothing to do with him, and his personality is inseparable from his childhood experience.
Become the prince at the age of six, but becomes a puppet
If one word is used to describe Li Chengqi's childhood and youth, the word "hard" is the most appropriate. However, his suffering can be said to be closely related to his father Li Dan.
is also because of these experiences that directly affect Li Chengqi's life.
To outsiders, he is a humble gentleman, and his immersion in the world of music is beyond the world. If you have carefully understood his experience, it is not difficult to understand. If it weren't for this, his fate would probably be much worse!
Li Chengqi's grandfather was Tang Gaozong Li Zhi, grandmother was the queen of Wu Zetian, and father was Tang Ruizong Li Dan. He was made the crown prince at the age of six, and to outsiders, he has a bright future.
However, under the halo, there is a turbulent disaster.
At that time, Li Chengqi's grandfather Li Zhi was unable to control the government because of his health. Grandmother Wu Zetian was originally a talented woman. In addition, she served by Li Shimin at the time and had already mastered her strategy of governing the country.
Therefore, the government affairs at that time were firmly in control of Wu Zetian. Let’s look at Li Chengqi’s uncles, none of them had a good ending.
First of all, he is the uncle Li Hong . As the eldest son, he is said to have died young due to illness. In fact, the more circulating saying is that he offended his mother by complaining to the daughter of Concubine Xiao Shu and was sentenced to death by poisoning wine.
followed by Er Bo Li Xian . She is smart and capable and is the right candidate to inherit the throne, but she is regarded as a thorn in her eyes by Wu Zetian and suppressed in every way. Later, he was exiled for a false charge.
Look at the third uncle Li Xian again, and he finally ascended the throne and became the emperor. But he despised Wu Zetian's existence and focused on building his own power. Later, he actually made a fool of himself in the court and was caught by Wu Zetian. As a result, he was deposed after only more than 50 days of ascending the throne.
In this way, the position of emperor fell on Li Chengqi's father Li Dan, and Li Chengqi became the crown prince with justification. Although the two men were the emperor and the crown prince, it was just a decoration because of Wu Zetian.
Seeing that none of the brothers were spared from being disciplined by their mothers, and looking at the situation in the court, Li Chengqi's father Li Dan knew in his heart that Wu Zetian's desire to ascend the throne was already obvious. He was not interested in the imperial power and gave the throne to his mother.
Therefore, in 690 AD, Wu Zetian officially ascended the throne and became the first female emperor in Chinese history. Li Tang dynasty has thus become Wuzhou dynasty.
Although Wu Zetian became the queen, she never gave up on her harm to the children of the Li Tang family. Li Dan was still the crown prince at this time. Wu Zetian was worried that Li Dan would seize power, so he still kept a close surveillance on their family.
This means that Li Dan's family is still a puppet in the palace and cannot obtain personal freedom. Therefore, what remains in Li Chengqi's childhood memories are all tragic scenes.
In addition to the suppression of his own relatives, his mother Liu and younger brother Li Longji's mother Dou were also harmed by Wuming.
Perhaps in order to avoid disasters, Li Chengqi learned how to protect himself and be lenient when he was in the palace. When he was with others, he was gentle and humble, and he did not fight or rob.
Later, because Wu Zetian issued an order, Li Chengqi and his younger brothers left Chang'an . He went to the fiefdom to become a vassal king. During this period, he suffered a lot, but he also silently endured it.
At that time, Li Chengqi had already seen through the fact that the court was such a sinister place, so he focused more on his favorite music.
may have been influenced by his father Li Dan, and his talent was very proficient and accomplished in arrangement, musical instruments and even dance, which also made him less pain and more joy in the difficult years.
What helped Li Chengqi get rid of his hard life was after his grandmother Wu Zetian abdicated. And with his uncle Li Xian ascended the throne for the second time, Li Chengqi was finally able to be himself happily.
So he became more addicted to singing and dancing, and did not want to pay attention to the troubles in his family and country.
Empress Wu Zetian abdicated, and Li Chengqi fell freely
The court at this time was treacherous, and some people followed the current situation and planned, such as Li Chengqi's younger brother Li Longji. He never gave up on revitalizing the Li Tang Dynasty one day, and he was even more eager to have imperial power one day; some people were out of it, such as Li Chengqi.
First talk about his brother Li Chengqi. When he talks about him, he has to mention the story of Princess Taiping and Li Longji joining forces to push Li Dan to the throne.
At that time, Li Dan ascended the throne and became Emperor Ruizong of Tang, and Li Chengqi was of course the only candidate for becoming the crown prince.
As the eldest son, he was officially crowned as the crown prince as early as when his grandmother Wu Zetian was there. The reality that has to be considered is that the prince is the candidate to ascend the throne and become the emperor in the future.
From this point of view, Li Chengqi's younger brother Li Longji is more suitable. He not only has outstanding leadership talent, but also decisive in killing and decisiveness. His outstanding ability was undoubtedly demonstrated when he launched a coup.
In comparison, Li Chengqi, a literary master, seems out of place with the political situation. Although Li Chengqi looked calm on the surface, he was not confused.
He saw Princess Taiping's thoughts clearly, and he knew his situation very well, so he begged Li Dan many times to let his younger brother Li Longji be the prince.
In addition to begging his father, Li Chengqi also asked Li Longji to drink many times, and said many times during the meal that he appreciated his third brother's talent. Compared with his younger brother, he just wanted to live a simple and happy life for ordinary people, and did not want to participate in the regime.
Li Longji was naturally very happy to see his brother understand the righteousness. But he also made a "refusal" on the surface, and finally pretended to be unreasonable, and ascended the throne of the prince as he wished.
At this time, Princess Taiping still did not give up. On the one hand, she spread public opinion that Li Longji is not the eldest son and is not justified in being the crown prince. On the other hand, she used the astronomical phenomena to imply that Li Dan should depose Li Longji.
Princess Taiping's series of actions were all seen by Li Chengqi. He was already tired of the mutual struggle in the political arena, and he also hated his aunt's behavior.
So, he took the initiative to propose to his father that he served as the governor of Puzhou , which not only stayed away from the core of the power struggle, but also helped his younger brother Li Longji cut off Princess Taiping's reinforcements.
In this way, Li Longji successfully eliminated Princess Taiping and his followers shortly after ascending the throne.
At this time, Li Longji, as Emperor Xuanzong of Tang, was very grateful to his brother for giving up the throne, recalled him back to Chang'an, and built a special building, often inviting Li Chengqi to come and enjoy music.
Although Li Chengqi is grateful to his younger brother Li Longji for his deep affection, he also knows the truth that being with the king is like being with a tiger. Especially when he saw that Li Longji killed his biological son because of suspicion, he was even more cautious.
The throne gave way to his younger brother, and he was free and easy on earth
In 716 AD, Li Chengqi took the initiative to change his name to Li Xian because he felt offended the name of Li Longji's biological mother Empress Zhaocheng . With this action alone, Li Longji was very happy and named Li Xian as Ningwang .
At this point, Li Longji will no longer be scared because he is not a legitimate child. What his brother Li Xian did undoubtedly gave him a reassurance.
Usually, Li Xian is dedicated to playing music and never cares about the affairs of the court. He only made friends with famous literary masters like Wang Wei , and never had private friends.
Therefore, the relationship between Li Longji and Li Xian brothers is very harmonious. Even if someone instigates him in the middle, Li Longji trusts his brother very much.
Not only that, whenever Li Xian’s birthday comes, Li Longji will personally go to his mansion to celebrate. Whenever there are foreign tributes and delicious food or rare treasures in the palace, Li Longji will not forget to give Li Xian a portion.
Li Longji sometimes even invites Li Xian to enter the palace to sleep with him, and brothers express their feelings. This deep brotherhood is also very rare in the imperial family in feudal society.
Since ancient times, the Nine Five Emperors have been the object of competition among countless powerful people. Li Chengqi could have been the emperor with justification, but he forced it to his younger brother Li Longji.
On the one hand, he had a very clear understanding of his abilities; on the other hand, he also knew that since the founding of the Tang Dynasty, he had been in a bloody storm due to the dispute over power.
For example, the Xuanwu Gate Incident when Emperor Taizong of Tang Li Shimin fought for power with his brothers, and the white terror that Wu Zetian carried out to seize the throne, undoubtedly left scars again and again on the inside and outside the court.
If he fights blindly, it will only become a stumbling block on Li Longji's way forward, and his fate can be imagined.
Li Chengqi neither wants to disappoint his father, nor does he want to see the scene of brothers and feet fighting each other. So he chose to judge the situation and protect himself, which was exchanged for social stability and brotherly friendship.
Isn’t this value of humility and friendship a true portrayal of a humble gentleman for thousands of years? Therefore, Li Chengqi lost his position as a monarch and gained more. This kind of wisdom and foolishness also makes people sincerely admire him.
In 742 AD, Li Xian died of illness. At this time, Li Longji, who was already Emperor Xuanzong of Tang, was very sad after hearing the news. Not only did he cry all day long, but he even didn't want to eat or drink for many days. Not only that, Li Longji also posthumously named his elder brother Li Xian as the emperor.
This made the descendants of the Li Xian family feel intimidated and trepidated. Li Chengqi's eldest son Ruyang King Li Feng personally entered the palace and told Li Longji that his father did not want to be emperor during his lifetime.
But Li Longji did not agree. On the contrary, he posthumously named his sister-in-law Empress Gong and ordered people to build Huiling for Li Xian.
Speaking of Emperor Xuanzong of Tang Dynasty, Li Longji, although he founded Kaiyuan Prosperous , leaving a brilliant mark in history.
But he once got rid of his aunt Princess Taiping and three sons. I have to say that he is the full iron-blooded emperor, but why is he so affectionate to his brother? The most important reason for this is the initiative of his brother Li Chengqi to give up the virtuous.
