The founding emperors of ancient times were generally powerful, capable of literature and martial arts, and were good at employed people, with extraordinary abilities. Some founding emperors started a massacre and killed their brothers who started their own businesses. For example, Han Gaozu Liu Bang, Ming Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang are all emperors who are ruthless in this way, but some founding emperors in history are not like this. For example, Li Yuan is an exception. He became the emperor when he started his army. He gave up the throne to his son before his retirement age and became the emperor early.
In our impression, the founding emperors would always have close-ups in history, but Li Yuan had a low sense of existence in history and had a low evaluation. He was overshadowed by the limelight of his son Li Shimin . So what kind of person is Li Yuan?
1. As cowardly as a mouse
To evaluate Li Yuan, we must also look at his starting trajectory. Li Yuan was originally an official of the Sui Dynasty. He was a salary from the Sui Dynasty and was also a royal relative. His mother and Empress Yang Jian were sisters. It should be said that no one can compare to such a status.
According to " New Book of Tang ", in 617, Li Yuan was appointed as the left-behind Taiyuan and the palace supervisor of Jinyang. At that time, the Sui Dynasty was in chaos in the world. Li Yuan also led his army to suppress the peasant uprising for the Sui Dynasty. During this process, at the suggestion of his son Li Shimin, Li Yuan continued to recruit troops to expand his power and recruited some rebels under his command. He also made friends with heroes from all over the world and various talents from the Internet. At that time, Li Yuan's power continued to grow.
In the chaos at the end of the Sui Dynasty, Li Yuan was able to make arrangements in advance and laid his strength for himself. Later, the peasant uprising became more and more intense at the end of the Sui Dynasty, and Emperor Yang of Sui was isolated and helpless in Yangzhou, Jiangsu. Jinyang Order Liu Wenjing and Jinyang Palace Supervisory Pei Ji and Li Shimin are close friends, and Li Shimin found Liu Wenjing to discuss the rebellion. But Li Shimin did not let his father know, worried that Li Yuan would stop him. So Li Shimin and Pei Ji discussed the matter and hid it from Li Yuan.
Pei Ji knew Li Yuan very well, so he found a few beautiful women in Jinyang Palace to drink and spend the night with Li Yuan. Pei Ji then told Li Yuan about Li Shimin's rebellion. Li Yuan was shocked and thought that doing so was a risky thing.
But Pei Ji told Li Yuan the truth. It turned out that if the emperor knew about the arrangement of the palace to serve Li Yuan, it would be a crime of beheading. He could use this strategy to force Li Yuan to make up his mind to raise an army.
Li Yuan had to agree to this situation. Then Li Shimin reported his plan to raise an army to Li Yuan. Li Yuan still disagreed at the time, believing that this was a traitor and that Li Shimin should be sent to the official position. Li Yuan just said that he would give his son a rebellion, and finally agreed to Li Shimin's plan to rebel.
This shows that Li Yuan was as timid as a mouse when he was about rebelling, and he was afraid of something. It is understandable that Li Yuan's mood was that after the rebellion, no one had an absolute chance of winning. If he lost, he would definitely be a ghost. Besides, Li Yuan was also a royal relative. Pei Ji knew Li Yuan’s personality best. He grasped Li Yuan’s weaknesses and also verified that Li Yuan was a lustful person.
2. Indecisive
After Li Yuan became the emperor, he gathered a group of capable ministers and generals under his command, which quickly laid the foundation for the consolidation of Tang Dynasty . However, in the early Tang Dynasty, Li Yuan did not experience what he did personally, but his son Li Shimin helped him a lot. This also enabled Li Shimin to establish his own power in the continuous war.
According to historical records, Li Yuan had already made his eldest son Li Jiancheng the crown prince at that time, but in order to consolidate his rule, he had to use Li Shimin to fight for himself. Therefore, Li Yuan promised Li Shimin that he would be the crown prince in the future, which laid the dream of becoming an emperor in Li Shimin.
At this time, Li Jiancheng was afraid of Li Shimin's growing power. Anyone who is in the position of prince will have this idea. Not only Li Jiancheng has, but Li Yuan also realized this problem, but he did not take action to further consolidate Li Jiancheng's position.
Li Yuan later named Li Shimin the King of Qin. If Li Shimin was really allowed to stay in Luoyang , even if Li Shimin and Li Jiancheng compete for the throne in the future, the two might have to pass a war duel. It is hard to say whether Li Shimin can succeed at that time.
But Li Shimin is in Chang'an , Li Jiancheng wants to weaken the power around Li Shimin. Li Yuan knew that the two sons were fighting each other, but he was happy to see the two sons fighting each other, but he did not expect the ending to be miserable. Although Li Jiancheng's death was under the sword of his brother Li Shimin, it was actually related to his father Li Yuan. If Li Yuan had made a decision early on the matter of becoming a crown prince and would not have left any future troubles, there would be no tragedy of his son fighting.
Li Yuan's indecision led to the two sons' struggle for the outcome, and Li Shimin finally won. However, " Xuanwu Gate Change " also had adverse effects on the descendants of the Li family. Li Shimin's son later died two of them due to a stake in the capital. In the history of the Tang Dynasty, there were very few ruthless emperors, and I'm afraid only Li Shimin was the only one.
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3. Keep your mind as you like
After Li Shimin killed his brother and became the crown prince, Li Yuan also knew that Li Shimin was powerful, so he might as well give up the throne earlier and let his son do it, so that he could enjoy the happiness in the harem.
When later generations evaluated the history of Li Yuan’s abdication, they believed that Li Yuan Zen’s right was also a clever way of doing it. In fact, this is a helpless approach. If Li Yuan did not abdicate, Li Shimin would also force the palace, and it would be impossible for Li Yuan to continue working. Although Li Shimin already has the power in the court, it is not justified after all. In the future, Li Jiancheng's power will rise again, and there are so many brothers, the more people will compete for the throne.
So, Li Yuan and Li Shimin and his son actually thought of each other together. Li Yuan became the Supreme Empress, and did not care about everything and spent his old age with the support of concubines in the harem.
Later generations believe that Li Yuan is generous. Indeed, Li Yuan's tolerance is too expensive. Li Yuan constantly creates more younger brothers and sisters for Li Shimin in the harem.
Li Yuan has a low sense of existence in history, mainly because he did not have political achievements himself and was "carried" by others throughout his life, which is indeed very sad.
