C318 What kind of emperor is li shimin?

After she pushed aside the group of curious court masters, Empress Zhangsun suddenly spoke out, "Erlang, why do you think Xiao Wen gave you such a weapon?"

Empress Changsun turned a blind eye to the lever crossbow in the hands of the emperor and turned a deaf ear to the new method of refining the salt mines.

She and Li Shimin had been husband and wife for many years, and after living together for fifteen years, they had long known each other.

If it was difficult for Li Shimin to say anything, she could say it, but she could ask Li Shimin a question that she found hard to ask. Even the secret talk between husband and wife was the same.

In fact, Empress Zhangsun's suspicions were also Li Shimin's doubts.

As the second emperor of this country, he did not ascend to the throne by virtue of his father's authority and the hereditary tradition of the throne.

In history, in May, the Tang Kingdom that was left behind by Taiyuan started to fight in Jinyang City. With the support of the eldest son, Li Jiancheng, the second son, Li Shimin, and others, after occupying the Chang'an in November, Li Yuan took Yang You, the grandson of the emperor of Sui Yang as his emperor, and changed his ways of life to become the emperor of the imperial family, namely, the emperor of Sui Yang.

Li Yuan took on the title of prime minister and entered the title of Duke of Tang.

In the fifth month of the year of Yining (618), Li Yuan coached Sui Zhendi and named him Tang, with his eldest son, Li Jian, as his Crown Prince.

According to the "Note on the Establishment of the Tang Dynasty", it was Li Yuan's idea to start the army in Jinyang City.

However, the "Tang" said that the Tai Yuan rebellion was a strategy of Li Shimin. Li Yuan had promised him that he would be made a crown prince after the matter was completed.

After the world has settled down, Li Shimin's name was flourishing, but Li Yuan was hesitant. Li Jian then joined Li Yuanji and excluded Li Shimin.

Li Yuan's indecision had also caused the political orders in the imperial court to clash with each other, speeding up the battle.

According to the records of "Jing Gongquan", the crown prince Li Jiancheng is gentle and indolent, likes to drink alcohol, loves women's sex and loves to hunt.

The fourth son of Gao Zu, and the fourth son of Qi King Li Yuanji, often make mistakes.

Both were not favored by the High Ancestor.

Li Yuan's reputation grew day by day, and Li Yuan often intentionally made him become the new Crown Prince, which made Li Jiancheng feel uneasy. Therefore, he planned together with Yuan Ji and promised Yuan Ji that after he ascended to the throne, he would call him little brother, so Yuan Ji decided to make the new Crown Prince his big brother, to serve him even after his death.

They formed their own cliques and formed their own princes' parties, trying to push Li Shimin out of the way.

However, Sima Guang, when he was writing his book, doubted the authenticity of the historical materials about the construction and the yuan ji.

Sima Guang thought that although Jianming and Yuanzhi were foolish people, their records were likely to be tarnished and slandered by historians since they were killed by the people of the world.

But no matter what, Li Shimin's political abilities were unquestionable.

At that time, even Li Shimin's side, who was still a Qin Wang, did not allow themselves to be outdone.

Following Li Shimin's repeated meritorious deeds outside and his prestige rose, Li Yuan conferred upon him the title of Situ (One of the Three Masters), Shang Shu Hui (equivalent to a Prime Minister), and Zhong Shu Hui (equivalent to a Prime Minister).

When he had no more titles to offer, the unprecedented General Tian Ji gave him the position of general, placing him above all kings. His position in the imperial court was only second to Li Yuan and the crown prince, and he had many supporters.

Moreover, at that time, the Qin Wang Palace was filled with talented people, and along with Li Shimin's supporters, they formed the Qin Wang Party, opposing the Prince's Party.

As a result, after the twentieth century, many historians suspected that Gao Zu's desire to pass on his position to Li Shimin, in order to assassinate him, was a rumor created by Li Shimin after he took over the power, in order to legalize his coup d'état.

After all, in the later years of the year, Li Yuan had favoured many concubines, who gave birth to almost twenty princes, including King Teng, Li Yuanying.

Their mothers competed with the older princes to consolidate their position.

Both Li Jianji and Li Yuanji served their concubines, flattering them, bribing them, offering them everything to win the emperor's favor.

Others say that they had an affair with Zhang Qiyu and Yin Defei, and that the palace was a mysterious place, something that could not be confirmed.

At that time, the crown prince's Eastern Palace, the princes, the families of the concubines, and the relatives of the concubines were all domineering in the Chang'an, committing heinous acts, but the authorities did not dare to pursue this matter.

Li Shimin lived in the Cheng Gan Hall and Yuan Ji stayed at the Wu De Hall's backyard.

The crown prince, Qin and Qi entered and left the emperor's sleeping quarters. They all rode horses and carried swords and bows and other miscellaneous objects. When they met each other, they would salute only to their families.

The orders given by the crown prince and the edicts issued by the emperors, as well as the edicts issued by the emperors, were in parallel. The relevant departments did not know which orders to listen to, and could only follow the orders received.

In this chaotic situation, Li Shimin did not go and fawn over his concubines. In fact, when Li Shimin settled down in the Luoyang as Wang Shizong, Gao Zu had his imperial concubines wait for him to choose the Sui Dynasty's palace maid s and collect the treasures in the warehouse.

Facing imperial concubine and the others who were secretly asking for treasures and asking for officials for their relatives, Li Shimin replied, "The treasures have already been recorded and reported to the imperial government, so the official position should be given to those with talent and contributions."

Because Li Shimin did not agree to any of their requests, the imperial concubines were angry, competing to praise Li Jiancheng and Li Yuanji while slandering Li Shimin.

Once, because of Duke Huai An, King Li's Divine Powers, Li Shimin gave him dozens of fields.

Zhang Gui's father requested for Li Yuan to request these fields from her. Li Yuan gave him these fields under his handwritten imperial order.

Zhang Gui Yu complained to Gao Zu: "The land bestowed to my father by His Majesty was taken away and given to Li Shi Shi by the Qin Wang."

Therefore, Li Yuan became angry and reprimanded Li Shimin: "Could it be that my hands are not as good as your edict?"

After a few days, Li Yuan said to the Left Punisher, "This child has been in control of the army for a long time. He has been instigated by the scholars and he is no longer the original son."

Yin De Fei's father, Yin Ah Shu, was arrogant and domineering., an official of the Qin Wang Palace walked in front of his door, and Yin Ah Shu's servants pulled Du Ruhui off his horse, and beat him up and broke one of his fingers, then said: "Who are you, daring to go past my door without getting off the horse!"

Yin Ah Shu was afraid that Li Shimin would tell the Emperor, so he let Yin De Fei say to the Emperor: "Qin Wang's trusted aides are bullying my family."

Li Yuan then reprimanded Li Shimin angrily, "My concubine family is being bullied by the people around you, let alone this humble commoner!"

Li Shimin tried to defend himself repeatedly, but Gao Zu never believed him … Or maybe he was just pretending to be confused.

On July 2, 626, Li Shimin led Zhang Sun Wuji, Yuchi Gong, Hou Junchen, Zhang Gongjing, Liu Shili, Gongsun Wuda, Dugu Yanyun, Du Junliu, Zheng Rentai and Li Mengyu into the imperial court and laid down an ambush at Xuanwu School.

Li Jiancheng and Li Yuanji did not know the ins and outs of what had happened. They also entered the imperial court and rode their horses towards the Black Turtle Sect.

At this moment, Pei Ji, Xiao Xiao, Chen Shu Da, Feng De Yi, Pei Li and the rest were gathered together, preparing to investigate this matter.

Li Jiancheng and Li Yuanji arrived at the Lakeside Hall. Sensing the change, they immediately turned their horses around and prepared to head east to the Eastern Palace Aristocrat Clan and the Qi King Manor.

Li Shimin called out to them from behind, causing Li Yuanji to feel guilty, he first nocked an arrow and shot it towards Li Shimin, but due to his impatience, he was unable to pull the bow full, and the arrow did not hit.

Li Shimin shot out his bow towards Li Jian, killing him.

Yuchi Gong led the seventy cavalrymen and rushed over. The soldiers beside him shot an arrow at Li Yuanji, causing him to fall down from his horse.

But just at that moment, Li Shimin's mount was shocked, and brought Li Shimin running into the forest beside the Black Tortoise Sect. Once again, Li Shimin was caught by the tree branches in the forest and fell from his horse.

Li Yuanji quickly rushed over and snatched the bow over, preparing to strangle Li Shimin, but just at that moment, Yuchi Gong leaped his horse over and shouted at him.

Li Yuanji knew that he was no match for Li Shimin and immediately let go of Li Shimin. He wanted to quickly run into the Wu De Hall to seek for royal father's protection, but Yuchi Gong quickly chased after him and shot him dead with an arrow.

Prince Li Jiancheng's subordinate, General Feng Li, who was mounted on a chariot, heard of his death. He sighed and said, "Can you avoid disaster because of the favor you had received while the crown prince was still alive?"

Thus, he, along with his deputy, Xue Wanchi, and the Left Chef of Qu Zhi Manor rode Uncle Xie, leading 2,000 elite troops from Eastern Palace and Qi Wang Manor. They rushed to the Black Turtle Sect, preparing to avenge the crown prince and Qi Wang.

Zhang Gongzhi alone closed the door, blocking Feng Li and the others. Feng Li's group was unable to enter.

General Yun Lu and General Jun Hong were stationed at the Black Turtle Sect under the command of the Residence Guard. He stood up and prepared to fight, but those close to him stopped him, saying, "Things have yet to come to an end. We should take our time to observe the situation, and wait for the troops to come together into an array before we go out."

Since Jun Hong didn't want to listen to him, he and Zhong Lang charged into the enemy's formation while shouting out Lu Shiheng's orders. In the end, all of them died in battle. The guards of the Black Tortoise Sect fought with all their might against Xue Wanchun, and the battle continued for a long time. Xue Wancher beat his drums and shouted as he prepared to attack the Qin Wang Mansion, causing the soldiers to feel extremely afraid.

At this time, Yuchi Gong showed the people of Eastern Palace and Qi Wang Mansion the heads of Yuan Ji and the rest. The troops of Eastern Palace and Qi King Mansion lost their will to fight and quickly fell apart. After Feng Li had killed Jun Hong, he said to his underlings, "We can also repay His Highness the Crown Prince a bit."

Thus, he threw away his weapon and fled.

Thus, the coup ended with the victory of Qin Wang Li Shimin.

It was obvious that before the coup, he had used his own two hands to create the structure of half of Great Tang Dynasty. And at the most dangerous moment, Li Shimin would decisively choose to point the blade at his own brothers and his father's emperor. Naturally, Li Shimin had a strong sense of politics.

He could feel that this lever crossbow that Xiao Wen had given him had an unusual meaning.