Li Yuan, as the founding emperor of the Tang Dynasty, his life in his later years was extremely miserable. Why?
A lonely old man
Li Yuan was the founding emperor of the Tang Dynasty, but he was also the loneliest old man.
Li Yuan is a descendant of Li Hao, the founding monarch of Xiliang, and has been prominent for generations. His father, Li Bing, was a general of the Zhu Kingdom of the Northern Zhou Dynasty. However, when Li Yuan was 7 years old, his father passed away.
Li Yuan’s wife, Dou, was not born a mortal. As soon as she was born, her hair was longer than her neck. She was born with extraordinary intelligence and was deeply loved by her uncle, Emperor Wu of the Northern Zhou Dynasty.
When Emperor Wen of the Sui Dynasty usurped Zhou Dynasty and ascended the throne, Mrs. Dou cried loudly: "I hate that I am not a man, so I can save my uncle."
Mr. Dou has lived in the palace since she was a child. , is familiar with politics, likes to read history books, and is very talented. After marrying Li Yuan, the couple is very affectionate!
However, when he was about 45 years old, Mr. Dou left behind 5 children and a dear husband, and passed away!
Among the five children, 16-year-old Li Xuanba, Li Yuan’s third son, also passed away the year after his mother passed away. Later, during the Xuanwu Gate Incident, brothers and sisters killed each other, and both of their sons, Li Jiancheng and Li Yuanji, died at the hands of Li Shimin.
Losing his father in childhood, losing his wife in middle age, and losing his son in old age are the four major sorrows in life. Li Yuan has experienced three levels of sorrow! Some people may say that if the Dou family had not passed away so early, would the Xuanwu Sect incident have happened?
There are no ifs in history. This is Li Yuan’s life, and he cannot escape it. When the Xuanwumen Incident happened, Li Yuan seemed to be kept in the dark.
It wasn’t until Li Shimin held his enthronement ceremony in the Xiande Hall of the East Palace, and the bloody reality was before his eyes, that he seemed to suddenly wake up. However, the main event is yet to come.
Highlight 1: On the day of the Xuanwumen Incident, Li Shimin overturned the religious policy just promulgated by his father Li Yuan and allowed all Buddhists who had returned to secular life to return to the temple.
Highlight 2: The release of more than 3,000 maids from Yeting.
Highlight 3: In the third year of Zhenguan, Li Shimin exiled Pei Ji, a good friend and favorite minister of his father Li Yuan, and rehabilitated the minister Liu Wenjing who was executed by Tang Gaozu Li Yuan.
It is human nature that when the former emperor is still alive, it is impossible for the current emperor to say bad things about the former emperor. What's more, his ex is still his biological father!
However, Li Shimin confidently criticized his father's old politics!
Everything Li Shimin did was as if his father Li Yuan had long since passed away. However, the outdated old emperor is still living in fear.
What is this behavior called?
Slap in the face.
Whose face?
Slap the Emperor in the face.
The Supreme Emperor, do you still have the face?
No, he was abandoned by the Tang Dynasty long ago!
History books now say that the first person to rebel against the Sui Dynasty was Li Shimin.
The end of the hero
In recent years, more and more historical events have proved that Li Yuan was the leader who planned the Taiyuan uprising and led the Tang army to the Sui capital!
Li Yuan was born with a golden key in his mouth. The Li family has been noble for generations, and Li Yuan is different from Zhu Yuanzhang and Liu Bang. The latter two were forced to have no choice. If they didn't rebel, they might not be able to survive.
Li Yuan is a second-generation official. He has a car, a house, and an official position without struggling. Moreover, Li Yuan was already over 50 at the time!
An older man led everyone to overthrow an old dynasty with great courage. What is this if not a hero?
After the establishment of the Tang Dynasty, it faced the persistence of Chang'an and the recovery of other places, the replacement of old and new systems and personnel, the comfort of the people of the world, etc. Just when I had a chance to breathe, the Xuanwu Gate incident happened again! ! !
In fact, judging from the results, Li Yuan's rule of martial virtue has laid a solid foundation for the Tang Dynasty, and laid an indispensable cornerstone for Li Shimin's subsequent glorious rule.
However, these achievements of Li Yuan were deliberately covered up or tampered with by Li Shimin!
What makes Li Yuan even more sad is that there is a deep gap between the father and son who once fought side by side and conquered the country together. There was a deep gap between the close father and son. Mutual indifference, suspicion, and revenge created a rift between father and son that was difficult to heal.
Li Yuan spent his whole life as a soldier and worked hard to create the Tang Dynasty! In the end, the kingdom was gone, his dearest sons killed each other for the throne, and the only bit of family affection was blurred. All of this made Li Yuan feel extremely lost and depressed.
Life is impermanent!
Li Yuan has been living in Tai Chi Palace.
Taiji Palace is the main palace of the Tang Empire, also known as "Da Nei".
Perhaps to express his dissatisfaction, Emperor Li Yuan did not move out of Tai Chi Palace immediately after Li Shimin ascended the throne. So much so that Tang Taizong Li Shimin, who had been working in the East Palace, felt very unhappy.
In the third year of Zhenguan, the Supreme Emperor moved to Hongyi Palace and renamed it Da'an Palace. Da'an Palace is very small, old, simple and damp. For work needs, Li Shimin often went to Da'an Palace to greet the Supreme Emperor.
The accompanying ministers could not bear to see the poor conditions in which the Supreme Emperor lived, so they explained the seriousness of the matter to Li Shimin: Since Li Yuan had abdicated, Li Shimin should treat the Supreme Emperor well!
In fact, in normal times, Li Shimin was very willing to listen to the ministers' suggestions. However, Li Shimin never changed on this matter. He let his father Li Yuan continue to live in Da'an Palace.
Living in Da'an Palace, Li Yuan had actually lost his freedom of life long ago, and many ministers could not see Li Yuan. After the Xuanwu Gate Incident, Li Yuan lived in fear and caution every day.
In order to dispel Li Shimin's vigilance, Li Yuan indulged in drinking and sex all day long. According to statistics, after Li Yuan became emperor at the age of 53, he gave birth to about 36 children. Among them, more than 10 were born after becoming the Supreme Emperor.
In the 9th year of Zhenguan, Li Yuan, the founding emperor of the Tang Dynasty, who had been depressed for many years, died in Da'an Palace, ending his lonely and lonely old age. In Li Yuan's last edict, he emphasized that everything should be kept simple in his funeral.
What is surprising is that the emperor passed away without building a mausoleum!
Since ancient times, which emperor did not go to great lengths to choose a geomantic treasure land for himself while he was still alive, and spent a lot of manpower and financial resources to build a mausoleum? !
However, until Li Yuan died, he didn’t even have a cemetery!
Due to the "hurried construction period", the Xianling Mausoleum built by his son Li Shimin for Laozi had to change the original nine feet of land to six feet!
Li Yuan’s mausoleum is very different from that of later generations such as Li Shimin and Li Longji who used mountains as mausoleums. However, Li Shimin buried his father Li Yuan with a handful of loess!
Death is like a lamp going out.
However, "The Cambridge History of Sui and Tang Dynasties in China" said:
"It is no exaggeration to say that Tang Gaozu is the most devalued monarch in all Chinese history books."< /p>
This is the greatest failure and sorrow of the founder of the Tang Dynasty!
Ruthless, the most imperial family.
If there is an afterlife, don’t, don’t be reborn in the royal family.