In 626 AD, Li Shimin led the eldest grandson Wuji, Wei Chi Jingde, Fang Xuanling, Du Ruhui, Hou Junji, Cheng Yanjin and others to launch the Xuanwumen Rebellion, and killed the crown prince Li Jiancheng and the king of Qi Li Yuanji, who were threatening to the throne.

In order to prevent future troubles, Li Shimin did not stop doing anything, and killed Li Jiancheng and Li Yuanji's sons (Li Shimin's ten own nephews) with lightning speed.

Seeing that the situation was not good, Li Yuan chose to protect himself, and immediately established Li Shimin as the crown prince and retreated to the second line, and handed over all government affairs to Li Shimin.

Li Shimin's improper position is an uncomfortable thing that can never be erased from his heart, so he can only try his best to be a good emperor, but what he didn't expect was that in his later years, he also suffered the kind of pain from his father Li Yuan.

In 643 AD, Li Shimin, who had been the emperor for seventeen years, was already dying, and he planned to pass the throne to the crown prince Li Chengqian after a hundred years, but what he didn't expect was that Li Chengqian united with the king of Han, the concubine of Princess Chengyang and Hou Junji to force the palace and let Li Shimin step down early.

As a result, the matter was revealed, Li Chengqian was deposed, thinking about it, Li Shimin considered setting up his beloved Li Tai as the prince, Li Tai was ecstatic in his heart, in order to beat Li Zhi, the king of Jin, he also used Li Chengqian's matter to intimidate him not to think about the throne.

Li Zhi turned around and told Li Shimin about it, and the deposed Li Chengqian also said that he wanted to force the palace because Li Tai was plotting against the throne, after all, he was already the crown prince, if there was no threat from Li Tai, he just had to wait quietly, why force the palace?

Li Shimin's heart ached, watching his sons compete for the throne, he thought of his former self again, and in front of the ministers, he clamored to draw his sword and commit suicide.

The eldest grandson Wuji and others hurriedly dissuaded him, and said that he would wholeheartedly support Li Zhi, Li Shimin got off the donkey down the slope, and issued an edict to establish Li Zhi as the crown prince, so that the dispute between the crown prince was completely settled.

In order to let Li Zhi be a good emperor with peace of mind, Li Shimin specially explained to him before he died: This person is too powerful, if you can't control it, kill him.

And the person Li Shimin refers to is Li Tao.

辅政大臣

It is said that there are no fathers and sons in the power field, and this point is vividly interpreted in the history of the struggle for imperial power in ancient times.

In history, in order to ascend the throne, father and son killed each other, siblings punished each other, it is really a habitual thing, take Li Shimin as an example, he is not a good son, nor a good brother, let alone a good brother, but he is a good father, especially for Li Zhi, it shows the kindness of a father.

Of course, for Li Shimin, Li Zhi can really be called a good son.

In 644 AD, Tang Taizong wanted to crusade against Goguryeo, so he ordered Li Zhi to stay in Dingzhou.

When Tang Taizong returned triumphantly, Li Zhi immediately went to Bingzhou to serve Li Shimin in person, when Li Shimin had a big poisonous sore, Li Zhi didn't say a word, personally sucked pus for his father, and saddled before and after the horse, so that Li Shimin realized the happiness of being a father.

In 649 AD, Li Shimin's life came to an end, he knew that Li Zhi could not be compared with himself in terms of politics and martial arts, but he couldn't bear his son to work too hard, so he appointed three auxiliary ministers for him.

These three people are the eldest grandson Wuji, Chu Suiliang and Li Tao.

These three people enjoyed a very high reputation among the civil and military generals at that time, representing the highest political and military standards at that time, in Li Shimin's view, as long as the three of them could do their best to assist Li Zhi, then Li Zhi would have no problem at all.

The eldest grandson Wuji is Li Shimin's eldest brother, and Li Shimin has no doubts about his loyalty, and Chu Suiliang is very scrupulous in abiding by the courtesy of the monarch and ministers, and has high attainments in politics and literature, and Li Shimin is also convinced of him.

In addition, the eldest grandson Wuji and Chu Suiliang get along very harmoniously and do not fight for power.

Therefore, Li Shimin is most worried about Li Tao, as for why he chose this person, this is because Li Tao is a military general with extraordinary ability.

Martial arts are world-famous

Li Tao was born in Gaoping Beizu Shangfang Xu, formerly known as Xu Shichang, with proud military exploits, was personally given the surname Li by Li Yuan, and then changed his name to Li Shichang, and then Li Shimin ascended the throne, in order to avoid secrets, he removed the word "world", and then became Li Tao.

In his early years, Li Tao had taken refuge in the Wagang Army led by Zhai Rang, but Zhai Rang's leadership ability was not outstanding, and when Li Mi joined the Wagang Army, Li Tao and Wang Bodang tried their best to persuade Zhai Rang to give way, and since then, they have been dominated by Li Mi.

It's just that Li Mi always felt that Zhai Rang was in the way, so he took the opportunity to kill him, and Li Tao was almost killed in this coup, but fortunately, Wang Bodang stopped it in time and saved Li Tao's life.

When Li Mi was fighting with Wang Shichong, he was beaten to the ground, and in desperation, he had to take refuge in the Tang Dynasty, and Li Tao became a courtier of the Tang Dynasty.

After defecting to the Tang Dynasty, Li Tao followed Li Shimin to fight everywhere, and his life began to shine, and his military talents were more vividly brought into play.

Carefully calculated, Li Tao's exploits mainly include following Li Shimin to pacify the Quartet, defeating Xue Yantuo twice, pacifying the northern part of the country, breaking the Eastern Turks in the north, and conquering Goguryeo in the east.

It can be said that in the main wars of the early Tang Dynasty to expand the territory, Li Tao was never absent, and it was precisely because of this that Li Shimin had to be in awe of Li Tao.

In Li Shimin's view, as long as Li Tao is here, then the territory of the Tang Dynasty will continue to expand outward, but at least it is not a problem to hold on to the existing territory, which is why Li Shimin is jealous of Li Tao and insists on arranging him to Li Zhi.

Deathbed confession

Li Shimin couldn't refuse the call of death after all, before he died, he called Li Zhi to his side, and deliberately arranged Li Tao's affairs, Li Shimin said this:

Li Shiyun is more than intelligent, but you have no grace with him, and I am afraid that you will not be able to accept it. If I do it now, I will die, and you will use it as a servant to shoot it later, and if you wander and look forward, you should kill it.

Li Shimin means that Li Tao is also the auxiliary minister I left to you, but this person is very intelligent, and you have no kindness to him, I am afraid that he will not obey you, I have to demote him from the Beijing division first, and after you ascend the throne, you will be promoted to see his performance, and you can't shake him, so I will kill him.

Not to mention, Li Shimin's hand is quite clever, after Li Shimin's death, Li Zhi obeyed his last wishes and promoted Li Tao from the local to a servant, Li Tao was really grateful to Li Zhi and served his life desperately.

And later history also proved that Li Shimin's worries were really unnecessary, and Li Tao never thought of taking Li Zhi's army, and the two of them performed a very harmonious story.

In fact, this is also what Li Zhi can think about, after all, he has never doubted the three auxiliary ministers selected by Li Shimin for him, and he has always trusted him, which is the root cause of their ability to serve Li Zhi all the time.

In 669 A.D., Li Tao died of illness, Li Zhi wept bitterly when he heard it, and ordered to drop out of the dynasty for seven days, posthumously named Li Tao as a lieutenant, gave him the title of Zhenwu, and allowed him to be buried in Zhaoling.

On the day of the burial, Li Zhi came to the ancient city of Weiyang Palace, climbed the palace tower to give him a funeral, and looked at the hearse and wept bitterly......

References: "Old Tang Book", "Zizhi Tongjian", etc.

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