Diqin Designer

Chapter 357: Zhenguan Events
"We won victory after victory in foreign wars. The great power of the Tang Dynasty spread to foreign lands, and all nations came to pay tribute."

"At that time, the sound of camel bells could be heard everywhere in Chang'an, Hu girls danced in the taverns, and Hu merchants sold goods on the streets. Chang'an had become the most prosperous city in the world at that time, without a doubt!"

The sound of camel bells reaches Chang'an, and the Silk Road stretches for thousands of miles.

Just by listening to it, you can know how prosperous Chang'an was in the Tang Dynasty. Hu people came from all directions because the Tang Dynasty was the most powerful and prosperous country at that time.

But the First Emperor and others were not envious. Xianyang was not bad either. In the future it would surely surpass Chang'an under the rule of Emperor Taizong of Tang. It would also make Hu girls dance in Xianyang and all nations come to pay tribute to it.

“It may be controversial to say that Chang’an was the center of the world at that time, because the Tang Dynasty failed to connect to the farther west, but it is not an exaggeration to say that it was the center of Asia at that time.”

"Asia is a name given in later times, and can be considered to be the present Shenzhou, Yangzhou and Jizhou."

It may be controversial to say that Erfeng is the leader of the earth, but there is absolutely no problem in saying that Erfeng was the leader of Asia at that time.

How many foreign nations dare to challenge the Tang Dynasty?

Even the most resilient Goguryeo was beaten badly by the Tang Dynasty and was almost destroyed.

"Under the rule of Emperor Taizong, the territory of the Tang Dynasty included Xuanque in the north, Luofu in the south, Anxi in the west, and Gewu in the east. There was the Anbei Protectorate in the north of the desert and the Shanyu Protectorate in the south of the desert... The flag of the Tang Dynasty was raised throughout the land!"

The mighty power of the Tang Dynasty spreads far and wide, just like the Han Dynasty in the past, dominating foreign lands and making all nations bow to it!
Li Nian continued, "Emperor Taizong not only made great achievements in military exploits, but also in civil governance. During the Zhenguan period, Emperor Taizong employed many talented people, and he did not care about their backgrounds, as long as they were talented. Therefore, many famous ministers and generals emerged during the Zhenguan period!"

"The civil officials include Fang Xuanling, Du Ruhui, Zhangsun Wuji, Wei Zheng, Chu Suiliang, Ma Zhou, etc., and the military generals include Li Jing, Li Ji, Yuchi Jingde, Qin Qiong, Su Dingfang, Zhang Gongjin, etc...."

"Fang Xuanling and Du Ruhui were known in history as 'Fang's strategies and Du's decisions'. Some people in later generations called them the left and right brains of Emperor Taizong. Many things of Emperor Taizong were planned by them and then accomplished!"

"In the third year of Zhenguan, Emperor Taizong appointed Fang Xuanling as Zuo Pushe and Du Ruhui as You Pushe. The Zuo Pushe and the You Pushe can be regarded as the left and right prime ministers of the Tang Dynasty. Fang and Du's sons both married Emperor Taizong's daughters, which shows that Emperor Taizong trusted and valued them."

"Of course, marrying a princess in the Tang Dynasty is a risky job. Fang Xuanling's second son Fang Yiai was still ridiculed a thousand years later for marrying Emperor Taizong's daughter Princess Gaoyang!"

If a man can be teased for thousands of years for marrying a woman, it must be because the woman he married did something that brought shame to the man...

Are all the princesses in the Tang Dynasty so bold?

But if you think about it, it doesn't seem strange that the Tang Dynasty could allow a woman to become an empress. It seems that women have a very high status in the Tang Dynasty, especially princesses.

Li Nian said: "Zhangsun Wuji is the brother of Empress Changsun, and can be considered as the uncle of Emperor Taizong. He has been good friends with Emperor Taizong since he was young and is the minister that Emperor Taizong trusts the most, no one else."

"The Changsun family was also extremely honored during the Zhenguan reign. He was named Duke of Zhao and ranked first among the 'Twenty-Four Meritorious Officials of the Lingyan Pavilion'. His eldest son, Changsun Chong, also married the eldest daughter of Emperor Taizong, Princess Changle."

Princess Changle is also an old acquaintance. Anyone who travels back to the Zhenguan period of the Tang Dynasty, unless they are Princess Changle's brothers, will almost always compete with Changsun Chong for Princess Changle, just like Ren Tingting in Uncle Jiu's world.

When they heard the title "Twenty-four Heroes of the Lingyan Pavilion", the First Emperor and others understood that this was established by Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty in imitation of the Qilin Pavilion of Emperor Xuan of Han Dynasty and the Yuntai Pavilion of Emperor Guangwu of Han Dynasty, and those who were selected were the top civil and military officials during Emperor Taizong's reign.

Taizong was indeed extremely honorable and favored Zhangsun Wuji. He listed him as the first meritorious official in the Lingyan Pavilion and married his eldest daughter to Zhangsun Wuji's eldest son.

But, Zhangsun Wuji’s eldest son and Taizong’s eldest daughter are close cousins, right?

According to Li Nian, they are close relatives who cannot marry each other, so a marriage between these two may not be a good thing.

Li Nian continued to talk about the famous ministers of the Zhenguan period: "Wei Zheng is also a famous minister who will be remembered throughout the ages. He was widely known for his courage to speak out and make frank suggestions to Emperor Taizong. He was considered the most stubborn person in the Zhenguan period. Even Emperor Taizong could not do anything about him many times."

"Once, Emperor Taizong was so angry with Wei Zheng that he stopped attending court and said angrily: 'I will kill this peasant!' Empress Changsun asked him: 'Who has offended Your Majesty?' Emperor Taizong replied: 'It is Wei Zheng who always argues with me in court and humiliates me, which makes me feel very uncomfortable.'"

In fact, it's not that there is nothing he can do, but Erfeng wants to have a good reputation and be a wise ruler, so he can only tolerate Wei Zheng.

Wei Zheng also saw this point. Moreover, he was once a man of Crown Prince Li Jiancheng, not an old man from Erfeng Tiance Mansion. Therefore, he could not follow the path that the old men of Tiance Mansion could take, so he had to find another way.

"Of course, although he was angry, Taizong did not kill Wei Zheng. Instead, after Wei Zheng's death, Taizong sighed: 'Using copper as a mirror, we can correct our attire; using history as a mirror, we can understand the rise and fall of things; using people as a mirror, we can understand gains and losses. I have always kept these three mirrors to prevent my own mistakes. Now that Wei Zheng is gone, one mirror is gone.'"

After hearing these words, Qin Shi Huang and others could not help but recite them silently in their hearts. They believed that these words made a lot of sense. Emperor Taizong of Tang and Wei Zheng were truly a perfect match between monarch and minister!

The First Emperor secretly compared in his mind: If there were ministers like Wei Zheng who dared to speak frankly to him and give him advice, would he be able to do the same as Emperor Taizong of Tang?
If he was before Li Nian, he probably would not be able to do the same as Emperor Taizong of Tang. If someone made direct suggestions and angered him, he would most likely not be able to suppress his anger. But now, he should be able to do the same as Emperor Taizong of Tang.

Thinking of this, the First Emperor looked at Li Nian and had an idea: "Could this kid deliberately tell the story between Emperor Taizong of Tang and Wei Zheng to provoke me?"

But you know what, he really falls for it.

The First Emperor was a proud and extremely competitive man. He would not allow himself to be worse than others, even if those people were emperors of later generations.

If people like Qin Shi Huang are not properly guided, their personalities will bring great disasters to the country.

Because he is proud, vain, and competitive, he will be very stubborn and overbearing. He thinks he can do everything well and do it best. He will not sympathize with the people's strength, nor will he see their suffering.

It is unlikely to be effective to advise him frankly how miserable the people are and how harmful his actions are.

Because emperors were all selfish dictators, there was no emperor who truly loved his people like his own children.

The more appropriate approach for the First Emperor was to motivate him, give him a long-term goal that he could see, and let him have something to compare with.

Because he doesn't want to lose to others, he will take the initiative to do better.

As for a wise ruler like Erfeng, the First Emperor would never think that he was worse than Erfeng. He would even think about doing better than Erfeng and being more highly regarded in history. So he would try his best to be better than Erfeng in all aspects.

Of course, if there is no emperor, it is better to have no emperor. The feudal dynasty is not something to be envied.

Li Nian smiled and said, "But Wei Zheng had been speaking out to Emperor Taizong for many years, which prevented Emperor Taizong from repairing his palace, raising birds, and going to Mount Tai to perform the Fengshan ceremony. Emperor Taizong also accumulated a lot of resentment in his heart. Although he did not explode when Wei Zheng was alive, after Wei Zheng died, he cancelled the engagement between Wei Zheng's son and his daughter, Princess Xincheng, and even pushed down Wei Zheng's tombstone."

I thought that Emperor Taizong of Tang was a nearly perfect ruler except for killing his brothers, but I didn't expect he would do such a thing.

But this is what it means to be a human being, just like Emperor Xuan of Han, Emperor Guangwu of Han and other wise emperors all had their own flaws. If there were no flaws at all, then he would not be a human being.

After hearing what Erfeng had done, the First Emperor laughed and said, "Emperor Taizong of Tang is also a man of temperament!" Although she cancelled the engagement and temporarily pushed down the tombstone, Erfeng did not take any action against Wei Zheng's descendants.

This is already quite remarkable. If it were some other emperors, your father would have a grudge against me, and if I didn't send your entire family to death, this grudge would never be resolved!

"Wei Zheng's Ten Thoughts to Admonish Emperor Taizong was selected into textbooks in later generations and became an ancient text that many Chinese students had to memorize..."

Li Nian recited the version of "Ten Thoughts to Admonish Emperor Taizong" that he had learned.

Wang Wan sighed, "Every word of this is sincere and thought-provoking. This Wei Zheng is indeed a famous minister. It is no wonder that Emperor Taizong of Tang could achieve success if he had such a minister under his command and accepted his advice!"

Li Nian talked about other civil and military officials during the Zhenguan period, and then he thought of Wang Xuance, saying, "Perhaps it was because the civil and military officials during the reign of Emperor Taizong were too brilliant, so even Wang Xuance, who destroyed an entire country by himself, seemed ordinary among them and was not known by many people."

Wang Xuance’s contribution was definitely not small, but it was a pity that the opponents he fought against were not considered rivals by the Tang Dynasty.

Of course, Central India does not seem to be qualified to be regarded as an opponent by the Tang Dynasty.

Wang Xuance was able to destroy Central India with his borrowed foreign army. If it were the real Tang cavalry, it would be even easier.

Therefore, in the Tang Dynasty at that time, it seemed that this achievement could be ignored. It was just kicking over a wild dog on the roadside, and this achievement was not worth boasting about.

"During the reign of Emperor Taizong, although the Tang Dynasty often fought with foreign nations, Emperor Taizong was not a warmongerer and also focused on domestic development."

"He encouraged people to engage in farming and sericulture, reduced taxes and levies, encouraged childbirth, took the initiative to avoid extravagance and live a simple life, and hastily killed Zhang Yungu in a fit of rage. He believed that punishment should be severe and the death penalty should be used with extreme caution..."

"Various commercial trades also developed rapidly during the reign of Emperor Taizong. He allowed all ethnic groups to engage in trade and restored the northwest trade route. As a result, many Hu people traveled thousands of miles with their caravans to the Tang Dynasty, making Chang'an the world's largest political, economic and cultural center at that time."

"The vitality that had been consumed since the Sui Dynasty gradually recovered under Taizong. Although it has not yet recovered to the level of Yang Jian, his civil and military achievements are far beyond Yang Jian's reach."

"At that time, the Tang people could laugh at the Hu people and be proud of being the people of the Tang Dynasty. Unfortunately, in the 23rd year of Zhenguan, Emperor Taizong passed away!"

Hearing "In the 23rd year of Zhenguan, Emperor Taizong passed away!", the First Emperor and others felt very disappointed.

The emperor, who had been full of vigor and vitality since his youth, finally reached old age and was lost in the dust of history.

If the spring breeze feels pity for the flowers, can it allow me to be young again?

Sure enough, time is the biggest enemy. No matter how talented a person is, or how beautiful a woman is, they will eventually be killed by the years.

"From the first year of Zhenguan to the twenty-third year of Zhenguan, under the reign of Emperor Taizong, the Tang Dynasty achieved great success in all aspects, and thus it was called the 'Zhenguan Reign' in history."

"However, Taizong himself was not a perfect person. He also left behind some problems. The first problem was his crown prince..."

Hearing Li Nian mention "Crown Prince", the First Emperor thought to himself "Here he comes!" He remembered what Li Nian said, "Four great emperors cannot make a complete Crown Prince". He was one of these four, and Emperor Taizong of Tang was also one of them.

He already knew how he himself had failed to handle the crown prince issue in history, and he also knew how Emperor Wu of Han had failed to handle it. Now he wanted to hear what Emperor Taizong of Tang had done!
It seems that many emperors cannot handle the issue of the crown prince well. No matter they are wise or foolish, they always cause trouble.

"Emperor Taizong had a crown prince. His first crown prince was Li Chengqian, the eldest son born to him and Empress Zhangsun."

"However, Emperor Taizong had too high expectations of Li Chengqian and his discipline was too strict, which caused Li Chengqian to be somewhat...rebellious!"

That was true rebellion. He directly started a rebellion and tried to copy his father's path and send his father to the position of emperor emeritus using the "Xuanwu Gate Succession Law".

"In fact, Li Chengqian was a pretty good person, smart, kind, and talented, but unfortunately his father was Emperor Taizong."

"Emperor Taizong is a man of extraordinary talent, and there are few such people in Chinese history. Although Li Chengqian is not bad, compared with Emperor Taizong, he is like a mayfly in the sky!"

Hearing this, Wang Jian understood what was going on and said, "So, Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty required Li Chengqian to follow his own standards?"

Li Nian nodded and said, "That's right. Taizong thought that if he could do it, Li Chengqian could do it too, so he required Li Chengqian to do it according to his own standards."

"Many people around Li Chengqian also held him to high standards because he was the son of Emperor Taizong. This was true for his teachers and his subordinates..."

"Many people are staring at Li Chengqian. Any minor mistakes he makes will be magnified infinitely. If there is any mistake, these people will scold him directly and not give Li Chengqian any face. Because he is the son of Emperor Taizong, he should do the best!"

"If Li Chengqian dares to refute, these people will use Taizong to force Li Chengqian to submit. But the more they do so, the more he will refuse to accept!"

"Li Chengqian gradually let himself go in this environment. The more the people watching him disliked something, the more he would go against it."

Meng Tian sighed: "This is the disaster of a strong father and a weak son, or a brilliant father and a mediocre son!"

Li Nian said: "Especially after Empress Changsun passed away, there was no one to ease the relationship between him and Emperor Taizong, and the situation became even more serious. Li Chengqian wore Hu clothing and danced Hu dance in his palace, and even kept a male lover named 'Chengxin'."

"When Emperor Taizong found out, he executed Chengxin, but this not only did not make Li Chengqian repent, but it deepened the rift between father and son. Li Chengqian built a tombstone for Chengxin in the palace and had the palace ladies offer sacrifices day and night. He himself often cried for Chengxin."

Everyone looked at him in a strange way, and could no longer tell whether Li Chengqian did this on purpose to anger Taizong, or whether Li Chengqian really liked this male favorite, or perhaps both...

But the Tang Dynasty was indeed wild. The crown prince of the Tang Dynasty actually kept a male lover in the palace under the nose of his father.

The First Emperor felt that Taizong did the right thing in killing his male favorite. If Fusu also kept a male favorite one day, and he did it right under his nose, he would definitely not be able to resist killing him.

"When there was already a conflict between the father and son, Taizong did something that further intensified the conflict between them."

"Empress Changsun gave birth to three legitimate sons for Emperor Taizong: Crown Prince Li Chengqian, Prince of Wei Li Tai, and Prince of Jin Li Zhi. These three sons were born to Empress Changsun and were different from the other princes."

"Among these three sons, although Li Chengqian is the crown prince, he is not the most favored by Taizong. The one favored by Taizong the most is Wei Wang Li Tai."

"In fact, Taizong's favorite should still be Li Chengqian, but he may feel that he has given the best thing, the position of crown prince, to Li Chengqian, and he owes it to the other two legitimate sons, so he wants to compensate them."

(End of this chapter)