In Chinese history, there have been several emperors who are widely recognized as wise rulers. Li Shimin of the Tang Dynasty is regarded by many as the first wise ruler of all time. During his reign, he was able to humbly accept advice and make good use of it. Under his rule, the Tang Dynasty gradually became stronger and presented a situation of Zhenguan’s rule. However, even though Li Shimin had many advantages and acted in a wise manner, he also made some mistakes, but he was able to make up for them in a timely manner in the end.
Wei Zheng was a minister under Li Shimin’s command, and he was always able to speak frankly and dare to advise Li Shimin. Although Li Shimin sometimes disliked Wei Zheng, he knew that Wei Zheng’s advice was for himself and the world, and had no ulterior motives. Therefore, Li Shimin was also willing to accept Wei Zheng’s advice. But after Wei Zheng’s death, Li Shimin ordered someone to smash the monument he had erected for Wei Zheng, and even the inscriptions on it were personally written by him. What was the reason for this?
Wei Zheng and Li Shimin, loving and killing each other, never abandoning each other
Wei Zheng and Li Shimin, as a pair of courtiers, had a very interesting way of getting along. In modern terms, they loved and killed each other, but Li Shimin couldn’t do without Wei Zheng. As one of the 24 meritorious officials of Lingyan Pavilion, Wei Zheng is different from other meritorious officials. Most of the meritorious officials who were able to enter Lingyan Pavilion had already followed Li Shimin as a civil servant and military general when he was conquering the world, and many of them came from Wagang Fortress.
When Li Shimin was conquering the world, Wei Zheng was still under Li Jiancheng’s command. At this time, Wei Zheng, Zheng, and Li Shimin were still enemies standing on opposite sides. Wei Zheng also proposed various methods to Li Jiancheng, asking him to eliminate Li Shimin’s threat as soon as possible. After the Xuanwu Gate Incident, Li Shimin successfully ascended to the throne and met Wei Zheng. Prior to this, he had heard of Wei Zheng’s reputation.
Li Shimin once questioned Wei Zheng why he wanted to sow discord between him and his brothers. Wei Zheng’s answer was neither humble nor arrogant, stating that at that time they were each in their own hands. He also told Li Shimin that if Li Jiancheng had listened to his opinions, the situation would not be like today. In the eyes of others, Wei Zheng’s answer was too presumptuous, but in the eyes of Li Shimin, Wei Zheng was a rare talent, even giving him a high opinion from within.
We are all familiar with what happened later. Li Shimin not only did not blame Wei Zheng, but also reinstated him and entrusted him with important responsibilities. Wei Zheng’s integrity and fearlessness of power made Li Shimin both happy and afraid. When he made mistakes, Wei Zheng would always speak frankly. Once, he planned to go hunting while Wei Zheng was not in court, but when he returned, he did not go because he was worried that Wei Zheng would blame him.
Li Shimin’s evaluation of Wei Zheng is also very accurate. Wei Zheng is like a mirror that can constantly reflect on himself, reminding and correcting him in a timely manner when he makes mistakes. This is the greatest role of Wei Zheng. Although Li Shimin once disliked Wei Zheng, he knew in his heart that in order to be an outstanding ruler, he must have such a outspoken advisor by his side. Before Wei Zheng’s death, Li Shimin betrothed his daughter to his eldest son. After Wei Zheng’s death, Li Shimin was even more heartbroken.
The friendship between the monarch and the courtiers moved all the courtiers, and Li Shimin personally wrote an inscription for Wei Zheng. Among the 24 meritorious officials in Lingyan Pavilion, Wei Zheng ranked third, which shows his great importance to Wei Zheng. When Wei Zheng was alive, Li Shimin valued him so much. Why did Li Shimin demolish Wei Zheng’s monument and even blame him after his death? There were originally two points.
Wei Zheng, a remonstrant, made a mistake in identifying people
Wei Zheng was not only an advisor to Li Shimin, but also had the ability to recognize people. During his lifetime, Wei Zheng recommended two people to Li Shimin, one was Du Zhenglun and the other was Hou Junji. Wei Zheng once told Li Shimin that both of them had extremely high talents and hoped that Li Shimin could value them. At the recommendation of Wei Zheng, Li Shimin highly valued the two individuals because he trusted Wei Zheng’s vision and therefore had a great deal of trust in them.
But what is hard to believe is that in the subsequent rebellion of the Crown Prince, both Hou Junji and Du Zhenglun were involved, and even the main culprits. Du Zhenglun was the teacher of Crown Prince Li Chengqian. After Li Shimin appointed Li Chengqian as Crown Prince, Li Chengqian’s performance was not satisfactory. There were even many ministers in the court who petitioned Li Shimin to abolish Li Chengqian and establish other princes, but they were all suppressed by Li Shimin.
He originally thought that as long as he could find a good teacher to teach Li Chengqian knowledge, he could change Li Chengqian’s performance. At first, his chosen candidate was Wei Zheng, but at that time, Wei Zheng was already seriously ill. Although he eventually agreed to Li Shimin’s appointment as Grand Tutor, he was unable to personally confront the Crown Prince
He recommended Du Zhenglun to Li Shimin. Du Zhenglun was meticulous and conscientious. After receiving the recommendation of Wei Zheng, Li Shimin appointed him as the left illegitimate son of the Crown Prince and personally taught Li Chengqian.
As the teacher of the Crown Prince, Du Zhenglun has done his job well.
But he only did one wrong thing, Li Chengqian suffered from foot disease. When he was recuperating in the Eastern Palace, he was a gentle person and a distant gentleman, which made Li Shimin very uneasy. So he recruited Du Zhenglun, hoping that he could patiently guide and properly teach and restrain Li Chengqian. After listening to these words, Du Zhenglun’s thought was to repay the imperial favor, but his way of doing things was wrong. Li Shimin told him these words, and he turned around to tell Li Chengqian, implying that as a teacher, I have an emperor above me.
The leaked information clearly states that Li Shimin does not believe in his son. Du Zhenglun did such a foolish thing, and Li Shimin could not continue to appoint him as the imperial tutor. With a wave of his hand, he was directly demoted to a remote area. If Du Zhenglun was demoted by Li Shimin because he was too straightforward, then Hou Junji truly participated in the rebellion plan of Crown Prince Li Chengqian.
Hou Junji was an old minister of Li Shimin. During Li Shimin’s conquest of the world, he followed Li Shimin and made many military achievements. He also participated in the struggle to seize the throne. Moreover, Hou Junji was not only able to lead troops in battle, but also had great achievements in civil and political affairs. He once served as the Minister of Personnel in the court and was highly praised by the whole court. But Hou Junji also has a big flaw, which is his excessive ambition.
Although Li Shimin highly valued him and appointed him to important positions in the court, Hou Junji still had many grievances and even frequently complained in private. When Hou Junji joined the Donggong Group, Li Chengqian was struggling with how to deal with his brother Li Tai and ensure that his position as crown prince would not be threatened. Hou Junji, who had participated in the Xuanwu Gate Incident, believed that Li Chengqian should emulate Li Shimin and launch another Xuanwu Gate Incident.
This not only eliminates Li Tai’s threat to the Crown Prince’s group, but also enables him to ascend to the throne as emperor as soon as possible. After listening to Hou Junji’s advice, Li Chengqian also decided to take a desperate gamble. However, Li Shimin is not Li Yuan. Although Li Shimin did not restrain the actions of the Crown Prince’s faction, he saw them all. The reason why he was willing to give Li Chengqian a chance was because he did not want to see his sons repeat the same mistakes and walk down the same path as he did back then.
Unfortunately, Li Chengqian disappointed Li Shimin. After confirming that the Crown Prince’s faction had intentions of rebellion, Li Chengqian and others were completely controlled before they could implement their plan. As a major crime of rebellion, all those involved have been severely punished. Li Chengqian’s position as crown prince was abolished, and Hou Junji, as the main conspirator, was also killed by Li Shimin. Afterwards, Li Shimin thought to himself that both of these “talents” were recommended to him by Wei Zheng. Isn’t this a mistake in identifying people? What is it?
Leakage of advice, embarrassing Li Shimin
In addition to making mistakes in identifying people, Wei Zheng also made a mistake that was unbearable for Li Shimin. As a remonstrator, Wei Zheng often pointed out Li Shimin’s erroneous behavior. Although Li Shimin may occasionally get tired of Wei Zheng’s direct advice, most of the time he is willing to accept it. For example, after the death of Empress Changsun, Li Shimin had someone build a high platform. He often took his guards to the official website on the platform to reminisce about Empress Changsun.
Once, Wei Zheng accompanied Li Shimin on a trip. As Li Shimin was crying and looking at the tomb of Empress Changsun, Wei Zheng said on the side, “I thought you were looking at the tomb of the old emperor.” The implication was that as an emperor, it is not right to climb the high platform and only remember his wife, not his father. After this, Li Shimin ordered people to dismantle the high platform and never climbed up to look at the tomb of Empress Changsun again.
From this incident, although Wei Zheng’s words may not sound pleasant, Li Shimin was still able to listen and distinguish between good and bad. After Wei Zheng’s death, Li Shimin originally missed him very much. However, shortly after the end of the Crown Prince’s rebellion, news spread in the court that he would copy two copies of Wei Zheng’s advice before his death, one for Li Shimin to see and the other for the then historian Chu Suiliang.
The throne of Li Shimin was contested through the Xuanwu Gate Incident. Although he was a wise ruler, he was also very concerned about his own image. Therefore, when recording the Xuanwu Gate Incident, he requested the historians to modify the relevant content. Wei Zheng’s remonstrances pointed out his erroneous behavior. Originally, only Li Shimin and Wei Zheng knew the content of the remonstrances. Who would have thought that Wei Zheng would copy every remonstrance to the historians and have them record it in history books.
This approach is undoubtedly damaging the image of Li Shimin as a wise ruler and causing him great embarrassment. The combination of two events brought Li Shimin’s dissatisfaction with Wei Zheng to a peak, so he ordered the removal of the monument erected for Wei Zheng and revoked his promise to marry the princess to Wei Zheng’s eldest son. However, after Li Shimin failed to conquer Goguryeo, he remembered the contributions made by Wei Zheng to the court, and his advice was still vivid in his memory.
So after the class returned to the court, Li Shimin admitted his mistake and ordered someone to rebuild the stone tablet of Wei Zheng, restoring his identity as a hero of the Tang Dynasty. This move also directly acknowledged that Wei Zheng had made more contributions to the Tang Dynasty than he had done. This remonstrant who loved and killed the emperor also received Li Shimin’s respect.
