Today, the History Encyclopedia editor will bring you Li Longji and Li Heng, hoping to be helpful to everyone.
Li Longji is undoubtedly one of the emperors in ancient China who yearned for the throne the most.
How much does Li Longji yearn for the throne? Let’s talk about a few facts.
Firstly, Li Longji and his father Li Dan competed for the throne. Originally, Emperor Li Dan was doing well, but Li Longji and Princess Taiping had a fierce argument. Seeing Li Longji’s aggressive demeanor, Li Dan simply abdicated the throne and gave it to Li Longji. That is to say, Li Longji gave Li Dan a feeling that this throne was seized by Li Longji’s coup and helped Li Dan regain it. Therefore, Li Dan must give the throne to Li Longji as soon as possible.
(Portrait of Li Longji)
Secondly, Li Longji and his brother Li Chengqi competed for the throne. Li Dan’s eldest son is Li Chengqi. Originally, if Li Dan wanted to pass the throne, he should have passed it on to Li Chengqi. Although Li Longji made contributions during Li Dan’s ascension to the throne. But meritorious service should not be a reason for inheriting the throne. Otherwise, the system of primogeniture would have been ineffective in ancient times. But Li Chengqi promptly stated that he was not the emperor and asked Li Longji to become the emperor. Therefore, after Li Longji came to power, he conferred the title of “Let Emperor” on Li Chengqi. Why did Li Chengqi step down in a timely manner? It was because he saw Li Longji’s aggressiveness and his desire for the throne. Also, Li Longji conferred the title of “Emperor Rang” on Li Chengqi, and with just one word “Rang”, Li Chengqi was also given a qualitative designation. The meaning is that you gave up the throne, don’t worry about it.
Thirdly, Li Longji and his crown prince Li Ying competed for the throne. Due to the slander of Empress Wu Huifei, Li Longji deposed Li Ying’s position as crown prince. If it’s useless, then it’s useless. After all, he’s his own son, there’s no need to let him die. Li Chengqian did indeed rebel back then, and Li Shimin hasn’t killed him yet? And in order to protect him, he firmly refused to give the throne to Li Tai, the competitor of Li Chengqian. Why did Li Longji actually kill Li Ying later? It can be seen that he is so afraid of someone taking his throne!
Fourthly, Li Longji and his son Li Mao seized the throne. Empress Wu Huifei framed Li Ying solely for the sake of Li Mao. At that time, Li Linfu was also strongly recommending Li Mao, and other ministers were also recommending him. But Li Longji refused to give him the throne. Why? It’s because he saw someone recommending Li Mao and was afraid that the recommender would partner with Li Mao and harm him. Not only that, he also snatched Li Mao’s wife Yang Yuhuan over as his own wife, dealing a huge blow to Li Mao.
(Portrait of Yang Yuhuan)
Fifthly, Li Longji and his son Li Heng seized the throne. Li Longji finally confirmed his son Li Heng as the crown prince. But when Li Heng became the crown prince, Li Longji did not neglect him. Originally, his adopted son Wang Zhongsi was a fierce general guarding the border and had long proposed that An Lushan would rebel. However, due to the close relationship between Wang Zhongsi and Li Heng, Li Longji not only did not listen to Wang Zhongsi, but also demoted him. What I’m afraid of is that I’m afraid Li Heng will unite with the border generals, which will be detrimental to his throne. Afterwards, he continued to attack Li Heng, making him hesitant, submissive, and lacking any decision-making ability.
From the above points, we can see that Li Longji is really too attached to the throne!
However, why did Li Heng, who was so attached to the throne, agree without doing anything when he ran to Lingwu, ascended the throne and proclaimed himself emperor, and honored him as the Grand Emperor, and even sent someone to send the emperor’s seal to Li Heng immediately to show his support for this matter? Does he no longer hold onto the throne?
In fact, Li Longji was still very attached to the throne at that time, and his heart has never changed. Even though he is old, he will never do it if he voluntarily surrenders the throne. When he escaped from Chang’an, he had the idea of passing the throne to Li Heng. But he ultimately did not implement it. When he arrived at Mawei Slope, he had made such a statement, but it has not been implemented yet. Why not implement it? It’s because he is very attached to the throne.
(Portrait of Li Heng)
So, Li Longji’s admission of Li Heng’s usurpation of the throne and voluntarily handing over the seal to him is obviously not in line with his inner desires. So why did Li Longji acknowledge Li Heng instead of confronting him?
Firstly, no one supports it.
Li Longji understood that Li Heng’s accession to the throne was not just Li Heng’s idea, but the idea of the civil and military power of the entire dynasty and the people of the world. It was precisely because of their support that Li Heng succeeded in ascending to the throne.
Li Longji knows Li Heng’s personality very well. Give him ten courage, he wouldn’t dare to do anything rebellious. But if he is supported by everyone and forced to rise to power, he has no choice.
If Li Longji refuses, he will confront Li Heng. That is to confront the civil and military forces of the Manchu Dynasty and the people of the whole country. If no one supports him anymore, what can he do?
An Lushan
Secondly, fear of responsibility.
Li Longji was quite pessimistic about the situation at that time. An Lushan rebelled and eventually forced him to flee to Sichuan, which he had experienced before. He believed that it was unlikely for the Tang Dynasty to defeat An Lushan.
If the Tang Dynasty ultimately failed, An Lushan unified the whole country. So, this responsibility must be borne by Li Heng, not by him. If An Lushan wants to punish, he will only punish Li Heng, and his responsibility will be reduced. That is to say, Li Longji’s actions are actually throwing the blame.
Thirdly, unwilling to endure hardship.
To lead the Tang army to defeat the rebels is a daunting task. Not to mention anything else, it was already causing him a lot of headaches to incite local military governors and coordinate the relationships between various ministers.
Li Longji made a mess of the court affairs in the early stage because this matter was not well coordinated. If he were to do this job again, he did feel somewhat powerless and discouraged. So, Li Heng wanted to do this, and it was just right for him to do it. He found himself idle and gained a good reputation. Why not do it?
(Reference materials: “Old Book of Tang”, “New Book of Tang”, “Zizhi Tongjian”, etc.)
