How did Li Zhi become the crown prince What is the truth

How did Li Zhi become the crown prince? Readers who are unsure can read on with the History Encyclopedia editor.
In the history of the Tang Dynasty, there was a naturally cowardly crown prince named Li Zhi. He was the ninth son of Emperor Taizong of Tang, and his mother was Empress Changsun. However, according to the feudal patriarchal system, the heir must have a legitimate son, and only those without a legitimate son can have a legitimate heir.
Li Chengqian, the elder brother of Li Zhi, was both the legitimate son and the eldest son. Therefore, after Emperor Taizong of Tang ascended the throne, Li Chengqian was appointed as the crown prince. So why did Li Zhi become the crown prince later on? So how did Emperor Taizong of Tang consider it? There are three reasons why Li Zhi became the crown prince:
1. Li Chengqian was deposed
As Li Chengqian was the eldest son of Emperor Taizong of Tang, he smoothly became the crown prince after his coronation. However, at this time, Emperor Taizong of Tang had another legitimate son, Li Tai.
Li Tai has shown his talent since childhood. He loves learning and reading, and his calligraphy is also good. Moreover, at the age of 18, he edited “Kuozhi Zhi”, a geographical work, which made Emperor Taizong of Tang very fond of Li Tai.
But unexpectedly, Emperor Taizong’s favoritism towards Li Tai caused dissatisfaction among Crown Prince Li Chengqian. Therefore, Li Chengqian openly followed Emperor Taizong but secretly disobeyed him, and he no longer listened to his teachers or loved learning. Emperor Taizong often scolded him.
So at this moment, Li Tai felt that Li Chengqian might be deposed from the position of Crown Prince, and he might be appointed as Crown Prince, so he began to fight with Li Chengqian and seize the position of Crown Prince.
Li Chengqian was afraid that his position as crown prince would be deposed, so he took action first. He rebelled with Li Yuanchang, Hou Junji, and others, but the situation was exposed and Li Chengqian was deposed.
Emperor Taizong of Tang planned to make Li Tai the crown prince, but Li Tai was worried that Li Zhi would come to compete with him for the throne and threaten him again. Li Zhi told Emperor Taizong of Tang about this, and Li Chengqian also admitted that Li Tai was competing with him for the throne, which led to his rebellion.
After hearing this, Emperor Taizong of Tang was very heartbroken and wanted to commit suicide. He was stopped by Changsun Wuji and others, and proposed to make Li Zhi the crown prince. Emperor Taizong agreed, and Li Zhi became the crown prince like this.
2. Changsun Wuji’s help
After the controversy between Li Chengqian and Li Tai over the position of crown prince was exposed, Changsun Wuji proposed to appoint Li Zhi as the crown prince. At this time, Emperor Taizong of Tang was worried that there might be different voices from the court, so Changsun Wuji guaranteed that no official would have any objections.
Later, Emperor Taizong of Tang was afraid that Li Zhi would not be able to win over the people, so he wanted to appoint Li Ke as the crown prince. Changsun Wuji opposed it, believing that Li Zhi was benevolent and a defender of the city. He believed that frequent changes in the crown prince would arouse suspicion among the ministers and make the court unstable. Therefore, Emperor Taizong of Tang gave up. Without the help of Changsun Wuji, Li Zhi’s position as Crown Prince would have been unstable. Li Zhi’s ability to become Crown Prince is truly thanks to Changsun Wuji.
3. Li Zhi’s personality
Li Zhi’s character is weak. When his two brothers competed for the crown prince’s position, he did not participate and did not dare to become the crown prince one day. However, this personality actually helped him.
He did not participate in the rebellion or compete for power, but he was also the legitimate son, so his personality gave him an advantage in becoming the crown prince.
Because Emperor Taizong took the throne only after launching the Xuanwu Gate Incident, this incident had a great psychological shadow on Emperor Taizong. He did not want his descendants to have such incidents as the Xuanwu Incident, so Li Zhi’s character would not let such incidents happen again, and he could treat other brothers and sisters kindly. So Emperor Taizong of Tang chose Li Zhi as the crown prince with this consideration in mind.
Li Zhi’s becoming the Crown Prince may seem like an accident, but it is also inevitable. Due to his two brothers fighting against each other, resulting in mutual harm, Li Zhi had an opportunity at this time. With the help of Changsun Wuji, he became the first choice candidate for the crown prince.
This also confirms the idiom ‘cranes and clams compete for the benefit of the fisherman’, so Li Zhi’s personality seems weak, but it is precisely this that became the key to his becoming the crown prince.
A person’s strengths and weaknesses will change at different times, environments, and conditions, and there is no fixed set of strengths and weaknesses. At the same time, it also tells us that non contention is contention, which means achieving the goal of contention through non contention. Li Zhi appears more wise in this regard than his two brothers.