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Tang Dynasty : Revolution of the Xuanwu
Gate REVOLUTION OF THE XUANWU GATEAfter Li Yuan unified the whole China, there was a political dispute within the imperial family. The dispute was between Prince Li Jiancheng and Li Shimin (Tang Taizong). They disputed over who should become the emperor's heir. Li Yuan had 22 sons. Li Jiancheng was the eldest, the second son was Li Shimin, the third son had died a long time ago, and the fourth son was called Li Yuanji. Jiancheng, Shimin and Yuanji were all very talented. But, before Li Yuan unified China, Shimin won a lot of battles conquering the enemies. However, he wasn't the eldest. According to the hereditary system, the eldest of the sons should have the right to become the emperor's heir. Therefore, Jiancheng became the imperial prince after Li Yuan had become the emperor. Since Li Shimin was a very wise and brave person, he became the most important leader of the army of Tang. More and more great generals and warriors joined in his clan. His clan became a very powerful one at that time. It was so powerful that it even threatened the power of Jiancheng. So that he could confirm his status as prince, Jiancheng wanted to annihilate Shimin's power. Therefore, Jiancheng found Yuanji, who also wanted to kill Shimin for his own reason. With his help, Jiancheng planned two strategies to make himself stronger and dilute Shimin's power. His first strategy was to bribe the concubines of Li Yuan. Li Yuan had a lot of concubines when he got old. At that time, Shimin was given the authority to control the whole assembly of officers. Some of the emperor's concubines asked Shimin to give their families an official position as senators...etc. but Shimin told them nobody could become an officer without having some important achievements themselves. From that time on, the concubines hated Shimin a lot. Therefore, when Jiancheng asked for their cooperation, they accepted it right a way. They spread slanderous rumours about Shimin and said good things about Jiancheng in front of Li Yuan. Li Yuan didn't like Jiancheng much, but after having heard what his concubines said about him, he started to change his attitude toward Jiancheng. The second strategy was to make Shimin's subordinates betray him. At first, Jiancheng tried to bribe some of the generals in Shimin's clan. But those generals were very loyal to Shimin. Jiancheng didn't succeed. Since he couldn't find a way to bribe them, he changed his method. He went to the Emperor and convinced him to force Shimin to get rid of some of his subordinates. This constituted a serious threat to Shimin. One evening, Prince Jiancheng invited Shimin to his place for a drink. He put poison into the wine and let Shimin drink it. Once Shimin finished drinking it, his heart hurt immediately, and he threw up lots of blood. A few days later, Li Yuan heard about it, and went to visit Shimin. He told Shimin that he knew about the fights between him and his brother, and said he felt helpless about it. He asked Shimin to move to the east, so that maybe the situation would become better. It was a good idea for Shimin though. Jiancheng's influence became stronger and stronger in the capital. For his safety and his future, it was better for Shimin to move east and reinforced his own influence over there. So he accepted it. However, Jiancheng and Yuanji were against it, they thought once Shimin moved east, it would be harder for them to take him down. They bribed some of his father's consultants and told them to show their disapproval to the emperor. They finally convinced the emperor. Li Yuan changed his mind and asked Shimin to stay. Jiancheng, Yuanji and the concubines spread bad rumours about Shimin everyday in front of the Emperor, and asked the emperor to kill him. Although the emperor refused to kill his own son, little by little, he started to believe those rumours. The situation became worse for Shimin. His subordinates advised him to start a revolution and told him he should kill his brothers before his brother killed him, but Shimin hesitated, he couldn't make up his mind. One day, one of Jiancheng's confidants betrayed him, and came to Shimin. He secretly informed Shimin that Jiancheng was going to kill him in a few days. At this point, Shimin understood that he really had no choice but to start a revolution. One day, when Jiancheng and Yuanji passed through the Xuanwu gate, Shimin had already hidden his army there. Jiancheng and Yuanji immediately realized that something strange was going on. They tried to escape but it was too late. The Xuanwu Gate was the most important gate that controlled the entrance to the palace. Shimin had successfully bribed the guards before and his brother was captured. He killed his brothers and went to tell Li Yuan about it. Li Yuan at that time didn't know about the revolution. When Shimin cried and told him everything that had just happened, he was shocked. But soon he understood that Shimin was forced to do what he did and that no one could change what had just happened. Three days after these events, Shimin became the imperial prince. Two months later, Li Yuan abdicated and Shimin became the emperor of Tang. He named himself "Tang Taizong", and became one of the greatest emperors in China's history.
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