Either there are extremely powerful witness testimony that confirm the seriousness of the situation of "Li Qi's murder of his brother." But Zhang Liangdi and Li Fuguo are all empty words, what is the strength? Then, the most powerful witness testimony is none other than the party involved in the case himself - Li Yu!

Human life is at stake, and Li Heng found the so-called "victim" Li Yu to understand the situation. If Li Yu tried his best to defend his younger brother, even if his father would be suspicious, he would only reprimand Li Yu at most, so why should he want to eat his son with tiger poison?

Therefore, Li Yu's words with his father have become the key details of Li Yu's death.

Judging from the results, Li Yu's "testimony" is very likely to confirm the exposure of Zhang and Li and make the final fatal blow to Li Yu. Even if he didn't fall into the trap, at least he took a tacit attitude and directly or indirectly contributed to his father's killing of the killer!

Li Yu and Li Fuguo, who murdered his third brother, are subtle, which can also explain his suspicion in this unjust case. As the eldest and favored by military merits, why did Li Yu always fear Li Fuguo like a tiger and respect him as "Shang Father", and after assassinating him, he also respected him as a teacher (Taifu).

This has to make one wonder that he

It is very likely that there was a great deal in the hands of Li Fuguo back then. What could such a handle be? Li Yu is a resourceful character whose wit is deeper than that of his father. He can bend and stretch, be forbearing, have flexible wrists, and be resourceful, and he is a character like Liu Bei who overcomes rigidity with softness. The "four powerful traitors" in the Tang Dynasty (Li Fuguo, Cheng Yuanzhen, Yu Chaoen, and Yuan Zai) were all used by him successively, and they were all cleaned up by him by different means without exception, and his wisdom and strategy are self-evident.

Although Li Yu and Li Qi are not compatriots of the same mother, they have always had a deep brotherly relationship. After his accession to the throne. quickly rehabilitated his younger brother and posthumously sealed him, but what does this help?

Apparently. The attraction of the Ninety-Five Venerable makes fathers, sons, and brothers kill each other. Li Yu is no exception!

In all fairness, the later Li Yu was not a bad emperor, and it was difficult for people to hate. But in the death of Li Qi, the king of Jianning, many clues pointed the finger at him. Even if he is not the mastermind, at least he is an accomplice.

People are sophisticated, and the arrow is on the bow, which is also unthinkable. Who made the Anshi Rebellion also the time of the explosion of human nature?

Let's ask, if Li Yu was still alive when he ascended the throne. Can he be so "good" to the third brother? We are deeply skeptical of this.

Fourth, Li Qi lacks political experience

After Ma Wei's change, it was under Li Qi's analysis and admonition that Li Heng and his entourage decided to abandon Gansu (Hexi Longyou) and go to Ningxia (Shuofang).

Along the way, he took the lead and made outstanding achievements, and his prestige in the army also increased, and the enemy army feared him. When Li Heng crossed the Wei River, Li Qi experienced hundreds of battles every day and was unstoppable.

Whenever it was time for my father to eat, he was still hungry. He was so distressed that he cried, and Li Heng was very moved.

Li Qi's loyal and filial piety behavior, whether it is from the heart or superficial show. All have achieved good results.

Because he not only won the trust of his father, but also won the love of the soldiers. In this case, Lee Hyung's question about the successor. It is impossible not to hesitate. Therefore, after arriving in Lingwu, Li Heng had intended to make him the commander of the armed forces.

If it weren't for the strange man Li Mi. The two brothers almost followed the old path of Li Jiancheng and Li Shimin. But the price turned out to be Li Qi's death to make way for his brother.

Li Yu is the eldest son. His position is easily unshakable (the eldest son has this advantage, although the Tang Dynasty has frequent court struggles, but every time the eldest son is moved, there will be a turmoil), and Li Yu, who supports him, is very respected by Li Heng.

Honest and talented, Li Qi has little political experience and is not vigilant against the impending conspiracy.

So, when he became a thorn in the side and a thorn in the flesh of many powerful people, he was in danger without knowing it.

Li Qi, who encountered troubled times, showed outstanding talent, but history gave him few opportunities to perform.

First of all, he did not become the commander-in-chief of the armed forces of the whole country, and secondly, he died not long after, and finally did not wait to return to Chang'an.

If he survives, maybe he will do something later. What Li lacks is ambition, political strategy, and connections.

Li Qi has no ambition (or is not obvious), and has a deep relationship with his brother Li Yu when it is not involved in power.

However, there were too many cases of younger brothers in the Tang Dynasty plotting to kill their brothers, and Li Heng was so ruthless, I am afraid that he would be "a soldier with rumors". Li Yu, who is excellent in his martial arts and is very similar to Li Shimin and Li Longji when he was young, obviously has the ability and reputation to be above Li Yu, who is a little "mediocre and cowardly".

According to common sense, if Li Qi has the heart in this troubled era, the possibility of seizing the throne is indeed very high. Coupled with the fact that he is young and vigorous, he is unscrupulous, and he is likely to have said something arrogant and did not take his brother too seriously.

So, after some "processing" by "people with hearts" (Zhang Liangdi and Li Fuguo), it became "He hated that he couldn't take charge of the army, so he often conspired to harm his brother in the middle of the night".

Fifth, Li Heng's weakness and suspicion

Li Heng was both a father and an emperor, and he issued the order to give the death of the third son as the supreme decision-maker. He is the last pass to protect Li Qi's right to life, if he is determined, clear-headed, and does not believe rumors, how can he execute one of his most effective sons?

In the power struggle between Li Qi and Li Yu, the latter received strong support from Li Mi, Li Fuguo and others.

From the limited historical data, we vaguely feel that Li Heng was a little helpless when he gave up Li Qi as the commander-in-chief of the national armed forces.

This helplessness stems from the fact that his throne has not yet been secured. The selection of the post of commander-in-chief was originally just a personnel appointment, but the personnel appointment that did not go smoothly in this process laid the groundwork for the later death of Jianning Li Qi (Li Qi was gradually excluded from the successor, which in turn became an obstacle to Li Yu's smooth transition).

Giving Li Qi to death is another time that Li Heng has no choice but to cut his love.

This time it was forced to do so, mainly due to the pressure of Zhang Liangdi, Li Fuguo and others. Within the royal family, political interests always take precedence over kinship. In the struggle between his two sons and two political forces, Li Heng, after weighing it repeatedly, catered to the demands of the powerful faction at that time, and reluctantly chose to give Li Qi death. This caused Li Qi's final bleak ending.

All in all, the death of Li Qi, the king of Jianning, is by no means as simple as recorded in the history books. A few false accusations by Li Fuguo and Zhang Liangdi were not enough to kill him. The real cause of his death was the failure of the power struggle with his eldest brother Li Yu.

In terms of talent, Li Yu is not as good as Li Yu. But due to the strength of the group's interests. In the process of power struggle between brothers, Li Yu is the beneficiary from beginning to end, and Li Yu is an out-and-out loser.

When the throne is stable and Li Yu's death has become a thing of the past, Li Yu may have had a family affection attack in his heart, maybe it was to alleviate the guilt in his heart, and of course, it was more likely to win people's hearts, so he posthumously crowned his third brother Li Qi again and again.

As for the twists and turns in the history books, they are just a continuation of the traditional "secrecy for the Venerable" (in the face of political pressure, the revisers of history can often only start from the demands of the victors and carefully cover up the truth of the matter).

So. We often only see the "deep brotherhood" of Li Yu's posthumous brothers, but it is difficult to see the cruelty of the power struggle.

However, history is ruthless and affectionate, and it is difficult for one hand to cover the ears and mouths of thousands of people in the world.

Therefore, some people in later generations wrote poems and sighed:

Untitled

The letter killed his son, and the work originated from the emperor.

Su Zongxin endured his father, and took pity on King Jianning.

If you don't remember it in the East Palace, you may be in trouble.

What a way to follow the old ways, slander and let the mouth open.

The gentleman is deaf, and Jia'er is destroyed.

Hatred of the temple of the other woman. Inch rather than pay!

As the counterinsurgency situation gradually became clear, the struggle between the clans of the Tang Dynasty became increasingly fierce, and the people's hearts were also cool.

The house leak happened to be rainy, and the boat was broken and encountered a head wind. The tragedy has just come to an end. Over there, the conflict between Li Heng and his brother intensified again.

Li Bai stood on the wrong side

This chaos involves the consolidation of Li Heng's position and the overall situation of the rebellion, and because it involves the "poet immortal", it has to be mentioned.

Yongwang Li Lan (?) - 757). Li Longji's 16th son, Li Heng's half-brother. His mother Guo Shunyi (Li Longji in the early years of the Kaiyuan Dynasty. Under Concubine Hui, Concubine Li, and Concubine Hua, the "Six Instruments" are placed: Shuyi, Deyi, Xianyi, Shunyi, Wanyi, and Fangyi.

Shunyi, Zheng Erpin) died early. He was raised by his third brother, Li Heng. The so-called "eldest brother is like a father",

Lee Hyung often hugged him when he was a child. Li Lan has been smart and studious since he was a child, but he is ugly, and he was talented and both civil and military when he was a teenager. In the thirteenth year of Kaiyuan (725), he was named King Yong, and concurrently served as the nominal military and political governor of Jingzhou (Yaoling Jingzhou Metropolitan Governor).

After the outbreak of the Anshi Rebellion, Li Lan was appointed by his father to serve as the envoy of Shannan East Road (located in present-day Xiangyang, Hubei), Lingnan (governed in present-day Guangzhou, Guangdong), Qianzhong (governed in present-day Pengshui, Sichuan), and Jiangnan West Road (governed in present-day Nanchang, Jiangxi).

He guarded Jiangling (now Jingzhou, Hubei) and sent Dou Zhao, the minister of engineering (Shaofu Supervisor), to be his deputy.

At that time, more than 100 million yuan of land rent and taxes could be collected every year between the Jianghuai and Huai rivers, and wealth was piled up.

Li Lan grew up in the palace, "I don't know much about the world, and when I see such a rich place, I have the intention of separating it." His group of short-sighted strategists Xue Biao, Li Taiqing, Cai Yao (shǎng), Wei Zichun, Liu Julan, etc., also persuaded him to divide the territory (these sinister villains actually wanted to make a founding hero themselves).

Therefore, Li Lan used the taxes of the Tang Dynasty here to recruit tens of thousands of troops, and appointed military and political officials at will (Lang Guan, Yushi, etc., according to the normal procedure must be approved by the central government), ready to fight against his father's and brother's court.

When the money was being used to quell the rebellion, he ordered the Jianghuai rent to be withheld, and he lived a life of poverty and luxury, spending countless amounts of money every day (breaking hundreds of millions).

After ascending the throne, Li Heng heard that Li Lan's behavior was extremely suspicious, so he ordered him to return to the Emperor Taishang in Shu on the same day, but Li Lan ignored it.

Not only that, but Li Xuan's son, the brave and unscrupulous king of Xiangyang, Li Xuan (Yáng), also advised him to immediately raise an army and capture Jinling (present-day Nanjing, Jiangsu).

Li Heng is also actively responding to possible changes. In December 756, he appointed Gao Shi as the envoy of the Huainan Jiedu, Lai Yao (tián) as the envoy of the Huainan West Dao, and Wei Zhi as the envoy of the Jiangdong Jiedu to contain Li Luan.

It just so happened that Li Xiyan, the magistrate of Wu County and the military and political governor (Taishou and Jiangnan East Road Interview Envoy, the county was governed in present-day Suzhou, Jiangsu), sent a document to Li Lan as an equal. As the prince of the clan, Li Lin felt insulted by lower-level officials). plum

He said angrily: "I am the son of the Emperor Taishang and the younger brother of the current emperor, and I have a noble status.

Now Li Xiyan insults me according to the same level, why is this? So he took the opportunity to raise troops, and this incident became known as the "Pingmu Incident".

The root cause of Li Lan's rebellion was his ambition. He wanted to fish in troubled waters, realize his plot to divide one side, and even overthrow Li Heng's court. The so-called "Pingmu incident" is just an excuse.

On 25 December, Li led the soldiers, horses, and warships on a "tour to the east" without approval. He also sent his subordinate general Hun Weiming to attack Li Xiyan, and Ji Guangchen went to Guangling (now Guangling District, Yangzhou City, Jiangsu) to attack and interview Li Chengshi.

On the one hand, Li Xiyan quickly reported the news of Li Lan's attack to the emperor's court, and on the other hand, he ordered his subordinates to lead troops to resist by Yuan Jingyao and Yan Jingzhi, the magistrate of Danyang County (Taishou, the county was governed in present-day Nanjing, Jiangsu). Soon, Yan Jing was defeated and killed, and Yuan Jingyao, Li Chengqing and other generals surrendered.

Li Xiyan had no choice but to abandon Suzhou, and instead joined Liu Yan, who was in charge of the national financial tax statistics, withdrawal, and dispatch, to defend Yuhang (now Hangzhou, Zhejiang) and resist Li Lan's rebels. For a while, there was a great earthquake in Jianghuai, and the "Yongwang Rebellion" reached a climax.

In order to curb the arrogance of this rebel army, Gao Shi, Lai Yao, and Wei Zhi joined forces with Yu Anlu (now Anlu, Hubei) and decided to crusade against Li Luan.

Li Lan imitated Liu Bei's three visits to the thatched house, and sent people to Dangtu (now Dangtu, Anhui) three times to ask Li Bai to go out of the mountain to help (in fact, he also took a fancy to Li Bai's fame, I don't know if he was clear or not: Li Bai had no ability to govern the country or lead troops at all.

Li Bai's joining, except for writing him a few majestic poems, squeezing a few tears with him when he failed, and then because he was sentenced, nothing else can be done in practical work).

Li Bai wanted to show his life's ambitions, so he went out of the mountain to become Li Lan's staff. He thought that he was going to engage in the glorious cause of counterinsurgency, but he did not know that it was a rebellion and robbery.

But on this thief ship, it is not so easy to think about it again. Due to the mistake of political position, the biggest failure of Li Bai's life is about to appear.

Li Bai (second from right) sees King Yong (second from left)

The high-spirited Li Bai couldn't hold back his ecstatic mood, and at this time the text was like a spring (please note that he is still engaged in literary creation at this time, not doing strategic planning, the key is that he doesn't have that ability.) He adhered to his duty as a writer, and he was ashamed of his duty as a staff member).

So, he wrote 11 poems of the seven-character quatrain "Yongwang East Tour Song" to Yongwang Li Phosphorus, who had the "grace of knowing the grace". This series of poems recorded the eastward movement of Yongwang's army, praised its "great achievements", expressed its "lofty ambitions", and gave the rebel army enough reactionary propaganda.

Li Bai may really not know the nature of this army and characters, and these poems of his will become ironclad evidence that he participated in the rebellion!

Let's not put a few excerpts to analyze: (To be continued......)