The film and television world begins with the battle for the throne in Kowloon

Chapter 763: Learning from History (VIII)

Li Yan breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that Li Shimin had accepted his ideas and no longer insisted on building an ironclad empire overnight.

In Li Yan's eyes, the kingdom left by Li Shimin was not actually very stable. To truly stabilize it, it had to rely on the meticulous work of the Li Zhi era. But even so, it still could not avoid being usurped by the empress.

The empress was not simply ruling the country from behind the scenes or acting as the emperor emeritus to control government affairs. She actually changed the country's name and replaced it with the Wu Zhou brand.

The country's name is like a fig leaf. It has lost even this last bit of dignity. How dare you say that we are all family members. Women are just playing around. Don't take it seriously. If you can't take the country's name seriously, and can't take ascending the throne as emperor seriously, then what is real?

What is called a change of dynasty?
The fact that the emperor died after three generations shows that the founding of the Tang Dynasty was inherently flawed. No matter how glorious the Zhenguan reign was, it was only a temporary prosperity, a flash in the pan, similar to the Kaihuang reign during the reign of Emperor Wen of Sui.

It flies high, but it doesn't last long.
Although they conquered an unprecedentedly vast territory and subdued countless forces, it was like a hodgepodge, large and chaotic, and they were not able to truly digest it. The various ethnic groups did not truly integrate together and regard the Tang Dynasty as their own country. This led to the Anshi Rebellion.

And when the Tang Dynasty suffered heavy losses and weakened, they split away one after another, recreating the scene of the Sixteen Kingdoms during the Southern and Northern Dynasties.

What the system asked Li Yan to solve was exactly this problem, that is, to solve the problem that Datang was big but not strong, had too many impurities, and was not pure enough.

Large quantities can only bring temporary glory, but high quality can solve long-term problems.

Only after repeated hammering and tempering can the Tang Dynasty, this piece of rotten copper and iron, be reborn, transformed, and turned into fine steel. Only in this way can it face various crises in the future, survive the storm, cross the long river of time, and reach the other shore that even Li Yan cannot reach.

"Father, do you remember what I just said, that the most important transformation of iron into steel in the Han Dynasty was accomplished during the reign of Empress Lü?"

Li Shimin nodded immediately and said, "Yes, I just wanted to ask, what is your reason?"

The Tang Dynasty had just begun, so the Han Dynasty, the last truly long-lasting unified dynasty, became the best research object. Li Shimin was not surprised that Li Yan had been keeping a close eye on the Han Dynasty. He just wanted to hear what Li Yan thought.
He knew that even though the two of them were talking about the Han Dynasty one moment and the Sui Dynasty the next, what they were actually talking about was the Tang Dynasty.

Li Yan was also shocked. He was about to talk about his core idea, so he perked up and said, "In order to stabilize the Han Dynasty and pacify the princes, Emperor Gaozu of Han, Liu Bang, personally led the army at the age of sixty. During the battle to suppress Ying Bu's rebellion, he was shot by a stray arrow and became seriously ill."

"He has already reached the end of his life, and the thing he cares most about is the inheritance of the country!"

"As we all know, Liu Bang had already appointed Empress Lü's son Liu Ying as the crown prince, but Liu Bang felt that Liu Ying was weak in character and mediocre in talent. He favored Concubine Qi and felt that her son Liu Ruyi was intelligent, capable of both civil and military affairs, and courageous."

"He wanted to depose Liu Ying and establish Ruyi, but in the end it didn't happen. Father, do you know why?"

Well.
Li Yan raised another question. Although as a son, he always asked rhetorical questions when talking to his father and monarch Li Shimin, this attitude of teaching and reminding made Li Shimin a little uncomfortable.

However, Li Yan's extraordinary performance before made Li Shimin subconsciously no longer regard him as a junior.

Most of the old officials in the court, such as Fang Xuanling and Wei Zheng, were older and wiser than Li Shimin. Compared with them, Li Shimin was just a junior. Therefore, when everyone communicated, there was no particularly strict hierarchy between the emperor and his subjects.

Over the long term, Li Shimin had already developed a humble style, so he didn't care too much.

Instead, I started thinking about Li Yan's problem.
But after thinking for a while, he found nothing new, so he could only say according to the records in the history books: "According to the etiquette, Liu Ying is the eldest son, he was enthroned early, his status is already determined, and all the ministers support him. Moreover, Empress Lü is the queen. If Liu Ying is touched, the queen must be deposed. Liu Bang's health had already broken down at that time, so he didn't have the time for that."

"Plus, Empress Lü invited the Four Elders from Shangluo Mountain to assist Liu Ying. Seeing that people's hearts were determined, Liu Bang gave up."

Li Shimin did not mention the fact that Liu Bang favored Concubine Qi. He knew that Liu Bang was able to build the Han Dynasty in just a few years and was by no means a mediocre person. How could such a wise and holy ruler shake the foundation of the country by favoring a woman?

Being in that position, every decision is made for the overall situation, for the country and the people, and will not be influenced by any personal feelings.

Li Shimin's answer was quite standard, and basically included several points summarized by later generations.

Li Yan nodded, and before Li Shimin had time to be happy, Li Yan changed the subject and said, "When Liu Bang conquered the world, there were many talented people, including Zhang Liang, Xiao He, Han Xin, Chen Ping, Cao Shen, Shusun Tong, Zhou Bo, Li Shiqi, Wang Ling, Fan Kuai, Peng Yue, Ying Bu, Lu Wan, Xiahou Ying and others."

"But if we talk about the truly amazing talent in the early Han Dynasty, who could be called a dragon among men and a phoenix, an unparalleled national scholar, it would be Zhang Liang, who planned and planned strategies and won battles thousands of miles away."

"How could Liu Bang not listen to the opinions of this wise counselor about the future of his country?"

"I have read a piece of unofficial history and would like to share it with you, father. Do you think it makes sense?"

When Li Shimin heard this, he was shocked. Yes, there was no record of Zhang Liang's opinion on this matter in the official history, because he had retired at that time, left the political center, and faded out of people's sight, so no one thought of him.

From this point of view, Zhang Liang is indeed a true noble man. He can hide himself when he wants to and let people subconsciously ignore him. In this respect, he is comparable to Fan Li of ancient times.

But Zhang Liang was in seclusion, not dead. How could Liu Bang not take such a talented person to heart? He would definitely ask for his opinion on this matter. When he heard Li Yan talking about this secret, he immediately became very interested.

He also wanted to know what a wise man as smart as Mr. Zifang would think about Liu Bang's desire to depose and enthrone the emperor.
He must have wanted to devote all his efforts to helping Emperor Gaozu of Han to pass on the Han dynasty forever. Facing the transition from the old to the new, he must have had unique views. Li Shimin subconsciously straightened his body and his expression became solemn.

To show respect for the predecessors and for those who have heard such great words.

"It is said that Liu Bang found Zhang Liang, who was living in seclusion in Mount Zhongnan, and told him the reason why he wanted to depose him. Liu Ying was weak and might not be able to protect the country, while Liu Ruyi was both civil and military, resolute and agile, and would definitely be able to protect the Han Dynasty;"

"Moreover, Lü Zhi is ambitious, greedy for power, and has followers all over the court. His influence is huge. If I leave, Liu Ying's character is weak, and the court will definitely be controlled by Empress Lü. Over time, I am afraid that the Liu family will be usurped by the Lü family."

Seeing Li Shimin nodded solemnly, it was obvious that he thought so too.

Li Yan said sternly, "But Mr. Zhang Liang believes that although Liu Bang's concerns are reasonable, he only sees a part of the picture and does not see the whole picture. Everything has its pros and cons. We cannot only see the disadvantages of Lu's abuse of power, but not the advantages of Lu's abuse of power."

"Although Concubine Qi was kind, she did not have the wisdom and ability to maneuver and control the chaos; although Lady Lu was ambitious and greedy for power, she was smart and wise, and had superb skills. Facing the situation left by Liu Bang, Lady Lu was able to calmly control it, while Concubine Qi would eventually become a puppet of the powerful ministers."

"Mr. Zifang's opinion is similar to what we just discussed. People who have lived through turbulent times are far from being settled, and the Liu family's empire is not indestructible. With the replacement of the old with the new, the world may still fall into turmoil again."

"When Liu Bang chooses a successor, he must first ensure the stability and continuation of the Han Dynasty, and then discuss other matters. If the country is gone, his son will not be able to become a prince, let alone a peacekeeper!"

"This is the primary issue. As for the issue of Lu's abuse of power, at least her son's surname is Liu. The interests of the Lu and Liu families are the same. The Lu and Liu families are one and the same. In order to make the Lu family stronger, she must also support the Liu family and be united in facing the outside world."

"As for the problem of the Lu family abusing power, Mr. Zifang believes that it is much smaller than the problem of the stability of the Han Dynasty. We can make some arrangements in advance to put things right."

At this point, Li Yan said solemnly: "In my opinion, Liu Bang asked whether to pass the throne to Liu Ying or Liu Ruyi, but Mr. Zifang believed that for the stability of the country, neither of them was suitable. His opinion was actually to pass it to Empress Lü."

"Lü Zhi is more capable of ensuring the stability of the Han Dynasty than those two kids."

"Lü Zhi is actually another Liu Bang, a continuation of Liu Bang's life. This kind of sustained stability at the beginning of the founding of the country is crucial to the long-term inheritance of the Han Dynasty."

"Later, Emperor Gaozu must have felt that this made a lot of sense, so he stopped wavering between his two sons and began to strengthen Liu Ying's position, consolidate his eldest son's foundation, and do some things to restrict Empress Lü, such as enfeoffing his sons as princes, beheading a white horse and swearing an oath that anyone who became king except for the Liu family would be killed by the whole world, etc."

"In particular, he left a will to Zhou Bo, which laid the groundwork for the later suppression of the Lu Rebellion."

When Li Shimin heard this, his expression froze and his heart was suddenly filled with turmoil that took a long time to calm down.

It turned out to be like this. I have to say that Zhang Liang was worthy of being an unparalleled national hero with extraordinary vision. He saw at a glance the dangerous situation that Liu Bang would face in his later years. It was that Liu Bang was too old, older than the average meritorious officials and generals. He was destined to be ahead of those people and had no time to build his country.

(End of this chapter)