In the history of China, Emperor Taizong was an impressive emperor. First, he knew how to recuperate with the people, and there was a good situation of Zhenguan rule in the early Tang Dynasty. Secondly, his material life was relatively frugal, and the luxury of the royal family was restrained to a certain extent during his reign. However, if we think about how noble the morality of Emperor Taizong is, it is really romantic.
One of Guo's books tells many stories of Emperor Taizong playing politics. Xu Maogong (Li Ji) was an important consultant of the Wagang Army, and made great contributions to the initial development and growth of the Wagang Army. After the defeat, Wagangjun joined the Tang Dynasty. This man has great military talent, and once served as the main force to pacify the Turks and stabilize the north for more than ten years. On the one hand, Li Shimin appreciated Xu Maogong's talent very much and appointed him as the governor of Bing and the minister of war. On the other hand, he was wary of Xu Maogong, showed goodwill and suppressed it.
One day, Xu Maogong suddenly became seriously ill. One of the prescriptions prescribed by the doctor was beard ash. In order to treat Xu Maogong, Li Shimin immediately cut off his beard and gave it to the doctor. Xu Maogong couldn't help being moved by his parents and the emperor's concern for heroes to this extent. After his illness, he entered Xie Li Shimin, kneeling and prostrating himself, and his forehead was bleeding. Li Shimin waved and said, Come on, I'm doing this for my country. Who makes you so important? Then, Li Shimin left Xu Maogong for a drink and drank three glasses of wine. After drinking, he began to care about orphans: I think I am a young orphan, and there is no one who can be easily made public. Sorry, I didn't leave Shi Biao. Upon hearing this, Xu Maogong was even more moved. To express his excitement, he bit his finger and was bleeding. Later, when Xu Maogong was drunk, Emperor Taizong took off his royal suit and put it on Xu Maogong himself.
However, Emperor Taizong was not always so kind to Xu Maogong. Knowing that his son Li Zhi was weak by nature, Emperor Taizong demoted Xu Maogong, who had no fault at all, to the prefect of Diezhou. Emperor Taizong explained to Li Zhi this way: He is clever enough, but you are ungrateful to him. I'm afraid you can't believe him. If I do it now, if I do it, when I die, you will be shot as a servant and let it go; If you wander around, look around and be a killer's ear! Fortunately, Xu Maogong experienced officialdom, knew the mind of Emperor Taizong, and immediately went to a new post after receiving the order, thus avoiding a fatal disaster.
On the surface, Emperor Taizong was indeed a good friend of Xu Maogong at first. Officials require you to be the most courageous, the defense minister of a country, who has the power to mobilize troops. Most people dare not even think about it. I have the deepest feelings for you. In order to cure Xu Maogong's illness, Li Shimin cut off his beard, and Xu Maogong was drunk, so he covered it himself. However, no matter how good Emperor Taizong was to Xu Maogong, it was actually a political strategy, which had nothing to do with his true inner face. For the benefit of the royal family, Emperor Taizong could be generous to his courtiers and try his best to win them over. Similarly, for this benefit, he can also demote his officials at will without talking about the basic rules of the game. So did Emperor Taizong's attitude towards Wei Zhi. Wei Zhi gave a lot of advice to Emperor Taizong in those days. Emperor Taizong basically listened to everything, leaving a famous saying: You can dress with copper as a mirror, you can know the rise and fall with history as a mirror, and you can know the gains and losses with people as a mirror. However, he didn't really like Wei Zhi in his heart. Once after leaving the court, Emperor Taizong said a cruel word: Wei Zhi always sweeps my face when he goes to court, and I will kill him sooner or later! After Wei Zhi's death, he ordered Wei Zhi's tombstone to be laid down.
The emperor has no true temperament. The reason is simple: the emperor is the best job in the world, and he can easily mobilize the manpower and material resources of the whole world to serve his family. No one does not envy him. Therefore, the emperor is always careful about his position, for fear that he will be taken away carelessly. Because of this, the emperor really can't trust anyone except his own blood. His so-called true feelings for courtiers are just a political show and a means to win people's hearts.