Chapter 231: The Struggle for Succession In the process of the establishment of the Tang Dynasty, Cheng Yanjin's contribution was not the greatest, and his prestige in the army was far inferior to Li Jing and Qin Qiong, because of this, Li Shimin was also very relieved of him.
What's more, he is such a personality, and Li Shimin also knows that after so many years, he has long been used to it, if he suddenly changes his personality one day, Li Shimin will doubt him.
And Cheng Yanjin is very self-aware, although he is also very nonsense, he has never made too much trouble. is not like Wei Chi Jingde, because of his high self-sustaining merits, he became more and more rampant in the later period, and he was bound to repay, and even fought with the people because of the seat dispute, and even almost blinded Li Daozong, who came to persuade him.
Even if he was cured later, Li Daozong's eyesight deteriorated more and more, and finally reached the point where he was almost invisible—let me ask, such a courtier, even if you have great merit, how can you be liked by the king?
Cheng Biting Jin is different, although he also makes trouble, he sets a bottom line for himself, and he never does anything that exceeds this bottom line.
In fact, his behavior is a bit similar to the naval hero Karp in "One Piece" - the same great credit, the same disrespect for the old, the same rapid retreat, and the same knowledge of good and bad.
Because there is a bottom line, so in the end, the Cheng family became a famous family in the Tang Dynasty, and the emperors of the past dynasties were in endless favor - grandson Cheng Boxian inherited the prince of Guangping County, and finally the general of the town army was the general of the right guard, and the great-grandson Cheng Changyin was the official to the palace of the imperial history, and the grandson (the son of the great-grandson, also called the fifth grandson) Cheng Chucun official to the Hubu Langzhong, Mianzhou Thorn History......
Since he has been under him, the blessings of the Cheng family have lasted for five generations, and they can be described as extremely favored.
In addition to having a bottom line, Cheng Yanjin's other rule of survival is to never participate in the battle for the heir, never stand in line, and only be loyal to the emperor in his life, and never to the second person.
But in the eyes of everyone, it is almost impossible to participate in the battle for succession, and now he will help Li Zhen speak, and more importantly, the last paragraph, this is already an open request for Li Shimin to make Li Zhen the crown prince.
A person who has never been involved in the battle for succession is now begging the emperor to appoint Li Zhen as his only, how do you think, how do you feel incredible, unless he has already decided that Li Zhen is the next emperor.
In fact, Cheng Yanjin was also submitting a petition for his name - the reason why he did not participate in the battle for the heir before, in addition to being only loyal to Li Shimin, another reason is that the battle for the heir is too chaotic, the crown prince Li Chengqian, the king of Wei Li Tai, the king of Wu Li Ke, the king of Yue Li Zhen and the king of Jin Li Zhi are all qualified to compete for that position, the four sides are fighting, the situation is complicated and difficult to understand, except for some gamblers, basically will not bet at this time.
First of all, the crown prince Li Chengqian was originally the prince, and his inheritance of the throne was justified.
There is more mother, patriarch Sun, to rely on behind him, and after ascending the throne, at least it is no problem to stabilize the throne.
Moreover, Li Chengqian was also very competitive in the early days, respected teachers, was good at listening to the opinions of others, and did a good job in Li Shimin's assessment, and Li Chengqian's several prisons were also recognized by Tang Taizong.
It's a pity that in the later period, the style of painting changed, and he became another person, who didn't even like the Central Plains culture, but admired Turkic culture, and liked to steal the people's cattle to cook to eat, but fell off the horse during an escape, and was trampled by the horse's hooves and broke his ankle, and since then he has fallen lame (the specific reason for Li Chengqian's leg disability, there are many theories, Ben San takes this statement here), and his temperament has changed greatly, and he will repay him, and there is no gentleman's demeanor, and he is more involved in the heart......
It can be said that even if there is no such thing as Li Zhen, he will not be the crown prince for long.
Then there is Li Tai, Li Tai is talented, intelligent, good people love literature, work and grass, collect thousands of volumes, is the calligrapher at that time, connoisseur of calligraphy and painting, the most popular by Li Shimin, Tang Taizong allowed Li Tai to set up a literature museum in the mansion, let him recruit his own bachelors.
Later, he edited the "Chronicles of the Universe", which can be regarded as having a certain status in Shilin, and if he succeeds to the throne, he will be supported by the entire Shilin and the family.
But Li Tai is also not without shortcomings, that is, narrow-minded, bold, only a little clever but not a great wisdom, if he inherits the throne, then none of his brothers want to live - even if he does not die, at least he must be imprisoned for life.
The third is Li Ke, who also has a chance in the battle for the crown prince.
He is the one who is most like Li Shimin among all Li Shimin's sons, and even Li Shimin praised him as 'Yingguo like me'.
He also bears the blood of the two royal families of Yang and Li, and is noble.
If he is the one who succeeds to the throne, then he will have the full support of the former Sui remnants and the remnants of the Sui Dynasty - don't think that if the Sui Dynasty is destroyed, the former Sui Yang clan will be defeated, this is impossible.
After all, it is a dynasty, or a dynasty that once dominated the world, although it was replaced by the Tang Dynasty, but no one knows what kind of hole cards they still hide.
In addition, there are many remnants of the pre-Sui period in the court, and if combined, it is also a huge force.
It's a pity that having the blood of the two dynasties is his biggest advantage and the biggest disadvantage, because although there are relics of the previous dynasty in the Tang Dynasty, more of them rely on the Sui Dynasty to ascend to the throne, and they will never allow the descendants of the Sui Dynasty that they worked so hard to overthrow to inherit the throne, even if he also has the blood of the Li family.
Finally, Li Zhi, Li Zhi is also Li Shimin's son-in-law, and Li Chengqian Li Tai's maternal cousin, but unlike the two elder brothers, Li Zhi's early performance was quite low-key, and the evaluation in the history books is 'Li Zhi is young and intelligent, dignified and serene, generous and benevolent, and harmonious brothers...... are all praises for his character, but there is not much description of his ability, and he is too young (Zhenguan was born in the second year, and when he was established as the prince, it was the seventeenth year of Zhenguan, and he was only fifteen years old at that time), It is said that the crown prince will never be his turn.
In fact, if it weren't for Li Chengqian and Li Taidou being too ruthless, both of them would have died together, and Li Ke would have been strongly opposed by the Manchu courtiers (especially the eldest grandson Wuji) if he was made the crown prince, and it would not have been Li Zhi's turn to sit on the throne of the crown prince.
As for Li Zhen......
There is no big power behind Li Zhen, although his maternal clan Yan clan has also been brilliant, but it has declined by the Tang Dynasty, and only one Yan Jingsi in the entire maternal clan is considered a high-ranking official, and it is just the history of the two states of Hubei and the prince of Changping County, although it is also prominent, but it is still a little worse than those top families.