The Crown Prince and the Prince of Qi Die in a Fall from Their Horses; Zhu Yuanzhang Passes the Throne to Zhu Di
Emperor Gaozu of Tang's plane.
In this world, Li Yuan wore the same pained expression.
Li Jiancheng: "Li Shimin is the one who deserves to die! I am the eldest legitimate son!"
Li Yuanji: "So what if Li Shimin becomes Emperor Wendi Taizong in the future? This is Chang'an, our territory, and we have more men than Li Shimin! Strike first and gain the upper hand. Even if we're branded rebels, we have to get rid of Li Shimin!"
Seeing how they would end up, Li Jiancheng and Li Yuanji erupted with boundless fury.
["Before the morning dew had evaporated, the most famous struggle for imperial power in Chinese history was over."]
["Three days after the Xuanwu Gate Incident, Li Shimin, the Prince of Qin, received an edict naming him crown prince."]
["On September 4, 626, Emperor Gaozu of Tang, Li Yuan, abdicated. Li Shimin ascended the throne to the sound of ancient music ringing throughout Chang'an. The emperor, who was then twenty-nine and would be given the temple name Taizong, began an era that would reach the pinnacle of Chinese history: Zhenguan."]
"If one of my sons were like Li Shimin, I would have made him crown prince long ago." The man who said this was Ying Zheng, the First Emperor of Qin.
"Emperor Taizong of Tang was gifted in both civil and military affairs, diligent in governance, and caring toward his people. I should take him as my model!"
"Before the heavenly screen appeared, I'd heard stories about Emperor Taizong of Tang. I only knew he killed his brothers, ushered in the Prosperous Reign of Zhenguan, and became the Heavenly Khagan. I didn't know he was already so formidable when he was young!"
"When it came to leading armies and waging war, Li Shimin couldn't compare to Genghis Khan of our great Mongolia."
"The Prosperous Reign of Kangxi and Qianlong in our Great Qing was no worse than Li Shimin's Prosperous Reign of Zhenguan!"
[A hexagon warrior.]
Li Shimin: What does "hexagon warrior" mean?
[Zhu Zhanji was a hexagon. Li the Second would have to be an octagon.]
[Emperor Taizong of Tang was worth seven or eight Emperor Xuanzongs of Ming.]
Emperor Xuanzong of Ming: Stop using me as a unit of measurement!
[The strongest man of the seventh century.]
[Governor of Asia.]
[Governor of Asia? Using an ancient official title, he should be called the "Pastor of Asia."]
[He set a bad precedent: the Xuanwu Gate Succession Law.]
Li Shimin: The Xuanwu Gate Succession Law... Could it be?
The later emperors of the Tang Dynasty: We know what that means.
[No title high enough to bestow, no reward great enough to grant. The Grand General of Heavenly Strategies was unmatched beneath the heavens!]
[All I can say is that Li Yuan was impressive, and so were the sons he fathered!]
Li Yuan: A rare clever person among those of later generations.
[The pinnacle of all Taizongs.]
[Taizong? He should've been Chengzu!]
Li Shimin: Zhu Di and I are different! Besides, I truly have no ambition to be called "Zu." Being called "Zong" is enough.
Zhu Di: Taizong. A lifetime of effort, a lifetime of anticipation, all for that temple name. Those damned unfilial descendants!
"Li Shimin killed his elder and younger brothers, leaving a stain on his reputation, but the people of later generations didn't care at all. They only cared whether the common people lived well."
[Great Tang News #Great Tang]
["In the ninth year of Wude, Crown Prince Li Jiancheng and Li Yuanji, the Prince of Qi, unfortunately fell from their horses while playing at Xuanwu Gate and broke their necks."]
["Emperor Li Yuan was overcome with grief and had no heart for affairs of state, so he passed the throne to his second son, Li Shimin."]
["The following year, Li Shimin changed the era name to Zhenguan and granted Li Yuan the title of retired emperor. The Great Tang Dynasty also reached its peak."]
The short video made quite a few people laugh.
If they hadn't just seen how Li Shimin came to power, they really would have believed it.
Li Jiancheng and Li Yuanji's expressions grew even uglier.
What a fine story about an unfortunate fall from their horses and broken necks!
[Zhu Di: What a fine Great Tang News report! Who came up with it? How much is Li Shimin paying you? I'll pay double. Come work for me in Great Ming. The Yongle era needs talent like you!]
Zhu Di: How did someone from a later generation know what I was thinking?
[Did this news come from the Prince of Qin's residence?]
[Now this is official history!]
[Say it: the crown prince and the Prince of Qi died in a fall.]
[This is far too sloppy! Both the crown prince and the Prince of Qi fell to their deaths from their horses? You can tell it's fake at a glance!
I think it would be better to write that the crown prince and the Prince of Qi committed beastly acts with Li Yuan's consorts, and Gaozu Li Yuan caught them in the act. Gaozu flew into a rage, killed the crown prince and the Prince of Qi, and made the Prince of Qin crown prince!
The one who killed them was Li Yuan. Li Yuan murdered his sons. The crown prince and the Prince of Qi were beheaded by Li Yuan, not Yuchi Jingde. Li Shimin didn't kill his elder or younger brother.
Emperor Taizong remained completely spotless from beginning to end.]
Li Shimin: You deserve a reward!
Li Yuan: I want to kill someone!
Li Jiancheng and Li Yuanji: Damned people of later generations! To glorify Li Shimin, you slandered and vilified me and my fourth brother (my eldest brother) like this. Truly hateful!
[Brother, if you transmigrated to the Tang Dynasty and became Li Shimin's court historian, that talent for making up history would earn you a marquisate at the very least.]
[666, what a talent!]
[Zhu Di: I need talent like you.]
[Yang Guang: I need you too.]
[Zhao Guangyi: I don't need you. I know how to write history myself.]
[Cui Zhu: I really need you!]
[Sima Household: I... don't really need you.]
Sima Zhao: How could we not need him? We really need him!
[The Sima Household really doesn't need him. They killed an emperor in the street, and the common people all saw it!]
[Watch this short video.]
[Zhu Di: Yes, yes, that's exactly how it happened #Great Ming #Zhu Di]
["In the thirty-fifth year of Hongwu, Emperor Taizu of Ming, Zhu Yuanzhang, passed away and left the throne to his fourth son, Zhu Di, the Prince of Yan, who became known as Great Emperor Yongle."]
["Look at people, like drifting duckweed, each rising and sinking, each blown about alone."]
["They have scarcely any say; all things are ordained by fate."]
["Look at the body, like a lone wild goose: where does it come from, where does it go?"]
["Heaven and earth are vast, but where can one find peace?"]
["Look at the heart, stirred like the wind. The wind is easily stilled, but the heart cannot find peace."]
["Fate cannot be fully reckoned; love cannot be escaped."]
["You say we hurry on our way, but why make ourselves suffer?"]
["We bring nothing with us at birth and take nothing away in death."]
The background music was "All Things Are Ordained by Fate," and it suited the short video's content. Even Zhu Di himself thought so.
[Who, and what book, told you Zhu Yuanzhang passed the throne to Zhu Di?]
[The Veritable Records of the Ming. Zhu Di said it himself: his father passed the throne to him in the thirty-fifth year of Hongwu. As for how he passed it on, that's hard to say. Maybe he came to him in a dream, or maybe he threw off his coffin lid and rose up.]
[Maybe his corpse came back to life.]
[Isn't a corpse coming back to life the same as throwing off the coffin lid and rising up?]
Zhu Yuanzhang: I... came back to life as a corpse? Is there any way to deal with these people of later generations?
[Zhu Di said it himself. A ruler's word is no jest, so how could it be false?]
[That so-called "a ruler's word is no jest" is unofficial history within unofficial history.]
[This really is official history, but Zhu Di wrote it.]
[It's official history, but it isn't true.]
[He erased the four years of Emperor Jianwen's reign.]
[Zhu Di used Impure World Reincarnation to bring Zhu Yuanzhang back, and Zhu Yuanzhang passed the throne to Zhu Di.]
[No, no, no. Xiaren brought Zhu Yuanzhang through time.]
[This video was produced by the Prince of Yan's residence in Beiping.]
[Zhu Di's fantasy.]
[Zhu Di: Reward the creator of this video with ten thousand taels of gold!]
[Surely Zhu Di didn't edit this video himself?!]
If the heavenly screen had never appeared, or if the whole world hadn't learned about his alteration of history, Zhu Di would have been delighted to see this short video and thought even heaven was helping him.
Now, Zhu Di felt nothing but malice. The people of later generations were targeting him and making fun of him.