Generally speaking, when ancient people named their children, they used names with the same number of words for people of the same generation. Each generation of people also has different characters to distinguish the person's seniority. But Li Shimin's son is very strange. Li Shimin always has many sons. But only the eldest son Li Chengqian's name has three characters. The other sons' names all have two words. Why does this happen? What is the reason behind it? Let’s find out together today.
1. Introduction to Li Chengqian
Li Chengqian (619-January 5, 645), named Gaoming, was born in Chengji, Longxi (now Qin'an County, Gansu Province). He was a royal minister of the Tang Dynasty and the eldest son of Emperor Taizong Li Shimin of the Tang Dynasty. His mother was Empress Wende.
At first, he was the grandson of the emperor and was granted the title of Prince of Hengshan County. She is graceful and majestic, and her benevolence and filial piety are profound. Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty ascended the throne and appointed the crown prince, who was eight years old at the time and was smart and kind. He has leg problems, is unable to walk, and has no respect for his teachers. After learning that his brother Wei Wang Li Tai wanted to take over the throne, the brothers became increasingly hostile. In the 16th year of Zhenguan (642), after an attempt to assassinate Li Tai failed, he united with Han Wang Li Yuanchang, Prince Consort Du He, and Chen Guogong Hou Junji to plot something evil and the matter was exposed. Under the painstaking efforts of Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty, he was deposed as a commoner and exiled to Qianzhou.
He passed away in the seventeenth year of Zhenguan (November 17, 643) and was buried with the ceremony of Duke Heng. During the reign of Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty, his grandson Li Shizhi became the prime minister and was posthumously given the title of Governor of Jingzhou and Prince of Hengshan County. His posthumous title was Min and he was buried with him in Zhaoling.
2. Why is it that only Li Chengqian’s name has three characters?
Although there is no definite evidence, we can reasonably speculate that, except for Li Chengqian, Li Shimin’s other older sons I'm afraid they all changed their names, probably because of taboo taboos.
After the Xuanwu Gate Incident, Li Shimin eradicated the problem and killed all the sons of his elder brother Li Jiancheng and his younger brother Li Yuanji. Li Chengqian's sons are called Li Chengzong (died young), Li Chengdao, Li Chengde, Li Chengxun, Li Chengming, and Li Chengyi; Li Yuanji's sons are called Li Chengye, Li Chengluan, Li Chengjie, Li Chengyu, and Li Chengdu. Did you see, they are all called "Li Chengmou". Combined with Li Shimin's eldest son Li Chengqian, we can almost say that Li Yuan assigned the generation "Cheng" to his grandchildren, and it is natural that Li Shimin's other sons should also be named "Li Chengmou".
Not only the grandchildren, Li Yuan had 22 sons, except for the eldest son Li Jiancheng, the second son Li Shimin, the third son Li Xuanba, the fifth son Li Zhiyun, the fifteenth son Li Feng, and the nineteenth son Li Lingkui. In addition, the other sixteen people are all named "Li Yuan", such as: Li Yuanji, Li Yuanchang, Li Yuanjia, Li Yuanying, etc. At the same time, after research, Li Xuanba was later rewritten as Li Yuanba during the Kangxi period of the Qing Dynasty in order to avoid the "Xuan" character of Emperor Kangxi's "Xuan Ye". Therefore, it cannot be ruled out that these "Li Yuanmou" were originally "Li Xuanmou" . This leaves only five possible exceptions. Even when Li Shimin was four years old, Li Yuan took him to meet a sorcerer, saying that he could help the world and bring peace to the people at the age of twenty, so he changed his name to Shimin. ”, there is no guarantee that this is not the case for several others. Therefore, this explains two problems. First, Li Yuan determined the generation of his descendants; second, the original name can be changed for various reasons.
Therefore, we believe that under normal circumstances, the original names of Li Shimin's other older sons should also be "Li Chengmou". But why did everyone change their names later? This is probably because of the "taboo" mentioned just now.
Let's take an example from later generations. In the Qing Dynasty, Kangxi's sons were all named "Yin". After Yinzhen came to the throne, he changed the name of all his brothers to "Yun". The word, just because you can't use the emperor's name. Therefore, we can deduce that Li Shimin also had this idea. Li Chengqian was determined to be the prince very early, that is, he would be the emperor in the future. If other brothers are still called "Li Chengmou", they have to change it in the future. To save you trouble, I will change it for you. So the word Cheng was removed directly. However, the sons of Li Jiancheng and Li Yuanji had been killed and they were sinners. No one mentioned it anymore, so there was no rush to change it. It was not Li Chengqian who succeeded him later, so no one went over old scores to change the names of these people.
Then why not change the character Cheng to something else but directly change the single name? I’m afraid it’s a bit of a precautionary measure.
If the word "Cheng" of the other sons was replaced by another word, it would be assumed to be the word "Ji", and Li Chengqian failed to successfully inherit the throne, such as dying young or being convicted and deposed (which was indeed the case later). Li Jijia became emperor. Should the other Li Jiyi and Li Jibing change their names again? Wouldn't it be too troublesome? So, I just changed the single name, even a single word, and there was no way it would be the same.
The above point can be proved from the Song Dynasty. We know that the founding emperor of the Song Dynasty, Zhao Kuangyin, had two younger brothers named Zhao Kuangyi and Zhao Kuangmei. Later, when Zhao Kuangyin became emperor, Zhao Kuangyi and Zhao Kuangmei changed their names to Zhao Guangyi and Zhao Guangmei. Next, Zhao Guangyi became emperor again, and Zhao Guangmei was changed to Zhao Tingmei. Do you think it's troublesome? Therefore, after Zhao Guangyi ascended the throne, all royal descendants had a single name, and he himself took the lead and changed his single name to "Zhao Jiong". The same was probably true for the Tang Dynasty. After Li Shimin, except for Li Longji (this was a special case because Wu Zetian was weakening the Li Tang clan and preparing to proclaim himself emperor), all other emperors (including princes) also had single names.
3. Li Chengqian’s ending
Throughout history, those princes who embarked on the road of rebellion and failed often ended up with the only ending: the head was missing. But when it was Li Chengqian's turn, Tang Taizong was silent.
Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty did not have the idea of ????taking the throne easily. However, because Li Chengqian was afraid of his younger brother Li Tai, who was also favored by his father and had the intention of scheming, after his assassination attempt failed, he and the King of Han Li Yuanchang, Princess Chengyang's consort Du He, Hou Junji and others colluded and planned to attack the palace first, but it was revealed. Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty was heartbroken and had no choice but to confine him to another room. He also ordered Situ Changsun Wuji, Sikong Fangxuanling, Tejin Xiao Yu, Minister of War Li Ji, Dali Qing Sun Fuga, Zhongshu Shilang Cen Wenwen, and Yushi Dafu Ma Zhou, the admonishment official Chu Suiliang and others participated in it, and everything was clearly verified.
Although Li Chengqian’s actions disappointed him, how much effort and energy he had put into cultivating his beloved son into a qualified prince! However, behind the heavy responsibility was also the depth of love, and Li Chengqian forced the palace Although rebellion was a big mistake, Tang Taizong still loved his son after all and couldn't bear to kill him, but he couldn't openly take the lead in violating the law. What should he do? In the end, Tang Taizong took this troublesome person to task. The question was raised and thrown to the ministers - tell me, how should we deal with Cheng Qian? In the end, no minister dared to answer.
Because there is no need to discuss how to deal with the prince's rebellion. According to the law, he should be punished. In the end, Tongshi Shiren came to Ji and stood up, saying: "Your Majesty will not stop being a loving father, and he will be a good man if he can live until the end of his life." So Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty ordered that Li Chengqian be deposed as a commoner and exiled to Qianzhou. , and finally saved my son’s life. Laiji also gained the attention of Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty because of this incident, and his official positions were continuously promoted. Soon he was awarded Yuanwailang, and the next year he was promoted to Zhongshusheren, and co-wrote the "Book of Jin" with Linghu Defen and others. .
Later, when he was re-establishing the crown prince, Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty knew that "if Tai is established, neither Cheng Qian nor the King of Jin will survive; if the King of Jin is established, Tai and Cheng Qian will be fine", so he decisively established The young but gentle Li Zhi is the prince, and his purpose is to be able to protect his three beloved sons, Cheng Qian, Li Tai and Li Zhi at the same time.
In April Gengchen of the same year, Li Yuanchang was ordered to commit suicide. Du He, Hou Junji and others were all executed, but the main criminal Li Chengqian was deposed as a commoner. Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty lamented in "The Edict of the Abolition of the Crown Prince Cheng Qian for the Common People": "What's more, I would rather not be the heir to the tomb!" However, Cheng Qian, the son who once had high hopes placed on him, was disappointed in the end. Gengyin, Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty personally visited the Ancestral Temple to thank Qian for his fault. In the ninth month of Guiwei, he inherited Qian and moved to Qianzhou.
In December Xinchou of 644 AD (the 18th year of Zhenguan), Li Chengqian died in Qianzhou. Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty abolished the dynasty for him and buried him with official rites.