Xuanwu Gate Incident - Tang Taizong's Bloody Rise to Power - Tang Dynasty Origin 3

[@saidtoshimaru1832]

Li Shimin: I'm so sorry, Father. Li Yuan: It's great to see you repent of your past sins. Li Shimin: And of the future ones. Li Yuan: WTF????

[@426mak]

I always feel bad for Li Yuan. My parents hate it when me and my brothers used to fight, I can only imagine how terrible it was for him.

[@godzillamothra5983]

Li Yuan clearly was a successful father. All his three sons were talented. Too bad, the path to throne is always bloody.

[@426mak]

@@godzillamothra5983 A bit like Kangxi. All his sons were talented but their battle for the throne was epic.

[@godzillamothra5983]

@@426mak true

[@jonsong4592]

Honestly, the incident was caused by his indecisiveness. He promised Li Shimin he would be crown prince during the rebellion for his martial prowess, while at the same time groomed Li Jiancheng to take the throne. He kept going back and forth between the idea of making Li Shimin his successor or Li Jiancheng. You can't promise the throne to both of your sons and expect them to be happy when you decide that one of them can no longer have it. But thats not the real issue. The real issue is that Li Yuan's indecision confused everyone else as to who to rally behind as the crown prince. Both sides seemed possible, so both sides had supporters. The issue is that both princes built up a powerbase of people who want them to be emperor so that they could receive titles for their contributions, as well as benefits for their houses. This meant that even if the brothers didn't wish to kill each other (and they didn't all the way until the end), they would be constantly coerced by their followers to do so. So they did. Li Jiancheng was coerced into attempting to poison Li Shimin, and Li Shimin was hammed on by his followers to set up the ambush at Xuanwu Gate, citing that Li Jiancheng might not go after Li Shimin if he becomes emperor, but he will surely punish them for siding with him.

[@godzillamothra5983]

@@jonsong4592 passing on the throne is always a difficult decision, especially true when you have so many talented heirs, not to mention, as the eldest son, Li Jiancheng had the most right to inherit the throne. Not to mention, during the wartime to conquer the country, both sons had already gather significant supporters. I think it was almost impossible to prevent the bloodshed no matter what Li Yuan decided. That's the problem with the early era of founding a dynasty. When the princes were involved in the founding of a dynasty, they had supporters on their sides that make succession difficult.

[@tvgerbil1984]

Li Shimin wasn't content to murder his brothers and usurped his father. He sent men to find and murder all his nephews when some were merely minors and babies. He then took the wife of his murdered brother as his own concubine. He was a ruthless player in this ancient Game of Thrones.

[@sgcl10658]

I think it was just a propaganda by Li Shimin to justify him killing his brother for the throne.

[@claudeyaz]

Wasn't it still early on in the dynasty? I think this was the biggest weakness of Chinese dynasties. They may have plenty of heirs and spares, but that's also the problem, they have plenty of heirs. In the UK, besides like the war the roses, and then a couple other small crisises.. where the tutor family kind of took the thrown based on power and money..and people being sick of bloodshed. In China there were so many princes!! and this is that!! Crown princes could easily be deposed! Harem intrigue!. I think some of these dynasty would have lasted longer had the whole concubine system not existed. But at the same time, would the nobles had followed the emperor if they couldn't get their daughters in there? Some of these emperors had a 1000 women or whatever, in they hardly got any kids at all. They would have more kids so they only had one wife. Cause the concubines in palace intrigue killing young heirs. Ironic...

[@goofsterngafster8411]

@@claudeyaz You simply cannot compare chinese dynasties with the small european realms. The sheer difference in size required emperor to have lots of marriage alliances which couldn't be satiated with monogamy.

[@zainmudassir2964]

Tough decisions to maintain peace in empire

[@HistoryOfRevolutions]

Taizong’s handling of the incident at the Wei River was a brilliant example of “steering safely clear of danger” by using intelligence about the enemy. But his treatment of the Turks was not merely an expedient measure hastily adopted to deal with an emergency. It was based on an objective assessment of the domestic situations and on a careful consideration of a policy appropriate to the relative strength between the Tang and the Turks.

[@CoolHistoryBros]

Just to be clear, the Legend of Tang Taizong & the 13 cane monks of Shaolin is kinda vague. There are written records of 13 monks helping Li Shimin, but the details seems to be embellished by legends through the ages.

[@nickypenn5841]

Ah, the _Shaolin._ Forget about Japanese ninjas, or Hattori Hanzo's endeavor to aid Ieyasu in traversing Iga. The Shaolin is the real deal, especially in their legend with Li Shimin. They are not your regular warrior-monks who are proficient with martial arts. In their legend (especially with Li Shimin), they are the ancient Chinese special force; imagine them as a Buddhist *_Rainbow Six: Siege_* team, but instead of high-tech equipment and weapons, they have godlike martial skills. Thanks to their legends, every Shaolin kung-fu movies always have their Shaolin protagonist named *_San The_* even in different time periods 🤣🤣🤣

[@ftd7435]

The big stone tablet at Shaolin Temple depicted how Li Si Min was chased by his enemies and bumped into the 13 monks. The 13 wusheng ( wu means combat, sheng means monk ) defeated the soldiers and helped Li Si Min escape. To show his gratitude after becoming emperor, Li Si Min visited the temple, gave land to the monks to expand the temple and gave order that the temple is not to be harmed and the monks are free to practise their fighting skills. Hundreds of years later, in another dynasty, a few hundred Shaolin wusheng help another emperor to suppress a rebellion in Luoyang by helping to defeat the rebellious army ( l forgot which year was that ). Shaolin combatant monks then became legend but instilled fear in foloing emperors as they see them as an invincible threat.

[@FightCommentary]

Love your channel so much!

[@skipinkoreaable]

Fancy meeting you here. I love it too.

[@kyrolantsberger2659]

No kidding, awesome to see another shared interest with you guys.

[@wric01]

I agree with most, we hate our siblings. As it's a given if outsider stabs you in the back, but you will never see it coming if it came your own family.

[@seanmong9524]

Great vid. This famous fratricidal Xuanwu incident remains mired in mystery and a personal tragedy to the elderly Emperor Gaozu who lost 2 sons and yielded his throne to his only surviving Son in this coup d’état within a day. What is interesting is the following. Li Shiming or Emperor Taizong tried to restore his political legitimacy and public image after this incident as fratricide and coup d’état is unpardonable in Confucian culture. This was his primary motivation to not only be a good Emperor for his subject but the best ever in Chinese history. Emperor Taizong was a hardworking and benevolent ruler and led a frugal lifestyle. Arguably, this could be his regime’s propaganda to restore his image. He succeeded in this endeavour until the end of Tang Dynasty. details of Xuanwu incident was ultimately documented by later Chinese historian for posterity. Commit a sin if you want to be a remarkable person?

[@kurtmill9080]

I adore these videos. I love the storytelling and the playful humor and theatre of it all.

[@BloodnSteel]

Another awesome video here guys, for the longest time, especially while I was still in University working on my Degree, I'd constantly brought up how little Asian History is covered here in the US, even compared to say, Arab/Muslim History which is often just as far-flung. So I bet you can imagine how thrilling it is to see KZbinrs taking the initiative to cover these sorts of topics now, in a format that anyone could get into. So thanks again for keeping up your project. Now I just wish I knew where to go to find other people in the know about History, as I've long felt like the only one around where I live that knows anything in that wheelhouse, its rather isolating. I was on TWCenter for ages in the past, so maybe I should try there to meet other people who are into History.

[@szbszig]

The same can be said about European education. Asian history is left out almost completely.

[@anasevi9456]

Love your videos, thank you for keeping up the hard work!

[@aasemahsan]

0:29 Tang Dynasty following it's establishment 2:01 Li Jiancheng 4:27 Leaked coup plan 7:42 Attempt(s) to kill and weaken Li Shimin 5:35 Li Shimin's bloodless victory against the Eastern Turkic Khaganates 10:11 *Xuanwu Gate incident* 12:12 Li Shimin gains power

[@matthewct8167]

Awesome video! I think that there must have been a lot of plotting on all sides in the Tang court, not just against Li Shiming.

[@trantrungnam612]

Hmm this story is actually very similar to Lee/Yi clan in Korea when they founded the Joseon Dynasty. Yi Seong-gye was also a frontier great general guarding Korea’s northern border. His sons were also contributed greatly to the fall of Goryeo and ended up killing each other for the succession (Strife of princes). And of course, the outstanding prince who succeed against his brothers was the 5th son, Yi Bangwon.

[@james-97209]

The quatrain of the 7 steps People burn the beanstalk to boil beans, The beans in the pot cry out. We are born of the selfsame root, Why should we hound each other to death with such impatience The above poem was written by Cao Cao's 2nd legitimate son Cao zhi when he was accused of treason by his brother Cao pi and I believe it truly shows what power can do to a family

[@乐匠]

The subjugated poet Emperor Li Yu wrote a poem and said: Poorly born in the emperor's house.

[@endless_tragedy7662]

if you ever come back to the spring and autumn period to cover the 5 hegemons, could you cover all 10 hegemons listed from the different sources? (except for Helü and Goujian since you can redirect them to your first video). love your channel especially the "Evolution of Early Gunpowder Weaponry" video for the deep dive and the use of images from the sources.

[@dwightlooi]

LOL... it's always OK when you WIN. It's never OK when you lose. Li Shimin, Zhu Di and I suspect Zhao Guangyi...

[@toedpens4954]

The violence is saddening, family killing each other is always unfortunate. But to reach the height of power one must build a bridge of bodies to get across.

[@gianniwu6564]

Honestly this coup d'etat is still shrouded in mystery. For instance 1 guy doesn't just waltz in the emperor's palace and set an ambush there. All the imperial guards, servants and the emperor's direct soldiers would all or at least tried to inform Li Yuan. When Li Shimin started killing his brothers followeres the parties involved were all only the princes' entourage. That's why people suspect that before starting the coup he had already captured his father and put him in a boat in one of the palace's lake. So after capturing the emperor he ordered the palace guards to stay neutral during his conflict and thats why his brothers grew suspicious when they arrived because all the guards were gone. Naturally thats all speculation, in fact people even argue that there much of a scuffle and all those details about his brother almost killing him were added in posterity so that Li Shimin didnt look like he killed them cowardly but fair and square.

[@Borderose]

Li Shimin is my bloody idol.

[@markuspfeifer8473]

So THEY started calling every incident -gate

[@KhoaNguyen-vr6ho]

Underrated comment. Actually the Watergate scandal in 72 was actually called “水门事件” in Chinese. So I guess they do call a lot of incidents “gate” xD

[@skywise001]

Another fantastic video

[@luitbaishya1581]

Refusing crown few times... for PR purposes !!!

[@littlehistorian5751]

Nice video About One of the greatest empreror Taizong

[@XuerLi]

Li Shimin was a great archer but not as strong as Li Yuanji when it comes to close-quarter fighting.

[@ConvoySeibatoron1313]

Love your videos cool history Bros can you make a video explaining the Taiping rebellion

[@self-parternerd8661]

- I think that being betrayed by a close relative is a really bad experience that can change even a peace-loving soul a turn it into a ruthless one. - And Emperor Gaozu's indulgence in his sons attempt to seize power from each other escalated the violence. - It's better to make a choice (Li Shimin as the new Crown Prince and possiblis ending the other princes to serve as border guardians) rather than lose everything the way he did.

[@thecrusaderhistorian9820]

Really, I think Li Shimin deserved the throne. After all the hard work he put into it.

[@wdynpn]

That's li Shiming propaganda after he become emperor

[@thecrusaderhistorian9820]

Whatever @@wdynpn

[@ikmalkamal5830]

​@@wdynpnEh. He deserved it. He's the most capable and competent, so to the greatest goes the throne.

[@MCorpReview]

Sometimes a mans gotta do what he’s gotta do. The super fun 🤩 series blood creek has dou jiande has the hero 🦸

[@Thecognoscenti_1]

Ah yes, the infamous 唐式父慈子孝

[@sinoroman]

nice, the sanchen flag

[@Thecognoscenti_1]

@@sinoroman The true original flag of us Han Chinese.

[@classic8910]

Remind me of "The long ballad" tv series

[@vlvl1870]

That event did happen in the drama and that Chang Ge uncle. Lol

[@crimsonfucker4167]

Ironic. Li Yuan began his rebellion against the empire he served for the shake of his family. In the end, he defeated the empire yet at the cost of most of those for whose shake he fought in the first place.

[@crazymonkeyvk714]

I remember a TVB series about this!

[@XuerLi]

tvb series are all fictional rubbsh, not worth watching

[@classic8910]

The long ballad was close

[@ballchinese4430]

b站什么时候更新中文版啊

[@TomMorrison-cc6xw]

So funny -- I'm just watching to kill some time & I've gotten really sucked in! This is the fourth one in a row I've watched & I HAVE TO see how he gets out from the Turkic threat! (&, ofc, the myth-busting)

[@stump4522]

You would think they learned from the the War of 8 Prince by now 😂.

[@heymish]

so cool!

[@matthewct8167]

I don’t know why you don’t have more subscribers

[@amazingvid8022]

He was powerful like Emperor Soryavarman II of The Khmer Empire

[@UmbratheFurryGamer]

Justified.

[@crazymonkeyvk714]

What about Kong Fung???

[@davidbrevik2537]

Taizon rise might be bloody, but I can't blame the guy. Talk about abuse.

[@ZhangK71]

Eh, a lot of it was propaganda. Not saying any Machiavellian player of the game of thrones doesn’t deserve the consequences of losing, but his brothers were probably gunning for the throne no more than he was. He simply got to paint himself as the one forced into self-defense because history is written by the victors and he was the victor.

[@Melcor2304]

@@ZhangK71 He’s not a tyrannical man as to kill off people who are telling the truth. He learned that from the predecessor dynasty on how to not be a tyrant, so no embellishing of history or killing people for telling the truth of the incident.

[@medusawitchful]

Literally almost every emperor kill their brothers for power lol. It was not so exclusive. They were not that innocent either.

[@موسى_7]

Excuse me, what do you mean they got on really well with their father's concubines? Sounds like something disgusting if I am not mistaken by what you mean.

[@teohjohnny]

The journey to the west took background during his reign.

[@sinoroman]

always find it weird that during medieval or modern periods, china is called 'ancient china'

[@miinfl7143]

China never had a mediaeval period. Maybe the Qing Dynasty but I'm not knowledgeable enough to make that call.

[@danshakuimo]

The thing is China kind of only has 2 main phases. Ancient, which is when china was ruled by an Emperor, and modern, which started with the ROC and is currently the PRC. They didn't get to have a renaissance or anything like Europe did. The Qing ended in 1912, which is actually super recent.

[@miinfl7143]

@@danshakuimo You don't "get" to have a renaissance if you've never experienced cultural decline. The Qing Dynasty was arguably a period of civilisational decline in China. If so, the Chinese are currently experiencing their renaissance.

[@ruleoftwo6174]

@@miinfl7143 there is no renaissance when the same of corrupt social structure remains in place

[@judsonwall8615]

To be fair, this is all happening just after Rome fell, the Sassanids were still around for a few more years, this is pre-Islam (just before)...so I think Sui/Tang could qualify as ancient. Personally, I consider Sui/Tang as the beginning of Middle Ages China though. Han China fell with Rome. Both experienced barbarian migrations that toppled half their empires in the fourth and fifth centuries. Then in the 600s China reunited as Sui/Tang and Europe came out of the other side with new nation states in France and Germany, plus the Eastern Romans.

[@danmoua7686]

12:25 so if you go against him he will kill all your sons but what happens to the women? N what happens if I just wanna be a laid back no power hungry prince n let my brother ascend as Emperor would I die?

[@Meela234]

If your brother is paranoid he would have you killed anyway.

[@hermannboyen5392]

Make a video about Chinese colonization of vietnam or trung sisters please

[@CoolHistoryBros]

Why not? But it will be some time until I get to it.

[@hrs.ai2018]

He is the guy who ask SanZhang to journey to the west to acquire holy script along with WuGong, BaJie and ShaSeng

[@sebabenda4950]

Is his pronunciation like the "traditional way" or is it way too "try hard" ? And since when is shaolin pronounced "saoling"? I'm very confused

[@alan5496]

He doesnt seem to speak with mandarin or cantonese accent, i think the narrator is either malaysian or singaporean.

[@sebabenda4950]

@@alan5496 ooohh,okay. i´m not really familiar with how accents from there sound, i thought he comes from somewhere in the baltic region to be honest xD

[@alan5496]

@@sebabenda4950 Lol all good, I mean he also pronounces "Li Shiming" as "Li Siming". Maybe he's not used to making the "Sh" sound in words.

[@edukid1984]

People who grew up in Southern China (or descended from there) often struggle with certain Mandarin pronunciation. Differentiating between "s-" and "sh-", and "-in" vs "-ing", for example.

[@warcatbattalion]

Ashina Genichirou?

[@bradypus55]

8:40 ( ･ω

[@nomanor7987]

Tang Taizong sounds like the Ottoman sultan Selim the Grim. Is it because of their shared Turkic heritage?

[@papercat2599]

taizong don’t have Turkic heritage. He have xian bei heritage

[@rijantohadianto3492]

Tang Taizong heritage is from previous Flying General in Han Dynasty

[@sinoroman]

whether emperor taizong the great had turkic or mongol blood, it doesn't matter as his father was han. plus, he was born and raised within the empire, so he understood, adopted, and embraced han culture.

[@nomanor7987]

@@sinoroman all Han, Turks, Mongols, Huns, Xianbei, Rouran, Khitan, etc, are descendants of the Yellow Emperor and therefore of the same blood.

[@sinoroman]

@@nomanor7987 i guess it's not a blood issue, it's a cultural issue. they each have their own separate culture.

[@shagaigan326]

Northern Wei, Liao and Yuan are Mongol states not Chinese. Jin and Qing are also Manchu states. Chinese tend to boast their history but it is not accurate. 0:01

[@favemediabureau]

They belong to today's history of China. No idea what kind of nation history are you talking about.

[@shagaigan326]

@@favemediabureau Fake history. Made up stories thats what I am talking about.

[@XuerLi]

Northern Wei was highly sinisized under emperor Xiaowen

[@XuerLi]

@麻辣拌 They were Mongolic or Turkic speaking doesn't mean they were close to Mongolians by blood, just like how the Chinese aren't genetically close to Tibetans even though they are in one language family.

[@shagaigan326]

@麻辣拌 They were highly sinicized only at the fall of their dynasties. In the 13th century, Genghis Khan integrated the last remaining population of Khitans into the Mongol empire and distributed it among each clan. Yelü Chucai is the prime example of this. It is not true that Khitans think of themselves the same as Hans. They also had a good portion of nationalism and showed that by joining Mongol Empire and helping it to grow. I am not trying to glorify the past I am just trying to show what was more realistic. On the other hand, you are trying to glorify yourself.

[@gangzhang1386]

歪曲历史

[@IronKurone]

Lol Li Shimin sounds very Korean to me.