Emperor Gaozong of Tang was the grandson of Li Yuan, the Duke of Tang, the ninth son of Li Shimin of Tang Taizong, and the third emperor after the founding of the Tang Dynasty. Emperor Taizong of Tang had many heirs, so Li Zhi, who originally had a cowardly personality and lacked the dignity of a king, was not within the scope of the crown prince's consideration, but all the princes were eyeing the throne, and when their father could not return to his old age for a hundred years, there were successive rebellions, and Emperor Taizong was sad.
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After painstakingly thinking about it, he decided to pass on the position of Li Zhi, the King of Jin, who had no great talent but a benevolent heart, which was Tang Gaozong, who later inherited Li Tangjiangshan and created a brilliant post-Zhenguan era with Wu Zetian.
When Li Zhi was a teenager, he was personally taught by Emperor Taizong of Tang, and often went in and out of the imperial study, and gradually fell in love with Emperor Taizong's talented wushi.
After the death of Emperor Taizong of Tang, Wu and a group of other palace people were sent to Ganye Temple to cut their hair as nuns. At that time, at the beginning of Li Zhi's ascension to the throne, he was subject to many restraints by the eldest son Wuji and other powerful ministers, especially the matter of the empress dowager and Concubine Xiao Shufei competing for favors, and when he accidentally entered the Ganye Temple and entered the incense, he unexpectedly reunited with Wu Zetian, who had once been deeply in love, and immediately ordered her to sleep in surprise, and the two of them interlocked with each other about their parting feelings.
Soon after, Empress Wang, who was bent on overthrowing Concubine Xiao Shufei, offered to include the Wu clan in Emperor Gaozong's harem, and Emperor Gaozong gladly approved of this, and immediately took back the pregnant Wu clan from The Ganye Temple in spite of the courtiers' objections and was given the title of Zhengerpin Zhaoyi. After that, the Wu clan gradually favored the harem, and quickly defeated Empress Wang and Concubine Xiao Shufei with a thunderous momentum, and became the lord of Gaozong's harem.
With the assistance of Wu Zetian in the government, Emperor Gaozong was able to free his hands and feet, gradually freed himself from the clampdown of the foreign forces represented by the eldest son Wuji and Chu Suiliang, and achieved outstanding political achievements in his ruling career for more than twenty years.
How Li Zhi died
Emperor Gaozong of Tang reigned for thirty-four years, and during his reign, he once experienced major events such as abolishing the Zhonggong Palace and replacing him with the establishment of the crown prince, and achieved remarkable political achievements with the assistance of Wu Zetian, so when the Gaozong period was the largest territory of the Tang Dynasty, the rule of Zhenguan created by Emperor Taizong was also continued and expanded during this period.
In December of the second year of Yongchun, Li Zhi, who was then fifty-six years old, was buried in the Zhenguan Hall.
As for the cause of Li Zhi's death, according to historical records, he died of illness. During Li Zhi's reign, he presided over the government every day, and when he was approving the recitals, he often suffered from headaches and stubborn diseases, and the attendant Qin Minghe once used acupuncture and acupuncture to cure the emperor.
With the passage of time, Wu Hou, who had once assisted Li Zhi in rectifying the imperial program, gradually showed uncontrollable political ambitions, and had the tendency to surpass the king's dominance of the imperial government, and Emperor Gaozong gradually saw the idea of abolishing the government.
Unexpectedly, as soon as Wu Zetian, who had laid an ear and ears around Tianzi, learned about it, he immediately complained to Li Zhi and appealed and defended. Under her skillful maneuvering, the abolition of the queen was not resolved, but the minister who intended to edict Shangguan Yi was cursed to destroy the Nine Tribes. After that, Li Zhi was unable to restrain Wu Hou any longer, and coupled with years of fatigue, the recurrence of old diseases once developed into a point where they could not see.
The emperor was unable to handle government affairs, so he ordered the crown prince Li Xian to supervise the state and act as an administrative officer. The dimwitted and incompetent Li Xian could not shoulder this heavy responsibility, and at this time, the fierce Wu Zetian had actually completely controlled the military and political power of Li Tangjiangshan.
It is not difficult to conclude from this that Li Zhi's death was half due to his weak body and was affected by the disease of vertigo, and the other half was also because he had been living in the shadow of his strong wife Wu Zetian for the rest of his life, desperate and powerless to change the status quo, so he had to swallow his anger and end up depressed.
Who was the emperor after Li Zhi
Who was The successor of Emperor Gaozong of Tang? This issue caused a fierce political struggle as early as the beginning of Emperor Gaozong's ascension to the throne.
At that time, Empress Wang wanted Gao Zong to make her adopted son, Li Zhong the Prince of Chen, born of the palace maid Liu Shi, crown prince, while Consort Xiao urged Gao Zong to make her own son Li Sujie the Prince of Yong the Crown Prince. In the endless struggle between these two women, Emperor Gaozong was overwhelmed, so he often went to the Ganye Temple to meet with his beloved Wu Zetian, and soon made Wu Zetian pregnant with the dragon species. After Wu Zetian returned to the palace, he quickly overthrew the two fierce enemies of Empress Wang and Concubine Xiao Shufei, and successfully ascended to the rear position. Emperor Gaozong deposed Li Zhong as crown prince and replaced Li Hong, the eldest son of Empress Wu, with him as crown prince.
Like his father, Li Hong was very sympathetic to Princess Yiyang and Princess Xuancheng, the two daughters born to Consort Xiao, and persuaded her mother to find a good home for his two half-sisters. At this time, Wu Zetian was angered, so she sent the two princesses Xu with bodyguards out of the palace while planning to change the crown prince. Two years later, Li Hong died violently, and Emperor Gaozong was helpless, and replaced Wu Zetian's second son Li Xian as crown prince, but within five years, Li Xian plotted rebellion, and Emperor Gaozong was greatly disappointed, deposed him as a Shuren, and was finally forced to die by Empress Wu.
In December of the second year of Yongchun, Li Zhi was buried on the day. Empress Wu deposed the emperor and soon put his third son Li Xian on the throne. After Emperor Zhongzong of Tang ascended the throne, Li Xian, coveted pleasure and did not think about state affairs, and even openly threatened to give li jia tianxia to Empress Wei, and Wu Zetian was furious when he heard this, and immediately deposed Li Xian's throne, demoted him to the position of King of Luling, and expelled him from Chang'an. After Li Xian's departure, Li Dan of Tang Ruizong, who had newly ascended to the throne, feared the power of Wu Zetian, and within a few days of being emperor, he took the initiative to give up the throne and ask his mother to govern, and Wu Zetian, who had been operating hard for many years, naturally would not resign. A few days later, amid the congratulations of hundreds of officials, Wu Zetian, an empress of the unprecedented generation in Chinese history, finally reached the peak of her life.