With the popularity of TV series such as "The Legend of Wu Meiniang" and "Daming Palace Words", everyone relished the love story of Li Zhi and Wu Meiniang, and Li Zhi married his little wife, who nominally belonged to his father, back home, became an empress, and even gave her supreme power. All this made everyone have a historical illusion that Li Zhi was not a good emperor. So what is the actual character image of Li Zhi? Is it a "love brain" who only knows how to fall in love and ignores the major affairs of the country? Is it a cowardly emperor who is either hiding behind his father or under a woman's skirt?
In fact, the real Tang Gaozong Li Zhi in history can never be a cowardly person, and many historical materials prove that Li Zhi has no small ambitions and superb political skills, otherwise how can a cowardly prince still stand out in the struggle for imperial power when both brothers are punished with "treason"? And how can there be the courage to risk the world's great disobedience to establish a small mother as an empress? How could a cowardly emperor suppress his uncle Sun Wuji and the complicated Guan Long forces behind him before he was thirty years old? To say that such an emperor is cowardly is really a fool to slip the world! If you really want to say that Li Zhi should be called Wai Rou Nei Gang, he knows very well that small intolerance is chaotic and big, so he has also been Taoguang and obscure, secretly accumulating strength, like a tiger and leopard that prey in the dark, lurking in the night only waiting for the opportunity to mature and quickly attack, killing the prey.
It is not difficult to understand that film and television works such as movies and television dramas have undergone dramatic changes, Li Zhi's "cowardice theory" has a long history, and the cause is also very simple, the revision time of the important historical material of the Tang Dynasty, the Old Book of Tang, was the chaotic period of division at the end of the Tang Dynasty, and the records of historical facts were directly quoted from a large number of historical materials, lacking the necessary collation and generalization, and it was inevitable that there was no logic in reading. The New Book of Tang was compiled during the Northern Song Dynasty, and the original content of the Old Book of Tang was rewritten and deleted, which is very likely to change the original appearance of the historical documents. At the same time, since the Northern Song Dynasty, Confucian culture has once again been innovated according to political needs, criticizing many ideological trends of the Tang Dynasty, and disapproving of The behavior of Emperor Gaozong of Tang and Li Zhi after marrying Wu. Zhao Wenrun, director of the Han and Tang Cultural Research Center of Shaanxi Normal University, also published a special paper to explain that the source of Tang Gaozong's "cowardice theory" has a lot to do with the compilation of the New Book of Tang.
Li Zhi was known for his "benevolence" when he was still a prince, and the death of Empress Eldest Sun also made Li Zhi, who was only nine years old, "mature" prematurely. In the seventeenth year of Zhenguan (643), the crown prince Li Chengqian and the Wei prince Li Tai failed to compete for the crown prince, both were disliked by Emperor Taizong of Tang, Li Shimin was deposed, Li Tai was marginalized, and Li Shimin, who was bitter and bitter, decided to establish Li Zhi as the crown prince, and often took Li Zhi with him to participate in political affairs, and even arranged for Li Zhi to stay in Dingzhou during Tang Taizong's expedition to Goryeo.
After Emperor Taizong returned to Tianmen, Li Zhi succeeded to the throne and changed the name of the country to Yonghui, Tang Gaozong Li Zhi took over a thriving Tang Empire, and Li Zhi did not live up to everyone's expectations, Li Zhi made great efforts during his reign, conquered Goguryeo in the east, conquered the Turks in the west, and pacified the desert north, and did what the emperors wanted to do since the Sui Dynasty, the territory of the Tang Dynasty extended to Korea in the east, the Caspian Sea in the west, Vietnam in the south, and Lake Baikal in the north, which was the largest dynasty in the territory area in the dynasties! Politically, Li Zhi, who had the blood of the Li and Changsun clans flowing on his body, understood even more that the Door Valve Clan was like a shackle tied to his body, and on the one hand, he balanced the power of the Family Gate Valve, encouraged and supported the reform of the education and selection system, and promoted the development of the imperial examination system; on the other hand, in order to prevent foreign relatives from becoming bigger, he was also very wary of the GuanLong family that helped the Li family to start a trouble, so he vigorously promoted Xu Jingzong, Li Yifu and others, and later even used the old case of King Wu to expand his influence and take down a high-powered uncle, Sun Wuji and Chu Suiliang, to enhance the imperial power.
With regard to the internal livelihood, Li Zhi lightly encouraged Nongsang, and even introduced Shi into the cabinet and said: "If there is something that is not convenient for the people, it is advisable to be Chen, and those who are not complete are even more sealed." "In this way, we can observe the people's feelings and know the sufferings of the people." During the reign of Emperor Gaozong of Tang and Li Zhi, the number of registered people in the Tang Dynasty increased year by year, and the economy rose steadily. The Old Book of Tang records that "the Emperor went to the domain and was called an elder." It is said that Li Zhi was revered as an "elder" at a young age, and Li Zhi's strength can be seen.
If you insist on saying that Li Zhi has any fatal shortcomings, that is, Li Zhi's health is not too good, and in the fifth year of Xianqing (660), Li Zhi suddenly suffered from head disease, and often felt dizzy, and it was even more difficult to stand when it was uncomfortable, let alone handle government affairs. Therefore, in the second year of the First Yuan Dynasty (675), Li Zhi summoned his close ministers to discuss letting his wife Wu Meiniang help handle government affairs, and after that, the two jointly managed the government, and people respected the two as "Two Saints". In the second year of Yongchun (683), Li Zhi's condition became more and more serious, and he often felt that his breathing was not smooth, his breath was not smooth, and he could no longer receive ministers other than the chancellor, and on December 27 of the same year, Li Zhi died at the Zhenguan Hall in the Eastern Capital, at the age of fifty-six.
Emperor Gaozong of Tang was one of the few emperors in Chinese history, he was more invisible, a low-key and introverted emperor, he himself was an extremely excellent existence, as the ruler of Zhenguan and the successor of the Kaiyuan prosperous world, his merits must be recognized. It is undeniable that TV dramas and other film and television works have a role in publicizing and promoting this period of history, but while everyone is enjoying it, we must also clearly understand the difference between the adaptation of entertainment works and historical facts, and treat the two differently, which is a respect for Li Zhi, a respect for history, and a respect for our own culture.