Is Wu Zetian's husband Li Zhi really just a helpless wife, Emperor Yan?

You may not have heard of Li Zhi. But you must know his wife: the only orthodox female emperor in Chinese history, Wu Zetian.

Li Zhi was the third emperor of the Tang Dynasty.

In the eyes of most people, Li Zhi was a cowardly emperor and an incompetent wife. After him, the Tang Dynasty's Jiangshan was even changed from his surname to Dazhou by his wife Wu Zetian, and almost became the king of the fallen country.

So is the real Tang Gaozong Li Zhi really an incompetent emperor in history? What major events happened during his reign? Without Wu Zetian, would Li Zhi's evaluation in history change? Today, let's talk about the story of Tang Gaozong Li Zhi.

Before Tang Taizong died, he broke his heart for his son Li Zhicao. Entrusted Renxiao's crown prince Li Zhi to the eldest grandson Wu Ji and Zen Suiliang. At the same time, he instructed Li Zhi to reuse and promote Li Ji after succeeding to the throne. In the early years of Li Zhi's reign, he basically followed the policies formulated by Tang Taizong, and was also diligent in doing the right thing, the people lived and worked in peace and contentment, the country became stronger and stronger, and there was a legacy of chastity, which was originally called "the rule of Yonghui".

When Li Zhi ascended the throne, he was not young, compared with kangxi when he ascended the throne at the age of 8, when the power was in the hands of Aobai, in fact, Li Zhi could completely take power himself. However, because of his father's entrustment, after Li Zhi ascended the throne, he was vacated by the eldest grandson Wuji, and the eldest son Wuji had another layer of identity, he was also Li Zhi's uncle, and made great contributions in the process of helping Li Zhi become emperor. However, during the Tang Dynasty, the power of the emperor and the power of the prime minister were balanced against each other, and Li Zhi, who had just ascended to the throne, had no real power and was also very depressed.

After some planning, Li Zhi chose to install his own people in the court and slowly increased his political influence in the court. After several years of planning, he finally overthrew the eldest son Wujie and regained the power in his own hands, and the young Li Zhi showed excellent political ability.

So why is reason why is reason in everyone's impression that reason is considered an incompetent emperor? In fact, in today's historians, it is generally believed that he was a seriously underestimated emperor, let's take a look at what achievements he made during Li Zhi's reign.

During the reign of Emperor Gaozong of Tang and Li Zhiyonghui, the Tang Dynasty used troops against the Western Turks for many years, and Li Zhi successively sent Cheng Zhijie and Su Dingfang to lead an army to attack the Western Turks, and Su Dingfang led the army to capture the Western Turk Khan Ashna Helu, and the Western Turks perished, and the territory of the Tang Dynasty expanded to the hinterland of Central Asia. Li Zhi then sent troops to attack Goguryeo and Baekje, and the Tang dynasty general Liu Renji defeated the Japanese troops supporting Baekje at Baihankou. The Tang Dynasty conquered all of Baekje and Baekje perished. When Tang Taizong was alive, he had conquered Goguryeo in the east but returned without success, and after Li Zhi ascended the throne, he changed the decline of the war situation in Liaodong and completed the unfinished business of his father Tang Taizong, so that the territory of the Tang Dynasty reached the maximum.

It can be seen that during Li Zhi's reign, both Wenzhi and Wugong performed very well, and they were not inferior to his father Tang Taizong. However, because Tang Taizong had the merit of establishing the Tang Dynasty, it can be said that the entire Tang Dynasty was fought down by Li Shimin, and in contrast, Li Zhi's more meritorious achievements were reflected in Shoucheng, and compared with Li Shimin, he was still a little weaker.

Seeing this, some people may have to ask, since Tang Gaozong Li Zhi is so powerful, why does he not have any sense of existence in everyone's discussion?

In fact, Emperor Gaozong of Tang was an emperor who was relatively easy to ignore, not because he had no ability, but because his position was slightly awkward. Before him, Tang Taizong Li Shimin was a famous xianming emperor in history, and the rule of Zhenguan was praised by successive generations. After Li Zhi, she was the only female emperor in Chinese history, sandwiched between these two mountains, and Li Zhi's figure was naturally compared. Even in traditional literary works, Tang Gaozong has always been a seemingly cowardly emperor, but the historical Li Zhi adhered to the national policy of lightly dispensing with thin endowments and resting the people, reducing the crime rate of society and making society stable and prosperous. He also attached great importance to the imperial examination system, and in order to effectively select outstanding talents, he also boldly used many outstanding generals, among which the most familiar one was Su Dingfang, the famous minister of the Tang Dynasty.

During The reign of Li Zhi, the Tang Dynasty basically maintained a record of total victory in foreign wars, and established an area of 1,200 square kilometers from the Korean Peninsula in the east, the Aral Sea in the west, Lake Baikal in the north, and hengshan in Vietnam in the south, and this vast territory was maintained for 32 years. With such merits in fixing the country and the people at home and expanding the territory externally, Emperor Gaozong of Tang was a great emperor who was seriously underestimated. Among the emperors of the Tang Dynasty, only Li Shimin was able to stabilize Li Zhi. Even Li Longji, the Tang Xuanzong who later created the Kaiyuan Dynasty, was not as good as Li Zhi's contribution to the Tang Dynasty.

The reason why Li Zhi is considered a mediocre emperor may be because Li Zhi has been blackened by the image of film and television dramas.

In many film and television dramas, in order to reflect Wu Zetian, the only empress in history, the image of Li Zhi has never been tall. Many people say that Wu Zetian was able to steal the Tang Dynasty's Jiangshan and become emperor because of Li Zhi's pot. In fact, Wu Zetian was just a pawn pushed out by Li Zhi in order to get rid of the oppression of the nobility, but because Li Zhi's body suddenly deteriorated later, he did not have time to dispose of Wu Zetian, which allowed Wu Zetian to succeed. When Li Zhi was alive, Wu Zetian did not show the slightest ambition, and Wu Zetian's theft of the bane of the Tang Dynasty could not really be blamed on Li Zhi's head.

Seeing this, do you have a new understanding of Li Zhi?