A few years ago, the harem drama was very popular, we saw from the play that the harem concubines did not hesitate to use means to compete for favors, and the means of tying villains, drugging, and setting traps were not surprising, and some people even hurt their children in order to ascend to the throne, marrying favored concubines, and the harem became a more dangerous place than the battlefield. So in The history of China, have there ever been concubines who have hurt their children in order to compete for favors? Such an event is recorded in the New Book of Tang.
"Zhaoyi gave birth to a daughter, and then he took care of it, and went, and Zhaoyi sneaked down to kill his son, and served the emperor to the emperor, and Yang wei was happy to speak, and he looked at his son and died." And asked left and right, and they all knew: 'It is appropriate to come later.' Zhaoyi was miserable, and the emperor could not detect it, and said angrily: "After killing my daughter, I used to slander with my concubine, and now I am evil again!"' From zhaoyi to his confession, there is no way to explain himself, and the more the emperor believes in love, the more he has the intention of abolishing the aftermath. This article tells that Wu Zhaoyi gave birth to a daughter, Empress Wang went to visit, and after the empress left, Wu Zhaoyi smothered her own child, and when Tang Gaozong was driving, Wu Zhaoyi opened the quilt casually, found that the little princess was dead, and began to cry, plus others reminded Empress Wang that she had come, and Wu Zhaoyi insisted that Empress Wang had killed her daughter. Of course, Empress Wang had no evidence to prove herself, so the emperor moved the idea of abolishing the empress.
When we look at this canonical history, it is quite normal for us to think that Wu Zetian was a fierce-hearted man who killed his own daughter in order to compete for favors, but in fact, this cannot stand up to scrutiny, and the records in other history books have certain contradictions with it.
First of all, the "New Book of Tang" was written during the Northern Song Dynasty, even if Wu Zetian was really so fierce, after Wu Zetian ascended to the throne, he would definitely eliminate the relevant information and let all the history books record this incident as Empress Wang's killing of the little princess, so in the Northern Song Dynasty hundreds of years later, how could Ouyang Xiu and others know such a top-secret court secret? Or how to verify the authenticity of the referenced material?
Secondly, the direct cause of Empress Wang's depose was not the death of the little princess, but the use of the "art of victory" in the harem to curse Wu Zetian, and later when the East Window Incident occurred, the emperor felt that the empress was misbehaving before he felt that the empress was abolished. It should be known that in the ancient times when feudal etiquette was strict, as the mother of a country, it was a big mistake to use such a despicable means, not to mention that at this time, the emperor favored Wu Zhaoyi, and it is not difficult to explain the abolition of the empress. The Old Book of Tang records: "The emperor did not accept the latter words in the end, and Zhaoyi favored the day by day." After being afraid of not being at ease, Mi and his mother Liu Clan begged the witch to wish for victory. When the incident occurred, the emperor was furious and cut off the Liu clan and was not allowed to enter the palace, and the uncle Zhongshu ordered Liu Yi to dismiss the governor and depose him, and after the abolition, the eldest grandson Wujie, Chu Suiliang and other stubborn advice, but stopped. ”
However, the New Book of Tang believes that this matter was framed by Wu Zetian, "Zhaoyi is falsely accused of winning with her mother, and the emperor regrets the former, but in fact, his words will be abolished." ", the previous historians have not said so, you talk like you saw it with your own eyes, it can be seen that Ouyang Xiu and others have a certain prejudice against Wu Zetian, the Northern Song Dynasty is an important period for the development of Cheng Zhu Lixue, the status of women is subject to a certain degree of confinement, Ouyang Xiu and other people's prejudice against Wu Zetian is actually the prejudice of men's rights against women's rights.
So what is the mystery of the little princess's death? The record of the "Tang Huijiao" may be the truth of the facts: "Zhaoyi's daughter was violent", that is to say, the little princess suddenly fell ill and died violently, in fact, in ancient times, when various prenatal and postnatal examination methods were seriously backward, infant deaths were very common, even the court was difficult to avoid. In the Northern Song Dynasty, because of the ideological confinement and a certain imagination, it is not difficult to understand that things have become another story.