During the Tang Dynasty Wu Zetian period, Pei Yan, the prime minister, only wrote a letter with the words "green goose", and after being discovered by Wu Zetian, he ended up miserable, not only was he killed by Wu Zetian, but also the whole family was killed.
Pei Yan was initially a political ally of Wu Zetian
Pei Yan was born in hedong Pei clan, was a famous family at that time, the Pei family counted Pei Yan in the Tang Dynasty appeared a total of as many as seventeen prime ministers, is the history of the Tang Dynasty famous rich zai family.
Pei Yan has been diligent and studious since childhood, and later entered the Tang Dynasty cadre training school Hongwenguan to study and study by virtue of his family relationship, and most of the people who can enter the Hongwenguan in the Tang Dynasty are the children of the scholar clan, the family is prominent and rich, and the conditions are very superior, so the students of the Hongwenguan will flock to the mountains and rivers as soon as they have free time, and chant poems.
When the students were all sightseeing in the mountains, Pei Yan did not go out of the door and did not concentrate on studying behind closed doors. The students in the Hongwenguan did not have to take the imperial examination, as long as they were recruited by the imperial court, they could become officials, Pei Yan studied in the Hongwenguan for many years, and the imperial court also recruited him many times to become an official, but Pei Yan always resigned on the grounds that his studies were not perfect.
Pei Yan studied hard in the Hongwenguan for ten years, and his classmates in the same period had already entered the career as an official, but he continued to stay and study, and until the end, Pei Yan did not enter the career path through the recommendation of the Hongwenguan and the conscription of the imperial court, but he participated in a career examination with his true talent and practical learning, and entered the career path with excellent results.
Pei Yan's diligent study attitude was recognized by Emperor Gaozong of Tang and Li Zhi, so Pei Yan's career was very smooth, and in the second year (680), Emperor Gaozong of Tang worshipped Pei Yan as a waiter at the Yellow Gate and conferred the title of Tong zhongshu menxia Sanpin, that is, pei Yan as the prime minister.
Pei Yan was able to seal the chancellor in addition to his own talents, but also that he was very good at currying favor with Wu Zetian, who was in the later years of Tang Gaozong's life, and Tang Gaozong had already let Wu Zetian begin to participate in political decision-making due to his poor health, when Wu Zetian and Tang Gaozong were called the Second Saint. Wu Zetian's power was great, and Pei Yan formed a political alliance with Wu Zetian, and through the overthrow of the crown prince Li Xian, Pei Yan was able to worship him.
In the first year of The Revelation (679), both Emperor Gaozong of Tang and Wu Zetian were very fond of the assassination of the warlock Ming Chongyu, and Wu Zetian suspected that he was directed by his son Li Xian, so Wu Zetian sent Pei Yan to investigate Li Xian.
The crown prince Li Xian was more virtuous, had overseen the country three times, was deeply supported by the courtiers, and was wise and decisive, so he hindered his biological mother Wu Zetian from seizing power, and made Wu Zetian very suspicious, so he became the target of Wu Zetian's attack, and Wu Zetian just wanted to take advantage of the assassination of Ming Chongyu to overthrow Li Xian.
Pei Yan was very good at figuring out Wu Zetian's intentions, so in order to cater to Wu Zetian, after li Xian's Eastern Palace found hundreds of armor, he charged Li Xian with a crime of treason, and Wu Zetian took the opportunity to think that Li Xian wanted to usurp the throne in advance and had the idea of rebellion, but Tang Gaozong was very fond of Li Xian, and he did not believe that Li Xian would rebel, so he wanted to pardon Li Xian, but Wu Zetian insisted that Li Xian be deposed as a prince, and Tang Gaozong was already under the control of Wu Zetian at that time, so he had to depose Li Xian and make his third son Li Xian the crown prince.
This was the case of the prince Li Xian's conspiracy, and it was precisely by helping Wu Zetian overthrow Li Xian that pei yan was worshipped as prime minister the following year, so during this period Pei Yan and Wu Zetian were considered political allies, Pei Yan gained greater power through Wu Zetian, and Wu Zetian overthrew his wise and decisive son Li Xian through Pei Yan.
Shortly after Li Xian's depose, Emperor Gaozong of Tang died, and before his death, Emperor Gaozong of Tang ordered Pei Yan, Guo Zheng, and Liu Qixian to assist him, Pei Yan was the first assistant minister, and the three of them decided on major state affairs before they could be reported to Wu Zetian for approval before they could take effect.
Tang Gaozong actually had very good ideas, paving the way for his precious son "Six Emperor Pills" Tang Zhongzong Li Xian, Pei Yan's three auxiliary chancellor forces could just check with Wu Zetian's post-party forces, but Tang Gaozong did not expect that on the third day of his death, Pei Yan took the initiative to go to the table on the grounds that Li Xian had not yet listened to the government and had no political experience, and asked Wu Zetian to take the title of emperor and issue a decree as the empress.
Pei Yan's suggestion made Wu Zetian very happy, he was the first assistant, Wu Zetian was thinking of monopolizing power without a reason, the first assistant of the people said so, what else could other ministers say. Therefore, Pei Yan's proposal was almost a reason to give Wu Zetian the right to seize power, and Wu Zetian humbly agreed, which can be said that Pei Yan allowed Wu Zetian to further control the power of the government and empty the emperor.
In fact, Pei Yan so pandered to Wu Zetian also had his own ideas, you know that after all, it is a dynasty of heaven and a courtier, Li Xian was already twenty-seven years old when he succeeded to the throne, he was an adult, he had his own political opinions, although Pei Yan was a minister of life, but who could guarantee that In the future, Li Xian's wings would not be replaced by Pei Yan.
After all, Wu Zetian is a female stream, and in Pei Yan's eyes, the female stream is easy to control, so let Wu Zetian claim that she can rely on herself, and she can also ensure that her position as prime minister is secure, and by overthrowing Li Xian, Pei Yan and Wu Zetian can also be regarded as political allies, so only when Wu Zetian continues to take power can we ensure that Pei Yan's position as prime minister continues to be stable.
However, Pei Yan would not have thought that he had underestimated Wu Zetian and overestimated himself, he thought that he could control Wu Zetian, but instead he completed Wu Zetian and pushed Datang into the arms of Wu Zetian.
After Emperor Zhongzong of Tang succeeded to the throne, he was thoroughly suppressed by Pei Yan and Wu Zetian, but he did not want to be only a puppet emperor himself, so he tried to reuse the power of his wife Empress Wei's mother's family to counter Wu Zetian and Pei Yan.
Therefore, Tang Zhongzong later wanted to promote his father-in-law Wei Xuanzhen to the position of servant and thus enter the decision-making level of power, Pei Yan of course knew that Tang Zhongzong wanted to cultivate his own political power, and if Wei Xuanzhen entered the central government, then he would have to lose power, so Pei Yan resolutely refused Tang Zhongzong's proposal to promote Wei Xuanzhen to be a servant.
Pei Yan sternly refused as the first assistant minister, which made Tang Zhongzong very angry, so Tang Zhongzong gambled and said, "The whole world is mine, how about I give the country to Wei Xuanzhen?" Not to mention just a waiter. ”
Tang Zhongzong's words made Pei Yan see that he was determined to promote his father-in-law Wei Xuanzhen, so in order to maintain his position, Pei Yan decided to unite with Wu Zetian to depose Tang Zhongzong, and he quickly relayed this remark to Wu Zetian.
At that time, Wu Zetian was very dissatisfied with Tang Zhongzong's desire to get out of control and cultivate his own political power, so he and Pei Yan immediately agreed to depose Tang Zhongzong.
Therefore, Wu Zetian ordered the chancellor Pei Yan to lead the Yulin general Cheng Wuting to bring the Janissaries into the palace, and with the will of Empress Dowager Yi, announced the abolition of Emperor Zhongzong of Tang and demoted him to the position of King of Luling, so that Emperor Zhongzong of Tang, who had just succeeded to the throne for less than two months, was deposed, and Wu Zetian allowed his fourth son Li Dan to succeed him as Emperor Ruizong of Tang.
Pei Yan finally discovered that Wu Zetian wanted to usurp Tang, regretted it too late, and eventually he was killed by Wu Zetian
After Tang Ruizong succeeded to the throne, because he was very afraid and jealous of his mother Wu Zetian, he took the initiative to be a puppet emperor, and Wu Zetian completely grasped the power, so Wu Zetian was very satisfied with Pei Yan and also gave Pei Yan the title of Baron, so Wu Zetian began a plan to gradually usurp Tang.
After Wu Zetian came to power, he began to reuse the Wu family and monopolize power, and Wu Zetian's nephew Wu Chengsi wrote to request that Wu Zetian's ancestor be posthumously crowned king.
It was also at this time that Pei Yan discovered that Wu Zetian was extremely ambitious and had a situation of usurping the Tang Dynasty, and he thought that Wu Zetian was likely to become the next Empress Lü, so Pei Yan, with loyalty to the Li Tang royal family, stood up and severely prevented Wu Zetian from pursuing the ancestors of the Wu clan as kings.
At first, Pei Yan only advised Wu Zetian, euphemistically advising her to take Empress Lü as a warning and not to posthumously crown her ancestors as kings, which made Wu Zetian very unhappy after this incident, and she also saw that Pei Yan and herself were not at all a person with a heart.
Later, Wu Chengsi also asked Wu Zetian to kill Li Yuanjia, the eleventh son of Tang Gaozu Li Yuan, and the nineteenth son of Li Yuan, the king of Lu, which also meant that Wu Zetian had swung the butcher knife at the Li Tang royal family, which was something that Pei Yan absolutely could not accept, when Wu Zetian asked the courtiers whether to kill King Han and King Lu, these courtiers were afraid of Wu Zetian, knowing that she meant to kill, everyone was silent and acquiesced, only Pei Yan stood up against it, and Wu Zetian hated Pei Yan more and more. In the end, Li Yuanjia and Li Lingkui were forced to commit suicide by Wu Zetian.
When Pei Yan found that Wu Zetian's ambitions were getting bigger and bigger and more and more disobedient to his own advice, Pei Yan decided to use force to control Wu Zetian and force her to return to Tang Ruizong.
Therefore, Pei Yan secretly contacted the general Cheng Wuting, preparing to take advantage of Wu Zetian's outinging to control her, and then force her to return to Tang Ruizong and then imprison her. Pei Yan's plan was really good, but it was a pity that the heavens were helping Wu Zetian, and it rained continuously for a few days, and Wu Zetian had to cancel the travel plan, which made Pei Yan's plan all fail.
Later, Li Jingye, the grandson of the founding general of the Tang Dynasty, Li Ji, was dissatisfied with Wu Zetian's dictatorship and the killing of Li Tang's royal family, and raised an army in Yangzhou to oppose Wu Zetian's claim to the dynasty, and his slogan of restoring Li Tang's imperial power was very appealing, and for a time gathered 100,000 people.
After Li Jingye rebelled, Wu Zetian stripped him of his hereditary British ducalship and stripped him of his family's surname, and Li Jingye reverted to his original surname Xu Jingye.
Xu Jingye's crusade against Wu Zetian was huge, and Wu Zetian summoned his ministers to discuss how to deal with it, the first question was Pei Yan, and Pei Yan took the opportunity to persuade Wu Zetian to return to Tang Ruizong, after all, Tang Ruizong was an adult and had his own political opinions, and did not need Wu Zetian to make decisions for him, it was Wu Zetian's delay in returning to the government that gave people like Xu Jingye an excuse to rebel, if Wu Zetian returned to Tang Ruizong, then perhaps the rebels would disintegrate on their own, or they would soon be able to pacify them if they were not justified.
Pei Yan's analysis was actually very reasonable, but Wu Zetian absolutely could not return to Tang Ruizong, so she was very annoyed with pei Yan's suggestions, but Pei Yan was reasonable, and she was not good at directly criticizing Pei Yan, at this time, Cui Yan, a minister who wanted to curry favor with Wu Zetian, stood up and reprimanded Pei Yan, and Cui Yan thought that Pei Yan, as a minister who cared for his life, did not think about countering the rebellion, but urged the empress dowager to return to the government, and there must be catty in it.
Wu Zetian was worried that he could not find an excuse to clean up Pei Yan, and this Cui Zhen just gave her a reason, so Wu Zetian immediately praised Cui Yan for being right, and arrested Pei Yan in prison for investigation, and another minister who took care of the orders, Liu Qixian, and the general Cheng Wuting, stood up to intercede for Pei Yan, and was also regarded by Wu Zetian as Pei Yan's party, and later both of them were also politically liquidated.
After Pei Yan was arrested and imprisoned, Wu Zetian intercepted Pei Yan's letter to Xu Jingye, there were only two words in the letter , "Green Goose", at that time the courtiers did not know what the purpose of these two words was, Wu Zetian immediately told everyone in the method of splitting words, the word "Qing" can be split into December, the word "goose" can be split into my own self, Pei Yan replied to Xu Jingye, the meaning of Pei Yan's reply to Xu Jingye is that in December he will help Xu Jingye to attack the city.
It was precisely because of the two words "green goose" that Wu Zetian concluded that Pei Yan was in collusion with Xu Jingye, and after Pei Yan was imprisoned, he also knew that he was doomed, and he said to his friends who visited him in prison: "When the prime minister is imprisoned, there is no longer a physiology!" ”
Sure enough, Wu Zetian soon after accused Pei Yan of colluding with Xu Jingye to rebel, beheaded him in Luoyang, and Pei Yan's entire family was also killed, and the family property was confiscated. Liu Qixian, who interceded for Pei Yan, was demoted to death, and the general Cheng Wuting was originally the son of Cheng Mingzhen, a famous general who founded the country in the early Tang Dynasty, and the father and son made great achievements in opening up the territory of the Tang Dynasty, but cheng Wuting was killed by Wu Zetian for interceding for Pei Yan.
Later, Wu Zetian used the Pei Yan case to involve many courtiers loyal to the Li Tang imperial family, and these ministers loyal to the Li Tang imperial family were basically packed up by Wu Zetian.
In fact, looking back at Pei Yan's murder, the letter with the words "Green Goose" is likely to be orchestrated by Wu Zetian, just to find a reason to kill Pei Yan, deliberately involving Pei Yan and Xu Jingye's rebellion, Wu Zetian has long been unhappy with Pei Yan, so "Green Goose" is just an excuse to kill Pei Yan.
Through Pei Yan, a large number of ministers loyal to the Li Tang imperial family were involved, and it was also paved for Wu Zetian to usurp The Tang Emperor in the future, and killing Pei Yan also represented that Wu Zetian's ambition was known to sima Zhao's heart, and Wu Zetian also wanted to tell the courtiers to follow me and those who rebelled against me would die.
Write at the end
In 710, After Emperor Ruizong of Tang revived li dan as emperor with the support of his son Li Longji and his sister Princess Taiping, wu Zetian had also died at this time, and the Wu clique was basically destroyed, and Tang Ruizong remembered Pei Yan, the prime minister who had been wrongfully killed by his mother in order to gain power, so he issued an edict to rehabilitate Pei Yan and posthumously honor Pei Yan as "loyal".
In fact, Pei Yan was considered a loyal subject, but he was a loyal minister with a selfish heart, and in the face of loyalty, he had to first ensure his position of power, so he would form a political alliance with Wu Zetian and be willing to be used by Wu Zetian, but later he could not bear to see Wu Zetian usurp Tang, and then stood up to stop him, and as a result, Wu Zetian, the female stream he despised, killed him.