Di Renjie, a famous minister in the middle of the Tang Dynasty, served as the prime minister of the Tang Dynasty twice, was a clean and honest official, asked for the people's lives all his life, adjudicated countless cases, and the things that were unjustly and unjustly settled were already tired and could not be counted, so he was loved by the people, admired by the courtiers, and favored by the emperor.
Wu Zetian, the first female emperor in Chinese history, is also the only female emperor. She was fierce in her means, and did her best to curse the li and Tang royal relatives, only to consolidate her own rule, but at the same time, she cherished talent, appointed people on merit, and ruled by the concept of inheritance, and Qi Kaiyuan was very popular with Di Renjie, far better than the courtiers.
For example, in his later years, Wu Zetian's appearance was two years old, and he thought that he had killed a lot of sins, so he wanted to build a floating Statue of Buddha as a way to accumulate virtue. However, this Buddha statue was extremely expensive and would cost millions of dollars, but the national treasury was shy, so Wu Zetian immediately ordered the Buddhist monks in the world to pay 1 yuan each to become a floating massacre.
Emperor Wu's orders are like thunder, and the monks in the world dare not obey. At this time, However, Di Renjie spoke out in righteousness, claiming that workers do not serve ghosts but must serve people, that things do not descend from heaven but are born from the earth, that the things that cast Buddhas cost the people money, that they harm the foundation of the country, and that they do evil instead of accumulating virtue!
If he is an ordinary minister, with the temperament of Wu Zetian, if he hears this, he will not be sentenced to death, and he will be punished with more staff. However, when Di Renjie said this against his ears, Wu Zetian deeply believed it, and not only did not pursue Di Renjie's transgression of the emperor's orders, but also praised his merits in speaking out and advising. As for this floating Buddha statue, naturally it cannot stand up.
For another example, Wu Zetian once gave his male favorite Zhang Changzong a collection of clothes worth thousands of gold. When Di Renjie saw the situation, he wanted to play chess with Zhang Changzong, and the winner could get the other party's robe. Zhang Changzong knew that he was not an opponent and was extremely reluctant in his heart, but Wu Zetian asked Zhang Changzong to fight. As a result, Di Renjie won a complete victory and won the Collection of Qiu Costumes and went away, although Zhang Changzong complained one after another, Wu Zetian turned a deaf ear, which showed that Wu Zetian's favor for Di Renjie was even more than his male favorite.
It is precisely because the relationship between Wu Zetian and Di Renjie is extremely close, coupled with the fact that Wu Zetian himself has a male pet, and Di Renjie is only 6 years younger than Wu Zetian, so as early as the Tang Dynasty, there were rumors that there may have been affairs between Wu Di and Di Renjie, and this rumor has been spread for thousands of years, and it has long been spread by people, as if the relationship between Wu Zetian and Di Renjie really seems to be some kind of ulterior motive.
But is that really the case? Actually, not also. First of all, although the age difference between Di Renjie and Wu Zetian was not very large, when the two met, they were already more than half a hundred years old. In 690, at the age of 67, Wu Zetian ascended the throne, and in the same year Di Renjie was promoted to chancellor, so that the two could be in the imperial city together. At that time, Di Renjie was also a 60-year-old man, at this age, how could the two have a relationship?
In addition, Wu Zetian only cherished Di Renjie's love of money, and had no intention of having a relationship between men and women. This can also be seen in the rise and fall of Di Renjie. In 692, Di Renjie was framed and put on the hat of rebellion, and Wu Zetian immediately put him in prison, if it were not for Di Renjie's intelligence, he would have died in prison. Even if he later saved his life, he was also demoted to the local as a small county order, which shows the fierceness of Wu Zetian.
It was not until 697 that Di Renjie returned to the capital and paid homage to him again. At this time, the two are 74 years old and 68 years old, which is even more ruthless. Moreover, judging from Wu Zetian's title of Di Renjie, it also corroborates what was said above. After Di Renjie returned to Beijing again, he made outstanding achievements and became the chief stock under Wu Zetian's seat, and Wu Zetian has since addressed Di Renjie with the word "National Elder".
Di Renjie was 6 years younger than Wu Zetian, but Wu Zetian lowered himself to a senior level and called Di Renjie "the elder of the country", which was obviously more of a sense of respect and admiration, and did not have the heart of the wind and moon. When Di Renjie died in 700 AD, what Wu Zetian said at that time was "Chaotang Kongye", thinking about Di Renjie's contribution to Jiangshan Sheji, and also showing his importance to Di Renjie as a heavy minister of the Tang Dynasty.
In addition, after Di Renjie's death, when his son sorted out the relics for him, he once found a book Jane, and wrote 8 xiu characters on top of the book, which was for "above the court, and Qing Push heart", this relatively private book jane, also about the "court", not the "harem" and the like, it also shows that the two are at most only the relationship between the red dust and the sound, the so-called special relationship, is obviously empty.