After Princess Taiping married Xue Shao, Xue Shao officially became the son-in-law of Wu Zetian and Li Zhi. He was given the title of Lieutenant commander of the Horse Guard, and his official position was promoted to guerrilla general and right guard fuzhonglang general.
After getting married, they were harmonious and harmonious, and the relationship between the husband and wife was very good. Seven years have passed since these beautiful days.
In the seven years, Princess Taiping and Xue Shao raised a total of four children, two sons and two daughters.
In the early years of Yongchang, an accident that made Princess Taiping unprepared suddenly happened! Xue Shao was implicated in a case of rebellion.
The incident originally originated with Wu Zetian's male favorite Xue Huaiyi.
According to the Old Book of Tang, Xue Huaiyi was a native of Jingzhao County (present-day Yiyi District, Xi'an, Shaanxi), whose original name was Feng Xiaobao, and who first made a living doing small business in the market.
Later, Feng Xiaobao, under the recommendation of Tang Gaozong's sister Princess Qianjin, was taken as the head of Wu Zetianna and was favored forever.
However, Feng Xiaobao came from a humble background, and when he got along with the hundred officials, he always felt that he could not lift his head.
In order to elevate his status, Wu Zetian ordered Feng Xiaobao to change his surname to Xue, named Xue Huaiyu, and had his son-in-law Xue Shao recognize him as his uncle.
At this time, Emperor Gaozong of Tang had already died, and although Li Xian and Li Dan's brothers had successively become emperors, they were only acting as puppets. Among them, the decision to kill and cut was decided by Wu Zetian alone.
In order to consolidate his authority, Wu Zetian's means of dealing with political enemies were extremely fierce, and if he was not satisfied, he would have the misfortune of destroying his family and dying.
Therefore, for this matter, the Xue family has no room for evasion and possibility, and can only do as it will.
However, just because they do it doesn't mean they don't have a mustard in their hearts.
The Xue family is a famous giant family, and recognizing a male pet as an uncle is a great shame for Xue Shao himself and the entire Xue family.
From this time on, all the people in the Xue family, including Xue Shao, began to have a grudge against Wu Zetian.
This resentment and resentment did not disappear because of Princess Taiping's intercession and mediation, but intensified with the passage of time. As soon as there is an opportunity, it will burst out and be out of control.
This opportunity will come soon.
In the fourth year of the Arch (688 AD), Wu Zetian ordered Xue Huaiyi to supervise the construction of the Ming Temple. According to the Old Book of Tang, this Ming Hall should be an unprecedented grand building.
It was three stories high and two hundred feet high, and tens of thousands of people were requisitioned for its construction, and only one of the large logs had to be dragged by thousands of people.
Wu Zetian wanted to use it to show his ability and courage to go far ahead.
After the completion of the Ming Hall, Wu Zetian ordered all the kings of the Li Tang Dynasty to come to Luoyang to pay their respects.
This order immediately aroused the fear of all the clan members, who feared that Wu Zetian would lure them to Luoyang and wipe them out.
As soon as the fear arose, it began to spread rapidly, and everyone in the clan kings was in danger. And this emotion just gives some people with hearts an opportunity to take advantage of it.
Li Zhuo, the Duke of Huangguo, forged an edict from Emperor Ruizong of Tang and handed it to Li Chong of Bozhou, the son of Li Zhen the Prince of Yue, and the false edict said: "Li Chong, the Prince of Yue, is under house arrest, and all the clans are ordered to raise troops to luoyang to save Li Chong!" ”
Under the liaison of Li Chong, the kings of the Han, Huo, Lu, Yue, and Ji clans were all reorganizing their armor, recruiting soldiers and soldiers, and agreeing to raise troops at the same time to serve the king.
But who knew that after the agreed period, only Li Chong and his father Li Zhen, the king of Yue, raised their troops separately, and the other kings all stood still.
In this way, the mutiny between Li Chong and Li Zhen was quickly put down. Afterwards, this time the military rebellion was characterized as a rebellion, and all the relevant people involved in the conspiracy were implicated.
Among them was Princess Taiping's husband, Xue Shao.
It turned out that Li Chong had a good relationship with Xue Shao's eldest brother Xue Yan, so he wrote to him and invited him to raise an army at the same time.
Xue Yan was the Assassin of Jeju at the time, and after he received the letter, although he did not explicitly agree, he also actively reorganized the armaments. Because of this, he also became one of the main perpetrators of this rebellion.
So, was Xue Shao involved in this conspiracy against Wu Zetian?
The Zizhi Tongjian explicitly states that Xue Shao was involved in the conspiracy, while the Old Book of Tang records that he was wronged.
Originally, the most promising to sort out this outstanding case, the "Tomb Records and Order of xue cemetery of the founding son of Pingyang County, the founding son of the Tang Dynasty's former Right Wu Wei General and Scattered Horse Attendant Ma DuWei Pingyang County", simply recorded: "At the beginning of Yongchang, the murderous ministers Xue Huaiyi, Zhou Xing, and other people were killed, and they were killed at the age of twenty-nine. ”
As for whether he was involved in the conspiracy, he was vague and unwilling to say more explicitly.
So why is this happening?
It may be because the epitaph was written in the second year of Shenlong, when Wu Zetian had just abdicated, and Tang Zhongzong, who succeeded to the throne, did not completely deny his mother.
Thus, the conspiracy to overthrow Wu Zetian's rule was still seen as an out-and-out rebellion. At that time, the status of Princess Taiping was just like the day in the sky, and her feelings for her ex-husband were also obvious to all.
It would undoubtedly be extremely unwise to accuse her ex-husband of involvement in the rebellion at this time.
But even so, the epitaph has left a lot of clues for us to analyze and interpret.
The epitaph later uses He Yan from the Three Kingdoms period as an analogy to Xue Shao, and it should be known that He Yan at that time was clearly on the side of Sima Yi's mortal enemy Cao Shuang. He was not wronged at all by Sima Yi's murder.
In addition, Xue Shao's then Right Wu Wei general also held military power, and if Xue Yan was really involved in this conspiracy, inviting his brother to join would undoubtedly increase the outcome of this incident.
Therefore, the real situation at that time should be that Xue Shao was one of the insiders of the matter, even if he was not directly involved in this conspiracy, and his own attitude was also to support the rebellion.
In addition, it can be seen from the epitaph that he must have also offended Xue Huaiyi, who was red and purple at that time. And it is very likely that Xue Shao's imprisonment was due to his denunciation.
It is no wonder that if one person looks down on another person from the bottom of his heart, it is difficult to hide this emotion from the other party.
Moreover, Xue Huaiyi, who has ascended to power through ulterior motives, is also very sensitive, and they care most about whether others look down on themselves.
In this case, Xue Shao was severely retaliated against by Xue Huaiyi, which was a matter of course.
When Xue Shao participated in the conspiracy, she did not inform Princess Taiping, and she herself was unaware of it. Therefore, Xue Shao's arrest made Princess Taiping feel like she was struck by a thunderbolt on a sunny day, completely chaotic.
Princess Taiping cried and begged her mother, but she refused. Although Wu Zetian loved his daughter, he also knew the truth that cutting grass does not remove roots, and the spring wind blows and grows again.
Xue Shao was her son-in-law, but he betrayed her! The most intolerable thing in Wu Zetian's life was betrayal!
The Xue family's involvement in the rebellion against the enemy meant that the family had completely sided with itself. Everyone in the family has the potential to become their enemy at any time.
She was never soft on her enemies, even if this man was the husband of her favorite daughter.
Wu Zetian would rather bear his daughter's resentment than allow those who betrayed him to have the slightest chance to breathe.
As for her daughter, she will give her another satisfactory family affair, and the person chosen this time must be absolutely loyal!
Princess Taiping did not understand her mother's thoughts, she cried, she complained, she howled, she jumped angrily with her hair scattered, but all this could not impress Wu Zetian at all.
When she finally realized that her mother was actually a stone heart, she despaired!
She finally sadly discovered that no matter what she did, there was no way to save her lover.
The verdict was soon handed down in the tears of Princess Taiping. Xue Yan was beheaded, and Xue Shao was given preferential treatment because he was the husband of Princess Taiping.
He was sentenced to a hundred scepters and eventually died of starvation in prison, leaving a whole corpse.
Xue Shao's death completely broke princess Taiping, and she locked herself alone in the house, seeing no one. She didn't sleep all day and all night, letting her gloomy and mournful mood hang over her.
Xue Shao is her first love, her love, her everything! And she finally lost him!
Her most precious thing was lost and never found again! (To be continued)
References: "Tang Dynasty Former Right Wu Wei Grand General and Scattered Horse Rider Ma Du Wei Pingyang County Founding Son Xue Cemetery Chronicles and Preface", "New Book of Tang", "Old Book of Tang", "Zizhi Tongjian" and so on
Note: This article is the original historical story of idlers, and may not be reproduced or plagiarized without permission! Please keep the copy away