In the history of the Tang Dynasty, the significance of Wu Zetian is self-evident, almost cutting off the Tang Dynasty that Li Shimin founded.
However, Wu Zetian's title of empress dowager faced a very difficult problem, that is, after she "long live the thousand autumns", who could the Great Zhou Empire pass on to?
If Wu Zetian is a man, this problem does not exist, and he recruits beautiful women from all over the world, and strives to give him a son, and does not worry about having no heir. However, Wu Zetian was a woman, and trouble came. Moreover, Wu Zetian was already a 66-year-old lady when he was called emperor, and no matter how to recruit a beautiful man into the palace, it was only to solve her emptiness and loneliness. Having children? Wu Zetian didn't even think about it.
Of course, Wu Zetian was not childless, and after she entered the palace, she bore Li Zhi four sons, namely Li Hong, Li Xian, Li Xian (Tang Zhongzong), Li Dan (Tang Ruizong), and three daughters: Princess Anding (who died early), Princess Taiping, and an elderly daughter who was more than ten years older than herself, Princess Qianjin (Li Zhi's aunt).
Wu Zetian's surname was Wu, and his father was a timber merchant wu shiyan in the late Sui and early Tang dynasties, and later became a founding hero of the Tang Dynasty. Wu Yuanqing gave birth to two sons, Namely Wu Yuanqing and Wu Yuanshuang, Wu Yuanqing gave birth to a son named Wu Sansi; Wu Yuanshuang gave birth to a son, named Wu Chengsi.
In this way, Wu Zetian had three choices regarding the question of heirs. However, Princess Taiping was first excluded. Although Princess Taiping was bent on making her mother the empress dowager and inheriting the Great Zhou Dynasty in the future, although Wu Zetian was a female emperor, she was still an outlier in the patriarchal society after all, and she herself knew that the female emperor would not be accepted by the patriarchal society.
Besides, Princess Taiping's surname is Li, and she was really made emperor, how will she choose an heir in the future? Princess Taiping's husband's family name was Xue, and she gave birth to two sons, Xue Chongxun and Xue Chongjian, that is to say, after Princess Taiping really became emperor, the heir was most likely given to the Xue family.
Wu Zetian's own husband's family name was Li, and she was reluctant to return the hard-won Jiangshan to the Li family, let alone the Xue family, who could not fight with her own eight rods.
If you must pass on jiangshan to the Wu family, then Wu Chengsi and Wu Sansi, who are closest to their own blood, are the most suitable candidates.
Wu Zetian did indeed move to pass on Jiangshan to Wu Chengsi, for the simple reason that Wu Chengsi and Wu Sansi were his own nephews, the Wu family themselves, and although Li Xian and Li Dan were the flesh that fell from their own bodies, after all, their surnames were Li, and they were outsiders in Wu Zetian's eyes.
Or Di Renjie was old and spicy, and came a sentence: "The old minister has not heard that after his nephew became emperor, he built a temple for his aunt." This sentence directly beat Wu Zetian's dignity to the point of blue nose and swollen face, leaving her dumbfounded.
Di Renjie's attitude was obvious: Wu Chengsi and you Wu Zetian were close again, after all, you were not born, people have fathers and mothers, which door is your aunt lively? King Luling (Li Xian) and King Xiang (Li Dan) are also your own sons, they want to be reinstated as emperors, sacrifice their parents, and will always put your tablets.
After weighing the pros and cons, Wu Zetian resolutely abandoned Wu Chengsi, recalled li Xian, who had been released, back to the palace, made him crown prince, and decided to return Jiangshan to the Li family.
Then, if Wu Zetian passed on Jiangshan to Wu Chengsi or Wu Sansi, would they be able to sit firmly on the Jiangshan passed down from their aunt's hand?
The answer is no. Why? It's simple: people are not convinced.
Don't say that a person like Wu Chengsi who has not made any meritorious contributions is that Wu Zetian himself is called emperor, and everyone in the world is dissatisfied.
Tang Gaozu Li Yuan established the Tang Dynasty, and when Emperor Zhongzong of Tang first ascended the throne (683), the Tang Dynasty had been established for more than 60 years, especially after the Zhenguan rule of Tang Taizong Li Shimin, the people of the world had long regarded the Tang Dynasty as their own country, and when Li Zhi wanted to establish Wu Zetian as empress, he was fiercely opposed by the ministers.
Wu Zetian can be said to have spent a lot of effort to overthrow heavyweight opponents such as Changsun Wuji, Zen Suiliang, and Han Yao, but in the middle class of the imperial court, there were still a large number of opponents of Wu Zetian, such as when Wu Zetian first listened to the government, the grandson of the general Li Ji (whose original surname was Xu, the prototype of Xu Maogong), xu Jingye, and he raised an army against Wu Zetian.
At that time, although the imperial court soldiers and horses were dispatched by Wu Zetian, they were still under the Tang Dynasty at that time, such as Wei Yuanzhong, who advised the Tang army, who was himself a hardcore Tang faction. The commander of the Tang Army was Li Tang's close relative Li Xiaoyi, needless to say, this is even more of a hardcore Tang faction. These people were not so much fighting for Wu Zetian as they were fighting for Emperor Zhongzong of Tang.
When Wu Zetian wanted to establish Wu Chengsi or Wu Sansi as heirs, many imperial court officials expressed different opinions, in addition to Di Renjie, Wang Fangqing, Wang Jishan and others had warned Wu Zetian: Establish the Wu family, wait for chaos!
For the people's hearts at that time, Wu Zetian was not unclear, and the people's hearts were all thinking of Tang. Tianguan Shilang Jiyan said to Zhang Yizhi's brother: Everyone in the world reads the kindness of the Tang Emperor, and this is not something that can be reversed in one or two generations.
Speaking of Wu Chengsi, because the opposition was too loud, Wu Zetian did not dare to make him an heir, and in 698 AD, Wu Chengsi was killed by anger. Wu Chengsi still has a bit of potential to be an emperor, Wu Sansi is even more unskilled than Wu Chengsi, this guy does not learn any skills, likes to pat horses, and even has an affair with Li Xian's wife Wei Shi, and Shangguan Wan'er is also chaotic, so Wu Sansi's reputation is even more smelly and unpopular at all.
Compared with Li Xian, Wu Sansi's disadvantage was too obvious. Although Li Xian was a coward, he was not bad in nature, there was nothing wrong with it, plus he was deposed by his strong mother once on the throne and demoted to Luling, which won the sympathy of hundreds of officials. There were also some people, not Li Xian's faction, but Li Xian's brother Li Dan's faction, and even the faction of Princess Taiping, these factions were different, but the root was the same, and they all opposed Wu Zetian's family as heirs.
Therefore, if Wu Chengsi or Wu Sansi became emperors, they would find that except for some horse-ass spirits and drummers, the official arena was full of their enemies.
After Wu Zetian came to power, although he killed many Li Tang clansmen, the power structure of the Tang Dynasty was not greatly damaged, and a large number of people who sympathized with the Li Tang imperial family still controlled key departments, such as Xue Sixing, the general of Zuo Weiwei who held military power, Li Duozuo, the general of Right YuLin, and so on.
Although Wu Chengsi and Wu Sansi held a certain amount of power, in the civilian official pile, the erwu were unpopular, let alone in the military general pile, and not many people took erwu seriously. As strong as Wu Zetian, he could not control the situation in his old age, and when Erwu came to power without any foundation, can you expect them to sit firmly in the world? Their fate, if they are lucky, house arrest or exile, if they are unlucky, the heads fall to the ground!
And Wu Zetian himself? If she really passed the throne to her nephew, then she would become a complete villain of all scorn, and her reputation would be ten thousand times worse than it is now!