Watching Wu Zetian step by step to the peak of power, what kind of mentality did Li Zhi, as an emperor, have?
With the passage of time, the state of man will also change to a great extent, and the same is true for Emperor Gaozong li zhi of Tang.
To analyze Li Zhi's mentality, we can divide the period from the beginning of his contact with Wu Zetian until his death into three stages, and from these three stages, we can see what Li Zhi's mentality was at that time.
First, the lingering period
Wu Zetian was the second daughter of the founding father Officiating Warrior, and when she was fourteen years old, she was photographed by Li Shimin because of her appearance and was photographed by Li Shimin. At first, Wu Zetian was also full of ambitions, hoping to show his fists and feet in the harem, but time was like a white colt passing through the gap, and she could not stir up the slightest storm at all.
From the moment he entered the palace, Wu Zetian was named a talented person, this talent was twelve years old, without the slightest growth, the level did not increase in the slightest, Li Shimin's harem concubines were numerous, and Wu Zetian was not so conspicuous. However, in the later years of Zhenguan, Wu Zetian found an opportunity, Li Shimin contracted a wind disease, and the crown prince Li Zhi took good care of his father, often staying overnight and serving his father wholeheartedly.
At this time, Wu Zetian met Li Zhi, and Wu Zetian, as Li Shimin's attendant, also helped around. One day, Li Zhi hurried to take care of his father, and happened to see Wu Zetian who was busy next to him, which was doomed to everything, and Li Zhi fell in love with this woman who was four years older than himself.
Wu Zetian did not look at the low status at that time, but the ambition never disappeared, she found that Li Zhi looked at her with ambiguous feelings in her eyes, and immediately seized the opportunity and jumped into Li Zhi's arms. Maybe Li Zhi has real feelings for Wu Zetian, or maybe Wu Zetian just uses Li Zhi for each other, but in the end they came together.
In front of the lonely hospital bed, Li Zhi must take care of Li Shimin wholeheartedly, and there can be no slackness or complaints. But Li Zhi is also a human being, and there is no filial piety in front of the bed for a long time, and Li Zhi will also feel bored and bitter in his heart. And from the time he met Wu Zetian, taking care of the sick became flavorful.
Historical records:
"Shangzhi is the crown prince, and he enters the service of Emperor Taizong, and is pleased to see the talented Wu clan."
At this time, Li Zhi's mind was hit by love, he only wanted to have more time with Wu Zetian, he did not have any way to give Wu Zetian any name at that time, because Wu Zetian was still Li Shimin's concubine.
"On the day of death, Shangyi Temple incense, see it, Wu Clan wept, Shang also wept."
After Li Shimin's death, Li Zhi officially became emperor, while Wu Zetian was expelled from the palace and forced to go to Ganye Temple to cut his hair as a nun. It was not until a year later that Li Zhi went to ganye temple to worship and saw Wu Zetian again. Li Zhi remembered the past of the pile pile before, and couldn't help but shed tears, Wu Zetian also cried, because of this meeting, Wu Zetian was able to enter the palace again.
During the entanglement, Li Zhi's ideas were relatively simple, she liked Wu Zetian very much, he did not perceive Wu Zetian's ambitions, but only as a concubine.
2. Period of reason
After entering the palace, Wu Zetian served at the side of Empress Wang, and because of his cleverness and cleverness, he was deeply pleased by Empress Wang, and under the kind words of Empress Wang and the efforts of Wu Zetian, Wu Zetian was finally given the title of Zhaoyi.
Secretly, Wu Zetian went all out to cultivate her own forces and meet all the people who could help her, until the time was ripe for her to begin to attack Empress Wang and Concubine Xiao Shufei. Wu Zetian did not hesitate to kill his own daughter, and some said that he died prematurely, and pushed the charge of killing his daughter to Empress Wang, and Li Zhi was furious after hearing this, and was even more indifferent to Empress Wang.
Empress Wang's position was precarious, and Li Zhi immediately wanted to "depose Wang Liwu", and during this time, Li Zhi's life was not good. After Li Shimin's death, he entrusted Li Zhi to the eldest grandson Wuji, Chu Suiliang, Li Shixun and other important ministers, of whom the eldest grandson Wuji was the most powerful. Even when Emperor Gaozong Li Zhi handled government affairs, he had to seek the consent of his eldest grandson Wujie before he could issue and implement it normally.
Since Li Zhi was pro-government, he has discovered the seriousness of the problem, and if he does not abolish the eldest son, the emperor will always be a puppet, which is unacceptable to Li Zhi.
It happened that Li Zhi wanted to depose the empress, and in it, Li Zhi discovered Wu Zetian's political talents, and it takes talent to engage in politics. Under the joint planning of Li Zhi and Wu Zetian, they recruited their own cronies, such as Li Yifu, Xu Jingzong and others, who successively supported the establishment of an empress and firmly sided with the emperor.
When the time was ripe, Li Zhi once again won the support of Li Shixun, and immediately directly ordered That Empress Wang and Concubine Xiao Shufei be deposed as commoners, imprisoned in other courtyards, and made Wu Zetian empress. Subsequently, changsun Wuji, Chu Suiliang, Yu Zhining, and others were demoted and exiled.
With the help of the abolition of the empress, Li Zhi regained control of the imperial court, in which Wu Zetian was indispensable. Wu Zetian was even more double-harvested, not only did he get the coveted empress throne, but Li Zhi was basically obedient to it.
During this time, after a long period of observation, Li Zhi discovered that Wu Zetian was different, she was not only talented, but also deeply scheming, a standard politician, and in the isolated and helpless imperial palace, Wu Zetian would be his best helper.
Some people say that Li Zhi was slightly faint, and that Wu Zetian asked him to do what he did, but in fact this was not the case, and every step of Li Zhi had a profound political purpose.
In 660 AD, Li Zhi's wind disease began to attack, which was a sad thing for an ambitious young emperor. Forced to do so, Li Zhi had to share part of the government affairs and hand it over to Wu Zetian, which was rational and helpless.
Third, the maturity period
As Wu Zetian's power grew, Li Zhi became more and more jealous of the powerful empress. In 664, the chancellor Shangguan Yi played a song and requested the abolition of Wu Zetian's empress, Li Zhi's head was hot, he agreed, the ink of the edict had not yet dried, Wu Zetian learned the news and came to Li Zhi.
Li Zhi saw Wu Zetian, just as a student met a teacher, obedient like an obedient kitten:
"I didn't have this idea, it was shangguan yi's idea for me."
Subsequently, Shangguan Yi and other people waited to be caught and killed, and probably from then on, Li Zhi did not have any idea of abolishing Wu Hou.
Wu Zetian asked to participate in the Taishan Fengchen together, Li Zhi immediately agreed, the world was in a famine, Wu Zetian asked to resign from the empress position, Li Zhi immediately refused. Under the torment of illness, Li Zhi became more and more mature in considering the problem, and instead of handing over power to unreliable ministers, it was better to hand it over to his daughter-in-law Wu Zetian. Under a long period of observation, Li Zhi found that Wu Zetian was indeed doing his best for Li Tangtian.
Even if the power fell into the hands of Wu Zetian, after a hundred years, Wu Zetian would hand over power to the Li family. As a result, Li Zhi was relieved, and he no longer hesitated, but handed over the adjudication power of the major affairs of the military state to Wu Zetian.
In this way, in 674, Li Zhi was called emperor and Wu Zetian was called tianhou, and many major affairs of the dynasty were handled by Wu Zetian, and until Li Zhi's death, he still left a will:
"Crown Prince Li Xian ascended the throne before the coffin, and those who could not adjudicate major affairs of the military state were decided by the Queen of Heaven."
Therefore, Li Zhi was not unaware of Wu Zetian's ambitions, but he knew her ambitions and still created this opportunity for her.
However, he did not expect that Wu Zetian would be cruel to the point that his own son would topple himself and depose Li Xian as the King of Luling. He also made his fourth son Li Dan emperor, of course, an emperor who existed in name only and had no real power.
If Li Zhi knew what Wu Zetian would do in the future, would he regret it?
I think that from the moment he made Wu Zetian the Queen of Heaven and let her participate in the politics of the dynasty, he was already powerless to return to heaven. He may also understand that if he once again has the idea of deposing Wu Zetian, even if it is an idea, he may not be able to save his life.
Resign yourself to fate, get by, and throw problems to your descendants, this is Li Zhi's real idea!