This article is originally created by: Upstairs Old Fan
When the Shenlong coup was launched, Wu Zetian had already entered the age of old age, so why did King Wu still launch a coup to force her to abdicate?
Wu Zetian's rule can be roughly divided into two stages, in the early stages, she reused cool officials and implemented a policy of fear in order to stabilize her rule; In the later period, when her rule tended to be stable, she gave up the cool officials, rectified the unjust, false and wrongly decided cases in the early stage, complied with the wishes of the hundred officials, and established Li Xian as the crown prince, creating a harmonious and stable political environment for Guotai Min'an.
Wu Zetian's later approach was a move that was in line with the trend of history, and won praise before death and mourning after death.
Wu Zetian's transformation made the ministers who were concerned about Li Tang rejoice and excited, the empress had entered the twilight years, and the disease had repeatedly invaded, it was said that they should support the crown prince Li Xian, and wait until the empress died, and naturally restore Li Tang.
However, in the first year of shenlong (705), Zhang Kamzhi, Huan Yanfan, Cui Xuanwei, Jinghui, and Yuan Shuji, five ministers, took the risk of launching a military coup d'état, forcing the empress to surrender power through a coup d'état.
Wu Zetian became an empress at the age of thirty-six, participated in the government at the age of forty, from being called "Second Sage" to being honored as "Queen of Heaven", and then to the pro-dynasty title system, ascending the throne as an emperor, step by step, through more than forty years of efforts, the empire has formed a deep-rooted control, and it is an extremely dangerous thing to carry out a coup d'état under her eyes.
Wu Zetian was already old and dying, and the crown prince Li Xian would take the throne sooner or later, so why did the five ministers take such a big risk to launch the Shenlong coup?
This matter should also start from the two brothers Zhang Yizhi and Zhang Changzong. Wu Zetian's daughter Princess Taiping felt that her mother was old and lonely, and there was no one to serve her, so she endured the pain and gave her male favorite Zhang Changzong to her mother, and Zhang Changzong recommended her brother Zhang Yizhi. The two faces are like lotus flowers, can speak the Tao, not only proficient in musical rhythms but also good at the Taoist art of yin and yang harmony, and are quite favored by the Martial Emperor.
However, Wu Zetian's loneliness in his later years was not the lack of two heartwarming male pets, but the loneliness of his career. She desperately needs helpers in her career to achieve greater control over her subjects, which is her usual trick. From Xu Jingzong and Li Yifu when they were fighting for the empress, to the later Beimen scholars Liu Yizhi and Yuan Wanqing, and then to Qiu Shenxun, Zhou Xing, and Lai Junchen, these cool officials. The Empress will always have a powerful political force loyal to her.
However, after years of rule by cool officials, the empress danced with the handle of punishment, so that although the Manchu Dynasty Wenwu respected her, she did not dare to approach her, for fear that if she did not agree, she would be doomed to a small life, and there was already an irreparable rift between her and the group of courtiers, and the empress could not and did not dare to choose from among the group of courtiers.
The erzhang brothers are the grandsons of Zhang Xingcheng, the former chancellor of the Han Dynasty, whose roots are miao hong, who are not high in the door, and have no one to rely on except themselves, which is the right person.
To this end, Wu Zetian specially set up a new institution called FengchenFu for them, and gathered Song Zhiwen, Du Zhenyan (Du Fu's grandfather), Shen Qi, Li Zhao, and other literati, plus the inflamed chancellor Yang Zaisi, Su Wei, Cui Rong, and others to form a powerful force. Under the connivance of Wu Zetian, the two Zhang brothers were like the sun in the sky.
The Erzhang brothers were not upright gentlemen, and after gaining power, they acted recklessly and severely cracked down on the princes and nobles who did not obey them, which caused dissatisfaction among many ministers and caused new contradictions in the already harmonious and stable situation. The ministers seemed to see the figure of the cool official again, and felt the haze of severe punishment and harsh law strike again.
Concerning the lives of their families, some ministers spontaneously united to deal with Erzhang, such as Wei Yuanzhong, Tang Xiujing, Wei Anshi, Song Jing, and others, who wanted to put them to death by denouncing Erzhang's crimes of perverting the law and plotting rebellion, but at the critical moment, the empress repeatedly intervened and ordered them to be pardoned. Everyone gradually discovered that Erzhang was not simply a male favorite, but a spokesperson for the empress, and a tool for the empress to maintain her rule.
With the protection of Wu Zetian, Erzhang acted even more wantonly, until two major cases occurred, which quickly intensified the contradictions and brought the Erzhang faction and the opposition to the point of sword fighting and not wearing the sky.
The first big case was the murder of three people including Li Chongrun, the king of Shao, who was the eldest son of the crown prince Li Xian, and he and his sister Yongtai County Lord, brother-in-law Wu Yanji, the three of them said a few bad things about Erzhang, but they did not expect that the partition wall had ears, and they were sued to the empress by Erzhang.
The empress dowager summoned the crown prince Li Xian to a scolding and forced the three of them to commit suicide! Li Chongrun was the future heir of the empire, Wu Yanji was the concubine of Wu Chengsi, the heir to the throne of the Wu clan, plus the lord of the Yongtai County, the three of them were so noble, they did not expect to be destroyed after a few words. This made Li Xian, Li Dan, Princess Taiping brothers and sisters and many members of the clan have a lingering feeling.
The second major case was the case of the demotion of Prime Minister Wei Yuanzhong. Wei Yuanzhong was a rare trusted minister of Wu Zetian, who was upright and upright, and directly killed Erzhang's overbearing domestic slaves, which was equivalent to punching Erzhang's face. Erzhang falsely accused Wei Yuanzhong, and Wei was supported by Manchu Wenwu, and he himself did not compromise, but he was demoted to the side of the government and only saved one life.
Even Lord Wei, who was deeply trusted by His Majesty, ended up in such a fate, and the Wen and Wu officials hated Erzhang to the extreme, and they were terrified to the extreme.
At the end of the fourth year of Chang'an, Wu Zetian was seriously ill, and the prime ministers had not seen the empress for nearly a month, and there were only two brothers serving in the palace. According to the custom, in this case, the crown prince should be placed to supervise the country, but Wu Zetian did not, power is what she pursues all her life, and she will not easily grant it to anyone, even her own son. From this point of view, the empress's excessive attachment to power was the internal cause of the coup.
In this case, it is very inappropriate to have only two pieces in the palace, and if the empress is unexpected, two false copies of the holy will and regenerate the incident, it will be a big deal. Therefore, the chancellor Cui Xuanwei boldly suggested to the empress that the crown prince and the brothers Li Dan of Xiangwang should enter the palace to serve. But the Empress stubbornly refused to accept it.
Therefore, under the call of Zhang Kamzhi, Cui Xuanwei and other five ministers, a plan to kill the two Zhang brothers surfaced. In fact, whether it was Li Xian, Li Dan, Princess Taiping, or Zhang Kamzhi and other five ministers, their target was Erzhang rather than the empress, and the nature of their actions was biased towards the "Side of the Qing Emperor" rather than a coup d'état.
However, Erzhang is the spokesman of Wu Zetian, the three of them do not leave day and night, without alarming the empress, under the premise of killing Erzhang, it is impossible to do, the killing in front of the empress can not be said clearly, if you do not drive the empress down, what to do after the autumn!
This is also the reason why Li Dan hesitated before taking action. Zhang Kamzhi is already eighty-one years old, and has been in the official field for most of his life, and he sees this very thoroughly. This kind of thing can only be simply and thoroughly, and the rat taboo is a big taboo, and it can only be done without stopping.
Under the planning of a group of imperial elites, the operation was very smooth, and the empress Wu Zetian, who had been in the limelight all her life, was politely invited to step down, and on the third day after the coup, it was passed down to the crown prince. At the end of the first year of the Divine Dragon, the empress ran out of oil and died at the age of eighty-two.