The first half and second half of Princess Taiping's life can be called two people. Taking Xue Shao's death as the dividing point, during his lifetime, Princess Taiping was preoccupied with the family, doing things in accordance with the rules, and had a good reputation.
After Xue Shao's death, Princess Taiping also slowly lost her original intention and began to gradually blacken. She pursued power and wealth, indulged in undisguised lust, and finally angered Tang Xuanzong Li Longji because of her inflated ambitions, and was given to die at home.
However, the second half of Princess Taiping's life was not useless, and before she was completely blackened, she had done three major things, each of which was very gratifying.
First, the staff killed Xue Huaiyi
Xue Huaiyi, whose real name was Feng Xiaobao, was born in Shijing, and later became a monk at the White Horse Temple on the orders of Wu Zetian.
In order to make him stand out, Wu Zetian really put a lot of thought into it. She constantly found various excuses for Xue Huaiyi to make meritorious achievements in order to promote his official position and title. At the most outrageous time, Wu Zetian actually made Xue Huaiyi the commander-in-chief of the march and sent him to fight against the Turks, but the result was, of course, to no avail.
With the full support of Wu Zetian, Xue Huaiyi achieved the prominent positions of the Great General of the Auxiliary State, the Great General of the Right Guard, and the High-ranking Officials of the Duke of Eguo and the State of Zhu.
But Xue Huaiyi couldn't feel Wu Zetian's painstaking heart at all, and he always did things that made Wu Zetian's face dull.
After flying yellow and tengda, Xue Huaiyi was even more unruly, and he took thousands of apprentices from the White Horse Temple and took them through the market every day. If anyone can't avoid it, they will be beaten to the point of being beaten to death, so much so that they will be impeached many times by Mishi.
In addition, Xue Huaiyi also colluded with cool officials to trap people for crimes at will, and those who had offended him would lose their posts or break their families, and Yushi Zhouji, Feng Sixun, and Princess Taiping's husband Xue Shao were the victims of his evil deeds. (Out of the "Tang Dynasty's Former Right Wu Wei Grand General and Scattered Horse Rider Ma Du Wei Pingyang County Founding Son Xue Cemetery Chronicle and Preface")
The most fatal thing was that Xue Huaiyi actually hated Wu Zetian's old age later, did not want to enter the palace to serve, and lived in the White Horse Temple for many years. In this way, it aroused the antipathy of Wu Zetian. (Out of the Old Book of Tang)
Because of Xue Shao's reasons, Princess Taiping was perfunctory to Xue Huaiyi on the surface, but in her heart she hated him to the bone. After observing the change in her mother's attitude towards Xue Huaiyi, she felt that the opportunity to avenge Xue Shao had come.
One day, Xue Huaiyi was ordered to enter the palace, and when he first walked to the palace gate, he was stopped by Princess Taiping's nursing mother, Lady Zhang. Madame Zhang, with more than thirty strong women, rushed up and tied Xue Huaiyi up.
Subsequently, Princess Taiping asked her confidants Wu Youning and Zong Jinqing to find a strong soldier, and Xue Huaiyi's head was beaten with a stick, and he died before long. (New Book of Tang)
Xue Huaiyi's death just catered to Wu Zetian's wishes, and she did not pursue Princess Taiping for killing her lover, but praised her.
Afterwards, Wu Zetian publicly pronounced Xue Huaiyi's guilt and exiled all his apprentices to a remote place.
To be fair, Princess Taiping's execution of Xue Huaiyi was largely motivated by personal grievances rather than public intentions. The root cause of Xue Huaiyi's death was the loss of Wu Zetian's trust and favor, and for Princess Taiping, it was just a matter of pushing the boat along the water and making it a matter of jade.
But in any case, the scepter killing Xue Huaiyi still conformed to the wishes of most people at that time, and objectively also played a positive role in eliminating harm for the people, which can be regarded as a good thing that was very gratifying!
Second, he killed the Zhang brothers
Speaking of Zhang Yizhi and Zhang Changzong's brothers, it was still due to the recommendation of Princess Taiping.
However, the purpose of Princess Taiping's move may just be to let them share Wu Zetian's favor with Xue Huaiyi, rather than to have any good feelings for the two of them.
In his later years, Wu Zetian had no intention of government affairs and was wary of his ministers, so he often handed over the power of government affairs to the Zhang brothers. The Erzhang brothers took the opportunity to specialize in government affairs and act recklessly.
Zhang Changzong was impeached by Yushi for buying and selling officials and privately accepting four million yuan of money, but because of Wu Zetian's protection, he was only sentenced to the crime of forcibly buying other people's goods, and was given a light release.
Li Chongrun, the King of Shao, and the Lord of Yongtai County, were sentenced to death by hanging simply because they had privately criticized the Zhang brothers. When the imperial master Wei Yuanzhong and the Fengge sheren Zhang said that they were also impeached, they were falsely accused and exiled on charges of treason.
In this way, the Zhang brothers aroused widespread resentment among the courtiers and li royal clan relatives, including Princess Taiping. They began to secretly contact each other to get rid of the Zhang brothers.
In the first year of the Shenlong Dynasty, Wu Zetian was seriously ill and could not participate in the imperial meeting, and only the Zhang brothers stayed by her side. The ministers took the opportunity to launch a mutiny under the leadership of Zhang Kamzhi and five other ministers to force Wu Zetian to abdicate.
According to the Old Book of Tang, Princess Taiping was later enthroned for the murder of Zhang Yizhi and Zhang Changzong's brothers, so it seems that the Zhang brothers, like Xue Huaiyi, also died at the hands of Princess Taiping.
Princess Taiping's position in this incident can be described as a dilemma. On one side is her mother, on the other side is her brother, she finally chose to support her brother instead of defending her mother, which shows that Xue Shao's death at that time made her still have some resentment towards her mother!
Leaving aside Princess Taiping's position in this incident, in terms of influence alone, the murder of Zhang Yizhi and Zhang Changzong's brothers can be regarded as the second good thing that Princess Taiping did.
The third, cutting off the rebellion of Wei Hou, personally pulled the little emperor Li Chongmao off the throne
Li Xian, who had been reinstated as emperor, unprincipledly trusted his wife Empress Wei and his younger daughter Princess Anle, while Empress Wei and others took the opportunity to buy and sell official titles and make a windfall.
Later, Wei Hou's appetite grew larger and larger, and he began to dislike Emperor Zhongzong of Tang and Li Xian' obstruction. She wanted to kick away this stumbling block and become the second Wu Zetian herself.
In June of the first year of Tang Long (710 AD), Empress Wei conspired with Princess Anle to poison Li Xian. In order to hide their eyes and ears, they supported the young Wen king Li Chongmao to ascend the throne, and Empress Wei came to the court as the empress dowager and took charge of state affairs.
The actions of Empress Wei and Princess Anle angered the forces of Li Tang's faction, and Princess Taiping once again sided with Li. She sent her son Xue Chongjian to follow Li Longji, the king of Linzi, and she herself did the aftermath for them behind their backs.
On Gengzi Day, the Tang Long Rebellion broke out, and Li Longji led the forbidden army into the palace, killing Wei Hou, Princess Anle, and all the henchmen who supported them, and the situation in Korea and China was initially decided.
Princess Taiping also reached an agreement with the Li clan to support Li Longji's father, Li Dan the Prince of Xiang, as his king.
In the first court deliberations after the incident, when the ministers read out the abdication edict, the little emperor did not know whether it was out of ignorance or reluctance in his heart, but sat on the emperor's throne and refused to leave, and the situation was very embarrassing.
At this time, Princess Taiping stepped forward, dragged the little emperor down from the throne, and said to him: "Everyone in the world has returned to the Xiang King, and this position is not something that you can sit in as a child!" ”。
Princess Taiping's practice at a critical moment can be said to have avoided the embarrassment of the handover of the throne and indirectly saved the life of the little emperor.
Wei Hou and Princess Anle's mother and daughter were both selfish and greedy and stupid, and if they came to the world like Wu Zetian, it would be a catastrophe for the people of the world. From this point of view, Princess Taiping's participation in the suppression of the Weihou Rebellion and the personal removal of the little emperor from the throne can also be regarded as a good thing.
To sum up, before the blackening, Princess Taiping had done great good things such as killing Xue Huaiyi with a staff, executing the Zhang brothers, and cutting off the Rebellion of Empress Wei.
Because of these merits, Princess Taiping was given a high degree of power and status by Emperor Ruizong of Tang, Li Dan, and her power in the dynasty was like the sun in the sky.
However, after this, Princess Taiping slowly tasted the sweetness of power, ambition and greed were constantly catalyzed and activated, and began to gradually fall into blackening and sinking.
And along with the blackening and sinking of ambition and greed, Princess Taiping, like Empress Wei, also entered the cycle from greed for power to ambition expansion to self-destruction.
Perhaps, this is her fate!
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
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