"Among the kings of the ancient world who were good killers were Shi Hu, Fu Sheng, Emperor Qi Ming, Emperor Wenxuan of Northern Qi, and King Jing of Jinhai Ling; However, none of them have been like the ninjas of Tang Wuhou... It's a ninja that has never been seen in all time! --Zhao Yi of the Qing Dynasty
Of the hundreds of emperors in ancient China, there are few people like Wu Zetian who have been evaluated as often extreme. Historians who hated her listed her as a female "evil class" along with Lü Hou, believing that she was a sinner of Tang (see "History of Song"), while the more objective ones believed that although she was fierce, she also made positive contributions to the Tang Dynasty. All this is only for two reasons: one is that Wu Zetian's woman became the emperor, and the other is that Wu Zetian killed and robbed men.
Until now, classic programs such as "Hundred Family Pulpits" have explored the details of Wu Zetian's life, and this woman's story is definitely not as simple as recorded in the history books, she is flesh and blood, sad and joyful, and not cruel.
In that year, after Returning to the Palace as a concubine of Emperor Gaozong of Tang, Wu Zetian began to behave very meekly and modestly, but later killed Empress Xiao Shufei and took action against the eldest son Wuji and other old ministers, according to the records of the Zizhi Tongjian and the New Book of Tang, Wu Zetian also personally killed his first daughter, Princess Anding, and married Empress Wang.
It seems that Wu Zetian should be extremely cold-blooded and cruel, but the killing of the princess is not mentioned in the Old Book of Tang and the "Tang Huijiao", it is likely that the later historians in order to highlight the dark side of Wu Zetian to play the imagination, the woman killed the infant child, that has completely destroyed human nature, Wu Zetian is very fond of princess Taiping, it can be speculated that the rumor of killing the princess comes from the "abolished king Liwu" period.
What is the "Abolition of the King's Armed Forces"? In fact, after Emperor Gaozong of Tang ascended the throne, the clique of old ministers represented by his uncle, Changsun Wuji, posed a threat to Tang Gaozong's imperial power. These people were not accustomed to Wu Zetian, supported Empress Wang, and opposed Li Zhi's establishment of Wu Zetian as empress, and if Li Zhi could succeed in this matter, it would be equivalent to dealing a fierce blow to the power of the elder ministers and taking power back to themselves.
It just so happened that Wu Zetian was also an ambitious woman, and she wanted to become empress, and secretly contacted the ministers of the court for this, among whom Li Yifu, Xu Jingzong, Wang Dejian, Cui Yixuan, Yuan Gongyu, Hou Shanye, etc. quoted each other, forming a new force against the elder ministers and supporting the actions of Tang Gaozong and Wu Zetian.
In 655, Li Yifu first proposed that "abolishing Wang Liwu" be rewarded by Tang Gaozong and Wu Zetian, and the direction of the midwind changed greatly, and the eldest son Wuji, Chu Suiliang, Li Ji, Yu Zhining, and others were all called to a meeting by Tang Gaozong, and Li Ji pretended to be ill and could not hide from it, and after Mingzhe said, "This is Your Majesty's family affair, why should outsiders point fingers and feet", which is equivalent to acquiescence.
Chu Suiliang fiercely opposed, was successively demoted to Tanzhou, Guizhou, and Aizhou (in present-day Vietnam, you can imagine how far away), died in Aizhou in 658; changsun Wuji did not get much better, although he was The uncle of Emperor Gaozong of Tang, he was also exiled to Qianzhou because of the active activities of Wu Zetian and Xu Jingzong, and in 659, Yuan Gongyu forced changsun Wuji to commit suicide, and Wu Zetian was satisfied with this.
However, at the tense moment of "abolishing Wang Liwu", Cheng Yaojin, who was also an old minister, was not regarded as a thorn in the eye by Wu Zetian, but lived peacefully until 665 and died in his private residence. You must know that at that time, Tang Gaozong and Wu Zetian concentrated on dealing with the old ministers, so why did Cheng Yaojin escape the disaster?
In fact, the reason is very simple, Cheng Yaojin is not as generous as the TV series, he is very good at watching people, and he is also very good at seeing the direction of the wind. At the beginning, it was he Cheng who persuaded Qin Qiong and others to leave Wang Shichong and defect to the Tang army; when Li Jiancheng was preparing to deal with Li Shimin, he advised Li Shimin to protect himself as soon as possible.
Cheng Yaojin's military strategy is not outstanding, which does not mean that he is not smart. During the "Abolition of Wang Liwu" period, Cheng Yaojin was sent by Tang Gaozong to conquer the Western Turks, this arrangement is very interesting, because Tang Gaozong also knows that Cheng Yaojin is not suitable for being a main general, only suitable for being a fierce general, and Cheng Yaojin really did not listen to the correct advice of Su Dingfang, the commander of the former army, in this battle, but completely listened to the bad idea of the deputy chief general Wang Wenyue and returned without success.
Because of this, Cheng Yaojin was dismissed from his official post, which seemed more like he was fully cooperating with Tang Gaozong in attacking the old ministers, and later although Cheng Yaojin was appointed as an assassin, he took the initiative to write a letter and asked for resignation and retirement, and Tang Gaozong approved. Cheng Biting Jin was not involved in the vortex of "Abolishing Wang Liwu" from the beginning to the end, and Wu Zetian naturally would not want his life, which shows that Cheng Biting Jin is sober and smart, and Wu Zetian is also able to grasp the main contradiction.