An epitaph unearthed in Shaanxi revealed the bestiality of Wu Zetian a thousand years ago! The history books certainly did not deceive people
In 1995, Shaanxi unearthed an ancient tomb, the owner of the tomb is called Yan Zhuang, a Tang Dynasty person, he is not famous, the biggest achievement in his life, was once in the East Palace as a staff member, and his boss, was the then crown prince Li Hong.
Li Hong, the eldest son of Emperor Gaozong of Tang and Wu Zetian, was known for his virtuous virtue and had high hopes from his parents, but the prince died violently in his prime, and historians inferred that he may have died of illness, but Yan Zhuang's epitaph recorded something different.
Death of the Prince
On Yan Zhuang's epitaph, there are two very strange sentences: "The accumulation of crunching and invading Russia, entangled in the ant bed and the disaster; the floating light is exhausted, and it is gone with the crane version." These two sentences were originally mourning the departure of the deceased, but there were two words that should not have appeared - "ant bed" and "crane version".
The ant bed refers to the prince's hospital bed, and the crane version is the prince's coffin, which translates to say that Yan Zhuang, as the prince's doorman, became depressed because of the prince's death, and finally died with the prince.
It seems that there is no problem, the Lord is dead, the loyal man, but as for the point of being so serious? Moreover, the date of Death of Yan Zhuang should be less than a year away from that of Crown Prince Li Hong, and the death of the Crown Prince, according to historical records, was a serious illness and violent death, so why did Yan Zhuang grieve to this point?
Historians boldly speculate that the reason why Yan Zhuang is like this may be because the death of The Crown Prince Li Hong is not a normal event, but a man-made, a failure of the political struggle, which caused Yan Zhuang to be angry after his death, or more boldly, as Yan Zhuang under the Prince's door, died with the prince so quickly, perhaps also man-made, and the most likely murderer is Li Hong's biological mother Wu Zetian.
In fact, regarding Li Hong's death, historians have not been conclusive, his death is a difficult mystery, the Old Book of Tang records that he died of illness, but the New Book of Tang and the "Zizhi Tongjian" record that Li Hong was killed by his birth mother with a cup of wine, and the excavation of Yan Zhuang's epitaph seems to add another corroboration to the "theory of killing".
Emperor Renxiao
A few years before Li Hong's death, the relationship with Wu Zetian was indeed delicate, but he was also the most valued child of Wu Zetian, first of all, he was the eldest son, and when Wu Zetian was pregnant with Li Hong, he was still in the Ganye Temple, if Wu Zetian did not give birth to this son, her husband Li Zhi would not be willing to take her out of the Ganye Temple, and it is difficult to say, whether based on emotions or interests, Wu Zetian could not not love this child at that time.
And Li Zhi liked this child even more, although before Li Hong, Li Zhi had six children, but either born humble and unfavored or died young, Li Hong almost from birth, his parents secretly paved a road for him to the position of crown prince, from his name "Li Hong" can be seen, "Li Hong" is the Tang Dynasty legend, taishang Laojun in the human world incarnation, if not for the high hopes for this child, you can not take such a "saint" name.
Four years after his birth, Li Hong did indeed become the prince, of course, behind his position as prince, there was a cruel struggle, when the young Li Hong was not yet involved, but from the moment he became the prince, the power struggle was bound to unfold in a bloody way.
The evaluation of Li Hong by the people of the time was "benevolent filial piety", which seemed to be exactly the opposite of his mother Wu Zetian's thunderous means, Li Hong had always been generous and benevolent, respected the ministers, and sympathized with the people, both in the DPRK and the people, and even after his death for many years, there were still many people who missed his benevolence.
However, after growing up, the relationship between Li Hong and his mother Wu Zetian gradually became tense. As can be seen from the historical data, their first major contradiction occurred in 671 AD, when a small incident occurred in the Court of the Tang Dynasty in this year, when the two daughters left by Former Concubine Xiao Shufei, Princess Yiyang and Princess Xuancheng, were finally released and married out of the palace after more than ten years of seclusion in the palace.
However, it was Wu Zetian who gave the order to imprison the two princesses that year, and it was Wu Zetian's own son, Li Hong, who interceded to release them. Wu Zetian's hatred for Yiyang and Xuancheng is not difficult to understand, between her and Xiao Shufei back then, it was a relationship between you and me, if it were not for the fact that she defeated Xiao Shufei, it may be her and Li Hong in the forbidden palace today.
However, the bloody court struggle was too long away from Li Hong, and when Xiao Shufei died, he was just an ignorant child, so more than ten years later, from Li Hong's point of view, it was just his two poor sisters, who had been imprisoned for a long time, so he decided to intercede for his sister, but this was enough to anger Wu Zetian.
This matter is a small matter, but it means that the way of dealing with the world between mother and son is very different, if it is only an ordinary empress and a prince, this contradiction will not be big, but unfortunately, Wu Zetian and Li Hong are politicians, in the face of power, mother-son affection is to be in the back row.
Power ahead
Li Hong's intercession for his sister made Tang Gaozong Li Zhi very praised and praised, but for Wu Zetian, this is undoubtedly the husband and son who chose to side with her enemies, and Li Zhi's emphasis on Li Hong was the most intolerable thing for Wu Zetian, Li Zhi was not in good health, many things, as the empress Wu Zetian did the work, but as Li Hong grew up, Wu Zetian had to face a cruel reality, Li Hong was the future ruler of this empire.
Prince Jianguo sounds more reasonable than Empress Jianguo, which means that the power in Wu Zetian's hands must be ceded to his son, even if he does not let it today, in the future Li Hong ascends the throne as emperor, she will still have to quit.
If Li Hong is the cowardly character of Emperor Hui of Han, Wu Zetian may still be able to be Empress Lü, but although Li Hong's character is benevolent, he is also intelligent and assertive, such a king will not allow his mother to be Empress Lü, he himself has the capital to hold power, and he is younger than Wu Zetian, more righteous, as time passes, Li Hong's power will increase, so where should Wu Zetian go?
Being a pampered empress dowager is also the peak of life for women in feudal society. However, Wu Zetian wanted the lord of the world, otherwise she could be a spoiled concubine when she was young, instead of risking the most dangerous price to sit on an equal footing with Li Zhiping, in the process of ascending to the throne step by step, countless people became her stepping stones.
And now, her children have become her enemies, in order to gain power, she and Li Hong can only have one person to survive, as a mature politician, Wu Zetian left the chance of survival to himself, so we see that in 675 AD, the young Li Hong died suddenly.
In the face of power, the relationship between Wu Zetian and Li Hong has long been not mother and son, but political enemies, mothers kill their sons, shocking the world, but political enemies killing each other, but political enemies killing each other, but it is a very normal thing, in the face of power, there is no family affection, whether it is Li Hong or his mother, are victims of power struggle, there is no winner, and finally only a sigh of "poor birth in the imperial family" is left.