In the first year of the Tang Dynasty civilization, a fast horse galloped from the capital Chang'an to Bazhou, and the person riding the horse had a slightly excited look, he was the Zuo Jinwuwei general Qiu Shenxun. His duty was to protect the safety of the palace, so why did he run all the way to Bazhou?
Qiu Shenxun was looking for someone, and he wanted to find Li Xian, the prince who had been deposed. Li Xian was the second son of Wu Zetian, and after the sudden death of his eldest brother Li Hong, he became crown prince. As a well-educated prince from an early age, his appearance, character and knowledge had nothing to say. The New Book of Tang praised him for being "tolerant and heavy" and "never forgetting to read at a glance".
Wang Bodu, a famous poet in the early Tang Dynasty, was once his attendant, and he organized many literati to comment on Fan Ye's Book of the Later Han Dynasty. Later generations called this version of the Book of the Later Han Dynasty "Zhang HuaiZhuo", which has high historical value, and almost all of them are currently on the market. When Emperor Gaozong of Tang and Wu Zetian went to the eastern capital luoyang, they generally let Li Xian supervise the country. Li Xian also lived up to expectations and governed in an orderly manner, winning praise from Emperor Gaozong of Tang and his courtiers. The Old Book of Tang spoke highly of him:
Tang Nian Junde, Zhang Huai is the most benevolent, the fierce mother is afraid of ming, and takes pleasure in herself.
However, Li Xian's relationship with Wu Zetian was terrible. One of the reasons is that Li Xian's origin is unknown, before him, Wu Hou had a princess who died prematurely, and the production time between him and him was only one year. Both then and now, this production time is very sensitive. As a result, there were many rumors in the palace, believing that Li Xian was not born to Empress Wu, but the son of Empress Wu's sister Lady Han and Emperor Gaozong of Tang. The death of the Korean lady is unknown, and many people believe that it is wu Zetian's poisonous hand.
In addition, Empress Wu also had many words about Li Xian's private life. Li Xian is good at everything else, that is, he has a gay tendency. In the Tang Dynasty, it was not a big deal for the Wang Sun nobles to have some such a habit, but Li Xian was after all a prince and a person who wanted to be an emperor, so many people advised him, but he could not listen to it. For this point, the history books that have always sympathized with Li Xian have never made a secret of it, and the Zizhi Tongjian once said:
The crown prince was quite vocal, and he was very affectionate with the household slave Zhao Daosheng and other cunning, and the golden veil of the multi-gifted, si yilang Wei Chengqing wrote a letter of advice, but did not listen.
The fuse that caused the conflict between Empress Wu and the crown prince Li Xian to erupt was the assassination of Ming Chongyu. Ming Chongyu was a Very Martial Daoist, and he once told Wu Zetian that from the appearance, the prince was not very good, the King Li Xian was better than him, and li Dan, the King of The Kings, was even richer. This statement was naturally hated by the prince, and it happened that soon after, Ming Chongyu was killed by bandits, and the murderer could not be found for a long time, and the prince became the biggest suspect.
In 680, Empress Wu sent someone to the Eastern Palace to investigate the crown prince, but found hundreds of pairs of armor in the stable. This was a crime of treason in the Tang Dynasty, and even If Emperor Gaozong of Tang intended to forgive, he could not forgive it. As a result, Li Xian was reduced to a commoner and imprisoned in Chang'an. When King Li Xian became crown prince, he was exiled to Bazhou.
Qiu Shenxun came to Bazhou this time at the behest of Empress Wu to end the crown prince. As soon as he saw the prince's face, he said with a smile on his face: Your mother asked me to convey my greetings to you!
After hearing these words, the prince looked up at the sky and smiled. I am afraid that in his heart, he is still full of doubts about who the real mother is and who gave this life. This kind of laughter is a kind of desolate pain that has nowhere to say, and it is also a helplessness that deeply hates being born in the imperial family.
When Qiu Shenxun once again turned around and told the prince, the prince could not help but recite a poem he had once given to his mother:
Plant melon yellow under the stage, melon ripe seeds away. One pick makes the melon good, and then picks the melon thin. Three picks are still acceptable, and the picks are not hugging.
This poem is very simple, and it does not have too high literary value, but the meaning is very unsimple. It is to advise his mother not to kill his own flesh and blood!
However, at this moment, there was nothing he could do, Qiu Shenji had arrived, he had to laugh again, turn around and walk into the inner chamber, hanging himself.
Qiu Shenxun completed this great event and returned to the palace to pray to Empress Wu. Despite the great sin of forcing the crown prince to die, Qiu Shenxun was only demoted and soon reactivated. In order to express his grief and to announce the death of the crown prince, Wu Zetian solemnly buried the son who had been reduced to a commoner with the courtesy of a prince.