Wu Zetian in history: Did the only female emperor really murder her daughter for the throne?
Wu Zetian is the only female emperor in Chinese history and the oldest emperor to ascend the throne. As the only female emperor in history, Wu Zetian can be said to be a "cool official politics" during her reign, and wantonly killed the Tang Dynasty clan, which also laid the foundation for the historical description of her personal murder of her daughter, but is this really the case?
The Zhengshi describes it this way: "Shi Chen said: 'The conspiracy of the Empress Wu to seize the wife, the son of the swaddling throat, the bone of the broken pepper, the impermanence of the adulterous woman, and the constant state of the adulterous woman.' That is to say, in order to ascend to the throne, Wu Zetian attacked Empress Wang and killed his daughter to blame her. From the Old Book of Tang, but note that only Shi Chen is used here, that is to say, this is only the author's personal opinion on this, and even the author speculates that this is only because Emperor Wu originally killed the Tang Dynasty clan, causing Shi Chen to be dissatisfied, and there is no conclusive evidence that Emperor Wu personally did it.
Later Zizhi Tongjian and New Book of Tang did have this description, or even more detailed. But this matter does not stand up to scrutiny at all. We may wish to think about it, at that time, Wu Zetian had to use his own daughter to suppress Empress Wang?
First of all, Empress Wang did not have such a big power at that time, and it was not worth Wu Zetian's suppression at the cost of the little princess. Although Wu Zetian was introduced to the palace by Empress Wang, when she was worshipped as Erpin Zhaoyi, Empress Wang's rivalry with Concubine Xiao Shufei had already failed. At that time, Empress Wang could be said to be helpless against Wu Zetian, the white-eyed wolf, and Empress Wang did not need to do so when she visited the little princess. According to historical records, Li Zhi later wanted to abolish Empress Wang because of Wu Zetian's "disgusted victory", which had already put Empress Wang at an irreversible disadvantage. Wu Zetian didn't need to go to great lengths because of her.
Secondly, there was no need for Wu Zetian to kill a woman to ascend to the throne. Empress Wang's lack of favor was obvious, and an empress without heirs had no advantage over Wu Zetian, who already had three sons. In fact, Li Zhi had always wanted to abolish Empress Wang. From the deposing of Empress Wang to the step-by-step ascension of Wu Zetian to the empress, Wu Zetian completely relied on Tang Gaozong's favor for her, there was no need to exchange his daughter for a future, and finally left a curse.
In fact, it is recorded in the history book "Tang Taiyao" that the little princess died of a violent illness, so it can be seen that in fact, all the descriptions of this matter are just rumors and people's dissatisfaction with Wu Zetian. I believe that no mother, no matter how fierce, will not prey on her daughter who is pregnant in October. I also hope that in this matter, everyone will not be prejudiced against Wu Zetian, and even less will it worsen Wu Zetian again because of this.