683 AD
Li Xian's Deposed: Emperor deposed because of his words
In 683, Emperor Zhongzong of Tang succeeded Li Xian to the throne, and empress Dowager Wu Zetian became empress dowager, and all major events in the dynasty were ordered by Wu Zetian. Li Xian tried to reuse Empress Wei's relatives and form a political clique that obeyed his orders, but this angered Wu Zetian and he was deposed as the King of Luling.
After Emperor Gaozong of Tang died in Luoyang, the crown prince Li Xian ascended the throne for Emperor Zhongzong of Tang. After ascending the throne, Li Xian wanted to do something with great fanfare, but he looked around, from the central to the local, from the civilian ministers to the military generals, and there was not a single one who was not a confidant of the mother Empress Wu Zetian. Li Xian, believing that only by finding his own confidants could he do something big, so he decided to install a group of his own cronies among the high-level officials. The first person Li Xian thought of who could help him was Empress Webster.
Empress Wei said to Li Xian, If Your Majesty wants to grow in strength, he must use people who can be trusted, and my father Wei Xuanzhen can help His Majesty achieve great things. Under the persuasion of Empress Wei, Li Xian set his sights on Wei Xuanzhen's body. However, because Wei Xuanzhen's original official quality was too low, and he only joined the army, Li Xian first promoted Wei Xuanzhen to the position of Yuzhou Assassin, so that he could be promoted to a higher rank in the future.
In the Tang Dynasty, The Assassin Was a Feudal Governor, and his rank was from Sanpin, only one level lower than that of the Prime Minister. Li Xian and Empress Wei's actions were watched by Wu Zetian, but Wu Zetian did not immediately interfere, she silently observed from the sidelines, wanting to see the real thoughts of the new emperor.
However, soon after Li Xiangang promoted his father-in-law Wei Xuanzhen to be the assassin of Yuzhou, he proposed to promote Wei Xuanzhen again to be a servant and become the prime minister in the middle of the dynasty. This move angered Pei Yan, the chancellor of Gu Ming, and he insisted on opposing the emperor's promotion of Wei Xuanzhen to be a servant, saying that the emperor was doing so as a nepotism. Li Xian repeatedly urged Pei Yan to accept the order and was unwilling to draft an edict appointing Wei Xuanzhen as a servant. Li Xian, enraged, said that the affairs of the world were decided by Yuan, and if he wanted, he could give the whole country to Wei Xuanzhen, not to mention a small waiter!
Pei Yan listened to this sentence and did not say anything in front of the emperor, but he went to find Wu Zetian privately. Wu Zetian had been considering consolidating the power in his hands so as to avoid the emperor from putting himself on the air, and listened to Pei Yan's report, believing that he could depose Li Xian.
Soon after, Wu Zetian broke with the practice of not going to the court for two days during the reign of Emperor Gaozong of Tang, and summoned the Hundred Officials of Wenwu to the Qianyuan Palace, the main hall of the Luoyang official, to prepare to announce the abolition of Li Xian's imperial order. The ministers knew in their hearts that something big was going to happen, and the hall was silent. But Emperor Li Xian had always been kept in the dark, and he was still sitting on the throne confused, not knowing what major events to announce while sitting behind the curtain of the Qianyuan Palace.
At this moment, there was a sudden rush of footsteps outside the palace, and Zhongshu ordered Pei Yan to rush into the court hall with the yulin army generals. Pei Yan publicly announced that the empress dowager had a life, because the emperor had misled the country for personal gain and demoted her to the title of King of Luling. Li Xian was so surprised that he didn't have time to react for a while. As soon as Pei Yan's words fell, several Yulin soldiers ran up from the corner of the palace and pulled Li Xian down from the emperor's seat. Li Xian, while struggling, asked Wu Zetian aloud, what is my crime? Wu Zetian scolded Li Xian, saying, "You want to give the country to Wei Xuanzhen, is this not yet guilty?" Lee Hsien was overwhelmed.
In this way, Li Xian, who had been on the throne for more than thirty days, was deposed by Wu Zetian as the King of Luling and demoted to Chang'an.
Conclusion: Emperor Zhongzong of Tang was deposed, and Wu Zetian further strengthened his power, preparing and paving the way for him to be called Emperor Jianzhou.
Lee Hsien stills
Pei Yan stills
Wei Hou stills
684 AD
Xu Jingye plotted rebellion: Down with the female emperor!
In 684, Xu Jingye of Meizhou and Luo Binwang, the chief of Chang'an, were successively degraded by the imperial court. These officially frustrated people called a party in Yangzhou. At the meeting, on the one hand, they were dissatisfied with Wu Zetian's administration, and on the other hand, they were unfair to their own suffering, so they plotted a rebellion.
Before the rebellion, Xu Jingye invited Yushi Wei Siwen as the chief staff officer. Wei Siwen gave Xu Jingye a plan. Wei Siwen first had his henchmen, Inspector Yushi, send envoys to Jiangdu, and then sent a man to report to this Inspector Yushi, lying that The Governor of Yangzhou, Shi Chen Jingzhi, wanted to rebel. Subsequently, he asked this inspector Yushi to arrest Chen Jingzhi. After a few days, Xu Jingye went to Yangzhou again with great sound, posing as Sima of Yangzhou, and went to take up his post. When I arrived in Yangzhou, Xu Jingye and the locals said that Feng Ziyi, the chief of Gaozhou, had rebelled, and I was secretly ordered by the empress dowager to send troops to fight against the rebels who were plotting rebellion. Subsequently, local people and horses were requisitioned for their own use.
After such an operation, Xu Jingye and others have gathered more than 100,000 soldiers. Subsequently, Xu Jingye proclaimed himself a general of Kuangfu Province, led the governor of Yangzhou, and appointed Wei Siwen as a military master and Luo Binwang as a recorder. In the name of the restoration of Li Xian, the king of Kuangfu Luling, they raised an army against Wu Zetian.
Before sending out the army, Xu Jingye deliberately asked Luo Binwang to write a poem against Wu Zetian. The text was scattered throughout the prefectures and counties, and soon reached Wu Zetian. After Wu Zetian read it, his first reaction was not to be angry, but to be impressed by the talent of King Luo Bin, saying that this person had such a talent, but he was frustrated and not reused, which was the fault of the prime minister.
Luo Binwang was an outstanding poet of the early Tang Dynasty, who served as the chief bookkeeper of Chang'an and the imperial attendant. He was imprisoned for writing a letter mocking Wu Zetian, and was later demoted to Linhai Cheng (林海丞), so he participated in Xu Jingye's rebellion. Although Wu Zetian cherished his talents, he still would not be soft on those who plotted rebellion. She immediately sent two troops to attack, one way was to make Li Xiaoyi the grand commander of Yangzhou Province, leading 300,000 troops; the other way was to send zuo ying Yang general Black Tooth Changzhi to be the grand commander of Jiangnan Province, starting from Dongdu as reinforcements, cutting off Xu Jingye's Jiangnan back road. At the same time, Xu Jingye and other traitors were "chased and cut down on his ancestral examination official". It turned out that Xu Jingye had previously inherited his grandfather's British ducal title and was also given the surname "Li". Because of the rebellion, all the eminent names were gone.
The military master Wei Siwen again gave Xu Jingye a plan, suggesting that he continue to lead a large army to attack Luoyang under the slogan of restoring Li's power. At this time, some people put forward different views, believing that Jinling has an imperial weather and a natural danger of the Yangtze River, and should first occupy some areas in the south as the basis for hegemony, and then fight from south to north, so that it can be attacked and retreated.
Xu Jingye's name was to restore the country for the Li clan, but Xu Jingye had selfish intentions, and the root cause was still for himself, so after weighing the pros and cons, he did not use Wei Siwen's suggestion, but chose a more favorable method for himself, first attacking Runzhou to the south.
Li Siwen, the assassin in the Runzhou area, happened to be Xu Jingye's uncle. Li Siwen did not respond to the rebels, on the contrary, he already knew Xu Jingye's intentions of rebellion, and had already sent people to report the local situation to the imperial court on a small road in advance. Li Siwen had been resisting the rebel attack in the city, and finally could not resist it, so he was captured by the rebels.
Later, Xu Jingye returned from Runzhou to resist the Tang army. He sent his lower Axi Tun troops in Gaoyou territory to let his younger brother Xu Jingyou lead the army into Huaiyin. At first, the rebels engaged part of the Tang army and won the victory. This made Li Xiaoyi, who was in charge of counterinsurgency, feel frightened, and he actually did not move. Someone advised Li Xiaoyi to attack, saying that if the imperial court appointed another general to replace you, how could you escape the guilt of stagnation? After Li Xiaoyi listened, he hardened his scalp and moved forward.
Li Xiaoyi first led an attack on the rebel general Wei Chao, who fled in the dark of night. Then, Li Xiaoyi attacked Xu Jingyou again, and Xu Jingyou escaped alone. At this time, Xu Jingye was leading his troops to guard Xia'axi and fought a decisive battle with Li Xiaoyi, who came later. Su Xiaoxiang on Li Xiaoyi's side took the lead in asking for battle. At night, Su Xiaoxiang led five thousand troops in a small boat and crossed the creek to attack. Xu Jingye knew that as soon as the Tang army arrived, he would first cross the creek to find out the truth, so he let people ambush in the grass and wait for the enemy to take the bait. Sure enough, as expected, Tang Bing appeared, and they were preparing to row ashore. The ambushed rebels suddenly launched an attack on the Tang army. This made the Tang army unable to retreat and make a mess. The last five thousand Tang troops lost more than half of their troops.
After that, Li Xiaoyi reorganized his army and horses and waited for the opportunity to fight again. Li Xiaoyi led his troops to gather on the west bank of the Lower Axi River. At that time, the temperature plummeted, and the ice froze the Axi. Three thousand people of the Tang army hid sulfur and dark nitrate and fire medium, and lined up in a row, igniting a fire, and the sea of fire was a sea, and Li Xiaoyi led his troops to rush towards Xu Jingye with the light of the fire. The rebels saw the sea of fire coming from the ground, and suddenly the position was in chaos, and they took the road and fled. As a result, the rebels were defeated and countless people were killed and wounded. Xu Jingye fled in a hurry and was eventually killed by his generals, while King Luo Bin's whereabouts are unknown. The "Yangzhou Rebellion" of Xu Jingye and others was completely suppressed by Wu Zetian.
Conclusion: The rebellion of Xu Jingye and others was caused by the reign of Wu Zetian. The failure of the rebellion, on the one hand, eliminated the obstacle of Wu Zetian's claim to the throne, and on the other hand, weakened the strength of the opposition forces.
Portrait of Xu Jingye