Nowadays, when people say that the princess lives, they often describe the girl's superior family situation and smooth life without envy; saying that the princess disease, although it has a pejorative meaning, is also a description of the girl's pampering. This shows that in our impression, the princess was indeed born with a golden spoon and lived a carefree life.
In fact, in the ancient feudal society, the princess was so happy. With the exception of a very few lucky ones, most of the princesses are either used as tools for marriage or as victims of struggle. In particular, the princesses of the Tang Dynasty lived in an era of high female status, although they could participate in political affairs to varying degrees, and their fate was often sad, such as Princess Taiping, Princess Anle and so on. However, there is a princess who is even more tragic, she has no major faults, she was killed at the age of 17, and the murderer is her grandmother.
Her name was Li Xianhui, her father was Emperor Zhongzong of Tang, Li Xian, and her mother was Empress Wei, an authentic princess. She had a half-sister, Li Shu'er, who was later known as Princess Taiping, and was known as the first beauty of the Tang Dynasty. Li Xianhui's posture is not much different, and the history books record that "the flowers of peach and plum are inferior."
However, she was not born well, and a year before, although his father Li Xian had ascended the throne as the Son of Heaven, his power was controlled by his mother Wu Zetian. The young Li Xian, who obviously had no experience in struggle, was anxious to seize power and hastily promoted his father-in-law Wei Xuanzhen. Prime Minister Pei Yan said that the promotion was too fast, and Li Xian, who was eager to attack, actually said: What does it matter if I just give the world to Wei Xuanzhen?
It was this sentence that allowed Wu Zetian to find the truth, depose Li Xian, who had reigned for only 55 days, change his title to the King of Luling, and drive out Chang'an. Li Xianhui was born in this chaotic situation that made her parents anxious. Li Xianhui, who was supposed to live a peaceful life in Chang'an, could only spend fourteen years in exile with her parents.
During these fourteen years, her uncle Li Dan served as a puppet Tianzi again, and eventually ceded the throne to Wu Zetian. Her father, Li Xian, was always worried that Wu Zetian would disregard his family affection and brazenly attack, ready to commit suicide at any time. Still under the encouragement and persuasion of Merriam-Webster, Li Xiancai reluctantly survived. It can be seen that Li Xianhui, who was born in the imperial family, had a thrilling life.
When she was fourteen years old, a sudden major turn took place. Under the persuasion of his ministers, Wu Zetian, who was already dying, finally figured it out and prepared to pass the throne to his son and return to the Li clan. Li Xian was therefore recalled to Luoyang and became the crown prince, while Li Xianhui finally had his own name and was made a county lord with a thousand households.
As long as Wu Zetian dies and his father is reinstated, Li Xianhui is a legitimate princess. However, when she was sixteen years old, Wu Zetian made another holy decree to let her marry Wu Yanji. Wu Yanji was the son of Wu Chengsi, the King of Wei, and it was in this way that Wu Zetian bound the Li and Wu clans together and could not be separated from generation to generation.
I don't know if Li Xianhui was satisfied with this decision, but at that time, she did not have the right to choose. The wedding is naturally grand, and after marriage, it seems to be quite good, within a year Li Xianhui is pregnant, and the happy events are continuous, sweeping away the downfall of the year.
Only once, wu Yanji and Li Xianhui's family were destroyed. The Zizhi Tongjian clearly states:
Empress Dowager Chunqiu gao, the brother of Zhang Yizhi, a member of the political affairs committee, Shao Wang Chongrun and his sister Yongtai Commandery and son-in-law Wu Yanji of Wei secretly discussed his affairs. Yi Zhi sued the Empress Dowager, September, Nongshen, and the Empress Dowager all forced them to commit suicide.
Originally, in wu Zetian's later years, he overly favored the two brothers Zhang Yizhi and Zhang Changzong. This not only caused resentment among the officials, but even the Li and Wu clans were angry. Li Chongrun, Li Xianhui, and Wu Yanji discussed the matter and were denounced by Zhang Yizhi. Wu Zetian, who was furious, actually forced the three of them to kill.
It should be known that Li Chongrun was Li Xian's eldest son and wu Zetian's grandson, Li Xianhui was Wu Zetian's granddaughter, and Wu Yanji was Wu Zetian's niece and granddaughter-in-law, because he privately discussed Zhang Yizhi's affairs, no matter how high his status and how close his relatives were, he was still ruthlessly executed by Wu Zetian.
In other historical books, such as the New and Old Books of Tang, the deaths of Li Chongrun and Wu Yanji are in contrast to each other and are certain. However, there are still contradictions in Li Xianhui's death, some say that she was killed by Wu Zetian's staff, some say that Li Xian forced suicide, some say that she died due to great changes and difficult childbirth, and some say that the child committed suicide by poison given by Wu Zetian after the miscarriage. But in any case, the departure of this young and vivid life has a great relationship with her grandmother.
It was not until four years later, when her father was reinstated with the support of Zhang Kamzhi and others, that she truly enjoyed the title of princess and was named Princess Yongtai. Not only that, Li Xian built a cemetery equivalent to the imperial tomb for this bitter daughter, and it is called "mausoleum", which is the only princess mausoleum in Chinese history. However, compared to her flower-like life, what can these make up for.