In 684, Li Xian, the crown prince who had been demoted to Bazhou, was very unwilling and was thinking about how to make a comeback. But at this moment, a cool official hurried from the capital, and he claimed that he had brought Wu Zetian's dictation, allowing Li Xian to decide on his own. Li Xian was forced to commit suicide at the age of twenty-nine.
Li Xian was the second son of Wu Zetian and the most capable prince of the Li Tang imperial family. When the news of Li Xian's death reached the capital, Wu Zetian immediately posthumously honored him as the King of Yong and led the Wenwu hundred officials to mourn for him with great fanfare. As for the cool official who forced Li Xian to die, Wu Zetian demoted him to Diezhou as a stab in the history as a punishment. But soon after, Wu Zetian transferred this cool official back and returned to his original post.
With all these indications, is Li Xian's death really related to his mother Wu Zetian?
In 675, the frail and sick crown prince Li Hong finally could not withstand the invasion of the disease, and before he could ascend the throne, he died. Later, his younger brother Li Xian became the new crown prince. The 22-year-old Li Xian is in good health and will not suffer from the disease, so what new variables will appear?
In folklore, there is a poem by Li Xian called "Huangtai Gua Ci":
Plant melon under the yellow table, the melon ripe seeds away;
One pick makes the melon good, and then picks the melon thin;
Three picks are still self-reliant, pick up the vines!
Li Xian likened several brothers to melons, and his mother Wu Zetian to melon farmers, hoping that her mother would not pick melons repeatedly. Could it be that what Wu Zetian had done had already made his sons unable to see it anymore?
Just at this time, Tang Gaozong's illness was already very serious, unable to deal with the government, and even unable to climb up, it was reasonable to say that at this time, the crown prince Li Xian should be allowed to personally govern, but he did not. In September, Emperor Gaozong of Tang suddenly summoned the chancellors to propose that Wu Zetian be regent.
The prime ministers were anxious as soon as they heard it, and one of them, Hao Chujun, was even more fierce, saying that this was not in line with tradition, the empress could only be responsible for the harem, and if the regency was a chaotic government, it would never be allowed. Moreover, the crown prince has reached adulthood, and the emperor wants to pass the throne to the prince, which one is passed on to the empress? Besides, the world was the domain of Li Tang's ancestors, not Tang Gaozong's alone, so Tang Gaozong had no right to do so.
Soon after the chancellor refused, Wu Zetian demoted him to the local area and stuffed him into her newly cultivated junior official. For Wu Zetian, the mountain of the prime minister has been removed, and now the prince is left with the mountain. So, how should Wu Zetian deal with the prince? Li Xian is not like Li Hong, Li Hong is not in good health and can let time deal with him, but what about Li Xian? Not only is his body good, but he also has the hearts of the people, which makes Wu Zetian feel a headache.
Just then, a murder occurred in the capital, and a warlock named Ming Chongyu was killed. The case caused a sensation at once, and the suspect immediately pointed to the prince, why is this?
Because this warlock was deeply favored by Tang Gaozong and Wu Zetian, and not long ago, this warlock claimed that he knew the art of immortals, became Tang Gaozong's personal doctor, and constantly blew a pillow wind next to Tang Gaozong's bedside: "I chatted with the immortals yesterday, and when it came to the prince, everyone shook their heads and sighed, saying that the prince was incompetent and untouchable, far less than the young prince Li Dan. ”
As the saying goes, good words don't go out, and bad words travel thousands of miles. Soon, these words reached the ears of Prince Li Xian. At this time, it was exactly the time when the contradiction between Li Xian and Wu Zetian was at its most intense.
Therefore, Wu Zetian decided that the crown prince Li Xian was the murderer behind the scenes, so he asked Pei Yan, the newly appointed prime minister, to strictly investigate, and he was Wu Zetian's person.
Pei Yan captured Zhao Daosheng, the prince's confidant, and after a big punishment, Zhao Daosheng could not hold back and even said "he moves." Pei Yan took a pen and paper and wrote a few lines of large characters: Zhao Daosheng personally admitted that he was the killer who assassinated Ming Chongyu.
With a confession, it is almost a tool to commit the crime. Wu Zetian immediately ordered people to search the Prince's Mansion and gave a special explanation: do not let go of any corner. What surprised Wu Zetian was that he unexpectedly found that hundreds of pieces of armor had actually been found in the Prince's Mansion. In the Tang Dynasty, armor was a military material that had to be handed over to a special arsenal bureau for safekeeping, and ordinary people could never touch it.
Originally, this was just a murder, and the prince was just a suspect. But now, the case has escalated rapidly, turning into a conspiracy case, and the prince has actually secretly hidden military weapons, which is clearly a conspiracy to seize power! At this moment, the prince jumped into the Yellow River and could not wash it.
Tang Gaozong was blinded by the sudden change, and he thought to himself: Li Xian is already the crown prince, the world will be his sooner or later, he should not rebel, not to mention, Li Xian is still his favorite son. Therefore, Tang Gaozong interceded with Wu Zetian, but he did not expect Wu Zetian to relentlessly refuse, and angrily said: "As a son of man, with rebellion, the heavens and the earth are not tolerated, the righteousness destroys relatives, how can he forgive!" ”
Soon, the crown prince Li Xian was deposed as a Shuren and immediately exiled to Bazhou until he was forced to die. The prime minister, who supported him, was immediately transferred. The other clans associated with Li Xian were uprooted together and either exiled or forced to death.
After this purge, the power of the crown prince Li Xian was uprooted and there was no longer the power to fight back. So, why did Wu Zetian put his son to death? Doesn't it say that blood is thicker than water?
According to historical records, Li Xian's birth time is very strange, he was born in December 654, and his brother Li Hong was born at the end of 652, only two years apart, it is reasonable to say that it is normal, but during this period, Wu Zetian also gave birth to a little princess, but he died just after birth. Having three children in two years is really hard to say. Moreover, when Li Xian was about to be born, Wu Zetian still ran to Zhaoling, which means that it is impossible to say that a pregnant woman who is waiting to give birth should not stay in the palace to rest well?
Judging from this, Li Xian is not Wu Zetian's biological son, so whose son is he?
At that time, when Wu Zetian was favored, her relatives were also favored, and her sister was promoted to a Korean lady and was favored by Emperor Gaozong of Tang. Seeing his sister being favored, Wu Zetian was naturally jealous, but there was nothing he could do.
Just at this time, Mrs. Korea gave birth to a child, because she had no name, so she had to let Wu Zetian recognize it. At this time, Wu Zetian was just a Zhaoyi, and was racking her brains for the empress, at this time, one more son, naturally there was more capital for competing for favors, so she readily admitted it.
But she did not expect that this fake son would pose such a great threat to her title as emperor, so she did not hesitate to choose to "get rid of him".
