The emperors of the Tang Dynasty were basically out of the ordinary way, and most of the people who seized the throne were either puppets or robbed. This matter has to criticize Li Shimin, who has indeed made a bad start.
Since Emperor Taizong of Tang opened the door to the palace coup, the Tang Dynasty had not been born in the first 100 years, and the system of primogeniture had basically become a decoration. In order to seize the imperial power, the Tang royal family has gone into battle, and who is the master of the Tang Dynasty, all depends on strength.
If Li Zhi did not condone Wu Zetian, she would not be able to claim the title of emperor. Li Dan and Li Xian both served as puppet emperors, Li Longji was more patient than Tang Taizong, and the coup d'état was carried out again and again, and finally the imperial power was recovered, but what he did not expect was that in his later years, the imperial power was robbed by his son Li Heng.
Speaking of Tang Suzong Li Heng, his ability to become emperor is purely a "match made in heaven", and his road to princehood is too dramatic.
In terms of origin, Li Heng is not a concubine, he can be made a prince, purely stained with the "blood light" of several brothers. In his lifetime, Tang Xuanzong not only favored Yang Guifei, but before Yang, there were also Empress Wang, Zhao Lifei and Wu Huifei. People usually compare Empress Wang with Empress Changsun, and in the days when Li Longji worked hard in the political arena, Empress Wang has always been a staunch supporter behind him. Li Longji was called empress, and the position of empress was none other than hers.
But sadly, despite the love between the husband and wife, they had no heirs for many years after marriage, which made the queen like ants on a hot pot. In the ancient imperial family, it was a tradition for a mother to be noble, but the queen could not even give birth to a daughter, and the "expensive" on her body was also deteriorating.
Just when Empress Wang was anxious, the concubines around Tang Xuanzong were not idle, and one by one sons were born, and the eldest son Li Chun and the second son Li Ying were born one after another. As the sons grew up, the matter of the crown prince was also put on the agenda. It is reasonable to say that the prince should come from the name of the empress, but now the number of children under the knee of the queen is zero, so this time can only take the route of "the son is precious to the mother".
At this time, Tang Xuanzong was favoring Zhao Lifei, the biological mother of his second son Li Ying. This mother and son have no background, and they have no status in terms of physical morality. Zhao Lifei's father was a musician, and Zhao Lifei was a singer, and under the influence of fate, Zhao Lifei was taken in by Tang Xuanzong.
In December of the third year of the new century, seven-year-old Li Ying was helped by her father to the position of crown prince. People without background are doomed to be a tragedy when they fight in power, and li Ying's end is like this.
The candidate for the crown prince was established, and after some thought, Empress Wang did not panic, comparing her own wealth with Zhao Lifei, and immediately felt that her empress was more confident, because zhao Lifei's birth was impossible to become an empress.
But when another competitor appeared, Empress Wang was really nervous, and this concubine was Concubine Wu. Concubine Wu's background is not ordinary, she is from the family of Empress Wu Zetian. According to the theory, Li Wu's two families have a feud with each other, and no matter how much Li Longji likes her, he can't be included in the harem.
It is said that the emperor of the Tang Dynasty did not take the usual road, Li Longji just wanted to collect, and he would also put his daughter-in-law into the harem in the future, who can take care of it! Since Concubine Wu Huifei entered the harem, Empress Wang and Concubine Zhao Li had withered away. But this did not mean how happy Concubine Wu was.
Because she couldn't be happy, the two sons and a daughter she had given birth to in succession did not survive, and Li Longji was also wondering, can't I and Aifei have children? When their fourth child was born, Li Zong planned to send him to the eldest brother Li Xian, the king of Ning, to raise him, and finally this child survived, he was Li Mao, the king of Shou.
As Li Mao grew up, Princess Wu certainly hoped that her son would be made crown prince, but she had a stumbling block in front of her, that is, Empress Wang. She had to overthrow Empress Wang first, and then let Tang Xuanzong set herself up as her queen, then her son's affairs would be solved.
Tang Xuanzong did the same, but it took a little effort. After the first abolition, she was blocked by Empress Wang's brother and brother-in-law, after which Empress Wang adopted Li Heng, and the reason why she had such an opportunity was because Li Heng's birth mother, Princess Yang, like Concubine Wu, could not keep the child, so Li Heng arrived at Empress Wang's door.
But Li Heng couldn't save Empress Wang, after all, she wasn't her own child. In order to give birth to a child of her own, Empress Wang had reached the point of going into a rage and engaged in witchcraft, which was taboo for successive emperors, and it was inevitable that she would eventually be deposed.
The deposed Empress Wang was beaten into the cold palace, and her heart also died, if a person's heart died, living would lose its meaning, and it didn't take long for Empress Wang to die depressed. In the final analysis, her tragedy is that she cannot have children, which violates the great taboo of feudal society.
Empress Wang is dead, so can Concubine Wu Huifei ascend to the throne smoothly? Still can't, because her identity is the public enemy of the Tang Dynasty, one martial queen is not enough, there will be another one, who can stand it!
Wu Huifei's dream of becoming empress could not be fulfilled, but she must make her son Li Mao the crown prince, and at that time, her position as empress dowager would not be able to run. So she single-handedly supported Li Linfu to ascend to the throne, and with the help of her son-in-law Yang Huan (Princess Xianyi's horse), she pointed her sword at the crown prince Li Ying in the twenty-fourth year of the new century (736).
Concubine Wu Huifei was favored by Emperor Xuanzong of Tang, and the crown prince Li Ying, Li Yao the Prince of E, and Li Ju the Prince of Guang could not avoid complaining privately, because their mother concubines were not favored, and their lives were not good. In a private meeting between the three brothers, they complained again, not wanting to be heard by Yang Huan, who was already spying on them.
After that, the news reached Wu Huifei, so she complained to Tang Xuanzong that the prince had formed a party and that she had conspired to mutilate their mother and son. However, at that time, thanks to the opposition of Zhang Jiuling, the then chancellor, the crown prince Li Ying retained his position. But later, with Zhang Jiuling being degraded, Li Ying was soon deposed.
For specific reasons, the Old Book of Tang and the New Book of Tang have different theories, but one thing is certain, Li Ying's abolition is inseparable from Wu Huifei. In short, Tang Xuanzong finally deposed the crown prince Li Ying this time. It didn't take long for Li Ying and the other three to be killed, which was the famous incident of Xuanzong killing three sons in one day.
The crown prince died, and Wu Huifei's dream of the word "hou" still could not be done, because it was not long before she also died. After Wu Huifei's death, Tang Xuanzong gave her a crown of empress phoenix, which finally fulfilled a wish of Wu Huifei, but her son Li Mao was not so lucky.
Concubine Wu huifei is dead, can Li Mao become the crown prince? Tang Xuanzong was unwilling, after all, the death of his three sons was inseparable from Concubine Wu Huifei, so who should be made the crown prince? In the end, Tang Xuanzong returned to the tradition, standing up for a long time, and standing a long time without a wife. In this way, in June of the twenty-sixth year of the new century, Li Heng, the King of Zhong, was made crown prince.
Li Heng, who has been living an ordinary life for more than twenty years, suddenly became a prince in one day, and his luck is really good. And Concubine Wu Huifei tossed for more than twenty years, but in the end she became Li Heng's wedding dress.
But here we still have to put a question mark, that is, didn't Tang Xuanzong still have an eldest son, Li Chun? Speaking of this child's luck, when he was first created crown prince, because his birth mother Liu Huafei was not as favored as Zhao Lifei, the consequence was that he lost his position with the prince.
So, after Li Ying and the other three sons died, why didn't they take his turn? Originally, the candidate for the crown prince after Li Ying was Li Qun's, but Li Qun was caught in the face by wild beasts because of hunting, which was a bit disfigured, that is, his face was not good, which was one of them. Second, he was a lot older, and by the twenty-sixth year of the kaiyuan dynasty, he actually had no children under his knees, which was also a big taboo of feudal ethics. On these two, compared with Li Hengyi, it was absolutely defeated.
Therefore, Li Heng's ability to become the prince is purely coincidental, and it is also the result of good luck. However, Li Heng, who became the crown prince, was very depressed, and for many years he was only committed to sandwiching between Li Linfu and Yang Guozhong, and the prince did it for eighteen years, just when he could not see the edge at a glance, the chaos of An Shi came, and in the chaos, Li Heng seized the opportunity to achieve himself.