It's a tragic tale of power, intrigue, and family infighting. In the royal family of the Tang Empire, a magnificent mother-son duel was staged, and the protagonist was Li Xian, the ill-fated prince. He was promoted as a spare tire for the crown prince, but he had an unfortunate fight with his mother Wu Zetian. In the end, not only was he deposed as the crown prince, but he was also forced to commit suicide by Wu Zetian's men, and even his background was questioned as the product of a martial family scandal. What kind of desperate ending is this past of mother-son confrontation? Is Li Xian really Wu Zetian's biological son? This eternal mystery requires us to clear the fog one by one and explore the truth.
1. The mystery of support: Why was Li Xian promoted to the prince's spare tire?
The government and the opposition were shocked that Li Xian actually took over the power of Shangshu Province when the crown prince Li Hongjian was alive. As the highest administrative body of the Tang Empire, Shangshu Province has a great deal of power, and it has always been only controlled by the crown prince or Zaifu. Now Li Zhi has divided power with Li Xian, which means that the candidate who will take over the crown prince in the future may change.
At this time, the crown prince Li Hong was riddled with many diseases, his health was deteriorating, and he repeatedly needed support to be a director. Li Zhi knew that Li Hong's physique was weak, and he was worried that he was still young, so in order to prevent the government from stopping after his son's death in the future, no one would take over, so he had to choose an heir for himself in advance. As the younger brother of the eldest son, Li Xian is an inevitable candidate.
However, Li Xian came from a humble background and was not carefully nurtured since he was a child, even if he was alert and diligent in his studies, he lacked the wisdom and gentleness that a prince should have. Li Zhi wanted to temporarily help him with power, which was nothing more than accumulating experience and prestige for him in advance. But this kind of treatment is really rare. In the past, even the prince, who had been canonized as the crown prince, would not have been given real power so early.
Li Zhi was so partial to Li Xian, in addition to the consideration of the heir, there were other reasons. Li Xian has a pure temperament, follows the rules, and more importantly, has the heroic appearance of Li Shimin in the past. Li Zhi saw Li Xian's heroism, so he deliberately promoted and cultivated, hoping to put the Great Unification Zen into the hands of people who could take on great responsibilities. No, all this painstaking arrangement by him laid the foundation for the future mother-son showdown.
2. The reason for the frame-up: Why are Li Xian and Wu Zetian incompatible?
Since ancient times, power struggles have been everywhere in the home of emperors. The contradiction between Li Xian and Wu Zetian stemmed from their struggle for power in the government. As a harem concubine, Wu Zetian's power should have been restricted, but since Li Zhi ascended the throne, she has gradually become involved in civil rights and military affairs and dominates the government with her skillful political skills. Now that Li Xian is in power, it will inevitably compress the power she has gained.
Wu Zetian was extremely jealous. On the one hand, she secretly sowed discord and slandered Li Xian for being unfilial and ignorant; On the one hand, he publicly humiliated and compiled books such as "Shaoyang Political Fan" and "The Biography of Filial Son", ridiculing his political literacy and conduct. What annoyed Wu Zetian even more was that Li Xian took the lead in annotating the Book of the Later Han. This monograph discusses the Eastern Han Dynasty's heroine title system and the dangers of foreign relatives running rampant, warning the world and using sharp words, which is regarded by outsiders as Li Xian's deliberate satire on Wu Zetian's arrogance and arrogance.
Wu Zetian was furious and decided that Li Xian's annotation of this book was to use the past to satirize the present and weaken her position in the court. She was eager to fight back, and did not hesitate to spread rumors in the palace, slandering Li Xian as the result of her fornication with her brother-in-law, not her own son. As soon as this rumor spread, it caused an uproar in Jingshi, and Li Xian's status as the crown prince was in jeopardy.
The contradiction between Wu Zetian and Li Xian also stems from her partiality towards her heirs. Li Xian's siblings, such as the eldest son Li Gui, the third son Li Xian, and the fourth son Li Dan are all favored by Wu Zetian, especially Li Xian, who is regarded as a successor by her. She had no intention of letting Li Xian divide power and rule, for fear that he would take away the inheritance of one of their henchmen in the future. Therefore, she did not hesitate to frame Li Xian and framed him in every possible way, intending to suppress him to the point of powerlessness.
However, Li Xian is not a good man and a woman, and he has never slackened his precautions against Wu Zetian. Whenever Wu Zetian wrote a letter to him, he always replied silently. Ignoring the rumors of an illegitimate child, he still believed in his life story until the last moment. Li Xian knew that the contradiction between mother and son was unsolvable, so he had to muffle his anger, win the favor of the minister with practical actions, and fight back against Wu Zetian's slander with his political achievements. However, the power struggle has become white-hot, and the two sides are on the same page, and the dispute has intensified, culminating in a tragic fiasco.
3. Abnormal Numbers: Martial Scandals and Suspicions of Planned Rebellion
Just as the struggle between mother and son for human rights intensified, a sensational samurai scandal spread in Kyoshi. It is rumored by people of insight that Wu Zetian and his sister Mrs. Han had a fragrant relationship. In order to cover up this scandal, Wu Zetian actually regarded his sister's illegitimate son Li Xian as his own and adopted him justifiably. In this way, the eternal mystery of Li Xian's life experience was solved.
There is no way to verify the authenticity of the samurai scandal back then. However, this rumor brought a huge reputation blow to Wu Zetian. For a time, literati and writers from all walks of life satirting, ridiculing the heirs of the martial arts family for their unknown origins. Even the samurai were furious about this. Wu Sansi once issued an order to suppress this rumor and punish him with capital punishment. However, this is counterproductive, and it has aroused more and more suspicion.
Just as rumors were spreading, another strange thing caused an uproar in the government and the opposition. When the eunuch Ming Chongyan was chatting casually, he actually criticized the origin of the sons of the martial family, and even called Li Xian "not his own son". Ming Chongyan is a capable minister among the eunuchs, and he is cautious by nature, and he has always looked up and down the royal heirs, and made a face-to-face judgment one by one. His remarks added fuel to the fire of the samurai scandal and cast a shadow over the entire royal family.
At the same time, an even more terrifying event happened: a spy found a hidden heavy armor in the East Palace. Wu Zetian was shocked and believed that Li Xian was plotting a rebellion in the East Palace and wanted to force the palace. She immediately sent her confidant Zhang Kungong to investigate, and summoned Li Xian to interrogate the matter. However, Li Xian was speechless about this matter, and actually said that "it is not for me to put it".
All these signs make people question Li Xian's background and background. Perhaps he is the remnant of a samurai scandal, as rumored to be; Perhaps he had the intention of rebellion and secretly laid down heavy troops. No matter what the truth is, Wu Zetian grasped this handle and completely suppressed Li Xian. Since then, Li Xian's status in the court has plummeted, and even his biological father Li Zhi has become wary of him, and this mother-son battle has pushed Li Xian to a dead end.
Fourth, the mother and son broke up: Why did Wu Zetian force Li Xian to death?
Li Xian was in a lot of suspicion, and Wu Zetian took advantage of the situation and struck while the iron was hot. She knew very well that if she didn't get rid of Li Xian, her imperial position would be in jeopardy. As a generation of heroines, she needs to cut the grass and eradicate the roots to completely solve this worry.
Wu Zetian was painstaking and lonely to Li Xian and tried his best. She did not hesitate to slander Li Xian as the result of her and her brother-in-law's public and private relations in South Korea, making him lose his last prestige in the government and the opposition. She secretly sowed discord and instigated her sons Li Xian and Li Xian to be suspicious of each other, causing the brothers to break up. She even compiled a book to openly satirize Li Xian's conduct, intending to reverse the favor of the government and the opposition towards Li Xian.
It can be said that all means have been exhausted, but Li Xian's foundation is still unable to be completely extinguished. Finally, Wu Zetian made up his mind to use political skills to force Li Xian into a desperate situation and force him to isolate himself from the world.
She first designed a change in the East Palace, framing Li Xian for plotting rebellion in the palace. Later, he secretly instructed Zhang Kungong and other cronies to spread Li Xian's proverb that "he is not his own son". For a time, the government and the opposition were in an uproar, Li Xian's reputation was discredited, and no one stepped forward to overturn the case for him.
In the end, Wu Zetian actually put Li Xian under house arrest in the third institute, deprived him of all power, and deprived him of food. Li Xian was so hungry that he had to take poison and commit suicide to break this insoluble mother-son feud. In this way, a generation of famous generals fell, and no one expected that his struggle with Wu Zetian would evolve into such a tragic ending.
Looking at the grievances and entanglements between the mother and son, it can be described as a wonderful power struggle drama. Wu Zetian exhausted all means, step by step, and finally forced Li Xian to a dead end. Not only did she win the throne in one fell swoop, but she also wiped out the last opposition in the royal family, paving the way for her future monopoly of power. And Li Xian's tragic end has thus become a strong evidence of the tyranny and tyranny of the later generations of resentful gentlemen to the heroine.
5. The mystery of his life experience: Is Li Xian really the illegitimate son of a martial artist?
Looking at this mother-son struggle, the most puzzling thing for future generations is the mystery of Li Xian's life experience. Wu Zetian repeatedly framed him for having an affair with his brother-in-law, is it nonsense, or is there a solid basis? This mystery has been shrouded in the fog of history, and it has always been the focus of debate among scholars.
Some people believe that Wu Zetian's words are just a momentary slander, and the purpose is to belittle Li Xian's prestige in the government and the opposition. The samurai family already had a scandal, and Li Xian was born at the brunt of it, so this rumor naturally spread. But in reality, this claim is unsubstantiated and is purely defamatory.
Some people also speculate that Lee Hyun may really be the legacy of the samurai scandal. It is true that in that era, the palace was chaotic, and it was not uncommon for the emperor's relatives to collude with each other. And Li Xian has never been married in his life, and he may indeed be unable to recruit relatives because of his illegitimate child's background. However, the literati of the government and the opposition at that time rarely commented on this matter, and it seems that it is not an open secret.
It is even said that Li Xian is actually Wu Zetian's biological son, and there is no problem with his background. The reason why Wu Zetian framed him as an illegitimate child was just to cover up his prejudice. As a generation of female protagonists, if you admit that Li Xian is the eldest grandson, it may be difficult to control the power of the dynasty in the future. Therefore, she did everything she could to curb Li Xian's prestige in the government and the opposition and clear the way for seizing the throne.
However, some scholars have put forward another view: Li Xianchu originally had no exceptions, and the problem was that Wu Zetian had different intentions later. Wu Zetian favored Li Xian back then, and once instructed him to inherit the unification in the future. But Li Xian blindly protected Li Zhi and was stubborn and stubborn, and finally annoyed Wu Zetian and was resented and retaliated against by her. So she fabricated the lie of "Increasing the Yuan by Abnormal Numbers", secretly ruining Li Xian's reputation in the government and the opposition, and paving the way for the final overthrow of him.
All kinds of speculations are indistinguishable, which shows that the historical truth has been blurred in the fog and is difficult to trace. However, it is undeniable that Wu Zetian did try every means to ruin Li Xian's reputation in the power struggle, removing a major obstacle to his seizure of power. As her long-term opponent, Li Xian finally suffered a humiliating fate heavier than death, and became a victim of history, and it is difficult to distinguish between right and wrong.