Tang Gaozong Li Zhi, is the third emperor of the Tang Dynasty, after his father Tang Taizong created the grand situation of "Zhenguan Zhizhi", Li Zhi, who inherited his father's business, was lucky, fortunately, he inherited the glorious inheritance of his father Tang Taizong; but at the same time he was also unfortunate, unfortunately, because of Tang Taizong's excellent achievements, whether he liked it or not, Li Zhi could not get rid of the aura of his father Tang Taizong, plus the Tang Ruler Wu Zetian after him was still the only female emperor in history. Sandwiched between the two, Li Zhi is not so brilliant, and even has the title of "cowardly emperor".
So, what kind of person was Li Zhi in history? Is it really as cowardly and incompetent as many people claim?
Emperor Taizong of Tang had a total of fourteen sons, of which three sons born to Empress Changsun were Crown Prince Li Chengqian, the fourth son Li Tai, and the ninth son Li Zhi, all of whom were concubines, and at that time, compared with the other two brothers, Li Zhi could be said to have no advantage, neither the eldest son nor as deeply favored by Tang Taizong as Li Tai, and his benevolent and somewhat cowardly nature also made him have no outstanding place. So, how did the position of prince finally come to Li Zhi's hands? All this has to start from the rebellion of the crown prince Li Chengqian, Tang Taizong was particularly fond of Li Tai, the king of Wei, and Li Tai's ability was originally outstanding coupled with the emperor's favor, and gradually developed ambitions, has been secretly competing with Li Chengqian, after that, Li Chengqian was afraid that his position as crown prince was deposed, so he decided to act first, and li Yuanchang, Hou Junji and others rebelled, but did not succeed, after the defeat of Li Chengqian was directly reduced to a commoner, the crown prince was deposed. However, Li Tai, who was most likely to be the next crown prince, did not succeed, and Tang Taizong, after learning that the biggest reason for Li Chengqian's rebellion was because of Li Tai, was greatly disappointed in Li Tai, and finally, after the eldest son's unbridled suggestion, the position of prince fell to Li Zhi.
In this battle of swords and swords, Li Zhi seems to be like a bystander, but the final throne fell into his hands, so we also have to doubt it, in tang Taizong's view, some cowardly but fortunately very benevolent Li Zhi is really so simple? As it turns out, it's not. Li Zhi, who has always given people the impression of weakness and benevolence, is the real means of cleverness, he is not without ambition and strength, but more aware of clumsiness and forbearance, Li Zhi's means and the city government are more exposed after he ascended the throne.
It should be known that when Li Zhi ascended the throne, the environment he was in was very unfavorable to him, he was supported by the eldest son Wuji, and although the eldest son Wuji was a courtier, he almost controlled most of the power of the government, in such a situation, when Li Zhi was unable to regain power, he once again chose to be superficially patient and secretly plotting, just like a beast that was lying dormant and accumulating strength, waiting to attack at any time. In the fourth year of Yonghui (653), the outbreak of the "Fang's Widow Love Conspiracy Rebellion" triggered one of the largest political injustices in the early Tang Dynasty, and many imperial relatives and state relatives were implicated.
In this whole incident, Li Zhi took advantage of the rebellion of The Eldest Sun Wujie and Fang Yi'ai to eliminate the core figures of the descendants of the founding ministers, fiercely attacked the Gate Valve forces, and also took advantage of Li Daozong and others to directly control the military power, and through the hands of the eldest Son Wuji, successfully eradicated Li Ke, the King of Shu, who posed the greatest threat to his throne. Li Zhi's plan to use this incident can be said to be to kill three birds with one stone, which is enough to see Li Zhi's political means and mind.
Later, the incident in which Li Zhi abolished the Wang clan and established the Wu clan as the latter proves that Li Zhi is not a cowardly emperor, and it is also a manifestation that he is no longer willing to be manipulated by the eldest son Wuji and Chu Suiliang. The Wang clan represented not only the "order of the former emperor", but also the powerful forces of the Gate Valve Clan behind her, and Li Zhi broke the shi clan's power by setting up the Wu clan, who was strong in personal strength but born low, and in one fell swoop, he took the power of the courtiers and foreign relatives, removed the eldest son Wuji and others from power, vigorously attacked the clan and other forces, and arranged his cronies when the imperial court employed people was vacant, and Li Zhi took back the power step by step.
And Li Zhi liked to hide behind his back, never appeared in person, in fact, he was secretly manipulating the style of behavior and the fact that he let Wu Zetian, who was a woman, take the throne was really not in line with the mainstream concept at that time, and these two reasons were probably the main reasons why Li Zhi was called "cowardly emperor". Moreover, the merits of Emperor Gaozong of Tang during the reign of Li Zhi should not be underestimated, in addition to the above-mentioned excellent means in the court, during his reign he also destroyed Baekje, Goguryeo, and Western Turks, so that the territory of the Tang Dynasty reached its peak, and it lasted for thirty-two years.