Ancient Chinese emperors have always been three palaces, six courtyards and seventy-two concubines, and the harem is even more beautiful than three thousand, and the spring color is boundless. But Emperor Zhongzong of Tang li xian was an exception, he could be said to be the most unmarried emperor of the Tang Dynasty, not only did ordinary women not like him, but even the closest women had to abandon him, his mother did not hurt him, his wife did not love him, and even his daughter had to kill him. All his life, Li Xian, being an emperor, and when her husband nested and saccharine, how could he be so miserable. How did this "miserable" word of Li Xian's life come about?
Abandoned twice
Li Xian was the seventh son of his father Li Zhi of Emperor Gaozong of Tang and the third son of his mother Wu Zetian in name. Because his second brother Li Xian may not have been born to Wu Zetian. Li Xian was born on the fifth day of november in the first year of Xianqing (655), and as the third eldest, he originally had no chance to become emperor. However, his two older brothers were not well-fated, and the eldest brother Li Hong was not in good health and died at a young age. The second brother Li Xian, because he was too outstanding, became a stumbling block on the road of Empress Wu Zetian, and was naturally eliminated by Wu Zetian.
Li Xian became the one who was cared for by the god of fate, and in August of the first year of Yonglong (680), he was made crown prince. Three years later, on the fourth night of the first month of December in the first year of Hongdao (683), Emperor Gaozong of Tang died. On December 11, Li Xian officially ascended the throne as emperor.
At the beginning of Li Xian's reign, there was a chancellor Pei Yan in the foreign dynasty who controlled the power of xiang, and there was a mother Wu Zetian in the palace who held real power. Wasn't that what he had imagined, what the emperor was supposed to say? Shouldn't it be a dry dictatorship? Li Xian is not too stupid, he knows the crux of the problem, which is that he does not have his own team. With his wisdom, the countermeasure he could think of was to quickly cultivate his henchmen, pull up a team to confront his mother and Pei Yan, and regain the power that belonged to the emperor.
Li Xian felt that the most reliable should be his wife's mother's family, especially his own old Taishan. Li Xian's father-in-law, Wei Xuanzhen, originally joined the army in Puzhou (in present-day Anyue County, Sichuan), and because his son-in-law became emperor and his daughter became empress, he was promoted to the position of Assassin of Yuzhou on a rocket. The speed of this promotion was already fast enough, but Li Xian felt that it was still too slow, he wanted to take power immediately, the time was too late, and in a few days he would let Wei Xuanzhen take another rocket and transfer to the central government as the governor of the province. Menxia Province was the core administrative department of the central imperial court of the Tang Dynasty, responsible for reviewing whether the emperor's order was correct, and if it was deemed inappropriate, the governor of Menxia Province, Shizhong and the deputy governor Huang Men Shilang, could directly declare the emperor's order invalid and invalid. This is not to mention, Li Xian wants to pull one more person on the rocket and seal the son of the nursing mother as a five-pin official.
Li Xian's appointment of his father-in-law as a servant was, in the eyes of Wu Zetian and Pei Yan, a naked act of seizing power. As soon as Li Xiangang said this idea, he was pushed back by Pei Yan: Emperor, the right can not be willful, Wei Xuanzhen was only two days to be an assassin, he had to cross the rank to become a waiter, which was not in line with the official selection system of the Tang Dynasty. Li Xian was furious, "Why shouldn't I be with Wei Xuanzhen in the world!" And the evil in the service! "Don't say a waiter, what is wrong with giving the whole world to your father-in-law?" Shuo is the emperor, and if you have power, you must be willful, and you must be in charge! Li Xian was right, in that era, power could be willful, but the key was to see who had the power and whose fist was hard. He overestimated the strength of his nominal emperor. After Pei Yan listened to Li Xian's words, he turned his head and left, no longer theorizing with the emperor, he knew that Li Xian, who had just sat on the throne, regarded himself as an onion, there was no need to spit with such a person, just start directly.
Pei Yan, who did not want to bother with Li Xianduo, went to the emperor's mother Wu Zetian to complain: Empress Dowager, your son is too capable of tossing, and it will be difficult for you to speak in this way. Wu Zetian was very direct: then abolish him. On the sixth day of February in 684, after Wu Zetian and Pei Yan took control of the Forbidden Army of Yulin, they held a meeting of senior cadres of the imperial court at the Qianyuan Temple, announcing that Li Xian's throne had been abolished and demoted to the position of King of Luling.
When Li Xian was dragged down from the emperor's throne, he shouted: What is wrong with Shuo, you must do this to Yuan. Mother Wu Zetian slapped the past: "Ru wants to use the world and Wei Xuanzhen, why should he be innocent!" "You are a rabbit cub who has lost your family, married your daughter-in-law and forgotten your mother," and you have to give Jiangshan to your father-in-law, don't you know what mistake you have made?"
Of course, all of this is a routine, it is all an excuse. The emperor is not guilty, reigning his sin. It was only because Li Xian blocked Wu Zetian's way that he was deposed from the throne. After Li Xian's dethronement, he was first detained in Junzhou (present-day Shiyan City, Hubei Province) and later in Fangzhou (present-day Fang county, Hubei). This level is fifteen years. During the fifteen years of captivity, Li Xian was in a state of fear almost all the time. From the day he was kicked off the throne, he knew about his mother's means. Whenever he heard the news that the imperial court minister had sent a messenger to Fangzhou, Li Xian was frightened and trembled, thinking that he had come to kill him, so he simply gave himself a hard time, and thought of wiping his neck to commit suicide. At this time, Mrs. Webster came to comfort him: "Misfortune is impermanent, it is better to lose a death, he is like this", I said husband, the moon has clouds and sunshine, and people have bad luck. Even if sooner or later we will die, then why should we think of dying early? It is better to die than to live, it is better to die early than to die late, and we live a day to earn a day. Only then did Li Xian slightly strengthen his will to live. For fifteen years, Wei Shi has always been li Xian's spiritual pillar, he once secretly promised Wei Shi: "At a different time, I am fortunate to see the day again, when the qing wants, there is no prohibition", wife, in case one day we can have the day of the head, I will become the emperor again, you become the empress, then this Jiangshan is our two, you can do whatever you want, I will not stop anything, the green hat can be worn. Li Xian did not expect that it was his promise that finally sent himself to the road of no return. This is a postscript.
Finally, fifteen years later, after repeated consideration by empress Wu Zetian and repeated advice from Di Renjie and other important ministers, she finally decided to return Jiangshan to Li Tang. In March of the first year of the Holy Calendar (698), Wu Zetian took Li Xian back to the imperial palace and subsequently made him crown prince. However, the position of Li Xian's successor was not stable, and in his later years, Wu Zetian's brain was a little unclear, and no one could believe it, only trusting the two male favorites Zhang Changzong and Zhang Yizhi's brothers.
At the end of the fourth year of Chang'an (704), Wu Zetian reported that he was critically ill, and only two Zhang were waiting around, and he did not see the prime minister, his son, and the prince. The erzhang issue was the focus of the political struggle of the imperial court at this time, and in this case, led by the chancellor Zhang Kamzhi, Huan Yanfan, Cui Xuanwei, Jinghui, and Yuan Shuji, five ministers who were loyal to Li Tang and tried their best to maintain the status of Li Xian's successor, decided to launch a coup d'état to escort Li Xian's smooth succession. Huan Yanfan and Jinghui reported the coup plan to Li Xian in the little black house, and Li Xian" agreed to let them go. When the old lady kicked your son down, don't blame the son for drawing a scoop on the gourd today, and also gave you such a hand.
But at the critical moment, Li Xian was a little instigated. On the night of the twenty-second night of the first month of the first year of shenlong (705), when the coup d'état began, Zhang Kamzhi and five others led a five-hundred-feather forest army to charge and sent the generals Li Duozuo, Li Zhan, and Li Xian's son-in-law Wang Tongjiao to the Eastern Palace to pick up Li Xian, cheer for the coup army, and carry the banner of the legitimacy of the coup. If the prince had not intervened, this just coup would have become a reactionary rebellion.
After Li Duozuo, Li Zhan, and Wang Tongjiao arrived at the Eastern Palace, they greeted Li Xian: Revolution, revolution, the crown prince will go with him. Li Xian, however, could not come out behind closed doors, he was afraid, in case he did not succeed, with the character of an old woman, he could only let him go to Chengren. Li Xian did not come out to carry the flag, and Zhang Cambodia was put on fire.
Wang Tongjiao spoke: "The former emperor paid His Highness with an artifact, Qi was destroyed, and the people and gods were indignant, and it took twenty-three years." Today tempt his heart, the North Gate, the South Tooth, work together to curse the fierce erection, restore the Li Clan Sheji, may His Highness stumble to the Xuanwu Gate to the vice-public expectation", I said His Royal Highness the Prince's father-in-law Old Taishan, do you remember twenty-three years ago? When your father handed over the world to you, you came to the world with great ambition and pride, just about to roll up your sleeves and shake off your arms to start a business, you didn't make any mistakes, you were ousted from power for no reason, people and gods were indignant, the whole country was sad, and now it has been twenty-three years. Now fortunately, with the blessing of the ancestors and heavens, the righteousness of the imperial court has returned, the guns and knives are in our hands again, the officials are also on our side, and everyone has said that they want to join the revolution together. Now that the revolutionary situation is critical, I would like to ask Your Highness to carry the revolutionary banner for the soldiers, lead us to attack Xuanwumen, chop up Zhang Changzong and Zhang Yizhi, the two rabbit cubs, seize the throne, and restore the world of Li Tang.
Li Xian still did not dare to go into battle, and took out the filial piety mother as a shield: "The fierce and honest should be destroyed, but the upper body is uneasy, and there is no alarm!" Zhu Gong is more after the picture", I said brothers, Zhang Changzong, Zhang Yizhi and those two bastards should be chopped off, but they are at the head of my mother's bed at this moment. My mother was sick again, very sick, what if she was shocked. Let's not make the white knife into the red knife out, or from the long term. Scatter, scatter first. Li Zhan was anxious: "All the generals disregard each other's homes to put the society, your highness's cup of cups want to accept the Ding Wok Hu!" Your Highness please stop yourself", Your Highness, the brothers have already loaded the bullets, the family is not wanted, the head is pinned to the waistband of the pants, carrying the head to follow you to do the revolution, you can't say withdraw, throw us into the oil pot. Your Highness, come out, and if you don't come out again, we will knock on the door.
Li Xian had no choice but to show up. Wang Tongjiao single-handedly carried his father-in-law, who was more than half a hundred years old and was already 50 years old, onto his horse and went to Xuanwu Gate to meet Zhang Kamzhi and others. After taking the Xuanwu Gate, he entered the Yingxian Palace where Wu Zetian lived, grabbed Zhang Changzong and Zhang Yizhi, and chopped them up. Then Li Xian, surrounded by Zhang Kamzhi and them, led a group of forbidden troops to Wu Zetian's sleeping hall, the Hall of Eternal Life, and protected or surrounded the old lady who was already in the wind and candles, and his eighty-two-year-old wife.
Wu Zetian was frightened, quickly got up, and asked, "Who is evil among the rioters?" What are you going to do, come one by one, don't go up together, this old bone can't stand it. Zhang Kamzhi replied: "Zhang Yizhi and Changzong plotted rebellion, and the ministers and others were ordered by the crown prince to rebuke them, for fear of leakage, so they did not dare to hear it." Your Majesty, Zhang Changzong and Zhang Yizhi conspired to launch a coup against the imperial court, fortunately you have a good son, and the crown prince Li Xian led us to smash their plot, chop these two bad boys, and save the imperial court and the country. For fear of disturbing your old man's home, I did not report it in advance, and the subject deserved to die.
Of course, the empress knew what was going on, and she still wanted to flop, so she ignored Zhang Kamzhi's stubble and said directly to Li Xian: It turned out that your boy did a good job, since you chopped two anti-imperial court elements, it was hard, go back to the East Palace. Wu Zetian's strategy was to slow down first, it was important to keep the throne at the moment, and then clean up these after breathing out of breath.
Wu Zetian's eyes turned quickly, and Zhang Kamzhi was not stupid. Huan Xuanfan hurried forward: "The prince is more at ease!" The former Emperor entrusted His Majesty with his beloved son, and this year his teeth have grown, and he has lived in the Eastern Palace for a long time, and the people of Providence have long thought of the Li clan. The courtiers did not forget the virtues of Emperor Taizong and the Emperor, so they served the crown prince as a thief. May Your Majesty pass on the throne to the crown prince, in the hope of the people of heaven", Your Majesty, how can the prince go back again, go back and wash his neck and wait for you to cut it. At the beginning, your husband, Emperor Gaozong Lizhi, entrusted the crown prince to you, and let you, the, assist your son to become emperor. Who knows what you did later, although your eating appearance is ugly, but it is all over, and we are not old accounts. Now that the prince is fifty years old, he has already grown up, and it is not a matter of living in the East Palace and not taking over. The national army of the imperial court was founded by Emperor Taizong Gaozong in that year, and everyone's heart was in the Li family, so the prince could raise his arms and call, and we all went together. Today, when everything comes to this point, you will get it from it, hand over the seal handle, and let the prince take over.
The knives were all mounted around his neck, and Wu Zetian didn't want to abdicate. At dawn, on the twenty-third day of the first month, Wu Zetian ordered the crown prince to oversee the country and grant amnesty to the world. Zhang Kamzhi and others sent ten Chincha ministers to all parts of the country to stabilize the situation. The next day, on the twenty-fourth day of the first month, Wu Zetian announced that he would pass the throne to the crown prince. Twenty-five, Li Xian officially ascended the throne and became emperor for the second time. Issued an edict to redress unjust, false and wrongly decided cases, and restore the reputation of loyal ministers loyal to Li Tang who were framed by cool officials. He made his younger brother Li Dan the Prince of Xiang the Prince of An Guoxiang and promoted to the position of Taiwei (太尉); he crowned his younger sister Princess Taiping as Princess Taiping of Zhenguo, and all the descendants of the imperial family restored their political treatment and were willing to be promoted and reused one by one.
On the fourth day of the first month of February, Li Xian restored the name of the Tang Dynasty, and all political, economic, military, and cultural systems were restored to the same as those of his father, Emperor Gaozong of Tang, Li Zhi, and the capital was moved from Luoyang back to Chang'an, and the name of the sacred capital of Luoyang was changed back to Dongdu. After fourteen years of horizontal insertion of the Wuzhou Dynasty, the Tang Dynasty finally returned to the king.
The old woman Wu Zetian abdicated, and her son Li Xian ascended the throne. However, Wu Zetian's nephew Liang Wang Wu Sansi and other Wu family members were almost unharmed in this coup d'état, and the power was still there, so how would Li Xian handle his relationship with the Wu family? At that time in Fangzhou, Li Xian's promise to his troubled wife Webster to do whatever he wanted, would he fulfill it? How serious are the consequences of cashing in? What was the final fate of zhang Kamzhi and five other heroes who pulled the Tang Dynasty back from the edge of the cliff?
Dazed and incompetent
After the successful coup d'état in the first year of Shenlong, Zhang Kamzhi and others were somewhat carried away by the victory and forgot to completely purge the martial forces in the imperial court with a single blow. Xue Jichang, one of the members of the coup group at that time, persuaded Zhang Kamzhi and Jinghui to cut down the grass and remove the roots, uproot the Wu family, and kill them cleanly. Zhang Kamzhi and Jinghui were calm and relaxed: "The big thing has been decided, and the flesh and ears on the machine are on the machine, how can the husband do it!" There are already many curses, and they cannot be recovered", Wu Sansi, they are already the meat on the board, none of them can run, they are not in a hurry, and they are not in a hurry, and it is not good to account for the world. Xue Jichang sighed, "I don't know where to die!"
Later, Liu Youqiu, who had made a big splash during the time of Emperor Xuanzong of Tang, also advised Huan Yanfan and Jinghui: "Wu Sansi still exists, and the gongs will never have a burial place; if you don't plan early, you will have no place to eat the navel", the first hand is strong, and then the next hand suffers, leaving Wu Sansi this scourge, you will eventually die without a place to bury. Don't hurry up and wait for someone to give you a coffin to send you to the end, Huan Yanfan and Jinghui don't listen.
An important reason why Zhang Kamzhi and others "therefore do not curse the martial artists" and do not take advantage of the victory to pursue and kill Wu Sansi is that they "want to make the superiors curse themselves and use Zhang Tianzi's mighty ears" to leave Wu Sansi and others for the emperor to practice their hands, so that the emperor can kill a few people, strengthen his courage, and establish his will. Don't you know that Li Xian, the king of England who was "called brave and fierce at the time", has become a cowardly Emperor Zhongzong Li Xian after more than ten years of abuse by his mother Wu Zetian.
After the "Five Kings Coup" zhongzong reversed, Zhang Kamzhi's side moved slower than the turtle, but Wu Sansi quickly stepped up his whip, seized the time, and quickly took action to pull Zhongzong to his side. Wu Sansi and Emperor Zhongzong were originally sons and daughters, and his son Wu Chongxun married Li Xian's daughter Princess Anle. More importantly, Wu Sansi also took the line of Shangguan Wan'er.
Shangguan Wan'er was the granddaughter of Shangguan Yi, the criminal of Wu Zetian's case. At the beginning, Emperor Gaozong of Tang had a disagreement with Wu Zetian and was deposed by Wu Zetian, and the former crown prince Li Zhong's former minister Shangguan Yi took the opportunity to persuade Emperor Gaozong to depose Wu Zetian and draft an edict for Emperor Gaozong. Unexpectedly, the matter was not secret, and Wu Zetian made a big fuss in the harem. Emperor Gaozong was reconciled, Shangguan Yicheng was killed as a scapegoat, and Wan'er, who was still in her infancy, "entered the court with her mother".
When Wan Er grew up, "Defending Hui Shan belongs to the text, Ming Xi officials, then Heaven loves it", from the descendants of Qin To heaven to the empress's confidant, "Hundred Divisions Watch, More Orders to Participate in the Decision". Wan Er once "repented of his will", according to the law, Wu Zetian "spared his talent not to kill, but only to put his face on it". After Emperor Zhongzong's restoration, Wan'er "took charge of the command and was deeply trusted" and was responsible for the imperial court edicts, and then became a concubine of Emperor Zhongzong, and was successively given the titles of Concubine and Zhaorong.
Wan'er's influence on Emperor Zhongzong was great, and at that time, the Tang Dynasty had just emerged from the historical shadow of Wu Zetian's "Wuzhou Revolution" and was uncertain. Wan'er advised Emperor Zhongzong to "widely place Zhao Scholars, Sheng Ying as a minister of lexicography in the dynasty, give several feasts, and give poetry and singing", and determine the situation of the dynasty through Daxingwen security. On top of the feast, Wan Er alone wrote for Zhongzong, Empress Wei, Anle and Princess Changning at the same time, "several poems were composed at the same time, the words were very beautiful, and the people of the time were salty and sarcastic."
Wu Sansi's way of taking shangguan wan'er was to put a green hat on Emperor Zhongzong and commit adultery with shangguan wan'er. After the two hooked up and committed adultery, Wan'er felt that Wu Sansi was good, so she recommended it to Empress Wei. "Shangsui and Sansitu discussed political affairs, and Zhang Kamzhi and others were all subject to three thoughts", Wu Sansi took Empress Wei and Shangguan Wan'er in his hands, which was equivalent to capturing Zhongzong. The two women blew the pillow wind at Zhongzong all day long, saying how Wu Sansi would come to do something, and the dim-witted Zhongzong also regarded Wu Sansi as his own.
There is a view that Emperor Zhongzong let Empress Wei intervene in the politics of the former dynasty and reintroduce Wu Sansi in order to introduce foreign forces to oppose the power of Zhang Kamzhi and the other five people, balance the high merits of the five people, and revitalize the imperial power. Similar to that year, Emperor Gaozong of Tang let Wu Zetian participate in politics, reusing new upstarts such as Xu Jingzong and Li Yifu to oppose elderly and important ministers such as Changsun Wuji. After all, Empress Wei was the only person that Emperor Zhongzong could rely on at that time to rely on; and Wu Sansi was the direct beneficiary of the coup d'état of the Five Kings, and had a wide network of contacts and entangled connections in the imperial court, which was powerful enough to oppose the Five Kings; Emperor Zhongzong could control the five kings and Wu Sansi in the middle, and reap the benefits of the fisherman. Even though emperor Zhongzong's measures had the possibility of paying homage to his father Emperor Gaozong to defend imperial power, the crux of the matter was that Emperor Gaozong was able to absolutely control Wu Zetian, Xu Jingzong, Li Yifu, and others, while Empress Wei's ambitions and Wu Sansi's stubbornness could not be restrained by the cowardly Emperor Zhongzong.
After the daring Wu Sansi and Empress Wei committed adultery, not only did they not hurry to leave the harem to avoid suspicion, but sometimes they even played a gambling game called Shuanglu with Empress Wei on The Dragon Bed of Emperor Zhongzong, and Emperor Zhongzong sat on the side and gave them chips to calculate the number of winning and losing points. This shows how deep the feelings between Emperor Zhongzong and Wu Sansi are. When they woke up, Zhang Kamzhi and others quickly persuaded Zhongzong to do wu sansi, but Zhongzong's heart had already been taken away by the Wu family, but instead he let Wu Sansi clean up Zhang Kamzhi.
In May of the first year of the Shenlong Dynasty (705), the two sides fought a decisive battle. On May 15, Jinghui and others signed a petition demanding the removal of the Wu family's forces. The next day, May 16, Wu Sansi counterattacked, and through Li Xian's edict, Zhang Kamzhi was made the King of Hanyang, Jinghui the King of Pingyang, Huan Yanfan the King of Fuyang, Yuan Shuji the King of Nanyang, and Cui Xuanwei the King of Boling. The five men were crowned kings on the same day, which on the surface was infinite scenery, but in fact, they were ascended and descended, and they were removed from their prime ministers and actual positions, and only had the false title of a prince. In July, Zhang Cambodia saw that the general trend had gone, and told the old man to return to his hometown. Later, Jinghui, Huan Yanfan, Yuan Shuji, and Cui Xuanwei were also demoted to the local area and driven out of Chang'an.
After deposing the five kings, Wu Sansi "ordered the hundred officials to restore the government of heaven, those who did not attach to the Wu clan rebuked them, those who were expelled by the five kings were restored, and the power was returned to the three thoughts", and there was a miasma of black smoke above the court, and even the reclusive people who did not care about the world could not look at it. Around April of the second year of the Divine Dragon (706), the hermit Wei Yue would "write a letter to Wu Sansi to sneak through the palace, and it will be a rebellion", and reported under his real name that Wu Sansi had maintained an improper relationship with the harem concubine for a long time, harboring evil intentions, and there would definitely be rebellion in the future.
Zhongzong was wearing a green hat, as long as no one said it, he didn't care, and now Wei Yue would actually tell the truth, showing how environmentally friendly the color of the crown on the emperor's head was. This can break the sky. Emperor Zhongzong was "furious and killed", his face was hanging, he ordered that no interrogation was allowed, and immediately chopped Wei Yuejian off, so as not to have any more moths pop out of his mouth. Zhongzong, who could not solve the problem of adultery between his wife and others, still had the ability to solve the problem of the person who raised the problem, which was also the usual method of the ancient Chinese government to deal with the problem.
As soon as Emperor Zhongzong's order was issued, Song Jing, then the Yellow Gate Attendant, immediately put the edict back on top and "played please push and press", asking for it to be interrogated by dali temple before being convicted according to the law. Receiving Song Jing's recitation, "Shang yi is angry, not as good as the whole towel, and the foot is out of the side door", Emperor Zhongzong's anger is even more soaring, even the turban is too late to tidy up, the heel of the shoe is not mentioned, he dragged the shoe, all the way to trot to Song Jing roared, "Shuo said that it has been cut, but it is not evil", Shuo has ordered the cutting off of Wei Yue's head, how come he still grinds and rubs without moving? You have even asked for interrogation, how can such a thing be tried? If something is tried again and again, where to put this old face, where is the royal face, is this not a joke for the people of the world to see my old Li family!
Saying that Emperor Zhongzong was "destined to be cut off", he ordered an immediate execution. Song Jing continued to argue, "People say that the palace is private and thinks twice, Your Majesty does not ask and condemns it, and the subjects are afraid that there will be snickering in the world", the matter between your own family Gongwu Sansi and your wife Empress Wei, everyone in the world knows, private discussions are everywhere, you don't know, I really don't know whether you really don't know, or pretend not to know; now Wei Yue will clearly poke this matter out, Your Majesty you will kill people without interrogation, isn't this the darker it is!
Song Jing insisted that Wei Yue be handed over to Dali Temple for interrogation. "Shang is not allowed", Zhongzong is still not allowed. Song Jing was furious, "If you want to kill the Moon General, please behead the courtiers first!" Otherwise, the subject will not dare to obey the edict in the end", Your Majesty, if you have to cut off Wei Yuejian, then first chop off the head of the subject. Otherwise, the subject would rather have his head cut off and bleed than sign the edict. According to the administrative legal system of the Tang Dynasty, the emperor's edict could not be effectively enforced without being signed by shizhong and huangmen shilang. Emperor Zhongzong was angry, Song Jing was angry, and the two monarchs and courtiers watched who had screwed whom.
When Emperor Zhongzong and Song Jing were at a stalemate, Yin Sizhen, the governor of Dali Temple, came forward and changed his mind to continue the struggle. "SiZhen to the month of occurrence, stubbornly think that it can not be executed", Yin Sizhen proposed, even if the emperor you have to kill, now is not the time, it is the time of spring and summer, all things grow, according to our Tang law, can not kill people in spring and summer, this is against the law of heaven and time. Indeed, according to the Tang Law, except for crimes such as rebellion and murder of the master by slaves, no other criminal can be executed from the spring to the autumn equinox.
Under the repeated persuasion of Yin Sizhen and Song Jing and others, "Shangfu Shaojie", Zhongzong's thunder power was temporarily retracted, "there was a scepter with a scepter to flow to Lingnan", Wei Yue changed from death to cane punishment, and after a beating, he was exiled to Lingnan, Guangdong. Wei Yue temporarily relieved him of the danger to his life, but Wu Sansi still grasped the matter and "ordered the division to illegally harm him" and instructed other departments to assassinate the killer outside the law. After Yin Sizhen received the wind, he "stubbornly argued again" and wanted to enter the palace again to ask Emperor Zhongzong to thoroughly investigate the matter. Li Chengjia, the governor of Yushitai at the time and one of the judicial departments at the time, resolutely implemented the spirit of Wu Sansi's instructions, "entrusting other matters, not allowing Sizhen to enter the imperial court", impeaching Yin Sizhen under the pretext of other matters, and not allowing him to see the saint in person.
Yin Sizhen "must not be satisfied", could not see Emperor Zhongzong, only to criticize Li Chengjia in person: "The public enforces the law for the Son of Heaven", Li Chengjia, as a senior member of the imperial court, holds the charter in his hand, and holds the law for the son of heaven, but in order to pat Wu Sansi's ass, he even wantonly trampled on the charter and law of the imperial court. Are you getting rid of Zhongliang one by one for the sake of plotting a more convenient rebellion in the future? Li Chengjia was criticized for being red-faced and naked, and became angry and ashamed, and once again impeached Yin Sizhen and demoted him to Qingzhou (青州, in present-day Qingzhou, Shandong Province) as an assassin.
Unfortunately, under the chaotic imperial program, Yin Sizhen could not save Wei Yue's life even if he deposed the official, but only postponed the day of death for the time being. On the second day of the autumn equinox of that year, "after the autumn equinox, Pingxiao", the sun had just revealed a little red face, the sky had just been brightened, and Zhou Renluo, the governor of Guangzhou, "beheaded" him, and dragged Wei Yue out of his cell and beheaded him. "There is no time for the retreat", Emperor Zhongzong's edict of forgiveness was too late to leave people under the sword. The incompetent Zhongzong was not only unable to protect Wei Yuejun, but even the Five Kings were unable to take care of Him. Although Emperor Zhongzong demoted the Five Kings to the position of local assassin and then to Sima Shi, he did not want to do the thing of killing them all, after all, he relied on Zhang Kamzhi to return to power. Wu Sansi saw that Zhongzong could not do anything, so he used the great killing weapon.
In July of the second year of Shenlong (706), Wu Sansi shouted to catch the thief, "Yin makes the empress filthy, listed in Tianjin Bridge", sent people to the eastern capital Luoyang Tianjin Bridge to post a large poster, exposing Empress Wei's adulterous harem, the face is piled up, "please add deposed", demanding the abolition of the position of the palace. After Wu Sansi arranged this matter, he beat a rake and falsely accused it of being a large-character poster sent by Zhang Kamzhi and five other people. "Furious", Emperor Zhongzong thundered and ordered Li Chengjia to investigate the matter thoroughly.
Li Chengjia was Wu Sansi's confidant, and naturally fabricated the facts according to the master's wishes, and reported to Emperor Zhongzong that "Jinghui, Huan Yanfan, Zhang Kamzhi, Yuan Shuji, and Cui Xuanwei made people do it", Your Majesty, your Majesty, your wise divine martial arts, the holy Ming candlelight, and the clear observation of Qiu Qiu, this matter was indeed done by Zhang Kam Zhi and the five of them; "Although after the cloud was abolished, the conspiracy was greatly rebellious, and the clan was asked to punish it", and the minister further ascertained that they were ostensibly talking about abolishing the empress, but in fact they were creating rumors and creating public opinion, and they wanted to rebel against His Majesty, and the minister asked zhang Kam zhi's five people to be behead them all over the door. Kill the Nine Tribes!
At the same time as instructing Li Chengjia to play, Wu Sansi also asked his daughter-in-law, Princess Anle, to "say it inside" and go into the palace to add some oil to her father's father; he commanded Yu Shitai's attendant Yu Shi Zheng to "speak outside" and continue to add firewood to the court. Emperor Zhongzong made up his mind to decide to kill people, "edict Dali to end his crime", and issued an edict for Dali Temple to conclude the case and convict him, and to kill Zhang Kamzhi and five other people in the name of the law.
After the edict was sent to Dali Temple, Li Chaoyin of Dali Temple (from Liupin) immediately raised an objection, "The crime committed by Hui and others, without pushing the poor, can not be corrected", holding that the matter has not been investigated, the truth is not clear; second, without trial, there is no basis in law, and it is impossible to judge the crime. Pei Tan, who succeeded Yin Sizhen as the governor of Dali Temple, directly slapped Li Chaoyin's opinion back and made a ruling on behalf of Dali Temple, "Hui and others should be cut off according to the book system, and should not be pushed more", whether you Li Chaoyin is the chief or I Pei Tan is the chief, is it that you understand the law or I understand the law, the emperor's order is greater than the law, you know no. The emperor has ordered it to be killed, and you still have to find out the truth. There is no need to investigate and try jinghui and others, not only to kill but also to raid the house. "Chaoyin is the will", because of this matter, Li Chaoyin was planted at once.
Emperor Zhongzong learned that Li Chaoyin, a small Dali Cheng, dared to confront his superiors and oppose the imperial order, "ordering the degradation of Lingnan to be evil", and ordered him to be demoted to the land of Lingnan smoke and miasma, and then experience the idea of life transformation. There is a way in which things are clustered and people are grouped. Zhongshu Governor Zhongshu ordered Li Zhao, after hearing about Li Chaoyin's affairs, decided to pull the brothers along and play Zhongzong, "Chao Yin su is called clean and righteous, and breaking prison is also very serious" Li Chaoyin has always been a person who is honest and honest, and he is upright and upright, so he is a little too stubborn in his speech and handling affairs this time. He did not make any major mistakes in the trial of cases at Dali Temple, and law enforcement has always been fair and equitable, and has always been a typical example of a model judge publicized by the imperial court. "Once he has traveled far away to the Mountains, he is afraid that the world will suspect his guilt", and now that he has been relegated to such a far place as Lingnan, it seems that the strength of the imperial court is too small to tolerate ministers who disagree. After listening to Li Zhao's persuasion, Emperor Zhongzong "understood", his anger subsided a little, and he "went out to Wenxi Ling" and re-issued an edict to Li Chaoyin to move a place and delegated it to Wenxi County (in the area of Present-day Wenxi County, Yuncheng City, Shanxi Province) as a county order.
After Li Chaoyin's desperate advice, Emperor Zhongzong temporarily suppressed the thunderous anger of cleaning the five kings. Cui Xiang, a member of the Zhongshu She, said to Wu Sansi, "Hui and others will return to the north on another day, and eventually it will be a trouble, so it is better to send envoys to correct and kill them", and advised Wu Sansi to falsely preach the holy will to kill the five kings. Wu Sansi asked who could do this, and Cui Xiang recommended Zhou Lizhen, the enemy of the Five Kings.
Zhou Lizhen sharpened his knife and went to kill people, first meeting Huan Yanfan on the road. The enemy was extremely red when they saw it, and Zhou Lizhen made bamboo thorns out of sharpened bamboo, and dragged Huan Yanfan around on the bamboo thorns, and the flesh on his body was torn off piece by piece by the bamboo thorns, and the bones were exposed, and then he was beaten to death with sticks. After grabbing Jinghui, Zhou Lizhen used a knife to cut off the flesh of Jinghui's body piece by piece and cut him alive. In the end, he caught Yuan Shuji and forced him to drink the poisonous wild kudzu juice, which was like an iron hook hooking his throat. Yuan Shuji drank a few liters, but did not die, crawling around on the ground in pain, grabbing the ground with both hands, scratching all his nails, and finally being beaten to death by Zhou Lizhen's stick. Only Zhang Kamzhi and Cui Xuanwei had died before Zhou Lizhen's arrival, which was a good ending.
Zhou Lizhen sent the five kings back to the west and returned to Chang'an to resume his life, and Wu Sansi promoted him to the position of deputy governor of Yushitai, Yushi Zhongcheng. After Wu Sansi killed the Five Queens, he poured power into the Lord, saying, "I don't know what is called a good person and what is evil in the intergenerational world; but those who are good to me are good people, and those who are evil to me are evil ears", and everyone in the world looks sideways!
Zhang Kamzhi and other heroes were killed, and Emperor Zhongzong was completely surrounded by Wu Sansi, Empress Wei, Princess Anle, and others. These people confused the government and forced the crown prince Li Chongjun into a corner.
Li Chongjun was originally like his father Li Xian, and was tricked by Wu Sansi, and even participated in the framing of Zhang Kamzhi and others. But as soon as the Five Kings died, Wu Sansi, Empress Wei, and Princess Anle aimed their spearheads at him. Li Chongjun was not empress Wei's own child and was very unpopular. Wu Sansi was afraid that in the future, Li Chongjun would liquidate himself when he came to power. As for Princess Anle and Wu Chongxun, they even summoned Li Chongjun as a slave, and sometimes called Li Chongjun a slave in front of his face.
Li Chongjun was furious, and sooner or later his position as a prince could not be preserved. Although he has also done a lot of bad things, not a qualified successor, but his personality is still quite decisive, dare to fight and dare to do, he decided to use the knife handle to defend his future. On the sixth day of the first month of July in the second year of shenlong (707), Li Chongjun led the general Li Duozuo (李多祚) and more than 300 cavalry of the forbidden army to launch a coup d'état. First go to the old nest of DuanWu Sansi and behead Wu Sansi and Wu Chongxun father and son in the Wu family. Then he entered the Imperial City from the Suzhang Gate and shouted that he would capture Shangguan Wan'er alive.
Li Chongjun originally intended to kill Wu Sansi's father and son, Shangguan Wan'er, Empress Wei, Princess Anle and others, and did not attack his father. However, Shangguan Wan'er stirred up dissension in order to save her life, and shouted at Emperor Zhongzong: "Look at his intention to suo Wan'er first, the empress of the second suo, and then everyone", looking at the prince's posture, it is to do me first, and then the empress and the emperor. After Emperor Zhongzong heard this, he quickly took Wan'er, the empress, and the princess to the Xuanwu Gate, and immediately dispatched more than 2,000 forbidden troops and the garrison of the capital to defend the Xuanwu Gate Taiji Hall.
Xuanwumen was the key hub of the Tang Dynasty's palace coup, and whoever took Xuanwumen basically locked in the victory. Li Chongjun should have not studied history well, carried out a coup d'état but did not learn from his grandfather Li Shimin's set, and directly smashed the Xuanwu Gate; instead, he first attacked the Xuanwu Gate, and as a result, he could not attack the Xuanwu Gate. More importantly, the emperor, the banner of the legitimacy of the coup, was on the opponent's side.
The two sides attacked tentatively first, and during the battle, Emperor Zhongzong's personal bodyguard, the eunuch Yang Sixun, hacked Li Duozuo's son-in-law and the forward general of the coup troops, Ye Huli, to death, and the morale of the coup troops was demoralized. Then Li Xian shouted at the forbidden army that followed Li Chongjun's rebellion at the Xuanwu Gate: "Ru generations are all soldiers of the Shu Su Guards, what is the rebellion from Duozuo!" Those who can cut off the rebels, do not suffer from not being rich", you people who eat me and drink mine, why do you want to follow Li Duozuo to rebel against such a dead family. Remembering your past merits, now show you a way to live, as long as you can kill Li Duozuo's bunch of rabbit cubs, you will not only not be blamed in the past, but also ensure that your whole family will be rich and prosperous. The people who rebelled with Li Chongjun and Li Duozuo originally wanted to be rich and noble, and now that the emperor had promised a future for wealth and nobility, he did not hurry to seize the opportunity, immediately turned around and turned the spearhead, and chopped off Li Duozuo's head on the spot.
Under the protection of more than a hundred dead parties, Li Chongjun ran to Zhongnan Mountain and fled to Huxian County, Shaanxi Province, when he was killed by the anti-water henchmen. The dim-witted Emperor Zhongzong actually took his son's head and went to the Wu Sansi Spirit Hall to pay homage.
This cake is poisonous
The coup d'état of the crown prince Li Chongjun did away with Wu Sansi's father and son, but Empress Kewei, Princess Anle, and Shangguan Wan'er did not hurt half a hair. Princess Anle died of her husband, and soon married Wu Chengsi's son Wu Yanxiu, but the old one did not go to the new one. Removing Li Chongjun, the nail in his eye, Empress Wei and Princess Anle acted more arbitrarily, and their ambitions were almost against the sky.
Empress Wei's life model was her mother-in-law Wu Zetian, who was originally a strong woman who did not let Su Mei compete and be competitive, but she was suppressed by Wu Zetian. She hated Wu Zetian for imprisoning her in Fangzhou for more than ten years, but she admired Wu Zetian's ability to become an empress of a generation in the sky. Since the mother-in-law can, why can't her daughter-in-law? Moreover, her husband, Emperor Zhongzong Li Xian, was several ranks worse than his father-in-law Gaozong Li Zhi. Coupled with Li Xian's promise to her when she was in Fangzhou, "I was fortunate to see the light of day at a different time, when I was only what Qing Qing wanted, I didn't prohibit it", and I wanted to do whatever I wanted, which further stimulated her ambition to become an empress of a generation. Every time Emperor Zhongzong ascended to the throne, Empress Wei, like her mother-in-law at that time, hung a curtain behind Emperor Zhongzong to listen to the government.
Shangguan Wan'er saw through Empress Wei's ambitions and advised her, and everything followed Wu Zetian's mold. At that time, Wu Zetian proposed that children should keep filial piety for their biological mothers, just as they should keep filial piety for their fathers, and they should also keep filial piety for three years. Now Empress Wei went a step further, requiring her children to keep filial piety for their stepmothers and stepmothers, and also to keep filial piety for three years, so that all women with children in the world could enjoy the treatment of three years of filial piety. In order to win the hearts and minds of the people, Empress Wei also carried out drastic reforms to the men's work system and retirement system of the Tang Dynasty, before the men were twenty-one, even if the adults had to bear the servitude for the state, sixty could retire and no longer work for volunteers; now it was changed to twenty-three adults and fifty-nine retirements, which was equivalent to improving the welfare of the people.
In the second year of Jinglong (708), Empress Wei began to create a propaganda campaign for herself. On February 27, the great news came from the palace that the dress that the queen often wore had risen with five colors of auspicious clouds. Li Xian hurriedly asked people to paint this scene and circulate it to the civil and military officials. Empress Wei's henchmen, Wei Juyuan, who was then the prime minister of the province under the men, slapped his ass and demanded that the great spirit of the empress's touching heaven and earth be publicized to the people of the whole country, and Li Xian approved it.
It was not only Empress Wei who wanted to be empress, but also Princess Anle, a daughter who was spoiled by her father. Princess Anle was born on the road of Li Xian and Empress Wei exiled to Fangzhou, and when she was just born, there was no swaddling on the road, So Li Xian took off her clothes and wrapped her little daughter up, and gave her the nickname Li Shu'er. Because of this layer, Li Xian was extremely fond of Princess Anle and wanted something to give. Princess Anle, with the support of her father, interfered in the affairs of the dynasty, sold officials and knights, and took land to approve notes. Many middle-ranking and high-ranking officials have gone through her door and paid silver to the docks to be promoted, "more than the prime minister is out of the door." Princess Anle sometimes even "made her own edicts, covered up her text, and ordered them to be signed", wrote the edict documents herself, covered the contents with her hands, and did not let her father see what was going on, but only let Li Xian sign them. Li Xian, "laughing and obeying it, did not even look at it", and only laughed, so he signed the emperor's name and sealed it, and did not look at what his daughter was going to do.
In this way, Princess Anle also felt that it was too troublesome to let her father seal and sign, so it was better to take the pen and pen pole herself, and even put forward a non-dividing idea, "asking herself to be the imperial wife", and let the father emperor crown herself as the successor of the imperial wife, Emperor Zhongzong was obviously not dim enough to pass the throne to his daughter, so he did not agree to Princess Anle's request, but did not criticize a word.
In the second year of Jinglong (708), Princess Anle set her sights on the land of Kunming Pond and wanted to develop it into a private garden. "Kunming pond, worn by Han Xiaowu", Kunming pond is an artificial lake excavated by Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, "there are puyu li, the capital master relies on it", many people in Chang'an City rely on this lake to fish for a living. Li Xian disagreed, "It is not allowed to be funded by the people's puyu", after all, many ordinary people have to rely on fishing in Kunming pond to survive. Although Li Xian fainted, he also understood that if even the people in the capital did not have food to eat, this Tang Dynasty would really be finished. Considering this level of interest, Li Xian advised his daughter, "Since the previous generation, we have not been able to deal with others, this is not possible", this Kunming pond has been the public property of the people of Chang'an since ancient times, we cannot engage in privatization and pull into the royal money bag.
Princess Anle didn't care about this, and when she didn't agree, she was not happy, "If you are not pleased, you will take the people's land to make a fixed Kunchi." Father, you don't give the people to fish in the Kunming pond, then I will grab a piece of land from the hands of the people, dig a garden larger than the Kunming pond, "stretch for miles, tired stones like Huashan, water diversion like Tianjin", the area is vast, with rockeries piled up into the appearance of Huashan, the waterways in the park are longitudinal, like a heavenly river. After completion, it was named "Dingkun Pond", which was simply the opposite of the Kunming Pool, and it was bound to overwhelm the head of the Kunming Pool.
After the decoration of Dingkunchi was completed, Princess Anle asked her father to inspect it. You didn't give me Kunming Pool at the beginning, I played a big one for you today. On August 21, 709, the third year of Jinglong (709), "Shangxing DingKunchi", Li Xian took a visit to Kunming Pond with hundreds of officials of Wenwu and Wu. After the tour, as usual, he went to a banquet to eat and drink, "all the officials pre-feasted and gave poems", and the entourage of officials also wrote a poem to show their souvenirs. The content of the poem can be guessed without thinking, almost every minister is praising the picturesque beauty of Kunming Pond, so good to leave to those ordinary people is a waste, look at how wise and unique our beloved Princess Anle is, more planning and design, a few strokes to create such a big project. Such talent is more than enough for politics, and if the princess can go further, it will be a great blessing for the people of my Tang Dynasty. Anyway, there is already a precedent of Wu Zetian Mu Ji Si Chen in front, why not do it again! Regardless of whether this is written from the heart, whether or not the princess will be caught in the future in case of her downfall, whether these poems will be put into black material, first pass the current level. Princess Zhongzong Anle's upper beam was not correct, and the lower beam of the ministers could only be crooked.
Empress Wei and Princess Anle are so extravagant, where does the money come from? They have their own clever trick, that is, to sell officials, as long as they spend 300,000 yuan, they can buy a letter of appointment from them, and they can become officials without going through the official department, which is called a oblique seal official. Fortunately, after Li Chaoyin was transferred back to the imperial court to serve as an official, he took advantage of the opportunity of the official examination to expel more than 1,400 oblique officials, which barely made the official field cleaner, but only reluctantly.
On May 17, the fourth year of Jinglong (710), a grassroots cadre named Yan Qinrong in Xuchang, Henan Province, who really couldn't bear to look at the government, wrote a book of ten thousand words, attacking the empress for fornication and causing chaos in the government, Princess Anle and Wu Yanxiu, as well as Empress Wei's henchman Zong Chuke, and others to recruit power and bribes to push the Tang Dynasty into the abyss of unrecoverable disasters. Li Xian asked Yan Qinrong to confront him, but Zong Chuke was in front of the emperor and let people grab Yan Qinrong's head and crash him to death on the stone. Although Li Xian did not pursue the matter any further, he was already unhappy.
Emperor Zhongzong's expression was looked at by Empress Wei and Princess Anle. These two fools who dreamed of being more intelligent than iq and surpassing their ideals, in order to become empresses and imperial wives, actually regarded their husbands and fathers as stumbling blocks. You know, Li Xian, as the emperor, is their talisman. At that time, Wu Zetian relied on Emperor Gaozong Li Zhi in front of him to control the sun and moon of the dynasty step by step behind him. Empress Wei and Princess Anle's mother and daughter believed that as long as Li Xian died, they would be able to ascend to the throne smoothly. Don't you know that after the positive and negative lessons of Empress Wu Zetian's coming to the dynasty, the officials and people of the Tang Dynasty have already had a lingering feeling about another empress ascending the throne, and the situation has not allowed for another empress?
Empress Kewei and Princess Anle had to do it quickly, and since they regarded Li Xian as the biggest obstacle on their way forward, let's do it. Empress Wei and Princess Anle washed their hands to make soup, let people make a pie for Li Xian, and then served it warmly. Empress Wei said, "Husband, eat." Princess Anle said: Eat, Father Emperor, it has added flavored seasonings to ensure your satisfaction. Li Xian took a bite and shouted: This cake is poisonous. On the second day of the first month of June, Li Xianxin died of poisoning at the age of 55.
In Li Xian's life, his mother did not hurt, his wife did not love, and his daughter did not filial piety, which was destroyed in the hands of the three women closest. Ostensibly the lord of zhongxing in the Tang Dynasty, he relied on his second ascension to the throne, and was pulled back to the right track of the Li Tang Dynasty because Wu Zetian changed the Tang to a Zhou dynasty. But peeling off this layer of aura to see the essence, Li Xian is an incompetent person who is dim at ruling the country and lazy in the Qi family. So, after Empress Wei and Princess Anle poisoned her husband, could she smoothly embark on the peak of her life as an empress and an imperial consort? The elder brother was poisoned, how would the younger brother Li Dan and his sister Princess Taiping avenge their brother?
