Reading history can tell you the present. Today, the author continues to explain Sima Guang's masterpiece of historiography, "Zizhi Tongjian".
In 705, the Wuzhou Dynasty chancellor Zhang Kamzhi, together with Cui Xuanwei, Huan Yanfan, Jinghui, Yuan Shuji, and others, launched a coup d'état to oust Wu Zetian, who had been reigning for many years, from the throne, and killed her male favorites Zhang Changzong and Zhang Yizhi. Eventually, the crown prince Li Xian was reinstated to the throne for Emperor Zhongzong of Tang. After many hardships, the Lee clan was finally restored. And this historical event is also known as the "Dragon Revolution".
In the view of Zhang Kamzhi and others, since Wu Zetian had fallen, it was natural to kill his accomplices, especially Wu Zetian's niang family members. During the reign of Wu Zetian, he had supported his sons and nephews, and Wu Chengsi, Wu Sansi and others had successively been crowned kings, and even Wu Zetian once wanted to make them crown princes.
In the eyes of the courtiers, Wu Sansi and others were just waiting for the shepherds and little people who only wanted to please the empress and did not care about the suffering of the people. In order to let Wu Sansi and other Wu clans prove themselves and accumulate political capital, Wu Zetian once asked them to lead troops to attack the Turks and Khitans. As a result, these people were stunned and defeated on the battlefield, which once again proved their incompetence. And the courtiers' contempt for the Wu clan rose to the extreme.
However, during the Shenlong Revolution, Zhang Kamzhi and others only killed the two Zhang brothers, and did not use their swords against the Wu clan. The reason why they did this was to hope that Tang Zhongzong would personally give the order to do his best to punish Wu Sansi and others. However, Zhang Kamzhi waited for the left and the right, but Tang Zhongzong did not give the order.
For the hesitation of Zhang Kamzhi and others, their subordinates were anxious. Shi Xuejichang, the governor of LuoZhou, once suggested to Zhang Kamzhi and Jinghui:
"Although the two evils have been removed, the production and lu are still there, please think twice about the genus because of the military situation, and correct the royal family, so as to secure the world."
In Xue Jichang's view, Wu Sansi was like lü hou's nephews in the Western Han Dynasty, Lü Chan and Lü Lu, who should have been killed with the help of military strength. If the military situation passes, it will not be easy to deal with.
And Liu Youqiu, the chancellor, also advised Huan Yanfan and Jinghui to say:
"Think twice, and the father-in-law will never have a burial place." If not earlier, the umbilicus will not be reached. ”
In Liu Youqiu's view, if Wu Sansi continued to live, Zhang Kamzhi and others would die without a place to bury.
For the correct opinions of his subordinates, Zhang Kamzhi was "repeatedly unable to say anything." Apparently, Zhang Kamzhi still had illusions about Tang Zhongzong. Wu Sansi repeatedly threatened Tang Zhongzong's throne and repeatedly plotted to kill the Li clan, and Tang Zhongzong should hate him to the bone, always wanting to deal with it quickly. However, to the surprise of Zhang Kamzhi and others, Tang Zhongzong not only did not kill Wu Sansi and others, but instead gave them officials and knights.
At this point, Zhang Kamzhi and others could not sit still. Zhang Kamzhi and others then "persuaded the emperors to attack Zhu Wu"; and Jinghui led a group of officials to advocate that "the kings of the Wu clan should cut their princes". However, Tang Zhongzong not only could not listen to the opinions of Zhang Kamzhi and others, but instead excused Wu Sansi and others, saying that they had also made great contributions when they killed Erzhang.
What was even more surprising was that Tang Zhongzong not only did not have hostility to Wu Sansi, but was very friendly with him. He repeatedly "micro-serves Xingwu Sansidi", and at Wu Sansi's house, he drank and had fun with him. Not only that, but he even made an even more astonishing move — sharing his wife with Wu Sansi. According to the Zizhi Tongjian:
"Make Wei Hou and Think Twice, and think twice about it, and think twice about it, and revive it by being the strength of the Wu clan."
Empress Wei was a troubled couple of Emperor Zhongzong of Tang. During Emperor Zhongzong's exile at Luling, Empress Wei remained inseparable from him. It can be said that Empress Wei was the most trusted person of Emperor Zhongzong of Tang. Soon after Emperor Zhongzong of Tang was restored to the throne, he encouraged Wei Hou to have an adulterous affair with Wu Sansi in the name of playing backgammon. And Tang Zhongzong used this act of no male dignity in exchange for the "revival of the wu clan's strength". That is to say, after Wu Zetian's death, her accomplice Wu Sansi not only did not get killed, but also slept with the emperor's wife, and her power was even greater than before.
Then, why would Tang Zhongzong lay down his dignity to curry favor with Wu Sansi?
First of all, as early as the time of Wu Zetian, the Li clan was encouraged to marry the Wu clan. Her daughter Princess Taiping married Wu Youji, and Princess Anle, the daughter of Emperor Zhongzong of Tang, married Wu Chongxun, the son of Wu Sansi. At the same time, Wu Zetian also asked Li Xian, Xiangwang Li Dan, Wu Sansi and others to swear in the Ming Hall that they would always form an alliance.
However, in the era of feudal absolutism in China, the history of husband and wife, father and son, and brothers turning against each other for power and profit, and killing each other. Therefore, wu Zetian's measures such as the marriage and oath of the two families alone could not completely eliminate the long-standing contradictions and antagonisms between the two families.
Therefore, Wu Zetian intended to support Erzhang and let them take away the power of the Li and Wu families. With a common enemy, Li and Wu had common interests, so they came together sincerely. They secretly distributed power and formed a real "Li Wu political clique". In the clique, Li Xian enjoyed the false name of "emperor", and Wu Sansi and others held real power.
The success of the Shenlong Revolution of Zhang Kamzhi and others was largely due to the connivance of Wu Sansi and others. After all, Zhang Kam's murder of ErZhang was profitable for the Wu clique. Therefore, Tang Zhongzong said that Wu Sansi had the merit of "killing Erzhang", and there was no problem. Therefore, even if Wu Zetian fell, the "Li Wu Alliance" still existed, and Li Xian and Wu Sansi still had common interests.
Secondly, after the Shenlong Revolution, the power of Zhang Kamzhi, Cui Xuanwei, Huan Yanfan, Jinghui, Yuan Shuji, and others was gradually expanding. After Emperor Zhongzong's restoration, they all took up positions as ministers of the coup d'état and were enfeoffed as counties, and their power and status were very prominent. Moreover, after they came to power, they immediately expelled Wei Chengqing and other former prime ministers from the central institutions, thus completely manipulating xiang power.
Not only that, during the Shenlong Revolution, Zhang Kamzhi also befriended Li Duozuo and other officers of the Northern Gate Forbidden Army. The combination of the Prime Minister and the Janissaries posed a great threat to imperial power. On the other hand, Tang Zhongzong, when he was serving as the crown prince, was greatly inhibited by Wu Zetian, and he did not have the courage to cultivate his own power. Although Zhang Kamzhi was based on Emperor Zhongzong of Tang, it did not mean that they were his own people, and the two were only using each other's relationship.
Due to the solitary power of Emperor Zhongzong of Tang, the power of Zhang Kamzhi and others was expanding day by day, so he had to seek the help of Wu Sansi and other wuzhou old forces. In order to curry favor with Wu Sansi, Emperor Zhongzong of Tang even encouraged his wife Empress Wei to have an affair with him. In Tang Zhongzong's view, doing so could win the trust of Wu Sansi.
With the consolidation of the "Li Wu Alliance," the good days of Zhang Kam-chi and others will come to an end. Emperor Zhongzong of Tang, in alliance with Empress Wei and Wu Sansi, sent Zhang Kamzhi and five others to The Ming Dynasty and secretly made them kings, but secretly stripped them of their real power. Subsequently, Emperor Zhongzong expelled five more people from the capital and left them to die tragically in exile.
After Zhang Kam's power was cut down, Empress Wei and Princess Anle became a new force in the imperial court with the support of Wu Sansi. At the instigation of Shangguan Wan'er, Wei Hou actually developed the ambition to call her empress in accordance with Zetian's story, and Princess Anle even used wu Sansi's daughter-in-law to ask Emperor Zhongzong of Tang to make her an imperial consort.
Empress Wei, Wu Sansi, and Princess Anle were very dissatisfied with the Li clan except For Emperor Zhongzong of Tang. Emperor Zhongzong of Tang's crown prince Li Chongjun directly staged a coup d'état and killed Wu Sansi. Although Li Chongjun failed, the Wu clan lost their main backbone.
Later, Empress Wei and Princess Anle jointly poisoned Emperor Zhongzong of Tang and wanted to usurp the throne and seize power. As a result, Li Longji, the king of Linzi, joined forces with Princess Taiping to launch a coup d'état and killed Empress Wei and Princess Anle. In the end, Li Longji had a fire with Princess Taiping and forced her to commit suicide. Princess Taiping was both Princess Li Tang and the daughter-in-law and main mother of the Wu clan. After the death of Princess Taiping, the Wu clan no longer had a voice in the Tang Dynasty. Especially after Wu Yanxiu's death, "the Wu clan clan members sat down and died and were in the same stream." ”
Since then, under the leadership of Li Longji, the Li royal family has regained all its power, thus creating a new round of prosperity.
For the sake of power, Li Xian actually "took out" his wife to share with his former political enemy, Wu Sansi, and the depth of his power was really staggering. But his plan made his wife's ambitions grow, and she eventually died at the hands of his beloved wife and daughter.
Nowadays, the epidemic is epidemic, and everyone is at home, so it is better to read the history books. It is the so-called "reading history makes people wise"! Here, I recommend Sima Guang's Zizhi Tongjian to everyone. But after all, ordinary history lovers have not developed the habit of reading texts and texts, so we can use this set of "Vernacular Zizhi Tongjian" as a transition.
This set of books was co-translated in the 1980s by Huang Jinfeng, professor of Chinese language and doctoral supervisor of National Taiwan University, and gathered 27 professors and scholars from many colleges and universities in Taiwan. This book respects the original text, translates word by word, and adds no more than one word, in order to get closer to and restore the original meaning of the "Zizhi Tongjian". It is not explained by a "modern vision", and it is even more uneven. And it's the whole book.
As a history lover, it is very cost-effective to start this set, because this set of activities in the headlines, a set of ten books, the original price of 498, now the headline readers as long as 208, it can be said that it is very valuable. You can click on the horizontal bar below to buy.
Vernacular Zizhi Tongjian [a full set of 10 books] ¥208 to buy