When it comes to Emperor Gaozong of Tang, many people think that he is a cowardly and weak monarch who was suppressed by his wife, the radiant empress Wu Zetian. This is actually a very big misunderstanding, not only did the contemporaries look at Li Zhi wrongly, but many people in later generations also looked at Li Zhi. The real Tang Gaozong Li Zhiyin was ruthless, cruel and ruthless, and was a male emperor with extremely clever political skills.
Even Tang Taizong Li Shimin, who had experienced hundreds of battles and subdued the heroes of the world, also looked away at his son. Li Shimin himself was the first meritorious hero of the establishment of the Tang Dynasty, and only Li Jing, who swept jiangnan, could compete with him in merit. Therefore, when Li Shimin and Li Jiancheng competed for the position of crown prince and a power conflict broke out with Emperor Li Yuan, the military leaders Li Jing and Li Ji both sided with Li Shimin.
After Li Shimin killed his brothers Li Jiancheng and Li Yuanji and forced his father Li Yuan to abdicate, he was particularly worried about the recurrence of the old things, and the tragedy of father and son brothers and brothers broke out among his sons. However, his eldest son Li Chengqian and his second son Li Tai continued to compete for the position of crown prince, and even plotted to launch a coup d'état. This made Li Shimin feel sad, so he chose Li Zhi, whom he considered to be the most "benevolent", as the crown prince. Afterwards, he said to his loyal and important minister Sun Wujie: Tai Li, Chengqian, and the King of Jin do not exist; the King of Jin, the King of Jin, and the King of Tai can be unharmed.
But Tang Taizong looked away, Li Zhi was actually not benevolent, on the contrary, he was fierce, cold, cruel and ruthless. It's just that this person is very good at hiding himself, the means are extremely superb, never personally go down, let the people under him out of the limelight, but the plot direction, will always develop in the direction of his favor.
After he had just ascended the throne, he was assisted by ministers such as Wu Ji and Chu Suiliang, the eldest grandson of the elders. Li Zhi looked on coldly and decided to use the two to exclude dissidents first, and then overthrow the two and take sole power. Li Zhi first used the case of Princess Gaoyang to purge the descendants of the founding heroes Fang Xuanling, Du Ruyi, Chai Shao and others, and suppressed the former dynasty's heavy courtiers. Then, by the hand of the eldest grandson Wujie, he eliminated Li Yuanjing, the king of Jing, and Li Ke, the king of Wu, who had the most prestige and certain qualifications for succession.
Then there was the post-abolition incident, and Li Zhi decisively chose Wu Zetian, who had the top personal ability but the family power was weak. He used Wu Zetian to depose Empress Wang, eliminate the eldest son Wuji and Chu Suiliang, and completely overthrow the foreign relatives of the previous generation and this generation. At this point, Li Zhi had completed an indiscriminate attack on the imperial family, the family door valve, the powerful ministers and nobles, and the foreign forces, and the centralized power was unprecedented.
But li zhi's cleverness also lies in this, he deposed the king and empress Wu Zetian, and eliminated the eldest son Wujie, which made people feel that he was seduced by Wu Zetian, not his independent behavior. In fact, even Xu Jingzong and Li Yifu, who really offered advice, and Li Ji, who presided over the trial of the case, were all Li Zhi's people, not those of Wu Hou. Li Ji was from the Han clan of Shandong, and he and the eldest son Wuji, who was born from the Guanlong Gate Valve, and others originally did not deal with each other, and after the death of Li Shimin and Li Jing, he was the first person in the Tang dynasty, and this status was not something that a martial queen could command and move, but could only come from the meaning of Li Zhi, the emperor himself.
Xu Jingzong and Li Yifu, who were always regarded as close associates of Empress Wu in later generations, were actually Li Zhi's confidants, not those of Empress Wu. When Li Zhi was the crown prince, Xu Jingzong served as the right son of the crown prince, and when Li Zhi ascended the throne, he was promoted to the title of Libu Shangshu, which can be seen as the absolute confidant of Li Zhi of Tang Gaozong. Li Yifu was even more qualified, he "concurrently served the King of Jin" when Li Zhi was not a prince but a king of Jin, and after Li Zhi became the prince, Li Yifu continued to follow, "and Shengchun Palace, except for the prince Sheren, Jia Chongxianguan Zhishi". It was precisely because the two were Li Zhi's confidants that they firmly supported Empress Wu in the post-abolition incident.
As for Wu Zetian, although his name was "Second Sage", the court was always full of "anti-martial" such as Pei Yan and Pei Xingjian, or heavy ministers who did not buy Wu Zetian's account at all, and Wu Zetian could only control the power that Li Zhi wanted him to hold. It can be said that it is in the limelight, but it has almost no real power. In fact, Wu Zetian could not intervene in the appointment and dismissal of the entire Gaozong Dynasty.
As for Li Zhi's death, Wu Zetian was able to depose his two sons and become empress himself, which was really something that Emperor Gaozong could not have predicted. When Li Zhi was dying, the crown prince Li Xianwen was weak and was not yet 20 years old. Wuhou is shrewd and capable, and she is already 59 years old, just to support her son. Even if Empress Wu held the government for ten years, when she died, the crown prince was already thirty years old, which was the best time for her health. I just didn't expect that Wu Zetian actually lived for more than twenty years, and only died in his eighties, and became the only empress.