Wu Zetian was a very ambitious woman, and after Li Shimin's death, she was made her concubine by Li Zhina. After Wu Zetian re-entered the palace, he joined forces with Empress Wang to overthrow Li Zhi's favorite concubine Xiao Shufei, and then she personally strangled her own daughter and married her to Empress Wang, which led to Empress Wang being deposed and she replacing her as Li Zhi's empress, but Wu Zetian's ambitions did not stop there.
Although Wu Zetian was a woman of the same generation, she wanted to monopolize power and want to be an emperor. At this time, Li Zhi's 8 sons, four of whom were born to Wu Zetian, became a stumbling block for her, and how did Wu Zetian get rid of them one by one and seize the throne?
Li Zhong was the eldest son of Li Zhi, but not the eldest son of Concubine, he was the son of Li Zhi's concubine "Liu Gongren". Li Zhi's empress dowager Wang had no heirs, so Li Zhi had no concubines, and finally, under the persuasion of his eldest son Wuji and other ministers, Li Zhi made his eldest son Li Zhongli crown prince. Li Zhong only served as the crown prince for 3 years, because Wu Zetian overthrew Empress Wang, and after becoming empress, her son became Li Zhi's concubine, and finally Li Zhi chose to depose Li Zhong and make Li Hongli, the son born of Wu Zetian, his eldest son Li Hongli, crown prince.
In 664, Wu Zetian had his confidant Xu Jingzong frame Li Zhong, Shangguan Yi and Wang Fusheng for plotting a rebellion, resulting in Li Zhong being executed by Li Zhi.
Li Xiao was Li Zhi's second son, and his mother was Li Zhi's concubine "Zheng GongRen". Li Xiao did not have the opportunity to be crown prince, so there are not many records about him in the history books. In 650, Li Xiao was made King Xu by Li Zhi. Later, he served as the governor of the prefecture and the assassin of Suizhou. In 664, Li Xiao died suddenly and violently, although the history books do not record the cause of Li Xiao's death, but later speculated that it was probably related to Wu Zetian.
Li Shangjin was the third son of Li Zhi, and his biological mother was the palace maid Yang Shi, who was crowned by Li Zhi as the Prince of Qi in 650 AD. Li Shangjin also did the Shouzhou Thorn History and the JiZhou Thorn History, but because Wu Zetian hated Li Shangjin's mother Yang Shi, Wu Zetian even hated Li Shangjin. Wu Zetian's confidants wrote false accusations against Li Shangjin, resulting in Li Shangjin being stripped of his fiefs and titles, and not allowed to participate in imperial politics.
In 690, Li Shangjin was denounced by Wu Zetian's cool official Zhou Xing and joined forces with Li Sujie to rebel. After Li Sujie was killed, Li Shangjin knew that he would not be able to escape death, so he chose to commit suicide. After his death, seven of his sons were exiled to Xianzhou, 6 died in exile, and only Yi Xun survived.
Li Sujie was Li Zhi's fourth son, and his mother was Li Zhi's favorite concubine Xiao Shufei, who was very favored by Li Zhi, but made Wu Zetian hate him. After Wu Zetian entered the palace, he joined forces with Empress Wang to overthrow Concubine Xiao Shufei. After Xiao Shufei was killed by Wu Zetian, Li Zhi, in order to protect Li Sujie, asked him to go to a foreign country to become an official. When Li Zhi was alive, Wu Zetian did not dare to kill Li Sujie, but after Li Zhi's death, Wu Zetian's confidant Zhou Xing immediately denounced Li Sujie for plotting rebellion. On his way to the capital, Li Sujie was hanged at Longmenyi, and his son Li Ying and others were also implicated and killed.
Li Hong was Li Zhi's fifth son, the son born to Wu Zetian, who originally had no hope of becoming a prince, but his mother Wu Zetian worked very hard, and after she overthrew Concubine Xiao Shufei and Empress Wang, she became an empress, which made Li Hong lucky to become Li Zhi's eldest son, and finally Li Zhi made him crown prince.
Li Hong is an upright person and very assertive, after he became the crown prince, many of his ideas were contrary to Wu Zetian, but he would not do what he thought was wrong in order to please his mother, which made his relationship with Wu Zetian worse and worse. After Li Hong became a stumbling block on Wu Zetian's way to power, he suddenly died violently in the Luoyang Palace. The history books record that Li Hong died of illness, but some people believe that he was killed by Wu Zetian.
Li Xian was the sixth son of Li Zhi and the son of Wu Zetian, and after the death of his eldest brother, he succeeded him as Li Zhi's crown prince. Li Xian, like his eldest brother Li Hong, did not like to be at the mercy of his mother Wu Zetian. Li Xian supervised the country for Li Zhi three times, and during his supervision of the country, he was diligent in government affairs and cared for the people, which made Li Zhi and the ministers very satisfied with him. The more capable Li Xian became, the more dissatisfied and panicked Wu Zetian became, and Li Xian began to handle government affairs for Li Zhi, and she became a dispensable person for Li Zhi, which was not conducive to her continuing to participate in the government and seize great power.
After her power was threatened, Wu Zetian revealed her cruel side, and she had her son accused of rebellion, resulting in Li Xian's depose. After claiming the title of emperor, Wu Zetian forced Li Xian to commit suicide again.
Li Xian was Li Zhi's seventh son, and after his brother Li Xian was deposed, he was fortunate enough to become crown prince. During Li Xian's reign as crown prince, he was very low-key and honest, which allowed him to successfully inherit the throne of Li Zhi. After Li Xian became emperor, he was not willing to be at the mercy of his mother, and he promoted Wei Hou's father Wei Xuanzhen to the position of chancellor, wanting to form his own team to compete with his mother, which challenged Wu Zetian's power, and she deposed Li Xian.
Li Dan was Li Zhi's eighth son, and after Li Xian was deposed, Wu Zetian made him emperor. Li Dan was timid and cautious by nature, and after becoming emperor, he never fought with his mother for power, and was at ease to be a puppet of Wu Zetian, but Wu Zetian wanted to be emperor, so he deposed Li Dan.
In the end, Wu Zetian herself became the emperor, she reigned for 15 years, did a lot of evil, but also did a lot of merit. In her later years, she was forced by Zhang Kamzhi and others to return the throne to Li Xian.