Regarding some of the history and characters of the Tang Dynasty, I have written a lot, and some people who like the history of the Tang Dynasty or pay attention to the history of the Tang Dynasty should understand that the difference between the Tang Dynasty and any dynasty in history is still relatively huge, because the Tang Dynasty produced an emperor of thousands of years - Li Shimin, and the only female emperor in Chinese history called the emperor - Wu Zetian, there are many interesting people and stories.
And the most popular thing for posterity is that the social atmosphere of the Tang Dynasty is very open, and it is the most inclusive period in history, this inclusive body is not only reflected in the cultural field, but also in the social status of women, before or after the Tang Dynasty, the social status of women is very low, those dynasties are very harsh on women's requirements, only in the Tang Dynasty, women are open and bold, in addition to normal social movements, they can even enter the DPRK as officials and participate in political struggles.
In addition to the familiar female emperor Wu Zetian, there are also Li Shimin's daughter Princess Gaoyang, who also participated in politics, and everyone is more familiar with princess Taiping, Empress Wei and Princess Anle in the post-Wu Zetian era, and the women of that era are indeed very good, so good that even men can't reach it.
The protagonist today is a court woman who spanned the two generations of emperors Wu Zetian and Li Xian, who has never been the most core figure in the political struggle, but she is the one who is very important to that dynasty and cannot be ignored. She was Shangguan Wan'er, who was called "The Prime Minister of the Towel" by posterity.
Shangguan Wan'er was also one of the most popular women of the time, a woman who combined talent and beauty, and although she was a slave during the Wu Zetian period, she was keen on playing with power and was extremely ambitious.
She was reused by Wu Zetian at the age of 14, not only full of poetry and books, talented, but also her appearance is also bright and moving, indispensable. Not only that, but in politics, it was even more gifted, left and right, and occupied a pivotal position in the political and literary circles at that time.
Shangguan Wan'er
However, in the later "Tang Long Coup", she died at the hands of Li Longji, but it made posterity sigh endlessly.
So, what kind of a woman was Shangguan Wan'er, and what did she do at that time? Why did Li Longji have to kill such an excellent woman in the "Tang Long Coup"?
One: A bumpy life
Everyone watches TV series or novels, most of the protagonists in it are relatively bumpy, and the historical Shangguan Wan'er, such an excellent beauty, her life is also sad and tearful.
Shangguan Wan'er's grandfather was called Shangguan Yi, who was still relatively famous in history, and was the prime minister during the Tang Gaozong (Li Zhi) period, and the official position was quite large, so Shangguan Wan'er was also considered to be born into a famous family. However, Shangguan Yi did a wrong thing during the Li Zhi period, he was dissatisfied with the gradual rise of Wu Zetian to power and control the court at that time, so under the secret instructions of Li Zhi, he drafted an edict to abolish Wu Hou, and prepared to unite many ministers to test the pressure on Wu Hou and try to abolish Wu Hou. Unexpectedly, this matter was known to Wu Zetian in advance, and the then emperor Li Zhi threw Shangguanyi out of the "back pot" in order to protect himself, so Shangguanyi's entire family suffered a catastrophe, and all the men of the clan were killed by Wu Zetian, leaving only Shangguan Wan'er, who was only 1 year old at the time, and her mother survived. At this point, Shangguan Wan'er was reduced from a rich nobleman at that time to a lowly commoner;
Fortunately, Shangguan Wan'er was extremely intelligent from an early age, and under the deliberate cultivation of her mother, at a young age, she was proficient in the Four Books and Five Classics, Piano, Chess, Calligraphy and Painting, and was a talented woman who was famous at that time, which could be described as stronger than most people.
Two: The empress is spoiled
In 677, when Shangguan Wan'er was 14 years old, the female emperor Wu Zetian also knew Shangguan Wan'er's name, so he ordered someone to take her to the palace and test her. And Shangguan Wan'er's performance also lived up to the empress's expectations, and the female emperor Wu Zetian saw that Shangguan Wan'er was not only bright and moving, but also talented, and she was even more fond of it, so she immediately ordered her to be removed from her slave status and let her take charge of the palace edicts.
After that, most of the edicts given by Wu Zetian came from the handwriting of Shangguan Wan'er.
Wu Zetian
Three: The pinnacle of power
After Wu Zetian became emperor, he became more dependent on Shangguan Wan'er, and at this time, the edicts were basically from the hands of Shangguan Wan'er, and shangguan Wan'er at that time was also known as "Neishe ren". After gaining the power, Shangguan Wan'er was even more bent on pandering to Wu Zetian, and was even more loved by Wu Zetian, becoming Wu Zetian's confidant, and for a while, her status in Wu Zetian's mind was higher than that of many ministers and courtiers. Therefore, starting in 696 AD, Wu Zetian let Shangguan Wan'er handle the Hundred Si Gong Table, participate in political decision-making, and gained power, and Shangguan Wan'er gradually became the political core of the Wuzhou Dynasty.
And the real peak of Shangguan Wan'er's rights was during the reign of Emperor Zhongzong of Tang, after Emperor Zhongzong Li Xian's restoration, he included Shangguan Wan'er in the harem and worshiped her as Zhaorong, whose status in the harem was only below that of the empress, and named his mother Zheng Shi as Lady Peiguo, and also ordered Shangguan Wan'er to be in charge of drafting edicts, which won the trust of Emperor Zhongzong li xian of Tang.
Since then, Shangguan Wan'er, as an imperial concubine, has presided over the internal court and foreign officials' decrees, and her political status has reached a higher level than that of Wu Zetian's time, and has reached the peak of her lifelong political career.
Four: Major achievements
Throughout Shangguan Wan'er's life, it is not only colorful, but also ups and downs; And bright and talented. According to historical records: Shangguan Wan'er was talented and intelligent, and stood out in the court as a teenager, in addition to being proud of the officialdom, Shangguan Wan'er was even more literary and artistic, and her poetry attainment was extremely high, which was no worse than the ancient Chinese female lyricist Li Qingzhao. She once wrote a poem "Color Book Complaint": Yexia Dongting Qiu, Sijun Wanliyu. The dew incense was cold, and the moon fell on the screen. Want to play Jiangnan qu, covet the Jibei Book. There is no other meaning in the book, but a long absence.
Shangguan Wan'er left a total of 32 poems in her lifetime, all of which were included in the Quan Tang Poems, and this "Color Book Complaint" is the most wonderful one she wrote in her lifetime. Many people think that this poem was written to Li Xian, the prince at that time, because she had once had feelings for the prince, but there was no evidence.
In addition to her achievements in poetry, Shangguan Wan'er's political achievements were also very high, and her main achievements were the establishment of the Xiuwen Pavilion, the recruitment of talents, and the prosperity of Datang culture. During this period, Shangguan Wan'er presided over the elegance, competed with the learned people for Huazao, competed with the poetry, and rewarded the learned people. Later generations called it "Wan'er inherited his ancestors, competed with the scholars to serve Huazao, and Shen and Song Yingzhi's works were mostly evaluated by Wan'er, and at that time, they admired each other and became customs, so the completion of the law poems, the Shangguan ancestors and grandsons were particularly meritorious"
Therefore, her talent in politics has the style of her grandfather.
Shangguan Wan'er is a very individual and charismatic woman in the history of the Tang Dynasty and even in Chinese history. She once enjoyed all the glory and wealth, and she once enjoyed supreme power. But in this life, she can be described as "power to become, and power to fail", and it is precisely because of her infinite worship of power that a generation of brilliant and talented women died in court struggles, making future generations sigh.
What did Shangguan Wan'er do at that time, making the ruler at that time extremely uncomfortable, and eventually causing herself to disappear and be killed?
One: the harem of filth
Shangguan Wan'er's political achievements are undoubtedly extremely high, but she is a woman after all, and she is in such an open dynasty as the Tang Dynasty, and the degree of openness of the private life of the tang dynasty royal women is simply staggering.
Starting from Li Shimin's daughter Princess Gaoyang, to Li Zhi's daughter Princess Taiping, to Li Xian's daughter Princess Anle, etc., the women of the Tang Dynasty royal family can be said to have died on the beach in the pursuit of "physical and mental freedom", and the generations are stronger than the next.
And Shangguan Wan'er was born in the period of Wu Zetian, Wu Zetian was also extremely extensive in his personal private life, first becoming a talented person of Li Shimin, and then marrying Li Shimin's son Li Zhi and becoming the empress of the Tang Dynasty. I don't know whether it was too deeply influenced by the empress, or whether she was too close to Princess Taiping and Princess Anle in the later period, or under the influence of the open atmosphere at that time, Shangguan Wan'er was not less than the above in her private life. Even the male pet of the female emperor Wu Zetian dared to touch it.
According to historical records, Wu Zetian had a male favorite - Zhang Zongchang, with excellent appearance, slender figure, fair skin, and beautiful posture, and was one of Wu Zetian's favorite male pets. At that time, Shangguan Wan'er was in miaoling, and her spring heart was budding, and she actually went with Zhang Zongchang's eyebrows, and soon she mixed up together.
However, this matter was soon known to Wu Zetian, and he was also arrested. It is said that Wu Zetian was very angry at that time, and the man who dared to sleep with the old woman wanted to die, and directly drew his sword to hunt down and kill Shangguan Wan'er, leaving a hole in Shangguan Wan'er's forehead. In the end, the female emperor cherished her talent, did not kill her staff, plus Zhang Zongchang interceded, and left a life, but the female emperor did not allow her to deal with the scar on her forehead, and she must keep the scar for life, I think the female emperor wants to use this scar to remind Shangguan Wan'er from time to time, the old woman's man can't move.
In order to cover the scar, Shangguan Wan'er stabbed a red plum at the wound. The original intention was to cover the scars of the knife so that it would not be so ugly, but it did not expect to make her look more feminine and moving. Other women followed suit after seeing it, becoming a very popular makeup look in the Tang Dynasty at that time.
Shangguan Wan'er not only moved the female emperor's men, but also moved the female emperor's sons and nephews. According to historical records, at the age of 16, he already had a leg with the then crown prince Li Xian, and later Li Xian was deposed and went to other places. Shangguan Wan'er immediately threw herself into the arms of Wu Zetian's maternal nephew Wu Sansi, and even took advantage of her position to give Wu Sansi a green light in the official arena, saying so much that he could even exclude the Li Tang royal family.
Later, Li Xianxian turned over, successfully reset, and took over the Scepter of the Tang Dynasty from the elderly Wu Zetian and regained the supreme power. At this time, Shangguan Wan'er returned to Li Xian's side and was crowned "Zhaorong", with a status only below the empress, and her power was even higher.
During this period, Shangguan Wan'er continued to woo Empress Wei and Princess Anle, and recommended her "old lover" Wu Sansi to Empress Wei, and according to ye shi, they often fornicated in the harem together.
With the support of Li Xian and Empress Wei, Shangguan Wan'er was even more unscrupulous, colluding with many ministers of the COURT, and even more in her own mansion to exchanges with handsome courtiers in the court, secretly communicating with the song, so unhappy. What is even more excessive is that Shangguan Wan'er bought mansions in a big way, hooked up with playboys outside the palace, and raised noodles. Later, it was even more for the sake of these beds to get along, and opened up the official road for them.
Because he climbed shangguan wan'er, he often had adultery with shangguan wan'er in the outer house, and his official position rose step by step, and later became the prime minister. Perhaps Cui Xiang did have a superiority, Shangguan Wan'er directly recommended Cui Xiang to Princess Anle, and Princess Anle was also one of the famous people in the history of the Tang Dynasty who advocated "physical and mental freedom", and naturally rejoiced, so the three of them together defiled the harem. Cui Xiang also did not live up to Shangguan Wan'er's love, in order to repay Shangguan Wan'er's favor, he recommended his three playmates - Cui Di, Cui Liquid, and Cui Ying to Shangguan Wan'er, who was over forty years old at the time, and these three playmates were also handsome in appearance and upright posture, and Shangguan Wan'er was naturally happy, so she was often spoiled.
It can be seen from this that Shangguan Wan'er's private life was extremely chaotic, compared with Princess Taiping and Wu Zetian, it was not to mention more, and her extremely chaotic private life also laid the groundwork for her later death, in the "Tang Long Coup", Li Longji ordered the beheading of Shangguan Wan'er A very important piece of evidence is "filthy harem".
Shangguan Wan'er and Wu Thought twice
Two: both ends of the snake and mouse
With her talent and cleverness, Shangguan Wan'er maneuvered between major political forces such as Wu Zetian, Empress Wei, and Li Xian, and used this to seize state power.
During the Wu Zetian period, in order to get the favor of Wu Zetian, Shangguan Wan'er served wholeheartedly and was willing to meet him, but in the later years of Wu Zetian, she had no intention of going to politics and was intoxicated with her male favorite all day. At this time, Shangguan Wan'er felt the crisis, because Wu Zetian's age was already very old, in case of death one day, she had no backer, the ending must be very miserable, so Shangguan Wan'er deliberately turned to Li Xian, in 705 AD, taking advantage of Wu Zetian's illness, planned a "Shenlong coup", Li Xian regained the Tang Scepter from Wu Zetian. In this coup d'état, Shangguan Wan'er contributed a lot, so afterwards, she was reused by Li Xian, and was crowned "Zhaorong".
After Li Xian succeeded to the throne, because of his weak and incompetent personality, Shangguan Wan'er knew that he could not be trusted, so he deliberately turned to Empress Wei and Princess Anle, and often instilled in them the concept of Wu Zetian, so Empress Wei's desire for power became more and more powerful, and she joined forces with Wu Sansi to seize the opportunity to seize the power of the court and empty Li Xian. However, this kind of behavior made the crown prince Li Chongjun feel the crisis, so the prince launched a rebellion, killed Wu Sansi, and wanted to kill Shangguan Wan'er together, but in the end, he failed, and the prince died.
After the death of the crown prince, the ambitions of Empress Wei and Princess Anle became more and more ambitious, and the usurpation of the throne had become more and more obvious. Finally, in 710, Empress Wei and Princess Anle, who were overwhelmed by the desire for power, jointly poisoned Emperor Zhongzong of Tang and Li Xian, in order to emulate Wu Zetian and seize the power of the world.
However, at this time, Shangguan Wan'er knew that it was difficult for Empress Wei and Princess Anle, two talentless women, to become a big thing at all, and failure was sooner or later, and at this time, Princess Taiping's power was getting bigger and bigger, so Shangguan Wan'er took advantage of the situation and turned to Princess Taiping, and Shangguan Wan'er and Princess Taiping temporarily drafted a "pseudo-testament" to establish Li Chongmao as crown prince, Li Dan as auxiliary government, and Empress Wei as empress dowager regent to balance all forces. However, Wei Hou was not satisfied, and she wanted to emulate Wu Zetian and call herself empress. At this time, Li Longji, who had received the news, consulted with Princess Taiping and decided to strike first.
Empress Wei
Four: Tang Long coup
In July 710, Li Longji, who had long since joined forces with Princess Taiping, launched the famous "TangLong Coup" in history, leading his troops into the palace, claiming that "Wei Hou poisoned the former emperor, plotted against the society, and this evening should jointly attack Zhu Wei", and killed Wei Hou and his henchmen. Shangguan Wan'er, who was too close to Empress Wei, did not know at this time that she was actually on Li Longji's list of those who must be killed, and she ordered someone to transfer the will and testament she and Princess Taiping had drawn up to Li Longji and pray for avoiding death. But Li Longji said: "Misconduct, confusing the emperor, and defiling the harem!" For this reason, he killed Shangguan Wan'er under his banner.
Shangguan Wan'er herself did not expect that she had been playing politics for decades, and she was confident that she had already figured out the hearts of the people, but she was still a hundred secrets, she did not calculate that Princess Taiping, in addition to her ally, had long been united with Li Longji, and this "Tang Long's coup", it was Li Longji who led the troops to attack the palace, and it was Li Longji who killed and decided to attack the palace, Li Longji himself had the heart to be called emperor, of course, not just a regent, so Shangguan Wan'er took out that testament, which was basically to lift a stone and drop it on her own feet, and the wisdom was mistaken by the clever. This testament did not become her life-saving straw, but became her life-saving charm.
It can be seen from this that Shangguan Wan'er is a wall-headed grass, a person without any political discipline and position, and the same as the historical "three surnames of family slaves" Lü Bu, and her ending is also the same as Lü Bu, extremely miserable.
Lee Long-ki
Through the "Tang Long Coup", posterity spoke highly of Li Longji. Many people say that he is the only emperor who can be called a grandfather after Li Shimin, the old Li family of the Tang Dynasty. The emperors before him, such as Li Zhi, Li Xian, and Li Dan, were all controlled by women, one by one. And Li Longji directly killed all the women who interfered in politics, and since then, in the historical dynasties of the Tang Dynasty and later generations, there is no history of women engaged in politics and interfering in politics.
Then, in the "Tang Long Coup", why did Li Longji, who had nothing to do with Shangguan Wan'er, insist on killing Shangguan Wan'er? Is it really because of "misconduct, confusing the emperor, and defiling the harem"? I think there are a few deeper reasons:
First, put an end to the situation in which women are in power
People who understand history know that Wu Zetian created a precedent for women to rule in history, which was unprecedented and shocking. In that feudal era, although the woman was eventually successful, it would cause many people to be dissatisfied, and as Li Jia Erlang, Li Long basically had the opportunity to sit on the throne, but because Wu Zetian was called empress, many Li family women and daughters-in-law in later generations had this thought, which led to Li Xian's period, the court was controlled by Wei Hou and Princess Anle, and Shangguan Wan'er was in a nest with them, from which to make trouble, instigated the wind and ignited the fire, and the Li family was a miasma of black smoke.
Li Longji launched a coup d'état, which in itself was to kill Princess Wei Hou and Princess Anle, and then push her father to succeed to the throne, and Shangguan Wan'er was not only a powerful courtier, but also had a strange mind and was not easy to control, the most important reason was that Shangguan Wan'er was a member of Princess Taiping, and she had accumulated too many connections in the dynasty over the years, with deep roots, if she did not kill her now, when she joined forces with Princess Taiping, she would definitely have the ability to shake the foundation of Li Tang, so Li Longji was very jealous of Shangguan Wan'er, if she did not kill Shangguan Wan'er first, It would be difficult to eradicate Princess Taiping after that.
Li Longji's ultimate goal was to kill all the women in power, so the Shangguan Wan'er at that time had to die, and later Li Longji became the prince, and there was a thrilling contest between li longji and the Princess Taiping, and finally ended with the failure of the Taiping Princess to commit suicide.
Second: There is no political discipline or position
As mentioned earlier, Shangguan Wan'er was a female version of the "three-surnamed family slave", in order to gain power, she could bow to Wu Zetian and bend the knees to meet her, and Wu Zetian was the culprit who destroyed her entire family, and she could not think of revenge; and then for greater power, she turned to Li Xian, the crown prince at that time, and after Li Xian was degraded, she heard that Wu Zetian intended to make her nephew the prince, so she fell back to Wu Sansi; finally after Li Xian's successful restoration, she returned to Li Xian's embrace. Later, feeling overwhelmed, Li Xian shared a nest with Wei Hou snakes and rats; before the coup, she defected to Princess Taiping.
Such a person who, for the sake of power, does not hesitate to sacrifice his body and beauty to make a wall grass between the major forces, Li Longji will not leave her, because this kind of person has no discipline to speak of, no trust at all, is too smooth as a person, and falls into a well and has no loyalty when an accident occurs. If you ask such a person, who will not let her die?
The image comes from the Internet
Third, avoid Li Dan being confused by it
Shangguan Wan'er is a woman who combines talent and beauty, and her appearance is bright and moving, and not many men can resist her charm. From her chaotic harem, we know that she made the Tang Dynasty a miasma, and sacrificing beauty for the sake of power was a common thing for her.
Therefore, such a woman, as long as she takes the initiative, Li Longji's father Li Dan is estimated to be unable to resist her, and later Datang will fall into the situation of women being serious and harem fornication. Therefore, Li Longji insisted on killing Shangguan Wan'er, but also to avoid his father being confused and causing trouble to state politics.
Four: There is no work from the Dragon
In Shangguan Wan'er's political career, Li Longji has never been in her eyes, her pattern is too small, she only values the immediate interests, just wants to make her power more and more powerful, and ignores the occurrence of accidents. Before Li Longji officially stepped onto the stage of history, she did not look at Li Longji, because in her eyes, Li Longji was only a small person, and the future must not be the core figure of the political stage, but it was such a "small person" in her eyes who quickly seized the opportunity in the case of Li Xian's death and decided to do it in one fell swoop. At this time, it is too late for you to come back to offer ambiguity, and history has also proved that Li Longji is not a person who can be swayed by beauty.
Therefore, when Li Longji officially ascended to the core of Tang Dynasty power politics, Shangguan Wan'er did not make a contribution, and at that time, she was a member of the Taiping Princess, and there would be a stop between Li Longji and the Taiping Princess sooner or later, so at this time, getting rid of Shangguan Wan'er was the best opportunity.
Subsequent:
Shangguan Wan'er's life is full of ups and downs, ups and downs, from her wonderful life, it is not difficult for posterity to see that this is a woman who worships power infinitely and is extremely eager, she understands that only power can change her own destiny, only power can dominate the fate of others, and everything else is a castle in the air. For the sake of power, she forgot the revenge of killing her father that she carried, and willingly sold her life for the female emperor Wu Zetian; in order to reach the peak of her political career, she did not care about her body, and was willing to sell her beauty for power. This is the survival rule she has learned in her long-term political business and political struggle, but it has also become the fatal weakness of her political career. Because in order to gain power, she has no shame, and has been wandering between the major forces as a wall grass, and whoever gives more benefits will fall to whom.
Because of this, although Shangguan Wan'er failed and died, she gained a lot of sympathy. After Tang Xuanzong Li Longji ascended the throne, he read her literary brilliance and ordered people to collect her works and compile them into a book, so that posterity would better understand such a legendary woman, so that a generation of protracted women would not be lost in the long river of history.
Although she is a loser, she is nothing more than a legendary woman, in such a patriarchal society, a woman without any political capital, and carrying a bloody vendetta, only by her own talent and beauty to conquer an era. In the history books of later generations, it has left a strong mark.
Then, for the conclusion of Shangguan Wan'er's life, whether it is good or bad, I would like to use four words to describe her ups and downs in her life and her prominent position in the dynasties of Wu Zetian and Li Xian, which should not be excessive, that is, "the two dynasties are beautiful."
What about you, the vast number of readers and friends, how do you evaluate such a legendary woman?