Author: Qi Yunke
In the nearly 300-year history of the Tang Dynasty, there is an important watershed from prosperity to decline, that is, the Anshi Rebellion that lasted for eight years. In the rebellion of quelling Anshi, there was one person who had a great contribution, he was a generation of famous generals Guo Ziyi.
In recognition of Guo Ziyi's outstanding military achievements in establishing the country, Emperor Li Yu of the Tang Dynasty made him the King of Fenyang and married his daughter Princess Shengping to his son Guo Huan. The story of the famous drama "Hitting the Golden Branch" takes place between Princess Shengping and Guo Huanxiao.
Since The emperors of the Tang Dynasty have been emperors since Emperor Ming of Tang, except for Empress Zhang Shi of Tang Suzong, who was made empress before her death because of her merits to Sheji, the others basically no longer made empresses. Therefore, after that, the power of the harem was basically controlled by the noble concubines. Like the famous Yang Guifei, although she was very favored by Emperor Tang Ming, she was only a noble concubine from beginning to end, and did not become an empress.
Emperor Li Yu of the Tang Dynasty, his wife Cui Guifei Zhishu Dali, was very favored and respected by Emperor Tang and gave birth to two children for the emperor: the crown princes Li Miao, Li Wei and Princess Shengping. Li Mi was posthumously honored as the Prince of Zhaojing because of his untimely death, and Li Wei was adopted by his grandfather as a son because he was deeply favored by his grandfather Tang Suzong and was crowned as the King of Zhao.
Princess Shengping, born in Tianbao Jiuzai (750), was the eldest daughter of Emperor Tang of Tang, who had been virtuous and talented since childhood, and was deeply loved and favored by her father. After the Anshi Rebellion was put down, in the first year of Yongtai (765), Emperor Tang married Guo Ziyi's son Guo Huan (郭暧). This year, Princess Shengping was sixteen years old, and Guo Huan was only fourteen years old.
It is precisely because the age of the young couple when they got married is only equivalent to the current middle school students, so the two children are often angry.
It is said that once Guo Ziyi had a big birthday, princess Shengping, who had just quarreled with her husband, gambled that she did not go to worship Shou. Guo Huan thought that the princess was deliberately playing big, and did not go to her father to pay homage to her, causing her to lose face and beat the princess in anger when she returned home. The princess returned to her mother's house and cried, asking her parents to make decisions for her. When Guo Ziyi learned of this, he reprimanded his son and tied him up and took him to the palace to plead with the emperor.
Emperor Zong of the Tang Dynasty not only did not blame Guo Huan for reasoning and took the overall situation into consideration, but also promoted Guo Huan to three levels of official position. Regarding this detail, in the Henan Yu opera "Playing the Golden Branch", Tang Dynasty Emperor has a wonderful singing section that is famous throughout the country, and here may be an excerpt: "The one who stepped forward hurriedly picked up the horse, listened to the father and the king and my son, and talked about the history in detail: The husband and wife are not harmonious The king does not blame you, you should not be, you should not mention the father's king's Jiangshan." On the law of the land, the child should have been beheaded! But for the king and my son-in-law, it is difficult to give up! Wiped away the tears on jiao'er's face, and my son, and my son's official position were promoted to the third level! ”
Through this singing, the image of a loving and sensible father is about to emerge. Emperor Tang Dynasty carefully and earnestly analyzed the reasons for the mistake for his son-in-law: It is nothing that your two little families are angry, but how can you say that the Tang Dynasty was recreated by your Guo family and by your Guo family. Although your father Guo Ziyi made great contributions to quelling the chaos of war, he was always only a courtier of the Tang Dynasty, and it was his duty to calm the chaos for the country. You said that the Tang Dynasty belonged to your Guo family, but this was really a capital crime, and the state law was to be beheaded. But you are my son-in-law, how can I bear to kill you? Add three levels of officials for you, and live a good life after you go back.
"Playing The Golden Branch" is not only famous for yu opera repertoire, but also for local operas such as Peking Opera, Huai Opera, Sichuan Opera, Han Opera, Hui Opera, Qin Cavity, Hebei Zizi, Shandong Zizi, Dian Opera, Yue Opera, Xiang Opera, Cantonese Opera and so on.
A few years ago, the story of "Hitting the Golden Branch" was also filmed into the TV series "Drunken Golden Branch" and "New Drunken Golden Branch", which made this story more widely circulated.
On May 20, the fourteenth year of the Gregorian calendar (779), Emperor Li Yu of the Tang Dynasty died. Subsequently, Tang Dezong Li Shi succeeded to the throne.
Two years later, in the second year of Jianzhong (781), Guo Ziyi died at the age of eighty-five. At this time, Princess Shengping was 32 years old, and Guo Huan was already 30 years old.
Two years later, the Zhu Zhu Rebellion occurred. Zhu Zhu's rebels marched into Chang'an, and Tang Dezong was forced to flee and take refuge in Fengtian (present-day QianXian County, Shaanxi Province). Guo Nuan and the princess did not have time to escape and were captured by the rebels. Zhu Zhu forced Guo Nuan to accept the official position he had given him, and Guo Nuan said that he was guarding the funeral for his father, and that the three-year period had not yet expired, and he could not accept it. Subsequently, Guo Huan fled Chang'an and went to Fengtian to see Tang Dezong.
Tang Dezong was very happy, and rewarded his brother-in-law, and was made Guo Huan the Grand Master of golden purple Guanglu and promoted to Tai Changqing.
In the third year of Zhenyuan (787), Guo Huan attacked the Duke of Daiguo. Thirteen years later (800), Guo Huan died of illness at the age of forty-nine.
Princess Shengping died another ten years after the death of her husband, and died of illness at the age of sixty-one in the first seven days of October in the fifth year of Yuan He (810).
Princess Shengping and Guo Huan gave birth to four sons, two daughters and six children. Among the children, in addition to the early death of the eldest son Guo Zhuying, the second son Guo Zhao married Shen Su, the granddaughter of Emperor Tang of Tang. Shen Su's mother, Princess Changlin, and Princess Shengping were half-sisters, that is, Guo Zhao's aunt, and Guo Zhao's relationship with his wife Shen Su was an aunt and cousin (or aunt cousin).
The third son, Guo Cheng, married Princess Hanyang, the eldest daughter of Emperor Shunzong of Tang, and was an official to Wei Weiqing. Princess Shengping and Tang Dezong were brothers and sisters, Guo Yu and Tang Shunzong were cousins, and Princess Hanyang was actually equivalent to Guo Chen's cousin niece.
The fourth son, Guo Feng, was also married to the daughter of Tang Shunzong, the princess of Xihe, and also his cousin married his cousin.
Princess Shengping's eldest daughter was married to Li Zhao, the Prince of Xu of the Tang Dynasty. Her second daughter was the famous Guo Guifei (郭贵妃), courtesy name Empress Yi'an.
Guo Guifei was the wife of Tang Xianzong. Tang Xianzong was the grandson of Tang Dezong, and Princess Shengping was Tang Xianzong's aunt, which means that Guo Guifei was one generation older than Tang Xianzong. Although the husband and wife were not commensurate, the initial relationship between the husband and wife was not wrong, and she gave birth to a son Li You for Tang Xianzong.
Li You had two half-brothers, and although his mother's clan was powerful, it was not easy for Li You, as the third oldest, to become the crown prince.
Tang Xianzong liked the eldest son and resisted the pressure of all sides, and in the fourth year of Yuan He (809), he made the 17-year-old eldest son Li Ning crown prince.
Although Li Yu and his mother Guo Guifei were disappointed, they did not completely give up their efforts to fight for the position of crown prince. After Li Ning was crown prince for two years, he suddenly fell ill and died. Tang Xianzong felt that the death of the crown prince was strange and ordered a thorough investigation, but after a long time of investigation, there was still no result, and finally had to be dismissed.
Tang Xianzong saw that his eldest son was dead, and he prepared to make his second son Li Yun crown prince. However, due to the great power of the Guo family, the courtiers unanimously demanded that the third son, Li You, be made crown prince, and only the eunuch Tutu Chengcui advocated the establishment of Li Yun.
In desperation, Emperor Xianzong of Tang, in July of the seventh year of Yuan He (812), decreed that Li You be made crown prince and changed his name to Li Heng. This time, Guo Guifei's mother and son put their hearts into their stomachs.
Guo Guifei was a very politically ambitious person, and when she saw that her son had become crown prince, she once again mobilized a group of courtiers to petition the emperor to make her empress. Her husband, Tang Xianzong, who had already cracked in her marital relationship, resolutely refused.
At the end of Yuan He's fourteenth year, due to long-term use of Dan medicine, Tang Xianzong's health deteriorated and he finally fell ill. Tutu Chengcui and Li Yun drew some of the ministers together and prepared to launch a coup d'état after the emperor's death and install Li Yun as emperor.
Li Heng was afraid that he would lose the throne that he was about to arrive at, so he consulted with his uncle Guo Zhao and others on countermeasures. Guo Zhao told Li Heng: "You just have to do your filial piety, and don't worry about other things." That is to say, to tell your nephew: We are fully prepared, and no one can take your throne!" Now we just have to wait for your father to die, so that we can support you to succeed to the throne.
On the twenty-seventh day of the first month of the fifteenth year of Yuan He (820), in the secret struggle between the two factions, Tang Xianzong finally fell ill and died.
With the strong support of Guo Zhao and the eunuchs Liang Shouqian and Wang Shoucheng, li Heng, backed by force, slaughtered tutu Chengcui and Li Yun's rivals, and ascended the throne as emperor on the blood and corpses of political enemies, in order to serve Emperor Muzong of Tang. Although Guo Guifei did not sit on the throne of the empress at that time, this time she sat on the throne of the empress dowager.
Unfortunately, Tang Muzong did not cherish the hard-won throne, only knew how to eat, drink, and have fun, do whatever he wanted, and became obsessed with Jin Dan, just like his father. Emperor Muzong of Tang, who had only been emperor for four years, fell ill and died on the twenty-second day of the first month of the fourth year of Changqing (824).
After The death of Emperor Muzong of Tang, his three sons Tang Jingzong, Tang Wenzong, and Tang Wuzong successively came to power. At this time, the eunuchs were already very powerful, daring to depose the emperor without permission, and the decline of the Tang Dynasty was irreversible. However, as the emperor's grandmother, the empress dowager Guo Shi could continue to enjoy her glory and wealth.
In March of the sixth year of Huichang (846), Tang Wuzong died of poisoning by taking Dan medicine, at the age of thirty-three. Although the three brothers Tang Jingzong, Tang Wenzong, and Tang Wuzong had sons, the eunuchs who held real power had a good relationship with Li Yi, the half-brother of Li Heng of Tang Muzong, and they supported Li Yi as emperor and changed his name to Li Chen, for Tang Xuanzong.
Tang Xuanzong's mother, Zheng Shi, was a lowly woman in empress dowager's palace. After Emperor Xuanzong of Tang ascended the throne, his mother Zheng Shi was honored as empress dowager and sat on an equal footing with Empress Guo, which made Empress Guo feel very uncomfortable.
Imagine that Empress Guo went to great lengths to make her son emperor, but her son died after four years as emperor. In the following ten years, the three grandsons sang and sang that I took the stage and became emperors one after another. After the death of her grandchildren, she still had great-grandchildren, and wanted her great-grandson to succeed to the throne, who knew that she had killed Cheng Jin halfway through, and the children of one of her maid girls had taken away the throne that originally belonged to her great-grandson, so how could she not be annoyed, angry, or sad? Jiangshan, which has been painstakingly managed for many years, wants to give up his son of his maid, how can she be willing?
After Emperor Xuanzong of Tang ascended the throne, he certainly did not have the same filial respect for Empress Guo as her descendants, which made the elderly Empress Guo even more depressed and miserable.
On the first day of June in the second year of middle school (848), Empress Guo wanted to jump off a building to commit suicide, and was stopped, which shows how desperate she is in her heart. When Tang Xuanzong learned of this, he was quite angry. That night, Empress Guo died of a violent illness at the age of seventy.
Later generations believed that Empress Guo's death was not a good ending.
【About the author】Qi Yunke, male, born in 1988. In recent years, he has published more than 700,000 words in media at all levels. Signed author of The Reading Platform. He is a member of the Henan Writers Association, the vice chairman of the Runan County Writers Association, and a specially invited director of the Xincai County Writers Association.
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