Tang Dynasty woman

Chapter 38 A Romance in the Early Tang Dynasty: The Eternal Empress (2) ([-])
Empress Wu immediately issued an edict to match Princess Xuancheng with the guards of Yeting.The guard was over 50 years old, with a dark and ugly face and a rough temperament.Prince Hong pleaded for his sister to marry another minister's son on the grounds that it would be degrading for the country to marry a royal princess.Empress Wu didn't allow it, and even reprimanded Prince Hong.After Princess Xuancheng got married, the guard had the secret purpose of Empress Wu and beat and scolded her all day long. In the end, when Princess Xuancheng was pregnant and about to give birth, he beat her severely, causing both mother and child to bleed. After beheading this guard with his own hands, he has been in a trance and moody since then, and everyone talks about how Empress Wu brutally killed Queen Wang and Concubine Xiao Shu, and how she forced to death two smart and beautiful royal princesses.

So in the second year of Shangyuan, Prince Li Hong was called to the Hebi Palace by his father and queen mother. Empress Wu personally held the cup. After Prince Li Hong drank the notorious wine, he was still fine at that time, and he didn't feel the swelling and pain in his abdomen until night , taking medicine was ineffective, and he groaned for several days before he finally died at the age of 24.Empress Wu then established Lu Wang Li Xian as the prince.

Although Lu Wangxian was also born of Empress Wu, he was upright by nature. In the past, he could not understand Empress Wu's arrogance and domineering. Now that he is the crown prince, he politely persuaded her to return the government to his father when he met with his mother.Empress Wu didn't realize that the enthusiasm for Prince Xian was as cold as that of former Prince Hong.

Ever since Taoist Guo was killed, Empress Wu never forgot in her heart. She hypothesized that she wanted to recommend the dead soul of Mrs. Rongguo in the palace, and ordered the officials in the capital to guard against Taoists with profound Taoism.Jingzhaofu Yin visited a Taoist priest named Ming Chongyan. It is said that he has practiced in the mountains for more than 60 years. So Xuan came to the palace.During the day, a group of Taoist couples were gathered to perform deeds with drums and cymbals. At night, they went to the queen's bedroom to explain the law, reason, and discuss evidence.

On the 49th day of July [-]th, the great success was accomplished. Empress Wu held a big banquet and gave Ming Chongyan a table of plain seats, so that all officials could accompany the banquet;

Soon, the scandal of Taoist priest Ming Chongyan and Empress Wu spread widely outside.Prince Xian was in a hurry. He wanted to play the imperial father's edict to take Ming Chongyan to rectify the Dharma, but at this time Emperor Gaozong had a severe headache and had not entered the Queen's Palace for three months. He was afraid that the imperial father would find out about it. Anger worsened his condition, so when Empress Wu continued to stay in Ming Chongyan's dan room blatantly, he brought a few warriors with him since he was a child, and waited quietly in the aisle outside the dan room. Coming out of the alchemy room, two warriors went up, gagged Taoist Ming's mouth, tied his arms behind his back, and brought him to the prince, forcing him to kneel down on the ground.

At first, the Ming Taoist priest was very arrogant and refused to confess. It was not until he was whipped by the warrior's leather whip that he couldn't bear it. Then he confessed that he was a scoundrel in the capital, and his actual age was only 26 years old.Everything about cultivating, superseding, teaching the law and studying the Tao are all lies made up by the Queen of Heaven.The prince asked again if he had committed adultery with the queen?Ming Chongyan just kowtowed, not daring to answer a word.Seeing this expression, the crown prince was so angry that he lost his mind, went up and strangled Ming Chongyan's neck, who knew that the force was too strong, and Ming Chongyan died of anger.The prince ordered a large rock to be tied to the corpse and quietly thrown into Xuanwu Lake.

The next day Empress Wu suddenly disappeared from her beloved Daoist Ming. Although Zhang Ming was embarrassed to look for it obviously, she secretly ordered the servants to search everywhere.As time went by, some of the companions of the servants gradually confided in their mouths. As soon as Empress Wu heard about it, she gritted her teeth and cursed. Prince Xian, the illegitimate son of Mrs. Zong and Mrs. Han, felt even more frightened, so he secretly mobilized two hundred warriors to lie in ambush in the East Palace day and night to prevent Empress Wu from assassinating him.

When Empress Wu found out, she sent Xue Yuanchao, Pei Yan, and Gao Zhizhou to lead the Yulin army to attack the East Palace. Sure enough, hundreds of soldiers were found.Empress Wu personally took the prince Xian to Gaozong, saying that the prince had the intention of killing his mother, and this harm must be eliminated.Gaozong was sick in bed because of a head wind. Seeing this, he just kept crying and didn't say anything, so Empress Wu said: "The prince is a rebellious and unforgivable crime. Now he is in front of the emperor's bed. Make Li Zhe the crown prince." After Prince Xian was expelled from the East Palace, Empress Wu secretly ordered General Zuo Jinwu Qiu Shenji to lead troops to surround the mansion and force Prince Xian to commit suicide.

Gao Zong saw that the prince had been deposed again. He was depressed and became more and more ill. He held his head in his hands, complaining of headache day and night, dizzy eyes and heartbeat, and could not sit up.The imperial doctor Qin Minghe said that His Majesty's liver wind is rebellious, and the bleeding can be healed only by piercing the head with steel needles.Empress Wu yelled loudly after hearing this: "Qin Minghe can be killed, how can the emperor's body see blood?"

Gaozong, who was suffering from the pain, quickly stopped him and said: "There is nothing wrong with the doctor's consultation on the disease, and I am dizzy, so let's treat it for now." Qin Minghe boldly stepped forward to the emperor's temples on the left and right, and slammed it down heavily. After two injections, blood flowed out, but Gaozong sat up abruptly and said: "My eyes are clear, and my head is no longer dizzy!"

Empress Wu immediately thanked God for giving me a good doctor in the sky, and Emperor Gaozong ordered to reward Qin Minghe with a hundred liang of gold and ten pieces of colorful satin.As a result, the next day, Qin Minghe was killed at home, and then Gaozong also died.

That year was 683 A.D. Emperor Gaozong, who had always been cowardly and incompetent and was firmly controlled by the Wu family he loved and hated so much, died in December of that year, so Empress Wu was promoted to empress dowager In the last edict, Prince Zhe was established as Emperor Zhongzong, and all major military and state affairs were subject to the ruling of the Queen Mother.

The Empress Dowager immediately issued an edict to set up twelve things: first, persuasion of farming and mulberry, thin taxation; Guangyan Road; Qi Du slander; eight princes and below, all learn "Lao Tzu"; nine fathers have been serving their mothers for three years; Officials of the eighth grade or above will benefit from the income; twelve hundred officials who have served for a long time before they are high-ranking and low-ranking officials will be able to advance to the next level.

This move won the support of the subjects. Empress Wu was happy that she could control the subjects steadily after the death of Emperor Gaozong. Unexpectedly, Zhongzong was in charge of everything and never discussed with her when giving orders. Finally, the Empress Dowager issued an edict to abolish her. It is completely understandable that Zhongzong is the king of Luling.Then his son Li Dan became Emperor Ruizong, and he accompanied the empress dowager to sit in Wucheng Hall.From then on, the empress dowager sat in the Zichen Hall every day, surrounded by purple curtains on both sides of the throne.Although Ruizong was the emperor, he was imprisoned in the palace all the year round, and he was not allowed to predict political affairs.

All members of Empress Wu's family held great power. Wu Chengsi was the son of Empress Wu's half-brother Wu Yuanshuang. After Wu Minzhi hanged himself, the Wu family requested that Wu Chengsi be recalled from Lingnan.In the first year of Sisheng, he worshiped Wu Chengsi as Minister of Rites; in the first year of Zaichu, he worshiped as Wenchang Zuoxiang, the third rank of Fengge Luantai, and also knew internal history.Wu Chengsi asked to build the Seven Temples of the Wu family in the Eastern Capital, and the Empress Dowager Wu issued an edict to make Wu Yuanqing King of Liang Xian, Wu Yuanshuang King of Wei De, and her uncles and uncles as Kings, and Zhudi as the eldest princess. He added Wu Chengsi as the king of Wei, and Wu Yuanqing's son Xia Guanshangshu Sansi as the king of Liang.Empress Dowager Wu's concubine, father and son, Nayan Wu Youning, was also granted the title of King Jianchang. The king, General Wu Youji of the right guard is the king of Qiancheng, Secretary Wu Yizong of the Qing Dynasty is the king of Hanoi, general Wu Sizong of Zuo Qianniu Zhonglang is the king of Linchuan, general Wu Youyi of Zhonglang of the second house of Youwei Xun is the king of Jian'an, and Shangcheng Zhizong is the king of Hanoi. Chang Wu Youwang was named King of Kuaiji, Wu Youxu, the prince's general official, was named King of Anping, Wu Youshang was named King of Heng'an; Wu Cheng's heir Wu Yanji was named King of Nanyang, Wu Yanxiu was named King of Huaiyang; Wu Sansi's son Wu Chongxun was named Gaoyang Wang, Wu Chonglie is the king of Xin'an; Wu Yanhui, the son of Wu Chengye, is named the heir of Chen Wang, and Wu Yanzuo is the king of Yan'an.As a result, the Wu family was rich and powerful, and became even more domineering and unscrupulous.Wu Chengsi was still not satisfied, so he asked Zhang Jiafu, a member of the Fengge family, to force the people to come forward and ask Wu Chengsi to be the crown prince, but the Empress Dowager Wu refused, so the depressed Wu Chengsi began to persuade Wu Zetian to kill all the descendants of the Li family. Wu Chengsi's younger brother Wu Sansi also tried his best to persuade him.

12. I am the only female emperor through the ages
Liuzhou Sima Xu Jingye hated Empress Dowager Wu's dictatorship, so he spread the word to all directions, and welcomed King Luling as Emperor Zhongzong.The proclamation spread to all directions, and there were more than [-] soldiers who were moved to revolt. However, the loyal Xu Jingye was defeated and captured soon after. The capital.

Before Xu Jingye was defeated, Pei Yan, who was in charge of the imperial court, and Cheng Wuting, the general of Zuo Weiwei, both went to the court to persuade Empress Wu to return to the Luling King.Now that Xu Jingye is dead, the Empress Dowager Wu ordered Pei and Cheng to be executed as well.So everyone in the court was terrified and kept silent.Empress Dowager Wu forced Cao Wang Li Ming to death, demoted Qi Wang Li Shangjin and Zou Wang Li Sujie.Li Shangjin, the king of Qi, was born to Gaozong's concubine Yang, and now the Empress Dowager Wu has seized the fiefdom and placed him in Lizhou.Li Sujie was born to Concubine Xiao Shu, who had long been demoted as the governor of Shenzhou. Li Sujie wrote "On Loyalty and Filial Piety" to show his loyalty and filial piety in order to save his life. Empress Dowager Wu falsely accused him of accepting bribes and forced him to commit suicide.

Then the Empress Dowager Wu came to the court, and first commended her contribution to supporting the late emperor, and then ordered Wu Chengsi to hold the jade seal, saying that she would return the government to Emperor Ruizong; Ruizong was about to go up to pick up the jade seal, when Wu Chengsi glared at him suddenly He was so frightened that he hurriedly drew back his hands, and repeatedly said that he would invite his mother to come to court.On the one hand, the Empress Dowager Wu sent Wu Sansi to secretly instruct Yushi Fu Youyi to lead the elders in the pass to ask for revolution and change the emperor's surname to Wu; Seeing the bird in the court hall, God's will has returned to the Wu family.

So in 690 A.D., Empress Wu gave amnesty to the world, changed the name of the country to Zhou, and the name of the year to Tianshou. She called herself the Holy God Zetian Emperor. The oldest emperor when he ascended the throne.The only female emperor in the ages named herself Zhao, and made twelve characters like Zhaoxi, and the flags were all red.Emperor Ruizong retired as the prince; his father, a warrior, was named Emperor Xiaominggao, known as Taizu; his mother, Yang, was named Empress Xiaominggao.At the same time, the temples of Li and Tang were abolished, and the clan of Li and Tang were arrested. No matter men, women, old or young, they were all sent to Lingnan, and then they instigated people to deliberately inform the court that the people from Lingnan had rebelled. , went to Lingnan for inspection.

After Wan Guojun arrived in Lingnan, he forged an imperial decree and summoned those who were exiled here, so-called exiled people, to die together.The exiles wailed and refused to accept. Wan Guojun ordered soldiers to chase them with knives and swords. They chased them to the water's edge. They couldn't escape any more, so they caught and killed them one by one. They killed more than 300 people in one day.It's a pity that most of them are the descendants of the royal family with golden branches and jade leaves. They were exiled to such a miasma and barbaric place in the south, and they still couldn't save their lives.

At that time, there were 5000 people sent to Lingnan by Wu Zetian, and because they refused to accept Wan Guojun and forced to kill [-] people, there were unavoidable complaints behind their backs.Wan Guojun simply didn't do one thing and kept on doing the other. The memorial said that all the exiles are complaining, so please get rid of them all.After Wu Zetian read the playbook, he dispatched Cao Canjun Liu Guangye, a soldier of Youwei Yifu, Wang Deshou, a criminal judge, Bao Sigong, a supervisor in the south, Wang Dazhen, a straight chief of Shangnian, and Qu Zhenyun, a soldier of Cao Canjun, to supervise the official titles of Yushi and divide them into swords. South Qianzhong Annan and other six groups went to investigate the exiles.

Seeing that Wan Guojun had killed 300 people and won the favor of Emperor Zetian, these supervisory censors all murdered: Censor Liu Guangye killed 900 people, Censor Wang Deshou killed 700 people, Censor Bao Sigong and Censor Wang Dazhen Each killed five or 600 people.They killed all the exiles of the six realms for a while, and then returned to Beijing triumphantly to return to their orders.

Wan Guojun also said that he passed by Fangling and met the king of Luling. The princess Zhao's face was full of resentment.

It turned out that Zhongzong was imprisoned in Fangling, with one wife and one concubine beside him, wife Zhao and concubine Wei.Concubine Zhao was born to Princess Changle, Gao's great-grandfather, she was quiet and virtuous, Gao Zong admired it very much, but Wu Zetian didn't like her because of her reserved temperament.Now that Wan Guojun visited Fangling, King Luling and Wei Shi gave him money and persuaded him to drink, but Concubine Zhao didn't want to see him. Wan Yushi thought she looked down on him, so he held a grudge.

Emperor Zetian issued a decree to bring Princess Zhao to Beijing and imprison her in a dark room.There is only a small hole in the dark room, and everything is similar to the mud room where the king and queen were imprisoned, except that no food or fire is given every day.

Concubine Zhao was born in a noble family and was pampered. Now she is imprisoned in a dark room and shed tears all day long.At first, when she cried until she was hungry, she begged the guards to give her some food and drink. After three days, there was no movement. The guard played Emperor Ming Zetian and opened the hole in the wall. Concubine Zhao was dead on the bed. , the body has already begun to rot.

Emperor Zetian ordered her to be collected hastily and buried on the wasteland, which would be the end of her, but the calamity for Concubine Zhao's father, Zhao Tuan, was far from over.Zhao Yu was originally an official worshiping the governor of Dingzhou and the captain of the concubine. After the death of Concubine Zhao, she was demoted to Kuozhou.

Princess Changle and Gaozong's brother and sister have a deep affection, and Gaozong often keeps the princess in the palace to play.Princess Chang Le has an upright temperament, and she must be punished when seeing palace servants who do not obey the rules.Because Princess Taiping was very indulgent with her mother's favor, she was reprimanded many times by Princess Changle.After hearing Princess Taiping's cry, Empress Wu had to endure because of Emperor Gaozong, but now that Princess Changle was expelled, she finally let go of her long-standing resentment.

(End of this chapter)