Anecdote of the Fifth Queen Mother

Chapter 16 Empress Wu (4)
The original Wang Xiao was Gaozong's second son.In the third year of Xianqing (658 A.D.), Wu Zetian demoted him to be the governor of Suizhou with an excuse.Another six years later, in May of the first year of Linde (AD 664), that is, the same year that the old prince Zhong was killed, the prince Xiao died, and the cause of death is unknown.It is precisely because of his early days that he was able to escape Wu Zetian's poisonous hands.

King Ze Shangjin, born to the Yang family in the harem, and Xu Wang Sujie, born to Concubine Xiao Shu, are the third and fourth sons of Tang Gaozong respectively.Out of resentment towards Concubine Xiao Shu, Wu Zetian certainly would not let Concubine Xiao's son go.However, due to the fact that Emperor Gaozong was alive, after Wu Zetian became the queen, he only appointed King Ze Shangjin as the governor of Shouzhou and Wang Sujie as the governor of Shenzhou.In the first year of Tianshou (AD 690), that is, the year when Wu Zetian officially ascended the throne as emperor, Gaozong was dead at that time. Wu Zetian could no longer tolerate these two people living in the world anymore, so he ordered the cruel official Zhou Xing to falsely accuse Shangjin, Sujie rebelled and arrested the two of them to Ledu.In the Longmen post in the south of the city, people were sent to hang Sujie to death; Shangjin heard the news and committed suicide.At the same time, he killed the seven sons of Shangjin and the nine sons of Sujie in order to eradicate the roots.So far, Gaozong's four sons who were not born to Wu Zetian were all killed by Wu Zetian, and the right to inherit the throne belonged to Wu's sons.

While eliminating Gaozong's four sons one after another, Wu Zetian never forgot to take revenge on those courtiers who had opposed him.On the day when she ascended the throne of empress, she hypocritically handed Tang Gaozong a seal, saying: "Your Majesty used to regard concubine as Chen concubine, and Han Yuan and Lai Ji faced court disputes. This matter is extremely difficult. Isn’t it true that for the country with deep affection, begging for praise.” (Volume [-] of "Zi Zhi Tong Jian") This seal is Wu Zetian's declaration of counter-offensive and reckless calculations, and his complacency is beyond words.This is not asking for credit for Han and Lai, this is the weasel paying New Year's greetings to the chicken, and it gave a blow to the courtiers who opposed Wu Zetian.It is no wonder that Han Yuan and Laiji could not sleep well or eat well after seeing the Empress Wu seal that Gao Zong specially gave them to see, so they repeatedly asked Gao Zong to abdicate.They knew very well in their hearts that since they had prevented Wu Zetian from becoming concubines and queens, Wu Zetian would never let them go.

Sure enough, in August of the second year of Xianqing (657 A.D.), Wu Zetian used Xu Jingzong and Li Yifu to make a false accusation, and demoted Han Yuan as the governor of Zhenzhou and Laiji as the governor of Taizhou.At the same time, Chu Suiliang, who had already been demoted as the governor of Guizhou, was relegated to the governor of Aizhou, and Liu Yi was demoted from the governor of Rongzhou to the governor of Xiangzhou.In the third year of Xianqing (658 A.D.), Chu Suiliang died of illness at the age of 63.A generation of politicians and great calligraphers passed away in this way.Wu Zetian hated Chu Suiliang, chased down Chu Suiliang's official title, and exiled his descendants.In the fourth year of Xianqing (659 A.D.), when the people Wu Zetian sent to kill Han Yuan arrived, Han Yuan had died of illness at the age of 54.But the visitors did not give up. They opened the coffin for an autopsy, ransacked Han Yuan's home, and exiled his descendants.He didn't live long after coming to Ji. In the fifth year of Xianqing (660 A.D.), he was relocated as the governor of Tingzhou.In the second year of Longshuo (AD 662), the Turks invaded aggressively. It was difficult for the Empress Dowager Laiji to know Wu, and he would be killed sooner or later. So he deliberately did not wear armor, and rushed into the enemy's line alone to die. He was 53 years old at the time.

As for the leader of the Guanlong military aristocratic group and the Minister of Gu Ming, Changsun Wuji, Wu Zetian wanted to get rid of him quickly.But Changsun Wuji was high and powerful, different from ordinary ministers, and he was Gaozong's uncle, who had contributed to supporting Gaozong, and Gaozong still trusted him quite a lot.For example, in the first year of Yonghui, Li Hongtai, a native of Luoyang, sued his elder Sun Wuji for rebellion. Gaozong didn't even bother to ask, so he ordered Li Hongtai to be beheaded.Wu Zetian knew this very well, and she was cautious in dealing with Changsun Wuji.At first she made no announcement, and then attacked in a planned and step-by-step manner.

In the first year of Xianqing (AD 656), Wu Zetian first managed to release Gao Shi, the eldest grandson Wuji's middle cousin, from Taichang Qing to the governor's office of Yizhou, and then transferred Wuji's father and brother Sun Xiang to the Minister of Industry. It was released as the history of the governor of Jingzhou.Then, Han Yuan and Laiji, who were in the same party as Wuji, were demoted.In the fourth year of Xianqing (659 A.D.), Wu Zetian felt that the time had come to attack Changsun Wuji, so he ordered Xu Jingzong to take the opportunity to falsely accuse Changsun Wuji.At this time, Li Fengjie, a native of Luoyang, told Prince Xima Wei Jifang that he was a friend of Li Chaoxiang, the prison supervisor. Xu Jingzong took the opportunity to implicate Changsun Wuji and changed the case to treason.

Tang Gaozong didn't believe that the uncle of the country was rebelling at first, but he couldn't stand the internal and external attacks of Wu Zetian, Xu Jingzong and others. He didn't even understand the reason of Changsun Wuji's "rebellion", so he agreed to cut off his official title and exile. Qianzhou (now Pengshui, Sichuan), and immediately sent troops to repatriate.Changsun Wuji was convicted in a muddle like this. Of course, Gaozong probably agreed with Changsun Wuji's resignation in his heart.Only three months later, Wu Zetian ordered Dali Zheng Yuan Gongyu to go to Qianzhou to interrogate the presiding judge Sun Wuji again. Wuji was forced to throw himself into the ring and die.

The downfall of Changsun Wuji led to the disintegration of the Guanlong aristocratic group that had existed for 150 years, affecting many people for a while.Changsun Wuji's son Fuma Duwei Changsun Chong was exiled outside the mountains; his younger brother Sun Zhiren was demoted to Yizhou Sima; He died; his middle cousin Gao Xing was once again demoted from the governor of Yizhou to the governor of Hongzhou.Although Chu Suiliang was dead at this time, his two sons Chu Yanfu and Chu Yanchong were also assassinated on the way to exile in Aizhou.Wu Zetian also sent people to kill Liu Xun in Xiangzhou, hang Wujizhi's father and son, Sun Xiang, and exile Wuji's elder brother, Sun En, in Tanzhou.Shi Zhao Chiman, governor of Liangzhou, was good at riding and shooting. He was a rare all-rounder in civil and military affairs, but because he was Changsun Quan's nephew and Han Yuan's aunt, he was falsely accused of treason and killed.Even Yu Zhining, who was born in the Yu clan, one of the Eight Great Pillar Kingdoms of the Northern Zhou Dynasty, although he was obsequious and did not express any opinions on the issue of abolishing the empress, but because of his prominent status and high reputation, he was doomed.On the day Wu Zetian was exiled to Wuji, he used a crime of party attachment to Wuji to remove Yu Zhining, the crown prince, and the third rank of Tongzhong Shumen, and was demoted to Rongzhou governor, and soon he was demoted to Huazhou governor .

Under the blow of Wu Zetian's big stick, the Changsun and Yu clans collapsed, the Liu and Han clans also collapsed, the Guanlong military aristocratic group collapsed, and the pillars of the Li and Tang Dynasties collapsed.In the pool of blood of the princes and ministers, Wu Zetian's position has been consolidated unprecedentedly.At this time, she felt that it was necessary to justifiably glorify the family and elevate Wu's status.Therefore, Wu Zetian finally ordered to replace the original "Clan Records" with "Surname Records".

"Clan Records" was compiled by Emperor Taizong of Tang Dynasty, and it was adopted by Emperor Taizong of Tang in response to the old clan system in the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties that "officials have a family, and a family has a family" ("New Book of Tang Liu Chong Biography") important measure.Tang Taizong personally instructed that the newly revised "Clan Records" "do not need to talk about several generations ago, and stop taking today's officials and nobles as ranks" (Old Tang Book·Biography of Gao Shilian). "Clan Records" was finalized in the spring of the 12th year of Zhenguan (AD 638), and was promulgated by Tang Taizong to the world. It included a total of 290 three surnames, 650, [-] families, surnames divided into nine classes, and a hundred volumes. "Clan Records" ranks the family ranks by officials and ranks, which has changed the previous practice of distinguishing high and low by county surnames.

After 21 years, why did Wu Zetian change "Clan History" to "Surname Record"?It turns out that there is no Wu family status in "Clan Chronicles", which obviously annoyed Wu Zetian a lot.Xu Jingzong agreed with him and proposed to rebuild the "Clan Chronicles", and Li Yifu desperately advocated the revision because his family's status in the "Clan Chronicles" was not high.In June of the fourth year of Xianqing, at the behest of Wu Zetian, Tang Gaozong formally issued an edict to change "Clan Records" to "Surname Records". "Surname Records" includes 240 five surnames and 280 seven families. "clan"). "Surname Record" is divided into nine grades according to the official rank of the dynasty, and the Wu family is listed as the first grade. After the "Surname Record" was completed, Li Yifu requested that all "Clan Chronicles" in the country be burned.In fact, "Surname Records" did not have any substantial changes compared with "Clan Chronicles", but it only expanded the ranks of the gentry and greatly improved the status of the Wu family.

In the first month of the fifth year of Xianqing (660 A.D.), Wu Zetian, who was full of ambitions, set off from Luoyang with Emperor Gaozong of Tang Dynasty and returned to his hometown.In March, a grand banquet was held in Wenshui County, Bingzhou. Many members of the Wu family, relatives, old friends, and neighbors were invited to the emperor's palace, and women were also warmly received in the inner hall.All women over the age of 80 in Bingzhou were awarded the title of county monarch. Wu Zetian's glory reached a new peak, and her vanity was greatly satisfied.No wonder some people say that riches and honor do not return to their hometowns, like clothes and clothes that travel at night.

Just in October of this year, the power in Wu Zetian's hands also reached a new height.Two years after she became empress, because Tang Gaozong suffered from dizziness and headaches and could not see clearly, she "seeed things every other day" and sometimes began to let Wu Zetian participate in politics.At this point, she was officially ordered to "make a decision on all matters".Because of Gaozong's cowardice, and because of Gaozong's physical decline, this chance led to Wu Zetian's coming to power.Wu Zetian finally came to the front of the stage from behind the scenes and began to formally intervene in political affairs.And when Wu Zetian came into contact with the boundless power of the feudal emperor, he was firmly attracted like a magnet attracting iron.Her heart was trembling, and she would never give up the power she had obtained.Moreover, her desire to gain power is expanding day by day like a sponge that has absorbed enough water.And it never ends.

A new power struggle is about to start again.This time, her opponents are no longer the Queen Wang, Changsun Wuji, etc., but her husband and her own son, because what Wu Zetian pursues is no longer to enjoy the glory of the queen, but to revolution. The life of the entire Li and Tang Dynasty must be abolished.

"Hanfeng Palace sings the little king of Qin, and sings Wu Meiniang with short hair" (Yuan Mei's poem "The Mausoleum of Empress Wu").Wu Zetian's ship, already full of sails, is sailing in the ocean of power, sailing to the other side of the Wu Zhou Empire...

[-]. Pick two yellow melons
Planting melons under the yellow platform, the melons are ripe and separated.

Pick the melon to make it good, then pick the melon to make it thin.

Three picks are still acceptable, and four picks will return with the vines.

——"Old Book of Tang: Biography of Emperor Chengtian"

This famous "Huangtai Melon Ci" was written by Li Xian, the second son of Wu Zetian and Prince Zhanghuai.After Li Xian was established as the prince in the second year of Shangyuan (AD 675), he was always in fear, fearing that his mother, Empress Wu Zetian, would attack him, so he made this song "Huangtai Melon Song", ordered the musicians to sing, and hinted to Wu Zetian that if Killing all his own sons would not do Wu Zetian himself any good.

It turned out that Wu Zetian not only attacked Gaozong's four eldest sons, but also his own sons.She killed her eldest son, Prince Hong, and her second son, Zhang Huai, Prince Xian successively; her third son, Li Xian, and fourth son, Li Dan, survived only because they were young and easy to manipulate.For this matter, some people feel puzzled, in fact, the reason is very simple.The world belongs to the Li and Tang Dynasty, and it can only be inherited by the descendants of the Li family. Replaced by the Samurai Dynasty.Especially the eldest son Li Hong and the second son Li Xianjun have already grown up, and Tang Gaozong's physical condition is not good. If Li Hong or Li Xian succeeds Gaozong after Gaozong's death, then Wu Zetian will not only be unable to become emperor, but even the power she has already acquired will be in danger. Therefore, it is imperative for Wu Zetian to get rid of Li Hong and even Li Xian.

In the second year of Shangyuan (AD 675), Li Hong, who was the prince, met the two princesses Yiyang and Xuancheng by chance. Because they were born to Concubine Xiao Shu, they were kept in the harem. They were already in their 30s and could not get married.Prince Hong reported the matter to Tang Gaozong and asked to marry the two princesses, and Tang Gaozong agreed.Wu Zetian was furious when she learned of this. Although she sent the second princess to marry Yiwei Quanyi and Wang Suigu on the same day, she also sent someone to poison the prince Hong to the Hebi Palace.At that time, Emperor Gaozong of Tang Dynasty was about to abdicate the throne to Prince Hong, and Wu Zetian poisoned Prince Hong to death just at this time. Perhaps it was no coincidence that the 24-year-old crown prince was just a victim in the struggle between Wu Zetian and Tang Gaozong for power.After the death of Prince Hong, Emperor Gaozong of Tang was very sad. He ordered the construction of Gongling Mausoleum for him, and buried him with the ceremony of emperor.The two completely different attitudes of Tang Gaozong and Wu Zetian towards the death of Prince Hong reflected the deep rift between them.

After the death of Prince Hong, Tang Gaozong made Wu Zetian's second son Li Xian the prince in June of the same year.Li Xian was smart, eager to learn, and decisive in dealing with affairs. He once summoned some famous scholars at that time to comment on Fan Ye's "Book of the Later Han Dynasty".Wu Zetian immediately felt that this prince was a potential danger to her. If Gaozong died and was succeeded by this smart and capable prince, it would be very difficult for her to continue to control the government.Therefore, as Gaozong's health deteriorated day by day, Wu Zetian also accelerated her pace of eliminating Prince Xian.On the one hand, Wu Zetian sent palace people to spread around, saying that King Li Xian (the third son of Wu Zetian) was very similar to Emperor Taizong in appearance, and that Li Xian was not born to Wu Zetian, but to Mrs. Han, the sister of Empress Wu, which made Li Xian feel worried. Uneasy; on the one hand, he wrote "Shaoyang Zhengfan" and "The Biography of a Filial Son" for Li Xian, and wrote many books accusing Prince Xian of making him at a loss.

In the second year of Tiaolu (680 A.D.), Ming Chongyan, an admonishing doctor who won the favor of Wu Zetian with the technique of spells, was killed. Wu Zetian suspected that it was the envoy of Li Xian, so she found hundreds of soap in the Mafang of the East Palace under the pretext of A, Xue Yuanchao, the servant of Zhongshu, Pei Yan, the servant of Huangmen, and others falsely accused Prince Xian of plotting rebellion, deposed Li Xian as a commoner, and imprisoned him.In the second year of Yongchun (683 A.D.), Li Xian was exiled to Bazhou (now Bazhong County, Sichuan).In the first year of civilization (AD 684), when Wu Zetian was about to ascend the throne, in order to get rid of future troubles, she sent General Zuo Jinwu Qiu Shenjie to Bazhou to imprison Li Xian in another room and force him to commit suicide.Li Xian was only 32 years old when he died. To this day, there are still remains of Li Xian’s tomb and the prince’s reading platform in Bazhong County, Sichuan. The local people still miss this learned and talented prince very much.

When Li Xian died, she removed a large part of Wu Zetian's heart disease, but she pretended to bestow Li Xian as King Yong on the surface, and demoted Qiu Shenji, who forced the prince Xian to be killed, to the governor of Diezhou, but after a while, she reappointed her Qiu Shenji is General Zuo Jinwu, which is really trying to cover up.In the second year of Shenlong (706 A.D.) after Zhongzong Li Xian was restored, Li Xian's coffin was moved back from Bazhou and buried in Qianling.In the second year of Jingyun (711 A.D.), Emperor Ruizong Li Dan posthumously named him "Prince Zhanghuai".His tomb is about three kilometers southeast of today's Qianling Mausoleum. Archaeologists excavated and cleaned up the tomb from 1971 to 1972. More than 600 burial objects were unearthed. , "Watching Birds and Catching Cicadas" and other large-scale murals make Chinese and foreign tourists amazed.

Li Xian was killed only three months after Tang Gaozong's death, that is to say, at the end of Tang Gaozong's life, Wu Zetian had not been able to kill Li Xian, but only demoted him to Bazhou. Protecting Li Xian made Wu Zetian unable to do it for a long time.Because Tang Gaozong wanted to maintain the Li Tang Dynasty, and Wu Zetian wanted to abolish Tang and Li Zhou, the conflict between them was inevitable.There was a period of harmony between them, before Wu Zetian became empress.When Wu Zetian became the queen.The battle between them rose to the main conflict.

After Wu Zetian became a queen, she was not satisfied with only exercising her power in the harem. After rejecting the eldest sons of the emperor and the eldest grandson Wuji and other ministers, she actively participated in the government affairs.Once on the political stage, Wu Zetian was eager to monopolize the monarchy, so it was unavoidable that the sick Gaozong was in the way.For Tang Gaozong, the reason why he resisted all opinions and insisted on making Wu Zetian the queen was not only because of Wu Zetian's beauty, but also because she was good at figuring out her own mind, and she always flattered her, which won his favor.Unexpectedly, after Wu Zetian entered politics, Tang Gaozong would not be taken seriously. Even Gaozong's decision needed Wu Zetian's consent. As a result, Gaozong's dissatisfaction grew day by day.The harmony between the two has become a thing of the past, and only a kind of superficial peace remains, but the struggle behind the scenes has intensified.

The contradiction between Tang Gaozong and Wu Zetian was first manifested in Li Yifu.Li Yifu is a sinister and cunning person. According to the "Old Tang Book·Li Yifu Biography": "Yifu looks gentle and courteous, and always smiles when talking to others, but he is jealous of thieves. Since he is in power, he wants others to attach himself. Those who are slightly disobedient will always fall. Therefore, people say that Yifu has a knife in his smile, and it is soft and harms things. It is also called "Li Mao". For the future meritorious service, the official position is promoted step by step.In the sixth year of Yonghui (655 A.D.), Li Yifu was appointed as the Minister of Zhongshu to participate in political affairs; in the second year of Xianqing (657 A.D.), Li Yifu was also appointed as the Minister of Zhongshu.

Relying on the power of Empress Wu, Li Yifu did whatever he wanted. "The Zhongshu ordered Li Yi's mansion to be favored, and those who embraced his sons and children were ranked among the most noble. But Yi's mansion was greedy, and the mother, wife, sons, and son-in-law sold officials to prisons. Its family was like a market, with many cliques, and it swept the government and the public. In order to show a little punishment, Tang Gaozong took advantage of his disagreement with Zhongshu Ling Du Zhenglun in the third year of Xianqing (658 A.D.) to demote Li Yifu as the governor of Puzhou. (Volume 663 of "Zi Zhi Tong Jian").In August of the fourth year of Xianqing, just after Wu Zetian exiled Changsun Wuji and others, he immediately promoted Li Yifu, the governor of Puzhou, to the third rank of Minister of the Ministry of Officials and Tongzhongshu.In the first month of the third year of Longshuo ([-] A.D.), Li Yifu was appointed as the right minister.

(End of this chapter)