Chapter 24 massacre

In the eighth month of the fourth year of Guangzhai after Empress Wu, the princes and princes of the Tang Dynasty raised troops to fight against the rebellion, commonly known as Yue Wang Zhenzhi's rebellion, but in fact it was his son Langya Wang Chong, the governor of Bozhou, and his nephew Huang Guogong.Forged a letter, pretending to be written by Zhong Zongzhe, asking the kings to raise troops to rescue him from Fangzhou captivity.Langya Wang Chong immediately prepared to start an uprising, and sent a letter to the kings to enter the capital, and he would immediately start an uprising in Shandong.

But poorly prepared, poorly connected, poorly planned.And because he didn't understand the military, he raised his troops for seven days, and then he was defeated and killed by his subordinates.The news of the defeat of the army spread to all the princes, and all the princes were afraid and did not dare to launch a campaign. Only Princess Changle and her husband Shouzhou Inspector Zhao Huan raised his troops to respond.Princess Changle is the mother-in-law of Zhong Zongzhe. After she was relegated from Beijing, her daughter died of hunger strike in the palace.Princess Changle said to her husband: "If the princes of the Tang family were men, they would have started the incident long ago." Langya Wang Chong and his father, Yue Wangzhen, did not care about success or failure, and started the incident alone, because Yue Wangzhen knew that whether there was a incident or not, it was inevitable that it would be inevitable. The son's involvement is better than raising troops to fight chaos instead of sitting and waiting to die.But there are only 2,000 men and horses under him, and they are close to Kyoto.The imperial court ordered Zhang Guangfu to be the commander of the army, and attacked with an army of 100,000. The king of Yue was outnumbered, defeated, and committed suicide.

Empress Wu can now wipe out all the princes of the Tang family.Because the princes are openly rebelling.She only needs to order the dog to make Zhou Xing implicate the princes, and implicate the families of the princes. It doesn't matter whether they participated in the rebellion or not.Because there is a reason that seems to be sufficient, that is, the letter of Yue Wang Chong to entangle the kings to raise troops fell into the hands of Empress Wu.With Zhou Xing's methods of extorting confessions over the years, she knew that she could have as many testimonies as she wanted, so she classified them into different categories. guilty.

Now the purge and trial begins.If the trial was carried out according to the normal procedure, the punishment would be no more than five or six princes who raised troops to fight against the chaos.But that massacre—it was indeed a massacre, because there was no normal trial procedure at all—included all the royal family of the Tang family, including the prince’s wife, children, children’s children, and friends.Judging from the events at that time, although it seems unbelievable, the rebellion of the princes of the Tang Dynasty was completely forced out by Empress Wu, and then they used the royal family's rebellion as an excuse to completely wipe out the Tang family's royal family. irrelevant.Whatever Empress Wu wanted to do, Zhou Xing would do as he was told. Zhou Xing also had the power to execute whoever he wished to be executed, and to sentence whoever he wished to be sentenced to.Just say that so-and-so knew the prisoner, and he could be weaved in and sentenced to treason.In this way, one person was put on trial, which seemed to be legal, and dozens of families were wiped out.The purges are repeated again and again, just like waves follow one by one.The procession of being escorted to the execution ground to be beheaded is like a parade, and the publicity is as extravagant as possible, so as to make the atmosphere of terror deeply rooted in the hearts of the people.Murders at court need no excuse now!

Trials and arrests started from the fourth year of Guangzhai after Empress Wu, and continued until the second half of the second year of Tianshou after Empress Wu. The nature of implicated and connected relationships became more and more extensive and subtle. It can be said that most of the Tang clan and important princes have been eliminated. Exhausted.Looking at the genealogy of the Tang Dynasty, it can be seen that the five families were completely wiped out (Huo Wang Yuangui, Han Wang Yuanjia, Shu Wang Yuanming, Xu Wang Yuanli, Yue Wangzhen), and only a few grandsons of Lu Wang Lingkui, Ji Wangshen, and Xu Wang Sujie survived. Survival.The children and grandchildren who survived were all exiled to subtropical places, some served as slaves, some disappeared and were not allowed to come out, so they all had to change their surnames to 虺.

Empress Wu's mask has now been taken off, and her purpose is to destroy her husband's Tang Dynasty.She used to boast to Emperor Taizong that she could subdue Emperor Taizong's Hummer, and that Hummer belonged to the Tang dynasty.Now that she has drawn out the sharp sword, without blinking her eyes, she has pierced the sword into the heart of her husband's family. She has always pretended to love Tang Chao, respect Tang Chao, and be loyal to Tang Chao try my best. Now the world has become a hell, and the days of the descendants of Datang are dark.He has no kindness to the descendants of Datang, and never intends to show them any mercy.The bleakness and horror of the situation at that time is really unimaginable now. Even if I saw it with my own eyes, I still feel unbelievable.The heads of the ministers rolled to the ground, scholars and Confucian scholars were bound with chains, and they drove away in groups on the street; His family, women, children, and servants traveled thousands of miles to the far south, where the grass was not yet open.I saw with my own eyes that two brothers were whipped to death, their faces were bloodied.How I am not dead, I do not know.

Wu Chengsi was vicious and vicious, and following his aunt's wishes, murder, sentencing, and exile were all in his hands. The first persecution and massacre took place from September to December in the fourth year of Guangzhai, Empress Wu, shortly after the princes of the Tang Dynasty raised their troops to fight for chaos.Huo Wang Yuangui was an old man in his seventies. He was put into a cage and exiled in Qianzhou. He died in Chencang within ten days.His son Jiangdu Wang Xu was beheaded in Jiangdu.Han Wang Yuanjia and Lu Wang Lingkui were ordered to commit suicide at home, and their property was confiscated.Han Wang Yuanjia's three sons were all beheaded.When Han Wang Yuanjia's home was confiscated, it was discovered that the collection of books in the mansion was extremely rich, with more than 10,000 volumes, some of which were

The equipment is extremely precious, beyond the reach of the secret palace in the palace, and it has been carefully annotated by King Han himself.Gaozong's younger brother, Ji Wangshen, was conscientious and diligent. When he was in charge of the governor, he had good governance. The people awarded merits for standing stones.But he was charged with the crime of knowing but not acting, because he had confessed to knowing the letter that the king of Yue gathered to invite the king to raise his troops.At that time, he was about 60 years old. He was loaded into a prison car, exposed to wind and dust for a month, and died on the way to Bazhou.All five sons were killed.Shu Wang Sikong was dispatched to Lizhou without a name. Although he did not die on the way, his sentence was commuted to death a year later and he was killed.

Empress Wu's massacre was not random, but was done cleanly.In terms of the rank of officials in the court, the highest ones, Taishi, Taifu, Taibao, Taiwei, Situ, and Sikong, are all the elders of the emperor.These official positions are now empty, and people have been wiped out.The veterans and important officials of the Tang Dynasty are all gone.The only way to eliminate them is to eliminate some little people.Now that the royal family of the Tang Dynasty is completely empty, what would it take to eliminate the Tang Dynasty?