Chapter 196 Chapter 195: Emperor Gaozong and Li Zhi

Li Zhi (AD 628-683), courtesy name Shan, nicknamed Pheasant Nu, the ninth son of Tang Taizong Li Shimin, the third emperor of the Tang Dynasty, reigned for 34 years, with reign titles Yonghui, Xianqing, Longshuo, Linde, Qianfeng, Zongzhang, Chengheng, Shangyuan, Yifeng, Tiaolu, Yonglong, Kaiyao, Yongchun, Hongdao, posthumously titled Tianhuang Dadi, temple named Gaozong.In the thirteenth year of Tianbao (754 AD), the posthumous name was changed to Emperor Dahongxiao. Tang Taizong Li Shimin had 14 sons.Among them, the eldest son Chengqian, the fourth son Tai, and the ninth son Zhi were born to the eldest grandson empress, and the rest were all concubines in the harem.According to the eldest son inheritance system, Li Shimin established the 8-year-old Chengqian as his successor when he became emperor.Chengqian is naughty by nature and likes to hang out with lingtong, which makes Li Shimin very annoyed. He makes people kill Chengqian's beloved lingtong whom Chengqian calls "Wishin", and dismisses a group of ministers who educated the prince for dereliction of duty.But Chengqian did not change because of this.Later, Chengqian invented a new way of entertainment. He and his seventh uncle Han Wang Yuanchang each led a team of troops in the palace, armed with weapons and wearing armor.At first, Chengqian had scruples about his father and tried not to let the ministers catch him, but as he grew older, he gradually became reckless.Chengqian has been disabled since he was a child, so he was not very popular with his father, and only as the eldest son, he was qualified as the prince.Li Shimin became more and more dissatisfied with Chengqian, so he wanted to abolish the prince.

The fourth prince, Li Tai, is good at writing and is quite loved by his father.Li Tai learns that his brother has fallen out of favor, so he wants to squeeze out Chengqian as soon as possible and replace him.He asked his subordinates to make friends with the ministers of the court and China to create public opinion for himself as the prince. He also formed buddies with more than 20 people including the son-in-law Duwei Chai Lingwu and Fang Xuanling's son-in-law Duwei Fang Yiai, forming a major force to overthrow the prince.Chengqian was already worried because of his father's preference for Li Tai, but also aware of his younger brother's activities, he was even more worried about being squeezed out.However, he could no longer restore his influence at this time, and it was impossible to get his father's favor again. To keep his position, he could only try to get rid of his younger brother.So he first sent someone pretending to be someone from Li Tai's mansion to report Li Tai's various illegal activities in front of Emperor Taizong, but Li Shimin saw through it;Seeing that the general situation was over, Chengqian secretly recruited dead assassins, conspired to enter the palace, launched an armed coup, and directly seized the throne.In the end, because of the incident, the conspiracy was aborted, and Chengqian was deposed as a commoner.

Chengqian was abolished, and Li Tai seemed to be the natural candidate for the crown prince.He went to the palace to wait on him every day to further please his father; Taizong liked him at first, so he expressed to his face that he would make him the prince.But at this time, there were two schools of thought among the ministers: Cen Wenwen, Liu Ji and others advocated the establishment of Li Tai, while Changsun Wuji and Chu Suiliang, who were prominent in the court, advocated the establishment of Li Zhi, the nine sons of the Jin Dynasty.Taizong couldn't make up his mind.In order to clear his father's concerns, Li Tai said that before he died, he would kill his son and pass the throne to his ninth younger brother Li Zhi.Li Shimin asked the ministers for their opinions again. Chu Suiliang expressed doubts about Li Tai's promise, and Taizong fell into confusion again.

Faced with all kinds of resistance, Li Tai coerced the weak ninth brother to withdraw from the competition in order to obtain the crown prince as soon as possible. Li Shimin was very unhappy when he found out.Taizong recalled that it was precisely because Chengqian was squeezed out by Li Tai that he had the opportunity for a political change, so he secretly decided not to appoint Li Tai and let Jiu'er inherit the throne.In order to stabilize the rule of the next emperor, Taizong summoned several important officials, including Changsun Wuji, Fang Xuanling, Chu Suiliang, and Li Shiji, to unify their pace, so that they would be loyal to Li Zhi from now on.In order to prevent Li Tai from causing trouble, Li Shimin sent someone to imprison him.Chengqian and Li Tai fight, and both lose, and Li Zhi reaps the benefits of the fisherman.

Li Zhi was gentle and obedient when he was a child, and he was very popular with his father.After being established as the prince, Li Shimin spent a lot of effort to consolidate his position and cultivate his ability to govern the country.When Emperor Taizong abolished Chengqian and Li Tai, he cleaned up their respective accomplices and eliminated the hidden danger of overthrowing Li Zhi; he made the most powerful ministers at that time all hold official positions in the East Palace, in the name of letting them educate the prince, but in fact it was for the purpose of educating the prince. Cultivate their affection with the future emperor.In order to establish Li Zhi's prestige, he ordered the whole country's army to obey the prince's dispatch, and officials below the generals must obey the prince's punishment; The handling of daily government affairs, and intentionally listen to his opinions on certain issues.At the same time, Taizong also attached great importance to the cultivation of ideology and theory, and often explained to Li Zhi the principles of the emperor's governance of the country.

Although Taizong established Li Zhi's position as prince and made various efforts for him to become emperor in the future, he was still not satisfied with this gentle and talented son, thinking that he was too cowardly and might not be able to do anything in the future.For this reason, Taizong once again wanted to abolish Li Zhi and let his third son Li Ke be the heir.However, Li Ke was born to the Yang family, the daughter of Emperor Sui Yang.This idea was opposed by Changsun Wuji and others, and after Li Zhi's efforts, Taizong never mentioned the matter of abolishing the crown prince.In addition, Taizong conquered Goryeo and left the prince to guard him. Li Zhi performed very well. When Taizong fell ill, Li Zhi stayed around day and night, and his hair became white. Taizong was very moved, and cried and said: "You are so filial, why should I die?" !" The position of Prince Li Zhi is completely secured.

In April of the 23rd year of Zhenguan (649 A.D.), Emperor Taizong of Tang was seriously ill. He was still worried about the cowardly prince and wanted to make personnel arrangements for him.Taizong said to Li Zhi: "Li Shi is responsible for his strength and intelligence, but you have not shown any kindness to him. I am afraid it will be difficult for you to really serve you in the future. For this reason, I will demote him to other places now. When you become emperor, I will send him to another place." He called him back to be the prime minister, so he might be able to be grateful to you." Before his death, Emperor Taizong called his eldest grandson Wuji and Chu Suiliang, who actively supported Li Zhi as the prince, to his bedside to entrust his future affairs.After Taizong's death, Li Zhi came to the throne at the age of 22.This is Tang Gaozong.

After Gaozong Li Zhi came to the throne, he strictly followed his father's legacy, reused his eldest grandson Wuji and Chu Suiliang, and transferred Li Shizhi back to be a right servant, and he trusted them very much.Although Gaozong was not very shrewd, after years of painstaking training by Taizong, he had mastered some skills of governing the country after all, especially Taizong's precepts and deeds had a deep influence on him.Changsun Wuji, Chu Suiliang, Li Shizhili, and Yu Zhining were all important advisers in the Zhenguan era, and they all had a set of experience in governing the country.Therefore, during the first few years of Gaozong's reign as emperor, he was praised by later generations as having the legacy of Zhenguan.Even after Wu Zetian participated in political affairs, Gaozong often fell ill and was greedy for sensuality, but he still followed Taizong's legacy in handling political affairs.

Gaozong was very diligent in political affairs, and he really wanted to govern the country well. He also encouraged ministers to give more opinions on various aspects of the national economy and people's livelihood, and could accept correct opinions.Being good at accepting advice has become an important measure to make up for his low talent. The laws of the Zhenguan period were relatively loose, and Gaozong also inherited this.Satisfied with the fact that there are few prisoners in prisons and the death penalty rate is low. Li Yuan had 22 sons, and Taizong had 14 sons. These members of the royal family often bullied others, ran amok, bullied the people, and acted mischievously.Li Yuan's youngest son Teng Wang Yuanying and Taizong's seventh son Jiang Wang Li Yun were both experts in collecting people's wealth. They exploited and plundered everywhere, and the people were very angry.When giving general gifts to all the kings, Gaozong said: "Uncle Teng Wang and brother Jiang Wang are both good at managing their own business. I don't think it is necessary to give them money, but only two carts of hemp. Let them go back and make ropes for stringing copper coins." "Although Gaozong did not punish them severely, he made them lose face on the spot, which showed that rewards and punishments were clearly defined.

Li Shimin's daughter, Princess Gaoyang, married Fang Xuanling's son, Fang Yiai, and she was dissatisfied with Gaozong's being emperor; People have their own grievances, so they united to form a faction, conspiring to launch a coup and overthrow Gaozong's rule.But this matter was quickly discovered by Gaozong, and he immediately ordered Changsun Wuji to be in charge of the investigation, and dealt with it decisively. During Gaozong's reign, although he did not make earth-shattering achievements or show special talents in governing the country, because he basically inherited Taizong's line of governing the country and he was relatively cautious, the political situation was basically stable and the economy maintained a momentum of continuous prosperity. , the population is also increasing.

Due to the continued strength of the country, foreign wars continued for a long time throughout Li Zhi's reign.The war expanded the territory, maintained the unity of the country, strengthened the control of the border areas, promoted the economic and cultural exchanges between China and foreign countries, and expanded China's influence in the world at that time.However, many wars are meaningless, such as the successive conquests against Goryeo.Along with political corruption, the collection of military service and corvee year after year, the masses of the people also complained. Gaozong ascended the throne and made Wang the queen.Queen Wang is barren and gradually falls out of favor with Li Zhi, while concubine Xiao Shu is favored.Wu Zetian was originally the concubine of Emperor Taizong, and Gaozong had a good impression of her when he was still the prince.After Taizong's death, Wu Zetian became a nun along with all the concubines.During Gaozong's incense pilgrimage, the two met, and their old love revived.Out of jealousy for Concubine Xiao Shu, Empress Wang urged Emperor Gaozong to let Wu Zetian grow her hair and bring her back into the palace.After Wu Zetian entered the palace, Wang repeatedly praised her various benefits in front of Gaozong, and Gaozong liked Wu Zetian more and more.As Wu Zetian became more and more favored, although Queen Wang achieved the goal of excluding Concubine Xiao Shu, she was not favored because of this, and her status became even lower.Therefore, Queen Wang pointed the finger of attack at Wu Zetian again.Soon, it was revealed that Empress Wang and her mother, Mrs. Wei Guo, cursed Wu Zetian with the method of disgusting victory. Gaozong was furious and ordered Mrs. Wei Guo not to enter and leave the palace in the future. At first there was the intention of abolishing the queen. Soon, Empress Wu Zetian gave birth to a girl, and Queen Wang couldn't have children but liked children, and often came to play with the little girl.In order to achieve his goal of becoming a queen, Wu Zetian strangled his own child to death after the queen had played with the little girl, and then covered her under the quilt.When Emperor Gaozong arrived, Wu Zetian pretended to be looking after the child and found the little girl's body together. Wu Zetian wailed and framed the queen.This incident strengthened Gaozong's determination to abolish the queen. In order to gain the support of Gu Ming ministers, Emperor Gaozong took Wu Zetian to visit his uncle, eldest grandson Wuji.But as soon as he mentioned the abolition of the queen, he was rejected by Changsun Wuji.When Emperor Gaozong met with all the officials, he suddenly announced that Wu Zetian would be concubine Chen to show his special favor and improve Wu Zetian's status. At this time, the emperor's intention to abolish the empress was known to all officials.Li Yifu, a Zhongshusheren who is good at observing words and expressions, hides a knife in a smile, because he is against the eldest grandson Wuji, he officially asks Gaozong to abolish the queen Wang and make Wu Zetian the queen.This memorial won Gaozong's heart. At the same time, Xu Jingzong, Yuan Gongyu, Cui Yixuan and others also became supporters of Gaozong's abolition of the queen.Inside the imperial court, there were clearly two camps surrounding the queen's abolition and establishment. After winning the support of a group of people, Gaozong held a meeting of ministers to discuss the issue of the queen's abolition.Li Shizhi did not want to be involved in this dispute, saying that he did not participate in illness.Gaozong's reasons for abolishing the establishment are basically valid: there are three kinds of unfilial piety, and the greatest is having no descendants.Since the queen and queen can't bear children and can't carry on the royal family, they should be abolished; Wu Zetian has given birth to a son, and there is nothing wrong with being a queen.However, grandson Wuji, Chu Suiliang, Han Yuan, Lailuo and other senior ministers had been entrusted by Taizong's deathbed to "I have a beautiful son and a beautiful wife, and now I will pay you." They expressed fierce opposition to Gaozong's desire to abolish the wife Taizong married for him. Gaozong's ability to be emperor was the result of the active efforts of Changsun Wuji and Chu Suiliang. Gaozong also relied on them in all aspects when he was emperor at the beginning.They relied on their own merits and hoped that Emperor Gaozong would obey them, but Emperor Gaozong was nearly 30 years old at this time and did not want to be completely controlled by them anymore.The abolition of the empress became the focus of the contradiction between control and anti-control.Gaozong wanted to get rid of the situation of being swayed by veteran ministers, so he could only continue to stick to his own approach.In the winter of the fifth year of Yonghui (654 A.D.), Emperor Gaozong officially announced the abolition of Queen Wang and Concubine Xiao Shu on the charge that they wanted to use poison to harm people; at the same time, he announced that Wu Zetian was the queen.After the queen's abolition, most of the veteran ministers left in the Zhenguan era were dismissed or alienated except for Li Shizhi.Li Yifu, Xu Jingzong and others who supported Wu Zetian as queen formed the new ruling center. In the winter of the fifth year of Xianqing (AD 660), Emperor Gaozong began to fall ill, with headaches, dizziness, blurred eyes, and difficulty in presiding over daily government affairs. Therefore, when he went to court, he often entrusted Wu Zetian to handle it.Wu Ze was born intelligent and well-accomplished in literature and history, and Gaozong was often satisfied with his handling of government affairs. For a period of time before and after becoming a queen, Wu Zetian was obedient to Li Zhi.After the queen's status was consolidated and a group of confidantes were drawn in, especially through direct handling of government affairs, Wu Zetian gained a new understanding of her abilities. Wu Zetian began to control Gaozong, and the emperor's every move was monitored by her.After Wang and Xiao were deposed, they were imprisoned in other courtyards in a miserable situation. After Gaozong learned about it by accident, he felt sympathy, and Wu Zetian immediately learned about it, so he ordered them to be killed.Gaozong was also gradually dissatisfied with his situation.In the first year of Linde (AD 664), Emperor Gaozong discussed with Shangguanyi to abolish Wu Zetian's queen status, and Shangguanyi immediately drafted an edict.However, Wu Zetian soon learned of the plot and asked Gaozong to question him. Gaozong shifted the responsibility to Shangguanyi. As a result, Shangguanyi and his son were killed.Gaozong's rebellion against Wu Zetian failed.From then on, every time Gaozong went to court, Wu Zetian listened to the government behind the curtain, and he was respectfully called "two saints" both inside and outside the court.The real power has been transferred to Wu Zetian. Gaozong was a mediocre emperor.When he fully trusted Changsun Wuji and others, and tried his best to abide by his father's legacy, Cheng Zhenguan's legacy, although he did nothing, could still make the country peaceful and the people peaceful. Controlled by Wu Zetian and a bunch of new ministers.He does not have the ability to control the power of the ministers alone, and can only be controlled by others.Although Gaozong continued to seek talents and accept advice in the later period, it did not help the matter. Gaozong had 8 sons: Zhong, Xiao, Shangjin, Sujie, Hong, Xian, Xian and Dan.The king and queen would not have children. The first four sons were all born to concubines in the harem, and the last four sons were born to Wu Zetian. When Emperor Gaozong came to the throne, Queen Wang asked Li Zhi to make Li Zhong the crown prince.Although Li Zhong was the eldest son, he was born of the Liu family in the harem, so he was not qualified to be a prince.Queen Wang took advantage of this, hoping that he would be close to her when she became an adult and consolidate her status as a queen.In the third year of Yonghui, 10-year-old Li Zhong was established as the prince. A year later, Wu Zetian's eldest son Li Hong was born.After Wu Zetian became queen, her son should be the legal heir to the throne.According to the principle of the eldest son inheritance system, Xu Jingzong proposed to replace the prince, which was adopted by Gaozong.In the first year of Xianqing (AD 656), Li Zhong was abolished, and 4-year-old Li Hong was established as the prince. In the third year of Longshuo (AD 663), 11-year-old Li Hong began to receive training to be emperor.As he grows older, Li Hong gradually has his own views on various things.Li Zhong was murdered because he was implicated in the Shangguanyi case, which aroused Li Hong's sympathy, and asked his father to collect the body for burial, which was agreed.At this time, Wu Zetian was gradually monopolizing the government, and her son's maturity made her feel uneasy.By chance, Li Hong suddenly found Xiao Shufei's two daughters imprisoned in the palace. He was very pitiful and sympathetic, and begged his father to release them.Of course, Li Hong's suggestion was not to my mother's liking.Soon, 24-year-old Li Hong died of illness suddenly. At that time and in later generations, some people suspected that he was poisoned by Wu Zetian. After Li Hong died, his younger brother Li Xian was established as the crown prince.Li Xian was smart since childhood, read a lot, and was deeply loved by his father.At this time, Li Xian was already in his 20s, and he was conceited and talented. Wu Zetian was even more afraid that he would be difficult to control, so he disciplined him very strictly. Later, he finally used Li Xian's good looks as an excuse to abolish Li Xian, and Wu Zetian's third son Li Xian was confirmed. As Gaozong's successor. In the winter of the second year of Yongchun (683 A.D.), Emperor Gaozong's condition worsened.He asked the prince to supervise the country and refused to meet with the court officials.In December of the same year, Emperor Gaozong went to Luoyang to change Yuan Hongdao and amnesty the world.Soon, Emperor Gaozong was critically ill, so he ordered the prince to ascend the throne in front of the spirit, and asked the prime minister Pei Yan to assist the government. If there were any doubts about military and state affairs, they could be dealt with by the Queen of Heaven (Wu Zetian). Then he died at the age of 56.In the second year, Gaozong's coffin was transported from Luoyang to Chang'an, and buried in Qianxian County, Shaanxi Province today. The tomb is called Qianling.