Li Hong is famous for her generosity and kindness. When Li Hong studied Zuo Zhuan in the Spring and Autumn Annals from Guo Yu, he read the story about "killing a king by a merchant" and felt that such a violation of ethics should not be recorded in the history books.
Guo Yu enlightened him that "history is a mirror, which can be read correctly", but Li Hong never read such a book again. Li Hong has a kind heart for his officials and people. According to the provisions of the draft law of the Tang Dynasty, anyone who "does not escape within the limit and there are many fugitives" will be punished with "decapitation and no official". Li Hong thinks the regulations are too strict and unrealistic. He wrote to Emperor Gaozong, asking for a change. Li Hongzhang also asked Emperor Gaozong to "share the land equally with the poor in the same state". Emperor Gaozong praised his kindness and agreed to his request. At the age of 3, Li Hongzhang was named acting king by Emperor Gaozong, and became a prince at the age of 4. In order to train him, Emperor Gaozong often asked him to manage the country, and appointed Dai Zhide and other ministers to assist him in handling state affairs.
Regarding the cause of Li Hong's death, many people think that Wu Zetian poisoned him with pigeon wine.
According to the first volume of the Book of the New Tang Dynasty, both Tang Dynasty and Zi Jian recorded rumors about Wu Zetian's poisoning Li Hong.
According to the second, Li Hong and Wu Zetian do have contradictions, and Wu Zetian has the motive to poison Li Hong. Li wrote that her two daughters, Princess Yiyang, were sworn enemies of Wu Zetian to marry Princess Xuancheng. Wu Zetian chose Yang Sijian's daughter as the crown princess for Li Hong, but was raped by Wu Zetian's nephew Helanmin before marriage. Li Hongzhang was deeply loved by Emperor Gaozong. He supervised the country many times and participated in political decision-making, threatening the power of Wu Zetian. So, was Li Hong poisoned by Wu Zetian? I don't think so.
First of all, about the contents recorded in New Tang Shu, Tang Yaohui and Zi Tongzhi Jian. New Tang Shu and Tang Yaohui are both records about Li Hongzhang's poisoning, but these two books are probably works of the Northern Song Dynasty, which contain many views of people in the middle and late Tang Dynasty. At that time, the Tang people were biased against Wu Zetian, thinking that Wu Zetian robbed Li Tang and even demonized Wu Zetian. Sima Guang also objected to this statement, saying that "there are no old biographies of historical records".
In addition, Sima Guang didn't explicitly put forward that Li Hong was killed by Wu Zetian with pigeon wine in Zi Tong Zhi Jian. He just said, "Hong's death is hard to understand, but now people think that Tianhou is a dove, and the doubt is passed down." Sima Guang thinks that there are too many doubts about Li Hong's death. Secondly, Wu Zetian's motive for killing Li Hong is far-fetched. Although Princess Yiyang and Princess Xuancheng are the daughters of Xiao Shufei, there is no direct conflict between them and Wu Zetian. Besides, Li Hong invited the two princesses to get married, not subjectively for Wu Zetian, but out of sympathy for the two princesses. Wu Zetian didn't need to kill for this trivial matter, and finally agreed to Li Hong's request and married two princesses.
Although she married Evie who was on duty in front of the temple, Wu Zetian only liked Xiao Shufei. Moreover, these two Yves were later officials of the secretariat. Crown Princess Yang was humiliated by He Lanmin, and the victim was Li Hong. With Li Hong's character, it is impossible to find Wu Zetian singling out. Besides, Yang and Li Hong haven't married yet, and mother and son won't fight to the death for a concubine who hasn't gone through the door. Li Hong is unlikely to threaten Wu Zetian's rights. Because Wu Zetian had been called "double saints" with Gao Zong at that time, and she was in power, she had participated in political decision-making. Li Hong cannot threaten her at all.
So, how did Li Hong die? Emperor Gaozong gave the answer in "Giving the Crown Prince the System of Respecting the Emperor": "If the baby of the Crown Prince is wiped and skinned, it will be inferior. Being generous and kind, accepting my fate, and getting worse every day because of my feelings. " When Li Hong was young, he got a disease called "rubbing", which was tuberculosis. This disease was incurable in the Tang Dynasty. In addition, Li Hong was too tired to supervise the country for a long time and eventually died. Therefore, Li Hong finally died of tuberculosis instead of pigeon wine from Wu Zetian.