Why did Wu Zetian kill her daughter?
Wu Zetian has two daughters, one is Princess Taiping, who was born in the second year of official seal (AD 667). Another daughter, according to historical records, was born at the end of the fourth year of Yonghui (AD 653), and should be the second among the six children. Emperor Gaozong liked it very much and regarded it as the apple of his eye. Queen Wang likes it, too, because she has no children. Looking around, in the early spring of the fifth year of Yonghui, Queen Wang came to Wu Zetian's residence to visit the little princess. As soon as the queen left, Wu Zetian secretly strangled her daughter and covered her with a quilt.
After a while, Emperor Gaozong came. Wu Zetian put on a smiling face, hugged the little princess on the bed and lifted the quilt. I started crying. Seeing that the situation was not good, the emperor interrogated the people around him and knew that the queen had just been here, so he concluded that it was the queen who did it, which strengthened his determination to abolish the queen and establish Wu Zetian. In this way, babies born less than one year old have become victims of political struggles. Wu Zetian gave birth to four sons, the eldest son Li Hong, who died at the age of 24. It is said that she was poisoned by Wu Zetian. The second son, the third son (Zhe) is Zhongzong, and the fourth son Li Dan is. Two daughters, but one was killed by herself, leaving only the later Princess Taiping.
Wu Zetian has four sons and their brief introduction.
Li Hong, the eldest son, was made a prince and died of consumption at the age of 24. It is said that he and his mother have different political views, so some people suspect that Wu Zetian poisoned him. The basis of this speculation is that Wu Zetian once killed her one-year-old daughter, blaming the queen Wang for thinking that this woman was cruel ... but this is not enough and there is no sufficient evidence. Just by guessing what Wu Zetian did in the past (besides, what happened in the past is also speculation), it is obvious that Wu Zetian killed his son.
The second son, Li Xian, was named King Yong first, then Prince. It is said that he was also exiled to Bazhou because of his disagreement with his mother's political views, and he died there soon. Many people say that Wu Zetian also sent people to poison, based on the same as above.
The third son, Li Xian, was originally called the King of Zhou, and later became a prince. It is said that he looks like Emperor Taizong (Li Shimin). Emperor Taizong (Li Zhi) succeeded to the throne after his death. He was timid and was deposed after three months as emperor. Be demoted to the king of luling. It was reset in 705, but five years later, it was poisoned by his wife and daughter (Wei Ruyun and Princess Anle) in the Dragon Hall. This guy is really a coward.
The fourth son, Li Dan, was originally named Wang Yin. After the abolition of Li Xian, the middle emperor, he proclaimed himself emperor. He is a coward and has done nothing. After seven years as a puppet emperor, he was deposed and replaced by Wu Zetian.
Reveal the hidden feelings behind Li Hong, the son of Wu Zetian.
In April of the second year of Tang Gaozong Shangyuan (675), Li Hong, the newly married prince of Yan 'er, followed Emperor Gaozong and Wuhou to the capital of Xingdong, but died suddenly at a night banquet at the age of 24. In endless grief, Emperor Gaozong wrote a letter, fulfilled his promise to Li Hongzhang, and made an exception to let him be filial to the emperor.
As an official document published in the name of Emperor Gaozong, this book undertakes two tasks: one is to seal the crown prince; Second, and more importantly, an official statement was issued at the first time on the death of the Prince, claiming that Li Hong died of natural causes because of "sinking her baby" and "aggravating her old illness".
So, did Li Hong really die of illness as stated in this official statement? Or was he killed by his mother, Wu Hou, as most historical records and folk stories say?
As the eldest son of Emperor Gaozong, Li Hongzhang not only inherited the benevolent character of Emperor Gaozong, but also inherited the weak constitution of Emperor Gaozong. I have been weak and sick since I was a child, and it is even worse when I grow up. In the first year of Xianheng (670), when Li Hong 19 years old, Dianshan City, which was in charge of his diet, wrote a letter criticizing him for living in the Inner Temple for a long time, rarely meeting officials of the East Palace, and reducing the food supply to him according to etiquette. Li Hong hurriedly explained that his illness had worsened recently, and the emperor specifically told him to rest more and not to be overworked.
In the first month of the second year of Xianheng, Emperor Gaozong and Wuhou went to Dongdu, leaving Li Hong to supervise the country in the capital. At that time, the prime ministers Dai Zhide and Zhang Wenxi were both left concubines of the Eastern Palace, so they were ordered to assist the Prince. However, because Li Hong was "sick" and lacked energy, he was unable to manage government affairs. Therefore, during the period of supervising the country, "ordinary politics depended on the highest morality".
In May this year, Emperor Gaozong issued another imperial edict, ordering Li Xian, 18-year-old Pei Wang, to help the prince handle state affairs. This is an opportunity for Li Xian to gain political experience, but it also shows that Li Hong's physical condition is really worrying, so that Emperor Gaozong had to ask Li Xian to share the work for him. Until last year, Li Hong's health did not improve. At this time, Emperor Gaozong told Li Hongzhang that once his body recovered, he would practice inner meditation.
According to the above statement, Gao Zong probably wanted to cheer up Li Hong's mood through the good news of this "Zen position", so as to promote his illness. However, Emperor Gaozong never imagined that Li Hong, who was "gifted and pure in filial piety", could not bear his father's abdication for him, which led to a more serious illness, so that he moved to Russia as a guest.
In view of the fact that Li Hong has been in such a sickly state since he was a child, and the Li Tang court issued an official statement in the name of the emperor, saying that Li Hong died of illness, the Book of Tang Dynasty made a vague treatment of this, using only the intriguing word "sudden death", while the Book of Old Tang Dynasty only objectively recorded the book of the emperor, which was just an understatement.
However, almost at the same time that the court issued an official statement, another version of Li Hongzhi's death was widely circulated, and public opinion was directed at Li Hongzhi's biological mother, Wu Hou. "Zi Tong Zhi Jian" said: "When the prince was in Hehe Palace, people thought that Tianhou was also beautiful." "Old Tang Book Tang Yaohui" records a conversation between Li Mi and Tang Suzong: "Seeking the future is a matter of killing filial piety." Obviously, it was Wu Houzhen who killed Li Hong.
Although many historical materials and popular views at that time believed that the marquis of Wu poisoned Li Hongzhang, some scholars refuted the statement that the marquis of Wu poisoned Li Hongzhang according to the official statement of Emperor Gaozong. The reasons are as follows: Gao Zong's book was published the first time after Li Hong's death, and the facts stated are naturally more credible than the later Zi Tong Zhi Jian; Li Hong was ill for a long time, and finally his illness became more and more serious, and he died naturally. Since Wu Zetian can control Emperor Gaozong, she may not be able to control Li Hong, so there is no need to risk killing him. The biggest obstacle for Wu Zetian to realize her imperial ambition should be Gao Zong rather than Li Hong. What Li Bi said to Su Zong was just a kind of political rhetoric, which was aimed at politics rather than history. For example, in For Wu Zhao, King Robin exposed all the scandals of Wu Zetian's sister Xiong Tu and his mother-killing, but said nothing about killing Li Hong, which is enough to show that there was no such statement at that time.
So, are these reasons valid? It is debatable.
1. Throughout the ages, in the face of major sensitive emergencies, the first words thrown by officials are often to stabilize the situation and appease people's hearts. Therefore, no matter what the truth of Li Hongzhi's death is, Emperor Gaozong can only announce the most politically correct "truth".
Second, Li Hongzhang is indeed a sickly medicine jar, but isn't Emperor Gaozong the emperor? Since Emperor Gaozong has been so sickly and lived for eight years after Li Hongzhang's death, what makes him think that Li Hongzhang will definitely die early? If Li Hong's tuberculosis was an incurable disease in ancient times, he would naturally die earlier than Gaozong, then Gaozong not only suffered from wind disease, but also tuberculosis and malaria, and his health was even worse.
Third, if Wu Hou can control Gao Zong, can he control Li Hongzhang? The answer is no, not only because Li Hong's character and political stance are always at odds with Wuhou, but also because Li Hong is the behind-the-scenes pusher of the whole prime minister group! Due to the special arrangement of Emperor Gaozong, almost all the prime ministers of this dynasty worked in the East Palace, and they were basically staunch anti-martial factions. Once Li Hong ascended the throne, these prime ministers will take charge of the throne. Don't say that Wuhou wants to control Li Hong. I'm afraid he can't even control his own destiny. Therefore, even if it takes a certain risk to kill Li Hong, Wuhou has no reason to back down. What's more, from a little genius to the position of queen of heaven step by step, on the long and tortuous road of power in Wuhou, which step does not need to take risks? Is there a time when opportunities and challenges do not coexist?
Fourth, there is nothing to say. The biggest obstacle for Wuhou to claim the throne is Emperor Gaozong, so he shouldn't attack his son first! Because all kinds of historical materials clearly record that before Li Hong died, Emperor Gaozong had publicly announced that he would worship Zen, so the marquis of Wu was in unprecedented tension and had to take action against Li Hong quickly.
Fifth, it is too arbitrary and hasty to regard what Li Bi said to President Su as "political rhetoric". As we all know, Li Bi was a famous minister in the middle Tang Dynasty, which experienced four dynasties: Xuan, Su, Dai and De. But he is indifferent and detached by nature, and doesn't love fame and fortune in the world. He retired four times in his life, and it was not until his later years that he became prime minister at Tang Dezong's repeated demands. I want to ask, will such a person who regards fame and fortune as a lost treasure distort history by any means in order to achieve some political goal? To say the least, even if Li Bi's words are indeed unfounded "political rhetoric", the problem is that he is not facing ordinary people, but the emperor; He is not talking about ordinary people, but the ancestors of Li Tang; What we are talking about is not an ordinary event, but an important and sensitive historical issue such as the killing of a father and a son by a marquis of Wu! In this case, if there is no considerable degree of authenticity as the basis, how dare Li Bi make irresponsible remarks? Even if he dared, Tang Can Su Zong asked him to make it up and put the lavatory on his ancestors' heads?
Sixthly, because Wang Luobin's "For Wu Zhao" didn't mention that Wu Hou killed Li Hongzhi, it was too hasty to draw the conclusion that "there was no such statement at that time". It can be clearly seen from a newly unearthed historical material of the Tang Dynasty in recent years that people had doubts about the cause of Li Hongzhi's death before the anti-Wu war. This newly unearthed historical material is the epitaph of Zhuang Yan. The official post of Zhuang Yan is the Order of the Prince. He has assisted Li Hong in the East Palace for more than ten years and is deeply trusted by Li Hong. According to the epitaph, in the second year of Shang and Yuan Dynasties, Zhuang Yan prospered with Li Hong, who died suddenly in April. In September of the same year, a month after Li Hong was buried, Zhuang Yan also died suddenly in his hometown in Henan.
Among them, the "Ant Bed Curse" and "Crane Death Edition" are meaningful. If Li Hongzhang dies of a normal disease, Zhuang Yan, the prince's family order, should not curse him no matter how sad he is! And Zhuang Yan even suffered from it, and finally died like Li Hong, which gave future generations reason to point their suspicious eyes at Wuhou.
To sum up, we have reason to believe that Li Hong probably died of murder rather than natural death. The real murderer is his biological mother-Wuhou. Because, whether forced by the political situation at that time or out of the personal character of Wuhou, it is entirely possible for her to get rid of Li Hong.