Today, the History Encyclopedia editor brings you the story of Emperor Dezong of Tang Dynasty. Interested readers can follow the editor to take a look together.
The An Lushan Rebellion that occurred during the reign of Emperor Xuanzong almost overthrew the Tang Dynasty. Not long after the defeat of An Lushan, the Tubo people immediately turned against the Tang Dynasty when they saw the river and river declining, and marched towards the capital of the Tang Empire, Chang’an, with a force of 200000 soldiers.
At that time, Emperor Tang fled with some officials, and many palace concubines and other women became prisoners of the Tubo army.
The fate of prisoners can be imagined, either willingly becoming slaves or being slaughtered and losing their lives. Of course, there were also some people who managed to escape from the harem of the Tang Empire.
By the time General Guo Ziyi drove away the rebel army, many women in the palace had long been lost. This includes Shen, the consort of Emperor Tang, whose whereabouts are unknown during this war.
More than a decade later, Tang Dezong, the son of Emperor Tang, succeeded to the throne and became the son of the Shen family. Not long after Tang Dezong took office, he had been wanting to find his biological mother, Shen Shi. He issued multiple edicts with the sole purpose of using his power to persuade local officials to help him find his biological mother, Shen Shi.
One day, someone reported to the emperor that they had found an old lady in the eastern capital of Luoyang. She claimed to be the current mother of the country, Shen Shi, the mother of His Majesty the Emperor.
Some ministers believed that this matter was not trivial, so they took this old lady Shen to the Shangyang Palace for care. Tang Dezong was too excited to find his biological mother. There was nothing more exciting than this news, and he immediately ordered someone to visit the elderly in Luoyang.
Tang Dezong was too happy too early. After investigation, it was found that this old lady was not Shen Shi, the mother of the emperor, but Gao Shi, the adopted daughter of the famous eunuch Gao Lishi under Tang Xuanzong.
This fake empress dowager Gao lived in the palace when she was young and had a chance encounter with Shen, the mother of Emperor Dezong of Tang.
Coincidentally, the two of them looked very similar. When Shen was nurturing Emperor Dezong of Tang, she accidentally injured a finger on her left hand while peeling fruit, and this palace maid Gao also injured a finger on her left hand while cutting melons.
When these coincidences come together, they are not simple coincidences. The old palace maid Gao, by remembering the old palace affairs, spread the news to the attendants around the new emperor, and the new palace attendants were naturally unaware. The old palace maid Gao deceived many people by pretending to be real.
Local officials certainly cannot be careless. If they are unsure, they will immediately report to the emperor.
The emperor was also very cautious and ordered several elderly palace officials, including Li Zhen, to go and confirm. Li Zhenyi was also in a daze. When she arrived in Luoyang, she heard Gao’s words fluently and couldn’t judge for a moment. In order to cater to the emperor’s search for his mother, she treated Gao as the empress dowager and took care of her.
At that time, Gao Lishi had an adopted son named Gao Chengyue. He knew very well about the impersonation of the Empress Dowager incident because Gao Shi was his sister and he knew that her sister was lying.
Gao Chengyue was worried that the emperor would blame him and implicate him, so he immediately reported to the emperor that the fake empress dowager was his sister.
The emperor was also a bit confused, so he sent Gao Lishi’s adopted grandson Fan Jingchao to investigate in Luoyang in person.
Fan Jingchao arrived in Luoyang and saw his aunt Gao, who was also drunk. He kindly advised, “Auntie, is the emperor’s mother also easy to admit? If the emperor blames her, you won’t be the only one punished, and our whole family will have to suffer
Who knew that Gao didn’t pay much attention to his nephew’s words and didn’t take them seriously. In a moment of urgency, Fan Jingchao said, “The imperial decree has arrived. The palace maids are impersonating the Empress Dowager and should be escorted to the capital for questioning
Gao finally realized her fear and said to her nephew, “I don’t want to do this. It’s all because someone forced me to say it
Fan Jingchao came to Chang’an and personally reported the truth to Emperor Dezong of Tang. Emperor Dezong was eager to find his mother and did not blame Lady Gao. He sighed and said, “Alas! It’s okay. I would rather be deceived a hundred times, just hoping that one time is true. If I punish Lady Gao for this, who would dare to report the whereabouts of the Empress Dowager to me afterwards
Poor Tang Dezong, as an emperor, he never found his biological mother even in his death.
