Li Xian’s succession to the throne is basically a certainty

For readers who are still unfamiliar with the Shenlong Coup, the following History Encyclopedia editor will provide a detailed introduction. Let’s continue reading. As expected, Li Xian’s inheritance is already predetermined. Why did Li Xian launch the Shenlong Coup?
The Shenlong Coup was a watershed in the history of the Tang Dynasty. It was precisely because of the Shenlong Coup that the political situation of the Tang Dynasty, which had gradually become blurred, became clearer. However, from ancient times to the present, many people still have doubts and believe that the Shenlong Coup was unnecessary. Is it really the case?
At the time of the Shenlong Coup, Wu Zetian was already an 81 year old woman and had already persuaded Di Renjie to bring Li Xian back as the crown prince. It can be said that as long as nothing unexpected happens, Li Xian’s succession to the throne is basically a certainty. Why take the risk of launching the Shenlong Coup? The main reason is that there was an accident.
Why launch the Divine Dragon Coup
After Wu Zetian usurped power, she initially planned to support the Wu family as her successor. For example, Wu Zetian’s continuous use of He Lanminzhi was the most obvious evidence. Unfortunately, because Wu Zetian killed Helan Minzhi’s mother and sister, Helan Minzhi held a grudge and kept looking for opportunities to retaliate against Wu Zetian, which eventually led to the breakdown of their relationship.
After He Lanmin was killed, Wu Zetian continued to support the power of the Wu family. Fortunately, Di Renjie intervened and advised Wu Zetian, saying, “Since ancient times, I have only seen sons worship their mothers, but I have never seen a special case of nephews worshipping their aunts.” Di Renjie’s words made Wu Zetian, who was already somewhat hesitant, determined to pass them on to her son Li Xian.
After Li Xian was brought back by Wu Zetian and appointed as the crown prince, everything was basically stable. If nothing unexpected happened, Li Xian could have succeeded to the throne normally. However, at this critical stage, a series of unexpected events occurred, forcing everyone to re-examine the pros and cons at that time.
This accident originated from Wu Zetian’s male pet Zhang Changzong and Zhang Yizhi. After Wu Zetian’s male pet Xue Huaiyi was killed, there was an unclear relationship between Wu Zetian and the imperial physician Shen Nanmiao. Unfortunately, the imperial physician was too old to withstand Wu Zetian’s troubles and passed away soon after.
After the death of the imperial physician, Wu Zetian was very lonely. Her daughter, Princess Taiping, saw Wu Zetian’s loneliness and took the opportunity to give her male pet Zhang Changzong as a gift to please her. Zhang Changzong was young, strong, and handsome, and was deeply loved by Wu Zetian. Later, Zhang Changzong, perhaps unable to handle his physical condition, even recommended his younger brother Zhang Yizhi to Wu Zetian. From then on, the two brothers served Wu Zetian together, and Wu Zetian was happy every day under their care.
At that time, Wu Zetian was already old and foolish. She only knew how to play with Zhang Changzong and his brothers every day. Many important affairs in the court were fully entrusted to the two brothers to handle. Coincidentally, the two brothers were not good people, and their ambitions gradually increased while helping Wu Zetian handle government affairs. Later, they even had the idea of usurping power.
As the power of Zhang Changzong and his brothers grew stronger, Li Xian, who had been scared out of her wits by Wu Zetian since childhood, immediately went to find Wu Zetian and requested that she crown the Zhang brothers as kings. Fortunately, Wu Zetian had a bit of rationality at the time and did not follow Li Xian and others’ instructions. Otherwise, the Zhang brothers would have become even more arrogant and domineering.
As the Zhang brothers gradually came to power, the descendants of the Wu family also saw hope and immediately sided with the Zhang brothers. They wanted to use the Zhang brothers’ hands to eliminate the descendants of the Li family, such as Li Xian’s daughter and son-in-law. After discussing the Zhang brothers’ misdeeds privately, they were directly forced to death by them.
After this incident, the Zhang brothers understood Li Xian’s attitude even more clearly. Li Xian was a real coward. Even though his son-in-law and daughter were forced to death by the Zhang brothers, Li Xian still dared not say a word. It should be understood that he was the crown prince at that time, and only he had enough ability to compete with the Zhang brothers for power.
On one hand, there was the weakness of Li Xian, and on the other hand, there was the arrogance of the descendants of the Wu family and the Zhang brothers. Seeing that everyone was working together to regain the political power, an accident was about to happen in the hands of the Zhang brothers. The ministers who supported the Li family in the court began to find ways to deal with this matter. Among these ministers, the 80 year old prime minister Zhang Jianzhi became the leader.
They had all been grateful to Emperor Gaozong of Tang, Li Zhi, in the past, so they worked even harder to regain the power of the Li family. At this critical moment, if these old officials did not take action, power would probably fall again. No one wanted to see such an outcome. After careful consideration, Zhang Kanzhi and others decided to launch a coup to eliminate the Zhang brothers and regain the power in the hands of the Li family.
From the real situation of the Shenlong coup at that time, the main purpose of the Shenlong coup was to eradicate the Zhang brothers and regain imperial power. As for later forcing Wu Zetian to abdicate, it was completely reasonable and unexpected, after all, at the beginning, everyone did not have such a clear idea.
Who exactly initiated the Divine Dragon Coup
As mentioned earlier, it was Zhang Jianzhi and other loyal ministers to Li Tang who came up with the idea of launching the Divine Dragon Coup, not Li Xian. As for why later generations believe that the Divine Dragon Coup was initiated by Li Xian, it is mainly because Li Xian was the biggest beneficiary in this coup, and it can be said that he completely won by lying down. Why do we say this? We will continue to analyze in detail.
After Zhang Jianzhi and others prepared for the coup, they wanted to find the best reason to launch the coup. This reason should obviously have the appearance of Li Xian, who used his position as crown prince to eliminate the Zhang brothers. Only then would everything appear reasonable and gain more support from ministers.
But when Zhang Jianzhi and others arranged for Li Xian’s son-in-law Wang Tongjiao to invite Li Xian to come out, Li Xian was so scared that his legs were weak and he couldn’t walk. He firmly refused to come forward. In the end, Wang Tongjiao scolded him, and Li Xian reluctantly agreed. However, when he had to leave, he couldn’t get on the horse because of his weak legs. It was Wang Tongjiao who lifted him onto the horse, and Li Xian could follow everyone to the Changsheng Palace.
At this stage of the coup plan, there is basically no suspense because most of the ministers in the court support Li Xian, and with the support of Li Dan and his son, as well as Princess Taiping and Shangguan Wan’er, the Shenlong coup can be said to be fully prepared except for the east wind. Everyone took Li Xian into the Xuanwu Gate and headed towards the Changsheng Palace with a grand soup.
When everyone went there, the Zhang brothers were about to escape, but they were quickly eliminated by everyone. After the Zhang brothers were killed, Zhang Jianzhi and others took Li Xian to meet Wu Zetian. Wu Zetian, who had just woken up from her sleep, quickly asked what had happened. Zhang Jianzhi and others said that Crown Prince Li Xian had been ordered by heaven to eliminate the rebellious Zhang brothers. Wu Zetian knew the seriousness of the situation and calmly said to Li Xian, “Since it has been eliminated, let’s go home early.
Upon hearing Wu Zetian’s words, Li Xian immediately turned around and was about to leave. It was Zhang Jianzhi and others who pulled him back that allowed the palace coercion to happen smoothly. Seeing that everyone was unwilling to leave, Wu Zetian urged Li Xian to leave. At this point, Huan Yanfan spoke up and earnestly demanded that Wu Zetian comply with the will of heaven and the will of the people to pass the throne to Li Xian. After hearing this, Wu Zetian actually did not want to abdicate, so she challenged Cui Xuanwei, who had personally promoted him to the throne among the crowd, and wanted to take the opportunity to disintegrate their internal members. Who would have thought that Cui Xuanwei was a smart person and was not scared by Wu Zetian, but continued to force the palace. Only then did Wu Zetian suddenly realize.
On the third day after the Shenlong Coup, Wu Zetian passed the throne to Li Xian, and she lived a free life like the Grand Emperor. Many people thought that Wu Zetian’s abdication would be very tragic, but in fact, this was completely imaginary. After abdicating, Li Xian still obeyed Wu Zetian’s orders, and Wu Zetian’s later life was much better than that of Zhang Jianzhi and others who launched the Shenlong Coup.
After Li Xian ascended the throne, he treated Li Dan and Princess Taiping fairly well, but he was too rude to Zhang Jianzhi and others. He was worried that Zhang Jianzhi and others would affect his imperial power, so he tried his best to eliminate them after one year of succession. The cruel methods were shocking, and the poor Zhang Jianzhi and others hastily withdrew from the historical stage, leaving many regrets for future generations.
However, it is obvious that Li Xian’s ending was not good either, because he doted too much on his wife Empress Wei and daughter Princess Anle, which led them to want to learn from Empress Wu Zetian and poison Li Xian directly. In his short reign as an emperor, Li Xian hastily withdrew from the historical stage before he could make any achievements, becoming a laughingstock of later generations, which is pitiful and lamentable.
Conclusion
The purpose of the Divine Dragon Coup was not to force Empress Wu Zetian. At that time, it was not Li Xian himself who mainly launched the Divine Dragon Coup, but Zhang Jian and his team. Li Xian relied on everyone’s support to become the biggest winner of the Divine Dragon Coup. However, he did not treat those who helped him well afterwards, which is truly lamentable!