Do you really know Empress Wei and Li Xian? The history encyclopedia editor provides detailed related content for everyone.
As we all know, Empress Wei was the daughter-in-law of Empress Wu Zetian and the wife of Emperor Zhongzong of Tang, Li Xian. At that time, Wei Hou gave a very bad impression on people. She was quite greedy and wanted to imitate her mother-in-law everywhere.
In fact, Empress Wei was personally promoted by Empress Wu Zetian and was very important to her. As we all know, Li Xian was the third son of Empress Wu Zetian. At that time, after Wu Zetian became the empress, she first abolished Li Zhong, who was not her biological son, and made her biological son Li Hong the crown prince. Soon after, she abandoned Li Hong and gave birth to her second son, Li Xian. Finally, she was dissatisfied with Li Xian and pushed her three sons to the position of crown prince.
So, after the death of Emperor Gaozong of Tang, Li Xian succeeded to the throne as the Middle Emperor, while Wei Shi was conferred the title of Empress due to her husband’s status. Of course, the reason why Wu Zetian established Tang Zhongzong was because he was incompetent and easy to control. Moreover, if Zhongzong had the ability, he would soon be abandoned.
However, Tang Zhongzong’s weakness and unconsciousness became a ladder for Empress Wei to exercise power. At the unreasonable request of Empress Wei, Tang Zhongzong promoted her father to the position of Governor of Yuzhou. At this time, although Wu Zetian became the empress dowager, she firmly held the real power. It can be said that regardless of wind or rain, Empress Wei cannot do whatever she wants through Emperor Zhongzong.
So, in less than a year, Emperor Zhongzong of the Tang Dynasty offended his mother Wu Zetian. Afterwards, Wu Zetian demoted Emperor Zhongzong to Prince Luling and exiled him to Fangzhou. Subsequently, he appointed his fourth son Li Dan as the emperor, also known as Emperor Ruizong. But no matter which son becomes the emperor, it is Wu Zetian who holds the power.
However, Wu Zetian was very wary of Emperor Zhongzong and Empress Wei. At that time, Emperor Zhongzong and Empress Wei first lived in the remote Fangzhou for a year, and then moved to Junzhou according to Wu Zetian’s wishes. Later, Emperor Zhongzong and his companions stayed in Junzhou for two years and were once again ordered to relocate back to Fangzhou. In fact, the reason why Wu Zetian repeatedly requested them to move was to prevent them from living in one place for a long time, gathering and developing their own power, and opposing the court.
Afterwards, after several years of turmoil, Wu Zetian felt that their spirits were almost exhausted and allowed them to live in Fangzhou for a long time. But in Fangzhou, Emperor Zhongzong and Empress Wei did not despair of restoration.
One day, Zhongzong and Empress Wei had nothing to do, so they went to the nearby Gande Temple to visit Master Huifan. On the way, Emperor Zhongzong picked up a stone and prayed to the sky, “If I can regain the throne without harm, this stone will not fall to the ground.” Then he threw the stone into the air.
In fact, when a person’s future is uncertain, it is a helpless game. But unexpectedly, the thrown stone got stuck by a big tree on the roadside and didn’t fall to the ground. At that time, Emperor Zhongzong was very happy when he did not see the stones falling, thinking that it was a good omen given to them by heaven. In addition, Master Huifan also said that the restoration of Emperor Zhongzong was only a matter of time. After hearing these words, Emperor Zhongzong instantly had hope for life.
In fact, during times of crisis, whenever Emperor Zhongzong was in despair, it was Empress Wei who gave him strength and confidence. In addition, every time Wu Zetian sends someone to visit, Empress Wei comes forward to handle it. Therefore, Wei Hou’s eloquent tongue helped them overcome many difficulties. So much so that Emperor Zhongzong was grateful to Empress Wei.
As we all know, throwing stones brought a glimmer of hope to the desperate heart of Emperor Zhongzong. At that time, he held Wei Hou’s hand and sincerely swore, ‘If we can regain power, I won’t stop you no matter what you do in the future.’ In fact, at that time, Emperor Zhongzong’s words were a heartfelt promise. But what I didn’t expect was that Wei Hou would use this sentence to restrain him. So, after the restoration of Emperor Zhongzong, he was completely speechless towards the rampant Empress Wei.
At this time, Wu Zetian abolished the crown prince and emperor several times, but she still felt that her power was not enough. So, in the first year of the Tianshou reign, she simply abolished Tang Ruizong and became a high-ranking emperor. In the end, she walked from the backstage to the front desk and seized the highest power of the country. Afterwards, in order to consolidate her position and eliminate dissidents, she indiscriminately hunted down descendants of the Li royal family and loyal officials.
At that time, when the news reached Fangzhou, Emperor Zhongzong and Empress Wei were both shocked and afraid. Therefore, they cannot sleep at night. Every time he heard the imperial envoy coming, Emperor Zhongzong was scared to death. Because he was afraid that his mother would send an edict to kill him.
In fact, the scariest thing in the world is not death, but living in the shadow of death day by day. Death may not come soon, but it can come at any time, and this fear is definitely beyond the imagination of ordinary people. Therefore, the cowardly Zhongzong lost the courage to survive and committed suicide by crashing into walls several times.
However, Empress Wei advised him, “Although life is not going well now, we still need to have hope for life. Keep the green mountains here, don’t be afraid of running out of firewood, there will always be a day when we can stand out.” After hearing this, Emperor Zhongzong thought to himself that as long as he didn’t push himself to the last moment, he had to survive and wait for the opportunity to come. So he settled down a little and spent the difficult and painful years with Wei Hou.
At this moment, the outside world is undergoing changes. After Wu Zetian came to power, many people were dissatisfied with her actions and even hated her. Heroes from all walks of life began to condemn her, leading to frequent wars. In Yangzhou, Xu Jingye and others, in order to make their actions famous, launched the banner of “restoring Zhongzong”.
At that time, Wu Zetian was a bit panicked. On the one hand, she sent 300000 troops to suppress the rebellion, and on the other hand, she sent her favorite nephew Wu Sansi to observe the activities of Emperor Zhongzong in Fangzhou in order to take advantage of the situation. At that time, Empress Wei did her best and even bribed Wu Sansi to speak well in front of Wu Zetian. Therefore, Wu Sansi didn’t say a single bad word. It was not until 698 AD that Empress Wu Zetian sent someone to bring Zhongzong and Empress Wei back from Fangzhou to Luoyang and restore them to the position of crown prince.
At this time, Emperor Zhongzong had been exiled for fifteen years.
Five years after Emperor Zhongzong returned to the palace, Wu Zetian fell ill. So Zhang Jianzhi and others led their troops to force Wu Zetian to abdicate in favor of Li Xian. In this way, after losing the throne for twenty years, Emperor Zhongzong was reinstated, and Empress Wei naturally regained her position as empress.
reference material:
【 Old Book of Tang, Volume 6, Annals 6, Zizhi Tongjian, Annals of Tang, Old Book of Tang, Annals 7, Zhongzong Ruizong 】
