For those who are interested in Li Longji and Princess Taiping, the History Encyclopedia editor brings detailed articles for your reference.
To clarify this issue, we need to first understand what happened between Wu Zetian’s later years and her grandson Li Longji’s reign as emperor. In her later years, Empress Wu Zetian hesitated whether to appoint her son or nephew as the crown prince. It was not until important courtiers such as Di Renjie also supported the appointment of the crown prince that she brought her biological son Li Xian back to the capital and appointed him as the crown prince. Princess Taiping was Wu Zetian’s favorite daughter and helped her with political affairs during her reign as emperor. Although Wu Zetian married her to the Wu family, she had a political inclination towards the Li family. Therefore, in the “Divine Dragon Incident”, Princess Taiping participated in the execution of the powerful officials Zhang Yizhi and Zhang Changzong, and was honored with the title of “Princess Taiping of Zhenguo” by Emperor Zhongzong Li Dan. She opened a mansion and granted five thousand households. However, this Zhongzong had a cowardly personality, and his empress Wei Hou was also a person with a strong desire for power, just like Wu Zetian.
During the reign of Emperor Zhongzong, Empress Wei and her daughter Princess Anle rebelled and gradually had conflicts with Princess Taiping. Later, in order to monopolize power, Empress Wei poisoned Emperor Zhongzong to death, which was not enough. She also wanted to eliminate forces such as Prince Li Dan and Princess Taiping. Therefore, royal forces such as Li Longji and Princess Taiping launched a coup, eliminating the influence of the Wei and Wu families, and enthroned Li Dan as the successor, known as Emperor Ruizong. During the reign of Emperor Ruizong, the power of Princess Taiping further increased. Emperor Ruizong was a person with a kind and honest personality. He appointed Li Longji as the crown prince for his contributions in helping to eliminate Wei, and also highly valued Princess Taiping, hoping to achieve political balance between Li Longji and Princess Taiping. Li Longji’s still photo is just a beautiful wish of Emperor Ruizong. Princess Taiping and Li Longji are both political strongmen, and one mountain cannot accommodate two tigers. During Li Longji’s tenure as Crown Prince, Princess Taiping repeatedly plotted and tricked the Crown Prince, hoping to replace him with Emperor Ruizong in order to achieve her long-term goal of holding power.
Ke Ruizong had special trust in Li Longji and later decided to abdicate to him, becoming the Grand Emperor himself. But at this time, Princess Taiping had immense power, with 5 out of 7 prime ministers being her own, and even openly proposing to depose Emperor Li Longji. Later, she simply persuaded Emperor Li Dan to let Li Longji patrol the border. If this really happens, it is estimated that Li Longji’s throne will not be guaranteed. Therefore, Li Longji issued a decree in advance to arrest Princess Taiping and her followers while endangering his throne. In the end, even at Li Dan’s plea, Princess Taiping was still executed. This is what happened from the year 698 when Wu Zetian appointed Li Xian as the crown prince to the year 713 when Emperor Xuanzong Li Longji overthrew the power of Princess Taiping. Li Longji killed his aunt, Princess Taiping, not for his own cruelty, but for the sake of his power and even his life. If he doesn’t take action and replace Princess Taiping with another emperor, his own life will be endangered.
So under the desire for power, family affection has become insignificant. Starting from Empress Wu Zetian, she exiled her son to another city and even planned to execute him. Later on, her son betrayed and forced her mother Wu Zetian to abdicate. As a wife, Empress Wei and her daughter Princess Anle poisoned Emperor Zhongzong Li Xian. Princess Taiping, who is a close aunt, wants to murder her nephew Li Longji. These brutal incidents that occurred between family members repeatedly occurred within Tang dynasty clans, ultimately due to the word ‘power’.
