The river of time flows endlessly, and history continues to develop. Let the editor of History Encyclopedia take you through the fog of history, back to the era of swords and shadows, and see the story of Li Zhi.
Empress Wu Zetian dared to persecute Queen Wang and Empress Xiao Shufei, with the support of Emperor Gaozong of Tang, Li Zhi. Otherwise, give her ten courage, she wouldn’t dare to do such an outrageous thing. After all, at that time, the emperor was still Emperor Gaozong of Tang, Li Zhi, not Wu Zetian.
Emperor Gaozong Li Zhi and Empress Wu Zetian were already in cahoots at that time, and they were a firm community of shared interests. The imperial edicts and decrees that persecuted Empress Dowager Xiao Shufei and her family were personally issued by Emperor Gaozong. No matter how powerful the Wu family was, due to institutional limitations, as the empress at that time, she could only stay behind the scenes in the palace and could not personally appear at the front stage.
When Li Shimin was cultivating Li Zhi, he also took Changsun Wuji as the core and began to cultivate the power of the Eastern Palace. As a relative, Changsun Wuji, who had previously avoided interfering in political affairs to avoid suspicion, gradually moved to the forefront of politics and gained great power with the support of Li Shimin.
In the 22nd year of the Zhenguan reign, he served as the Minister of Personnel and concurrently as the Inspector of the Imperial Secretariat. Another Imperial Secretariat official, Chu Suiliang, was extremely dependent on Changsun Wuji. Before Li Shimin passed away, he personally entrusted Li Zhi to two people and left them as ministers in charge of orders: “Wuji and Suiliang are here, don’t worry about the world
Changsun Wuji has held the highest power for a long time, whether it comes from the pursuit of others or his own pride and vanity. Unconsciously, he is in the “territory where Huo Guang and Yi Yin specialize”. Although he has no desire to covet imperial power, he has the reality of specializing.
Wu Zetian took advantage of Emperor Gaozong’s gradually exposed dissatisfaction with Changsun Wuji’s favoritism, and gradually transformed her originally simple relationship with Emperor Gaozong into a shared interest between husband and wife.
When Li Zhi wanted to appoint Empress Wu Zetian as his empress, both the meritorious officials and prime ministers disagreed. If Li Zhi were to release Empress Wang and Consort Xiao at this moment, it would indicate that he had compromised politically with those old officials.
