Ancient princesses were not as beautiful as people thought, especially during the Tang Dynasty. They were pampered from a young age and could enjoy the last treatment in the world. Interested readers and history encyclopedia editors, let’s take a look together!
But they didn’t, like those princesses who got married, just marry the chicken and follow the chicken, and marry the dog and follow the dog.
The famous Princess Taiping of the Tang Dynasty was highly favored by her father Emperor Gaozong and mother Wu Zetian from a young age. At that time, the Tubo Kingdom had indicated their intention to propose marriage to this princess.
In order to prevent their beloved daughter from marrying into a distant land, Emperor Gaozong and his wife even built a temple in the palace specifically for their daughter, warning the Tibetan princess that she had become a nun.
After Princess Taiping grew up, she remarried two people, and in the later stage, she even raised a face mask. Even the very famous Zhang Changzong was introduced to her mother Wu Zetian by her.
The protagonist we are discussing today is Princess Gaoyang, the sister of Emperor Gaozong of Tang. She had an extramarital affair that was discovered during the reign of Emperor Taizong.
Although Li Shimin was very angry and punished the target of the princess’s affair, the Debate Monk, along with dozens of palace maids, he still couldn’t bear to punish Princess Gaoyang.
After Li Shimin’s death, Li Zhi ascended the throne and became the historical Emperor Gaozong of Tang. He punished his sister Princess Gaoyang.
Princess extramarital affair
This kind of scandal is generally not recorded in the historical books written during the Tang Dynasty, so it was only recorded during the Song Dynasty, and even the “Old Book of Tang” written during the Five Dynasties period is not recorded.
According to current historical records, Princess Gaoyang was originally very favored by Emperor Taizong Li Shimin, so she was married to the son of the famous minister Fang Xuanling, Fang Yi’ai.
This was a very good marriage alliance during the Tang Dynasty, and Li Shimin naturally valued it, but it is said that Princess Gaoyang did not have a good impression of Fang Yi’ai.
Moreover, Fang Yiai does not have much ability. Although he is from a prestigious family, he did not inherit the skills of his father Fang Xuanling. He lived a mediocre life and even rose in status by marrying Princess Gaoyang.
Fang Yiai lacks the ability and is not very skilled in poetry and painting. It is not surprising that Princess Gaoyang has an extramarital affair. But Princess Gaoyang chose not to have an affair with a high-ranking official, but with a monk in a temple.
This monk is named Bianji, who wrote “Records of the Western Regions of the Great Tang Dynasty”. He is young, good-looking, and has a lot of writing skills, which naturally attracted Princess Gaoyang. However, after they had an affair, they accidentally stole the pillow that Princess Gaoyang gave Bianji and were discovered.
Generally speaking, monks do not need such expensive pillows, which is why they were discovered by the authorities and led to such scandals.
Li Shimin was certainly angry. He not only punished the debate monk, but also executed unrelated palace maids. However, his daughter was still a daughter and he did not punish her.
However, Princess Gaoyang resented her father very much because of this matter.
Emperor Gaozong punishes Princess Gaoyang
Although Li Zhi later became the emperor, Princess Gaoyang was still his sister. He couldn’t control her extramarital affairs in the past, and after ascending to the throne, he didn’t want to interfere. He also hoped that Princess Gaoyang could continue to live in peace and stability with her concubine, although her concubine was already notorious.
However, Princess Gaoyang did not think so. Although she did not engage in any extramarital affairs after the argument, at least there is no record of it in later historical books, including unofficial history.
Princess Gaoyang also doesn’t want to be notorious for this. She hopes her status can be elevated again, and the most direct way is to seize the title of Fang Yizhi. After all, Fang Yizhi is the eldest son and directly inherited the title of Fang Xuanling.
So she reported to Emperor Gaozong that Fang Yizhi was rude to her sister-in-law and attempted to use violence against Fang Yizhi. However, Li Zhi was not easily deceived and sent someone to investigate.
Princess Gaoyang knew that she was being investigated and feared that the matter would be discovered, so she chose to recruit forces for rebellion for the first time. Although Li Zhi was not a very capable emperor, the ministers left by Li Shimin were still there at that time. These people were those who fought against Li Shimin and naturally caused great harm.
Therefore, not long after, Princess Gaoyang was sentenced to death by Li Zhi on charges of rebellion.
Li Zhi did not punish his sister Princess Gaoyang for her past affairs, but because Princess Gaoyang violated his rule, which was something he could not tolerate, and was granted death by his own sister.
Of course, many scholars in modern times believe that the authenticity of Princess Gaoyang’s affair with a monk and her rebellion against her younger brother Li Zhimou is questionable, as it has been a long time since then.
But this is a family feud of the royal clan. How could the historians of the Tang Dynasty record it casually, and Li Shimin also rewrote history books multiple times to cover up his own misdeeds.
The later recognized official histories such as the “New Book of Tang” and the “Zizhi Tongjian” all recorded the story of Princess Gaoyang, which shows its authenticity. After all, there is no need for later generations such as Ouyang Xiu and Sima Guang to fabricate a scandal about a Tang princess. The source of the online copyright belongs to the original author
