The first thing to understand is that the Shenlong coup was not led by Li Xian. The essence of the Shenlong Coup is a coup launched by ministers for self-protection, and the initial goal was only to use force to eliminate Wu Zetian’s male pets, the two Zhang brothers. Forcing Wu Zetian to abdicate was just a byproduct of the coup, and the biggest beneficiary was the then Crown Prince Li Xian.
For this coup, although Li Xian is the crown prince, he does not have much say. What everyone wants is for Li Xian to be present, so that he can be a nominal leader and justify the coup. In fact, the initiator of the coup was Zhang Jianzhi, who had just served as prime minister for less than a year. Zhang Jianzhi can be said to have taken on the task at the critical moment.
As Wu Zetian’s body weakened and the two Zhang brothers became increasingly arrogant and domineering, the most crucial thing was that no matter what kind of crimes the two Zhang brothers committed, Wu Zetian was able to protect them. Those who were too weak to be strong, those who were reasonable, and those who were unreasonable. This made every minister in the court feel uneasy, even the Wu family and the Li Tang royal family at that time became targets of attack by the two Zhang. In this situation, Zhang Jianzhi decided to join forces with civil servants and military generals to launch a self-defense war and use force to resolve the two Zhang brothers, making it impossible for Wu Zetian to protect them anymore. Who will be responsible for the aftermath of this coup? Of course, it’s Crown Prince Li Xian.
This coup was a division of labor and cooperation, and even Prime Minister Li Dan and Princess Taiping had their own tasks. Only Li Xian was passively brought in to witness the coup, without the need to do anything during it. However, even so, Li Xian still refused in his heart.
The reason is simple, he is very satisfied with his current life and status. The most obvious thing for Li Xian during his more than ten years of exile was that he could not confront Wu Zetian. Moreover, he had already lost hope of returning to the capital and thought he might die in a foreign land. However, when he was already desperate, Wu Zetian suddenly recalled him to Luoyang and made him the crown prince, which was a great fortune for Li Xian. At this moment, Li Xian was both grateful and afraid of his mother Wu Zetian. He just wants to be the Crown Prince honestly and do whatever Wu Zetian asks him to do. Besides, he doesn’t have much influence in the court, so he is very unwilling to get involved in this coup. But he had to participate because if anything happened to Wu Zetian, he would likely be the first person the two Zhang brothers would have to deal with. So Li Xian promised to appear on the day of the coup.
But on this day, Li Xian became timid again. At that time, Zhang Jianzhi and more than 500 people arrived at Xuanwu Gate, and then Li Duozuo, Li Zhan, Wang Tongjiao and others went to pick up Crown Prince Li Xian. The crowd arrived at the Eastern Palace, but Li Xian dared not come out. At this moment, Li Xian’s son-in-law Wang Tongjiao spoke up first: “Back then, the late emperor passed the throne to His Highness, but His Highness was unjustly imprisoned for more than 20 years. Now we finally have such an opportunity. The civil servants and military generals work together to kill the villains and restore the Li Tang kingdom. So how could Your Highness not appear at the Xuanwu Gate
Li Xian replied, “The villains should indeed be killed, but it will disturb Your Majesty’s safety. Let’s talk about it later.” The crowd became anxious when they heard this, and Li Zhan said, “Why did Your Highness let them suffer punishment for the sake of Li Tang’s country? Your Highness should personally go and stop them
Li Xian had to come out, and Wang Tongjiao immediately carried him to the horse. The crowd forced Li Xian to go to Xuanwu Gate, which ensured the legitimacy of the coup. The group killed the two brothers. The purpose of the coup had already been achieved, but when everyone saw Wu Zetian, they changed their minds and forced her to abdicate. Isn’t this even more beautiful?
So forcing Wu Zetian to abdicate was just a byproduct of the Shenlong coup, and of course, the impact of this byproduct far exceeded the main purpose of the coup at that time, to the point where when people mention the Shenlong coup, the first thing that comes to mind is forcing Wu Zetian to return the Li Tang dynasty.
And one thing is that the Five Princes led by Zhang Jianzhi launched a coup, changing the passive situation, but did not truly emerge from the crisis. Everyone supported Li Xian to succeed to the throne, but he was feared by Li Xian. Li Xian thought twice about his martial arts, and in the end, the fate of the Five Kings was very tragic. At that time, only Prince Li Dan and Princess Taiping were able to be preserved.
