Today, the editor of the History Encyclopedia will bring you Tang Gaozong Li Zhi, hoping to be helpful to everyone. Many people have a particularly bad impression of Emperor Gaozong Li Zhi of Tang Dynasty, thinking that as an emperor, he was strict with his wife and the throne was eventually taken away by his wife Wu Zetian. Is Li Zhi really such a person in history? Is Li Zhi a cowardly emperor?
He was the ninth son of Emperor Taizong and also the child of him and the Changsun family. Due to the successive dismissals of his two older brothers, he was later crowned as the Crown Prince in the seventh year of the Zhenguan reign. After Emperor Taizong passed away, he became the new emperor, Tang Gaozong. He was raised by the emperor from a young age, and theoretically he should be a very capable person. However, it is strange that he has not been highly praised in history. At the beginning of his reign, he continued to implement the various economic and political systems formulated by the previous emperor, and had many old ministers around him to assist him. Therefore, in the early stage, he was still very good and even created a prosperous era for a period of time. However, later on, he insisted on his own views on the issue of the abolition of the throne and resisted public opinion. At this time, some people began to lose their support. Afterwards, when he felt unwell, Empress Wu took the opportunity to participate in the country’s affairs, and his rights were gradually undermined.
Many people’s perception of him is that he is a kind and cowardly man, because he cannot even maintain his own throne and has made his wife a queen. However, although his health has never been very good, he is not a weak and easily bullied person. The reason why he entrusted political affairs to Empress Wu was also because at that time, in his opinion, she was indeed a talented woman who devoted herself wholeheartedly to serving the country after gaining power. Not like many demon concubines in history, but did many meaningful things for this dynasty. So he can deliver with peace of mind, he can win this battle for the throne, besides having someone to protect him, he himself is not without any city government.
In the early stage of his reign, the territory of the Tang Dynasty was the largest. In the late period of Emperor Taizong’s governance of the country, many problems had already been exposed. Afterwards, he not only solved the problems left by the previous emperor, but also created his own prosperous dynasty. When he ascended to the throne, there were peasant uprisings in the Jiangsu and Zhejiang regions. At that time, he had not yet officially ascended to the throne, but only helped manage government affairs. At that time, he issued an order to quell the situation. After becoming the emperor, he also learned how to make good use of people and discovered many talents. With their help, his political path was relatively smooth. It can be seen that he still has some talent for governing the world. The most important thing for a monarch to manage their country well is to learn how to make reasonable use of talents.
To become a successful king, one must learn how to make choices. The biggest problem that Emperor Gaozong encountered on his imperial journey was probably Empress Wu. At first, he defied public opinion and brought this woman, who was his father’s imperial concubine, back to the palace. Later, he disregarded everyone’s opposition and made her the empress. According to the regulations in the palace, she was supposed to have her hair cut off and die in the temple. But as early as when Emperor Taizong was seriously ill, the two of them had been hanging out together, and later repeatedly violated their ancestral customs for this woman. Such people may find it difficult to achieve great things in the end.
After Wu entered the palace, her methods were ruthless. She not only defeated the two most favored people in the harem, but also cut off their limbs and soaked them in wine. Faced with such cruel behavior, he still maintained a tacit attitude. However, he did not always follow the advice of Empress Wu on everything. It should be noted that he once pacified the northern desert, destroyed Goryeo, and achieved many military victories. Gradually expanding China’s territory. Although Empress Wu gained power afterwards, Emperor Gaozong also held the initiative in his hands. Although many things are the attention of Empress Wu, it is still him who gives the final order. Moreover, in history, many important officials were selected by him alone, and the most important thing was military power, which has always been in the hands of the emperor.
During his tenure, his health was not very good, he often felt headaches, and his eyes became increasingly unclear. In this situation, he was unable to handle more government affairs, so the power of the Empress Wu gradually increased. However, despite this, apart from once advising the emperor not to personally go to the battlefield, she never really intervened in military matters. Afterwards, he passed away and allowed his son to inherit the throne. He also said that if there was anything undecided, let the Wu family handle it. This also shows that he trusts her very much and affirms her talent.
His illness is getting worse and he wants to go up to the city tower in person, but due to his bad luck, he can’t even go up with a horse. Not long after, he passed away at the age of fifty-six. Later, someone announced his final decree, allowing his son to inherit the throne and his funeral to be simple and frugal. Afterwards, his life was also considered to have come to an end.
