Today, the History Encyclopedia editor brings you the story of Queen Wang being boneless. Interested readers can follow the editor to take a look together.
Everyone knows that Wu Zetian was actually a talented person and a low status concubine of Emperor Taizong at the beginning. After Emperor Taizong’s death, Wu Zetian was sent to a temple to become a monk. If there were no accidents, Wu Zetian would have spent the rest of her life in this temple. However, Wu Zetian is different. She is an ambitious person and cannot be content with the temple. Therefore, as early as before Emperor Taizong’s death, she had already hooked up with Emperor Taizong Li Zhi.
After Li Zhi ascended to the throne, he also wanted to bring Wu Zetian into the palace, but no matter what, the matter of the harem still had to be approved by the empress! Compared to Empress Wang at that time, at least she came from a prominent family background. If Empress Wang did not agree, then Wu Zetian would not have been able to enter the palace at all.
At this time, Empress Wang was in a struggle with Consort Xiao in the palace, and she was at a disadvantage in the fight. Firstly, both of them came from noble families, and although the Wang family was slightly stronger than the Xiao family, the gap was not too big. Secondly, compared to Empress Wang, Emperor Gaozong of Tang, Li Zhi, clearly liked Consort Xiao more. Finally, Empress Wang was unable to have children, and Consort Xiao had three children.
So in such a situation, Empress Wang decided to hire foreign aid in order to defeat Xiao Shufei. She was very clear about Li Zhi’s thoughts, so she even went to persuade Li Zhi to welcome Wu Zetian into the palace. Originally, she thought that she would let Wu Zetian enter the palace, and no matter what, Wu Zetian would have to thank her. On the other hand, she could better attack Xiao Shufei. In the end, Wu Zetian’s family strength was far inferior to her own family and Xiao Shufei’s Xiao family, so it was not a big deal. However, she never expected that although Wu Zetian’s background was not as good as Xiao Shufei’s, her intelligence, ambition, and means far surpassed Xiao Shufei’s.
After receiving the pillow sent by Empress Wang, Li Zhi was very happy and brought Wu Zetian into the palace, where she was conferred the title of Zhaoyi. However, at this time, Li Zhi still had no intention of deposing Empress Wang. Firstly, Empress Wang had not done anything wrong. Secondly, her family was powerful. Lastly, this empress was chosen by Emperor Taizong of Tang, Li Shimin, so he could not go against her.
Wu Zetian was very clear about Li Zhi’s thoughts, so she set her sights on her newborn daughter. Eventually, the incident of Queen Wang killing the little princess appeared, which also shook Li Zhi’s heart. He wanted to abolish Queen Wang and replace her with Wu Zetian.
Especially after expressing his thoughts in front of the court ministers, he faced opposition from most of the elders, and Li Zhi was also very unhappy. Therefore, the more the ministers opposed him, the more he insisted on doing so. Eventually, Wu Zetian ascended to the position of empress, while Empress Wang and Consort Xiao Shufei were also deposed as commoners and imprisoned in the cold palace.
Once, Emperor Gaozong of Tang, Li Zhi, suddenly remembered these two people and went to the cold palace. However, after seeing their pitiful appearance, he couldn’t bear it and wanted to release them. But when Wu Zetian found out, she deceived Li Zhi and ordered them to have their hands and feet cut off, then put them in a wine jar and executed them with drunken bones. A few days later, she deceived Li Zhi and ordered them to be executed.
Overall, the punishment of drunkenness is cruel, but in fact, it was all done by Empress Wang herself. If Wu Zetian was not allowed to enter the palace, how could Empress Wang have such a fate?
