Statue of Wu Zetian
The birth of Wu Zetian is a historical miracle in the history of China. In a patriarchal society, how can there be a female emperor? Therefore, the flexibility of the emperor system can be determined. However, Wu Zetian, who succeeded in winning the throne, paid a huge price behind her back. Around Wu Zetian's evaluation, demonization has always occupied the mainstream position of traditional historiography. In a series of historical accounts of demonizing Wu Zetian, "Wu Zetian killed his own daughter" is one of the typical events.
Record the changes from simple to complex.
In about four years of Yonghui, Wu Zetian gave birth to a princess for Gaozong, but the princess died unfortunately. What was the cause of the princess's death? The initial record is very simple. There is a record in the third volume of Tang Yao Hui, Wu Shi of Tianhou: "The daughter born to Zhao Yi died suddenly and was killed by the king and queen, which means that she will be abolished." At that time, Wu Zetian was Zhao Yi, the first of the nine concubines of the emperor. This is the second child born by Wu Zetian and Tang Gaozong, and the first is Li Hong, the eldest son.
According to Tang Yao Hui, the princesses born to Wu Zetian and Emperor Gaozong all died young. Sudden death because you don't know the cause of death is called "sudden death". Wu Zetian made full use of the princess's death, adopted a sad method, and pushed the responsibility of the princess's death to her opponent, the queen. Emperor Gaozong seems to have been influenced by Wu Zetian and began to have the idea of deposing the king and queen.
Although the book Tang Yaohui was compiled by Wang Bi in the Northern Song Dynasty, it absorbed Su Mian's 40-volume Tang Yaohui in the Tang Dezong period and Cui Xuan's Continued Meeting in the Tang Xuanzong period. Therefore, there are a lot of national history materials in the Tang Dynasty, which have always been valued by scholars. The records here are also relatively stable. At that time, Queen Wang and Xiao Shufei joined forces against Wu Zetian. Wu Zetian's tragic fighting skill is very suitable for the situation at that time, because after all, the mother may lose her daughter and may say something irrational. When the emperor sees her injured mother, she may also feel sympathy.
However, there is no positive reference to the death of the new princess Gaozong in Old Tang Book. However, in "Mitchell Yue" in "The Century after Emperor", a passage was written: "Wu Hou's plot to seize the office is also a shock to his throat, and his bones are smashed. It is also very unreasonable, and it is also a state of constant adultery. " Among them, the latter thing refers to Wu Zetian's cruel treatment of the failed king and queen, and the former thing "vibrating the throat for the baby" may refer to the strangulation of the princess. The Book of Old Tang Dynasty was written in 945, the second year of Zhenguan in the later Tang Dynasty, and it took four years to compile. Why is it not written in the text of Old Tang Shu, but expressed in the form of "Mitchell Yue"? There is no conclusive evidence. It is speculated that there is a saying at this time that Wu Hou killed his princess, but it can't be taken seriously, so he has to express it in this more personal way.
The more general expression in Old Tang Shu has become a very concrete and vivid description in New Tang Shu. The words recorded in Biography of Empresses in the New Tang Dynasty are as follows: "Zhao Yi gave birth to a daughter, and then she took care of her and left. Zhao Yiqian went to kill her son and waited for the emperor. Yang spoke happily. She took care of her son and died. He asked left and right in shock, and they all said,' I'll come in a minute'. Zhao Yi wept bitterly, but the emperor could not observe it. He said angrily, "after killing my daughter, I went to have sex with the princess, and now I am evil!" " Therefore, Zhao Yi was admitted to the throne without any self-explanation afterwards, but the more the emperor believed in love, the more he abandoned it. "Here, the process of the princess's death is detailed and vivid.
The record of Zi Tong Zhi Jian directly inherited the Book of the New Tang Dynasty, and the text is as follows: Although the post-pet declined, it was not intended to be abolished. Will Zhao Yi give birth to a girl, and then pity her, and then come out, Zhao Yi will kill her and cover her with a quilt. At the top, Zhao Yiyang was observed with a smile. When the woman died, she was shocked. Asked the left and right, the left and right said, "It is appropriate for the queen to come here." He was furious and said, "Kill my daughter in the future!" " Zhao Yi accused himself of crimes because of tears. The latter is self-evident, and the upper reason is to abolish its ambition.
After careful comparison, this passage in Zi Tong Zhi Jian is basically taken from Tang Xin Shu. The queen visited the newborn princess. After leaving, Wu Zetian secretly killed the princess and then disguised the scene. When Tang Gaozong arrived, Wu Zetian pretended to laugh, lifted the quilt and found that the princess was dead. Asking around, everyone said that the queen had just been here. So the emperor was furious and thought that the queen had "killed my daughter". The queen could not explain it naturally, so the emperor began to have the idea of abolishing the queen. The above basic plot is the same in both books, and the details are more vivid and detailed.
However, the more vivid and detailed the details, the more suspicious they are. Not to mention that Tong Jian's modification of the details of New Tang Book changed the process. What we want to ask is, what is the intention of the revision that tends to be rationalized? And Tong Jian, such a delicate detail, did not have a clear time positioning when describing this matter, because Tong Jian described this matter at the end of the fifth year of Yonghui, and according to Tong Jian's style, he did not know the specific date of this matter. As a chronicle history book, Zi Tong Zhi Jian is a model of this kind of history book and attaches importance to the time positioning of historical events. However, on the issue of the princess's death, Tong Jian can spend pen and ink to revise the seemingly unreasonable words in New Tang Book. Why didn't you give more specific coordinates on the more important time positioning problem? The answer is not clear, but the information in Zi Tong Zhi Jian seems to be limited, so it is impossible to give an important time positioning, and the details can only be "rationalized" on the basis of Xin Tang Shu.
From the above records, we can find that there is a transition process from simple to complex in the words recording the death of the princess. In this process, important information such as the time of the incident has no further information, but the details are becoming clearer and clearer. In the study of China's ancient history, there used to be a kind of "layered structure theory", which meant that the ancient history became clearer and clearer with the passage of time, and this was just proved to be the result created by later generations. There are similar problems in the history of literature. The works are constantly processed and created in the process of circulation, and the final appearance is far from the original situation. So, is there such a rule in the secret history of the court? All the parties left no records, so by what means did future generations get more details? Therefore, today, when the historical facts we face have a description process from simple to complex, we can at least ask questions.
Before Wu Zetian entered the palace, the queen had fallen out of favor.
Today's historical records, whether Tang Dynasty or New Tang Book, emphasize the consequences of the death of the little princess for the queen's status crisis. To be exact, Tang Gaozong began to have the idea of waste. In fact, the crisis of the queen did not start with the death of the little princess, and then the queen was abolished, and there is no evidence that the death of the princess played a role.
The queen's crisis appeared before Wu Zetian entered the palace. Queen Wang was born in Taiyuan and was a first-class scholar in the world at that time. Although Queen Wang was born in a well-known family, her relationship with her seems to have been in trouble since she was very young. The Emperor Gaozong and Xiao Shufei successively gave birth to a son and two daughters, which proves that the record of "Filial piety is favored by Emperor Liang and the queen hates her" in Don Yao Hui is well-founded. Wu Zetian's second visit to the palace was introduced by the queen, but the queen's motivation was hardly aboveboard, because her name was Wu Zetian, and she continued her rivalry with Xiao Shufei. "She wanted to be a good wife and mother's pet" but it backfired. Wu Zetian "loved him more than a good wife after entering the palace, making him a Zhao Yi". Although Xiao Shufei's favor was lifted, Wu Zetian came from behind, and the queen still didn't get the favor.
Tang Gaozong doesn't like the Queen, which is the real crisis of the Queen. It was because of the Queen Crisis that her uncle Liu planned to establish a prince in Yonghui in July of the third year. Jong Li's Biography of the New Tang Dynasty records: "The queen of the king has no children. After Liu Ying, her late uncle, said that she would be loyal to her mother, and if she stood up, she would kiss herself. Then please the emperor. At the invitation of Chu Suiliang, Han Yuan, Sun Chang Wuji, Yu Zhining and others, he was appointed Crown Prince. " Obviously, the emperor didn't agree to the queen's request at first, but Sun Chang Wuji and other North Korean officials were sent one after another, so the emperor had to compromise. As a prince, Jong Li's written record is very clear, in order to stabilize the status of the queen. But at this time, the first son of Wu Zetian and Tang Gaozong was not born, let alone the death of the princess.
The establishment of Prince Jong Li did not save the queen's status crisis. Shortly after the establishment of the Prince, the first sons of Tang Gaozong and Wu Zetian were born. This son is named Li Hong, and the name Li Hong is very meaningful in itself. Since the Northern and Southern Dynasties, Taoism-led social communication channels have been widely rumored that "the old gentleman is in power" and "Li Hong is in the world", proclaiming that Li Hong is the only thrill. According to Mr. Tang's research, and Wu Zetian named their son Li Hong, which means they should do what they want. When Jong Li was established, didn't this mean denying Jong Li, that is, denying the Queen? If the queen's status crisis comes from the blow of Wu Zetian, it is better to say that Tang Gaozong has been indifferent to her for a long time, and Tang Gaozong named her son Li Hong, which actually indicates a greater crisis for the queen. To be clear, at this time, if Tang Gaozong didn't want to change the queen, all these problems can't be explained.
During the time when Li Hong was born, Wu Zetian had been struggling with the alliance between the queen and the king for some time, and the winner belonged to Wu Zetian. The biographies of Wu Hou of Tang Dynasty, Wu Zetian of Old Tang Dynasty and Empress of New Tang Dynasty cited above show that each book has different positions when describing the struggle between the two sides, but Wu Zetian's victory is recognized. Therefore, Wu Zetian, as a party, Tang Gaozong's views on the queen and the behind-the-scenes karma between the emperor and the queen should be clear. The queen has never been favored by the emperor. For me, the queen has long been a thing of the past. Therefore, there is no emotional obstacle to deposing the king and queen in Tang Gaozong, only the minister of North Korea. Is it necessary for Wu Zetian, who is in charge of Tang Gaozong's feelings, to continue to attack the failed queen, to pay such a heavy price for her own daughter's life?