In fact, these are all misunderstandings about Li Zhi, Emperor Gaozong of the Tang Dynasty. Li Zhi, who has been misunderstood for thousands of years, is very scary in history. If you don't believe it, take a look at how foreigners evaluate this emperor.

The prosperous Tang Dynasty period Li Zhi was considered to have a relatively low sense of presence among these emperors. Especially under the aura of his father Tang Taizong , and after Li Zhi was the first female emperor Wu Zetian , and after Wu Zetian was Tang Xuanzong Li Longji.

Faced with a lot of kings, Li Zhi's presence is naturally very low. Many people think that Li Zhi became the emperor by picking up the mistakes of his brothers Li Chengqian and Li Tai. In fact, these are all misunderstandings about Tang Gaozong Li Zhi. Li Zhi, who has been misunderstood for thousands of years, is very scary in history. If you don't believe it, take a look at how foreigners evaluate this emperor.

The position of prince is not a mistake.

Many people think that Emperor Taizong Li Shimin chose to be the prince because the other sons were so unsatisfactory. If these three sons had not made mistakes, it would not be Li Zhi's turn. Let's first take a look at whether Li Zhi, the prince, was missed. The main reason why Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty chose Li Zhi at that time was that ministers including Changsun Wuji supported Li Zhi.

Another point is that Tang Taizong did not want siblings to kill each other and cause Xiao Qiang to happen to his son again. After all, the Xuanwu Gate incident also became a stain on Tang Taizong that could not be washed away. In addition to the above two reasons, look at the background of choosing Li Zhi as the prince at that time. Li Zhi's brother Li Chengqian was deposed because of rebellion.

Emperors of all dynasties could not tolerate the rebellion of their own sons. Although Li Chengqian is Li Shimin's biological son, Li Shimin did not allow his biological son to keep an eye on his position and even wanted to plot to kill him and replace him. Therefore, Li Chengqian was deposed at his own fault.

Li Chengqian made such a big mistake and there is no possibility of his recovery. At that time, apart from Li Zhi, there were only Li Zhi's other brother Li Tai, and the prince Li Ke who was born to a concubine. In terms of talent and ability, Li Zhi's brother Li Tai is outstanding and not inferior to Li Chengqian.

One of Li Tai's biggest problems is that he is very narrow-minded and loves to hold grudges. When Li Tai was still a prince, he had already offended many ministers and generals inside and outside the court. If Li Tai becomes the emperor, it will be difficult to say where Datang will be. In addition to Li Chengqian and Li Tai, another favorable competitor above Li Zhi is Li Ke.

However, there has always been controversy about Li Ke's origin. Li Ke's mother was the daughter of Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty. Letting the grandson of the previous emperor become emperor is an extremely challenging thing to the imperial power in any dynasty. In this way, Li Zhi was finally made the prince by Li Shimin.

In fact, Li Zhi was established as the prince. In addition to the poor performance of the previous brothers, another point is that Li Zhi is very generous to others. So after becoming the emperor, was Li Zhi a weak emperor?

The sinister Li Zhi

In the 23rd year of Zhenguan, Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty passed away. According to the imperial edict of Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty, Li Zhi ascended the throne and became emperor. This was Emperor Gaozong of the Tang Dynasty. Compared with the heyday of Zhenguan, the " the rule of Yonghui " created by Li Zhi has quite a legacy of Zhenguan, but under the aura of the heyday of Zhenguan, the sense of existence of the rule of Yonghui is not high.

However, what many people don't know is that the reason why the Tang Dynasty was called the "Giant Tang" was because its territory was very large. It was not the period of Tang Taizong that brought the Tang Dynasty to its peak, but the period of Tang Gaozong Li Zhi. Tang Li Zhi was emperor for 11 years longer than his father, Tang Taizong Li Shimin.

In the past 34 years, people's lives have continued to improve, and the population has been growing steadily. Many people believe that Tang Taizong handed over a stable Tang Dynasty to Li Zhi after experiencing the Southern and Northern Wars. However, during the 34 years when Li Zhi was emperor, the Tang Dynasty put down the rebellion of Turks , and Tubo did not dare to cause trouble again.

Everyone knows that after Tang Gaozong and Li Zhi, there was Empress Wu Zetian, who was also the only female emperor in Chinese feudal history. However, in the 34 years from the death of Tang Taizong to the death of Tang Gaozong, if Tang Gaozong was just an emperor with mediocre abilities, even if Wu Zetian ruled the Tang Dynasty, it would be impossible to reach the heights it later achieved.

In " New Tang Book ", the evaluation of Li Zhi is eight words: cowardly character, controlled by courtiers. It is these eight words that made future generations think that Li Zhi was a fatuous, incompetent and very cowardly emperor.

Is this really the case? Not to mention anything else, Li Zhi was able to survive the fierce competition between Prince Li Chengqian and King Wei Li Tai for the throne, and he was able to successfully become the crown prince without winning over anyone. Li Zhi was by no means a brainless person.

Li Zhi's achievements during his 34 years as emperor can prove that even if Li Zhi cannot be said to be a great talent, he is definitely not a weak emperor with no achievements . Li Zhi's biggest characteristic is that he is a sinister person. He is the kind of person who keeps everything in his mind, but will hit the target as soon as he takes action.

After Li Zhi became emperor, Changsun Wuji, as Li Zhi's uncle, suppressed the young nephew everywhere and once ignored Li Zhi. However, Li Zhi did not directly conflict with Changsun Wuji. Later, Changsun Wuji accused Li Ke of treason.

However, Li Zhi believed that his half-brother was wronged through his own judgment. However, Changsun Wuji and Fang Xuanling's son Fang Yiai forced the palace to deal with Li Ke. At this time, Li Zhi assessed the situation and did not directly conflict with Changsun Wuji.

Until 655 AD, Li Zhi insisted on making Wu Zetian queen. Li Zhi's decision was opposed by several ministers such as Changsun Wuji and Chu Suiliang. However, Li Zhi used the method of boiling the frog in warm water, which finally forced Changsun Wuji to commit suicide.

Wu Zetian's handling of government affairs was also tacitly approved by Li Zhi, so was Li Zhi a weak emperor? Just look at these results and you've come to a conclusion. Foreigners' evaluation of Li Zhi is often more pertinent. Compared with the records in some historical materials in "New Book of Tang", how do foreigners evaluate Tang Gaozong?

Foreigners' evaluation

As mentioned above, it was during the reign of Tang Gaozong and Li Zhi that the territory of the Tang Dynasty reached its peak. When was in the Turks, Li Zhi fought the remaining Turkic troops all the way to India. Goguryeo also became a vassal state of North Korea. At that time, you could still see many Europeans walking on Chang'an Street.

It can be said that Li Zhi not only corrected some shortcomings in the late period of the Zhongguan rule in time but also brought the strength of the Tang Dynasty to its peak, and The Two Saints came to the court also proved that Li Zhi was not a strict wife. At that time, because the territory of the Tang Dynasty was too strong and it expanded all the way to Europe, foreigners even used the word "yellow peril" to evaluate it.

"Yellow" means yellow for yellow people, and "disaster" means the cause of disaster... From here we can see that the Tang Dynasty's army marched south and north, which indeed made people in Europe very distressed at that time. gradually spread among Europeans a theory that "yellow people want to destroy white people". From this point of view, this should be the earliest "China threat theory."

Summary

In any case, from the Europeans' evaluation of the Chinese during the Tang Gaozong period, it can be seen that the strength of the Tang Dynasty has posed a threat to these unconfident Europeans. And Li Zhi is by no means the cowardly and incompetent "wife-controller" described by others. On the contrary, although Li Zhi cannot be called a talented and strategic emperor, he can be called a dragon or a phoenix among men.