There are many "talented women" in the history of our country, such as Cai Wenji, Ban Zhao, Li Qingzhao, etc. All of them are extremely talented, but they are both talented and can stand out in the turbulent power struggle of the court. It is none other than the famous "female prime minister" Shangguan Wan'er of the Tang Dynasty.
During the reign of Wu Zetian , Shangguan Wan'er was the "first female secretary" beside the empress. Almost every order issued by the Central Committee of the Tang Dynasty was written by her. After Wu Zetian's death, she became the emperor Li Xian The concubine became the woman behind the most powerful man in the Tang Dynasty.
From this point of view, Shangguan Wan'er's power has not diminished because of Wu Zetian's death. So, why did she still have an affair with Wu Sansi?
Shangguan Yi who was "trapped" by Li Zhi
Let's first talk about the grudges between Shangguan Wan'er and the Li family and the Wu family.
Shangguan Wan'er's grandfather Shangguan Yi often drafted edicts for the emperor during the Tang Taizong Li Shimin period. During the Li Zhi period, he was entrusted with important tasks and became the prime minister of the Tang Dynasty. However, Shangguan Yi, the prime minister, was not very lucky.
At that time, Li Zhizheng was crazy about his father's young wife Wu Zetian, and even spent a lot of effort to get Wu Zetian into his harem. The two were inseparable all day long.
But after getting along for a long time, Li Zhi found that Wu Zetian was a woman with superb methods, strong personality, and keen on power. This made Li Zhi feel a little unable to suppress this woman. Li Zhi was naturally unhappy, so he had the idea of abolishing the queen. However, at this time, Wu Zetian not only dominated the harem, but also had considerable power in the previous dynasty, so Li Zhi had to slowly take advantage of it.
Li Zhi called Prime Minister Shangguan Yi to complain about the queen's various behaviors and express his dissatisfaction. Shangguan Yi naturally knew that Li Zhi called her here not to listen to his complaints, so she followed Li Zhi's wishes and said that Empress Wu was unworthy of virtue and supported Li Zhi's move to abolish the empress.
Li Zhi was secretly happy that Shangguan Yi was a sensible person, so he asked him to write an edict to abolish the Empress. Unfortunately, the two underestimated Empress Wu's energy, and their actions had long been leaked to Wu Zetian.
When Wu Zetian saw that Li Zhi was going to destroy her, she quickly played the emotional card and cried to Li Zhi why she wanted to destroy her. Have they forgotten the original vows of each other?
Li Zhi's ears were soft. When he saw Wu Zetian crying so hard, he immediately felt distressed and regretted in his heart. But as an emperor, how could he admit his mistakes easily? So Shangguan Yi took the blame, saying that everything after the abolition was Shangguan Yi's idea.
This incident is clearly recorded in " New Book of Tang ":
The emperor was so angry that he deposed him as a commoner and called for a ceremony and discussion. Yi said: "The queen is arbitrary and willful, and the whole country is disappointed. It should be abolished in order to comply with the people's wishes." The emperor issued an edict. After complaining about it, the emperor regretted it; he was afraid that he would be resentful, so he said: "Shangguanyi taught me." Shangguan Yi and the deposed prince Li Zhong rebelled, and Shangguan Yi and his son Shangguan Tingzhi were executed. His granddaughter Shangguan Wan'er was still in her infancy, and she and her mother Zheng moved into Yeting and became official maids.
The "female prime minister" during Wu Zetian's period
Although Shangguan Wan'er was reduced to Yeting, her mother Zheng did not relax her education. "Old Tang Book" records:
(Shangguan Wan'er) was a long-term, with literary works, Learn about official affairs clearly.
When she was fourteen years old, Wu Zetian had a sudden idea to test the talents and learning of the palace ladies in the harem. Wu Zetian admired Shangguan Wan'er's performance so much that she removed Shangguan Wan'er from being a maid and asked her to serve as his personal secretary. Responsible for drafting edicts.
Shangguan Wan'er's talents gradually attracted Wu Zetian's attention. For this reason, Wu Zetian also took the initiative to accept her as Li Zhi's talent. Once, Shangguan Wan'er committed the serious crime of beheading, but Wu Zetian still chose to pardon her, but only gave her the punishment of tattooing, and still used it as before afterwards. This shows how much Wu Zetian loved Shangguan Wan'er.
After Wu Zetian became emperor, Shangguan Wan'er's status also increased. Almost all the edicts of Wu and Zhou Dynasty came from Shangguan Wan'er. When Wu Zetian was too old and frail to handle court affairs, she directly asked Shangguan Wan'er to help her handle the memorials of the court officials, and even participate in court decision-making.
At this time, Shangguan Wan'er's power was no different from that of the prime minister. In 705 AD, the important ministers of the Tang Dynasty, led by Prime Minister Zhang Jianzhi , forced Wu Zetian to return the throne to Prince Li Xian. At this point, the era of a generation of queens came to an end, but the story of Shangguan Wan'er was not over yet.
After Li Xian came back to the throne, instead of getting rid of Shangguan Wan'er, he allowed her to continue to hold her position during the Wu Zhou Dynasty, and even included her in the harem and named her Zhaorong. You must know that Shangguan Wan'er was already in her forties at this time, and her youth and beauty were no longer comparable to her. Li Xian was not attracted to her appearance, but to the connections and power she had accumulated behind her.
The affair with Wu Sansi was just for power
When Li Xian was in power, Shangguan Wan'er still showed her ability to dance well, and all the forces in the court had a favorable impression of her, such as Princess Taiping, Queen Webster and Princess Anle They all have a close connection with her. Later, Shangguan Wan'er even became an ally of Empress Wei, trying her best to support Empress Wei, hoping that she could imitate Wu Zetian and ascend the throne as emperor.
But what is even more bizarre is that after becoming Li Xian's concubine, Shangguan Wan'er also hooked up with Wu Zetian's nephew Wu Sansi. When Li Xian ascended the throne, he did not clear out the Wu clan, so the Wu clan still had a certain weight in the Tang Dynasty. Shangguan Wan'er's purpose of doing this was probably to unite with the Wu clan and continue to hold power.
"Old Tang Book" records: Wan'er had an affair with Wu Sansi, and every time she issued an edict, she usually respected Empress Wu and suppressed the royal family.
Later, Shangguan Wan'er even introduced Wu Sansi to Empress Wei. From Shangguan Wan'er's behavior, it can be seen that she had no feelings at all with Wu Sansi, and some were just using them. Under Shangguan Wan'er's lobbying, Wei and Wu formed a powerful offensive and defensive alliance, intending to compete with the Li and Tang royal families and regain control of the government.
The royal family of Li Tang Dynasty had just taken back the throne from the empress Wu Zetian. They would never allow the national artifact to fall into the hands of outsiders again. So in 707 AD, the prince Li Chongjun led the troops to kill Wu Sansi and his associates. Wan'er learned the news in advance and framed the prince Li Chongmao for regicide and rebellion in front of Li Xian.
This incident is also recorded in the "Old Book of Tang Dynasty":
The prince hated him deeply and raised his troops to Suzhangmen to seize Wan'er from the pavilion. Wan'er said loudly: "Looking at his intention, I will ask the queen and everyone at that time." The emperor and the queen were angered, and sent Wan'er to the Xuanwu Gate Tower to avoid the enemy, and the matter was settled.
Shangguan Wan'er escaped death once, but could not escape the second time. In 710 AD, Princess Taiping joined forces with Li Longji to kill Queen Wei and Princess Anle, and Shangguan Wan'er was also ordered to be killed by Li Longji.
Conclusion
Shangguan Wan'er is a strange woman of a generation. She is an orphan of the Shangguan family. She has no power to rely on behind her, but she has left a legend of her own in the Tang Dynasty with her singing, dancing and talent. However, no matter how talented Shangguan Wan'er is, she can only be a vassal of others. Her fate determines that she cannot become a true leader.
The reason why Li Longji wanted to kill Shangguan Wan'er was not only because she was a "little girl" who went back and forth to various forces, but the more important reason was that Li Longji wanted to get rid of the abnormal situation of "strong female protagonists" in the Tang Dynasty for decades. .
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