Later, Wu failed to succeed as the queen as she wished. Due to limited space, we only mentioned that Concubine Wu Hui was a relative of Li Longji's grandmother Wu Zetian, so she was opposed by the ministers.

Hello everyone, I am YaYa. As we mentioned in the last issue, Tang Xuanzong Li Longji preferred his concubine Wu after he succeeded to the throne, and became increasingly estranged from his original wife Wang and Queen . In order to regain her favor with her son, Queen Wang did not hesitate to use the magic spell to hate victory, but she was convicted and deposed.

Later, Wu failed to succeed as queen as she wished. Due to limited space, we only mentioned that Concubine Wu Hui was a relative of Li Longji's grandmother Wu Zetian , so she was opposed by the ministers. Today, let’s talk about the situation of Concubine Wu Hui in detail.

Wu Zetian's portrait

Wu Huifei is the grandniece of Xuanzong's grandmother Wu Zetian. From a blood point of view, their relationship is actually quite estranged. The third brother of Wu Zetian's father, warrior 彟 (yuē), was named warrior Rang. The great-granddaughter of warrior Rang was Wu Huifei.

After Wu Zetian became emperor, in order to consolidate her political power, she continued to confer titles on members of the Wu family. Although Concubine Wu Hui's father, Wu Youzhi, was already a distant relative, he was awarded the title of King. It can be said that when one person attains enlightenment, chickens and dogs ascend to heaven.

Perhaps due to poor luck, Wu Youzhi died at a very early age. Concubine Wu Hui was still young at that time. According to the usual practice, Wu Zetian took her grandniece who was out of reach into the palace to raise her. After Wu Zetian's grandson Xuanzong succeeded to the throne, Wu was canonized as Jieyu. This was also the beginning of Wu Huifei's career.

Li Longji is like

Li Yi, the first son of Xuanzong and Concubine Wu Hui, was born in the fourth year of Kaiyuan. According to the "Old Tang Book" record:

Xia Yu Wang Yi, the ninth son of Xuanzong. Queen Zhenshun, her mother, was concubine Hui, and she was favored by everyone. She is beautiful all her life, loved by God, and named one. In the fifth year of Kaiyuan, the child died, and Xuanzong granted him a posthumous title. At that time, the car was driving in the east capital of , and he was buried in Dongcen, Longmen, south of the city. He wanted to see it in the palace.

Li Yi, King of Xia Dynasty, was the ninth son of Emperor Xuanzong of Tang Dynasty. His mother, Concubine Hui, was deeply favored by Emperor Xuanzong. Li Yi was handsome and Xuanzong loved him so much that he named him Yi. He died in infancy in the fifth year of Kaiyuan. Xuanzong posthumously named him King of Xia, with the posthumous title of Mourning. When Li Yi died, Xuanzong and others lived in Shangyang Palace in Luoyang, so they buried him east of Longmen Mountain in the south of Luoyang City, hoping to see his tomb in Shangyang Palace in the future.

Picture of Luoyang, the Eastern Capital of the Tang Dynasty

Judging from the birth and death years of Li Yi, Concubine Wu Hui was awarded the title of Jieyu at least in the third year of Kaiyuan, that is, three years after Li Longji succeeded to the throne, and she was favored in the harem. Before Concubine Wu Hui gave birth, Xuanzong already had eight sons, but he loved Li Yi the most and named him Yi himself. You know, other sons don't get this treatment.

In the fifth year of Kaiyuan, Xuanzong left the matter of naming his son and determining the title to the ministers Song Jing and Su Ting. The word "一" also has a very special meaning. "Tao Te Ching" states: "It is the universal practice for a sage to hold one in his arms." This means that if a sage masters the law of unity of all things, he can govern the world.

Interestingly, Xuanzong had already established the crown prince before Li Yi was born. At this time, we don't know whether he was interested in Yi Chu.

But it was impossible for Li Yi to participate in the future battle for the crown prince. He died in the second year of his birth. After that, Concubine Wu Hui gave birth to a son and a daughter one after another. Not surprisingly, they all died in infancy.

It was not until eight years after Kaiyuan that Concubine Wu Hui's third son Li Xuan was born. This Li Xuan's princess would become the famous Concubine Yang Guifei in the future. Xuanzong was afraid that his son would also die young, so he sent him to be raised outside the palace in the home of his brother Prince Ning Li Xian. For more than ten years, he had been living in the home of his uncle Prince Ning.

The gears of fate are already turning quietly. In the future, Li Xuan will marry Yang as the princess, and his father, Xuanzong Li Longji, will also fall into the abyss with the Li Tang Dynasty.

Yuan Dynasty Qian Xuan "Picture of the Royal Concubine on Horseback"

By the way, for a long time, this unlucky longevity king Li Wei has been recorded in the history books as Li Hao. In the TV series "The Secret History of Concubine Yang ", it is The original meaning of Mao is the jade guide held by the emperor when he meets the princes. He arranged a drama for Li Xuan and Xuanzong wanted to canonize him as the prince.

In fact, Li Xuan had no chance of being a reserve in his life. Judging from the epitaph of his daughter Li Yingxuan, the head of Yangcheng County, her name was also Zan and not Mao.

The daughter of the longevity king Li Xuan, the epitaph of Yangcheng County lord

Concubine Wu Hui gave birth to Li Xuan and Princess Xianyi Not long after, Xuanzong's original wife, Queen Wang, used a spell to win the child, and the incident was abolished. At this time, Concubine Wu Hui was in the spotlight in the harem. According to common sense, she is the most likely candidate to succeed the queen.

But as we mentioned before, on the one hand, Concubine Wu Hui is the grandniece of Wu Zetian, the grandmother of Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty. At this time, the court was very repulsive to members of the Wu family, let alone appointing Wu's descendants as queens. This kind of obvious A big move of political significance.

On the other hand, Xuanzong appointed his second concubine Li Ying as the prince nine years ago, and there is currently no idea of ​​replacing him. Once Concubine Wu Hui becomes the queen, Li Ying's position as crown prince will become unjustified both in public and private matters.

What if the biological mother of Prince Li Ying is appointed as the queen? This is even more outrageous. Li Ying's biological mother is Zhao Lifei, who has fallen out of favor for many years. What's even more fatal is that Zhao Lifei was originally a singer-songwriter in Luzhou. At that time, Li Longji was the king of Linzi and served as the king of Luzhou. , accommodate it as a side room.

Since it was impossible to choose anyone, Xuanzong simply put aside the dispute and named Wu as Huifei, the first of the three concubines under the queen, and enjoyed the queen's treatment, while Prince Li Ying's biological mother was named Lifei.

The attitudes of Xuanzong and Xini further expanded Wu Huifei's political ambitions. Of course, this is human nature. After all, at this time, Concubine Wu Hui was already a queen. Since Concubine Zhao's son could become the prince, why couldn't her son? The candidate selected by Concubine Wu Hui for the crown prince is the unlucky longevity king Li Xuan we mentioned earlier.

But now the problem arises. Prince Li Ying has been in office for twenty years and has always been quite cautious and has not made any irreparable mistakes. It is basically impossible for Xuanzong to depose him for no reason. Since there is no problem, it is better to create problems. At this time, Prince Li Ying and his half-brothers King E Li Yao and King Guang Li Ju complained because their respective biological mothers had fallen out of favor. Concubine Wu Hui's son-in-law Yang Hui also supported the rise of King Shou Li Xuan, so he reported the affairs of these three people to her. Concubine Wu Hui cried to Xuanzong, saying that Prince Li Ying had secretly summoned party members to kill herself and her children.

As expected, Xuanzong was furious and was about to depose the prince. Fortunately, he was rescued by Zhang Jiuling, the prime minister at the time. Zhang Jiuling persuaded Xuanzong to give up the idea.

Qing Dynasty Anonymous "Minghuang Tuanchu Picture Volume"

However, Zhang Jiuling also suffered bad luck soon after. As an important minister, he has a great say in the court's decision-making. At this time, he also encountered a powerful enemy in his political career, Xuanzong's favorite Li Linfu . In the case of hunting the minister and the case of Zhou Ziliang's prophecy, Li Linfu continued to take advantage of Xuanzong's suspicion and self-use, and finally made the emperor and his ministers alienate.

The incident of hunting the minister happened around the 20th year of Kaiyuan. At that time, Li Linfu recommended Xiao Jiong as the minister of household affairs. Once, Xiao Jiong and Yan Tingzhi attended a banquet together. During the banquet, Xiao Jiong read "Steaming and Tasting Fula" in "Book of Rites". "Steaming and tasting Fula" refers to the sacrifices in autumn and winter, and Fula refers to summer and winter. Sacrifice held in the twelfth month of the lunar calendar. However, because of his low cultural level, Xiao Jiong read it as "steaming, tasting and hunting".Originally this was just a small matter, but Yan Tingzhi was not an ordinary person. He was supported by Zhang Jiuling and became friendly with him. And this Xiao Jiong comes from the hostile camp Li Linfang. Naturally, Yan Tingzhi did not miss this opportunity. On the one hand, Xiao Jiong himself was of low quality and was indeed not suitable to be the Minister of Household Affairs. On the other hand, this was an excellent opportunity to attack Li Linfu's power. Therefore, he was about to tell Zhang Jiuling about the matter, and Xiao Jiong was naturally transferred to the governor of Qizhou.

Now, the relationship between Yan Tingzhi and Li Linfu has grown. Zhang Jiuling cherishes talents and hopes that Yan Tingzhi can become prime minister one day. So he told Yan Tingzhi that Li Linfu was now highly regarded by the emperor. In order to avoid unnecessary trouble, he should take the initiative to get close to Li Linfu and build a good relationship with him. However, Yan Tingzhi had always been arrogant and never visited him except for official business. Li Linfu also hated him even more. At this time, Wang Yuanyan, the governor of Weizhou, was under investigation for corruption and bribery. Wang Yuanyan's wife was Yan Tingzhi's ex-wife. Perhaps out of nostalgia for an old relationship, Yan Tingzhi came forward to intercede for Wang Yuanyan. Li Linfu seized the opportunity and reported to Xuanzong. Zhang Jiuling also came out to explain to Yan Tingzhi, saying that he did not save Wang Yuanyan because of his affair with his ex-wife.

Zhang Jiuling is like

However, this defense made Xuanzong even more annoyed. He recalled the past and believed that Zhang Jiuling was just protecting his party members. So Zhang Jiuling was dismissed as Prime Minister and moved to the position of Prime Minister Zuo, no longer responsible for handling political affairs.

So far, although Zhang Jiuling has lost a large part of his real power, he is still at the core of the political decision-making circle of the court. But then, things became even more exciting. This was the case of Zhou Ziliang's prophecy that occurred in the 25th year of Kaiyuan.

In November of the 24th year of Kaiyuan, after Zhang Jiuling resigned as prime minister, Xuanzong appointed Niu Xianke as the minister of the Ministry of Industry, in charge of the provincial government affairs. Previously, Zhang Jiuling was very opposed to Xuanzong giving Niu Xianke the title of six ministers and a title. Niu Xianke's appointment after Zhang Jiuling resigned as prime minister may also imply Xuanzong's sarcasm. However, although Niu Xianke was cautious as an official, he was indeed not a suitable person for the Prime Minister. He executed government affairs in Menxia Province, and Li Linfu made all the decisions in everything.

At this time, Zhou Ziliang, the supervisory censor, could not sit still. In May of the 25th year of Kaiyuan, he jumped out to impeach Niu Xianke for neglecting his duties. He quoted the prophecy "There must be a Qian Tang Zuo named Niu" as evidence and accused Niu. Xianke is the person named Niu who will endanger Li Tang's country.

Prophecy is prophecy. The prophecy cited by Zhou Ziliang comes from the Wu Zhou period. The original text is "For sixty years, the head and tail will have three scales, the two-horned calf will go crazy, and the dragon and snake will fight with each other and the river will be bloody." People who did good things at that time interpreted it as " A calf with two horns is an ox, and there must be an ox named Qian Tang Zuo."

Although this sounds ridiculous, rulers throughout the dynasties have been quite taboo about prophecies. During the reign of Qin Shihuang , there was a prophecy that "the one who will destroy Qin is Hu Ye". At that time, the Huns in the north were called Hu. Qin Shihuang conquered the Huns in the north and built the Great Wall. After his death, Hu Hai succeeded to the throne, and Qin Dynasty II died.

Song Dynasty Anonymous Bust of Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty

During the period of Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty, there was a prophecy saying that "after the third generation of the Tang Dynasty, the heroine Wu will dominate the world." While having a banquet with his ministers, Taizong learned that General Zuo Wuwei, Wulian County Duke Li Junxian , was nicknamed Wuniang, and that his official titles all had the word Wu, so he moved him out. In the capital, Li Junxian discussed bigu and Buddhism with his member Daoxin, and was framed as having evil intentions. This was really a sleepy moment. Taizong immediately ordered Li Junxian to be executed and his property confiscated. After Taizong's death, Gaozong Li Zhi succeeded to the throne, and then appointed Wu Zetian as queen.

From a certain perspective, these prophecies are not so much predictions as Schrödinger’s prophecies. After all, before the event happens, you will never imagine how it will happen.

Zhou Ziliang quoted prophecies during the impeachment, also hoping to use Xuanzong's suspicion to speed up Niu Xianke's downfall. However, he seemed completely unaware of the situation in the court. Zhou Ziliang was an official recommended by Zhang Jiuling. Zhang Jiuling was previously suspected of being a party member by Xuanzong and was dismissed as prime minister.

At this time, Zhou Ziliang, who was in Zhang Jiuling's camp, came forward to impeach Niu Xianke appointed by Xuanzong. First, this means that he is questioning Xuanzong's judgment. Secondly, his purpose of saving Zhang Jiuling was too obvious. Thirdly, it was confirmed that Zhang Jiuling formed a party. It can be said that one step was wrong and every step was wrong.

Zhou Ziliang's behavior was undoubtedly telling Xuanzong that he was treating him as a fool. Xuanzong immediately became furious and ordered the guards to throw him down on the main hall. Zhou Ziliang was injured and passed out. After waking up, Xuanzong ordered the court staff to be imposed on him, causing him to die on the spot. Xuanzong's anger and cruelty are evident. Zhang Jiuling was also implicated in this, and was demoted from the second-rank Zuo Prime Minister to the fifth-rank Jingzhou Changshi.

Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms Zhou Wenju's "The Ming Emperor Plays Chess"

Without Zhang Jiuling's protection, the prince Li Ying was completely reduced to a mere fish. In the same month that Zhang Jiuling was demoted, Concubine Wu Hui's son-in-law Yang Hui once again framed Prince Li Ying, Prince Concubine's brother Xue Xi, Prince E Li Yao and Prince Guang Li Ju (jū) for rebellion. In order to prove this crime, Concubine Wu Hui falsely claimed that there was a thief in the palace and asked the prince for help. She also told Xuanzong that the prince was about to wear armor and lead troops into the palace to rebel.

Sure enough, Xuanzong, who was already wary, collided with the prince who came with his troops. Now even if I jump into Yellow River , I can’t clean it up. Xuanzong ordered that Prince Li Ying, Prince E Li Yao, and Prince Guang Li Ju be deposed as common people, and the crown prince's brother Xue Xi was sentenced to death. Soon after, Prince Li Ying, King of E Li Yao, and King of Guang Li Ju were also killed.

After Prince Li Ying was deposed, according to the script, Concubine Wu Hui's son Li Xuan could pack up and prepare to take over the East Palace. But the strange thing is that in this year, Concubine Wu Hui often saw the ghosts of the three kings. She became seriously ill because of fear. A wizard came to the palace to perform rituals for a month. Instead of recovering, Concubine Wu Hui died of a serious illness.

Judging from Concubine Wu Hui’s previous actions, she is not a timid person. The death of the three kings was completely in her plan. Moreover, she did not witness the tragic death of the three kings with her own eyes. As the winner, Concubine Wu Hui's son is likely to succeed the crown prince. However, in the same year, she developed symptoms of trance and died of a serious illness, which is really puzzling.

Concubine Wu Hui was about forty years old when she died. Xuanzong posthumously named her queen, with the posthumous title of Zhenshun. At that time, Xuanzong's eldest son, Prince Qing Li Cong (cóng), asked whether it was necessary to have all of Xuanzong's children mourn for the queen according to the funeral ceremony, but Xuanzong did not allow it. Relevant departments asked for instructions on whether to stop government affairs on the anniversary of Concubine Wu Hui's death, but Xuanzong did not agree. From this point of view, Concubine Wu Hui may not be very important to him.

Xuanzong's son Tang Suzong Li Heng

After the death of Concubine Wu Hui, Li Linfu continued to actively support his son Li Xuan to become the crown prince, but Xuanzong seemed to have completely forgotten the past of love with Concubine Wu Hui, and directly skipped her two sons Li Wei and Li Qi. He chose the third son Zhongwang Li Heng, who was "older, kind, filial, respectful, and eager to learn." At this point, the issue of the prince has been finalized.

It can be seen from this that Concubine Wu Hui fell into a terrible misunderstanding. She seemed to think that Prince Li Ying was the only stumbling block to her son's position as crown prince. However, as we said before, Xuanzong did not lack sons. At this time, except for the eldest son of the concubine who was injured on the face and could not succeed to the throne, the murdered deposed prince, Li Yao, King of E, Li Ju, King of Guang, and the young kings of Xia, Li Yi, and Bian Wang Li Wei, Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty still had 24 sons to choose from. Moreover, the longevity king Li Xuan grew up in the home of his uncle Ning Wang Li Xian, so it is normal for Xuanzong to have a weak affection for him.

In the second year after the three kings were killed and Concubine Wu Hui died of illness, Li Yu (yú) was appointed as the crown prince and later changed his name to Li Heng. He was the future Suzong of Tang Dynasty.What Concubine Wu Hui had done before was all in vain. She was really making wedding clothes for others. The agency was too clever in its calculations, but it cost Qing Qing her life.