Throughout the dynasties, emperors have received mixed reviews, but one emperor is quite special. His reputation has split into two extremes. Some people say that his literary, Taoist and military strategies are extremely terrifying, while others say that he is the most powerful

Throughout the history of emperors, there are mixed reviews, but one emperor is special. His reputation is divided into two extremes. Some people say that his literary, Taoist and military strategies are extremely terrifying, while others say that he is a historical figure. The most useless emperor in the world, he was a real wife slave. His father was Tang Taizong Li Shimin, and his wife was Empress Wu Zetian . At this point, everyone should know who this person is? He is Tang Gaozong Li Zhi. Even history books commented that Li Zhi was "cowardly in character and controlled by courtiers." But such an inconspicuous Li Zhi, Emperor Gaozong of the Tang Dynasty, became the biggest beneficiary of the fight for the heir apparent between Prince Li Chengqian and King Wei Li Tai, without staining a drop of blood from beginning to end. Winning someone over but succeeding in becoming the crown prince is exactly what is scary about Li Zhi,

In 649 AD, after Li Shimin died, Li Zhi successfully ascended the throne. As soon as he ascended the throne, he was dominated by his uncle Changsun Wuji. The eldest grandson Wuji covered the sky with one hand in the court, and many courtiers who were dissatisfied with him were dealt with. Even the emperor's relatives were killed wantonly by him. Soon after, Li Zhi discovered that the scope of his emperor's ability to issue orders was limited to the palace. Once outside the palace, Changsun Wuji has the final say. That was all. Later, Changsun Wuji also intervened in Li Zhi's choice to establish the crown prince, trying to force Li Zhi to establish Li Zhong, whom he supported, as the crown prince.

This completely made Li Zhi murderous. In order to uproot Changsun Wuji, he first abolished the king and queen of Changsun Wuji's party, supported Wu Meiniang who had no background, and then began to gradually weaken Changsun Wuji. With Ji's power, he killed many of Changsun Wuji's disciples and then exiled them. Finally, he instructed the ministers to falsely accuse Changsun Wuji of treason. He did not stop until he was forced to death. He completely wiped out the people represented by Changsun Wuji. The aristocratic power of Guanlong.

Later, Li Zhi teamed up with Wu Zetian to handle government affairs. This also led to a situation where some policies hurt the interests of ministers. However, these policies were clearly formulated by Li Zhi himself, but it was Wu Zetian who often took the blame and attracted hatred. . Wu Zetian attracted firepower from the front, while Li Zhi appeased the ministers from behind. One sang with a white face, the other sang with a red face, completely suppressing the Guanlong nobles until they could no longer threaten the imperial power. You must know that from Emperor Wen of the Sui Yang Jian to Emperor Taizong and Li Shimin of the Tang Dynasty, emperors of all dynasties tried to completely get rid of the control of the Guanlong nobles on imperial power but failed. However, in the reign of Emperor Gaozong of the Tang Dynasty and Li Zhi, the Guanlong Group was finally completely solved. Imperial control. How could Li Ye be such a idiot?

Let's take a look at how prosperous the Tang Dynasty was under the rule of Li Zhi. After Li Zhi succeeded to the throne, he created the Yonghui Rule, which is known as the legacy of Zhenguan. During his 34 years in office, he governed diligently, the living standards of the people continued to improve, and the population increased significantly. He rarely suffered defeats in foreign wars. During his reign, he sent troops to destroy the Western Turks, Baekje , and Goguryeo . You must know that from the beginning of the Tang Dynasty to Li Zhi's generation, Goguryeo has always been a serious concern for the court. Yang Guang, Li Yuan, and Li Shimin's three emperors failed to eliminate it. However, in Li Zhi's generation, it Goguryeo was completely destroyed and became a vassal state of the Tang Dynasty. In 663 AD, Japan led an army of 40,000 to attack Silla in an attempt to dominate Asia.

At that time, Li Zhi sent General Liu Rengui to send 10,000 troops for support. In just one month, more than 400 enemy ships were sunk, beating the crap out of the Japanese army. At this point, Japan is very respectful to the Tang Dynasty , and even risked its life to send Tang envoys to steal its masters. It even did not hesitate to send several generations of Tang envoys, and spent decades to copy the Tang culture back.Under Li Zhi's rule, the territory of the Tang Dynasty once reached its peak, with a territory of 12.37 million square kilometers. So far, most of the Tang Dynasty territory territories that people are proud of in our country are those of Li Zhi During the period, in addition to the expansion of territory, the economy also reached its peak. Due to the openness of the Tang Dynasty, the Tang Dynasty had many contacts with many Western countries. Therefore, the reputation of the Tang Dynasty was well known in Western countries, and Li Zhi himself also held a Zen ceremony. The Ceremony of Mount Tai,

So why was Li Zhi misunderstood by future generations? In fact, the main reason is because of his wife Wu Zetian. When talking about Wu Zetian, the bloody love story between the two of them cannot be avoided. Wu Zetian was originally Li Shimin's talent, and the two of them knew each other when Li Shimin was still alive. After Li Shimin passed away, Li Zhi took Wu Meiniang, who was driven to the temple to become a nun, back to the palace regardless of human ethics. Many people always teased Li Zhi for cuckolding his father, but if we take a closer look After analysis, we know that this matter is not simple. The ancients valued filial piety very much. Just from Li Zhi waiting at Li Shimin's bed, we can see that Li Zhi is definitely a filial son. Of course, some people say that maybe filial piety is played out. , there is no flesh and blood relationship in the royal family, but no matter what the possibility is, it is enough to show that Li Zhi is not simple. He dared to violate his filial piety and openly flirt with his little mother, and even directly killed his father after his death. Even in modern times, such a bloody thing would be reviled by people for making my little mother a queen.

Through Li Zhi’s treatment of his uncle Chang Sun Wuji and his little mother Wu Meiniang, we can see that Li Zhi is not courageous. A little coward, but cruel and indifferent. The world thinks that it was Wu Meiniang who moved Queen Wang and took the back seat, and then won the power into her own hands. But let us not miss an important point: Wu Zetian only came after Li Zhi's death. When Li Zhi, the proclaimed emperor, was alive, Wu Zetian actually seemed to be strong, but all military and political power was in the hands of Li Zhi. Wu Zetian had to bear countless infamy for Li Zhi, but she had almost no real power. Moreover, when Li Zhi was alive, there were no relatives of Wu Zetian in the court. In his later years, Li Zhi could not get up from his hospital bed.

At this time, Wu Zetian had been helping Li Zhi handle political affairs, and Li Zhi also He was not a fool. The reason why he dared to let Wu Zetian take control of the government was because Wu Zetian was already 60 years old at this time. No matter how powerful he was, he could only listen to politics behind the curtain. What's more important was that there was no one in Wu Zetian's family at all. There is still a careless and Wu Sansi . Without the potential threat of the monopoly of foreign relatives, what kind of trouble can it cause? Wu Zetian was at most his CEO at work, but he didn't expect that Wu Zetian would actually depose his son and become the emperor after his death.

Because Li Zhi's wife Wu Zetian was the first female emperor in history to proclaim herself emperor. Although she was in power, she also vigorously developed the Tang Dynasty. But it was a male-dominated society at that time, and women's status was low. The scholar-bureaucrats at that time refused to acknowledge Wu Zetian's achievements and always clung to Wu Zetian's dark history. Therefore, as Wu Zetian's husband, Li Zhi was inevitably scolded and blackmailed. Especially after the rise of Cheng-Zhu Neo-Confucianism after the Song Dynasty, the status of women became weaker, and Wu Zetian was scolded more harshly. Therefore, Li Zhi's image began to be vilified from a wise king to a cowardly king step by step. So in your mind, you What kind of emperor do you think Tang Gaozong Li Zhi was?