In 1994, the Shaanxi Provincial Bureau of Cultural Relics decided to carry out archaeological excavations on the joint burial tomb of Tang Taizong Li Shimin and Empress Changsun in Jiuzhi Mountain, Yanxia Town, Liquan County, Xianyang City.
In addition to the excavation of the main body of the Tang Zhaoling Tomb, archaeological excavations should also be carried out on the surrounding burial tombs, which include the founding heroes of Li Shimin when he fought the world, as well as his beloved children during his lifetime.
Up to now, 193 burial tombs have been discovered near the Tang Zhao Tomb, and the Tang Zhao Tomb is also the largest number of accompanying tombs among the emperor's tombs discovered so far. In the course of this archaeology, a tomb of the princess of Xincheng located on the southeast mountain beam of the Tang Zhao Tomb was unexpectedly discovered.
According to the excavated epitaph of Princess Xincheng, the princess of Xincheng, who died at the age of 30, was buried by her brother Tang Gaozong Li Zhi as a queen after her death.
So, why did Princess Xincheng, who is her younger sister, get the treatment of her brother's burial as a queen?
Li Shimin was very fond of Princess Xincheng, she was born in the eighth year of Zhenguan, and was the youngest daughter of Li Shimin and Empress Changsun. Empress Changsun died when Princess Xincheng was two years old, which made Li Shimin love Princess Xincheng even more.
No matter how busy he is with state affairs, he will personally inquire about the life of Princess Xincheng. In order to let her daughter get better care, Li Shimin broke the etiquette rules of the Tang Dynasty when Princess Xincheng was 8 years old and canonized her as the princess of Hengshan County.
According to the provisions of the "Tang Liudian", the famous mountains and rivers and the counties where they are located cannot be used as the title of the prince or princess, but Li Shimin made an exception to make Hengshan County as her title in order to favor the princess of Xincheng.
This is the story of the princess of Xincheng, who received special treatment because of Li Shimin's favor.
Li Shimin's love for the princess of Xincheng can be seen from her title and actual feudal food. In the early Tang Dynasty, it was a symbol of dowry for the princess to receive a real seal of food, but the princess of Xincheng received this treatment at the age of 8, breaking the convention.
Among Li Shimin's 35 children, the special treatment of Princess Xincheng is really rare, which also fully reflects his love for his youngest daughter. For the marriage of Princess Xincheng, Li Shimin even personally selected two fiancés.
Li Shimin's admiration for the famous counselor Wei Zheng is beyond words. When Wei Zheng was seriously ill, he sought medical advice for him at all costs, and sent special people to guard him day and night.
However, despite this, Wei Zheng died of illness. Before he died, Li Shimin came to his bedside and asked him if he had any unfulfilled wishes, and promised to fulfill his wishes.
At this moment, Li Shimin fully demonstrated his respect and gratitude for Wei Zheng.
In the last moments of his life, Wei Zheng's last words were moving. He said to Li Shimin: "I don't care about Wei, but worry about the death of Zong Zhou." This sentence deeply expressed his deep concern for the future and fate of his country.
Li Shimin was extremely moved by his spirit, and he immediately decided to give Wei Zheng the highest honor. Li Shimin saw Wei Shuyu, the eldest son Wei Zheng who was taking care of in front of the bed, and he knew that Wei Shuyu had not yet been married.
So, he had a hot head and decided to marry his new city princess to Wei Shuyu. He pointed to his daughter, Princess Xincheng, and said to Wei Zheng, "Duke Wei, open your eyes and look at your future daughter-in-law." ”
This is a historic marriage, and Princess Xincheng will marry Wei Zheng's eldest son, Wei Shuyu, which is the greatest recognition of Wei Zheng's noble spirit. This is also Li Shimin's highest reward for Wei Zheng, and he used his actions to express his deep admiration and gratitude to Wei Zheng.
Li Shimin decided to marry his favorite princess Xincheng to Wei Zheng's son Wei Shuyu to show his extreme trust and appreciation for Wei Zheng. Princess Xincheng is the pearl of Li Shimin's palm, she is pampered, and marrying her, Wei Shuyu's future will definitely be bright and infinite, and it will also allow his children and grandchildren to live a carefree life.
Although Li Shimin's decision made Princess Xincheng 11 years younger, his deep affection and Wei Zheng's gratitude were touching. However, Wei Zheng was grateful, but also passed away peacefully the next day.
This story teaches us that while there is affection, the age gap also needs to be treated with caution.
Li Shimin once canonized the crown prince Li Chengqian, but he valued and favored Li Tai, the king of Wei, which made Li Chengqian feel that his position as crown prince was unstable. As a result, Li Chengqian colluded with Hou Junji, the general who contributed to the founding of the country, in an attempt to launch a coup d'état and force Li Shimin to abdicate ahead of schedule.
Li Shimin decisively abolished Li Chengqian's position as the crown prince, demoted him to a concubine, and demoted Li Tai, the king of Wei, who participated in the competition for the crown prince, to other places. In the end, Li Shimin canonized his ninth son Li Zhi as the crown prince, which was later Tang Gaozong.
In the case of Li Chengqian's conspiracy, Hou Junji was an accomplice and would definitely be punished, and Du Zhenglun, the prince's left concubine, was also implicated. When Wei Zheng was alive, he praised Hou Junji and Du Zhenglun many times in front of Li Shimin, believing that both of them could be prime ministers, so after Li Chengqian's rebellion, Li Shimin began to suspect that Wei Zheng had formed a party with Hou Junji and Du Zhenglun for personal gain.
In order to win the name of the minister, Wei Zheng deliberately showed the exhortation of Li Shimin to Chu Suiliang, who was repairing history, but after Li Shimin learned about this move, his impression of Wei Zheng was greatly reduced, and he even thought that Wei Zheng's worries about the country and the people were a show.
After Li Shimin reflected, he thought that it was not appropriate to give the Wei family a marriage, so he regretted it. After Wei Zheng's death, Li Shimin's attitude changed sharply, and his affection for Wei Zheng changed from suspicion and disgust, and he ordered his tombstone to be torn down and the marriage between Wei Shuyu and Princess Xincheng was canceled.
Li Shimin carefully selected two fiancés for Princess Xincheng, the first one failed for some reason, and the second was the eldest grandson of the eldest grandson of the Empress family. Empress Changsun is the love of Li Shimin's life, he attaches great importance to the eldest grandson family, and many princesses and sisters have married into the eldest grandson family.
Before the eldest grandson was engaged to the princess of Xincheng, three members of the eldest grandson family had become concubines. Therefore, in the twenty-third year of Zhenguan, Li Shimin chose the eldest grandson Quan as her fiancé for the princess of Xincheng.
According to the generation, the eldest grandson is the cousin of the eldest grandson, and his father is the cousin of the eldest grandson. Therefore, the eldest grandson and the eldest grandson queen belong to the same family cousin relationship, and they are also the maternal cousins of the princess of Xincheng.
Although the eldest grandson Quan and the princess of Xincheng were of similar age, the ancients did not attach much importance to this kind of distant relationship, so Li Shimin did not consider this relationship. Although according to the modern point of view, the relationship between the eldest grandson and the princess of Xincheng belongs to the cousin and nephew who has not been out of the five suits, which is illegal and not advocated, but the ancients did not care about these.
In order to see his daughter get married before his death, Li Shimin ordered someone to prepare the wedding of the princess of Xincheng, but God did not fulfill people's wishes, he died, and the wedding was delayed. After Tang Gaozong succeeded to the throne, he doted on his sister Princess Xincheng, but her marriage was unhappy because of this.
Tang Gaozong hoped that Princess Xincheng could get married immediately after Li Shimin's 100-day mourning period, because she was his most beloved sister.
Tang Gaozong originally hoped to let his sister Princess Xincheng get married as soon as possible, but was opposed by his teacher Yu Zhining. Yu Zhining believes that the ancient law of etiquette stipulates that a child must observe filial piety for three years before marriage.
Therefore, he advised Tang Gaozong to follow the ancient etiquette and not let the Li Tang royal family bear the name of unfilial piety. Although Tang Gaozong hesitated about this, he finally followed the teacher's advice and let Princess Xincheng continue to keep filial piety for three years, and it was not until the third year of Yonghui (652) that Princess Xincheng was able to marry.
Tang Gaozong changed the title of Princess Xincheng to Princess Xincheng, and specially added 5,000 fiefdoms as a dowry, adding luster to her wedding. Princess Xincheng's fiefdom was the highest among the daughters of Tang Gaozu Li Yuan and Li Shimin's other daughters at that time, which is enough to show Tang Gaozong's love and concern for Princess Xincheng.
Although the marriage of Princess Xincheng and the eldest grandson Quan had twists and turns, and was even a few years late, their married life was happy and harmonious. According to the epitaph of Princess Xincheng, after her marriage to her eldest grandson, "the piano was harmonious, and the sheng reed resonated, becoming a model of domestic style and setting a model for women in the world." ”
However, as the so-called affectionate longevity, Princess Xincheng and the eldest grandson Quan encountered problems after seven years of marriage. The problem does not arise from conflicts between husband and wife, but from external factors.
Empress Changsun's elder brother Changsun Wuji and prime ministers Han Ying and Chu Suiliang opposed Tang Gaozong's establishment of Wu Zetian as empress. And Han Ying is the brother-in-law of the eldest grandson. Therefore, Wu Zetian held a grudge against the eldest grandson family.
As soon as she became empress and gained power, she immediately took revenge on the eldest grandson family.
The eldest grandson Wuji and Han Ying suffered Wu Zetian's ** and demotion to the official, while the eldest grandson Quan was also exiled after being divorced by Tang Gaozong in the name of Princess Xincheng. Unfortunately, he was also given death by Wu Zetian in the name of Tang Gaozong.
Princess Xincheng fell into deep grief because of this, she lost the happiness of her life, and was full of dissatisfaction with her brother Tang Gaozong and sister-in-law Wu Zetian. She stopped grooming as a way to express her displeasure.
Although Tang Gaozong loved his sister deeply, he could not change the fact that the eldest grandson Quan was dead. In order to ease his sister's emotions, Tang Gaozong decided to choose another husband for her.
Tang Gaozong loved his sister Princess Xincheng very much, and in order to let his sister live a happy life, he chose Wei Zhengju, who was born in Jingzhao Wei's famous family, as her husband.
However, although he promoted Wei Zhengju several levels in a row, making him become the princess of *** Xincheng and Wei Zhengju's marriage did not bring happiness. She has always been obsessed with her eldest grandson, and her marriage with Wei Zhengju is in name only, and she lives a depressed life every day.
Finally, in the third year of Longshuo (663), Princess Xincheng died of serious illness due to depression and illness at the age of 30. When Tang Gaozong learned the news, he was so sad that he ordered the construction of a temple for his sister to pray for blessings, but before the temple was built, the princess of Xincheng passed away.
The early death of Princess Xincheng made her second husband Wei Zhengju also implicated. Tang Gaozong investigated the cause of death after his sister's death and suspected that Princess Xincheng might have suffered domestic violence from Wei Zhengju.
However, if you think about it carefully, Wei Zhengju is actually very wronged. When he married Princess Xincheng, he was just a low-level civil official, and for the sake of his own future, it was impossible for him to be violent to Princess Xincheng.
Princess Xincheng grew up under the favor of her father and brother since she was a child, and her temper is not small, so she is unlikely to accept domestic violence easily. Therefore, if it is domestic violence, it may be that Wei Zhengju was abused by Princess Xincheng.
Princess Xincheng's death may be related to the eldest grandson Quan, her longing for the eldest grandson made her unhappy in her second marriage, and Wei Zhengju may not be as good as the eldest grandson, which makes Princess Xincheng miss him even more.
At the same time, she was disappointed with her second marriage and eventually died of depression. In the second marriage, Wei Zhengju and Princess Xincheng may have some conflicts because Princess Xincheng misses her ex-husband Sun Quan, which is misunderstood as Wei Zhengju's rudeness to the princess and even domestic violence.
However, from the point of view of common sense, even if Wei Zhengju has a tendency to domestic violence, he does not dare to abuse the emperor's favorite sister at will, which is fatal to his future and net worth.
Therefore, the "New Tang Book" believes that Wei Zhengju is wronged, and the best proof of his innocence is that Tang Gaozong ordered someone to bury him and Princess Xincheng together. If Wei Zhengju really abused the princess of Xincheng, why did Tang Gaozong order them to be buried together?
This shows that Tang Gaozong was overly suspicious and unjustly killed Wei Zhengju. Wei Zhengju's death became a famous unjust case at that time, which also made people at that time taboo to marry the princess as a wife, and even the folk spread the saying that "if you marry the princess, the new house will become a cemetery".
Tang Gaozong treated the funeral of Princess Xincheng as a queen and buried her next to her father Li Shimin's Zhao Mausoleum, so that she could be with her father forever. Although this indicates the level of the funeral, it does not mean that the specifications of the tomb of the princess of Xincheng have reached the level of the queen.
The queen's funeral was the highest level that women could enjoy at that time, higher than the princess's funeral, which was the highest courtesy given by Tang Gaozong to the princess of Xincheng, and it was also the only princess in the history of the Tang Dynasty who was buried at the level of the queen, which was unique and noble.
Princess Xincheng's life is full of contradictions, fortunately she was born in the emperor's family, and was loved and honored by her father and brother, but unfortunately the man she loved the most was given death by her brother, which led to her grief and sadness for the second half of her life.
Perhaps, if she had not been born in the family of the emperor, her life would have been more ordinary, but she would have been able to enjoy true happiness.