Why did Li Zhi bury his sister with a queen ceremony? Thousands of years later, the secret is revealed, and the emotions are emotional.
In the 90s or so of the last century, archaeological experts in our country discovered an ancient tomb, although this tomb does not have anything special at first glance, and the specifications of the general queen's mausoleum are not much different, but after careful study, you will find the secrets hidden in it.
It turned out that a princess was buried in this mausoleum, but she was buried in the specifications of a queen, why is that?
Expert research revealed that this ancient tomb was the princess of Xincheng who was buried by Tang Gaozong Li Zhi with the etiquette of the queen. Let's find out the story. In the eighth year of Zhenguan, Li Shimin's daughter was born and was favored like Princess Gaoyang.
In order to show his love for his daughter, Li Shimin gave her the title "Princess of Hengshan County". In the Tang Dynasty, the title of the princess cannot be named after mountains, rivers, etc., while the reward of the princess of Xincheng is not a "false seal", but a "real seal", which means that she enjoys reputation and fiefdom.
This special reward was enjoyed by only one princess in the entire Tang Dynasty.
The princess of Hengshan County was favored at a young age and obtained her own fief, which was difficult for other princesses to achieve. Tang Taizong's favor for her can be seen, just as the ancients said "men should marry, women should marry", in the seventeenth year of Zhenguan, Li Shimin married his daughter to Wei Zheng's son Wei Shuyu, although there are certain political marriage factors, but Wei Shuyu's talent is also greatly appreciated.
However, two things happened that shattered this wonderful marriage. During the Zhenguan period, Hou Junji rebelled, and later Hou Junji and people related to him were executed, including Wei Zheng's friend Du Zhenglun.
Whether it was Hou Junji or Du Zhenglun, they had a very close relationship with Wei Zheng, and Wei Zheng even recommended them to serve as prime ministers.
For this reason, Li Shimin began to suspect that Wei Zheng was related to the rebels, but this was only a speculation. Soon after, Li Shimin learned that Wei Zheng had given Chu Suiliang a book in which he recorded his opposition to Li Shimin for many years, and he wanted to use it to promote himself, hoping to go down in history and pass on through the ages.
Tang Taizong was very disappointed by this, he thought that Wei Zheng ** was out of consideration for the country and the people, but now this "for the country and the people" seems to have become "selfish desires".
Coupled with the involvement of Hou Junji's rebellion, Li Shimin's attitude towards Wei Zheng was even more cold. He not only canceled Wei Zheng's epitaph, but also terminated the marriage contract between Princess Hengshan and Wei Shuyu, and Princess Hengshan's first relationship ended like this.
In the twenty-third year of Zhenguan, Tang Taizong had entered the late stage of his life, and he decided to choose a husband with excellent character, talent and family background for his daughter. This husband's name is Changsun Quan, and he is the collateral bloodline of the Changsun Wuji family.
Although the status of the collateral bloodline in ancient times was not high, Tang Taizong, as the lord of the Ninth Five-Year Plan and the king of a country, did not hesitate to promote the father of the eldest grandson Quan to the assassin of Qizhou, which was already regarded as a feudal official at that time.
Therefore, this marriage did not reduce the status of Princess Hengshan, and the engagement of the two was also prepared for three years. However, Tang Taizong died shortly after the two got engaged, and according to ancient custom, children need to be filial piety.
Therefore, Princess Hengshan had to wait for more than a year until the expiration of the filial piety period before she married the eldest grandson Quan.
Three years later, Li Zhi canonized his sister as the princess of Xincheng and married his eldest grandson, Quan Quan. The princess of Xincheng and the eldest grandson are a match made in heaven, and they respect each other like guests, which makes the world envious.
The eldest grandson family was one of the largest gate lords in the Tang Dynasty, and after Li Zhi ascended the throne, the eldest grandson Wuji tried to go further, but because Wu Zetian joined forces with Li Zhi, his position was threatened and he was relegated to the frontier.
Although the eldest grandson Wuji did not commit a major crime, his behavior of threatening the imperial power and spying on the imperial power violated the emperor's authority, so he was exiled according to the laws of the Tang Dynasty. The eldest grandson was also implicated and died in exile.
When Princess Xincheng learned of this, she was overwhelmed with grief. Although he did not hold a grudge against his brother on the surface, in the epitaph written for his husband, he expressed all his resentment, and this was only the beginning.
The four words "dirty Tang stinky man" circulated in history are accusations against the ethics and morality of the Li Tang royal family, such as Li Shimin snatching his younger siblings and Li Zhi snatching his "little mother".
After the death of the eldest grandson, the originally virtuous and virtuous princess Xincheng changed her temperament greatly, no longer paying attention to appearance and image, and seemed to be expressing her dissatisfaction with Li Zhi, and at the same time began an indulgent life.
Li Zhi couldn't bear his sister's pain so much, so he found a wishful husband for her - Wei Zhengju, who was the bloodline of the Wei family, and was a powerful family during the Gaozong period at that time.
In order to let Wei Zhengju marry the princess of Xincheng, Li Zhi generously promoted Wei Zhengju's official position to the eighth level in one go, just like a carp jumping into the dragon gate, with a bright future. However, Princess Xincheng always has only the position of the eldest grandson in her heart, and she is shrouded by his shadow all the time.
Her marriage to Wei Zhengju was not harmonious, and it is said that Wei Zhengju's rude behavior towards the princess of Xincheng detracted from the dignity of the royal family, which is described in the history books as"Faux pas"As for how to be rude, no one knows.
Soon after, Princess Xincheng suddenly fell seriously ill and died, and Emperor Gaozong was so grief-stricken that he buried his beloved sister according to the empress's etiquette. However, the matter did not end there, he didn't know that he learned of Wei Zhengju's rude behavior to Princess Xincheng from **, so he executed him without examination and buried him in the tomb of Princess Xincheng, and the matter came to an end.
Li Zhi took the anger of his sister Princess Xincheng on the death of the palace maids around him, and deducted the eyes and mouths of many handmaidens from the murals of the princess's mausoleum, believing that these handmaidens did not fulfill their duty to take care of the princess.
This behavior reveals the hidden story behind a small mausoleum, and the three failed political marriages of the princess of Xincheng are also deeply regrettable. What do you think differently about such an event?
Reference: Book of the Old Tang Dynasty