mtlumby2d Chapter 536 This Family is Eccentric
Chapter 536 This Family is Eccentric
Liu Bei, Guan Yu, Zhang Fei, and Zhuge Liang were shocked once again, even more so than when they heard about the anthropomorphic creatures from the Northern and Southern Dynasties.
A woman ascending the throne and becoming empress? That's absurd. Do you think we still live in a matriarchal society?
Liu Bei and his three companions did not oppose women holding power because there were too many powerful empress dowagers in the four hundred years of the Han Dynasty, such as Empress Lü, Empress Dowager Dou, Empress Dowager Zhangde, and Empress Dowager Deng. Which of them was not a heroine who was no less than a man?
But these powerful empress dowagers remained empress dowagers for their entire lives, and no one dared to take that step, not even the powerful Empress Lü.
However, Empress Wu of the Tang Dynasty took a crucial half-step that none of the empress dowagers of the Han Dynasty had been able to take: ascending the throne and becoming empress. This directly shattered the worldviews of Liu Bei and his three companions.
Liu Bei said with a complicated expression, "The Tang Dynasty has already established three generations of emperors with outstanding military achievements. It might not be so easy for Empress Wu to ascend the throne. Are there no members of the Li Tang imperial family, generals, or ministers who would object?"
Guan Xing said, "Of course I objected, but Empress Wu was too ruthless. She killed all the members of the Li Tang royal family except for those she had given birth to. She even killed several of her own wise sons, leaving only two weak and easily manipulated ones."
"After Empress Wu ascended the throne, she changed the name of the country to Zhou and named herself Zetian, also known as Zhao. It was a name she created for herself, with the character Ming (明) having an empty space below it, which means the sun and moon soaring in the sky."
"Wu Zetian was already 67 when she ascended the throne. During her reign, she lost most of the land beyond the Great Wall that her husband, Emperor Gaozong of Tang, had conquered. Fortunately, there was no major turmoil in the country, and she lived a peaceful 15 years."
"In her later years, she was in poor health and relied heavily on her male favorites, leading to various acts of debauchery. This forced five ministers to join forces in a coup, compelling her to pass the throne to her son, Li Xian. Wu Zetian was thus honored as the Retired Empress, and she died not long after, at the age of eighty-one."
"Holy crap..." Liu Bei and the other three exclaimed simultaneously.
This old lady is incredibly long-lived! It's rare for someone to live to seventy, but she actually lived to eighty-one.
Guan Xing continued, "As mentioned before, Wu Zetian killed her wise sons and kept two obedient and easy-to-control ones. Li Xian, who succeeded to the throne, was weak-willed, but his wife and daughter were extremely powerful. Moreover, having lived under Wu Zetian's oppressive rule for many years, their personalities were somewhat distorted. His wife, Lady Wei, wanted to kill her husband and become a second Wu Zetian, while his daughter pressured Li Xian every day to make her the Crown Princess and pass the throne to her."
Liu Bei and his three companions were speechless once again. What kind of weird family is this?
Guan Xing continued, "So the period when Li Xian was in power was quite chaotic. Li Xian's son, who was not born to Lady Wei but was made crown prince, could not tolerate Lady Wei's monopoly of power and launched a rebellion. He surrounded Li Xian and his wife on the city wall of Xuanwu Gate, but unfortunately failed and was killed. Together with the coup that forced Wu Zetian to abdicate, this was the third coup that occurred at Xuanwu Gate, and it was a failed coup."
Liu Bei and his three companions were completely stunned; they finally understood the true meaning of the Xuanwu Gate succession system.
Guan Xing said, "After the Crown Prince died, the Wei family mother and daughter became even more domineering. They even brain-dead poisoned Emperor Li Xian, their biggest backer. As a result, Li Xian's younger brother Li Dan and his sister Princess Taiping were not happy about it."
"As mentioned earlier, Wu Zetian left behind two obedient and easily manipulated sons, as well as a daughter, Princess Taiping. Li Dan, like Li Xian, was of average ability, but he had a remarkable son. Li Dan's third son, Li Longji, was ruthless and took the initiative to join forces with Princess Taiping to launch a coup, eliminating the Wei family and supporting his father, Li Dan, to ascend the throne."
"Did things calm down after Li Dan ascended the throne? No, because Li Longji and Princess Taiping started fighting again. Princess Taiping wanted to follow her mother's example and become emperor, but she underestimated her nephew. Her nephew Li Longji first persuaded his father Li Dan to abdicate and become the retired emperor, and then he killed his aunt Princess Taiping."
"The period from Wu Zetian's abdication to Li Longji's ascension to the throne was the peak of the Xuanwu Gate Incident. It happened several times in just a few years, and only gradually subsided after Princess Taiping was killed."
"In the early years of his reign, Li Longji was wise and capable, and worked diligently to govern the country. He appointed virtuous ministers and recovered all the territories lost by Wu Zetian, pushing the Tang Dynasty to a peak that no dynasty could reach for the next five or six hundred years, which is known as the Kaiyuan Prosperity."
"During the Kaiyuan era, the Tang Dynasty was prosperous in military affairs and had many famous generals. Some people wielded a Mo Dao and shattered men and horses with a single stroke. The Mo Dao was the kind that Xia Tong used."
The words "prosperous age" sparked a flood of thoughts among Liu Bei and his companions, leading them to endless daydreams. They wondered what kind of era truly deserved the title of "prosperous age."
After a moment, Zhuge Liang said, "You just said that Li Longji was wise and powerful in the early years of his reign, but what about in the later years? Did he become corrupt?"
Guan Xing nodded and said, "In his later years, Li Longji began to act recklessly. He not only snatched his own daughter-in-law but also heavily relied on treacherous officials. He even killed three of his sons in one day. For some reason, he gave extraordinary power to border generals. In his later years, he single-handedly triggered the An Lushan Rebellion, which led to the decline and eventual demise of the Tang Dynasty."
"Anshi refers to two generals of the Tang Dynasty stationed in Hebei, namely An Lushan and Shi Siming. The two led the most elite border troops of the Tang Dynasty to attack Tongguan. Faced with their rebellion, Li Longji actually listened to slander and killed the capable general Feng Changqing. He also forced another capable general, Geshu Han, to go out of the pass to fight the rebels without preparation, which led to his defeat and death."
"Then the rebels stormed into Chang'an, forcing Li Longji to flee to Sichuan. Faced with the rebels, the brilliant and capable Li Longji during the coup acted like a military idiot. If he hadn't intervened and had just stayed home and slept soundly, the rebels would never have been able to enter Chang'an."
"After Li Longji fled, his son Li Heng was enthroned as emperor, and Li Longji was honored as the Supreme Emperor. He began the great cause of recovering Chang'an. During the recovery, the Tang army and the rebel army had a decisive battle at a place called Xiangji Temple. Both sides were brave generals who were good at fighting and shrewd and resourceful. As a result, all their plans were seen through and they could only fight each other. Hundreds of thousands of Tang Dynasty elite troops fought each other. The battle was so fierce that the sky collapsed and the corpses piled up. In the end, both sides suffered casualties of 50% to 60%. The rebel army was defeated and the Tang army won a Pyrrhic victory. The battle at Xiangji Temple was a battle where the loser was the rebel."
"Both of these were elite troops of the Tang Dynasty. If they had been fighting against foreign powers, they could have easily broken through Parthia and marched into Qin. They could have easily swept away the whole world. However, they were forced to be consumed in internal strife. This battle proves that only the Tang army can defeat the Tang army."
"Hiss..." Liu Bei and the other three gasped in shock, their eyes filled with heartache and regret.
It's such a waste to see two ridiculously powerful armies wasting each other's strength. If they were given those armies, how much could they accomplish?
Guan Xing continued, "It is worth mentioning that the rebel leader An Lushan was killed by his son in the second year of his rebellion, so he did not participate in the Battle of Xiangji Temple. The fact that the rebels, who were fighting amongst themselves, could achieve such a victory shows how strong they were."
"The rebel generals and the Tang generals were all capable and skilled warriors, each one more formidable than the last. As a result, although the Tang Dynasty won the Battle of Xiangji Temple and recovered Chang'an, it was still unable to quell the rebellion, even after the rebels suffered internal strife again."
"To put it simply, the infighting among the rebels never stopped during the war. First, An Lushan's son killed An Lushan, then Shi Siming killed An Lushan's son, and then Shi Siming's son killed Shi Siming. With all the leaders gone, the Tang Dynasty still fought for eight years and the rebellion was not completely quelled."
"Therefore, this was not a rebellion by An Lushan and Shi Siming, but a collective rebellion against the Tang Dynasty by the entire Hebei region. Even without a leader, the people of Hebei would continue to fight, which shows how much hatred this region had for the Tang imperial family."
Liu Bei asked in astonishment, "Why? Why does Hebei hate the Li Tang dynasty so much?"