Princess Taiping was active on the historical stage as a political figure. She participated in three major political struggles in her life, and each time she was more involved and played a bigger role.
As early as Wu Zetian's reign, Princess Taiping often "premeditated discussions", but Wu Zetian did not allow her to openly engage in politics. In her later years, Wu Zetian asked Princess Taiping for help in order to get rid of her male favorite Xue Huaiyi who had caused a lot of trouble for her. "The Biography of Xue Huaiyi in the Old Book of Tang Dynasty" says that Wu Zetian "ordered Princess Taiping to select dozens of strong women and guard them closely. If anyone found out about her conspiracy, Princess Taiping's wet nurse, Mrs. Zhang, ordered the strong men to tie and hang her and kill her in a chariot. Send it to White Horse Temple". However, Volume 205 of "Zi Zhi Tong Jian" says that Wu Zetian "made the king of Jianchang Wu Youning beat and kill him and send his body to Baima Temple." It seems that Princess Taiping was not involved in this matter. Then check the "New Book of Tang Dynasty: The Biography of Empress Zetian Wu", it is said that Wu Zetian "secretly ordered Princess Taiping to choose a healthy woman to be bound in the palace, and ordered the king of Jianchang Wu Youning and the general Zong Jinqing, the great craftsman, to lead the strong men to kill her and carry the body on a dust cart. Return to White Horse Temple". We no longer know the true situation of the matter. The reasonable inference should be that Princess Taiping was involved in this matter, but it was someone else who appeared in public, so public records (such as " "Records") also records other people. "Zizhi Tongjian" is based on "Records". This incident can be seen as the epitome of Princess Taiping's relationship with politics during Wu Zetian's reign, that is, she only participated in planning behind the scenes and basically did not participate in politics publicly. It can also be seen from this incident that Princess Taiping's attitude towards things is highly consistent with Wu Zetian.
The first political struggle that Princess Taiping participated in was when Zhang Jianzhi and others raised troops to kill Zhang Yizhi and Zhang Changzong brothers. In Wu Zetian's later years, Zhang Yi's brothers relied on Wu Zetian's favor and became extremely powerful. They have a strong tendency to make those who follow them prosper and those who go against them to perish. In the first year of Wu Zetian's Chang'an reign (701), the Zhang brothers imprisoned Shao Prince Li Chongrun, his sister Princess Yongtai, and her brother-in-law Wei Prince Wu Yanji, who had secretly discussed them. This offended not only the Li family, but also the Wu family, forcing them to unite against Er Zhang. In the first year of Shenlong (705), Zhang Jianzhi and others joined forces with General Li Duozuo, the right-wing general of Lin Wei, to raise troops to kill two Zhangs, forcing Wu Zetian to transfer to Zhongzong, and changed "Zhou" to "Tang".
Princess Taiping participated in this struggle, but it seemed that she was only "preparing for Zhang Yi's plan" and had no actual actions. After the victory of the struggle, she was named "Princess of Peace in the Country" for her meritorious service. There may be two reasons why Princess Taiping participated in this matter: First, as the daughter of the Li family and the daughter-in-law of the Wu family, she could not tolerate the Zhang brothers being in power. Another possible reason is that Zhang Changzong framed her beloved lover Gao Jian and put Gao Jian in prison. Li Chongrun's brother and sister were both children of Tang Zhongzong. Later, Li Chongrun was posthumously named Prince Yide, and Princess Yongtai was posthumously named Princess Yongtai. Their tombs are large in scale and have become a famous tourist attraction in Shaanxi after being excavated and sorted out by the cultural relics department.
The second political struggle that Princess Taiping participated in was when Li Longji launched an army to kill Empress Wei. After Princess Taiping's third brother Tang Zhongzong came to the throne, Queen Wei wanted to imitate Wu Zetian and continuously expand her power. At the same time, Princess Taiping also moved from the background to the front. In the second year of Shenlong (706), she began to open a palace and install officials and establish her own power group. It even developed to the point where she and Princess Anle, the daughter of Emperor Zhongzong of the Tang Dynasty, "created cliques and even quarreled with each other" ( "Zizhi Tongjian" Volume 209). As a result, Princess Taiping, her fourth brother Xiang Wang (later Tang Ruizong), and Xiang Wang's son Li Longji (later Tang Xuanzong) became the biggest obstacles to Queen Wei and Princess Anle's attempts to take power. In the fourth year of Jinglong (710), Queen Wei and her daughter Princess Anle conspired to poison Tang Zhongzong. Wei Shi established Wen Wang Li Chongmao as emperor, and he served as regent. He also conspired to kill the young emperor, revolutionize the Tang Dynasty, and get rid of the Prime Minister and Princess Taiping. Under this situation, Li Longji, together with Wan Qi Guoyi, Chen Xuanli and others, raised troops, killed Empress Wei and Princess Anle, and welcomed Tang Ruizong (the Prime Minister) to the throne. Princess Taiping had a positive attitude towards this struggle. She not only participated in the prior planning, but also sent her son Xue Chongjian to directly participate in the action. The reason for this is also very simple, that is, Princess Taiping can let the Li family be in power, or she can let the Wu family be in power, but she cannot allow the Wei family to occupy the world. Princess Taiping also played an important role in this struggle, that is, in dealing with the issue of the young emperor, she stepped forward to lift the young emperor off the "throne" and let the fourth brother Li Dan sit on the throne.
The third political struggle that Princess Taiping participated in was the struggle with Prince Li Longji. The focus of Tang Ruizong's dynasty politics was that Tang Ruizong and Princess Taiping wanted to protect the throne, while Prince Li Longji wanted to fight for the throne. Tang Ruizong and Princess Taiping must restrain the power of Prince Li Longji in order to protect the throne. For this reason, Princess Taiping desperately wanted to choose a weak person as the prince. This requires creating all kinds of troubles to destroy Li Longji. In a few years, she not only created public opinion that Li Longji was not the eldest son and should not be crowned prince, but she even summoned the prime minister to demand that the prince be replaced. In these actions, Tang Ruizong sided with Princess Taiping. For example, Emperor Ruizong of the Tang Dynasty once summoned Prime Minister Wei Anshi and said that he was worried that the ministers would all be attracted to the prince. Wei Anshi said, "This must be a peaceful solution." At that time, "Taiping eavesdropped on him from behind the curtain" and was furious. He immediately wanted to put Wei Anshi in jail ("Old Book of Tang·Biography of Wei Anshi"). This incident shows that Princess Taiping often conspired with Tang Ruizong about the prince.
By the end of the Ruizong Dynasty, "there were seven prime ministers, five of whom were from the princess's house", "I only heard of Princess Taiping outside, but not the prince" ("Old Book of Tang·Biography of Wang Ju"), and both Generals Yulin on the left and right also defected to the princess. . In the second year of Xiantian (713), Princess Taiping planned to use Yulin soldiers from the north and Nanya soldiers from the south to destroy Li Longji. In this case, Li Longji took a preemptive strike, first trapping and killing Generals Zuo and You Yulin, and then quickly getting rid of the prime ministers involved in the conspiracy. Princess Taiping herself fled into the mountain temple and "came out in three days, and was given a death certificate."
During the three years of Tang Ruizong's reign, Princess Taiping was the most deeply involved in politics. At this time, she cultivated her personal power on a large scale, trying to imitate her mother Wu Zetian and intervene in politics. Her attempt failed. There are many reasons for the failure, but at least they are as follows: First, Princess Taiping extorted money financially, was arrogant and extravagant in life, and allowed her subordinates to seize people's property and compete with the people for profit, which failed to win the hearts of the people. Second, Princess Taiping expanded her power mainly through money bribery. She "said that Confucian scholars were too narrow-minded, so she thanked them with gold and silk." As a result, most of the scholars under her were of bad character. These people are not interested in how to govern the country well, but are only keen on power and the self-interest of Princess Taiping. In terms of moral character and ability, they are far inferior to Song Wangjing, Yao Chong, Zhang Shuo and other officials under Li Longji. Third, Princess Taiping also made no political achievements. Her policy is simply to seize power and realize her desire to intervene in politics. An example can be given. During the reign of Emperor Zhongzong of the Tang Dynasty, a group of women such as Princess Anle, Princess Changning, Shangguan Jieyu, and Shanggong Chai intervened in politics and formulated the policy of "oblique sealing" of officials. That is to say, if the official appointment was carried out according to the normal procedure, the emperor would issue an edict and hand it over to the Central Secretariat for processing, but these women paid bribes to appoint officials. As long as they paid 300,000 yuan, even if you were a merchant butcher, you could be awarded an official. At this time, in order to distinguish from the normal method of conferring officials, a separate edict was written "Xianfeng" and then submitted to the Ministry of Secretariat for processing. This kind of official is called "Xianfeng official". At that time, there were "thousands of people who got the official position in this way. They were overcrowded both inside and outside, and there was no office to live in" ("New Book of Tang·Election Records"). "Oblique appointment" is a sign of women's interference in politics. When Ruizong first came to the throne, Yao Chong and Song Wangjing stopped all the thousands of "Xianfeng officials". However, four months later, with the intervention of Princess Taiping, all "Xianfeng officials" were restored. In the view of Princess Taiping, the existence of "inclined official" is a symbol of whether women can participate in politics, but to the people, it is a manifestation of corrupt politics, so people at the time said that "Yao and Song Dynasty were prime ministers" , evil is worse than righteousness; when it comes to peace, righteousness is worse than evil" (Old Book of Tang Dynasty: Liuze Biography). Fourth, there is a more important factor, that is, since Wu Zetian proclaimed himself emperor and changed the Tang Dynasty's surname to "Wu", the government and the public have been instinctively wary of women interfering in politics. In this broad social context, any attempt to "women interfere in politics" is doomed to fail. Empress Wei and Princess Anle were like this, and Princess Taiping was no exception.
In the Tang Dynasty, after Wu Zetian, a number of women involved in politics appeared one after another, such as Queen Wei, Princess Anle, and Princess Taiping. The emergence of such a phenomenon has its own social, racial, cultural, and personal factors, which are worthy of careful study. With the development and changes of society, after Princess Taiping came to the Tang Dynasty, this phenomenon of "women interfering in politics" never appeared again. Therefore, in this sense, the death of Princess Taiping ended the era of "women intervening in politics" in the Tang Dynasty.