The Truth About Emperor Gaozong of the Tang Dynasty (baijia Forum Book Series)
by Meng Xianshi
About This Novel
The book "The Truth about Emperor Gaozong of the Tang Dynasty" is based on the lecture of the same name given by the author Mr. Meng Xianshi in the CCTV Baijia Forum column in April 2008. It is the lecture series with the highest ratings this year. It mainly focuses on the character and life of Li Zhi, Emperor Gaozong of the Tang Dynasty, his relationship with Queen Wu Zetian, and ministers Changsun Wuji, Chu Suiliang and others. At the same time, through these questions, we analyze why the originally promising emperor Li Zhi became a "cowardly and incompetent" figure in the minds of later generations, always shrouded in the shadow of his father Li Shimin and his wife Wu Zetian. In people's impression, Tang Gaozong Li Zhi was weak in character and mediocre in ability. He was always controlled by his wife Wu Zetian, which directly led Wu Zetian to establish Wu Zhou and became the only female emperor in Chinese history. But in fact, Emperor Gaozong of the Tang Dynasty was round on the outside and careful on the inside, bold in thinking and daring to act. It was during his reign that the territory of the Tang Dynasty reached its maximum; even the Northeastern border issues that had not been resolved by emperors of the Sui and Tang dynasties, including Tang Taizong Li Shimin, were all resolved during the Emperor Gaozong's period; and the Zen Ceremony, which marked the prosperity of the dynasty, was successfully held for the first time during the Emperor Gaozong's period. Without the development, consolidation, and paving the way in the Gaozong era, the Zhenguan rule would have been just a short-lived climax, and the prosperous Kaiyuan era would have become water without a source. The image of Gaozong recorded in history has been distorted and vilified. The reason why later generations distorted Tang Gaozong and made him mentally retarded and incompetent was that Wu Zetian, whom he carefully cultivated, replaced "Li Tang" with "Wu Zhou". In order to warn the world and avoid the recurrence of the heroine's dictatorship, later generations of historians tried their best to vilify Wu Zetian, and therefore wrote Tang Gaozong as mentally retarded. This distortion was even more serious because the Queen Mother was also in power during the Song Dynasty.
What Readers Think
Rating
Community(0)
Official(1)Scraped 20d ago
It's really good
I quickly read dozens of chapters, and there were too many pages describing palace struggles. Wu Zetian talked about it for a long time. It was difficult to see Gaozong's wisdom as a monarch. The rest was fine.
Rating
Community(0)
Official(1)Scraped 20d ago
It's really good
I quickly read dozens of chapters, and there were too many pages describing palace struggles. Wu Zetian talked about it for a long time. It was difficult to see Gaozong's wisdom as a monarch. The rest was fine.
