In 705, Emperor Zhongzong of Tang was restored to the throne, and Wu Zetian was forced to become Emperor Taishang. One day Li Xian went to see Wu Zetian, saw his mother's haggard face, and quickly asked what had happened. Wu Zetian said to him, "I came from Fangling to welcome Ru, and I have been given Ru Yi by the world, and the five thieves are greedy for merit, and I am shocked to this point." ”
Meaning: "When I took you back from Fangling, I intended to hand over the world to you, but now the five thieves have alarmed me to come here (Shangyang Palace) because of their greed." The "five thieves" in Wu Zetian's mouth are the five heroes who participated in the Shenlong coup, namely Zhang Kamzhi, Cui Xuanwei, Jinghui, Huan Yanfan, and Yuan Shuji.
The five of them were the main heroes of the Shenlong coup, and Wu Zetian naturally hated them, but thanks to them, the Tang Dynasty returned to the hands of the Li family, and Tang Zhongzong should treat them well. So what did all five of them go through after the Shenlong coup, and what was their final outcome?
(Stills of Zhang Kam)
After the success of the coup, these five people were all crowned kings, of which Zhang Kamzhi was the King of Hanyang, Cui Xuanwei was the King of Boling, Jinghui was the King of Pingyang, Huan Yanfan was the King of Fuyang, and Yuan Shuji was the King of Nanyang, so it was called the "Five Kings", so the Shenlong coup was also called the Five Kings Coup.
For the Li Tang Dynasty, the Five Kings were the great heroes of the Tang Dynasty, and all of them were positive figures in the eyes of future generations. Emperor Fuche of the Tang Dynasty once said: "To this day, it is called the Five Kings, Zhuo Li Mai Wangu." "However, for Wu Zetian and those who supported the Wu clan's forces, the Five Kings became the Five Thieves.
In this way, Tang Zhongzong should treat these heroes well, but in fact, the outcome of the five kings was not good. At first, Jinghui and Huan Yanfan and others joined forces to get rid of Zhang Yizhi's brother, who was favored by Wu Zetian, after this, Xue Jichang said to Jinghui: "Although Zhang Yizhi and others have been killed, there are still figures like Lü Chan and Lü Lu, and they must cut the grass and remove the roots in order to make the world peaceful." What Xue Jichang was talking about was Wu Sansi and other Wu clan members.
(Stills of Wei Hou and Wu Sansi)
Jinghui also thought that he was right, so he suggested to Zhang Kamzhi to find an opportunity to get rid of the martial family's children, but zhang Kamzhi opposed it. Since Zhang Kamzhi did not support it, then Jinghui was not good at saying anything, and after Xue Jichang knew, he just helplessly said: "Alas! I don't know where I'm going to die in the future. ”
At this time, Emperor Zhongzong of Tang had already been reinstated, so why were Wu Sansi and others still active in the court? This had to admire Wu Zetian's methods. At that time, Li Xian saw his mother's haggard face, and after Wu Zetian said something bad about the five thieves to him, Li Xian immediately confessed, and then let Wu Sansi and others participate in the government.
"The Lord wept uncontrollably, and bowed down to thank him for his death sentence. By thinking twice, you can get into it. ——Quoted from the Zizhi Tongjian
When Emperor Zhongzong of Tang was first demoted to the title of King of Luling, his life was very hard, and only Empress Wei and Princess Anle accompanied him. At that time, Li Xian promised Wei Hou that if he could restore himself in the future, he would definitely share the world with her. Now that it has really been reset, Li Xian has fulfilled his original promise.
(Wei Hou stills)
After Wu Sansi was able to participate in the government, he colluded with Wei Hou and gradually took control of the regime. Wu Sansi was deeply trusted by Wei Hou, so he often slandered and even framed Zhang Kamzhi's five people in front of her. After Wu Sansi and Wei Hou successively framed the Five Kings, Tang Zhongzong also became suspicious of the five people, so only 5 months after the Shenlong coup, the five people's positions were stripped.
Emperor Zhongzong of Tang stripped them of their posts, made them the kings of the counties, and granted them Danshu iron coupons, ostensibly promoting, but in fact reducing their power. After being the king of the county for more than half a year, Zhang Kamzhi and others have been sent out to remote areas to do assassination history, and it can be said that they have no real power.
In 706, Wang Tongjiao and others in Guanglu Qing prepared to assassinate Wu Sansi, but the matter was revealed, and Wu Sansi took the opportunity to falsely accuse Zhang Kamzhi and others. Emperor Zhongzong of Tang listened to Wei Hou's words and finally stripped the five of them of their titles and withdrew the Danshu iron coupons. Not only that, Wu Sansi also deliberately spread the news of his adultery with Wei Hou, falsely accusing Zhang Kamzhi and others of framing him, and how tang Zhongzong, as emperor, could bear to say that he was wearing a green hat, so he exiled them to a barbaric land and imprisoned them for life.
Wu San thought of cutting the grass and removing the roots, so he instigated the crown prince Li Chongjun to play and exterminate Zhang Kamzhi and the other three tribes, but Tang Zhongzong did not agree. Wu Sansi was afraid that Tang Zhongzong had softened his heart and would one day release the five people back, so he looked for someone to intercept and kill them halfway.
In the end, Jinghui, Huan Yanfan, and Yuan Shuji were all captured on the way to exile. Jinghui was tortured by Ling Chi, Huan Yanfan was tied to a bamboo mall for capital punishment, and only after the skin and flesh were scraped off were killed by random sticks, while Yuan Shuji was forced to drink poison juice, the pain was unbearable when the poison was emitted, but it was not life-threatening, and finally he was still beaten to death.
It can be seen that these three people died very tragically, relatively speaking, Zhang Kamzhi and Cui Xuanwei were much better. Zhang Kamzhi was originally old and suffered a lot during the exile, so he fell ill and died as soon as he arrived at the exile, and Cui Xuanwei died on the way to exile. Although the ending was still quite tragic, the good villain escaped the poison of Wu Sansi's men.
(Tang Zhongzong stills)
The fate of these five people is tragic and lamentable, they are obviously the great heroes of the Tang Dynasty, but they were killed by the traitors. Secondly, they also blamed them for not meeting a wise monarch, Tang Zhongzong was weak and incompetent all his life, and although he was extremely righteous to Wei Houren, he allowed this mother and son to do wrong. In the end, such an ending was also related to the five kings' own decision, when Xue Jichang suggested getting rid of the Wu disciples, zhang Kamzhi if he agreed, maybe he could avoid this tragedy.
Unfortunately, Wei Hou and Wu Sansi and others took great pains to get rid of these heroes of the Five Kings, and later Wei Hou joined forces with Princess Anle to poison Tang Zhongzong to death, and failed to realize his dream of being an empress. In the end, Wu Sansi died at the hands of the crown prince Li Chongjun, and Wei Hou's party was jointly destroyed by Li Longji and Princess Taiping, and even Shangguan Wan'er, who had previously attached herself to Wei Hou, could not dodge Li Longji's sword.
Later, Tang Ruizong Li Dan abdicated, and after Li Longji succeeded to the throne, he forced his aunt Princess Taiping to commit suicide, and the Tang Dynasty finally restored calm. Until the late years of Tang Xuanzong Li Longji...
(References "New Book of Tang", "Old Book of Tang", "Zizhi Tongjian")