In the first year of Shenlong (705), the ministers headed by Zhang Kamzhi launched a coup d'état, forcing Wu Zetian to give way to the crown prince Li Xian (Emperor Zhongzong of Tang), which was a "Coup d'état of Shenlong". Logically, Li Xian should be very grateful to the heroes of the "Shenlong Coup" who helped him ascend the throne. However, history is that Li Xian is not at all grateful to the heroes of the "Shenlong Coup", and he also persecuted and died several heroes of the leader. Why?
Although later history books have many praises for the "Shenlong Coup", the "Shenlong Coup" itself is actually a somewhat nonsensical coup. In the first year of the Holy Calendar (698), Wu Zetian made Li Xian crown prince, marking Wu Zetian's formal decision to "restore the Li Tang Artifact", that is, to return the throne to Li Tang. The political arrangement of "restoring the Li and Tang artifacts" made the imperial court in the late Wu Zetian period very harmonious and quite a worldly atmosphere.
However, perhaps because of the arrogance caused by his merits, or perhaps because of his depression towards Li Tang and his wife, Wu Zetian over-favored Zhang Yizhi and Zhang Changzong's brothers in his later years. The brothers Zhang Yizhi and Zhang Changzong also took advantage of Wu Zetian's favor to do evil, and successively offended the Li Tang imperial family, the mainstream of courtiers, and the generals of the forbidden army. The most fatal thing is that Zhang Yizhi and Zhang Changzong brothers became variables of the "Fu Li Tang Artifact".
With the growth of age and the aging of his body, Wu Zetian rarely went to court and met with ministers in the last two years of his life, and only the erzhang brothers who accompanied him in the palace could often see Wu Zetian. This means that if Wu Zetian died of illness in the palace, the Erzhang brothers had enough conditions to tamper with Wu Zetian's will and pass the throne to the Wu family. This is also the main reason why Zhang Kamzhi and others launched the "Shenlong Coup".
But the problem is that until the "Shenlong Coup" was successful, the erzhang brothers destroyed the "Fu Li Tang Artifact" only possible, and Wu Zetian did not change the idea of the "Fu Li Tang Artifact". That is to say, Zhang Kamzhi killed the Erzhang brothers for possible variables and forced Wu Zetian to abdicate, and the ultimate purpose was to realize the established arrangement of Wu Zetian's "restoration of Li Tang artifacts".
In order to realize Wu Zetian's established arrangement and force Wu Zetian to abdicate, the absurdity of the "Shenlong Coup" lies in this, and the most embarrassing person among them is the crown prince Li Xian. For Li Xian, the "Shenlong Coup" did not help him ascend the throne, but only advanced the time of his ascension to the throne. However, Li Xian, on the other hand, wanted to bear the crime of filial piety of "using the son against the mother" for the "Shenlong coup", and also to give power to the heroes of the coup.
After Li Xian ascended the throne, the heroes of the "Shenlong Coup" immediately became the biggest threat to Li Xian's throne. Li Xian was well aware of the absurdity of the "Shenlong Coup" and did not have a good feeling for the heroes of the "Shenlong Coup". Now that the heroes of the "Shenlong Coup" have threatened his imperial power, Li Xian naturally will not be grateful to the heroes of the "Shenlong Coup", but will find a way to completely eliminate these heroes of the "Shenlong Coup".