Original title: Li Ming: when to see Xue Lang
4hw.com.cn in November 2019, the tomb of Xue Shao, the prince in law of the Tang Dynasty, which was buried in the year 1314 in Xianyang, reappeared in the world. This is the second Tang Dynasty celebrity tomb related to Princess Taiping found in Konggang new city, Xixian new area, after the tomb of Shangguan Waner in 2013. Although Xue Shao's tomb was seriously damaged, its structure was complete, its shape was special and its scale was large. Moreover, the epitaph unearthed made up for the regret that the first son-in-law of the Tang Dynasty had not been handed down in the official history, and once again brought the world back to that special era.
After the news of the archaeological excavation was announced, hot search and wechat were all expected. The discovery of Shangguan Waner's tomb was similar to that of Shangguan Waner's tomb. However, the situation has changed. If you fall into the mire of "Xue Shao's tomb was also destroyed" and can't extricate itself, it would be too much to take the princes seriously. I'm going to tell you a different story.
Duwei, the emperor's son-in-law and Princess husband's special status, has a natural romantic plot in the hearts of the general public. This is just like the classic bridge of foreign literature in which the prince and princess finally lead a happy life. In fact, it is a reflection of people's expectations for beautiful things. Xue Shao and Princess Taiping's marriage is in line with such expectations. After the rendering of later literary works, Xue Shao seems to be the first emperor in law of the Tang Dynasty.
Xue Shao (661-689) was born in a noble family. The Xue family of fenyin in Hedong is a high family name in Tang Dynasty. There are many talented people and rich branches and leaves. Since Xue Shao's great grandfather became an official in the Northern Qi Dynasty, he was granted the title of Hedong Duke for three consecutive generations. Xue Qijue, the eldest brother of Xue Shao, was granted the title of Marquis of Hedong County for three consecutive generations. In the middle ancient times, the highest level of conferring a Marquis was to enter the rank of marquis. Fenyin in Hedong was the only prefect of Xue's family. In Tang Dynasty, all the surnames Xue were from Hedong fenyin. Xue shaojue was the founder of Pingyang County, and his daughter Jue was the head of Wanquan county. Both counties were Linxian counties of fenyin county (called Baoding County in Tang Dynasty, that is today's Wanrong County in Shanxi Province). It can be seen that there is a lot of learning in discussing and making Feng. It can be seen from the title that Xue Shao family was the representative of Xue family in the early Tang Dynasty, and even Xue Jing, who was also a Duwei of his son-in-law, would boast in the epitaph that he was' the nephew of duweizhen in his son-in-law and the younger brother of duweishao in his son-in-law '.
Xue Shao's father Xue Zhen, official worship left FengChen Wei general, son-in-law Duwei. Her mother, Princess Chengyang, is the daughter of Emperor Taizong and empress changsun, and the sister of Li Zhi, Emperor Gaozong of Tang Dynasty. Princess Chengyang first married Du he, the son of prime minister Du Ruhui. He sat in the prince's hands and married Xue Zhen. Xue Yan and Princess Chengyang have three children, Xue Shao is the youngest. At the beginning of Lin De Chu, Xue Zhen was demoted to be the governor of Fangzhou because of Princess Chengyang's involvement in witchcraft. In Xianheng, the princess and Xue Zhen died one after another in Fangzhou, and their double coffins were returned to the capital and buried in Xianyang County, Yongzhou. At this time, Xue Shao was under age and might have grown up with his brothers.
Princess Taiping is the Pearl in the eyes of Emperor Gaozong and Empress Wu of the Tang Dynasty. She is the only natural daughter of the Tang Dynasty. She is the last of all her children. Tubo had come to propose marriage. Wu Zetian was reluctant to let Princess Taiping marry far away, so she asked her to pretend to be a Taoist to avoid it. Once, Princess Taiping danced in front of Emperor Gaozong and Empress Wu Zetian in front of Emperor Gaozong and Empress Wu. The emperor and empress laughed and said, "if you don't want to be a military officer, why do you want to dress like this?" the princess said, "is it OK to give this dress to her son-in-law?".
In the Tang Dynasty, Xue Shao, Gaozong's nephew, naturally entered the list of candidates. If there is no mistake in the epitaph of Xue Shao, then he was awarded the title of fengyilang (a middle-level official at the beginning) from the sixth grade when he was two years old. He served as the king of Pei, which was later the prince of Zhanghuai, Li Xian. The nephew of Emperor Gaozong of Tang Dynasty is enough to strengthen the company. Why choose Xue Shao? One is that Xue Shao and Princess Taiping are of the right age and close nephew. Moreover, it is likely that Xue Shao is indeed outstanding in appearance. The key is to be honest and not to cause trouble. For an example, please refer to he lanminzhi, Wu Zetian's nephew.
In July 681 of the second year of Yonglong, Princess Taiping went to Xue Shao. Xue Shao was 21 years old, and Princess Taiping was about 17 or 18 years old. As the two cousins, they could be said to be of the same age and married each other. The wedding took Wannian County Hall as the wedding hall, but the gate of the county government was too narrow for Zhai car to pass through. The company immediately demolished the wall to let the wedding car enter. Starting from the Xing'an gate, a fire was set up along the street to increase the atmosphere, causing the roadside trees to burn down. Through the records of these details, we can imagine the extravagance of the wedding ceremony at that time, which can be said to be a crowd.
From then on, Xue Shao successively granted guerrilla generals to guard the Zhonglang General of the right guard's family, granted the Kaiguo son of Pingyang County, and moved to the general of Zuoyu Qianwei, the general of youwuwei and the commander of youwuwei, and served as a regular official of the Central Committee. However, his main identity is still his son-in-law Duwei. In fact, the series of official positions that sound very bluffing are actually idle duties, and do not need to punch in to work or undertake any work. Xue Shao has only one task to live with the princess. They had two sons and two daughters after their marriage. The youngest daughter was born in 687. After eight years of happiness, Xue Lang somehow evaporated from Princess Taiping's life.
The reversal of Xue Shao's life started from the day he knew Xue Huaiyi. Feng Xiaobao, a small businessman in Shexian County, did business in Luoyang. Because of her outstanding appearance, she got in touch with the maid of Qianjin princess. Therefore, she presented Feng Xiaobao to Wu Zetian and was greatly favored. In order to cover up her indescribable origin, Empress Wu shaved Feng Xiaobao into a monk. Her legal name was Huaiyi, and she changed her surname to Xue. She falsely claimed that he was the second father of Xue Shao's son-in-law. From then on, Xue Huaiyi swaggered into the palace as uncle in law. Under the protection of Empress Wu, Xue Huaiyi did whatever he wanted and did all the bad things. He set fire to the landmark buildings of Luoyang, heaven and Ming Tang.
At this time, Wu Zetian defeated a series of rebellions against her, and began to have the idea of reforming the Tang Dynasty to be emperor. Taking advantage of this, Wu Zeri's greatest goal is to serve the family of Wu Zhongsheng. Xue Shao, who was originally a quick son-in-law, was more and more looked down upon, so an evil plan was secretly brewing.
In September 688 of the fourth year of chuigong, Li Zhen, king of Yue and Li Chong, king of Langya, set out to rebel against Wu Zetian and were suppressed within 20 days. In November, Xue Kai, the elder brother of Xue Shao, was sent to prison for his involvement in Li Chong's rebellion, and Xue Shao was also sent to prison. Xue Shao died of starvation in the first year of Yongchang (689), when he was 29 years old, in prison in Henan county.
Whether Xue Shao was really involved in Li Chong's rebellion or not, the old and new Tang books contradict each other. In volume 183 of the book of the Tang Dynasty, the biography of Wu Chengsi and his wife, Princess Taiping, said, "Shao, Zhuogong was falsely accused of conspiring with the kings to commit an ambush, and then heaven killed you Ji's wife in private to match the Lord. "The new Tang Dynasty book" Volume 80 "Yue Wang Zhen Fu Langya Wang Chong Zhuan" said: "the governor of Jizhou Xue Yi and his younger brother shaomou should Chong, lead the Department Yong, adjust soldiers to recruit soldiers, defeat, go to prison to die. According to the epitaph of Xue Shao, at the beginning of Yongchang, Xue Huaiyi and Zhou Xing were killed in a hurry. "The spearhead did not dare to point at Wu Zetian, so she took the madman who had already returned to heaven and the cruel officials to talk about things.
As mentioned earlier, Xue Shao served as a senior official of the central government before his death. If you think about it, isn't this the peak of life that countless people have dreamed of since ancient times? I'm afraid you can't think of it like this. What kind of opportunity does Xue Shao have to take part in the rebellion against his mother-in-law? But Xue Shao actually fell from the peak to the bottom There was no transition, and the tragic death was also deplorable.
This major change that may change a person's character is the first major bumpy experience of Princess Taiping's life. When Xue Shao went to prison, their youngest daughter, who was later named the head of Wanquan County, was less than two years old, and Chongyin, the eldest son, was only seven years old at most. Of course, Princess Taiping knows how her hairy husband died. Maybe her future political motive was stimulated by Xue Shao's death. When Wu Zetian finally nodded her head to clean up Xue Huaiyi, Princess Taiping was the first to jump out and direct her lactating mother, Zhang Shi, to find a group of strong women. She strangled the madman with three strokes, five strokes and two strangulations. She also drove the corpse to Baima temple for demonstration, which scared the temple into a mass of birds and animals, and then the innocence and simplicity of Princess Taiping were scattered.
History has proved that the whole Tang Empire could not fight against Wu Zetian alone. Princess Taiping had to obey her mother's fate and remarry Wu Youji. Although they are still having children (in fact, Princess Taiping and Wu Youji have no children. All of Wu Youji's four children were born by the poor ex-wife killed by Wu Zetian, and they were sent to Princess Taiping. This can be done since Wu Youji's youngest daughter was born in 684), the sudden blow to life may never come The law was pacified.
Wu Zetian was sent into the dust of history by the Shenlong coup, but the lingering charm of the female leader in power has not yet disappeared. In the Tang Dynasty, the imperial clan women were eager to try, and she became Wu Zetian's second ambition. Under this spell, empress Wei, Princess Anle, shangguanwan'er and Princess Taiping are scrambling to step onto the stage of history.
At the beginning of the Dragon Kingdom, to be exact, it was after Wu Zetian's failure that emperor Zhongzong of Tang Dynasty bravely began to rehabilitate the clan of Li Tang who was killed during Wu Zetian's reign. After a series of measures, in addition to looking for posterity and restoring officials, the remarkable ritual procedure is to build tombs for these people. By raising the level of tombs and luxurious funeral ceremony, the legitimacy of Li Tang's royal rule was promoted.
In 706, Zhongzong built a tomb beyond the level for his son Prince Yide and his daughter Princess Yongtai, which was strongly supported by the Li Tang royal family. Empress Wei and Princess Taiping followed suit and adopted this method to establish authority and test political opponents. In the second year of Jinglong (708), empress Wei built a tomb for his parents, brothers and sisters that imitated the emperor's Mausoleum and the accompanying tombs of the founding meritorious officials; in the first year of Jingyun (710), Princess Taiping built a tomb beyond the regulations for her young daughter Wanquan county. I call this kind of aristocratic tomb with special political significance and beyond the regulation as' Dragon model '. The characteristics of the "dragon model" are as follows: the first-class brick coupons in the lower imperial mausoleum have double tombs before and after, which lasted for the middle Tang Dynasty, the Ruizong Dynasty and the early Xuanzong Dynasty, which played a role in establishing political correctness. Then, the earliest tomb in the era of "dragon model" is Xue Shao's tomb, which was buried in the first month of the second year of Shenlong.
There are also tomb examples of Shenlong model: the tomb of Princess Yongtai (zhongzongnv), the tomb of Prince Yide (zhongzongzi), Wei Shen, Wei Xun, Wei Hao, Wei Shen, Wei Cheng county chief Wei Shi, Wei Nan county chief Wei Shi (the above are the younger brother and younger sister of Empress Wei Zhongzong), Prince Jieyi (zhongzongzi), King Cheng Li Qianli (Prince of imperial clan), Xueshi (daughter of Princess Taiping), Prince Zhanghuai (Gao zongzi), Dou Xiaochen (grandfather of Xuanzong), etc 。 All of the tomb owners were blood relatives of those in power. Except for the death of the head of Wanquan county and the death of Li Qianli in the prince Jieyi coup, all the others were killed by Empress Wu. Tang Ruizong is Li Qian