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[During the early days of the Tang dynasty, the single most crucial political maneuver regarding the aristocratic monopolies was the official publication of the Clan Record.
This document, formally known as the Zhenguan Clan Record, was compiled by direct imperial order of Li Shimin in the twelfth year of the Zhenguan era, around 638 AD. The project was led by Gao Shilian, a Tang Chancellor, alongside Wei Ting, Linghu Defen, and Cen Wenben.
From the violent end of the Wei and Jin dynasties all the way to the founding of the early Tang, the ancient, untouchable aristocratic clans had been violently hacked to pieces by various blood-soaked warlords. Out of this chaotic meat grinder, the surviving noble houses gradually mutated. They shifted from being untouchable political gods to incredibly wealthy, culturally dominant elite syndicates. Eventually, they solidified into four massive interest groups.
First, the Jiangzuo Aristocrats of the South.
After the devastating Five Barbarian Invasions, the elite clans of the Central Plains fled south in a mass exodus to Jiangnan, establishing their new capital at Jiankang. These exiled northern nobles still arrogantly paraded themselves as the true masters of the realm. They called themselves the Northern Emigres.
The most famous heavyweights among them were the Wang clan of Langya, the Xie clan of Chenjun, and the Xiao clan of Lanling
Meanwhile, the local Jiangnan heavyweights were already well established. You might remember them from our previous broadcasts. They were the famous Four Surnames of Wu, namely the Zhu, Zhang, Gu, and Lu clans, the very same families that had a toxic love-hate relationship with Sun Quan. They were absolutely thriving during this era.
Naturally, the local Jiangnan elites absolutely despised the arrogant northern refugees. The locals brutally mocked the northerners, calling them barren bumpkins and uncivilized savages. They claimed the northerners were a universal laughingstock.
But money and power eventually talk louder than insults. Eventually, both sides realized they shared the same financial and political interests. They merged to form the unstoppable Jiangzuo Aristocratic syndicate.
This mega-alliance enjoyed about two hundred and forty years of absolute luxury and political dominance. It was a beautiful honeymoon phase. But then came the Liang dynasty, and a warlord named Hou Jing.
Hou Jing wanted to elevate his social status, so he politely requested a marriage alliance with the legendary Wang and Xie clans.
Now, Hou Jing was no ordinary warlord, he was a battle-hardened general of the Jie ethnicity who had served under the Northern Wei and Eastern Wei before defecting south to the Liang dynasty. He had led armies, conquered cities, and carved his name into the chaos of the era.
But to the snobbish southern aristocrats, none of that mattered. He was still a barbarian. A foreigner. Less than human. They brutally humiliated him and flatly rejected the proposal.
That was a fatal mistake. A massive, blood-soaked grudge was born.
Later, when Hou Jing launched a massive rebellion and successfully conquered the southern capital of Jiankang, he unleashed absolute hell.
He remembered every sneer, every insult, every door slammed in his face, he actively hunted down the elite aristocratic clans, including the very Wang and Xie families that had rejected him, and slaughtered them like stray dogs.
The streets of the capital ran red with noble blood. To make matters worse, at the very end of the Liang dynasty, the invading Western Wei army captured the capital of Jiangling. The Western Wei soldiers rounded up the few surviving aristocrats and dragged them back to the Guanzhong region like livestock to the slaughter.
And just like that, the once-invincible Jiangzuo Aristocrats were completely wiped off the face of the earth.
Next, we have the Daibei Aristocrats of the North.
When the brilliant Emperor Xiaowen of the Northern Wei aggressively pushed his Sinicization policies, the ruling Xianbei nomads underwent a massive cultural facelift. They adopted the capital city of Luoyang as their ancestral home, changed their Xianbei names to traditional Han Chinese surnames, and officially rebranded themselves as the Daibei Aristocrats.
The most prominent mega-clans that emerged from this were the Zhangsun, the Yuwen, the Yuan, the Dou, and the Dugu.
Speaking of the Yuan clan, let us take a quick, hilarious historical detour. The ancestors of the Chinese Yuan clan were originally from the Xianbei ethnic group.
During the Northern Wei era, their leader's original surname was Tuoba. When Emperor Xiaowen pushed his Sinicization reforms, he ordered the Tuoba to change their surname to Yuan, which literally means "source" or "origin." The Emperor was making a grand philosophical statement: the Tuoba were the source from which the new, Sinicized Northern Wei would flow.
Fast forward several centuries later to the island nation of Japan. Emperor Saga was sitting on the throne, staring at a completely bankrupt national treasury.
He had fifty children and absolutely no money to feed them. So, in a desperate cost-cutting measure, he stripped thirty-two of his royal children of their imperial status, demoted them to commoners, and kicked them out of the palace.
When it came time to give them a new commoner surname, Emperor Saga needed inspiration. He looked across the sea to the history of China and found Emperor Xiaowen's old playbook. He gave his kids the exact same character, Yuan, which is pronounced "Minamoto" in Japanese. Therefore, the legendary Japanese Minamoto clan has absolutely zero genetic or historical connection to the Chinese Yuan clan.
The Japanese version was just a desperate, bankrupt monarch copying a centuries-old Chinese political gimmick.
Anyway, back to the Daibei Aristocrats. Forty years after Emperor Xiaowen's brilliant reforms, a ruthless warlord named Erzhu Rong decided to follow the bloody example of history.
Erzhu Rong was no ordinary general. He was a Xiongnu chieftain who commanded an elite cavalry force that had become the most powerful military faction in the crumbling Northern Wei.
When the Empress Dowager Hu murdered her own son, the young Emperor, to seize power, Erzhu Rong marched on the capital with a righteous fury. He captured the Empress Dowager and drowned her in the Yellow River.
Justice, it seemed, had been served.
But Erzhu Rong was not satisfied. He gathered over two thousand members of the Northern Wei royal family, the Xianbei nobility, and the top officials of the Daibei aristocracy at a place called Heyin.
And then, in one single, horrifying afternoon, he ordered his troops to slaughter every last one of them. Two thousand aristocrats. The entire upper crust of the dynasty. Butchered in a field like animals.
This was the infamous Heyin Incident. The Daibei Aristocrats were completely crippled and never recovered.
The remaining two syndicates were the Guanzhong Aristocrats and the Shandong Aristocrats.
Their histories are much more straightforward.
During the chaotic Wei, Jin, and Northern and Southern Dynasties, the elite clans of the Guanzhong region merged with the heavyweights of the Hedong region to form the Guanzhong Aristocrats.
Over time, as they intermarried with the Xianbei military elite of the Northern Wei, they evolved into something far more terrifying: the Guanlong Military Aristocracy.
This was not just a group of wealthy families. This was a coalition of warrior clans who controlled both the land and the swords. Both the Sui dynasty and the Great Tang dynasty were born directly out of this exact military syndicate.
However, it is the absolute nature of imperial power to crush local monopolies. During the Sui dynasty, the friction between the throne and the Guanlong syndicate turned violent. Emperor Yang of Sui, for all his spectacular failures, recognized that these military aristocrats were a threat to centralized power.
Emperor Yang of Sui, tried to break them, but hee failed.
By the time the Tang dynasty was established, the Guanlong syndicate had been steadily brought to heel, under Li Shimin, they completed their transformation from independent warlords into loyal, bureaucratic servants of the throne.
Finally, we have the Shandong Aristocrats. From the Eastern Han all the way to the Tang dynasty, these clans fiercely maintained a tradition of studying the ancient classics and mastering Confucian scholarship.
They were the cultural guardians of the old world. The absolute apex of this syndicate was the legendary Five Surnames and Seven Mansions.
They survived countless wars and regime changes without ever falling from grace. In fact, under the incredibly stable environment of the Tang dynasty, with the Guanlong military men now serving as loyal bureaucrats and the Jiangzuo and Daibei aristocrats annihilated, the Shandong Aristocrats faced no real competition.
They grew even more ridiculously powerful.
Li Shimin's desperate attempts to suppress the Shandong Aristocrats were perfectly illustrated by his creation of the Clan Record. When the first draft of the book was presented to him in the twelfth year of the Zhenguan era, Li Shimin threw an absolute fit. He publicly berated his officials right there in the throne room.
He yelled, "These Shandong clans literally sell their daughters to the highest bidder for massive bride prices! They have zero actual merit! Zero service to the state! Why are you people still worshipping them in this official document? Have you no backbone at all?!"
A lot of modern historians are confused by this.
They argue, "Li Shimin was just vain and petty. What is the point of ranking clans in a book?" Some even joke that Li Shimin was just jealous because the Boling Cui clan was ranked in the highest tier, so he abused his imperial power to forcibly demote them to the third tier out of pure spite.
They claim he was just a bitter man who could not marry one of their pretty daughters.
People often ask, "Did a simple book ranking actually affect a person's ability to become a government official?"
The answer is an absolute yes. In the early Tang, the Clan Record absolutely dictated who got promoted and who got ignored.]
Inside the temporary government office of Chengdu, Zhang Fei was actively counting on his thick, calloused fingers.
For a man who usually solved problems by screaming and swinging a massive spear, he was tracking the complex political history with terrifying accuracy.
"Alright, let me get this straight," Zhang Fei announced loudly, pointing at the screen. "That treacherous snake Sima Yi used absolute garbage, dirty tricks to slaughter the Cao clan. Then, a bunch of greedy noble clans banded together and created the Jin dynasty, right?"
"Then," Zhang Fei continued, holding up another finger, "the world goes to hell again, and these snobby clans split into four different gangs."
"The ones hiding in the south got butchered by this Hou Jing guy. The ones strutting around in the north got chopped to pieces by this Erzhu Rong guy."
Zhang Fei grinned widely, extremely proud of his own deductive skills. "So, that just left the western gang and the eastern gang. Those two fought each other for the entire duration of the Tang dynasty, until finally, that Huang Chao guy and someone named Zhu Wen completely wiped the floor with both of them. Is that about right?"
Kongming stared at Zhang Fei in absolute, unadulterated shock. He slowly blinked, his feather fan frozen mid-wave.
"Yide," Kongming said slowly. "Your phrasing is incredibly vulgar and lacks any scholarly grace. However..."
"However, I nailed it perfectly, did I not?" Zhang Fei interrupted, puffing out his chest with immense pride.
Kongming could only nod in profound admiration.
There was an ancient saying about men who appeared entirely foolish on the outside but possessed a terrifying, raw intuition on the inside.
Zhang Fei was the living, breathing embodiment of that concept. He had just perfectly summarized four centuries of elite political maneuvering in five sentences.
Kongming then turned his gaze back to the section about the Jiangzuo Aristocrats. He sighed heavily, slowly shaking his head.
"It seems the legendary Four Clans of Jiangdong eventually found a way to sell the Sun clan for an incredibly profitable price," Kongming deduced coldly.
From the previous historical spoilers, they only knew that the Eastern Wu regime had eventually collapsed due to internal chaos. Nobody knew exactly how it happened.
But seeing that the four major local clans had survived and thrived for centuries under the Jin dynasty, while the royal Sun clan was completely erased from the history books... it painted a very dark, treacherous picture.
The surrender of Sun Wu was undoubtedly paved with betrayal and backstabbing.
Pang Tong felt absolutely zero sympathy for the Sun Wu regime. He only felt a brief flash of melancholic irony.
"The grand, sweeping ambition of Jiangdong to swallow the entire world eventually degenerated into nothing more than a private wealth-hoarding scheme for four greedy clans," Pang Tong sneered softly.
"During the Battle of Red Cliffs, they laughed and chatted while turning Cao Cao's massive fleet into floating ash," Pang Tong mused, his eyes gleaming with dark amusement. "They survived a hundred years of bloody storms through sheer cowardice and compromise. Only to eventually have their entire bloodline erased by Hou Jing."
He let out a low, satisfied chuckle. "Karma is truly a beautiful thing. You never know when it will come knocking. But when it does? It does not just knock. It kicks down the door, flips the table, and drags you out by the throat while your ancestors watch in shame."
Kongming reached over and gently patted Pang Tong on the shoulder, offering silent comfort. Pang Tong merely smiled, showing absolutely no lingering attachments to their former southern rivals.
Up on the central seat, Liu Bei was violently frowning. He was completely fixated on the bizarre, comedic footnote about the Japanese Minamoto clan.
"This Japan Kingdom sits across a massive ocean, yet they possess the terrifying ability to perfectly spy on our Han territory and learn of political events that happened four hundred years prior," Liu Bei noted, his voice laced with deep concern.
"But if they admire the Central Plains so intensely that they literally steal our ancient names," Liu Bei's frown deepened into absolute disgust, "then why do they possess absolutely zero understanding of basic human decency and righteousness? Why do they actively choose to behave like barbaric demons?"
Zhang Song, never one to miss an opportunity for sharp, vicious rhetoric, immediately chimed in. His voice was high-pitched and dripping with venom.
"My lord, these foreign savages attempt to mimic the outer shell of our civilization, but they completely lack the inner moral core! They are nothing more than macaques wearing stolen human hats! They put on a show, but underneath, they are just beasts."
"It is blatantly obvious," Zhang Song continued, waving his arms dramatically. "They look at the sheer, overwhelming majesty of our Huaxia civilization, and they feel a deep, agonizing sense of inferiority. They are ashamed of their own primitive nature."
"Exactly!" Zhang Song's eyes widened with paranoid intensity. "Just look at how they casually assign themselves supreme, arrogant titles to hide their insecurities. This proves their true, treacherous ambitions!
Today, they fall to their knees and worship our strength. But tomorrow, the moment they sense a moment of weakness or chaos within our borders, they will instantly bare their fangs and attempt to bite us!"
"Such incredibly treacherous, opportunistic behavior," Zhang Song concluded, slamming his fist into his palm. "Are they not exactly the same as that despicable Sima Yi?!"
Ah... well, let us not go quite that far, Liu Bei thought, blinking in surprise. Comparing an island of foreign imitators to the absolute, legendary treachery of Sima Yi felt a bit extreme.
After all, in their current timeline, Sima Yi was just a thirty-something bureaucrat, and the terrifying Cao Cao was still very much alive and in charge. Sima Yi definitely did not have the guts to harbor treasonous thoughts right now.
However, Liu Bei also knew that if Sima Yi ever found out about the future atrocities committed by the Japan Kingdom, the cynical strategist would probably curse them out just as harshly.
Deep down in his heart, Liu Bei completely agreed with Zhang Song's core assessment. The island nation was dangerous.
Pang Tong let out a cold, sharp laugh. "They are exactly like hungry falcons. You feed them scraps of meat, and they act like loyal pets. The absolute second their bellies are full, they spread their wings and fly away, completely forgetting the hand that fed them."
Zhang Fei scratched his head, looking genuinely confused. "These guys act worse than wild animals. And unlike the Indians, they do not even have some fancy Buddhist religion to hide behind."
"So," Zhang Fei asked loudly, looking around the room. "Do you think there will be any Spiritual Japanese idiots in the future generations?"
Inside the majestic Ganlu Hall, Li Shimin was deep in thought.
"Whatever the superiors love, the subordinates will pursue to the extreme," he slowly repeated the narrator's phrase, chewing on the profound political truth hidden within the words.
Wei Zheng, ever the opportunistic, walking textbook, instantly saw a perfect opening to deliver a lecture. He stepped forward, clearing his throat loudly.
"Your Majesty," Wei Zheng began, his tone dripping with righteous scholarly authority.
"As it is written, the inferiors observe the superiors and mimic their actions. Therefore, a ruler must be incredibly cautious about what he openly loves or hates, for his personal tastes will inevitably become the absolute standard for the entire common populace."
Li Shimin shot his most loyal critic an incredibly annoyed, massive side-eye. I have read the Book of Rites, Wei Zheng! I know the quote! I do not need a live recitation!
How does this man find literally every single possible millimeter of an opening to deliver a moral lecture? Li Shimin complained internally.
The Emperor had merely been letting his strategic mind wander. From the absolute peak of imperial power, religions like Buddhism and Daoism were merely political tools. Did anyone actually believe that nonsense?
Emperor Wu of Liang had been absolutely obsessed with Buddhism. He had practically bankrupted his country giving money to temples. Did it earn him a ticket to a glorious afterlife? Nobody knew.
But Li Shimin knew for an absolute fact that Emperor Wu had become the ultimate laughingstock of future history books because he starved to death while being held hostage by Hou Jing.
If the Emperor shows a preference, the officials will sprint to emulate it. If I praise a monk, my court will be flooded with bald heads by tomorrow morning, Li Shimin calculated coldly.
It was clear. Whether it was the golden statues of Buddha or the mysterious elixirs of Daoism, the absolute power of the throne needed to maintain a safe, cynical distance from all of it. Otherwise, the empire would be scammed dry by fast-talking swindlers.
However, when Li Shimin read the next line of text on the screen, his strategic musings abruptly halted. His eyes narrowed sharply.
The war between the Guanzhong and Guandong aristocratic factions? Is it truly that violently exaggerated?
The screen's casual breakdown of the aristocratic bloodlines into four distinct syndicates was incredibly novel to the Zhenguan cabinet.
For a moment, the entire court fell silent.
The highest-ranking officials subtly turned their heads, throwing discreet, calculating glances at one another.
They were all mentally playing a terrifying game of political sorting. Which syndicate do I belong to? Which syndicate does he belong to? Are we secretly enemies?
Fang Xuanling, however, was completely detached from the paranoid factional math. The legendary Prime Minister had only one burning thought in his brilliant mind.
This is an absolute goldmine of historical data! I finally have the perfect outline to write the official 'Book of Jin'!
Li Shimin, suddenly feeling a bit defensive, pointed at the screen and huffed loudly.
"Look at this absolute disrespect!" Li Shimin complained to the room. "A few broadcasts ago, this narrator called me petty and small-minded! Now, he is actively spreading rumors that I am a vain, jealous man who only manipulated the Clan Record because I got rejected by pretty girls!"
Despite his loud complaints, there was absolutely zero genuine anger in the Emperor's voice. In fact, he was smiling.
While the words "petty" and "vain" were hardly compliments, Li Shimin could clearly hear the underlying tone of the future narrator.
The future generations did not treat him like an untouchable, terrifying god-king. They treated him like a fascinating, deeply human historical icon.
They discussed his absolute brilliance, his world-conquering achievements, his political maneuvers, and his petty personal flaws with total, objective honesty.
It felt exactly like listening to a group of friends casually gossiping about a legendary, slightly eccentric grandfather. They praised his massive victories without hiding his embarrassing blunders. They celebrated his virtues while openly laughing at his shortcomings.
Surprisingly, Li Shimin found this casual, equal-footing treatment incredibly refreshing. It made him feel comfortable in a way the suffocating flattery of his own court never could.
Li Shimin let out a genuine laugh and turned to his trusted ministers.
"I swear, there are moments where I genuinely want to reach my hand through that magical screen, grab that narrator by the collar, drag him out here, and give him thirty solid whacks with a wooden paddle for his absolute disrespect."
Zhangsun Wuji chuckled warmly, immediately catching the Emperor's good mood.
"Your Majesty is certainly not alone in that sentiment," Zhangsun Wuji replied with a grin. "If not for the impenetrable barrier of a thousand years of time, I believe every man in this room would love to invite this future descendant to sit down, share a massive jug of strong wine, and listen to him talk about the dazzling prosperity of the future world."
"I imagine," Zhangsun Wuji added, "it would be an incredibly joyful and refreshing conversation."
[Lightscreen]
[Now, we need to completely debunk the first massive historical misconception.
In the early Tang dynasty, the legendary Five Surnames and Seven Mansions were absolutely NOT the arrogant, untouchable "forbidden marriage houses" that they became later on.
To recap, the Five Surnames and Seven Mansions were the Li clan of Longxi, the Li clan of Zhaojun, the Cui clan of Boling, the Cui clan of Qinghe, the Lu clan of Fanyang, the Zheng clan of Xingyang, and the Wang clan of Taiyuan. Since the Li and Cui clans each had two distinct branches, it totaled five surnames and seven powerful houses.
This alone shows you just how ridiculously overpowered the Cui clan was.
During the early Zhenguan era, these elite families were actually incredibly eager to arrange marriages with the Li royal clan. In fact, they were practically throwing themselves at the Emperor. Why? Because Li Shimin's executioner sword was way too sharp, and they were terrified of him.
For example, during the Zhenguan era, the ultra-elite Qinghe Cui clan packaged up one of their daughters and sent her directly into the imperial harem.
Did Li Shimin care? Barely.
He casually slapped the low-ranking title of "Cairen" on her and completely forgot about her. She was so unimportant that she essentially vanished from the historical records.
Then, around the eighth year of the Zhenguan era, a massive rumor spread through the capital. The Xingyang-Zheng clan supposedly had a daughter whose beauty was absolutely unparalleled. She was a literal goddess. Empress Zhangsun, being the ultimate supportive wife, immediately dispatched royal agents to track the girl down. The Empress then personally requested that Li Shimin bring the girl into the palace and officially crown her as a "Chongyuan."
Li Shimin, never one to turn down a beautiful woman, immediately and happily drafted the imperial decree.
Now, the title of Chongyuan was literally the lowest rank within the Nine Concubines. Above her were the Four Majestic Consorts, and finally, the Empress herself. In the grand hierarchy of the imperial harem, she would have ranked exactly thirteenth. It was a decent starting position, but it proved Li Shimin was not exactly treating the Zheng clan like royalty.
But before the decree could be officially sent, Wei Zheng stepped onto the court and slammed on the brakes.
"Your Majesty, I understand. The girl is beautiful. Cute. Possibly even sexy. I will take your word for it. However, my intelligence reports indicate that this particular beauty has already accepted a formal betrothal gift from a man named Lu Shuang. She is legally engaged. If you issue this decree, you will not be an Emperor taking a concubine. You will be a tyrant stealing another man's wife. And I will be forced to write about it. At length. In the official records. For all eternity. Your call, Your Majesty."
When Lu Shuang heard that he was accidentally blocking the supreme Emperor of the Tang dynasty, he absolutely lost his mind in terror.
Your Majesty! Your Majesty, please! This is all a massive misunderstanding! That money I gave the Zheng clan? Just a friendly red envelope! A casual gift between acquaintances! I swear on my ancestors, there was no betrothal, no engagement, nothing! She is free! Take her! Please, for the love of heaven, take her!"
"That Wei Zheng bastard. Are you trying to get me killed? This is the Emperor we are talking, bro! The Emperor! One word from him and my entire bloodline becomes a historical footnote! Wei Zheng, you absolute bitch, what did I ever do to you?!"
But none of the high-ranking nobles in Chang'an cared about Lu Shuang's panicked excuses.
The incident had already spiraled out of control.
It transformed into a massive, philosophical debate across the entire capital regarding the Emperor's adherence to propriety and moral law.
Ultimately, Li Shimin sighed, canceled his imperial decree, and officially ordered the Zheng clan to proceed with their original marriage to the terrified Lu Shuang.
From just these two incidents, it is incredibly obvious. When faced with the overwhelming, terrifying aura of Li Shimin, these so-called untouchable elite clans were basically just standing around like frightened minions, hoping they did not get chopped.
So, why did future generations develop this persistent myth that the aristocratic clans looked down on the Li royal clan and refused to marry them? The answer is simple.
The early Tang Emperors were simply too powerful.
Before the Song dynasty, the fundamental logic of aristocratic politics was a constant, brutal tug-of-war between the Emperor's power and the local clans' power.
In the early Tang, because the clans were weak and terrified, the imperial power was absolute.
And the direct result of having absolute, unchecked royal power was that the Tang dynasty Princesses were absolute, chaotic menaces. They did whatever they wanted, and their reputations were terrifying.
For the aristocratic clans, marrying a Tang Princess did not mean gaining a sweet, loving wife. It meant actively inviting the terrifying, explosive power of the imperial throne directly into their living rooms. Naturally, they wanted absolutely nothing to do with that.
Let us look at the roster of these terrifying women.
If a princess was hardcore, you got someone like Princess Pingyang.
During the bloody wars to found the empire, she literally raised her own massive army, marched into battle, and personally locked down the crucial mountain pass in Shanxi. She was such a legendary warlord that the military fortress was officially renamed "The Lady's Pass" in her honor.
And no scholar wanted to marry a woman who could bench-press him and had a higher kill count than most generals. Imagine bringing her home to meet your parents. 'Mother, Father, this is my wife. She commands an army, controls a strategic mountain pass, and could snap me in half like a twig. We are very happy together.'"
If a princess was chaotic, you got someone like Princess Yongjia. She was officially married to a man named Dou Fengjie. But shortly after the wedding, she got bored and started a wildly illegal, highly scandalous affair with a man named Yang Yuzhi. Now, here is the funfact: Yang Yuzhi's mother was Princess Changguang. Princess Changguang was Princess Yongjia's biological older sister. Yes, she was sleeping with her own nephew.
Later, when Princess Changguang tragically died at a young age, Princess Yongjia and Yang Yuzhi continued their steamy affair right in the middle of the official mourning period. They had zero shame.
Unfortunately for them, Princess Yongjia's husband, Dou Fengjie, was a hardcore, early Tang military general overflowing with absolute martial rage. When he finally caught them in the act, he did not ask for a divorce. He dragged Yang Yuzhi out and brutally executed him using the five ancient, agonizing tortures.
After butchering the nephew, Dou Fengjie casually handed the Princess divorce papers.
And if you think that was bad, just wait until you hear about the legendary Princess Taiping.
She blatantly maintained a massive harem of male escorts inside her own mansion. Later in life, she successfully hijacked the entire imperial government and actively launched a violent military coup to seize the throne.
She only stopped because she failed and got executed.
Later generations produced even more chaotic royals, like Li Guo'er, Princess Yuzhen, Princess Shengping, and Princess Xianmu. The list of absolute disasters is endless.
We will definitely cover their insane stories in future broadcasts.
But bringing the topic back to the beautiful girl from the Xingyang-Zheng clan. Modern historians strongly suspect that Empress Zhangsun was acting so aggressively to find Li Shimin beautiful concubines because she was quietly arranging her own funeral affairs.
After all, Empress Zhangsun tragically passed away just two short years after this incident. She likely knew exactly how bad her health was deteriorating and wanted to make sure her husband was taken care of.
However, the ultimate irony happened after Empress Zhangsun died. Another woman in the harem, Consort Wei, decided to copy the late Empress's Zhangsun playbook. Consort Wei also started actively scouting beautiful women to fill Li Shimin's harem.
And because of Consort Wei's scouting efforts, a certain young girl was brought into the imperial palace. Her title was Cairen Wu.
Also known to history as the future Female Emperor, Wu Zetian.
But that, my friends, is an entirely different, incredibly bloody story for another time.]