Is “Princess Taiping designed to lure and execute Xue Huaiyi” true?
The New Book of Tang, Biographies of the Sons of the Three Ancestors, records: 'At that time, Princess Taiping had a sinister plan.' Empress Wu Zetian ordered her to eliminate the arrogant and disfavored Xue Huaiyi. The princess selected strong women, shut them in beneath Yaoguang Hall, and had them beat him to death. In Chapter 74 of Romance of the Sui and Tang Dynasties, Princess Taiping, seeing Empress Wu angered, volunteered, saying, 'Tomorrow I will put him to death for you.' She then dispatched robust palace maids to lure Huaiyi to a secluded spot and kill him. The mastermind and method are both taken from official history.
In the official history, Princess Taiping secretly plotted to lure and kill Xue Huaiyi, and the novel faithfully reproduces the plot of selecting strong women to set an ambush and execute the villain.
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