Wen/Meng Man
In order to eliminate the opposition, in 659, Wu Zetian and Tang Gaozong concocted a rebellion case against Changsun Wuji, and finally wiped out the political situation around Yonghui and the old and important ministers who refused to cooperate on the issue of abolishing Wang Liwu, which opened the door to power for the upstarts. Wu Zetian's series of actions made Manchu civil servants gradually realize the power of the new queen. Now, the work of "breaking" has been basically completed, and the old forces that hindered her have disappeared from her eyes. It is time for Wu Zetian to consider the work of "establishing". She wants to set up a new image and truly be a master of the world.
Wu Zetian was born with a small surname. In the process of competing for the next position, her birth was once despised by the elders and ministers, which became one of the serious obstacles for her to seek the next position. This is a secret pain in her heart. Now that she is an expensive queen, how can she tolerate her surname being despised again! So, what can be done to change Wu's position as a minor surname? Following a traditional practice since Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, Wu Zetian urged Tang Gaozong to issue a book to re-determine the rank of the clan. Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, Sui and Tang Dynasties were aristocratic societies, and the clan had a great influence on society. Whether a person comes from a clan or not, or what level of clan it is, has an important influence on his life. What's the impact? In short, it determines two major events in life: one is marriage, and the other is official. It is decided what kind of person you marry and what level of official you are. During the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, the system of selecting bureaucrats was called the Nine Grades System, which divided people into nine grades, and decided what kind of official titles to give them according to their grades. For example, if you are rated as the second product in the character evaluation, you can start with the seven product officials; You have been rated as the third product, so you may have to start as an official with eight products. There is a correspondence between the grade of a character and the grade of an official. And the most important condition for evaluating the character's grade is family background. Under this system, the children of the clan were born with a golden key and enjoyed prosperity all their lives; No matter how hard the children of civilians try, it is difficult to get recognition. The so-called "pine at the bottom of the gloomy ravine" will never be comparable to "seedlings off the mountain" in topography. This is a typical bloodline theory, which is unfair. In addition, at that time, it was an absolute principle that the clan could only marry the clan, and it was with this principle that the clan could stabilize and become a special group with fixed members. Because the clan system determines a person's fate in both being an official and marriage, the whole society is very sensitive to the classification of clan, and the state will also compile books on this subject for people's reference. For example, if people want to get married, they can look up books first to see which one is equal to their own family. This is a common practice since Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties.
But by the Sui and Tang Dynasties, the society had changed. First of all, the nine-grade system has been abolished and the imperial examination system has been implemented. It determines that the criteria for selecting talents should be to evaluate a person himself, not to see what kind of family he comes from. This is a huge change. Since then, the state has changed its focus on talent selection from family background to individual talents. In addition, the aristocratic families were originally educated by elites, and they did have heroes in the initial stage of the family. However, after hundreds of years of development, they themselves are running out of luck, and their children have lost their spirit of striving for success and become mentally empty and physically weak. For example, at that time, there was a son of a noble family who stayed in the house one day, listening to horses barking outside, and couldn't help shaking like chaff. Others told him that it was a horse, so there was no need to be afraid. He said that it must be the legendary tiger that could make such a loud cry. How could a horse call like that? Other nobles left their homes with the political changes and went to the central government to be an official, so they gradually lost control of the local government. In short, in this era, the clan system is declining and the imperial power is gradually being extended. However, the change of social atmosphere is a very long thing. Although the status of the old nobles in real politics has declined, they still maintain their old social prestige. Even the emperor of the dynasty did not enter their eyes, let alone the minister of civil and military affairs. Li Shimin, Emperor Taizong, was a proud man. Seeing this, he felt very unhappy and wanted to blow the arrogance of the old clan. Therefore, during the Zhenguan period, he ordered the revision of "Clan Records" and compiled a social class index of the Tang Dynasty. Li Shimin's principle for Clan Records is to admire the crown of the dynasty, that is, to put the emperors and princes of the Tang Dynasty in a high rank. Unexpectedly, the minister was poisoned too deeply, and the first version actually put Cui Shi in the first place. This infuriated Emperor Taizong, and under his intervention, the Clan Records was revised, with the Li Tang royal family as the first class, the consorts as the second class, and the original Shandong Gaomen Cui Shi as the third class. This classification method can be seen by discerning people at once. In the eyes of the calligraphers at that time, Cui Shi was still the first class, only to take care of the emperor's face, the royal family and the descendants were put in front. Therefore, the purpose of Tang Taizong's attack on aristocratic politics has not really been realized.
during the Qing dynasty, this situation changed a lot. The veteran ministers have been eradicated, the emperor who just became the true son of heaven is eager to overwhelm the old forces that pose a threat to himself, the new queen with a small portal wants to raise the prestige of her family, and the new bureaucrats from the cold family are also eager to get social recognition. The three parties hit it off immediately, and the reconstruction of "clan records" was immediately put on the agenda.
The newly revised Clan Records was renamed the Record of Surnames, which fully implemented the principle of respecting the bureaucratic hierarchy of the current dynasty. The royal family and the descendants are the first class, and the rest are ranked according to the rank at that time, and one * * * is divided into nine classes. Above the fifth grade is the clan. In this way, even if you turned out to be just an ordinary soldier, as long as you have made meritorious military service and achieved more than five grades, you can be listed in the Record of Surnames and have a family addiction. And no matter you are an old aristocrat for hundreds of years, as long as no one in the family was a five-product official at that time, it would be out of touch with the clan. What a heavy blow to the old gate valve! Therefore, they called the new Record of Surnames "Schoenberg", that is, the credit book. They are very dissatisfied, but many people sincerely support them. Who is it? The vast number of poor children. It turned out that they were blocked by a big family. Now, as long as they make their own efforts, they can also enter the official career. Therefore, the compilation of the Record of Surnames has accelerated the confluence of scholars and scholars and expanded the ruling foundation, which is of great progressive significance. From Wu Zetian's own point of view, she also realized the substantial transformation from ugly duckling to white swan, and Wenshui Wushi became the first-class hall in the world, and finally she could stand tall.
Before she finished raising her family status, Wu Zetian made persistent efforts to make her deceased father Zhou Guogong and her mother Yang Daiguo's wife, and later she was renamed Rongguo's wife, ranking first, ranking above the princes' mothers and wives. The titles of Wu Zetian's parents don't match. According to the rules at that time, the titles of Mrs. Chen should be consistent with those of her husband. Her father was named Zhou Guogong and her mother should be named Mrs. Zhou Guogong. Then why did you make it Mrs. Rong Guo This is why Wu Zetian wants to raise her prestige while improving her family status. She deliberately shows it to the whole world: My mother got such a noble title not because she married such a great husband, but because she gave birth to an outstanding genius daughter, Empress Wu.
However, it is not enough to raise the family status. At that time, the family status of the Queen Wang was impeccable from any angle, but it did not escape the fate of being abolished in the end. So, how can we keep the position of the queen forever? Wu Zetian decided to further enhance her reputation and let the subjects of the Tang Dynasty know that she was the most capable and qualified to be their hostess. To this end, she undertook two major ceremonial activities.
the first one is to practice the ceremony of kissing silkworms. China was founded by agriculture in ancient times, and the whole national economy was based on men's farming and women's weaving. The emperor is an example of farmers all over the world, so there is a ceremony of pro-farming in the national ceremony, that is, the emperor personally cultivates the fields, showing his emphasis on agriculture. Similarly, the queen also has a gift of pro-sericulture, that is, raising silkworms herself, which shows that she attaches importance to the home textile industry and sets an example for women all over the world. This etiquette is a national ceremony, which is very grand. Before the ceremony, you should fast for five days. On the day of the real salute, the queen will get up before dawn, go out of the palace under the guard of honor guard, and go to the silkworm altar arranged in advance, and all the domestic and foreign maids must accompany her. Because this ceremony is too complicated and tiring, not many queens do it themselves. The queen of Tang Gaozong has been a queen for six years, but she has never performed this duty. However, if you want to show off, you are not afraid to suffer. Since the year of Emperor Qingyuan (656), Wu Zetian * * * performed the ceremony of kissing silkworms five times, which was more conscientious than any empress in the Tang Dynasty. It is natural for a queen to travel with a domestic and foreign bimbo. Get acquainted with each other in front of them and enhance their feelings. In today's words, it is to improve her popularity and goodwill in public.
the second limelight that Wu Zetian wants to make is to return home dressed in gold. Xiang Yu, the overlord of Chu, said it well. Being rich and not returning home is like traveling at night. In those days, the overlord of Chu suffered a big loss because he had to return to his hometown with clothes on, and he had to move his capital to his hometown, and he also fell into the laughing stock of the Chu people. However, when the world changed, Wu Zetian returned home at this time, but it was very effective. In October of the 4th year of Qing Dynasty, after handling the Changsun Wuji case, Tang Gaozong Li Zhi and Wu Zetian went to Luoyang, the eastern capital, for fun. In February of the following year, they went north from the eastern capital and toured Bing. Bing is the place where Li Tang prospered. It was from here that Li Yuan started his army and fought all the way to Chang 'an, where he became emperor. Now that Li Zhi is coming, we should certainly remember the martyrs. But for Wu Zetian, the meaning of bing is different. This is her ancestral home, where she spent the darkest years of her life after her father died. Now things have changed, and finally it's her turn to show off. Wu Zetian gave a big banquet to celebrate her neighbors. Emperor Li Zhi also gave her enough face. In particular, he issued a letter to women over 8 years old in Bingzhou to award Wupin County King and give the old ladies an honorary title. Bingzhou had a good scenery in those days, and they traveled for two months before they went home. Wu Zetian's image of being close to the people suddenly shined. Through this series of activities, Wu Zetian's popularity has been unprecedentedly improved, and the image of a beautiful, generous and amiable national mother has been established.
From the national point of view, the queen is the mother of the world, but this position comes from her role in the family. In the family, she is the wife of Li Zhi and the first mother of the prince. In addition, she is the daughter-in-law of the Li family and the daughter of the Wu family. She has to deal with many complicated relationships at the same time. Only by establishing a position in the family and having a stable and United rear area can we be a good mother of the country. Wu Zetian is brilliant. While trying to create her own public image, she also spent a lot of time dealing with complicated family relations. In a big way, there were two pairs of relationships that were crucial to her at that time. Which two pairs? The first pair is the relationship between parents and children; The second pair is the relationship between husband's family and mother's family.
During the reign of Emperor Xianqing, Wu Zetian had three biological sons, the eldest Li Hong, the second Li Xian and the third Li Xian (renamed Li Zhe in 677 AD in the second year of Yifeng). For them, Wu Zetian spared no effort:
First, give them a palace knighthood, so that they all occupy a high position. During the reign of Emperor Xianqing, except Li Hong, who was made a prince, Li Xian was named as the Yongzhou Pastoral and Li Xian was named as the Luozhou Pastoral. Two brothers, one in Luozhou and the other in Yongzhou, occupied both things of the Tang Empire.
second, the calf has a deep affection and should be a good loving mother. In the winter of the fourth year of Emperor Xianqing, Tang Gaozong and Wu Zetian toured Luoyang, the eastern capital, leaving Li Hong, the eight-year-old eldest son, in the State Administration of Work Safety. Clever as Li Hong is, he is still a child, crying day and night and missing his parents. Tang Gaozong and Wu Zetian stopped immediately after they knew it, took their son to their side, and the family went to Dongdu together. Li Xian, the third son, was especially favored when he was young, because he was born with dystocia. Wu Zetian begged the Buddha to bless him, and just after the full moon, he was handed over to Xuanzang, a monk, as an apprentice, with the legal name "King of Buddha Light". What a magnificent name it is! Much more powerful than the three disciples of Tang Priest in The Journey to the West. It can be seen that the mother had such ardent hopes for her son at that time. When Li Xian was a child, he suffered from many diseases and disasters. Wu Zetian also dug a grotto for him to build a Buddha statue in Longmen, Luoyang, and prayed for him to eliminate disasters. At this time, Wu Zetian, like all mothers in the world, was full of warmth for her children.
Third, they should be strictly disciplined. In addition to Confucian classics such as The Book of Rites and The Book of History, Wu Zetian also developed her own characteristics of being good at literature and history, and organized literati to compile teaching materials and educate her son. A series of moral textbooks, such as Minutes of the Youth Palace, Shaoyang Political Model, Biography of Filial Piety, Biography of Filial Piety, etc., have been published in succession, hoping to educate all sons to be role models with both ability and political integrity. Obviously, for her own son, Wu Zetian is extremely gentle and disciplined, and at the same time, she has made long-term plans for her sons' future.
so, what about the bastard? Wu Zetian, on the other hand, is mainly on prevention, and at the same time, she does not forget to put on a show at the critical moment to maintain her mother's demeanor. Six years after Yonghui, Tang Gaozong's other sons were banished to other places as secretariat officials. Among them, Jong Li, a former prince, and Li Sujie, the son of Xiao Shufei, were especially guarded. In the face of strict first mother, Jong Li's nerves can't bear it at first. She lives in fear every day, often disguising herself as a woman to prevent assassins, and often having nightmares and talking nonsense. Immediately after the case of Changsun Wuji's rebellion in the fourth year of Qing Dynasty was closed, Liu, a woman who served as a "waiter" next to Jong Li, denounced his various improper behaviors. Of course, considering Wu Zetian's ability to engage in intelligence work, many people think that this person may be a "spy" placed by Wu Zetian beside Jong Li. In any case, Jong Li is guilty and should be sentenced to death according to the law. However, Wu Zetian appeared at this time. She exchanged tears in front of Tang Gaozong and repeatedly begged Tang Gaozong Rao Lizhong for his life. Tang Gaozong, also a wise man, immediately granted the queen's request to abolish Jong Li as Shu Ren, and at the same time commended the queen's kindness in the letters. From this point of view, Wu Zetian was still very concerned about people's evaluation of her, and was willing to dress herself up as a kind first mother, not a vicious stepmother. This is what she did in dealing with the relationship between her first son and her illegitimate son.
So, how does she handle the relationship between her husband's family and her mother's family? Wu Zetian's achievements in this respect are even more remarkable and exemplary. On the side of her husband's family, Wu Zetian paid great attention to getting on well with the concubines and princesses of Taizong. Taizong concubines who were alive at that time, such as Yan Shi, the imperial concubine of Yue State, and Webster's, the imperial concubine of Ji State, had a good relationship with Wu Hou. Among them, Princess Linchuan, the daughter of Webster's, the imperial concubine of Ji State, became a "close friend" of Wu Zetian because she liked calligraphy and advocated Buddhism. Princess Gaoyang was executed for rebellion, and the title of the princess was deprived. At this time, Wu Zetian gave her a new title called "Princess Hepu" to improve the relationship with her eldest sister-in-law. With the praise of Emperor Taizong's concubines and eldest sister-in-law, Wu Zetian's position in the Li family is quite solid. For her family, Wu Zetian is quite strict. In the second year when Wu Zetian became queen, she personally wrote "The Pledge of Mothers", which showed that she suppressed the influence of her parents and showed her virtue. Later, she imposed a real crackdown on her maiden brothers. What's going on here?
Originally, after Wu Zetian became queen, all her brothers were promoted to rank and knighthood. Of the two half-brothers, Wu Yuanqing was moved from the right-hand man to the secretary of the clan, Shao Qing, and Wu Yuanshuang was moved from the Anzhou secretary to the inner government, and two cousins, Wu.