Wu Zetian's life and career
Wu Zetian, a native of Wenshui, was born in Chang 'an in 624 A.D. (the seventh year of Wude) and is the queen. After the death of Emperor Gaozong, she was the only feudal female emperor in China history.
Wu Zetian was born in a bureaucratic landlord family who was not a gentry. Although her father Wu Shihuo was a poor landlord, he became rich by managing timber, so he had to make friends with Li Yuan who stayed in Taiyuan at that time. Wu Shihuo helped the Tang Dynasty to fight against the Sui Dynasty, became the founding father of the Tang Dynasty, became a member of the ruling class group of the Tang Dynasty, and was the official to the Ministry of Industry, Shangshu and Lizhou secretariat. Wu Zetian's mother, Yang, was born in a famous family in Guanlong and a military aristocratic family, and her grandfather, Yang Shida, was the prime minister of Sui Dynasty. Gaozu married Yang. Under the influence of such an agricultural bank environment, Wu Zetian was proficient in literature and history since childhood, smart, resourceful, stubborn and courageous. When she was fourteen years old, Emperor Taizong heard of her beauty, called her into the palace, made her a talented person, and gave her the title of "Wu Mei". Taking this opportunity, she established feelings with Prince Li Zhi. After the death of Li Shimin, Emperor Taizong, she was sent to Ganye Temple in Chang 'an as a nun. In the early years of Yonghui, on the anniversary of Emperor Taizong's death, Emperor Li Zhi went to Ganye Temple to burn incense and met Wu Zetian. They were very sad for each other, so Emperor Gaozong called her into the palace again. At first, Wu Zetian took advantage of the contradiction between the Empress and Xiao Shufei to cater to the Empress in every way, win the favor of Emperor Gaozong and Empress, and sealed Zhao Yi. Since then, all efforts have been made to alienate the emperor and the queen. In order to win the second place, she strangled her own daughter and framed her as the queen. Since then, there has been the intention of abolishing the king.
On the issue of abolishing the queen, there are serious differences among court ministers. For example, the powerful uncle Qiu Wuji, the minister Chu Suiliang, the servant of China and South Korea, and the secretary of the Secretariat of the CPC Central Committee, Lai Ji, all resolutely opposed the establishment of Wu Zetian as the queen. As a result, Wu wooed a group of people who were rejected by Wuji's henchmen and formed a new political force. Due to the refusal of Sun Chang Wuji, China scholar Li Yifu was demoted to Sima, the official to Bizhou. Before the imperial edict arrived, Li Yifu knew about it and asked his colleague Wang Dejian. Wang Dejian, tell him. Wu is very grateful to Pang. He wants to be a queen in the world. If she hesitates, she is afraid that the minister will disagree. If the public can make strategies, they will turn disasters into blessings and enjoy the success. In this way, Li Yifu called for the abolition of the queen in the above table and made it a queen. The emperor gave Pearl a bucket to show his approval. Wu Zetian sent a secret condolence. Li Yifu was kind and generous, and was soon promoted to assistant minister of Chinese books. Other ministers, such as Xu Shangshu, Cui Shangshu and Zhong Chengyuan, all became Wu Zetian's confidants. With the support and support of such a group of ministers, Wu Zetian stepped up her struggle for the lower status. In September, 655 (the sixth year of Yonghui in Tang Gaozong), Emperor Gaozong summoned Sun Chang Wuji, Li Ji, Chu Suiliang and other ministers into the inner hall, and formally proposed the intention of abolishing the queen and making Wu Zetian his successor. Sun Chang Wuji and Chu Suiliang immediately expressed their firm opposition, on the grounds that "the queen was born in a noble family, and the first emperor was married by your majesty. How can she be easily abolished?" . The next day, we discussed it again. Chu Suiliang suggested, "Your Majesty will change queens and ask the world to choose a home. Why is it a martial artist! Wu Shi was known to the emperor in advance, and was safe for the eyes and ears of the world. After ten thousand generations, call your majesty! I am willing to think twice! " This is a blatant disclosure. No wonder Wu Zetian said loudly through the curtain, "Why don't you cull this Liao!" It was only because Chu Suiliang was a minister who cared about his life that he was spared. Xu also declared to North Korea: "Weng has received more than ten hoofs of wheat, and he still wants to change his wife. After the emperor is established, why not agree with everything! "Create public opinion after the establishment of Wu Zetian. The emperor also consulted Li Ji, the founding hero. Li Ji tactfully replied: "Your majesty's family affairs, why ask outsiders more? ! "The emperor then made up his mind to abolish the king and queen, and set Wu Zetian as the queen, in charge of the palace. Wu Zetian first gave an excuse to the queen and each one a hundred, cut off her hands and feet, put them in the jar, and then cut them. Subsequently, Han Qing was demoted as the secretariat of Zhou Zhen (now Yaxian County, Guangdong Province), then Taizhou (Linhai County, Zhejiang Province), and Chu Suiliang was demoted as the secretariat of Aizhou. Two years after Han Zhen and Lai Ji were demoted, in April 659 (the fourth year of Qing Dynasty), Sun Chang Wuji was exiled to Ganzhou (now Zhangshui, Sichuan) on charges of "plotting evil". After a while, in the same year, he was convicted of treason, forcing Sun Chang Wuji to hang himself, and most of his in-laws moved away. Since then, Wu Zetian has been in power in the DPRK. " The size of political affairs is predicted, and it is called two saints inside and outside. "The emperor Li Zhi, suffering from dizziness and headache for a long time, suffering from deep myopia, mental weakness, physical discomfort. Therefore, from 659 AD (the fourth year of Emperor Gaozong), Wu Zetian managed state affairs on his behalf.
Sun Chang Wuji, Chu Suiliang and others opposed Wu Zetian, who was not prominent in birth, to be a queen and intervened in the political affairs, which reflected that the concept of aristocratic gate had a profound influence on the rulers of the Tang Dynasty and could not help but arouse Wu Zetian's anxiety. In order to improve her life experience and win people's hearts, Wu Zetian ordered the adaptation of Genealogy into Surname Genealogy in the name of Tang Gaozong. Genealogy was compiled by Emperor Taizong. At that time, all the people involved in the revision were bound by the ideas of the gentry. Therefore, although Wu Shihuo, Wu Zetian's father, was a founding hero, he had no place in the family records because he ran the timber business. The newly revised Annals of Surnames is completely classified according to the official system standard of the Tang Dynasty. "The descendants are the first, and the rest are officials." It is also stipulated that anyone who "gets five grades of officials" because of military achievements will be promoted to a scholar, so anyone who gets five grades because of military achievements will be restricted to books. In this way, the old boundary of the family background of the gentry was broken, and more than five products, whether gentry or not, were completely written into the records of surnames. Many gentry landlords were very dissatisfied with this, calling the surname "Xun" and expressing contempt, but they were supported and welcomed by the landlords in cloth, thus expanding the social foundation of Wu Zetian's rule.
In 674 AD (the first year of Shangyuan in Tang Gaozong), Wuhou made twelve suggestions to Gaozong: 1. Advise farmers to be generous; Second, give land to Sanfu (Gyeonggi area is tax-free); Third, stop the war (stop using foreign troops) to moralize the world; Fourth, prohibit all flashy and smart habits; Fifth, reduce work and labor costs; Sixth, open the way; Seven, put an end to the malicious words of loyalty; Eight, the following governors all learn "Cai Laozi"; Nine, the father served Cui Zi for his mother for three years; Ten, before the Yuan Dynasty, meritorious service personnel have given themselves (power of attorney), not to review and cancel; Eleven, Beijing official more than eight products, increase wages; 12. Officials who have been in office for a long time and only have high and low positions may be promoted by leaps and bounds. These important political thoughts were put into practice by Emperor Gaozong, thus winning the support of lower-level officials and the civilian landlord class.
However, the aristocratic bureaucratic group was extremely dissatisfied with Wu Zetian. In 664 AD (the first year of Emperor Gaozong's Linde), Shangguan Yi, the prime minister of the bureaucratic group, took advantage of Emperor Gaozong's dissatisfaction with Wu Zetian to plot to abolish the marquis of Wu, but Wu Zetian was defeated in time and a large number of officials were reprimanded. The result is that "the power of the world belongs to the palace" and the sovereignty is completely controlled by Wu Zetian. Then, the aristocratic group colluded with Prince Li Xian, and in 680 (the first year of Emperor Gaozong Yonglong), they plotted to launch a palace coup, which failed. Li Xian was exiled to Bazhou (now Bazhong, Sichuan). In 683 AD (the first year of Emperor Gaozong Hongdao), Emperor Gaozong died of illness, and Li Xian succeeded to the throne, honoring Wu Zetian as the Empress Dowager. The imperial edict of Emperor Gaozong made all military affairs obey the rule of marquis Wu, and Wu Zetian took the name of Empress Dowager. The following year, Emperor Zhongzong was abolished as King of Luling, and his youngest son Li Dan was appointed as a pseudo-emperor. Everyone in the Wu Zetian family holds power. "Everyone in the Tang imperial clan is in danger and everyone is angry." In 684 (the first year of Emperor Guangxu of Wu Zetian), Xu Jingye, the British Duke demoted by Wu Zetian, gathered more than 100,000 people in Yangzhou and launched a rebellion in the name of King Luling, threatening Wu Zetian to make way. Pei Yan, the official in charge of the Secretariat, declared: "If the Queen Mother returns to politics, it will be self-defeating." . Wu Zetian, in danger, took decisive measures to put Pei Yan to death, appointed Li Xiaoyi as the general of Yangzhou Road, led 300,000 troops, and quickly quelled the rebellion. Xu Jingye and Pei Yan opposed the more enlightened politics of Wuhou, and tried to turn the clock back, so they could not get the support of the people and were on the verge of collapse. Chen Ziang, a poet at that time, said: "Yangzhou is nearly fifty years old, and the sea is silent and motionless", which shows that Wu Zetian's rule was supported by the people at that time.
In 688 AD (the fourth year of Empress Wu's reign), Li Zhen, the king of the Tang Dynasty, and Li Chong, the king of Langya, set out separately. In the name of "recovering" Li Tang, they forged the imperial edict, secretly connecting Li Yuanjia, the secretariat of Jiangzhou in Wang Han, Li Yuangui, the secretariat of Qingzhou in Huo Wang, and the maharaja brothers, the secretariat of Xingzhou in Li Lingkui, in an attempt to "be an interesting fairy capital". Wu Zetian sent Qiu, the general of Sargingo, into Qingping Island and led an army to crusade. Li Chong was a martial artist, but he also went to Bozhou (now Liaocheng) and killed the gatekeeper. Before Qiu's miracle came, the rebellion was put down. Wu Zetian ordered General Zuo Baotao to be a general, and Cen Changqian led hundreds of people to Yuzhou (now runan county, Henan Province) to crusade against Li Zhen as a post-army general. "When you hear the loyalists in the city, those who leave the city will find their way around." Li Zhen was defeated and the whole family committed suicide. In less than 20 days, the rebellion also failed.
Wu Zetian used many tactics, paying equal attention to courtiers' kindness and prestige, and applying both hard and soft. She once called courtiers and said: I have been following Emperor Gaozong for more than 20 years, and I have given you all the titles and wealth. The world is at peace, and I have raised it for a long time. "And this abandon, care for me to the world first, don't love my body and love. Today, I am a military commander, all out of princes and ministers. Why should I be intimate? And your generation has been influenced by the old minister, although stubborn Pei Yan? A door like yours can correct the desperate Xu Jingye! Who can defeat Cheng Wuting in the attack and the battle with veterans? It's not good for me for these three people to get it. People still expect it. I can kill it. Green and others can pass these three levels and do it immediately; Otherwise, you have to change your mind and do nothing to laugh at the world! " This speech is half a threat and half a temptation. Ministers nodded, afraid to look up and said, "Only the Queen Mother did it!" "
Wu Zetian has the ability to control officials. When she was a gifted scholar of Emperor Taizong, Emperor Taizong had an unruly BMW called Lion Pony, which was so fierce that no one dared to ride it. Wu Zetian said that as long as she was given three things, a iron whip, two iron bars and three daggers, the horse could be subdued. "iron whip fanned his head when he refused to accept it, and cut his throat with a dagger when he refused to accept it." This story fully shows Wu Zetian's stubborn character and resolute temperament. She controlled the minister by controlling the fierce horse and maintained her powerful autocratic rule for half a century.
In order to clear the way for those who became emperors, Wu Zetian successively reused a number of cruel officials, such as Wu Sansi, Wu, Zhou Xing, Lai Junchen, Qiu, Suo Yuanli, etc., and imposed severe punishment and terror. She set up a bronze coffin (similar to a suggestion box) in court to accept the whistleblower's documents. There was an informer, "If you make a trip, you have to call all the farmers and firewood." There was no official to ask, so he was sent to the capital by post horse, and he was fed according to the five-grade official food standard along the way. Notify and verify, seal the official and give Lu; Telling the truth is not the truth, so the wind of informers is rampant, and a large number of court officials are implicated innocently, and everyone is afraid for himself. This is just a measure taken by Wu Zetian against alien forces. Later, Wu Zetian saw that Ren Wei's punishment achieved the purpose of prohibiting dissidents. In order to quell some ministers' dissatisfaction with spy politics, they changed hands and killed cool history such as Lai Junchen and Zhou Xing as scapegoats, "with the wrath of snow". In the second year of God's will (69 1), it was reported that Zhou Xing and Qiu conspired, and Wu Zetian ordered the trial. Lai Junchen and Zhou discussed with each other and said to Zhou Xing, "What should we do if there are too many prisoners?" Zhou Xing replied: "This sounds good! Take a big urn, burn it around charcoal and put the prisoner in the middle. Why not sand? " Jun Chen is a big urn, surrounded by fire. Then he said to Zhou Xing, "If you have a way to push your brother from the inside, please do as he is now" to consolidate and strengthen his autocratic rule.
On the basis of gradually completing the political cleansing of Li Tang's imperial clan ministers, Wu Zetian officially changed the Tang Dynasty to Zhou Dynasty in 69O (the first year of Wu Zetian's natural gift), claiming to be the emperor of Zhou Dynasty and changing Luoyang to the capital of gods, which was known as the "Wu Zhou" regime in history.
After Wu Zetian ascended the throne, she made great efforts to further prosper the social economy of the Tang Dynasty and adopted a series of important measures:
First, recruit talents, regardless of seniority or family background. Anyone can recommend talents or volunteer, and only after passing the exam can he be hired, so that the imperial examination system can be further developed. In 690 (the first year of providence), Wu Zetian "set up a public office in the Temple of Los Angeles, and the examination of public offices and palaces began". In 702 (the second year of Chang 'an), military exercises were held to select and allocate military talents. Wu Zetian is good at selecting and distributing talents, and can be entrusted with important tasks. Envoys are grateful and willing to obey. He appointed major prime ministers before and after, such as Li Zhaode, Wei, Du Jingjian, Di, Yao Chong and Zhang Jian. , Tang, Lou Deye, Guo and other frontier generals are temporary candidates. As the Mirror said: "Although the Queen Mother won the hearts of the people in the world with her position of Lu, those who are incompetent will be punished. Holding the handle of rewards and punishments to control the world, the political cause has come out, and it is clearly good, so heroes were also used at that time. " Wu Zetian opened up her own career, allowing people to play freely and at the same time strictly control it. She found that those incompetent people were either exempted or killed. Although ups and downs are unpredictable, this is one of the reasons why Wu Zetian was able to maintain her rule for a century.
Second, attach importance to agriculture and mulberry, develop production, maintain the equal land system, curb mergers and protect people's property. Wu Zetian clearly stipulated that in the territory of state and county officials, "land reclamation, surplus food at home" will be promoted and rewarded; For example, "the government is harsh and violent, and the household registration is moved", and it will be dismissed at the end of the year. She also organized and compiled the book Zhao Renben Ye Ji, which was distributed throughout the country and sent to all counties and cities. It is a history of Beijing's book collection in past dynasties and has a certain reference function for mastering agricultural time and developing agricultural production.
Third, pay attention to cultural construction, and personally advocate compiling important collections. Wu Zetian has done a lot of work in culture. For example, she called on Zhou Simao, Fan, Wei and other Confucian scholars to write 100 volumes of Xuan Lan, 100 volumes of Ancient and Modern Neifan, 30 volumes of Qing Palace Proceedings, 30 volumes of Shaoyang Zheng Fan, 20 volumes of Cheng Wei Dian Xun, New Commandments of Feng Lou, Biography of Filial Piety, Biography of Women, etc. Wu Zetian's own 100 volume "Hanging Arch Set" and 10 volume "Golden Wheel Set" were unfortunately lost. Wu Zetian also produced Da Le, played by 900 dancers. She also boldly created dozens of crosses such as Zhao, C, Earth, Sun, Moon, Star and Year.
Fourth, the frontier defense of the Tang Empire was consolidated, and the nomadic people's intrusion on the Central Plains was eliminated. During the reign of Wu Zetian, there was tension with Tubo, Turkic, Qidan and other ethnic minorities. Wu Zetian took measures such as recruiting soldiers, sending slaves, and organizing troops on the spot to solve the problem of military resources, and at the same time vigorously cultivated land to solve the problem of transporting grain. In 692 (the first year of longevity), Wu Zetian took advantage of the civil strife in Tubo and ordered Wuwei Military Department to take charge of Wang Xiaojie's attack on Tubo, which won a great victory, restored and rebuilt the four towns of Qiuci, Khotan, Shule and Suiye, consolidated the western frontier defense of the Tang Empire, established the rule of the Tang Empire over the north and south of Tianshan Mountain, reopened the once-interrupted commercial road to Central Asia, and promoted economic and cultural exchanges between China and foreign countries. Wu Zetian handled the relationship between the Tang Dynasty and the surrounding ethnic minorities, and boldly used the generals of ethnic minorities, which played a positive role in consolidating the unified multi-ethnic feudal centralized state.
In a word, Wu Zetian is an outstanding female politician in the history of China. During the forty or fifty years of her rule, the Tang Empire basically eliminated the military aristocratic department and the tenant farmer system in Guanzhong due to the implementation of political reforms, and consolidated and promoted the status of civilian landlords. In the struggle for property and power within the feudal landlord class, the civilian landlord represented by Wu Zetian won. Wu Zetian broadened the talent path, attached importance to the intellectuals of civilian landlords and expanded the social foundation of his political rule; She attaches great importance to agricultural production, making social and economic development and social order more stable. In the third year of Yonghui in Tang Gaozu (AD 652), that is, three years after the death of Emperor Taizong, the national population was 3.8 million. By the first year of Shenlong (AD 705), the national population had increased to 665,438+500,000, and the initial population of Bitang almost doubled. Therefore, the reign of Wu Zetian was one of the most prosperous periods in the Tang Dynasty, which developed the "Zhenguan Rule" of Tang Taizong and laid a good foundation for the "Kaiyuan Prosperity" of Tang Xuanzong. All these objectively conformed to the trend of historical development and opened the way for the economic prosperity and development of China feudal society.
However, the rule of Wu Zetian also caused many serious social problems. For example, Wu Zetian used a large number of personnel in an unconventional way, resulting in redundant officials, unprecedented increase in state expenditure, and increased the burden on the people. Wu Zetian believed in Buddhism, repaired temples on a large scale, built Shu Tian, and cast Jiuding. Only steel was used to reach more than two million Jin, which consumed a lot of manpower and financial resources. After the status of civilian landlords rose, together with gentry landlords, they stepped up the plunder of farmers, destroyed the land equalization system, and intensified land annexation, which led to the exile of farmers and deepened class contradictions.
In 705, Wu Zetian was eighty-two years old and sickly. Zhang Jianzhi, the prime minister she personally selected, conspired with Huan, Zhongtai (namely Shangshu Province) You Cheng Jing Hui, Neishi (namely Zhongshuling) Cui Xuanyong and Yuan Shu (one of Xiang's assistant ministers) to demand restoration, forcing Wu Zetian to retreat to Shang Yang Palace (Nishinomiya) and restore the throne. In November of this year, Wu Zetian died of illness in Shangyang Palace. The suicide note said: "The emperor of the last dynasty was called the Great Sage Queen." She was buried with Emperor Li Zhi in Ganling, Fengtian County (now Ganxian County, Shaanxi Province). At this point, the regime of Wu Zhou also perished. However, Wu Zetian's career has not been interrupted. Her contribution to the prosperity of social economy and culture in Tang Dynasty and the historical development of China is affirmed by history.