1, introduction of Wu Zetian:
Wu Zetian (AD 624-AD 705) was born in Wu Zhao, Wenshui (now East of Wenshui County, Shaanxi Province). The only orthodox female emperor in the history of China is also one of the oldest (67 years old) and longest-lived (82 years old) emperors. Yang, the second daughter and mother of a hero in the Tang Dynasty. At the age of fourteen, he entered the harem as a talented person of Emperor Taizong. Emperor Taizong named him "Wu Mei". Tang Gaozong was Zhao Yi at first, then a queen, and was honored as the queen of heaven. He and Li Zhi of Tang Gaozong are called the second sage. From February 27th, 65438+683 to June, 65438+690, he was called the Empress Dowager of Tang Zhongzong and Tang Ruizong. In the meantime, he changed his name. Wu Zetian thinks that she is as lofty as the sun and the moon, hanging high above the sky.
Later, he established himself as emperor, renamed Luoyang as the capital, and established the Wu and Zhou Dynasties. In the first month of the first year of Shenlong (705), Wu Zetian was seriously ill, and Prime Minister Zhang Jianzhi launched a mutiny, forcing Wu Shi to abdicate, which was called the Shenlong Revolution in history. After the restoration of Tang Zhongzong and the restoration of the Tang Dynasty, he was honored as "Emperor Zetiansheng", and later changed his name to "Empress Zetiansheng" according to Wu's wishes, and was buried in Ganling as a queen. In the fourth year of the reign of Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty (AD 7 16), posthumous title was changed to Zetian Shengdi, and Tianbao was added in the eighth year (AD 749).
2. Role experience:
2. 1 birth family
Wu Zetian is the second daughter of Wu Shihuo, the founder of the Tang Dynasty. Her mother is Yang (born in the royal family of Sui Dynasty, and her father is her younger brother, King Guan De of Sui Dynasty). Her ancestral home is in Wenshui County (now Beixu Village, Wenshui County, Shanxi Province). In the seventh year of Wude (624), he was born in Chang 'an (now Xi, Shaanxi) and was born in Lizhou (now Guangyuan, Sichuan). There are two half-brothers, Wu and Wu, and two half-sisters, one is the Korean wife Wu Shun and the other is the wife Guo.
His father, Wu Shihuo, was engaged in timber trade and his family was well-off. At the end of the great cause, when Li Yuan was working in Hedong and Taiyuan, he met each other because he had defected to the Wu family many times. After Li Yuan rose up in Taiyuan to resist Sui Dynasty, the Wu family once subsidized money, food and clothing. Therefore, after the establishment of the Tang Dynasty, the positions of Shangshu of the Ministry of Industry, Assistant Minister of Huangmen, Judge Shangshu, Yangzhou Secretariat, Lizhou Secretariat and Jingzhou Secretariat were recorded with "Yuan Cong Hero". Zhenguan years, moved to the Ministry of Industry, ministers, Jingzhou secretariat, lord protector. After his father died in the ninth year of Zhenguan (635), his cousins, Wu Huaiyun and Wu were very rude to his mother Yang.
2.2? First court appearance
In November of the 11th year of Zhenguan (637), Wu Zetian was fourteen years old. When Emperor Taizong heard that she was beautiful in appearance and manners, he called her into the palace, making her a five-person talent and giving her the title of "Wu Mei", which was later mistakenly called Wu Meiniang.
During the reign of Emperor Taizong, Wu Zetian's life in the palace was not described in detail. Only in her later years did Wu Zetian recall that she trained horses for Emperor Taizong. Emperor Taizong had a horse named Lion Qi, which was fat and willful, and no one could tame it. Wu Zetian waited by and said to Emperor Taizong, "I can subdue it, but I need three things: iron whip, iron bars and daggers. Hit it with an iron whip. If you don't accept it, hit it on the head with an iron bar. If you don't accept it, cut its throat with a dagger. " Emperor Taizong praised Wu Zetian's ambition.
However, Wu Zetian did not get the favor of Emperor Taizong. She has been a talent for 12 years, and her status has never improved. During the period when Emperor Taizong was seriously ill, Wu Zetian established feelings with Prince Li Zhi.
In the 23rd year of Zhenguan (649), Emperor Taizong died. Wu Zetian followed the example of the Tang harem and joined some childless concubines in the Ganye Temple in Chang 'an, but she never got in touch with the new emperor Li Zhi.
2.3? Enter the palace again
In May of the first year of Yonghui (650), on the anniversary of Emperor Taizong's death, Tang Gaozong went to Ganye Temple to make pilgrimages and met Wu Zetian again. The two men recognized each other and told each other their thoughts after leaving.
In the second year of Yonghui (65 1), the queen who fell out of favor because she had no children took the initiative to ask Emperor Gaozong to bring Wu Zetian into the palace in an attempt to attack her rival Xiao Shufei. Li Zhiyou had this idea and immediately replied.
In May of the 2nd year of Yonghui (65 1), Tang Gaozong's mourning was full, and Wu Zetian entered the palace again. Before entering the palace, Wu Zetian was pregnant. After entering the palace, she gave birth to her son Li Hong. After returning to the palace, Wu Zetian really quickly defeated Xiao Shufei and won the favor of Li Zhi. In May of the following year (652), he became a second-class Zhao Yi. At that time, Queen Wang and Xiao Shufei often competed with Wu and spoke ill of each other, but Li Zhi wouldn't listen.
Wu Zetian was scheming and ruthless, dabbling in literature and history. In 654 (the fifth year of Yonghui), Wu Zetian gave birth to the eldest daughter Princess Anding Temple. According to the New Tang Book and Zi Jian, on the occasion of the princess's birthday in January in Anding Temple, the Queen Wang came to visit and fondle her. After the Queen Wang went out, Wu Zetian strangled the girl while no one was around and covered her with a quilt. When Li Zhi arrived, Wu Zetian pretended to laugh, lifted the quilt and looked after the children together, and found her daughter was dead. Wu Zetian cried. Ask people around you what's going on, and people around you will say, "The Queen has just been here." Li Zhi flew into a rage and said, "The queen killed my daughter!" Wu Zetian cried and scolded the king and queen for their sins. Queen Wang couldn't explain clearly, so Li Zhi had the plan to "abolish the king" from now on. However, this matter is controversial. Old Tang Shu and Tang Yaohui written by five generations only recorded the sudden death of the little princess.
In June of the sixth year of Yonghui (655), it was widely rumored in the harem that the queen and her mother Liu were tired of winning. Li Zhi was furious when he learned this, and kicked his mother Liu out of the palace. Moreover, she also wants to promote Wu Cong to Yipin. Due to the opposition of prime ministers Han Yuan and Lai Ji, they finally failed. At that time, the ministers headed by Sun Chang Wuji and Chu Suiliang had great power, and Li Zhi's power was greatly restricted. Many ministers in the outer court, led by Sun Chang Wuji, opposed Tang Gaozong's abolition of the king, and Wu Zetian's road ahead was full of hardships. Li Zhi tried to restore imperial power by "abolishing the king" and hit the forces of old ministers. As a result, Wu Zetian began to become a political "comrade-in-arms" of Gao Zong.
Soon, Li Yifu, the secretary of the Central Committee, took the lead in supporting the "Abolition of the King" and was awarded by Li Zhi and Wu Zetian. Many middle-level officials saw that it was profitable to support the abolition of the king, so they turned to support Wu Zetian. Xu, Cui, Yuan and other ministers successively sent badges to Li, requesting the appointment of Wu. Li Zhi saw many people supporting him, and the idea of abolishing legislation sprouted again. Li Ji, one of the veteran heroes, added: "Your majesty's family affairs, why ask outsiders?" This completely touched Li Zhi's heart and reversed the unfavorable situation of Li Zhi and Wu Zetian on the issue of abolishing the Queen. In the same year1October 13, Li Zhi finally issued an imperial edict: on the charge of "conspiracy to poison", he abolished the queen and went to prison; Their parents, brothers, etc. He was also banished from office and exiled to Lingnan. Seven days later, Li Zhi wrote another letter and made Wu Zetian the queen. At the same time, the most opposed prime minister, Chu Suiliang, was demoted to the governor of another state.
In April of the 4th year of Xianqing (659), Wu Zetian and Tang Gaozong reached an understanding that Sun Chang Wuji, Yu Zhining, Han Yuan, Lai Ji and others were dismissed from the capital. At this point, Li Zhi basically realized the centralized monarchy. The event of "Abolishing the King" dealt a heavy blow to the nobles in Guanlong. Since Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, the lack of imperial power has been changed, which has had a great impact on the history of China.
2.4? Two saints facing the court
In October (660) of the fifth year of the reign of Emperor Xianqing, Li Zhifeng had a seizure and was dizzy, so she could not handle state affairs, so she asked Wu Zetian to handle state affairs. But it also caused the rift between Wu Zetian and Li Zhi, and caused Wu Zetian to be almost abolished.
In the first month of the first year of Longshuo (66 1), Wu Zetian asked all women in the world not to perform Nuo You (an artist who performed burlesque in ancient times), and Li Zhi adopted it and wrote a letter. In April, Li Zhi wanted to lead an army to attack Korea, but Wu Zetian thought it was irresistible and the suggestion was adopted.
In the first year of Linde (664), Li Zhi asked Prime Minister Shangguan Yi to draft a letter to abolish Wu Zetian. Before the ink was dry, Wu Zetian found out in time that the abolition of the queen had to end in failure. So, Wu Zetian suggested to Li Zhi that they should go to court together in the near future and listen to politics. The combination of the two saints further increased her political experience and influence.
2.5? ascend the throne
In February of the first year of Guangzhai (684), Wei, the father of the proposed appointment, was assisted and Pei Jian, the prime minister. Li Xian said angrily, "Even if I gave the whole world to Wei Zhen Xuan, why not?" Do you still care about a waiter? Wu Zetian used this as an excuse to depose Li Xian as king of Luling and moved to Zhou Fang. Yu Wang's fourth son Li Dan became emperor for Tang Ruizong and Wu Zetian.
In the second year (69 1) in July, Farming and others wrote four volumes of The Great Cloud Sutra, saying that Wu Zetian was the incarnation of Maitreya Buddha and should be the master of the world, and Wu Zetian ordered its promulgation. Ordered two Beijing to build a Dayun Temple to store the Dayun Sutra, and ordered monks to explain it, so as to raise the status of Buddhism above Taoism. In September, Fu Youyi led 900 people from Guanzhong to the table. Please change the country name to Zhou and the emperor's surname to Wu. So more than 60 thousand officials, the emperor's people, the people, the overflowing leader and the shaman Taoist priest also asked to change the name of the country. The marquis of Wu must invite him to change the Tang Dynasty to Zhou Dynasty and Yuan Tiancai. He was honored as the Holy Spirit Emperor and changed his name to Tiandi, but he still took Li Dan as his heir and gave his surname Wu Shi. After the establishment of the seventh samurai temple, Zhou Wenwang was honored as the ancestor of Wendi. Wu was appointed as Wang Wei, Wu Sansi was, and the rest of the Wu people were Wang and princess royal.
2.6? Coup abdication
After Wu Zetian solved the problem of heir, Wu Zetian had no thorny problems to solve. She was full of ambition, and as she grew older, she began to indulge in pleasure.
In the first month of the first year of Shenlong (705), Wu Zetian was seriously ill in bed, and only his minions Zhang Yizhi and Zhang Changzong served him. Prime Ministers Zhang Jianzhi and Cui Xuanyong, together with joint ministers Jing Hui, Huan and Yuan, made friends with the imperial army, commanded Li Duozuo, pretended to rebel with his brothers, and then launched a mutiny, led more than 500 imperial soldiers into the palace, killed two brothers, and immediately surrounded Wu Zetian's bedroom, demanding that Wu Zetian abdicate, which is known as the Dragon Revolution in history.
Wu Zetian was forced to abdicate, and Prince Li Xian. Li is honored as "the Emperor of Heaven". Wu Zhou ended and the Tang Dynasty was restored. Officials, flags, costumes and characters were all restored to the old system, and God was restored to the East Capital.
On November 26th, the first year of Shenlong (65438+ February16,705), Wu Zetian died in Shangyang Palace at the age of 82. The imperial edict omitted the title of the emperor, and she was called "Queen of Heaven". In May of the second year of Shenlong (706), he was buried with Emperor Gaozong in Ganling.
Although Tang Shi followed her testamentary edict posthumous title, there were still several changes later:
In the first year of Tang Long (7 10), it was changed to Tianhou.
In the first year of Jing Yun (7 10), it was changed to Great Sage Queen.
In the first year of Yanhe River (7 12), it was another day, and it was changed to Shengdi soon.
In the fourth year of Kaiyuan (7 16), it was changed to Emperor Hou.
In the eighth year of Tianbao (749), posthumous title and posthumous title were added, and Emperor Tianshun became the holy queen.
3. Personality assessment
3. 1 general comments
Since the Tang Dynasty, there have been different opinions and perspectives on Wu Zetian. The emperors in the early Tang Dynasty were all her direct descendants, and the Confucian orthodoxy had not fully occupied the dominant position, so the evaluation of Wu Zetian at that time was still relatively positive. However, with the passage of time, especially Sima Guang's History as a Mirror, Wu was severely criticized. During the Southern Song Dynasty, Zhu Cheng's Neo-Confucianism was dominant in China's thoughts, while ignoring women's views decided to evaluate Wu Zetian. For example, in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties, Wang Fuzhi, a famous thinker, once commented on Wu Zetian as "a place where ghosts and gods can't tolerate, and where subjects complain." However, it is undeniable that Wuhou was good at governing the country, attached importance to recruiting talented people, and created the "palace examination" system of the imperial examination, which enabled him to reuse such famous ministers as Di, Zhang Jianzhi, Huan, Jing Hui and Yao Chong. During the reign of Wu Zetian, the national policy was steady, the military strategy was appropriate, the culture was revived, and the people were rich, so she was known as the legacy of Zhenguan, which laid the foundation for the long-term stability of her grandson Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty. Wu Zetian made great contributions to history.
In addition, Wu Zetian also has many negative comments. In the early days of her administration, due to the trend of gossiping, she reused cruel officials Zhou Xing and Lai Junchen, and later historians despised her for violating traditional ethics. As a woman, she actually has many male concubines (called "Toy Boy") and is not ashamed to openly date many men. So all her actions were flogged in the history books and directly reprimanded.
3.2? Historical evaluation
"Old Tang Book": "Governing chaos is also the time, existence and potential. Make Jie Li and Zhou, although ten days can't be cured; Make Yao and Shun mutually superior, although they can't be chaotic; Let a coward woman take advantage of the situation, and it is enough to control the life of the group and act unfairly. In the year of Wu system, talents took over, but they didn't worry about their families and dangers, and they couldn't repay the power and protect the gentleman. When Russia is innocent and imprisoned, it will be destroyed by the devil and the devil, so where will it be? Sad husband! In the past, it was called poison; People are cold, and the world thinks it is wrong. Wu Hou's attempt to seize office also made his voice sound like a baby, with broken peppers on his bones, which was unreasonable and made him jealous of his wife. However, there is still extensive discussion and reciprocity. Although it was a beautiful morning at the beginning, it was finally possible to recover Zi Ming, fly words to defend Yuan Zhongzhi's crime, comfort the heart of the benevolent, respect the current constitution and restrain the fortunate officials, and listen to the advice and punish the cruel officials. Purposeful, purposeful! " Praise said, "Yi Long's posture is changeable, and the three halls are long-lasting. Hu Weiwei, who gave birth to this? Seize the artifact and humiliate the imperial palace. The poor demon turned his head white. What's the lesson? "
The Book of the New Tang Dynasty: "When Confucius wrote the Spring and Autumn Annals, the rebels were afraid. They did not deny it when they killed the king and usurped the country. What's more, the people who stole it committed a great crime, so they didn't hide it because of their own great evil? " Because Sima Qian and Ban Gu both wrote Gao Houji, although Lu did not usurp the Han Dynasty, he dared not do anything about stealing the country. Is he really a saint? Suppression is also matched with the method of Spring and Autumn Annals. Because of the old history of the Tang Dynasty, Wuhou was listed in this subject, and its position was never far away. Husband's good or bad luck has a great influence on people. Good people get a lot of good luck, while those who are unlucky are evil. Evil people are worse than fierce people before they start work, but those who get away with it are sometimes embarrassed. The villain thinks that heaven is hard to know, doing good is not necessarily a blessing, and doing evil is not necessarily a curse. The evil of the marquis of Wu is not as good as the massacre, so-called surviving. To Zhongzong Webster, it never rains but it pours. But his relatives suffered from his mother's difficulties and he bowed his head himself. The so-called stupid embarrassment! ""the evil of the marquis of Wu is worse than a massacre, and the so-called survivors are also. "
Shen Jiji: "The Queen Mother is quite involved in literature and history, and she is good at carving small insects." "The queen mother alive for more than twenty years. At that time, officials were in full swing, and they all achieved it by articles. After a long time, immersion has become a common practice. "
Cui Rong: "Talent is far away and there is much to be done. Thunder and thunder, the sun and the moon are all written. Sprinkle dew to cover the clouds. Rites and music system, return to simplicity. Li Zong Tang Ming worships Confucianism and Imperial College London. The four seas yearn for culture, and the nine barbarians are extraordinary. Shenbi River, mud gold in the mountains. If you succeed, you will suddenly go to the wind. "
Lu Zongdao: "The sinner of the Tang Dynasty is also a danger to the country."
Sima Guang: "Although Lu's position was abused to win the hearts and minds of the world, it was not called responsibility, but it was ignored or the punishment was increased. Using the handle of rewards and punishments to control the world, the government is bent on its own way, with unique vision and strong judgment. Therefore, the heroes and sages at that time also competed for it. "
Hong Mai: "After Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty and Wu of the Tang Dynasty, I was not ignorant."
Zhao Yi: "Female Master of Chinese and English." "Master rich all over the world, concubines moved thousands of times. Later, he was a queen, but he was lucky, with only a few people. It's not too strange, so he didn't feel embarrassed at first, and there is no need to be embarrassed. "
Zhai Ai: "Wu Shi ruled the world with one daughter for more than twenty years. She is no better than the queen mother, but she has ruled from the emperor to the king. This is an intellectual superiority. " ?
Cen: "After Wu took office, he was straightforward, and his likes and dislikes were uncertain. At the end of his visit to the DPRK, he was the prime minister of 73 people. "
Guo Moruo: "The government opened Yuan Zhihong's Guan Zhen, and Fang Liu Jiange benefited from Li Zhou."
Soong Ching Ling: "Wu Zetian was an outstanding female politician in feudal times. But as far as family roles are concerned, it is not difficult to see that Wu Zetian is also a good wife. "
Mao Zedong: "Wu Zetian is really a talent for governing the country. She has the ability to tolerate people, the wisdom to know people and the skills to choose people. She promoted many people and killed many people. There are also many people who have just been promoted and have been killed. "
Jane Bozan: "Wu Zetian's policy of cracking down on nobles and promoting ordinary landlords to be officials was in line with the social development trend at that time, so her role was positive ... Wu Zetian also did a lot of work in consolidating the frontiers of feudal countries."
4. Personal works
4. 1 Poetry
Ruyi Niang
Song of procrastination
Happy time of don de
Official track
4.2 Painting and Calligraphy
Wu Zetian boldly reformed the writing, adding and subtracting the strokes of predecessors, and once created nineteen Chinese characters, which were widely used all over the world. For example, she named herself "[Zhao]", which means that the moon is in the sky and the famous gentleman is on earth, and the meaning of the word is clear at a glance. Because she thinks the seal is "seal", which is similar to "death" (some people say it is the same as "interest"), so she changed it to "treasure" and so on. Although all the Chinese characters created by Wu Zetian serve her political purposes, we can see her talent and extraordinary wisdom through these Chinese characters.
? Above: Wu Zetian's calligraphy.
Wu Zetian is not only proficient in historical poetry, but also in calligraphy. Especially good at flying white books and cursive scripts. The so-called "flying white" is calligraphy characterized by white strokes, which is extremely difficult, but it looks extremely elegant. Wu Zetian wrote the names of ministers in a white notebook and gave them. Some ministers said in the above table: "You bite the hand that feeds you, write a flying white notebook, give the ministers their names, kneel in a treasure, and wear a Wen Qiong, which seems to be a test of the five gods. It's the first time to win six titles, and it's the first time to cover eight bodies and spend money alone ... Zhong You tried hard and hard, and it's hard to compare. "English is absolutely tough and caught. Then know that God is sacred and all wisdom will be shared. Versatile, always fragrant. "Wu Zetian's calligraphy attainments can be seen!