Character profile
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Wu Zetian (624-705) was born in Wenshui, Bingzhou (now east of Wenshui, Shanxi). Lizhou (now Guangyuan City, Sichuan Province). The queen of Tang Gaozong Li Zhi, the mother of Tang Zhongzong Li Xian and Tang Ruizong Li Dan. After Gaozong's death, Wu Zetian deposed his two sons Zhongzong and Ruizong one after another, and became the emperor herself, creating "曌" (pronounced "zhao"). , the word means "the sun and the moon are in the sky", and the country's name was changed to "Zhou", which was called "Wu Zhou" in history. In the early days of Wu Zetian's rule, he made heavy use of cruel officials, severely attacked the senior ministers who opposed him, and honored the old clans. This broke the situation where the big clans controlled the political situation and monopolized senior officials. The capital was Luoyang. Reigned from 690 to 705. People in the world call her Wu Zetian according to her honorary title "Great Sage Emperor Zetian" (Ze, law, thought to be the law. Zetian, which means taking heaven as the law, learning from heaven, and following heaven's laws and requirements). He is clever and clever in nature and has many power skills. The second daughter of the founding warrior Xun of the Tang Dynasty, her biological mother Yang was the second wife of the warrior Xun, the daughter of Yang Da, a noble clan of Longyou, prime minister of the Sui Dynasty, and Duke of Suining.
Wu Zetian was a talented person of Tang Taizong Li Shimin and the queen of Tang Gaozong Li Zhi. Taizong called her "Meiniang". After assisting Emperor Gaozong in handling military and state affairs and supporting the government for thirty years, she ascended the throne in person and called herself the Holy Emperor. She deposed Tang Zuo and changed her country's name to Zhou, becoming the only empress unprecedented in Chinese history. From her participation in government affairs and claiming to be the emperor until her illness moved her to Shangyang Palace, she was in power for nearly half a century. She inherited the "Government of Zhenguan" and started the "Kaiyuan Dynasty". Her historical achievements are known as the "Legacy of Zhenguan" and are evident to the world. Just as Soong Ching Ling's pertinent evaluation of her: Wu Zetian was "an outstanding female politician in the feudal era."
Wu Zetian was born into a family of new nobles in the early Tang Dynasty. Her prominent power and luxurious life nourished her unlimited desire for power. However, in the early Tang Dynasty, the aristocratic style of attaching great importance to the gentry was prevalent, and Wu's family status and humble background made her suffer from the contempt of the common people, and she was unwilling to be buried. This special situation and encounter strongly stimulated Wu Zetian in her youth, cultivating her to arrogantly pursue and seize the highest power, to achieve the desire to be self-obedient, and to ruthlessly and unscrupulously seek revenge for everything. This point became particularly prominent in her subsequent political career and even in a series of political struggles in which she was "alone in the south", and became a lifelong accomplishment with mixed merits and demerits. Morality, character and psychological roots.
Zetian has been smart and agile since childhood, very good at expressing himself, and has super courage. Her father deeply felt that she was a talented person, so he taught her to read and write so that she could understand the world. According to historical records, when Zetian was 13 or 14 years old, he had already read a lot of books, had a strong memorization of knowledge, and had laid a certain foundation for poems and songs. He was also good at calligraphy, and his handwriting was outstanding.
In the eleventh year of Zhenguan (637), the 14-year-old Wu was selected into the palace for her handsome appearance and was awarded the title of "talented person". After entering the palace, Taizong gave her the title "Meiniang". Later he met Li Zhi.
In the 23rd year of Zhenguan (649), when Taizong died, Zetian and all his concubines were sent to Ganye Temple in Chang'an to become nuns. After Li Zhi, the ninth son of Taizong, came to the throne, he was very interested in Zetian because of his secret relationship with Zetian in the past, so he came to Ganye Temple in the name of offering sacrifices. The two broke into tears when they met. Queen Wang in the palace was dignified and reserved, and did not go out of her way to please Li Zhi. She had been neglected for many years. The favored concubine was Xiao Shufei, who gave birth to one or two daughters for Li Zhi. Therefore, Xiao Shufei dominated the harem. There was a disagreement with Queen Wang, and Concubine Xiao Shu's son was named King Yong. According to Tang practice, the eldest son of the queen was the prince, and only one of the remaining sons could be named King Yong. When Concubine Xiao Shu's son is ennobled, does it mean that Concubine Xiao Shu will be promoted from a second-grade concubine to a first-grade concubine and become a queen? In order to keep her position, Queen Wang specially asked the emperor to take Wu into the palace so that they would not suffer the pain of lovesickness. The queen passed this level. Wu family then entered the palace smoothly. Empress Wang originally thought that Wu was originally the late emperor's concubine and had a low status. The emperor would not give her any status. She was brought into the palace to let her attack Concubine Xiao Shu, hurting both parties, and reaping the benefits for herself. But precisely in this way, she built a too big tomb for herself and became the first victim of Wu Zetian's ascent. Two or three years later, Wu entered the official ranks and was granted the title of "Zhaoyi" by the Jin Dynasty. In the sixth year of Yonghui (655), Wu Zetian, who was extremely favored by Gaozong, was sure to win in the inner palace struggle, and increasingly urged Gaozong to establish herself as his queen. However, in feudal society, the abolition of a queen was a major national event and had to be discussed with important ministers. When Emperor Gaozong explained his plan to abolish Queen Wang and establish Zetian as Queen to loyal ministers such as Chu Suiliang and Changsun Wuji, he immediately encountered strong opposition.
They believed that the Wu family was from a humble background and was not suitable to be a queen. Moreover, when Taizong died, he once said that "a good son and a good wife" should not depose the king and queen. However, Gaozong's ideas were also supported by Wu Zetian's accomplices Xu Jingzhong and Li Yifu, and some other military factions supporting the DPRK and China. Later, Wu Zetian personally killed his daughter and framed Queen Wang, forcing Emperor Gaozong to finally issue an edict in October of that year, abolishing Queen Wang's family name, and officially enthroning Zetian as Queen. After the Queen was appointed, Wu Zetian transferred Queen Wang and Concubine Xiao Shu. Cut off the hands and feet and put them into a wine vat, calling them drunken bones. He scolded fiercely: "Let's see if you two can stand up!" In this way, the two young lives of Concubine Xiao Shu and Queen Wang came to a bloody end. He forced Gaozong to force his own uncle, Changsun Wuji, to death.
After Zetian ascended the throne of the queen, his wit and shrewdness, and his strengths of "well-versed in literature and history, and many tactics" were greatly developed and developed, making Gao Zong Although Zong dotes on her, he looks at her differently. She also took advantage of her status as a queen and the emperor's favor for her to actively participate in government affairs. In the five years from the sixth year of Yonghui (655) to the fourth year of Xianqing (659), she engaged in many unjust cases, and the world was full of chaos. She eliminated a large number of political opponents, demoted the minister's right servant and shot Zhu Suiliang, causing him to die of depression; Deposed Tong Zhongshu's disciple Changsun Wuji and forced him to hang himself; dismissed Zhu Suiliang and Changsun Wuji's supporters in the court, consolidated and expanded his influence and power, and removed obstacles on her path to political participation. She is known as the legacy of Zhenguan The rule of Yonghui ended.
In the fifth year of Xianqing (660), Emperor Gaozong Li Zhi suffered from wind-dazzled eyesight and was unable to see, so he issued an edict to entrust Empress Wu to assist in political affairs. From then on, Zetian changed from participating in politics to being in power. "The decision of whether to depose or kill the emperor was decided by his mouth, and the emperor just handed it over." Although people were behind the scenes, they controlled the real power of the court. Later, Emperor Gaozong regretted it and attempted to take back his power, and secretly ordered Shangguan Yicao, the Minister of Zhongshu, to abolish the imperial edict. Little did he know that the matter was not secret and "the plot to leak it failed." Empress Wu was ruthless and cruel, so she acted first and had Shangguan Yi executed immediately. Gaozong's move fell short of success, but made Empress Wu even more vigilant.
Wu Zetian's eldest son Li Hong died of illness, his second son Li Xian was exiled (later killed), his third son was deposed, and his fourth son was renamed Wu Lun after Wu Zetian ascended the throne.
Although Emperor Gaozong was tired of her acting alone, he had to rely on her for many national affairs. In this way, Empress Wu gradually moved from behind the scenes to the front stage, and actually went to the Zichen Hall with Gaozong to accept the worship of the ministers together. In the first year of Shangyuan (674), Emperor Gaozong was named Emperor and the Queen was named Queen of Heaven. People in the world called them the "Two Saints". From then on, Emperor Gaozong was in name only, and the power of the Tang Dynasty was completely controlled by Empress Wu Zetian.
In the 16 years from the first year of Shangyuan (674), when Zetian began to rule as the "Queen of Heaven", to the first year of Tianshou (690) when he officially proclaimed the emperor, Wu made preparations for the emperor. A lot of long-term preparations were made and a variety of powerful and effective measures were taken. First of all, in terms of succession to the throne, Gaozong wanted to take the throne from his eldest son Li Hong. Empress Wu ignored the love between mother and son, poisoned Li Hong to death, and made her second son Li Xian the crown prince. Li Xian was entrusted by Emperor Gaozong with the post of Lin Guo, and he was very capable in handling government affairs. Empress Wu deposed Li Xian as a commoner and established her third son Li Xian as the prince. In the first year of Hongdao (683), Gaozong died, Zhongzong Li Xian just succeeded to the throne, and Empress Wu came to the court in the name of the Empress Dowager. A year later, Zhongzong was abolished, and he was granted the title of King of Luling. His fourth son, Li Dan, was made emperor and became Ruizong. Li Xian and Li Dan were both mediocre and incompetent people. They were also puppets in the emperor's position and were controlled by Empress Wu in everything.
Secondly, the "Clan Chronicle" was revised to the "Surname Record". Originally, the Wu family could not even be included in the "Clan Chronicle", but in the "Surname Record", it was designated as the first-class surname. , this did not change the concept of the clan, it was just a manifestation of Wu Zetian's attempt to improve Wu's status.
Thirdly, it was an important step to change the official name, change the eastern capital Luoyang to the divine capital, ascend the throne and proclaim himself emperor, and establish a new order. Show the whole country his unifying and supreme power. These new policy measures of Empress Wu were quickly opposed by the Li family of the royal family and many gentry bureaucrats. The governor of Liuzhou, Xu Shiji, a hero of the early Tang Dynasty, followed by Xu Jingye, summoned hundreds of thousands of soldiers and horses to take the lead in attacking Yangzhou. King Luo Bin wrote the famous "Discussing Wu Zhaoxi", which spread throughout the territory. Li Chong, the king of Langya of the clan, was in Bozhou, and Li Zhen, the king of Yue, also rebelled in Yuzhou and raised troops to attack. Empress Zetian was merciless and suppressed them resolutely. Under her direct command, these rebellions were quickly put down. Xu Jingye, Li Chong, Li Zhen and other main instigators either died on the battlefield or were killed. No one was spared. .
The horrific executions and extensive connections fully exposed Empress Wu's ruthless decisiveness.
In 690 AD, Wu Zetian believed that the conditions were ripe to visit the throne in person. She first used the words of the Buddhist monk Fa Ming to create public opinion: "Empress Wu is the reincarnation of Maitreya Buddha, and the contemporary Tang Dynasty is the emperor." Then she directed it, Sixty thousand subjects headed by Tang Ruizong petitioned the emperor to change the country's title. At this point, everything came together, and Empress Tianwu ascended to Dabao amidst the shouts of "Long Live" to "Shangzun Tianshi" and "obey everyone's opinions", and realized her long-cherished wish, changing the Tang Dynasty to "Zhou" and calling herself the "Holy God Emperor" . This year, she is 67 years old.
If we say that Wu Zetian has shown amazing political strategies and methods during her political career of more than 30 years before becoming emperor. Then, in the more than ten years after becoming emperor, she more fully demonstrated her outstanding political talents and statesmanlike courage in all aspects such as employing people, handling affairs, and governing the country.
After Zetian became emperor, he paid more attention to the selection and use of talents. She believes that "the nine realms are so vast that it cannot be strengthened by one person. He must put his talents aside and develop them into wings." She will use all talents who can "safeguard the country" and "define the frontier" according to their talents, regardless of family status or qualifications. In order to recruit talents, she developed and improved the imperial examination system since the Sui Dynasty, allowed free recruitment of talents, allowed self-promotion and examination of officials, and set up foreign officials. In addition, she also pioneered the palace examination and martial arts examination systems, creating favorable conditions for discovering and recruiting talents more broadly. For example, Guo Ziyi, a famous general in the mid-Tang Dynasty, "made his own martial arts and made extraordinary achievements". In this way, during the years of her administration, there was always a group of capable ministers and generals who were "literary and benevolent" and "military but not martial" to serve her, effectively safeguarding Wu Zhou's regime.
Zetian also attaches great importance to agricultural production. She said: "The foundation of building a country must be farming." "Farming means cultivating the fields, cultivating the fields will make you have more millet, and having more millet will make people rich." She stipulated that local officials who could "cultivate their fields and have a surplus of food for their families" could be promoted; "those who were harsh in government and had their household registration transferred" would be demoted or even dismissed at an inappropriate time. In this way, during her reign, agriculture and handicrafts have developed greatly. The population keeps increasing. According to statistics at that time, the number of households in the country was 3.8 million during the Yonghui period. By the first year of Shenlong, when Zetian was dying, the number gradually increased to 6.15 million, almost doubling. This alone shows the development of the agricultural economy during this period.
Zetian also made a lot of efforts during his administration in terms of fighting foreign invasion, protecting border tranquility, and improving relations with neighboring countries. Zetian resolutely resisted and counterattacked the invasion and harassment of the Tubo nobles. In the second year of Changshou (692), she sent general Wang Xiaojie to defeat Tubo, regain the four towns of Anxi, and restore the Anxi Protectorate in Qiuci. Later, the Beiting Protectorate was set up in Tingzhou to consolidate the northwest border defense and open up the once-interrupted "Silk Road" to Central Asia. During her administration, she adhered to the policy of border army garrisoning. During the Tianshou period, Lou Shi, the governor of Fengzhou, "camped fields and accumulated millions of grains, and used soldiers to spare them." In the first year of Dazu (701), Guo Yuanzhen was appointed governor of Liangzhou and continued to farm for five years. "The military rations can last for decades." Wu's large-scale long-term farming. It has a positive effect on the development of border areas, reducing the labor of people's transportation, and consolidating border defense.
Of course, during the long period of nearly half a century when Wu Zhao was in power, there were also many mistakes. She reuses cruel staff and rewards whistleblowers. Many dirty officials were rampant for a while. They tortured to extract confessions, killed innocent people indiscriminately, and framed others, causing many civil servants and military generals to suffer unjust injustice. Although it played some role in the consolidation of Wu Zhou's regime, the internal conflicts within the ruling group intensified and everyone was in danger, which would inevitably affect the country's governance and production development. She gave free rein to the selection of officials, which sharpened the bureaucracy. The expansion of the bureaucracy will inevitably increase the burden on the people. In her later years, she was very happy with her achievements, lived a luxurious life, and spent a lot of money and labor. These have affected and delayed the development of productivity to varying degrees. However, these mistakes and mistakes are, after all, the tributaries of Wu Zetian's political career. As the only female emperor in Chinese history, she was able to overcome all difficulties and form a strong centralization of power, social stability, and economic development during her half-century rule. She inherited the "Government of Zhenguan" and ushered in the "Kaiyuan Dynasty". ", eradicate the current shortcomings, develop production, improve the imperial examination, eliminate clan notions, appoint talents in an eclectic way, follow the historical trend, and carry out drastic reforms. Every achievement of Wu Zetian is accompanied by contradictions. As Mr. Linda said, "Every time a ray of sunshine is cast, a shadow is cast."
In the more than a thousand years after Wu Zetian's death, people's evaluation of her has changed repeatedly. For example, in the early Tang Dynasty, her evaluation was relatively positive; because from the middle of the Tang Dynasty, the revival of Confucianism began, and by the time of the Cheng-Zhu Neo-Confucianism in the Southern Song Dynasty, Occupying a dominant ideological position in China, Wu Zetian's evaluation has continued to decline since the Southern Song Dynasty. Wang Fuzhi, a famous thinker in the late Ming and early Qing Dynasties, evaluated Wu Zetian as: "The ghosts and gods cannot tolerate it, and the subjects cannot tolerate it"; In modern times, due to the rise of the feminist movement, people have given Wu Zetian the color of women's liberation.
In 705, Prime Minister Zhang Jianzhi took advantage of Wu Zetian's old age and critical illness, supported Zhongzong's restoration, and respected Wu as the "Great Sage Emperor of Zetian". In the winter of the same year, Wu died at the age of 82. Her last edict was to "remove the title of emperor and call her the Great Sage Queen Zetian." Li Bai listed Wu Zetian as one of the "Seven Sages" of the Tang Dynasty.
According to Mr. Lin Yutang's "The True Story of Wu Zetian", Wu Zetian murdered ninety-three people in her lifetime (excluding her implicated relatives). Among them were twenty-three of her own relatives, thirty-four of the Tang clan, and thirty-six of the court ministers (excluding his lackeys). How many of them deserve death, and how many are unjust cases; how many of them were indeed harmed by Wu Zetian, and how many were framed by others. This account can only be left to historians to settle slowly. CCTV "Hundred Schools Forum" - Meng Man talks about Wu Zetian of the Tang Dynasty, and there are also some records.
Anecdotes
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Wu Zetian is also a female poet. There are 58 of her poems in "Complete Poems of the Tang Dynasty", most of which are It is a memorial work in the temple, but there are also lyrical poems about travels. His poem "Ruyi Niang" goes:
Seeing Zhu Chengbi full of thoughts, haggard and fragmented, remembering the king.
If you don’t believe it, I often shed tears recently when I open the box and check out the pomegranate skirt.
As the empress, Wu Zetian was a strong-armed figure, leaving the impression of a man among women. However, as a woman, she also had an affectionate and tender side, which can be seen in this poem.
Wu Zetian also wrote a poem titled "Xingzhao Xinghao Shangyuan":
In the Ming Dynasty, I visited Shangyuan, and it was urgent to announce the spring.
The flowers bloom all night long, don’t wait for the morning breeze to blow.
This poem was later spread as a story, saying that Wu Zetian visited Shangyuan in the winter of a certain year and asked the flower god to urge all the flowers to bloom. Empress Wu was furious and demoted her to Luoyang. "So among those who talk about peony today, Xiluo is the first." (Gao Cheng's "Peony" in Volume 10 of Shijiyuan). This poem was written in 691, the second year after Wu Zetian established the "Wuzhou". The "Complete Poetry of the Tang Dynasty" explains the title of this poem: "In the second year of Tianshou, in La, the minister wanted to falsely call himself Huafa. Please go to the garden. There was a plan, so he sent an emissary to announce the plan. In the early hours of the morning, all the ministers convinced Tang Zuo that this was not enough. Believe it." This theory is more believable. The so-called Flower God is urging hundreds of flowers to bloom because of the need of political propaganda, and it is actually arranged in advance.
According to "New Book of Tang·Yiwenzhi", there are one hundred volumes of Wu Zetian's "Cui Gong Collection", and ten volumes of "Jinlun Collection" have been lost. It made people compile "Wu Zetian Collection" and publish it in the world.