"The Collection of King Luo Bin" was first compiled into 10 volumes by Xi Yunqing during the reign of Emperor Zhongzong. The book has been lost. There were 4-volume, 6-volume and 10-volume editions popular in the Ming and Qing dynasties. The chapters included were roughly the same, and they were all re-edited by later generations. "Luo Linhai Collection of Notes" by Chen Xijin of the Qing Dynasty was published later and is the most complete. It has a typesetting version by Zhonghua Book Company. The deeds can be seen in the new and old "Book of Tang".
Empress Wu Zetian
(624-705) was born in Wenshui, Bingzhou (now east of Wenshui, Shanxi), and was the queen of Tang Gaozong Li Zhi, Zhongzong Li Xian and Ruizong Li Danzhi. After the death of his mother, Gaozong, Wu Zetian deposed his two sons Zhongzong and Ruizong one after another, became emperor himself, and changed the name of the country to "Zhou", which was known as "Wu Zhou" in history. She is the first and only female emperor in the history of our country. In the early days of Wu Zetian's rule, he reused 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. Named Zhao (zhào), the world calls her Wu Zetian according to her title "Great Sage Emperor Zetian". (Ze, the law also means the law. Zetian means taking heaven as the law, learning from heaven, and following the laws and requirements of heaven.) Nature is clever and intelligent, with many powers. The second daughter of the founding warrior Xun (huò) of the Tang Dynasty, her biological mother Yang was the second wife of the warrior Xun, the daughter of Yang Da, a great gentry of the Longyou family, 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 the time she participated in government affairs and claimed to be the emperor, to the time when she was moved to Shangyang Palace due to illness, 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. As Song Qingling sincerely evaluated 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 arrogant pursuit and seizure of the highest power, her desire to be self-obedient, and her ruthless and unscrupulous revenge on everything. This point was particularly prominent in her subsequent political career and even in a series of political struggles during which she was "alone in the south", and became her lifelong accomplishment with mixed merits and demerits. Morality, character and psychological roots.
Zetian has been intelligent and agile since childhood, very good at expressing himself, and has superhuman 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 named a "talented person". After entering the palace, Wu was capable, considerate, and charming, which made Taizong very happy, so he gave her the title "Meiniang". However, during the same period, Concubine Xu Xian was extremely intelligent, and the Wu family fell out of favor. She has been hovering at the lowest level of talents, and later 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 Emperor Taizong, came to the throne, he was very interested in her because he had secretly communicated with Zetian in the past, so he often visited Ganye Temple. Two or three years later, he recalled Zetian as an official and was granted the title of "Zhao" by the Jin Dynasty. instrument". 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 Gaozong explained his plan to abolish the Queen Wang family and establish Zetian as Queen to Zhu Suiliang, Changsun Wuji and other loyal ministers, 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 accomplice Xu Jingzhong and Li Yifu, and other traitors in the court. Later, Wu Zetian personally killed his daughter and framed the Queen Wang, forcing Emperor Gaozong to finally issue an edict in October of that year, abolishing the Queen Wang family and officially appointing Zetian as the Queen. After appointing the Queen, Wu Zetian was extremely vicious and killed the Queen. Queen, Concubine Xiao Shu had her hands and feet cut off and her bones were drunk.
After Zetian ascended to the throne of the queen, her wit and shrewdness, and her strengths of "well versed in literature and history, and rich in tactics" were greatly developed and developed, which made Gaozong favor her and look down upon her. 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 eldest son Sun Wuji and forced him to hang himself; dismissed the supporters of Zhu Suiliang and eldest Sun Yuanji in the court, consolidated and expanded his influence and power, and removed obstacles on her way to participate in politics. 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 phoenix dizziness 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 to depose and kill the emperor depends on his mouth, and the emperor just hands 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 ruthless, so she acted first and had Shangguan Yi executed immediately. Gaozong's move fell short of success, but made Empress Wu even more vigilant.
In order to clear her last obstacle, Wu Zetian first killed her eldest son, then her second son, deposed her third son, and put her fourth son under house arrest.
Although Emperor Gaozong hated her for 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 came 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 all the power of the Tang Dynasty was in the hands of Empress Wu Zetian.
From the first year of Shangyuan (674), Zetian began to rule as the "Queen of Heaven" to the first year of Tianshou (690) when he officially proclaimed the emperor. During the 16 years, 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 position of emperor 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 and bureaucrats. Xu Jingye, the governor of Liuzhou, followed by Xu Shiji, a hero in the early Tang Dynasty, summoned hundreds of thousands of soldiers and horses to take the lead in launching an attack in Yangzhou. The famous book "Chao Wu Zhao Xi" spread throughout the territory. Li Chong, king of Langya of the clan, was in Bozhou, and Li Zhen, king of Yue, in Yuzhou, also rebelled 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 implicated people fully exposed Empress Wu's cold 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 thirty 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 of employment, 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 wait for his talents to become his wings." She will use all talents who can "safeguard the country" and "define the frontier" according to their talents regardless of their 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 3.80 million during the Yonghui period. By the first year of Shenlong, when Zetian died, 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 against 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 palace selection, which intensified 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". "Compared with the historical merits of eradicating current shortcomings, developing production, improving the imperial examination, breaking down the clan concept, appointing talents in an eclectic way, conforming to the historical trend, and carrying out drastic reforms, the merits and demerits are mixed. Her historical merits and demerits, just like the "wordless monument" she set for herself, can only be commented and judged by history.
In 705, Prime Minister Zhang Jianzhi took advantage of Wu Zetian's old age and critical illness, supported Zhongzong's restoration, and honored 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.
Anecdotes about Wu Zetian:
Wu Zetian was also a female poet. There are 58 of her poems recorded in "The Complete Poems of the Tang Dynasty", most of which are memorial works for temples, but there are also some travel notes. A lyrical poem, the poem "Ruyi Niang" goes:
Looking at Zhu Chengbi, she is full of thoughts, haggard and fragmented, remembering you.
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 a loving and tender side, which can be seen in this poem.
Wu Zetian also wrote a poem titled "The Decree of the Last Day, I'm Fortunately Going to the Garden":
When I visited Shangyuan in the Ming Dynasty, I was in a hurry 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: "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.