Wu Zetian, courtesy name Wu Cao (曌 is the character she coined), was the only female emperor in China. From talents to empresses to emperors, it can be said that in the old society where women's social status was inferior at that time, it was really not simple to have such deeds and meritorious names. So how did her courtiers and Li clan relatives submit to the li clan when she became emperor? How did she overcome all odds to achieve her goals?
Fourteen-year-old Wu Zetian was selected by Tang Taizong to be a talented person in the palace, and gave the name WuMei, listening to this title, you know that Wu Zetian's temperament and appearance were very eye-catching. So much so that Tang Taizong's successor, Tang Gaozong, was also very clear about her, and Tang Gaozong also overcame all difficulties and ignored the opposition of his courtiers, directly made Wu Zetian empress, and then as the empress dowager of Tang Ruizong and Tang Zhongzong, he came to the court to listen to the government. In 690 AD, the name of the country was changed to Zhou, and the Wuzhou Dynasty was established. After 15 years of abdication, the Tang Dynasty was restored. Wu Zetian established the Wuzhou Dynasty for fifteen years, and during this period there was not much opposition and resistance.
Wu Zetian
As early as the time when Wu Zetian became empress, she had already participated in the state affairs of the Tang Dynasty, and at that time she was honored as the Queen of Heaven, forming a situation with Emperor Gaozong of Tang. The reason was that Li Zhi's health was very bad, and Wu Zetian often "helped" Li Zhi to handle state affairs, and he had a certain amount of "imperial power" when he came and went. And in the process, some means were used to slaughter the kings of the Li clan, even their own newborns.
In this way, when Wu Zetian changed dynasties, the Li clan relatives had no great power or military power, and as for Li Chong's father and son and Li Zhen, when they tried to overthrow the Wuzhou Dynasty, they did not have a single soldier in their hands. You can only use your own money to recruit soldiers and buy horses. As a result, less than 10,000 soldiers were scattered by the imperial court that learned the news, and Li Zhen's father and son were defeated, which did not pose any threat to Wu Zetian. With the lessons of the past, Wu Zetian even carried out cruel killings against the Li clan relatives, regardless of whether they were guilty or not. Only the young sons of the clan who had no power to resist were exiled to remote places.
The politically minded Wu Zetian took certain measures to achieve her control over the entire imperial court and grasped absolute imperial power. On this road, she also hesitated, but in the end she could not stop, because she had taken this step, once she closed her hands, she would fall into the point where she had nowhere to live, and even unable to locate her role, there would be people who would harm her in order to avenge her, so the imperial power plan could only be firmly held in her hands.
Li Chong
Wu Zetian was a clever woman who discovered the tang clique power prematurely. At that time, the prime minister of the imperial court had the power to appoint high-ranking local officials. Their duty was to assist the Son of Heaven in handling the affairs of the dynasty. Because they could command subordinate officials, the power of the Prime Minister's clique could clash and threaten the imperial power. Seeing this, Wu Zetian reduced the term of office of the prime minister and frequently changed the prime minister, so that the internal reshuffling of the group was always unable to expand its power, and the huge group could not unify its thinking.
Wu Zetian also expanded the scope of the imperial examination and created a palace examination so that the new people were not recruited by the imperial court officials, and these new people were very loyal to the Wu imperial power and held back the power of the upper echelons of the imperial court.
After Wu Zetian monopolized the power of the DPRK, he was kind to the people of the world. Support agricultural production, reduce taxes, and promote advanced production technology to resist the extravagant life of the merchant class. Amnesty for the peasants who fled, the gifts of filial piety, the poor and the families of those who lost their families due to the war, so that the generation of empresses who wanted to do things for the people and the people won the hearts of the people.
Conclusion: Because of Wu Zetian's political acumen, the various interest groups of the imperial court did not have the power and strength to resist her. During the period of governance, it has won the hearts and minds of the people, so it is difficult for some people to overthrow and it is difficult to get the support of the grass-roots people. Of course, there is also a relatively important factor in this, no matter what reasons, Wu Zetian did not establish his descendants of the Wu surname as heirs, and always maintained the descendants of the Li clan as imperial heirs.
Reference: New Book of Tang