When most people think of the female figures of the Tang Dynasty, their first instinct is empress Wu Zetian, because she is a recognized female emperor in history, who has made a lot of achievements during her reign, and her governing means are no weaker than those of men. But at that time, there was another powerful woman, who entered the DYNASTY as an official, she was Shangguan Wan'er, in fact, these two women were related, it was Wu Zetian who changed the fate of Shangguan Wan'er, or it can be said that the fate of their family was also rewritten by Wu Zetian.
During the reign of Emperor Gaozong, the chancellor Shangguan Yi was her grandfather, who not only had political talent, but was also a famous poet, but later because he drafted an edict to abolish Wu Zetian and was punished with beheading, when Wan'er was not yet one year old, Wu Zetian spared their mother and daughter and let them go to the Court Palace as slaves, and Shangguan Wan'er, who grew up in such an environment, did not become inferior and cowardly, but grew up to be a beautiful talented woman, famous in the palace for her talent.
All this is inseparable from the teaching of her mother Zheng, when she was pregnant, she had a dream, in which a giant gave her a scale, and told her that in the future, the scale that the child can take, will certainly be able to weigh the people of the world, even if she gives birth to a daughter, Zheng still holds out hope that the daughter will be able to become a talent in the future.
Moreover, Wu Zetian, who is in power and opposition, is also a woman, so she believes that her daughter will be able to achieve great things in the future, so even in the court, she will still teach her daughter to learn all kinds of knowledge every day, poetry and song, literature and history officials, all widely involved, perhaps because of the family door, the fourteen-year-old Shangguan Wan'er became a talented woman, and her reputation spread throughout the harem.
According to the tombstones found in later generations, the epitaph says that she was named a talented person at the age of thirteen, and Wu Zetian had also been given this title, although the age was somewhat different, but she was really appreciated by Wu Zetian at that time, and after Wu Zetian saw her articles, he exempted her from her slave status and let her take charge of the imperial edicts in the palace. She worked under Wu Zetian, was intelligent and sensitive, and was good at dancing with long sleeves, and soon gained Wu Zetian's trust and let her manage the edicts of military and political affairs. Later, she was even called "the prime minister", which was enough to show how much power she had in her hands.
Shangguan Wan'er loves power, but also likes to study poetry books, at that time there were many poetry competitions in the Tang Dynasty, Wan'er would be a judge, judging the merits of the world's talents, and the winners of the championship had a smooth career from then on, so they were very admired by Shangguan Wan'er.
Shangguan Wan'er did not hurry to climb the color building, read one by one, and threw the poem down without favor, and finally she chose Song Zhiqing's poem as the first place.
What about Shangguan Wan'er's poems? She is good at writing landscape poetry, writing out natural landscapes with delicate brushstrokes unique to women, and injecting a clear stream into the atmosphere of the Tang Dynasty that is proud to go up.
"Immortal appreciation, show humor, over Kun Lang, Mai Pengying." Youluguan, Zhiqintai. Dirty mountain walls, ashamed of Qiong. ...... With a high view of the danger, the fungus pavilion Taoyuan is not in time to find. Yu Xue is lined up into a jade tree, and the remnants of the slush are Yao Cen. ”
—— "Princess You Changning Liu Cup Pool"
At the beginning, she was appreciated for her brilliant articles and beautiful xiaokai, which was also shown in her poetry, which was rigorous in her poetry, or fresh and natural, or strong and magnificent, and felt unique, and few women's poems could reach such a level. Shangguan Wan'er is a woman with exquisite thoughts, but even if she is smart, after all, she is not a saint, she will always make mistakes and almost lose her life. At that time, she was allowed to enter and leave the inner palace freely, and she became acquainted with her male favorite Zhang Changzong, and the two hooked up together.
Once by Wu Zetian, someone dared to mess with her male pet, Wu Zetian immediately became angry, pulled out a golden knife and pointed it at Shangguan Wan'er, the two knelt down and cried and begged for forgiveness, Wu Zetian thought of the male pet's intercession and Shangguan Wan'er's talent, and finally did not severely punish, but only cut a shallow wound on her forehead, after a reprimand, he let the two go, but the scar on Shangguan Wan'er's forehead could not be eliminated.
Women have always cared about appearance, Shangguan Wan'er stabbed a red beauty at the scar, showing that she was more and more beautiful and moving, and the women in the palace also imitated it, and it was popular to open red plum makeup at that time. However, there is another version of red plum makeup, Wu Zetian blamed her for tampering with the edict privately, and sentenced her to "make a face", but no matter which theory, red plum is to cover up the scar.
After this lesson, Shangguan Wan'er, who was in a smooth sailing, became more respectful to Wu Zetian and did not dare to offend, and both of them were handy in handling political affairs, and Wu Zetian trusted her very much, allowing her to participate in the affairs of the government and write important edicts. In fact, Shangguan Wan'er hid her ambitions, she wanted more, when Wu Zetian was seriously ill, she found the crown prince Li Xian as a patron, the two had feelings, and in the subsequent Shenlong coup, she also contributed.
Without Wu Zetian, there was also an Empress Wei in the palace, and she also had great ambitions, and seemed to want to emulate empress Wu of that year, even Emperor Zhongzong did not dare to rebel against her, so Shangguan Wan'er changed her mind and turned to Empress Wei, and she drew many officials to Empress Wei, and also introduced Wu Sansi, who was once her lover. After that, this faction made the court a miasma, and the crown prince Li Chongjun wanted to eliminate these officials and arrest Shangguan Wan'er.
She fled to Empress Wei and the emperor, saying that the prince was going to rebel, so they fled to Xuanwu Gate in a hurry, and the unknown prince followed a bloody road, but was eventually killed by his subordinates. This result made Empress Wei think that she was helping herself, so she used her more. She also became a concubine of Zhongzong, but secretly raised a lover and hooked up with a man, zhongzong was poisoned by the empress, and announced that she had died suddenly, but she realized that there was an inside story, and Wei Shi was not reliable, so she changed her mind.
Princess Taiping was the daughter of Wu Zetian, quite like her mother, so Shangguan Wan'er began to contact Princess Taiping frequently, but at this time, Wei Shi asked her to write a will, which was a key step, deciding which faction she belonged to and the fate of the country. She had been a female official for twenty or thirty years, and she had already seen through the intrigues and tricks in it, and she thought that Wei Shi wanted to imitate the Wuhou of that year, but she was completely incapable of her own strength, so she re-determined her patron and took a fancy to Li Dan, the King of Xiang, and Princess Taiping. She went to the princess's mansion and forged the will together, making Li Chongmao the crown prince, the empress governor, and the xiangwang staff.
Princess Taiping also had her own thoughts, if Wei Shi was in power, then she would definitely have a hard time in the future, so she secretly supported Xiang Wang, as well as his son Li Longji, and the last last will was added by her. This edict was opposed by the Wei faction, who wanted to deprive Li Dan of his power and let Empress Wei counsel the government, so Princess Taiping's plan fell through, but Shangguan Wan'er had already made her position clear.
Later, when Li Longji's faction purged the Wei forces, Shangguan Wan'er's residence was also surrounded, but she was not worried, she believed that her last will and testament had already shown her loyalty to the Li Tang imperial family, but she was still executed for the crimes of misconduct, confusing the emperor, and defiling the harem. In fact, her last will and testament is written to support Li Chongmao, not Li Dan, and over the years she has elevated the martial family and degraded the Li family, Li Longji has seen it in his eyes, and he has long been dissatisfied with her, and she is extremely capable, so li Longji, who is also ambitious, will naturally not let her go.