Speaking of a generation of empress Wu Zetian, her life is quite legendary. He married Li Shimin and Li Zhi' father and son, worked as a nun, became an empress, and became emperor at the age of 67. If you can sum up her life in four words, it is "unprecedented". In the history of the Chinese nation for more than 5,000 years, only such a female emperor has appeared. Although many women in later generations followed her example and listened to the government, they never had the courage to take that last step. And Wu Zetian's ability to reach that height was inseparable from her superb political means.
Wu Zetian first entered the court
Wu Zetian entered the Tang Court as a talented man. At that time, her father died, and her mother could not bear the bullying of the martial family's children, so she took her back to Chang'an to live. Wu Zetian's mother, Yang Shi, was from an aristocratic background and was accustomed to a wealthy life, so naturally she did not want to become the bottom of society. In order to be able to turn over, the Yang clan looked around for opportunities to contact the nobility. It happened that at that time, Li Shimin was driving the Luoyang Palace, and the Yang family sent their daughter to the palace.
Wu Zetian stills
Everything was as Yang expected, and her daughter, who was only 14 years old, naturally became Li Shimin's concubine, and she also developed again. However, there were many concubines in Li Shimin's harem, and Wu Zetian had not completed his development at that time, so naturally he could not tie Li Shimin's heart. Li Shimin occasionally went to her palace a few times, which was already considered to be a "heavenly grace". Moreover, in the process of getting along with Wu Zetian, Wu Zetian's decisiveness in killing also made Li Shimin jealous, so when Li Shimin was alive, Wu Zetian's status never improved.
Wu Zetian and Li Shimin
In the twenty-third year of Zhenguan, Li Shimin was seriously ill, and Wu Zetian was ill, and he met Li Zhi, who was then the crown prince. Wu Zetian understood that Li Zhi was his last chance, and if he couldn't grasp it, the second half of his life would be really cold. Therefore, during her illness, she had an extraordinary relationship with the crown prince Li Zhi. After Li Shimin's death, the concubines who did not have children in the harem were sent to the Ganye Temple for monasticism according to his will. Wu Zetian was one of them.
Wu Zetian grabbed Li Zhi's heart with one move
Is that all there is to it for the rest of your life? Wu Zetian was not reconciled and began to write love letters to Li Zhi, who had become emperor. Li Zhi was very excited to receive Wu Zetian's love letter, and although he had many concubines in the harem, Wu Zetian gave him a different feeling. So the two broke the connection and began to communicate secretly. In the end, under the wind of Wu Zetian's pillow, Li Zhili defied the public opinion and took Wu Zetian back to his harem.
Wu Zetian and Li Zhi
Although Wu Zetian returned to the palace as she wished, how could she ensure that she was invincible and defeated the many beautiful people in the harem? Wu Zetian chose a different path, that is, to participate in political affairs. In fact, in all the dynasties, the emperor strictly forbade the harem to interfere in politics, because it was easy to cause turmoil in the court. However, Li Zhi was not in good health and could not handle political affairs for a long time, which gave Wu Zetian an opportunity to participate in politics.
With Li Zhi's permission, Wu Zetian could not only express his own views and suggestions on political affairs, but also correct the ministers' recitals on his behalf. During the Shang Dynasty, both of them sat on an equal footing, called the "Second Holy Pilgrimage". As the wind disease became more and more serious, Li Zhi became more and more dependent on Wu Zetian for handling political affairs, which was also the basis for Wu Zetian to stand in an invincible position. Therefore, Wu Zetian relied on this trick to make Li Zhi inseparable from her.
Cixi followed suit
For Wu Zetian's tricks, Cixi, who was also ambitious, deeply agreed with him and imitated them. Because Cixi's husband, the Xianfeng Emperor, was also a sick seedling. At that time, the Qing Dynasty was in the midst of internal and external troubles, with the British and French coalition forces invading the capital in the north and the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom's anti-Qing uprising in the south, and all kinds of bad things made the Xianfeng Emperor exhausted, and political affairs could not be handled.
Cixi and Xianfeng
While Cixi was engaged in calligraphy, the Xianfeng Emperor dictated it, asking him to correct the chapter on his behalf and allowing Cixi to express his opinion. As Cixi's ability to handle political affairs improved, the Xianfeng Emperor became more and more inseparable from her. It was only then that Cixi understood the essence of Wu Zetian's political methods. Since then, she has become more enthusiastic about participating in political affairs in order to improve her political status.
Empress
For the ambitious Cixi, Xian Feng looked in his eyes, but he had no choice, who let his own body not work? However, in order to balance Cixi, Xianfeng left the eight ministers before his death. Unfortunately, Cixi was skilled in a high-level move, and joined forces with Prince Gong Yixun to defeat Sushun and others, and gained supreme power.