In the era of China's Northern and Southern Dynasties, the Northern Wei dynasty that occupied the north came to power at the beginning of its establishment, and its political form still had a strong tribal political color, although its previous monarchs were actively promoting political Sinicization reforms, but this was not a process that could be achieved overnight, until Emperor Xiaowen moved the capital, the Northern Wei Dynasty did not completely degenerate into a feudal imperial state.
In the middle and late Pingcheng era of the Northern Wei Dynasty, the later clan interference, which was deeply jealous by the Daowu Emperor Tuoba Jue, gradually stepped onto the historical stage, which was not expected by the early rulers of the Northern Wei Dynasty who implemented the policy of the death of their sons and noble mothers. Among those women who interfered in politics, Empress Wenwen Feng was obviously the most important one, and she twice came to the court to listen to the government, not only defeating the chaotic Yihun clique, but also making an important contribution to the Taihe reform promoted by Emperor Xiaowen, and could be called the connector between the Northern Wei Pingcheng era and the Luoyang era.
From her second fourteen-year-long pro-dynasty hearing, we can infer that Empress Wenming should have a strong desire for power, so why did she suddenly withdraw from the foreground when she successfully defeated Yihun and was extremely prestigious, and completely handed over power to Emperor Xianwen. The history books say that this was to "raise" Emperor Xiaowen in order to "raise" him, but the reason behind it may not be so simple.
Stills of Empress Dowager Feng
The historical reason for Feng's seizure of Emperor Xiaowen
In the early history of the Northern Wei Dynasty, in order to alleviate the influence of the Hou clan in the previous Xianbei politics, its rulers withdrew from the policy of the death of the son and the noble mother, that is, when the prince was determined to be the crown prince, his birth mother was executed to prevent his chaotic government. Although such a system was cruel, it did strengthen the degree of centralization to a certain extent, and played a great help to the feudal reform of the Northern Wei.
Emperor Tuoba Jue of the Northern Wei Dynasty
However, what Tuoba Jue, the founder of the system, did not expect was that in the case of the execution of the birth mothers of these princes, their nannies gradually came to the forefront of history. This first began with the Wencheng Emperor Tuoba Mao's nursing mother Chang Shi. In the process of raising Tuoba Tao, the Northern Wei regime was turbulent, and Tuoba Tao's father Tuoba Huang was executed by Tuoba Tao for power struggles, and Tuoba Tao later died in a coup d'état launched by eunuchs. In this process, Tuoba Mao's safety was obviously threatened, and the Chang clan had the "merit of protecting with great strength" in the process, and the young emperor also had a deep affection for him, so after he ascended the throne, the Chang clan was awarded the honorific title of empress dowager as a nursing mother.
Emperor Wencheng Tuoba Mao
Later, the Chang clan exerted an extremely far-reaching influence on the internal and external government of the Northern Wei Dynasty, and during his lifetime, a large number of eunuchs were cultivated in the palace as their confidants, and their relatives were also installed in the foreign dynasty to hold important positions, becoming the existence of the powerful government and the opposition. And after that, we will talk about the civilized empress Dowager Feng, who also ascended to the throne at the behest of the Chang clan.
From this, we can see that in the middle and late period of the Northern Wei Pingcheng era, being able to raise future crown princes was able to have very good political resources in the political arena after the birth of Emperor Xiaowen, so after Emperor Xiaowen was born, Feng Shi took the initiative to raise Emperor Xiaowen, which was of great significance for him to take the initiative in the political struggle with Emperor Xianwen in the future, and to be able to grasp power after Emperor Xiaowen took the throne.
Empress Feng fought politically with Emperor Xianwen
Although raising the young Emperor Xiaowen did involve Empress Feng's energy, this did not seem to be the fundamental reason for her withdrawal from the political stage. Because after the death of Emperor Xianwen, Empress Feng seized power, at this time Emperor Xiaowen was still young, and Empress Feng continued to cultivate it, but at this time Empress Feng did not retreat to the second line, and Empress Feng showed a strong desire for power in the process of listening to the government twice, and her action of giving up power should not come from her heart.
Then it was only the young Emperor Xianwen who had inherited her power who forced Empress Feng to surrender her power. As the de facto ruler of Northern Wei and a young man who wanted to make a difference, Emperor Xianwen was naturally dissatisfied with Empress Feng's long-term control of power. Although Empress Feng had a certain prestige for defeating Yihun, Empress Chang's death caused her to lose her patron in the harem, she lacked stable allies in politics, and at that time, the Tuoba clan played an important role in the dynasty, and they naturally did not want to let power be in the hands of foreign surnames for a long time. Therefore, Emperor Xianwen's political strength at that time was beyond that of the Feng clan.
Under such circumstances, Empress Feng surrendered power and instead controlled Emperor Xiaowen to re-cultivate her own political resources, which is obviously the best choice, and the author believes that this is also the fundamental reason why Empress Feng chose to return to Emperor Xianwen.
Emperor Xianwen's Zen position and Empress Feng's victory
After Emperor Xianwen came to power, he carried out a series of reforms, especially in rectifying the bureaucracy. Such reforms caused some damage to the interests of the Xianbei nobles, but the feudalization process of the Northern Wei Dynasty was effectively promoted. However, his choice of political line made some of the ministers dissatisfied, so they gradually turned to Empress Feng, hoping that she could make checks and balances on Emperor Xianwen.
Empress Feng and the young Tuoba Hong
At this time, Empress Feng, while raising Emperor Xiaowen, also cultivated a group of confidant eunuchs in the inner court, who although they did not have political status, they could play a considerable role in political struggle. Moreover, he himself was also close to Tuoba Pi and other clan ministers, and gave them many rewards, so he was supported by some clans.
Under such circumstances, Emperor Xianwen began to suspect the ministers around him, and he could only use his own empress Li's relatives to cultivate them into his own confidants:
Xin Ugly, with Li Hui the Duke of Nan Commandery as the Grand General of Zhengnan, Yi Tong Sansi, DuDu Guan Right Military, yongzhou assassin history, Jin Jue as king.
However, such an approach would obviously make the other clan ministers further away from him, which made Emperor Xianwen's power in the court weaker and weaker. Under such circumstances, Emperor Xianwen put forward the idea of Chan's own uncle Tuoba Zitui, and judging from his continued political enthusiasm after Emperor Xiaowen of Zen, he only did so because he was inferior in the struggle with Empress Feng, and pinned his hopes on the older clan.
However, qi and the clan office pointed out that the Zen position and the Tuoba Zi Tui were not in line with the ancestral system, and pointed out that they would wholeheartedly assist Emperor Xiaowen, the crown prince, and under pressure, Emperor Xianwen could only continue to zen, but his object became his own young son. Empress Feng also used this incident to pave the way for her second listening.
Northern Wei Xiaowen Emperor Tuoba Hong
Empress Feng, as a prominent figure at the end of the Pingcheng era of Northern Wei, like chang who supported herself to ascend to the throne, had a strong desire for power, and had a profound impact on the direction of the political situation in Northern Wei. However, soon after Empress Feng took power for the first time, she surrendered her power and retired to the deep palace, which may be the embodiment of Empress Feng's political wisdom.
First of all, after she retired to the harem, she was given the custody of Emperor Xiaowen, which allowed her to grasp very important political resources and represent the Northern Wei clan to some extent. Moreover, at that time, the feudal reform of northern Wei was in a critical period, and the interests of the clan were bound to be impacted, and Emperor Xianwen did have a rift with the clan nobles afterwards, so that Empress Feng could naturally reap the benefits of the fisherman.
Moreover, when she lived in the harem, she also cultivated a team of eunuchs loyal to her, which allowed her to have a variety of means to interfere in government affairs. He also tried his best to win over the Northern Wei sect, and finally had more powerful political resources than Emperor Xianwen, which was also the fundamental reason why Emperor Xianwen was forced to take the throne. Her control over Emperor Xiaowen allowed her to become the de facto ruler of Northern Wei and thus fulfill her political ambitions.