In ancient China, there were many women who stood at the peak of power, they were in the feudal society where men dominated the right to speak, but they were unwilling to be vassals and showed the style of women.
When it comes to these powerful women, I believe that many people will first think of Wu Zetian, the only female emperor in the past five thousand years, who founded the Wuzhou Dynasty and opened an era of women as supreme rulers.
After Wu Zetian, many women in the palace rushed to follow suit, but no one was able to replicate her success.
For example, shortly after Wu Zetian's death, Emperor Zhongzong of Tang's empress Wei Shi had plotted to establish a new dynasty, and for this reason, she also poisoned Emperor Zhongzong, who loved her very much. After poisoning Emperor Zhongzong, Wei Shi thought that everything was fine, but before he could make plans for his ascension to the throne, Li Longji launched the Tang Long coup d'état and overthrew Wei Shi.
In the early years of the Northern Song Dynasty, another woman who had the opportunity to achieve Wu Zetian's achievements appeared, she was the empress dowager Liu E, but she also failed to ascend to the throne. So, why did Liu E, who monopolized power and had no political enemies, fail to become the second Wu Zetian?
In the second year of the Northern Song Dynasty (969), Liu E was born in Huayang, Yizhou, in the area of present-day Chengdu, Sichuan. Shortly after she was born, her parents died one after another, "in swaddling and lonely", the experience of being forced to send people to the fence exercised Liu E's heart and made her have a stronger heart. In order to make a living, Liu E grew up to become a singer and married a silversmith named Gong Mei.
Not long after the stable life, Gong Mei was ready to sell Liu E because her own livelihood was also difficult.
The commander in the palace of Zhao Heng, the King of Xiang, made Zhang Qi meet Liu E by chance and think that she was indeed talented and beautiful, so he told the prince the news. After Zhao Heng heard about it, he asked Zhang Qi to take her into the palace and loved her very much.
Later, Zhao Heng was made crown prince and ascended the throne after Emperor Taizong's death, in favor of Emperor Zhenzong of Song, while Liu E, because of her lowly birth, did not get a position among the concubines. Seven years after entering the palace, in the first year of Jingde (1004), Liu Ecai was finally named a beauty and ranked fourth.
Although Emperor Taizong had previously personally designated Guo shi as the queen for Zhenzong, in Zhenzong's mind, the most loved Liu E was Liu E, so Liu E was not only promoted to Xiu Yi and De Concubine one after another, but also almost replaced her after Empress Guo's death and became the new Lady of the Palace.
In the third year of Dazhongxiangfu (1010), Emperor Zhenzong accidentally gave birth to his first crown prince, but Emperor Zhenzong, in order to find an excuse to establish Liu E as the queen, acquiesced to Liu E's possession of this prince, claiming that he was born to the outside world.
With the chip of the crown prince, Liu E soon became an empress in a justified manner, and according to historical records, when Zhenzong handled government affairs, Liu E was always with her, and she was respectful and respectful, and she was trusted by the emperor. ''
Later, Emperor Zhenzong gradually became weak and sickly, and Liu E began to interfere more and more in the affairs of the palace, and by the time Of Emperor Zhenzong's death in the first year of Qianxing (1022), he left a testament saying: "'Empress Dowager Zun is the empress dowager, the military state is a serious matter, and the power is punished'"
This edict means that Liu E became the first empress dowager of the Song Dynasty, enjoying the highest power, and after that, above the court, Shi Zai: "The emperor is left, the empress dowager is right, and the curtain is decided." ''
In the second year of Tiansheng (1024), Liu E also "wore the Heavenly Crown and Gong Dress", that is, wore the imperial dress, and accepted the honorific title of "Ying Yuan Chongde Renshou Ci Sheng Empress" by Emperor Renzong and his ministers.
Seeing that Liu E's power was already supreme inside and outside the government and the public, some speculators wanted to mix up the merits of the establishment, such as a small official named Fang Zhonggong, who wrote to ask Liu E to emulate Wu Zetian's old affairs, that is, to ascend the throne as emperor, in addition, Cheng Lin of The Kaifeng Province also presented a "Map of Wu Hou Lin dynasty" to express his support for Liu E's claim to the throne. In the face of the minister's persuasion, Liu E's reaction was to throw his book to the ground: "I will not do this to the ancestors. '''
It can be seen that Liu E did not become the second Wu Zetian, and the first reason may be that she cared about the former emperors of the Song Dynasty and did not want to live up to her ancestors.
The second reason, the author believes, may be that her deep feelings for Song Zhenzong made it impossible for her to seize his power. As mentioned above, Song Zhenzong treated Liu E wholeheartedly, which was not easy for a feudal emperor, and Liu E may have remembered this relationship and was afraid of facing this man who loved him deeply under the Nine Springs, so he restrained his desire for power.
The third reason, and the most important one that the author believes, is that Liu E did not have the corresponding conditions at that time.
The reason why Wu Zetian was able to ascend the throne and become emperor was because of his huge power and gradually accumulated prestige in the middle of the dynasty for many years, and although Liu E also had supporters of the emperor, most of them were insignificant petty officials, and without the support of strong reinforcements, they would quickly lead to failure like Wei Hou, which Liu E did not want to see.
In addition, in the future, the famous minister Fu Bi also wrote in his letter to Song Renzong: "Those who zhuang xian did not dare to carry out the story of the martial queen, he relied on the rescue of the first and second loyal subjects, so that Zhuang Xian could not indulge his desires, his majesty could protect his position, and the strength of the loyal subjects was also." ''
It can be seen that the unanimous opposition of the ministers was an important factor that led to Liu E's lack of support and resistance exerted by the ministers, and it can be said that Liu E was 'a thief with a heart and not a thief'.