In ancient times, Wu Zetian was called emperor, but this is also the only one in history, so since Wu Zetian, there has not been a female emperor? The common explanation for this problem in feudal society is:
"Women ascending the throne is stealing men's rights!" When the female emperor ascends the throne, the entire dynasty will only be disturbed. Therefore, since the Tang Dynasty, people have thought that it is a great fortune in the world not to have a female emperor! ”
Of course, this statement is under the premise of "patriarchal society", if this premise is abandoned, then will it be difficult for the female emperor to rule the world? Probably not. If you don't believe me, we may wish to look at the experience of this woman, who is the Empress Liu E of the Great Song Dynasty, a legendary female figure.
Image: Stills of Empress Liu E of the Great Song Dynasty
First, break into high society from the bottom
1.
Liu E
Of life
Not long after Liu E was born, her parents died, so Liu E lived with her grandmother Pang. In ancient times, women were married at a very young age, and so was Liu E, who married the silversmith Gong Mei in her teens.
In order to make a living, Liu E went to the capital city of Kaifeng with her husband, and it is recorded in the historical records that Liu E was good at playing with rattles, which shows that liu e also made a living selling art in Kaifeng, and her life was more difficult.
Image: Stills from selling art for a living
2.
A turning point in life
Zhao Heng, the True Emperor of Song, was the King of Xiang before he succeeded to the throne, and he was more fond of Sichuan women and always wanted to marry a beautiful Sichuan woman. Coincidentally, Zhao Heng had a subordinate named Zhang Qi who heard that there was a beautiful woman selling art in Kaifeng, who came from Sichuan. Therefore, under persuasion, Liu E married into the Xiang King's Mansion. In today's words, it is said that "a poor woman marries into a rich family, and she does not have to worry about eating and drinking in this life."
Liu E is beautiful and gets along well with Zhao Heng, and the two are very affectionate, but,
After all, Liu E was a "remarried" woman, and she was also a woman from a poor family, so Zhao Heng's nursing mother sued Song Taizong on this reason, hoping to drive Liu E away.
After Song Taizong listened, his heart was very unhappy, the grand prince, when he was looking for a woman who was the right door, how could he find a poor woman who remarried from the people?
Photo: Stills of Liu E and Zhao Heng getting along
Emperor Taizong of Song ordered Zhao Heng to drive Liu E out of the capital, and although Zhao Heng did not give up, he did not dare to disobey the emperor's orders. However, Zhao Heng did not want to miss the beauty, but thought of a way to hide Liu E in Zhang Qi's residence, and in this way, this "underground love" lasted for fifteen years.
After the death of Emperor Taizong of Song, Zhao Heng ascended the throne for Emperor Zhenzong of Song. At this time, Song Zhenzong deeply loved Liu E, and did not appear to like the new and dislike the old. Liu E was also accepted into the imperial palace and was given the title of "Beauty". At this time, Liu E was thirty-six years old, and her posture was no longer the same as before. And the emperor has so many women, if he only serves people with posture, there is absolutely no possibility of victory, of course, Liu E does not intend to rely on this hand.
In the past fifteen years, although I have lived a "secluded" life,
But Liu E did not let herself idle, but read a lot of books to enrich herself, in addition, Liu E also learned piano, chess, calligraphy and painting, like a charming talented girl.
Image: Stills of learning to play the piano
3.
Queen's Road
In 1007, when Emperor Renzong of Song's first empress, Guo Shi, died, Emperor Zhenzong of Song had the intention of making Liu E empress, but this proposal was immediately opposed by his courtiers. The minister's meaning is obvious,
"Although Liu E is talented and has the style of a mother, her birth is cold and humble, and she is not suitable for the position of empress."
Two years later, Song Zhenzong's concubine Li Shi gave birth, and in order to make his idea a reality, Song Zhenzong declared that it was conceived and born by Liu E, and this child was the later Song Renzong Zhao Zhen, "mother by son gui", and in December of this year, Liu E was also crowned empress.
It can be seen that Song Zhenzong was also an infatuated emperor, and in order to establish Liu E as the queen, he tried his best.
Image: Stills of Concubine Lee's childbirth
Although Liu E was crowned empress, the "inferiority complex" in her heart did not fade, she was questioned along the way, and her life also made her feel a great sense of inferiority in her heart. In order to break the status quo, Liu E took the initiative to make friends with the Officials of the Liu Clan in the DPRK, and joked that if she could borrow the family tree to see, maybe we still have relatives? In doing so, Liu E's intention was nothing more than to change the perception of the Officials of the DPRK and China on her and to be closer to her.
Unexpectedly, most of those Liu ministers ignored her and replied coldly: "Don't dare." Although the mouth is not dare, but the heart is "disdain", poor birth, even if he becomes an empress, he cannot change his humble birth.
These officials all believed that Liu E, who came from the bottom, became the empress of the Great Song Dynasty, which was the shame of the Great Song!
Photo: Stills of Dprk and Chinese officials
Second, the legendary life path
1. Wisdom Fighting Kou Zhun
Liu E was not only deeply favored by Song Zhenzong, but also extremely trustworthy, and when she encountered troubles in political affairs, Song Zhenzong would confide in Liu E, and Liu E would also have some constructive proposals, and liu E became Song Zhenzong's political right-hand man.
Later, when Song Zhenzong approved the chancellor's recital, Liu E also accompanied him.
This caused dissatisfaction among many ministers, and "women's participation in politics" was the beginning of the dynasty's destruction.
In this regard, Liu E also felt a sense of crisis, if she did not pull up a group of her own forces, then she would be beaten by this group of ministers.
Image: Stills of the Folding Recital
In 1020, Song Zhenzong was seriously ill and could not handle the government, so he handed over all the folds to Liu E for approval, which showed that Song Zhenzong did not have the slightest doubt about Liu E, and later issued an edict that "Crown Prince Zhao Zhen listens to the government, and Liu E assists the government" .
In this way, Liu E has gone from "giving advice" before to "making decisions and giving orders" today.
After a long time, Song Zhenzong also felt a crisis, believing that continuing to indulge Liu E might threaten the Great Song Dynasty, so Song Zhenzong secretly consulted with Zhou Huaizheng to let the "prince oversee the country", and then Zhou Huaizheng consulted with Kou Zhun.
However, the matter was eventually leaked, and Liu E immediately made countermeasures and removed Kou From the position of prime minister. Zhou Huai saw the situation and wanted to directly rebel and depose Liu E as empress. However, Liu E is also a political strongman, relying on various means to suppress this group of people who want to rebel. Afterwards, Kou Zhun was demoted from the capital.
Photo: Stills of Liu E's auxiliary government
He holds great power but is not called emperor
Liu E listened to the government for eleven years, during which time she made many contributions to the Great Song Dynasty, such as "ending the dispute between friends" and "making friends with the world", in short, the Northern Song Dynasty was relatively prosperous during this period.
Seeing this, you may have a question, why does Liu E hold great power and is also loved by the people, why did she not ascend the throne as emperor like Wu Zetian?
In fact, Liu E was not without this idea, but she did not take that step. Her life was so full of reliance on Song Zhenzong, that is to say, if there was no Song Zhenzong, there would be no Liu E today, and if she personally seized the Zhao Family's Jiangshan, she would definitely be ashamed! Therefore, Liu E has always adhered to the bottom line and has not taken this step.
Photo: Stills of Liu E holding the power
3. Summary
The Song Dynasty was not only Liu E, the empress dowager who listened to the government, there were five in total, and Liu E was only the one who set the precedent! When Liu E came to power, she did not let Song Renzong get rid of politics, but carefully taught him how to handle political affairs. Because of this, Song Renzong became the emperor with the best reputation in the Great Song Dynasty, which was also inseparable from Liu E's teaching.
For the Great Song, Liu E is undoubtedly a hero! However, the evaluation of her by later generations is not high, why is this? It can only be said that this is a historical injustice: the more women, as a weak group in ancient times, wanted to create a merit, the greater the constraints! Even if you have achieved something, you will not get too high a rating.
Article author: Dahui
The entire graphic was produced by the team of the Big Cafe Say History Studio!