Wu Zetian's life's exploits have always been controversial in the world, and her path to imperial power is full of killing and bloodshed, and even her own evaluation of herself is full of uncertainty, so after her death, she left a wordless monument to leave her merits to later generations to evaluate.
There is a lot of history about wu zetian's negativity, such as raising male pets, appointing cool officials, and mutilating the Li royal family. However, it is undeniable that Wu Zetian was a very accomplished emperor, and during her reign, she effectively maintained social stability, so that the social economy continued to develop on the basis of the "rule of Zhenguan", laying the foundation for the later peak of the Tang Dynasty. Wu Zetian's most beautiful exploit was overshadowed by her violent killing, that is, pointing a butcher's knife at the noble door valve.
The prosperity of ancient aristocratic families
When it comes to the word "nobility", the Chinese people will always think of the so-called gentlemen of the "nobility" in the Western world, and never think of the Chinese nobility, as if even the word "noble" is an imported product, in fact, China has an aristocratic era, and the time span is very long.
From the beginning of the Spring and Autumn Warring States to the Sui and Tang Dynasties, the Spring and Autumn Period to the Qin and Han Dynasties is the classical aristocratic period, and from the Han Dynasty to the Sui and Tang Dynasties is called the "CountyWang Identity System" period, although the name has been changed, it is actually just a change of the name of the nobility, in essence, the aristocratic class occupies an important position in the country, and the nobility controls the society. No matter where in the world, aristocratic politics means corruption, and China's aristocratic politics flourished especially in the Eastern Jin Dynasty, when the country's political economy was completely monopolized by several large families. The ascending passage of the cold disciples has been blocked, so that the development of society has been restricted.
The appointment of officials was only concerned with family background, and as a result, the entire imperial court was filled with relatives and friends of the family clan, and the influence of the door valve family was increasing. This led not only to the threat of imperial power by the door valve, but also to the social resources being controlled by the door valve. The gap in social poverty is also getting bigger and bigger, and the social contradictions are also getting bigger and bigger.
In the Sui and Tang dynasties, at this time, among all the door valve families, the five surnames and seven wangs were the most important. Before the examination system was carried forward and perfected, the door valve family almost mastered all the resources of society, and it was still the case in the Tang Dynasty, and even in the early Tang Dynasty, the social status of the door valve family was more honorable than that of the royal family, and there would be Li Shimin's children who wanted to ask for relatives from some ancient door valves, and they would also be disliked by the door valves.
The existence of the Gate Valve Family cut off the ascending passage of the commoners, so that they also lost the motivation to struggle, but they did not have much way to change their situation. After all, social resources were all in the hands of the nobility. Aristocratic politics has become the greatest obstacle to the development of the country and must be suppressed through brutal political struggles and wars.
Wu Zetian's target
Wu Zetian was born into a merchant family, the most inferior class of merchants at that time, although her father Wu Shiyan was also the founding hero of the Tang Dynasty, and was also designated by Li Yuanqin, the emperor of Tang Gaozu, as one of the seventeen heroes of Taiyuan, but even after being knighted, he was always excluded by other door valve nobles in the imperial court.
If Wu Zetian only wants to be a concubine, it doesn't matter, but she wants to be an emperor, on the way to becoming an emperor, it is inevitable to play games with these powerful nobles, and at this time, the biggest force in the imperial court is the Guanlong aristocratic group, the so-called "Guanlong nobles" is not a traditional aristocratic family, but a collection of several door valve families, they are mostly Sinicized Xianbei people, there are also Han people who combine with Xianbei people.
In essence, they all belong to a family that started with a monopoly regime by force. In the early days of Wu Zetian's high-level political struggle, the leader of this group at this time was Li Shimin's brother-in-law, Changsun Wuji. It can be said that Wu Zetian has been fighting with this force all his life.
She moved the capital to Luoyang, just to move the political center away from the sphere of influence of the Guanlong nobles, and later supported the Lunan family, vigorously promoted the hanmen disciples through the imperial examination system, under the continuous suppression and bloody cleanup during the reign of Wu Zetian, the Guanlong aristocratic family group began to collapse, and finally after the baptism of the war at the end of the Tang Dynasty and the war of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms, the door valve forces that lasted in ancient times until the Sui and Tang dynasties really disintegrated, and from the Song Dynasty onwards, our country entered the civilian society.
Therefore, although Wu Zetian's means of cleaning up the door valves were bloody and their purpose was also for his own political interests, it was undeniable that his role in cracking down on the disintegration of the door valve aristocratic class was very positive for social development.