In China's long feudal society of more than two thousand years, the imperial throne has been constantly changing, but the only woman who can sit on the dragon chair and give orders is Wu Zetian of the Tang Dynasty. In the nearly fifty years since Wu Zetian's participation in politics and his ascension to the throne, people have been talking endlessly about his merits during his reign. In recent years, historians have launched a heated discussion on this issue.
Should the abolition of the Tang Dynasty be affirmed?
From the empress's participation in politics to the abolition of the Tang Dynasty and the replacement of Zhou as empress, it marked that Wu Zetian had stepped onto the peak of power. Some researchers affirmed her move. They believed that the sons of Emperor Taizong of Tang and Emperor Gaozong were all a group of useless disciples who could not afford to be "Adou". Emperor Gaozong was incompetent, Emperor Zhongzong was faint, and Emperor Ruizong was cowardly. To Emperor Gaozong, even Sima Guang shook his head and said that Emperor Taizong of Tang had established Emperor Gaozong
"Ignorant of Zhizi, pawn of the fainting child".
If it were not for Wu Zetian gradually taking charge of military and political power from 656 AD, with her outstanding talent in the state of public security, the Tang Room would be difficult to preserve, and the people might have suffered even more. Wu Zetian's participation in politics and the abolition of the Tang Dynasty and the reform of the Zhou Dynasty were in line with the trend. What's more, although Wu Zetian claimed the title of emperor and changed the name of the country, she was actually preparing to restore the Tang royal family, according to the following:
(1) Wu Zetian's nephews Wu Chengsi and Wu Sansi, who had repeatedly plotted to become crown princes, were rejected by her and insisted on making her son Li Xian the crown prince as the emperor's heir
(2) Before his death, Wu Zetian decided to be buried with Emperor Gaozong in Qianling after his death, and personally wrote an inscription for Emperor Gaozong.
Those who disagreed believed that Tang Gaozong was not as incompetent as some people said. During his reign, he continued to implement the various systems of the Tang Taizong era, maintaining the national strength without falling, and the social economy also developed to a certain extent. The contradiction between the Wu clique and the Tang royal family is only an open struggle between the two ruling groups for supreme power, and it is an exposure of Wu Zetian's personal ambitions and desire for power, which has neither any progressive significance, nor does it contain the content of reform and counter-reform.
Is employing people better or worse?
One opinion holds that Wu Zetian is clever in employing people. She adopted methods such as "self-promotion", "martial lifting", and "testing officials" to select talents and recruit talents. Regardless of the origin of his door valve, as long as he is a certain person, he can be entrusted with a heavy responsibility. After her discovery and promotion and appointment, such as Yao Yuanchong, Di Renjie, Wei Yuanzhong, etc., who were rich in political ability among the civil servants; Among the military generals were Pei Xingjian and Liu Renluo, who were good at unifying the army and government and resourceful; There are also outspoken Li Zhaode, Wang Jishan, Xu Yougong and so on.
Another view is that Wu Zetian is nepotistic and reuses Zhu Wu for his sake
"Brother Wenchang Zuo Xiangcheng was made the King of Wei, Tianguan Shangshu Sansi was the King of Liang, and his cousin Yizong and twelve others were made the king of the county."
There are no outstanding talents among the various martial artists, but they are reused because of blood relations. On the contrary, a talented and capable person like Chen Ziang, in the end, because he did not have a relative, the official was not enough to join the army of the right guard Cao Cao (正八品下).
There is also an opinion that in order to eliminate dissidents and deal with many political enemies, Wu Zetian did not hesitate to use cool officials, such as lai junchen, Wan Guojun, and Suo Yuanli, who were accustomed to false accusations and attacks, and so on, and were repeatedly promoted.
What is the impact on social production?
Some commentators believe that Wu Zetian inherited the principles of the early Tang Dynasty that "the country is based on the people, and the people are fed for their lives" and "the province is forced to serve and not seize the time", and implemented some measures conducive to the people's livelihood of An Zhao and the development of social production. For example, in the "Twelve Matters of Suggestions", "persuade Nongsang, the province gives encouragement" in the first place, and also "kisses silkworms" several times to show encouragement to Nongsang. She also vigorously promoted Tun Tian. According to the Tang Huijiao, before Wu Zetian came to power, there were only 3.8 million households in the country, and by the time of her death, it had increased to 6.5 million households, indicating that social production at that time had indeed developed.
According to another opinion, although Wu Zetian had issued an edict attaching importance to agricultural production, no effective measures had been taken to put it into practice. During her more than twenty years as emperor, she focused her main energy on killing dissidents and engaging in superstitious activities, which intensified social contradictions and delayed social and economic development. At that time, The Prime Minister Zhu Jing once exclaimed:
"Fang Jin's enlistment is heavy, and the people are sculpting evil."
Summary: What is intriguing is that perhaps Wu Zetian had expected that the evaluation of her life would become a historical public case, so she ingeniously insisted on erecting a "wordless monument" without an inscription in front of her tomb, and let future generations make fair comments.