Wu Zetian once said: "It is not conducive to degeneration, and degeneration can kill it." "Since Empress Wu Zetian ascended to the throne, the courtiers who posed a threat to her have been repeatedly punished. Prime Minister Pei Yan was even beheaded because of the word "green goose", which caused hundreds of officials to be extremely confused.
In the feudal context, imperial power was supreme, and the emperor also attached great importance to his own power. After all, everyone is eager for power, and if they cannot stabilize the political power in their hands, it will lead to a corresponding threat to their own lives and safety.
In the course of thousands of years of feudal history, countless courtiers were executed for treason. Once, a prime minister during the Tang Dynasty was beheaded for writing the word "green goose". At first, the chancellor thought that Wu Zetian's act of killing the prime minister was too reckless, but Wu Zetian said that if the word "green goose" was taken apart, he could understand the real reason why this official was beheaded. Who was this official who was beheaded for writing the word "green goose"? Behind the "green goose", what is the connotation?
Through relevant historical records, it can be seen that when he first entered the harem, Wu Zetian was young and lively, beautiful in appearance, and from a good birth, and should have been favored by Li Shimin, but for Li Shimin at that time, he was intoxicated with state politics and did not have too much concern about the affairs of the harem, which also made Wu Zetian not get too much care from Li Shimin.
For a harem marginal person like Wu Zetian, when Li Shimin died, she could not escape the fate of being sent out of the family. But the ambitious Wu Zetian was not willing to let his fate stop here. During Li Shimin's reign, Wu Zetian secretly interacted with Li Zhi, the son of Li Shimin, and during this period, Li Zhi had ambiguous feelings for Wu Zetian, which also made Li Zhi ascend to the throne, and then he took Wu Zetian back to the harem from the Ganye Temple and accepted him as his concubine.
Although during this time, many ministers of the DPRK and China opposed Li Zhi's decision, Li Zhi did not care, but insisted on staying with Wu Zetian. Based on Li Zhi's trust and connivance with Wu Zetian, in the days that followed, Wu Zetian even began to participate in the government of the dynasty, and was given the opportunity to rule the country together with Li Zhi.
It was Li Zhi's indulgence that caused Wu Zetian's ambitions to become more and more inflated.
When Li Zhi died, Wu Zetian began to conspire to ascend the throne, and successfully seized the throne from his son, becoming a generation of empresses.
When Wu Zetian took control of the imperial government, Pei Yan was once awarded the title of Yongqing County Man for his merits in making decisions
。 Later, when Wu Zetian intended to posthumously crown his ancestor as king, Pei Yan came out to oppose it. During this period, the relationship between Pei Yan and Wu Zetian was negatively affected. After that, the Wu clan planned to advise Wu Zetian to kill the King of Han, King Lu and others in order to ensure that the status of the Wu family was not threatened, but Pei Yan was firmly opposed to this
Based on his dissatisfaction with Wu Zetian, Pei Yan planned to take advantage of Wu Zetian's trip to Longmen and kidnap her by force to return the throne to Tang Ruizong. However, due to heavy rain for several days, Wu Zetian canceled his travels, which also made Pei Yan's plan to force Wu Zetian by force to be successfully implemented.
Despite this, Pei Yan did not intend to give up.
After that, Pei Yan planned to unite with Li Jingye and other forces against Wu Zetian. Once, Pei Yan sent a messenger from his home to send a secret letter to others, but Wu Zetian's men successfully intercepted the secret letter.
When this secret letter was handed over to Wu Zetian, she
It was found that only the word "green goose" was written in the secret letter
This also made those present feel confused.
But after some research,
However, Wu Zetian directly ordered Pei Yan to be beheaded and destroyed.
In the eyes of many ministers, Wu Zetian's decision was too decisive, after all, Pei Yan's letter only contained the word "green goose", and it was not clear what Pei Yan's intentions were.
In the face of the ministers' questions, Wu Zetian explained,
When you take the word "green goose" apart, it means "December, I, self, and." Translating this sentence into the vernacular shows that Pei Yan intends to completely overthrow Wu Zetian in December, jointly with Li Jingye and others.
Through Wu Zetian's acquaintance, the chancellor of the DPRK also understood the reason why Wu Zetian executed Pei Yan. It can be seen that the reason why Wu Zetian was able to ascend to the throne smoothly was inseparable from his own decisive character.
epilogue
Although many people have the inherent impression that women are the representatives of delicacy, Wu Zetian's life experience proves to the world that women also have great ambitions and lofty ideals.
In the process of judging Wu Zetian by later generations, there were many negative evaluations, but without the emergence of Wu Zetian, it is not yet known whether the development level of ancient mainland society could reach such a height.
It can be seen that in the process of judging historical figures, we should also comprehensively analyze the problems and avoid making wrong judgments about historical figures due to personal likes and dislikes. Only a correct understanding of history can help us learn the corresponding experiences and lessons and avoid making the same mistakes in the process of future social development.
Reference: New Book of Tang