690 AD
Wu Zetian was called emperor: the first female emperor of the world
In September 690, Wu Zetian changed tang to Zhou. In the divine capital Luoyang, Tianmen ascended the throne, changed the Yuan Heavenly Gift, and honored him as the Holy Spirit Emperor.
In ancient Chinese patriarchal society, women's participation in politics has been controversial for generations. Therefore, Wu Zetian was brave to brave the world, and the road to the throne was extremely difficult. So, why did Wu Zetian have to fight all his life and risk his life to ascend to the throne of God? Is it just because she's so powerful?
Perhaps this is not the case, Wu Zetian is also "forced by the situation". First of all, for Wu Zetian, she did not lack power. Before she became emperor, she had been called "Two Saints" with her husband. During Emperor Gaozong's illness, she was also involved in imperial affairs. Later generations will always criticize the power of the courtiers, the monopoly of foreign relatives, and the bad government of eunuchs. Wouldn't it be safer to put aside prejudices against women when the emperor was ill?
After the death of Emperor Gaozong of Tang, his will also clearly mentioned that "there are those who cannot adjudicate major affairs of the military state, and it is up to the Wu clan to decide." Wu Zetian, who accompanied Emperor Gaozong of Tang day and night, may be the one who can better consider Jiangshan from the perspective of the entire imperial family, and also the person who is more familiar with and more capable of handling the government of the dynasty. What's more, she was 67 years old when she called the emperor. Compared with the 15 years she was emperor, she was empress and empress for a total of 41 years. If you want to be emperor, why do you have to wait until such an advanced age?
Therefore, what Wu Zetian lacks has never been power, and therefore will not be at the mercy of power.
Secondly, Wu Zetian truly loved Emperor Gaozong of Tang. What she wanted was a stable Tang Empire, so that her husband's empire could continue to be stable and sustainable. But the death of her husband left her with an unstable empire: heirs were too unreliable. Crown Prince Li Xian took the throne four days after Emperor Gaozong's death and became Emperor Zhongzong of Tang. Compared with the old Wu Zetian, although Li Xian was 28 years old at this time, he was closer to a political amateur. Otherwise, how could he say in a dignified manner, "Even if you give the whole world to Wei Xuanzhen, why can't you?" Still care about a waiter? Such words without political wisdom.
Li Xian's thinking was too simple, although he was vacated by Wu Zetian, he intended to rely on his foreign relative Wei Shi to regain his power. But Li Xian did not think that if he succeeded, would he have the ability to regain power from his foreign relatives? Is he capable of overthrowing his mother Wu Zetian? I can't understand these two points, what ability does he have to govern the country?
As a result, Emperor Zhongzong Li Xian was deposed by Wu Zetian and made Li Dan emperor and Emperor Ruizong of Tang. However, when people look back at history, the label given to Li Dan is only two times the title of emperor and two degrees of Zen. Twice the emperor relied on others, and naturally the two degrees of Zen were also forced. Such a weak and incompetent emperor, how could Wu Zetian safely hand over the Li Tang Dynasty to him?
In the end, Wu Zetian was forced to claim the title of emperor by the situation, but such a situation also had the factor of her efforts. After all, in a male society, it is too difficult to accept a female leader. As a mature politician, Wu Zetian must be well versed in this way. So she did her homework in both aspects and let the "situation" become her assistant. On the one hand, she is ready for public opinion. Two years before she became emperor, in 688, she secretly sent her nephew Wu Chengsi to make a "Rui Stone" with the words "Our Lady of Linren, Yongchang Emperor", which she claimed to have found in Luoshui. After Wu Zetian got this stone, he made a big fuss, and first ordered his stone to be called "Treasure Map". After that, he issued an edict to kiss Bailuoshui and accept the heavenly discipleship. Then he went to worship the heavens... A whole set of tricks of "Great Chu Xing Chen Sheng Wang" was packaged with a grand ceremony to make the final propaganda for the title of emperor.
She also vigorously promoted Buddhism and used buddhism to provide the basis for her legitimacy. A few months before she became emperor, she asked the monk Fa Ming and others to write four volumes of the Great Cloud Sutra, saying that Wu Zetian was the incarnation of Maitreya Bodhisattva and should be the master of the world.
On the other hand, she must have a ruling achievement, and controlling talents is the top priority. To this end, she further developed the imperial examination system that began in the Sui Dynasty. During the Zhenguan period, a total of 205 jinshi were admitted, and during the reign of Emperor Gaozong and Wu Zetian, more than 1,000 people were admitted. Wu Zetian also invented the "temple test", which selects talents regardless of origin. This set of operations has indeed won the hearts of the world's sons. Therefore, some people believe that instead of repaying the faint male emperor, it is better to be loyal to the wise female emperor.
Conclusion: Wu Zetian's title of emperor cannot simply be called due to the desire for power, but the situation. Under the rule of Wu Zetian, the country developed steadily and dealt a heavy blow to the former "Guanlong clique".
692 AD
Wang Junjie broke tubo: the recovery of the four towns of Anxi
In 692, Empress Wu Zetian appointed the Tang general Wang Xiaojie as the commander-in-chief of the march to lead the western expedition, and Wang Xiaojie lived up to expectations, broke the Tubo army, recovered the four towns of Anxi occupied by Tubo, and re-established military and political authority in the western region.
After Wu Zetian quelled the rebellion of Xu Jingye, who supported Li Tang, in order to stabilize the hearts of the border army, he proposed that the rule of the Ming Dynasty should be based on the practice of benevolence and righteousness rather than the expansion of territory. Therefore, she ordered the reduction of the strength of the four towns of Anxi that were guarding the western region, and a large number of defenders withdrew from the four towns of Anxi. However, her withdrawal from reality did not bring peace and stability, but rather caused the power of the four towns of Anxi to be empty. As soon as the Tang army's border guards withdrew on their front feet, the Tubo army, which was eyeing the tigers in the western region, took advantage of the situation and took the four towns of Anxi.
Wu Zetian saw the Tubo forces infiltrating the Anxi region and was not willing to let the four towns of Anxi fall into the hands of the enemy, but she had just said that to deal with the relations between the surrounding ethnic groups, she was embarrassed to immediately renege on her word, so she ordered the leader of the Western Turkic tribes who was dependent on the Tang Dynasty, Hu Serro, to go on a campaign. Husseluo had previously been invaded by Tubo and had no choice but to submit to the Tang Dynasty, and with the opportunity to lead an army to the west and recover his homeland, he gladly led the order to launch an attack on the Tubo army north of the Tianshan Mountains. However, Husserow's strength was limited, and he was instead beaten by the Tubo army.
After the defeat of the great war, although Wu Zetian was anxious, he realized that the Tubo army was strong and did not dare to rush to send troops. She believes that the internal situation of the barbarians is unstable, so she wants to wait for the opportunity to wait for the political situation in Tibet itself to change, and then send troops to deal a complete blow to it. And this timing did not make Wu Zetian wait too long. After the death of the old chief of Tubo, the new regent Zampu was young, and the ruling Gar family controlled the government, and the young new Zampu became increasingly dissatisfied with the Gar family. In order to stabilize the internal political situation, the Gar family allowed the Tubo troops stationed in the Anxi region to be transferred back to Tubo one after another. Wu Zetian thought that the opportunity to strike at Tubo had arrived.
She saw the situation and wanted to attack while the Tubo forces were weak. But a thousand armies are easy to obtain, and one will be difficult to find, so who will be sent to fight this battle? After thinking about it, Wu Zetian decided to appoint the general Wang Xiaojie to lead the army on the expedition. Wang Xiaojie was chosen because of his legendary personal experience, and Wang Xiaojie participated in the Tang Dynasty and tubo battles as deputy governors during the reign of Emperor Gaozong. Due to the improper cooperation of the Tang generals, the Tang army was defeated, and Wang Xiaojie was also captured by Tubo. I was originally imprisoned to be executed, but I didn't expect that after seeing Wang Xiaojie's face by the Tubo king Mangsong Mangzan, I couldn't help but cry in pain, "Your appearance is really similar to my father who died!" In this way, instead of killing Wang Xiaojie, the Tubo King took good care of him, and later Wang Xiaojie returned to the Central Plains after many hardships.
Wang Xiaojie, who had lived in Tubo for many years, was well aware of the enemy's situation, and he was also a general who had been in battle for a long time, so Wu Zetian decided that Wang Xiaojie would be able to lead his army to defeat the enemy and retake the four towns of Anxi. In order to win the victory as soon as possible, Wu Zetian also equipped Wang Xiaojie with two assistants, one was Tingzhou Assassin Shi Tang Xiujing, who was quite familiar with the terrain of the Western Regions, and the other was Ashina Zhongjie, who was a Turk, but finally the imperial court, he had lived in the Western Regions for a long time, with a large number of elite Hu soldiers in his hands.
Wang Xiaojie's army came prepared, and in the battle with the Tubo defenders, the situation soon showed a one-sided situation, and the weak Tubo army could not resist the Attack of the Tang Army, and the Tang Army finally won the victory, and Wang Xiaojie recaptured the four towns of Anxi.
After the great victory, Wang Xiaojie's division returned to the Dynasty, and in order to ensure the Tang Dynasty's firm control over the Anxi region, Wang Xiaojie proposed to Wu Zetian that he should garrison Ansi with heavy troops, and the reason why Anxi was occupied by Tubo before was because the imperial court did not have heavy troops in the western region. Wu Zetian gladly accepted Wang Xiaojie's advice, and she ordered an army of 30,000 to go to Anxi and stay in this area for a long time. In this way, the Tang Dynasty's border defense system in the western region was restored and consolidated, and Tubo's coveting of Anxi came to a temporary end.
In 697, when the Khitan invaded Hebei, Wang Xiaojie served as the commander-in-chief of the Qingbian Road march, led an army against the Khitan Khan Sun Wanrong, and died on the battlefield.
Conclusion: Wang Xiaojie broke through Tubo and revived the Tang Dynasty's military and political system in the Anxi region, and the Tang Dynasty's border defense system in the western region was restored and consolidated, laying a solid foundation for the Tang Dynasty's border stability and internal prosperity.
The Tang Dynasty had 570,000 elites and 87 million people, so why couldn't it beat the Tubo with a population of three million?