As the first and only female emperor in Chinese history, Wu Zetian played a positive role in the development of Tang Dynasty history by inheriting the rule of Zhenguan and opening the Yuan Dynasty.
The reason why she was able to ascend the throne, Wu Zetian not only had extraordinary wisdom, but also was criticized by the ministers because the two brothers Zhang Yizhi and Zhang Changzong eradicated their own grandsons in the political side.
As Wu Zetian's closest and most trusted courtier, Di Renjie once advised Wu Zetian to abstain from color and focus on state affairs. And when Wu Zetian showed him two things, Di Renjie was speechless, and no longer asked about Wu Zetian's private affairs, allowing Wu Zetian to open the harem. So, what are these two things? What happened in between?
Twice entered the palace and ascended to the back seat.
At the age of 14, the young and beautiful Wu Zetian was sent to the palace by his father. As a talented person of Tang Taizong Li Shimin, although Li Shimin did not like Wu Zetian, out of respect for Wu Zetian's father, he still gave him the title of Wu Mei. Wu Zetian was born in Wenshui, Shanxi, and her father, a warrior, was one of the founding fathers of the Tang Dynasty who supported Li Shimin in conquering the Tang Dynasty.
However, Wu Zetian's father was originally a merchant, and in a feudal society with a division of the Shi, peasant, industrial and commercial classes, even though he was later made the governor of Jingzhou by Li Shimin, he was still looked down upon by many readers. Therefore, after Wu Zetian intervened in the palace, because he could not be favored by Li Shimin, coupled with the influence of his life, he was often criticized for his low status. After Li Shimin's death. 26-year-old Wu Zetian, as a concubine who was neither favored nor had children, was sent to Ganye Temple to practice in accordance with the rules of the Tang Dynasty.
The ambitious Wu Zetian was naturally unwilling to spend the rest of his life in the ancient Buddha Qin lantern. Long before leaving the palace, she secretly communicated with Li Zhi, who succeeded Emperor Gaozong of Tang
With a song "Ruyi Niang", Li Zhi welcomed her back to the palace despite the opposition of the courtiers. Returning to the harem was only Wu Zetian's first step, and her next plan was to ascend to the position of empress.
As a woman who entered the palace, she used to be Li Shimin's concubine is a well-known thing, and now being able to return to the palace and be named Zhaoyi is already a great challenge to the feudal etiquette system, how can she sit in the position of empress?
At that time, Emperor Gaozong of Tang Li Zhi was dissatisfied with the growing power of the elder ministers such as Changsun Wuji and Zhu Suiliang in the imperial court, and planned to suppress the Guanlong clique by deposing the queen and replacing Wu Zetian to reverse his unfavorable situation, and Wu Zetian also firmly grasped this opportunity. Bravely took the second step of his career as a ruler.
Second, the empress has raised countless face-to-face teachings over the years
As Li Zhi's empress, Wu Zetian accepted some power for her husband when Li Zhi was ill and could not handle state affairs. In this way, Wu Zetian developed his own power in the imperial court step by step, and was granted the title of Empress of Heaven in the first year of the Shangyuan Dynasty, and ruled jointly with Emperor Li Zhi. This period of history is known as the Two Holy Dynasties.
Even Emperor Xuanzong of Tang Li Zhi was planning to give the throne to Wu Zetian because of Feng Dai, and when Li Zhi died of illness, the crown prince Li Xian took over the emperor's accession to the throne as emperor, and was known as Emperor Zhongzong of Tang. After Li Xian ascended the throne, Wu Zetian also took a back seat and served as the empress dowager in the palace.
Who knew that Li Xian's words made her furious, and in the first year of the Four Saints, Li Xian planned to appoint Wei Xuanzhen, the father of Empress Wei, as a squire and Pei Yan as the prime minister.
Wu Zetian did not agree with Li Xian's decision and stopped it, but Li Xian was angry and said that even if he gave Wei Xuanzhen all the fields, why not do such things. Because of this, Wu Zetian and his ministers deposed Li Xian and became the Prince of Luling, and transferred Li Dan to emperor, known as Emperor Ruizong of Tang.
Later, Li Xian died, and after Li Dan succeeded to the throne, Wu Zetian did not loosen his grip on imperial politics, and developed a political group with samurai as the core. In the first year, under a series of petitions from officials, clansmen, and Taoist priests, Wu Zetian ascended the Tianmen Tower, and Li Danwu's surname was changed to Zhou, opening the career of empress.
During his reign, Wu Zetian worked tirelessly, not only breaking the Turks and recovering Anxi, but also creating a palace test for martial arts, further improving China's imperial examination system. After ascending the throne, Wu Zetian also followed the example of many emperors, opened the harem widely, and raised many faces. In feudal society, women accepted the idea of male superiority and female inferiority from an early age. Wu Zetian's behavior can be described as a great challenge to feudalism, and many ministers have also criticized his behavior.
As a woman, Wu Zetian can sit firmly on the rivers and mountains, not only relying on tough political skills and excellent leadership skills, she said that her strong character is also an important factor in provoking the burden.
In the face of the opposition of the courtiers, he believed that this was his own private matter and would not affect the pilgrimage, so he did not care. During Wu Zetian's reign, there was a minister who won his trust, that is, Detective Di Renjie. Di Ren was an aristocratic and very intelligent from an early age, and under the careful guidance of his family, he became a person of good character and knowledge.
After joining the army, Di Renjie showed extraordinary talent and won praise from many people, and his deeds reached Wu Zetian's ears. Therefore, Wu Zetian declared himself emperor and immediately promoted Di Renjie to prime minister.
This matter got to Wu Zetian's eyes, and he returned Di Renjie's innocence, but it also made him lose his official position as prime minister. As an emperor, Wu Zetian needs the art of checks and balances, and she needs to come to evil people like Junchen to suppress the ministers around her who are not convinced. However, he also knew that Di Renjie was a loyal man, and in order to protect Di Renjie, he demoted him to a local official.
Later, Wu Zetian looked for an opportunity to transfer Di Renjie back to the court, allowing him to serve as the prime minister again, with many privileges. What made the courtiers most envious was that Di Renjie did not have to bow down to Wu Zetian.
Wu Zetian also said that it hurt to see Di Renjie worship him, and you can imagine how much she values Di Renjie. Wu Zetian's harem is full of men with outstanding appearance, it is said that there are more than 3,000 people, and some of these men in the harem rely on Wu Zetian's connivance, act arbitrarily, and even interfere in imperial politics, which makes the officials below dissatisfied, and Wu Zetian is also very insightful.
Among them, the two brothers Zhang Changzong and Zhang Zhi were not only arrogant and domineering, forming a party in the DPRK and China for personal gain, but also making the court a miasma, but also carrying Wu Zetian's own forces behind his back. This made the ministers of the DPRK very dissatisfied with Wu Zetian's behavior of raising his face, but he did not dare to play it.
Di Renjie saw all these in his eyes, he also hated Wu Zetian's face very much, and the chaos of the dynasty, although this matter was considered Wu Zetian's private matter, it had already had a great impact on the imperial court. At the same time, Di Renjie understood that no one dared to speak out against this female emperor, so he forced his head to advise, hoping that Wu Zetian could quit.
Wu Zetian saw the courtier's reaction in his eyes. But he also had no intention of restraining his behavior. It was not until Di Renjie privately advised him that he answered Di Renjie. Wu Zetian did not directly tell Di Renjie the reason, but showed him two things, her hair and teeth.
Wu Zetian was over half a hundred years old at this time, but her hair was black and shiny, there was no trace of white hair, and her teeth were neat and very healthy. After reading it, Di Renjie immediately understood that Wu Zetian was telling her that he did not indulge in lust, and her familiarity was to some extent a help for her good mood and good health. Wu Zetian also explained to Di Renjie that the reason why he endured the absurd behavior of the head of the imperial court was only to let them share the hatred of the descendants of the Li family, after all, the Tang family was still the dynasty of the Li family.
Di Renjie also understood Wu Zetian's painstaking intentions and no longer quarreled with Wu Zetian over the matter of the head on his back. When Wu Zetian died, the two Zhang brothers were also liquidated by Emperor Zhongzong of Tang, which also achieved Wu Zetian's goal of patiently tolerating them. As a famous empress in history, after her death, Wu Zetian did not personally inscribe her tombstone like many emperors, but left a will to erect a wordless monument. Wu Zetian knew that what he did would face the comments of future generations, so it was better to leave a wordless monument than to hype about his historical achievements, and his open-mindedness and broad-mindedness were also very admirable.