Empress Zhang Xianmingsu (unknown name, folk legend has it that Liu E), the third empress of Zhao Heng of the Song Dynasty, the first female protagonist of the Song Dynasty, often called lü hou of Han and hou of Tang, and later generations called her "the talent of Lü Wu, the evil of Lü Wu".
Liu E was an orphan daughter of Shudi, who later became a jingshi and entered the palace of the third prince Zhao Heng (later Song Zhenzong) at the age of fifteen. After Emperor Zhenzong of Song ascended the throne, in the first year of Jingde (1004), Liu E was enfeoffed as a beauty. In the fifth year (1012), he was made empress.
Since the founding of the Song Dynasty, there has been no precedent for the female protagonist to come to the dynasty. In the later period of the Zhenzong Dynasty, Liu E gradually took control of the imperial government, Song Zhenzong was uneasy, and the party headed by the chancellor Kou Zhun did not allow Liu E to monopolize the government, and Liu E formed a foreign dynasty party such as Ding Zhi and Cao Yu, and finally completely defeated the Kou party forces that opposed her dictatorship.
In the first year of Qianxing (1022), Emperor Zhenzong of Song died, and Liu E took the throne. Liu E found the right moment to depose the powerful minister Ding and demote him to Yazhou. Zhao Yuanyu, the most famous of the eight kings of the Zhao royal family (one of the prototypes of the later artistic image "Eight Sages King"), pretended to be crazy in order to avoid Liu E's sharp edge, saying that he was ill. The Song dynasty completely fell into the hands of Liu E.
Liu E's advent to the dynasty, "mighty shock the world." In the second year of Tiansheng (1024), Liu E, dressed in imperial dragon robes, participated in the Canonization Ceremony of the Song Court. [Some courtiers wrote to Liu E to "follow the story of Empress Wu", and Cheng Lin also presented "Wu Hou LinchaoTu", all of which implied that Liu E was called emperor.] Liu E tore apart the song that encouraged her to claim the title of emperor, threw it on the ground, and said, "I don't do this kind of thing that can't stand the ancestors of the Great Song Dynasty!" ”
In March of the second year of the Ming Dynasty (1033), Liu E died, and she was given the title of Empress Zhangxian Mingsu.
Throughout her life, Liu E liked to use imperial costumes, and refused to return the government to Song Renzong until her death, which attracted criticism from the government and the public. After the Song Dynasty, with the wide circulation of literary and artistic works such as "Tanuki Cat for Prince", Liu E was fixed in the folk as a "generation of adulterous concubines" who were narrowly jealous, mutilated Zhongliang, and even tried to rob the Song Dynasty.
When Liu E was a baby, her parents died and she became an orphan and was fostered at her grandmother's house.
However, the life of sending people under the fence to make a living was not good, and she became a singer and married the silversmith Gong Mei at a very young age.
However, the good life expected did not come, the couple still could not open the pot, thinking that the capital was good, maybe there would be a way out, they went to the capital together, did not expect that life was more difficult than in their hometown.
In desperation, he sent Liu E to the Zhao Heng Mansion, who was still the crown prince, and began the court life from then on, escalating all the way to the position of empress dowager.
In the third year of Tianxi, Zhao Heng was often ill and unable to deal with major state affairs, which gave Liu E the opportunity to get involved in the government of the dynasty. During Zhao Heng's illness, he gradually controlled the government of the dynasty, suppressed and dealt with the ministers who opposed him, Kou Zhun, Ding Zhi, and others, and began to make a claim to the dynasty.
Linchao has been in power for many years, even wearing the dragon robe, and the last step of ascending the throne has stopped, I think she does not dare.
The reasons are manifold:
First: lessons from the past
Liu E was called "with the talent of Lü Wu and the evil of Lü Wu" by later generations because she did not call the emperor, in fact, it is very telling, the main reason for saying this sentence is that she did not ascend the throne as emperor, not just that she was not cruel and unkind.
Because Wu Zetian claimed that the emperor had killed his relatives and also mutilated many ministers who opposed his claim to the title of emperor, he would do whatever it took to power.
Later generations had a worse evaluation of Lü Wu, and after Lü Hou's death, the chancellor immediately launched a coup d'état to bring all of Lü Hou's clan to justice.
After they die, how will these ministers settle accounts with themselves? It was Wu Zetian's notoriety behind her, and the scolding that gave Liu E a sense of sanity in the power struggle, stopping here.
Second: the opposition is high
The Han and Tang Dynasties did not emphasize literature and light weapons, and the resistance encountered by Lü Wu was still very large, and the civil officials and advisors of the Manchu Dynasty of the Song Dynasty, Liu E, wanted to be called emperor, and the war of words had to be fought, even if they did not kill, they could not all be degraded, so who served the imperial court.
In this case, she had to consider whether these ministers would really be loyal to themselves when they ascended the throne in the face of everyone's opposition, or whether they would still support the new emperor behind their backs like Li Tang's restoration.
Third: foreign forces
Wu Zetian ascended the throne as regent, wu Zetian had a Wu family behind him, the wu family itself was born as a merchant, rich, and later was enthroned as an official, and Wu Zetian had many brothers and sisters, all of which were helpers.
Behind Lü Hou were Lü's relatives, brothers, nephews, brothers-in-law, and brother-in-law, all of whom were officials in the court.
And Liu E, as an orphan girl, only had the brother who her ex-husband recognized as a dry brother, and sealed an official with little power, alone in the army.
Fourth: the issue of inheritance
The most important thing for Liu E is that she has no sons, and Song Renzong is not her biological son, which she has always known.
After Wu Zetian ascended the throne, the imperial succession oscillated between her son and the nephew of the Wu family, and if Liu E ascended the throne, her throne could only be passed to Song Renzong.
The throne she had painstakingly obtained still had to be handed over to someone else, and at this time, she had already controlled the government, wore a dragon robe, and had the same power as the emperor, but it was only one less title, a ceremony.
The author believes that in the face of the opposition of the courtiers, wu Zetian's infamy behind him after he ascended the throne, and the weak Empress Liu, after ascending the throne, she still had to return to the issue of heirs, and she did not dare. Therefore, in order to maintain the dignity and consciousness that a politician should have, she said, "I don't do this kind of thing that is sorry for the ancestors of the Great Song Dynasty"!