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Wu Zetian, the empress who has experienced ups and downs in her life and rose in the struggle for power.
She is rumored to be the first female emperor in the ages, surpassing countless male emperors.
In feudal society, men were in power, women sat on the throne and held the power of life and death, and Wu Zetian was the first.
Her legendary life is magnificent, and her wisdom and ruthlessness make her a strong woman who holds the power of the world.
01. Who are the men in Wu Zetian and who are they?
Today I will take you into the legendary world of Wu Zetian, the first empress of the ages.
In thousands of years of feudal society, men occupied an absolutely dominant position, and the emperor was the protagonist of the world.
The people who can become emperors are basically men, and male power is extremely powerful.
There are very few women who can control the power of the world.
There have been three powerful women in history: Lü He, Wu Zetian and Empress Dowager Cixi.
These three women who are the only ones in the world have mastered the power of life and death in the world with their wisdom and ruthlessness, and have influenced the situation of the dynasty in their time.
After Lü Heng's death, her family power was completely destroyed by Liu Heng, leaving no trace.
Empress Dowager Cixi's death sparked endless controversy, and she not only left a notoriety, but also suffered the shame of being dug into her grave.
However, Wu Zetian, as a female emperor, had a very different fate.
She not only displayed exceptional talent during her reign, but wisely returned power to the Li-Tang dynasty at the end of her life.
With wisdom and courage, she shaped her legend and not only died well, but also became the only female emperor in history.
Her ability to rule surpassed that of many male emperors.
However, Wu Zetian is also controversial in history.
Born in 624 AD, she was the second daughter of the Tang Dynasty's founding hero Samurai Yan.
At the end of the Sui Dynasty, Li Yuan revolted with the support of everyone, and Wu Zetian's father, Wu Shiyan, helped the Li and Tang royal families many times during this period.
The Tang Dynasty was established, and the samurai were indispensable.
After the establishment of the Tang Dynasty, Li Yuan made the samurai a duke of the state of Feng Ying, and the official was promoted to Shangshu of the Ministry of Work.
However, the good times did not last long, and in 635 AD, the samurai died of illness.
At this time, Wu Zetian was only 12 years old, and the samurai family fell into the middle of the family because of the death of his father Samurai Gong.
There is a legend about Wu Zetian's birth.
When Wu Zetian was still in his infancy, the famous metaphysicist Yuan Tiangang once said in shock: "Dragon pupil phoenix jin, extremely noble test." ”
After observing for a while, he frowned again and said regretfully: "If it is a woman, her future will be limitless, and she will definitely become the master of controlling the world in the near future." ”
Yuan Tiangang would say this because Wu Zetian was wearing baby boy's clothes at the time.
In early 627 AD, Li Chunfeng, an astronomer of the Tang Dynasty, observed the sky many times and found that Taibai Venus appeared in the daylight.
After divination, it was found to be a sign of "heroine Chang".
At this time, rumors circulated among the people: the Great Tang Dynasty will have a heroine King Wu after the third dynasty, and she will sit on the whole world.
Tang Taizong Li Shimin began to worry when he heard this, but he could only be anxious.
Because this is a rumor, there is no way to check it, and if you don't check it, your mind is not clear.
So Li Shimin came up with a solution: at a banquet, he began to ask the minister's nickname after the ministers were drunk.
Unexpectedly, there was something to be gained: Li Junxian, the general of Zuo Wuwei, who was in charge of garrisoning Xuanwu Gate, became the backer of this matter.
The drunken Li Junxian said his nickname under Li Shimin's questioning - his nickname was Five Niangzi.
Li Junxiang's nickname Five Ladies in the five harmonic martial characters, even if the pronunciation is similar, Li Shimin will not let go.
Li Junxian was also a general of Zuo Wuwei, and his fiefdom was also related to Wu, called Wulian County.
Because these places are all related to martial characters, after the banquet, Li Junxian was suspected by Li Shimin, and the final outcome needless to say, he was killed and killed.
02. Is this the end of the matter?
Li Tang's inheritance is not involved.
Li Shimin both paid attention to and privately asked Li Chunfeng whether the rumors were credible.
Li Chunfeng replied to Li Shimin that he observed the celestial phenomena at night and calculated them in combination with the two trigrams of yin and yang.
This person is in the palace, and among the wives and concubines of the emperor's harem, this person is not more than 30 years old.
In the future, she may become the lord of the world, and she will be extremely cruel to the descendants of the royal family, which is a certain number of heavens.
Li Shimin became even more worried after hearing this.
When it comes to the inheritance of Li Tang Jiangshan, we must be very cautious.
He said to Li Chunfeng, wouldn't it be good to get rid of all the suspected people in the harem?
Li Chunfeng said that this is the will of heaven and cannot be deliberately violated.
The future Lord of the World cannot be killed and cannot be killed.
If you go against the sky and indiscriminately kill innocents in the harem, you will be punished by heaven.
Maybe in 30 years things will turn around.
The Lord of the Future is old and has no ambitions.
Perhaps he is a person with good intentions and will not endanger Li Tang Jiangshan.
Put her to death now, and God may send an even stronger and more vicious person.
At that time, I am afraid that none of His Majesty's descendants will be spared.
After Li Shimin listened to Li Chunfeng's words, he did not cling to the rumor anymore, so he had to give up.
03. Surprisingly, 30 years later, Wu Zenaïve sat on the throne and changed the name of the country to Zhou
Moreover, he killed Li Tang's royal descendants all over again, and returned the imperial power to the Li family when he was old.
In 637, Emperor Li Shimin visited Luoyang Palace.
I overheard that 14-year-old Wu Zetian was beautiful and talented,
So he recruited her into the palace, made her a talent, and gave her the title Wu Meiniang.
That's how Wu Meiniang's name came about.
After Wu Zetian entered the palace, he did not receive much attention from Li Shimin, and Li Shimin rarely favored her.
There are even descendants who say that Li Shimin has never touched her at all, which is actually not credible.
Li Shimin is a good female emperor, and 14-year-old Wu Zetian is a standard beauty, who specially included him in the palace, how can there be no reason not to be favored.
If you don't like to be favored, why do you want to bring it back to the palace, probably because there are too many concubines in Li Shimin's harem, Wu Zetian was just a small talent at that time, and it is not unusual to be favored by the emperor less often.
There are very few things between Li Shimin and Wu Zetian in the history books, perhaps because Li Zhi artificially erased the story between his empress and father in order to show that he was orthodox after he succeeded to the throne.
In 650, Wu Zetian finally seized the opportunity.
Emperor Li Zhi came to the Jiye Temple on the anniversary of Emperor Taizong of Tang to enter the incense, and the two met again.
Wu Zetian knew that the opportunity to return to the palace had come, and she decided to use this opportunity to turn Li Zhi into her ally.
The two began to meet frequently and fell in love, and the relationship quickly heated up.
At the same time, Empress Wang did not give birth to an heir for Li Zhi, and Li Zhi had always known about Wu Zetian's affairs.
In order to suppress the favored Concubine Xiao Shu and gain more power, Empress Wang suggested that Wu Zetian be brought back to the palace.
In 651, Li Zhixiao's filial service was full, and he brought Wu Zetian, who had his heart in mind, back to the palace.
Wu Zetian, who returned to the palace, faced a huge challenge, but she did not give up.
She used her ingenuity and skills to gradually win Li Zhi's trust and support.
In 654, Li Zhi proclaimed himself emperor, while Wu Zetian proclaimed himself Queen of Heaven.
The situation of the Tang Dynasty's Second Holy Dynasty began here.
Wu Zetian gradually gained power by cutting off dissidents and appointing henchmen.
04. Wu Zetian's road to power is not smooth
In 683, Emperor Gaozong of Tang died Li Zhi, leaving behind an edict to make Crown Prince Li Xian inherit the throne.
However, Li Xian was incompetent, and his incompetence and weakness gave Wu Zetian an opportunity.
She deposed Li Xian and became the de facto empress dowager herself.
To further consolidate her position, Wu Zetian decided to eliminate all those who might threaten her.
She instituted a system of cool officials, encouraged whistleblowing, and installed a large number of henchmen into the imperial court.
Although this system ensured the stability of Wu Zetian's power to a certain extent, it also caused many unjust, false and wrong cases and panic.
Despite the difficulties and obstacles, Wu Zetian remained ambitious and goal-oriented.
By cutting off dissidents and appointing henchmen, she gradually gained power, and finally achieved her goal and sat on the throne.
This history tells us that power is cruel and merciless.
In a male-dominated society, it is very difficult for women to gain power.
However, Wu Zetian, with her ingenuity and indomitable spirit, turned against the wind and became the only female emperor in Chinese history.
Her story is full of drama and tragedy, making us think about the true meaning and value of power.
05. What are the male favorites of Wu Zetian in the history of Revealing?
In 690, Wu Zetian ascended the throne, changed the name of the country to Zhou, and made the capital Luoyang.
She is the only female emperor in history to govern with clear knowledge and clear rewards and punishments.
However, her raising male pets during her reign was criticized by posterity.
It is rumored that there are as many as 3,000 male favorites in her harem, but only four are actually more famous, namely Xue Huaiyi, Shen Nanxuan, Zhang Changzong and Zhang Yizhi.
Xue Huaiyi was originally a herb seller and was introduced into the palace by Princess Qianjin.
Wu Zetian recognized him as a righteous son and offered him to himself.
Xue Huaiyi became Wu Zetian's first male favorite, and lived a dashing life, but was eventually discovered for illegitimate children and executed by Wu Zetian.
Zhang Changzong and Zhang Yizhi are Wu Zetian's second and third male favorites.
Zhang Changzong looked handsome, and Wu Zetian was very satisfied with him and rewarded him.
Zhang Yizhi was recommended by Princess Taiping.
After the two became Wu Zetian's favored courtiers, they gradually became presumptuous, formed a party for personal gain, and acted arbitrarily.
In 705, they were beheaded and Wu Zetian abdicated.
06. Why did Wu Zetian leave a mysterious void after his death
Wu Zetian's last male favorite, Shen Nanxuan, was originally an imperial doctor in the palace, but died early due to his weak health.
In Wu Zetian's later years, he knowingly erected a wordless monument, which means that meritorious deeds are judged by posterity.
Wu Zetian's life is full of legends, she went from a talented person to an empress of the Tang Dynasty, then to the empress of Wu Zhou, and finally returned to the identity of the daughter-in-law of the Li family.
Her life was spectacular and exciting, but it was also controversial. However, it is this polarization that has brought Wu Zetian's life into the spotlight.