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introduction
When it comes to Wu Zetian, almost everyone knows her name. Throughout the history of various dynasties and generations, there are not many women with real power, such as Empress Lu of the Han Dynasty and Cixi of the Qing Dynasty, but the only woman who really dares to ascend the throne and claim the emperor is Wu Zetian.
(Wu Zetian)
The Wu Zhou Dynasty founded by Wu Zetian continued the glory of Zhenguan's rule and paved the way for the birth of the prosperous era of Kaiyuan. However, the woman's path to becoming emperor was so difficult that her hands were also stained with the blood of innocent people in order to seize and consolidate power.
This strange woman, who has been in politics for more than 40 years and has gone from queen to emperor, chose to abdicate at the age of eighty-two and return to Li Tang.
However, the specific details of how she abdicated and returned to Li Tang are rarely mentioned in the book.
This empress, who has always been decisive in killing and deciding, and even her own daughter could be sacrificed for the queen's throne back then, won't it set off a bloody storm after her abdication?
(Wu Zetian)
1. Due to the indecision of the crown prince, the Shenlong coup was forced to abdicate
Although Wu Zetian, who ascended the throne and became the emperor, was the son of heaven, she was old after all, and who would inherit the country after death became a big problem.
Her sons are all surnamed Li, if her son inherits the throne, then the country will be returned to Li Tang, and the Wu family may not be able to die well, but if it is passed on to his nephew, the hearts of the people in the world are still in Li Tang, and the Wu family may not be able to protect the country.
(Wu Zetian)
Wu Zetian, who was very suspicious, was extremely sensitive to the abdication and the establishment of the crown prince, and the ministers did not dare to speculate about the holy will, so the matter has been shelved.
But Di Renjie stood up, he persuaded Wu Zetian, no matter how close his aunt and nephew are, there is no mother and son, if Wu Zetian is still in power with Li Tang, he will enjoy worship in the Taimiao in the future, but if he sets up his nephew as the Son of Heaven, he has never heard of his aunt being worshiped in the Taimiao.
(Di Renjie)
Wu Zetian was moved by these words, and she decided to follow Di Renjie's suggestion, took back her son Li Xian, and made him the crown prince. But whether to abdicate before his death, Wu Zetian always refused to respond.
I thought that the matter of the heir had been settled, but who expected that the turmoil would rise again, Zhang Yizhi and Zhang Changzong, as Wu Zetian's favored faces, acted as Wu Zetian's eyes and ears in the court, they interfered in the government and offered slander, Li Xian's position as the crown prince was shaken again, and the relationship between Wu Zetian's monarch and mother and son was unprecedentedly tense.
Li Xian's eldest son, Li Chongrun, and Wu Chenghei's eldest son, Wu Yanji, were very dissatisfied with Erzhang, and talked behind their backs that they had different intentions and wanted to cause trouble in the government, and even talked about Wu Zetian's lack of knowledge.
Wu Zetian was furious, thinking that this was a betrayal of her words and deeds, and ordered the two to be executed, and her granddaughter Princess Yongtai heard that her husband Wu Yanji was executed, and died in fright childbirth.
(Tomb of Princess Yongtai)
Wu Zetian's move is also a demonstration to everyone, whether it is surnamed Li or surnamed Wu, as long as she dares to discuss her own decisions and covet the throne, she will not be merciful in dealing with it.
Prime Minister Zhang Khan Zhi, Cui Xuanwei and ministers Jing Hui, Huan Yanfan, Yuan Shuji and others realized that if they did not make a decision, it would be difficult to say whether Jiangshan's surname would be Li or Wu in the future.
In the first month of 705, when Wu Zetian was lingering on the sickbed, five people led the forbidden army of 500 people to rush into the palace, killed Erzhang, and then surrounded the Jixian Palace, forcing Wu Zetian to abdicate, Wu Zetian was forced to pass the throne to Li Xian, and moved to Shangyang Palace, known as the "Shenlong Coup" in history.
(Wu Zetian)
Second, acquiescing to the removal of the five kings by the martial arts seems cruel but has deep meaning
After the coup d'état, Li Xian made Zhang Khan Zhi and others, who launched the coup d'état, the five people launched a coup d'état, which was affirmed by the people at that time and later generations, however, their fate was not good.
(Li Xian)
The five were all slandered by Wu Sansi and Empress Wei, who colluded with the party, Li Xian issued an edict to demote all five people and exiled them, Huan Yanfan and Yuan Shuji were killed by the envoys sent by Li Xian, Jinghui was assassinated by Wu Sansi, and Zhang Cambodia also died depressed.
The experience of the five people does not seem to be directly related to Wu Zetian, however, it is also inseparable from Wu Zetian's contribution, Wu Sansi is Wu Zetian's favorite nephew, Wu Zetian, who has been decisive in his life, cannot tolerate the actions of these five people, although there is no emperor, she can still kill people with a knife.
(Wu Sansi stills)
At that time, Wu Zetian was full of grief and hatred, she was already seriously ill, and she was about to die in only ten months, how did she get rid of the five people when she was too busy to take care of herself?
Wu Zetian paid great attention to her appearance before abdicating, but after the abdication, she no longer groomed and dressed, and her face was haggard all day long.
One day, Li Xian came to greet Wu Zetian's daily life, and Wu Zetian cried and said that he took Li Xian back to Shendu from Fangling so that he could inherit the throne in the future, but the "five thieves" wanted to gain a reputation for themselves and caused her to fall here.
(Wu Zetian)
Li Xian, who had a cowardly personality, was already shocked when he saw the haggard Wu Zetian, and when he heard this, he had to kneel down and apologize. But Wu Zetian's words also woke up Li Xian, and made him acquiesce to Wu Sansi's disposition of the "Five Kings" after that.
Wu Zetian did not simply take revenge for being threatened and forced to abdicate, her approach was also to remind Li Xian that the decision to kill is the way of the emperor.
The five ministers can force themselves to abdicate today, so Li Xian, who has lived outside the capital for a long time, does not have his own power in the court for the time being, so he can only rely on them, and it is difficult to guarantee the risk of high achievements and threats to the imperial power in the future.
(Shenlong Coup)
And Wu Sansi's position is firm, if he is good friends with Wu Sansi, it will help Li Xian gain a firm foothold, and get rid of the five people with Wu Sansi's hand can also preserve Li Xian's reputation.
In addition, since these five people are loyal to Li Tang, if they are kept, Li Xian, who has no opinions, will not rely on them, and they who regard Wu Zhou as a heretic will definitely threaten the status of the Wu clan, and the glory of the Wu clan will also be lost, and even there is a danger of extinction after his death, therefore, in order to protect the Wu family, Wu Zetian must also get rid of them.
(Mural of Hokanji Temple)
Even if he lingered on the sickbed and watched the Wu Zhou he established collapse overnight, Wu Zetian was still able to make arrangements to get rid of the five people who betrayed her, and his resolute style and methods can be seen.
Third, the struggle for power and profit has killed countless people, and it is difficult to comment on the merits and demerits
In fact, throughout Wu Zetian's life, it is indeed full of killing and blood, after countless winds and waves, this emperor has always had a ruthless and ruthless side, not just because he was forced to abdicate that he was psychologically traumatized, so he killed.
In order to win the queen's throne, she strangled the baby girl who was still in swaddling clothes, framed Queen Wang, and made Queen Wang and Concubine Xiao Shu as adults, with cruel methods.
(Wu Zetian)
Before ascending the throne and becoming emperor, she killed a lot of imperial relatives and courtiers who supported the orthodoxy of the Tang Dynasty, and many clansmen in the Tang Dynasty were in danger.
In order to prevent future troubles, Wu Zetian ordered his appointed cool officials Zhou Xing and others to strictly interrogate the rest of the royal family surnamed Li, forcing them to commit suicide, and King Han, King Lu, Princess Changle and other people and their cronies died.
There is a retributive side to this empress's personality, and it is not surprising that after falling from the clouds due to a coup d'état, she borrowed the hands of others to get rid of those who betrayed her.
(Restoration map of Shangyang Palace)
After her death, the stone tablet in Qianling that was supposed to record Wu Zetian's life was empty, and according to the character and style of the empress, later generations speculated that she wanted to leave her merits and demerits for future generations to comment.
But no matter what Wu Zetian's mistakes are, one thing that cannot be denied is that she is able to fight her way in a feudal patriarchal society and become a generation of empresses who have never been seen before or since, which is what makes her outstanding.
Resources:
Zhang Cheng.Shenlong Coup: Wu Zetian's Last Years[J].Times Youth(Philosophy), 2008.
Wang Wenyi, Ye Qinglantu.A generation of empress Wu Zetian[J].Little Macaque: Intelligence Illustrated, 2021(1):4.