Introduction:
Who is more powerful among the three people, Lu Pheasant, Cixi, and Wu Zetian? There are many authoritarian women in history, and three of them are the most famous, that is, Lu Pheasant, the first poisonous queen in the ages, and Cixi, the lewd old lady Cixi, who used the strength of the whole country to serve one person, and Wu Zetian, the only queen in history who was domineering and leaking. Today, let's compare the ability of the three from the two aspects of political means and governing ability, and see who is better than the three people.
Wu Zetian
Empress
She is a rural old lady who is good at playing with power, and she can be a king when she plays palace fighting, but she is more bronze than bronze when she plays diplomacy.
Empress
Cixi's reign developed gradually. At first, she plotted a coup d'état with Prince Gong, but did not have much actual power. At that time, the Qing government was in the hands of Prince Gong, who had a broad international perspective. Together, they quelled a number of rebellions and gradually showed signs of national revival, including the development of a navy.
However, as Cixi gradually suppressed and excluded Prince Gong, her power grew. During this period, the Qingliu Party played an important role as supporters, and they promoted anti-foreign and patriotic nationalist public opinion, such as Li Hongzhang, Xu Tong and others. It was through the instigation of these patriots that Prince Gong was gradually marginalized.
After Cixi came to power, the country began to be managed in the same way that she had done as an old rural lady, and gradually reused patriots such as Li Hongzhang to support the opposition to imperialism. However, unlike the patriots of Japan, the patriots of the Qing Dynasty appeared narrow-minded and arrogant.
From then on, the fortunes of the country began to decline sharply. After the outbreak of the First Sino-Japanese War, the arrogant and ignorant Qing army was quickly defeated by the Japanese army and suffered heavy losses. After the defeat, the Qing army's coastal defense was lost, and the great powers invaded one after another and shared the spoils. In order to resist foreign aggression, the Qingliu Party encouraged the people to revolt and regimental movements. However, this campaign did not succeed and instead led to a more passive Qing dynasty. After the Gengzi State Change, Cixi finally realized the strength of foreign countries, and no longer dared to act rashly, and signed a series of treaties that humiliated the country.
Overall, as an individual, Cixi was undoubtedly successful. The late Qing Dynasty produced many outstanding talents, but they were all firmly in the hands of Cixi, who was extremely skilled and ruthless in her grip on power. However, as a ruler, she is actually a failure, she is the poster child of a power addict. All of her actions were motivated by the desire to retain her power, including the eight-year New Deal after Gengzi. She regarded the country as her plaything, and used the strength of the whole country to serve one person, opening a nearly 100-year history of national shame, and was actually a sinner in history.
Wu Zetian
Wu Zetian is a female streamer, and she can become the Supreme of the Ninth Five-Year Plan, and her journey is beyond the imagination of ordinary people.
She first grabbed Li Zhi's people and heart and became her own life-saving straw. From being about to become a nun to stepping into the harem, he showed intelligence, wit and indomitable courage.
Later, he seized the opportunity of Li Zhi's sudden illness and ruled the government together in his thirties. As Tang Gaozong's illness relied and he returned to the court, they became rulers side by side. In order to gain absolute power, Tang Gaozong once tried his best to overthrow his uncle eldest grandson Wuji, but now he has to share the world with his wife, I don't know how he feels in his heart?
In the process of grasping real power, Wu Zetian worked step by step, from the arrival of the second saint to the death of Li Zhi, a full 19 years. She gained experience, gained popularity, won the hearts and minds of the people, and eliminated political opponents, and her influence grew with each passing day. This made some ministers of the DPRK and China see her strength, and also laid a solid foundation for her to ascend the throne later.
Before coming to power, she was well prepared for her ascension to the throne. First of all, she used public opinion to build momentum, and found the basis for women to be emperors in the Buddhist classic Dayun Sutra, and used her metaphor to incite public opinion by comparing herself to the incarnation of Bodhisattvas and becoming emperors. Then, she carried out a series of purge operations, in addition to the natural enemies of the Li Tang royal family, including once close comrades-in-arms, such as Pei Yan, Liu Zhizhi and others who helped her depose Li Zhe. Pei Yan was accused of rebellion, and Liu Yanzhi was accused of bribery and adultery. However, Wu Zetian wanted to be the emperor, and those who were loyal to the Li dynasty but not to her naturally became the first targets of her elimination.
In addition, during the Wu Zetian period, she also used the means of cool officials to get rid of opponents. At that time, whistleblowing was the norm, and everyone was in danger, so where could anyone dare to oppose Wu Zetian? When she succeeded in ascending the throne, she began to rectify the imperial program, and she told the people of the whole country with the head of a cool official that the terrible bloodshed was over, and those who committed crimes would pay the price of blood. It's a brilliant strategy.
In addition, the prince of the Li family was severely suppressed, and the power of the imperial family weakened, while Wu Zetian had many sons, such as the crown prince Jiancheng of the Li Tang royal family, and the king of Qi, Yuanji, etc., needless to say. Basically, there were no opponents left by her side. Later, the crown prince Chengqian, the king of Wei, Li Tai, the king of Han, Li Yuanchang, and the king of Wu, Li Ke, were all eliminated because of political struggles, which made it much easier for Wu Zetian to seize power. She began to use her son as a puppet, and later simply deposed him, after all, it was easier to sacrifice a son than other ways, and as long as the son did not compete with her for the throne, the throne would pass to her son. And with a rich family property in her hands, she naturally would not give it to her nephew. This is one of the reasons why other ministers did not carry out a coup d'état.
Overall evaluation, when Emperor Wu fell, he could show people with color, when he was attached to others, he could adapt his temperament to others, and when he was in power, he could control people with power, and her power and intelligence changed and she was first-class. Although the means of governing the country are vicious, he can also know how to make good use of people in the later period, laying the foundation for the rule of Zhenguan.
Lv Pheasant
Empress Lu was the first empress in Chinese history and the only empress dowager who was in the imperial system. She advocated the rule of inaction, encouraged production, reduced taxes, abolished draconian laws and other measures, and made great contributions to maintaining social stability and promoting economic development in the early Han Dynasty, and can be said to be one of the most outstanding female rulers in history.
However, as a woman, Empress Lü was able to rule steadily for more than a decade in a newly unified empire, and the methods she adopted were not merciful and kind. She killed Han Xin and Peng Yue, abused concubines competing for favor, suppressed the princes of the Liu family, and forced 15-year-old women across the country to have children, and she implemented many vicious tactics to consolidate her rule. However, these methods do not contradict her image of treating the people well and ruling by inaction.
Overall, it was a blessing for the Han Empire to meet such an empress, and she also had a great contribution to the governance of the Wenjing period.
Epilogue:
Comprehensively evaluating these three people, in terms of political means, Wu Zetian was able to ascend the throne as a woman, and after the death of Empress Lü, the Lü family was also liquidated, so Wu Zetian was stronger than Cixi and Empress Lü in this regard. In terms of the means of governing the country, Empress Lü adopted the method of ruling by inaction, so that China could recuperate and re-emerge after hundreds of years of war, while Wu Zetian implemented a cruel way of ruling in order to maintain his rule, and everyone was in danger, so Empress Lü was stronger than Wu Zetian and Cixi in this regard. Combining these two considerations, the ranking of the last three should be Wu Zetian, Empress Lu, and Cixi. What are your thoughts on this ranking?