Wu Zetian is the only female emperor in Chinese history, she died "in the Name of the Zhou Dynasty Tang" but "I", moved the capital to Luoyang, and took great pains to rectify the government, but did not leave too good a reputation, unlike other dynastic changes, whether it was "claiming the emperor" or "returning to the throne of Li Tang" there was no large-scale war! Some people call her a political expert! Some say she's an imperial power maniac! Some people say that she is sinister and vicious, and some people say that she is born with a Buddha statue in her face and is concerned about the world!
Empress Wu Zetian
Special reasons, special identity is destined to be no less controversial to her, obviously almost ended the Tang Dynasty but some people say that she let the Tang Dynasty continue, and even some people say that if there is no Wu Zetian Tang Dynasty, it will be the second short-lived Sui Dynasty! History has left us with countless pieces of information, posterity tries to piece together the truth of history through these fragments, what role Wu Zetian played for the Tang Dynasty, looking for fragments, the truth is in it...
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > Wu Zetian to Zhou Dynasty Tang, the world was shocked! </h1>
In a way: Li Zhi was a good emperor, but he didn't have a good body!
Therefore, he needs a capable and trusted right-hand man to help him deal with the affairs of the dynasty and deal with the courtiers, under normal circumstances, this role should be the prince anyway, but before there was Tang Taizong's "Xuanwumen Change" after the forced palace of Tang Gaozu Li Yuan, and then there was a coup d'état launched by Emperor Taizong's crown prince Li Chengqian, Li Zhi did not dare to trust the prince's forces, after all, the prince's strength is great, even if he is very filial, his people will force him to embark on the road of rebellion. However, the palace of the crown prince has been handed down since the time of Yang Guang, and it has almost become a tradition. Based on this, Li Zhi did not dare to cultivate the prince's vision, but in the face of a complicated situation in the imperial court, if you talk about how to have a helper!
Manga: The Transformation of Xuanwu Gate
Emperor Gaozong of Tang chose and cultivated Wu Zetian! From the earliest simple assistance to the later one-sidedness, whether it is the "abolition of Wang Liwu" or the political struggle with the eldest grandson Wujie, Wu Zetian has almost become the embodiment of the emperor after two things!
However, what really made everyone realize that Wu Zetian had political ambitions were two things that happened later:
1) After emperor Gaozong's abolition:
One day, the eunuch Wang Fusheng denounced Empress Wu shi for secretly practicing the "art of victory", suspected of adversely affecting the emperor through witchcraft, and coupled with Shangguan Yi's "adding oil and vinegar", Emperor Gaozong was furious and immediately ordered Shangguan Yi to draft an edict to abolish the empress!
Wu Zetian, who received the news, immediately rushed over, and after some verbal remarks, Wang Fusheng and Shangguan Yi, who were originally "victorious in hand", were miraculously defeated, not only were the two killed, but also their former "master", the deposed prince Li Zhong, was also killed!
2) Two Holy Advent Pilgrimages:
Soon after the "Post-Abolition Incident", Wu Zetian suggested to Emperor Gaozong: In order to prevent the villains from dividing our husband and wife relationship, they are reporting that we will meet them together!
I don't know what means Wu Zetian used to make Li Zhi agree to her suggestion, and from then on Wu Zetian began her "curtain-dropping and listening to the government"!
Not only did he establish enough authority in front of the ministers, but he also made the ministers accustomed to subservient to a woman from then on!!
The scene of the "Second Holy Pilgrimage" in the TV series
1) Lee Hsien was deposed for nepotism and inappropriate language! After all, the frail Emperor Gaozong of Tang did not survive in 683, and after Li Zhi's death, the crown prince Li Xian ascended the throne, but the actual ruler of the imperial court was Wu Zetian!
In order to show the authority of the emperor, he disregarded the opposition of everyone to promote the empress's father Wei Xuanzhen Boge, and even said "I am the emperor I want to promote whoever I want, that is, to give Jiangshan to others is also my own business", not surprisingly, after 55 days, he was ruthlessly "deposed" by his mother!
2) Li Dan is an emperor who "can't help himself"!
In 684, Wu Zetian deposed Emperor Li Xian as the King of Luling, replaced Li Dan with Emperor, and ruled all political affairs.
Shortly after Li Dan became emperor, the British duke Xu Jingye raised an army against Wu Zetian in Yangzhou. The chancellor Pei Yan took the opportunity to ask Wu Zetian to return the government to Li Dan, but was beheaded by Wu Zetian on charges of treason. Wu Zetian sent an army of 300,000 to suppress the Yangzhou rebellion, and Xu Jingye was defeated and killed. Many ministers urged Wu Zetian to return his power to the emperor! Soon, Li Dan was put under house arrest and became a puppet emperor!
In 690, Fu Youyi, a servant of the imperial family, led nine hundred people from Guanzhong to the imperial court and asked Wu Zetian to be proclaimed emperor. Hundreds of officials, clansmen, foreign relatives, Siyi chiefs, and even monks and nuns, Taoist monks, have been persuaded to advance. Forced by the situation, Li Dan also asked his mother to be called emperor and asked for the surname of Wu.
Li Dan can't be the emperor by himself, and the improper emperor is still not by himself!
In September 690, Wu Zetian accepted the "suggestions" of the courtiers and the repeated "persuasions" of Emperor Li Dan to officially claim the title of emperor and establish Wu Zhou!
Mingtang: Wu Zetian and other extreme places
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > just over a decade, Wu Zetian did these things in a targeted manner! </h1>
In 705 AD, Wu Zetian died of illness, and her "Wu Zhou" existed for a short period of 15 years, and in just a dozen years, several major events she did had a crucial impact on the later history of the Tang Dynasty!
First, stay away from Chang'an, and set the capital in Luoyang!
The Tang Dynasty was actually a "two-capital system": the western capital was Chang'an, and the eastern capital was Luoyang, but the ruling imperial seat was Chang'an, and Emperor Taizong and Emperor Gaozong actually traveled between these two cities all year round, staging the ancient version of "A Tale of Two Cities"!
In 684, Empress Wu Zetian, who was only known as the Empress Dowager Linchao, changed the name of "Eastern Luoyang" to "Luoyang of the Divine Capital", and as soon as the name was changed, Luoyang's status was immediately higher than that of Chang'an.
In 690, Wu Zetian moved the capital to Luoyang, officially called himself emperor, and abolished the "Tang" and established the "Zhou" for the "Wu Zhou".
Why did she move the capital? There are two reasons for this:
1) After the establishment of the new regime, in order to get rid of the shackles of the previous dynasty as soon as possible and exert her political ambitions, she must stay away from the center of Tang's influence, including the courtiers who supported the Tang Dynasty and the door valve forces that created the Tang Dynasty!
2) At this time, the national economic center began to shift to the southeast, and for the sake of the country's long-term peace and stability, she must only grasp the economic hub of the country!!
Second, crack down on traditional giants and nobles!
1) Strike the core characters with precision!
Whether it was a traditional magnate or a newly promoted nobleman, Wu Zetian treated everyone equally, and she began to act during the gaozong period: Changsun Wuji, Xu Suiliang, Yu Zhining, Taiyuan Wangshi, Liu Yi and other members of the Confucian clan gate valve under her planning, almost no one or a family could die well!
2) Revise the "Clan Chronicle" believed by the giants!
The "Clan Chronicle" was adapted into the "Family Name Record", which was divided into nine products, first the "Wu" surname was listed as the first class, then the Guanlong clan was kicked out of the first few grades, and then the soldier and official from the civilian background was promoted to five pins. The Confucians were furious, but they did not have the courage to oppose it in person and put forward different opinions!
3) Clearly stipulated: it is strictly forbidden to marry the rich!
Intermarriage and marriage has always been an important means for the rich and powerful to obtain political alliances, they have been united for generations, they have been close to each other, and over time they have formed several large political alliances, sharing glory and disgrace, advancing and retreating together, which is an absolute threat to imperial power!
Wu Zetian then ordered that the high-ranking family of the noble men should not be allowed to intermarry with each other, and stipulated the amount of the dowry when they married their daughters, and forbade them to accept "accompanying money" when marrying their daughters-in-law.
Third, improve the talent selection system: vigorously develop the examination system!
This can actually be regarded as a continuation of the crackdown on the traditional giants, changing the unspoken rules of the hereditary replacement of the giants, allowing the cold class to change the class through efforts!
In the vigorous implementation of the examination system also added a palace examination, that is, an interview, the emperor to personally select talents for the final subjective assessment, which almost broke the Channel for the Gaomen Clan to continue to control the government, after all, who to use depends on the emperor's personal opinion, before it was also possible to secretly send his son to the Examination Examination, after all, monopolizing study for such a long time, the resources are much more than the commoners, in the Imperial Examination, the Confucian Scholar Clan Gate Valve still has the advantage, but Wu Zetian made a temple examination, need to answer the question face to face, the Gaomen Clan scored well, no matter how good the gaomen clan scored, As long as the temple test, Wu Zetian immediately knew who he was, and the chance of passing was very slim, and the excellent elements in the cold door had a clear advantage in the temple test, because Wu Niangniang liked the cold door Xiucai.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > Wu Zetian may have created a false appearance for everyone, and the truth is very likely to subvert many people's cognition! </h1>
Portrait of Li Zhi
In the later period of Emperor Gaozong's reign, his body became weaker and weaker, and in the face of the rich and nobles who were looking at the tiger, and then looking at his own body, the prince's ability to handle things, and the military generals of the imperial court, he could feel the vitality and potential of the Tang Dynasty, but at the same time he was also deeply worried: I can still suppress the giants in office, and the ministers are also safe and keep to themselves, but can my prince also be? This group of people will not look for a new "talker", at that time, Yang Guang liked to toss, they were not used to it, they elected Grandpa to become a new "talker"!
After much deliberation, he found the person he loved the most, Wu Zetian!
In order to establish the prestige of women, he behaved extremely badly: weak, afraid of his wife, almost unanimously evaluated by the courtiers!
Seeing that he was not far from "going to the Western Heavens to learn the scriptures", he consulted with the woman again:
Let's take the big ones, scare these things to death, and take advantage of their horror that you will clean them all up!
The woman cried and asked what should I do? His already godless eyes narrowed into a line and he said fiercely:
"After I die, first set up our child, and then pull him down, so that they know your courage and determination!" Be as ruthless and vicious as possible! After all, it's a bunch of guys who've seen the big scenes"!
Soon, Tang Gaozong died, and Wu Zetian did it according to the prior consultation, but the effect was not very good, and seeing that the situation was about to lose control, she took out the tips that her husband had left for her before swallowing:
"Once you lose control of the situation, move the capital, kill people, and claim the emperor!"!"
Shocked, Wu Zetian sleepless, she loves her husband and her children, but for them she must show her infinite desire for power:
Finally, she did!
The ministers were finally afraid, and some decided to give it a go, and she used the army and the butcher knife to solve the "disobedience"!
Later, when she was old, she decided to return the throne to her son, but the son could not wait, she wanted to tell her son what was really happening, but she was silent after all!
Before dying, his son asked her where she was buried? Ask her if she has any special explanation for the inscription?
She laughed and didn't speak!
The son who turned away did not notice:
Laughing and laughing, she was filled with tears...
Wu Zetian in the late years of the TV series
Wu Zetian Qianling wordless monument