To talk about the only female emperor in ancient China, the legendary life of Wu Zetian is really eye-catching. From a talented person in the harem to the king of a country, Wu Zetian's counterattack is exemplary.
However, the woman herself has violated the interests of too many people as the emperor, and Wu Zetian has been working hard to maintain the balance of the court. On the one hand, Li Tang is orthodox, and on the other hand, Wu Zhou is a rookie, and Wu Zetian can be said to be racking his brains.
In order to protect the family, Wu Zetian left a cross last word before he died, which allowed the family to continue. So what did this Wu Zetian say, that he could protect the martial arts family?
Like Wu Zetian, the development of the martial arts family is also legendary. When Li Yuan raised troops in Taiyuan, the martial arts had already raised troops against the Sui. After the establishment of the Tang Dynasty, in order to thank the Wu family for their funding, Li Yuan made his father the secretary of the Ministry of Industry, which enabled the Wu family to abandon business and enter politics.
For the cultivation of daughters, the samurai family attaches great importance to it. not only invited a special Xixi, but also never shied away from her when analyzing the political affairs of the court. Perhaps this is also the case, which makes Wu Zetian have a keen eye for politics.
When Wu Zetian was 14 years old, he was called into the palace and became a young talent of Tang Taizong. With his young and beautiful appearance, Wu Zetian is very favored, and he can barely stand firm.
However, the emperor's favor is limited, and after a while, Wu Zetian fell out of favor. At this time, the crown prince Li Zhi entered her eyes. The two were of the same age and had similar interests, coupled with Wu Zetian's deliberate attraction, which made Li Zhi like her.
In this way, the two have a close relationship. After the death of Tang Taizong, Wu Zetian was sent to a temple outside the city according to custom. Fortunately, after ascending the throne, Li Zhi quickly took her back to the palace and became "Zhaoyi".
Little Zhaoyi is far from enough for the ambitious Wu Zetian. Under her deliberate operation, her newborn daughter became a stepping stone on her path to power, so she eliminated the queen and became the new head of the harem.
During this period, Wu Zetian was unhappy, the emperor favored him, and the courtiers respected him. And because of his health, Li Zhi brought many court affairs back to the harem to deal with them, and often asked Wu Zetian for his opinion.
Li Zhi once said to Wu Zetian: "I also want to inherit my father's legacy, but I have no heart!."Seeing this, Wu Zetian replied: "Your Majesty, rest assured, the concubines are willing to share the worries of the monarch." ”
Li Zhi had no doubts about Wu Zetian's initiative to ask for help, and even issued an order to crown Wu Zetian as the "Queen of Heaven" and allow her to be called the "Second Sage" with her. In this regard, Wu Zetian officially participated in the government affairs.
In fact, since Li Zhi became seriously ill, the core power of the court has begun to transfer to Wu Zetian. At this moment, she seems to have a lot of power, and she is also planning to make the next step.
Even if he is now the master of the world, Wu Zetian is still unwilling. She wanted to ascend to the throne like a man, so she began to form her own team.
Li Zhi was seriously ill, and before his death, he was still at ease with Wu Zetian, a beloved woman, so he instructed his son Li Xian: "You must take care of the queen, and if there is any uncertain matter, report it to the queen for decision." ”
In order to ascend the throne smoothly, Li Xian had no choice but to answer: "The sons and daughters must obey the will of their father. In this way, Tang Gaozong Li Zhi died, Tang Zhongzong Li Xian ascended the throne as emperor, and Wu Zetian began to listen to the government.
Even though he is already the king of a country, Tang Zhongzong is really just an empty shelf, and the real power of the country is in the hands of Wu Zetian.
Tang Zhongzong resisted many times, and also conspired with some courtiers loyal to Li and Tang orthodoxy, but they were all discovered by Wu Zetian, and he was finally abolished as emperor.
Wu Zetian made Tang Ruizong the emperor again, and once again staged the scene of Li Xian. However, it didn't take long for Wu Zetian to feel that the time was ripe for him to ascend the throne, so he began to prepare for the enthronement.
In the first year of Tianzhu, Wu Zetian announced the abolition of Emperor Tang Ruizong Li Dan, established himself as the "Holy Spirit Emperor", and officially ascended the throne as the emperor. This is also the only female emperor in China's thousands of years of history, at this time, Wu Zetian was already 67 years old.
In this way, Emperor Wu Zetian began to carry out a series of reforms to the country and consolidate his rule. First of all, Wu Zetian changed the name of the country to Zhou, implying separation from Tang and the birth of a new regime.
In that era, Wu Zetian was a rebellious minister and thief in the minds of most people. But it must be said that Wu Zetian really has great talent in politics, and her political actions are not inferior to male rulers at all.
With her efforts, there was a phenomenon of Zhenguan Legacy. Whether it is political or economic, it has been greatly improved.
More importantly, in order to consolidate his rule, Wu Zetian also suppressed a large number of big families, thus promoting a large number of real poor people by mistake. Among them are the famous prime minister Di Renjie, as well as the later Yao Chong and others, all of whom were hand-picked by Wu Zetian.
Thanks to their joint efforts, the country seems to be thriving. It's just that when Wu Zetian ascended to the throne of emperor, she was already 67 years old.
This can be described as an extremely high age in ancient times with low medical conditions, no matter how unwilling Wu Zetian is to face it, she always has to start thinking about the problem of ** people.
Although Wu Zetian also gave birth to multiple children, most of those children became victims of her power, so she was faced with the choice of choosing an heir between the Wu family and the Li family.
In this regard, Wu Zetian also knows very well that she has killed most of the capable people in the Li family for the sake of the throne over the years, and the rest are all sycophants.
Just when Wu Zetian was wavering, he also asked Di Renjie's opinion, and she asked: "Who should be the candidate for the prince?"”
Di Renjie risked offending Wu Zetian and said to Wu Zetian bluntly: "It's better to welcome back the Li royal family as the crown prince, if so, you will definitely be able to save some prestige." ”
This is also the black who is close to the ink and the red who is close to the Zhu, under Di Renjie's words, Wu Zetian suddenly came to his senses. She found that no matter how powerful she was, even if she passed the emperor's position to the Wu family, but after that, it was still the men of the Wu family who were worshipped, what did it have to do with this Wu Zetian, the aunt who got married?
In this way, Wu Zetian listened to Di Renjie's advice, took his son Li Xian back from other places, and named him the crown prince.
Wu Zetian is already old, and the prince who resents him is like a day, how can the Wu family continue, and what did Wu Zetian say?
Although it is said that the throne was not passed on to the Wu family, it has to be said that it was Wu Zetian's move that allowed the Wu family to continue in the future.
At this time, Wu Zetian was over 80 years old, and she didn't know when she would wake up, so she began to think about the future of the Wu family.
It's just that before she could take any action, the Divine Dragon Change broke out, which also made Wu Zetian's power fall aside.
To add insult to injury, the elderly Wu Zetian was already seriously ill in bed, and he didn't have the energy to fight at all. Regarding Li Xian's move to imprison her in Shangyang Palace, Wu Zetian was angry, but he could only choose to accept it.
At this moment, Zhang Cambodia, who was once Wu Zetian's favorite minister, even persuaded her as a lobbyist of Li Xian: "Now that the power is long gone, it is better to take the initiative to abdicate and return to Zhongzong." Wu Zetian was furious, but he was powerless, so he had to compromise with them.
Soon when Wu Zetian was seriously ill and dying, she specially called Li Xian to the hospital bed and said to him: "Go to the emperor and call him the Great Sage Empress." Li Xian was naturally very happy with this result, so he agreed to Wu Zetian's last wish.
It's a pity to say that Wu Zetian, who has been fighting in the harem for many years, gave up everything he had worked hard for most of his life at the last moment, and it was a pity to put all the hard work of half his life into one sentence.
However, in this matter, Wu Zetian also showed her keen political vision, she knew that after her death, no one would be able to shelter the Wu family, and at this time, retreating bravely was the best ending.
If you insist on burying yourself according to the rules of the emperor, then you will inevitably end up with the same fate as the Empress Dowager Lu after you die, and it is better to retire yourself, which can be regarded as leaving the last trace of dignity for yourself.
In this way, in Wu Zetian's last wish, she bluntly stated that she would not be the emperor after her death, and she would be buried as Empress Li Zhi, which is really reasonable!
I have to say that Wu Zetian is too keen, as long as this Jiangshan people are in the hands of the Li family's orthodoxy, who dares to open the mausoleum of the first emperor.
If she is really buried with the emperor's gift, then the imperial mausoleum must be rebuilt, and who cares about her life and death will be left behind by the descendants of the Li family.
And now she seems to have taken a step back, but it allows her to avoid the end of being pulled out and whipped, and even allows her to have a place in the Li family ancestral hall and enjoy the worship of the descendants of the Li family in later generations.
Even the Wu family, which was still active in the court, saved their lives because of Wu Zetian's retreat. They don't have to be destroyed because of Wu Zetian's passing, and they can continue to enjoy glory and wealth, which is really killing two birds with one stone.
It can be said that Wu Zetian has worked hard for the sake of the family, but the Wu family is not angry, and he does not understand Wu Zetian's hard work, and then he even wants to set off a storm in the court, and finally ends up being liquidated, which is also completely self-inflicted.
Looking at it carefully, this Wu Zetian's life is really very legendary, from the concubine in Li Shimin's palace to Li Zhi's queen, she has experienced all kinds of hardships, only she knows it.
After that, she established her own team through her own efforts, and became the real master of the world step by step, realizing the extraordinary life of a woman as the emperor, which is really legendary.
Wu Zetian has been living for the family all her life, even before she died, she still cared about the family, and the cross will she left behind was as she thought, temporarily keeping the Wu family stable.
can only be said to be worthy of Wu Zetian!Even if he is old, his brain is not confused, and he directly gave up half of his life's planning, left his last words, left the last trace of face for himself, and continued the inheritance of the family, which is really great wisdom!