Chapter 58 149 Empress Wu Zetian

Tang Taizong was a shrewd and capable emperor, but his son Gaozong was mediocre and incompetent.After Emperor Gaozong of Tang came to the throne, he didn't know how to deal with major affairs of state affairs, so he relied on his uncle and prime minister Sun Wuji to make decisions.Later, he established Empress Wu Zetian, and the situation changed. Wu Zetian was originally a talented person (a title of concubine) in Taizong's palace. When she was fourteen years old, she served Taizong.At that time, there was a famous horse named "Lion Cong" in Taizong's imperial stable.

Once, Tang Taizong took the concubines to see the horse and joked with everyone: "Who among you can subdue it?" The concubines didn't dare to answer, but Wu Zetian, who was 14 years old, stood up bravely and said: "Your Majesty, I can!" Taizong looked at her in surprise and asked her what to do.Wu Zetian said: "Just give me three things: the first is an iron whip, the second is a hammer, and the third is a dagger. If it is naughty, use the whip to beat it; if you don't accept it, hit it with a hammer head; and if there is any mischief again, cut off its neck with a dagger."

Tang Taizong laughed out loud.Although he felt that what Wu Zetian said was a bit childish, he also admired her pungent character. After Tang Taizong died, according to the court rules at that time, Wu Zetian was sent to a nunnery.Of course she was very reluctant. Tang Gaozong had taken a fancy to Wu Zetian when he was the prince.Two years after he came to the throne, he took Wu Zetian out of the nunnery and named her Zhaoyi (the title of concubine).Later, he wanted to abolish the original king and queen and make Wu Zetian the queen.This matter was opposed by many veterans, especially Gaozong's uncle, the eldest grandson Wuji, who disagreed with anything.

Wu Zetian secretly recruited a group of ministers to support Wu Zetian as queen in front of Gaozong. Someone said to Gaozong: "This is your majesty's family affairs, and no one else can control it." Queen. After Wu Zetian became the queen, she resorted to her decisive and violent methods to demote and exile those veterans who opposed her one by one, and even Changsun Wuji was forced to commit suicide. Not long after, Gaozong, who was already very incompetent, fell ill. He was dizzy all day long, and sometimes he couldn't even open his eyes.Tang Gaozong saw that Wu Zetian was capable and knew how to read and write, so he simply handed over all major affairs of state affairs to her.

Wu Zetian took power and gradually ignored Gaozong.Whatever Gaozong wanted to do, he couldn't do it without Wu Zetian's consent.Tang Gaozong was very angry. Once, he discussed with the prime minister Shangguanyi (Shangguan is the surname).Shangguanyi opposed Wu Zetian's taking power, so he said: "Since your majesty thinks the queen is too arbitrary, it is better to abolish her." Gaozong was a person who had no idea. Hearing Shangguanyi's words, he said: "Okay, then please go and draft an imperial edict for me." The conversation between the two was overheard by the eunuchs next to them. Those eunuchs were all Wu Zetian's confidantes, so they quickly reported this matter to Wu Zetian.When Shangguanyi sent the drafted edict to Gaozong, Wu Zetian had already arrived.She asked Gaozong sharply, "What's going on?"

When Tang Gaozong saw Wu Zetian, he was so frightened that he seemed to be half short.He hid the imperial edict drafted by Shangguanyi in his sleeve, and stammered, "I didn't mean that, Shangguanyi taught me to do it." Wu Zetian immediately ordered Shangguanyi to be killed. After that, when Tang Gaozong went to court, Wu Zetian was watching by him; all political affairs, big and small, had to be counted by the queen's nod. In 683 AD, Emperor Gaozong died.Wu Zetian successively established two sons as emperors-Zhongzong Li Xian and Rui (sound rui) Zong Li Dan, both of which were not to her liking.She abolished Zhongzong, put Ruizong under house arrest, and governed in the name of the Queen Mother herself.As a result, it was opposed by some ministers and clans.

An official Xu Jingye was demoted by Wu Zetian. Using this excuse, he raised troops against Wu Zetian in Yangzhou.Wu Zetian consulted with Prime Minister Pei Yan.Pei Yan said: "Now that the emperor is old, if he is not allowed to be in power, people will have an excuse. As long as the Queen Mother returns the power to the emperor, Xu Jingye's rebellion will naturally subside." Wu Zetian thought that Pei Yan, like Xu Jingye, wanted to force her to step down, so in a fit of anger, he sent Pei Yan to prison; and sent a general to lead an army of 300,000 to attack Xu Jingye.Xu Jingye's soldiers were few and lonely. After resisting for a while, he failed.

Then, two more clans of the Tang Dynasty, Li Zhen, King of Yue, and Li Chong, King of Langya, raised troops against Wu Zetian, and they were also suppressed by Wu Zetian. After these two small mutinies, peace was restored throughout the country, and no one dared to oppose Wu Zetian again.After Wu Zetian consolidated her rule, she was no longer satisfied with the status of the queen mother in power. A monk guessed what the Queen Mother was thinking, forged a Buddhist scripture and dedicated it to Wu Zetian.According to the Buddhist scriptures, Wu Zetian was originally reincarnated into the human world by Maitreya Buddha.

The Buddha sent her down to earth to let her rule the world instead of the emperor of the Tang Dynasty. A few months later, an official named Fu Youyi contacted more than 900 people in the Guanzhong area and signed a letter requesting the Empress Dowager to ascend the throne and proclaim herself emperor.While Wu Zetian declined, she promoted Fu Youyi's official position.As a result, more and more people persuaded her to be emperor.It is said that there were more than 60,000 civil and military officials, princes and nobles, people from far and near, leaders of various ethnic groups, monks and Taoists who persuaded them to enter the table.

In September 690 AD, Wu Zetian accepted everyone's request, proclaimed himself Emperor of the Holy Spirit, and changed the name of the country to Zhou.She became the only female emperor in Chinese history.