Know all about the secrets of the harem

Chapter 68
One day in 655, after the queen saw the little princess, the princess died strangely. People were imprisoned, and their parents and brothers were also dismissed from office and exiled in Lingnan.Seven days later, Tang Gaozong issued another edict to make Wu Zetian the queen.At the same time, Chu Suiliang, the prime minister who strongly opposed her becoming a queen, was demoted to Tanzhou (now Changsha, Hunan) as the governor.After sacrificing one of her daughters, Wu Zetian succeeded in sitting on the throne of empress.Wu Zetian did not let the Queen and Concubine Xiao Shu go. Later, they beat each of them with a hundred sticks, then cut off their feet cruelly, soaked them in a wine jar and tortured them to death. His vengeance and cruelty are evident.

Wu Zetian, who has become a queen, will naturally not be content with the harem. She wants to take revenge on those who hinder her from approaching power, and she must first eliminate the still threatening grandson Wuji.She instigated Xu Jingzong and others to fabricate charges to create a clique case, then implicated Changsun Wuji in it, and exiled him to other places. Later, Xu Jingzong forced Changsun Wuji to commit suicide.The rest of Changsun Wuji's group were also eliminated, either killed or exiled.Wu Zetian finally solved his biggest opponent.

After the death of Changsun Wuji, Wu Zetian had a "big change of blood", and Yu Zhining, Han Yuan, Laiji and others were dismissed from their posts and demoted from the capital.So far, all the ministers who opposed Wu Zetian were demoted or killed, and none remained; and then their own people were inserted in. As a result, Wu Zetian's strength in the court greatly increased.

Because Gaozong was dissatisfied with Wu Zetian's arbitrariness, he discussed with Prime Minister Shangguanyi to abolish Wu Zetian's queen, and Shangguanyi agreed to draft an imperial edict.Wu Zetian's eyes and ears rushed to report when they heard about it. After Wu Zetian arrived, he acted both hard and soft, which made Gao Zong change his mind and put all the responsibility on Shangguanyi.Wu Zetian then asked Xu Jingzong to fabricate Shangguanyi and the deposed prince Li Zhong to plot a rebellion, and executed Shangguanyi and his son.Gaozong's weakness is also the objective reason why Wu Zetian ascended the throne of empress step by step.

From then on, Li Zhi never had the idea of ​​abolishing the queen, but instead handed over all his power to Wu Zetian.Wu Zetian really controlled all the power. Every time when Li Zhi went to the court to be a director, a curtain was added behind the dragon seat, and Wu Zetian was hidden behind it. He followed the example of Emperor Wen of the Sui Dynasty sitting next to Queen Dugu, and even went a step further, walking from the back of the hall. Went to the front of the hall.When the emperor was alive, the empress participated in the affairs of the court. It has happened in history, and it started with Wu Zetian when she publicly stepped into the court.The emperor and empress came together to listen to the government. This unprecedented scene caused a sensation all over the world. From then on, the era of "two saints came to court" began.

As a mother, Wu Zetian's heart is much more ruthless than ordinary people. For the sake of her own power and throne, she would not let her own son go.Wu Zetian had four sons in total, the eldest son Li Hong, the second son Li Xian, the third was Li Xian (also called Li Zhe), and the fourth was Li Dan (also called Li Xulun).The eldest son was the first to have a chance to inherit the throne. In 656 AD, Prince Li Zhong was deposed, and Wu Zetian's eldest son Li Hong was established as crown prince.

Li Hong was generous and benevolent, modest and prudent, and treated the scholar-bureaucrats with courtesy. Emperor Gaozong and all the ministers were very satisfied with him.In the process of participating in the government, he showed political talent.As his health deteriorated, Gaozong wanted to pass the throne to Li Hong.

But Wu Zetian was unwilling to let his son take away the political power he was used to, and once his son ascended the throne, his dream of power, especially the dream of being a queen, would definitely be shattered.Moreover, as they got older, the political differences between Li Hong and Wu Zetian became bigger and bigger.At the beginning, Wu Zetian chose the most powerful method to suppress Li Hong, hoping to make his son retreat in the face of difficulties through warnings.It's a pity that she was wrong. After all, Li Hong was her son, and his blood was as aggressive as Wu Zetian's.Therefore, Li Hong Shangshu asked to choose consorts for Concubine Xiao Shu's daughters, Yiyang and Xuancheng, both of whom were over 675 years old because of Concubine Xiao Shu and were waiting to be married.Li Hong's Shangshu is reminiscent of the court murder case back then, and the topic of Wu Zetian's loss of morality has once again become the focus of attention. This is a cold arrow shot at Wu Zetian, and the archer happens to be his own son.So Wu Zetian was finally completely enraged, and chose the former between power and family affection. In 24 AD, the second year of Shangyuan, Wu Zetian poisoned his [-]-year-old son Li Hong to death.

After Li Hong's death, Emperor Gaozong felt that his physical condition did not allow him to work on state affairs because of his mental stimulation and his original headache, so he wanted to give up the throne to Wu Zetian.However, due to the strong opposition of the ministers, Wu Zetian failed to fulfill his wish, but this was a great stimulus and encouragement to Wu Zetian.

One month after the death of his elder brother Li Hong, the second son Li Xian was established as the crown prince. Like his elder brother Li Hong, he was also very smart. He also showed extraordinary ability when Emperor Gaozong asked him to handle government affairs. , Wu Zetian felt Li Xian's powerful threat to her again.Therefore, Wu Zetian ordered people to falsely accuse the prince of lusting for women, and wanted to seize the throne as soon as possible. In August of 680 AD, Li Xian was pulled down from the throne of the prince by Wu Zetian and demoted to a commoner.

Later, he was forced to move to Bazhou.From then on, this son disappeared from Wu Zetian's life, and Li Xian never returned to Chang'an, and died as a guest many years later.

On the second day after Li Xian was abolished as the prince, the third son Li Xian was established as the prince.In 683 A.D., Emperor Gaozong died of illness and made a will for the crown prince to ascend the throne, but Wu Zetian's opinions had to be followed on state affairs.

After Li Xian came to the throne, he was Tang Zhongzong. He respected his mother Wu Zetian as the empress dowager. Li Xian was much weaker than his elder brother, so his accession to the throne was only accepted by his mother at the beginning.

But Zhongzong didn't sit on the throne, so he was kicked out by his mother. It was less than two months after he took the throne.After Zhongzong came to the throne, he didn't take his mother seriously and underestimated her power.He wanted his father-in-law Wei Xuanzhen to be the prime minister, but Pei Yan, the prime minister who had been appointed by his father Gaozong when he was dying, disagreed, so Zhongzong said arrogantly: "What can I do if I give him the world?" Reported to Wu Zetian, Wu Zetian immediately summoned ministers to the Qianyuan Hall, abolished Zhongzong as King of Luling, and imprisoned him in the deep palace.After Zhongzong was imprisoned, Wu Zetian pushed his last son Li Dan to the throne. This was Ruizong of the Tang Dynasty.

Although Wu Zetian let his youngest son inherit the throne, he was not allowed to deal with the government affairs, and all major matters were decided by himself. Gradually, Wu Zetian had the idea of ​​becoming a queen.For this reason, Wu Zetian actively created the conditions for himself to be an emperor. First, he changed the eastern capital Luoyang to the capital of God, and prepared to use it as the capital in the future.She also changed the names of the civil and military officials of the Tang Dynasty: Shangshuxing was changed to Wenchangtai, left and right servants were changed to left and right prime ministers, Menxia province was changed to Luantai, Shizhong was changed to Nayan, Zhongshuxing was changed to Fengge, which obviously embodies the characteristics of women, so the original name of the prime minister "Tongzhongshu Menxia Pingzhangshi" was also changed to "Tongfengge Luantai Sanpin".At the same time, the world was amnesty, and the "Seeking Virtue System" was published. The queen mother called herself "Zhen", and the candidates of the Wenyuan Department called her "His Majesty the Holy Mother" in the countermeasure answer sheet.

The resistance of the Li royal family has never stopped. In August 688, Tang Taizong's son Li Zhen, the governor of Yuzhou, and Li Chong, the son of Li Zhen, the governor of Bozhou and the king of Langxie, rebelled against Wu's power, and were soon defeated and killed.Wu Zetian used Li Yuanjia, Li Lingkui and other kings of the Li and Tang Dynasties to conspire with Yue Wang Li Zhen and his son to kill them all.

Wu Zetian also stepped up the pace of persecuting the Li royal family. In July 690, Zhou Xing, the cruel official, was accused of treason by Zhou Xing, the son of Emperor Gaozong Li Zhi of Tang Dynasty.Wu Zetian was furious, and hurriedly summoned Li Sujie and Ze Wang Li Shangjin to Beijing to face the saint.Li Sujie was strangled to death with a belt at Longmen Station by Wu Zetian, and his nine sons were killed.Ze Wang Li Shangjin was conscripted into the court together with Xu Wang. When he heard that his fourth brother had been killed, he hanged himself in panic. His seven sons were also killed by Empress Wu on the way to exile.

All these dragon descendants and grandsons are the direct blood of Emperor Gaozong.So far, five of Tang Gaozong's eight sons were killed by Wu Zetian, including her two biological sons.In August, another 12 members of Li Jing's clan including Wang Liying of Nan'an were killed. "The clan of the Tang Dynasty was completely wiped out, and the young and weak survivors also fled to the south of the Five Ridges, and hundreds of their relatives were punished." Li Tang's clan and the civil and military ministers who did not attach themselves to him were massacred. From then on, no one challenged Wu Zetian's power. challenged.

Queen's accession to the throne, good politics and harmonious people

On the Double Ninth Festival in AD 690, that is, on September [-]th, Empress Wu Zetian, who was nearly ancient, changed Yuan Tianshou and formally established the Great Zhou Dynasty, calling herself the "Emperor of the Holy God".So far, her emperor's dream has finally come true.At the same time, Ruizong Li Dan was demoted to the heir of the emperor, and the crown prince Li Chengqi was also demoted to the grandson of the emperor.Wu Zetian respected Zhou Wen Wang Jifa as the first ancestor Wen Emperor, respected his father as Emperor Xiaominggao, and his nephew Wu Chengsi and others also received awards.In short, all members of the Wu family, whether they are dead or alive, are either emperors or kings, it can be called "the world of the Wu family".

After Wu Zetian became emperor, she paid more attention to the selection and use of talents.She believes that "in the vastness of the Nine Territories, it is impossible for one person to strengthen it, and it is necessary to accumulate talents and form wings together."She will use all talents who can "safety the country and define the frontiers", regardless of family background or qualifications.In order to recruit talents, she developed and perfected the imperial examination system since the Sui Dynasty, recruited talents freely, allowed self-promotion to be officials, and tried officials, and set up officials outside the ranks.In addition, she also pioneered the palace examination and military examination system, which created favorable conditions for more and wider discovery and search of talents.For example, Guo Ziyi, a famous general in the mid-Tang Dynasty, was "out of the same rank in martial arts".In this way, during the years when she was in power, there were always a group of capable ministers and generals who were "resembling benevolent heroes" and "like martial arts" serving her, effectively maintaining Wu Zhou's regime.

Wu Zetian also attached great importance to agricultural production.She said: "The foundation of the founding of a country must be farming", "Farming leads to land reclamation, land reclamation leads to more millet, and more millet makes people rich."She stipulated that local officials who can "reclaim fields and have surplus food in their families" will be promoted;In this way, during her reign, both agriculture and handicrafts have been greatly developed.The population keeps increasing.

Wu Zetian also made a lot of efforts during his administration to fight against foreign invasion, protect border tranquility, and improve relations between neighboring countries.Wu Zetian resolutely resisted and counterattacked the invasion and harassment of the Tubo nobles. In 692, she sent General Wang Xiaojie to defeat Tubo, recover the four towns of Anxi, and restore the Anxi Protectorate to Kucha.Afterwards, Beiting Duhufu was set up in Tingzhou to consolidate the northwest frontier defense and opened up the once-interrupted "Silk Road" leading to Central Asia.During her administration years, she insisted on the policy of frontier troops garrisoning fields.During the reign of Tianshou, Lou Shide inspected and supervised the governor of Fengzhou "garrisoned fields and accumulated millions of grains, and soldiers gave them to spare". In 701, Guo Yuanzhen served as the governor of Liangzhou and insisted on farming for five years, "the military rations can be supported for decades."Wu Zetian's large-scale and long-term farming had a positive effect on the development of border areas, reducing the labor of people's transfer, and consolidating border defense.

In order to consolidate her position and fight dissidents, Wu Zetian adopted the suggestion of Yu Baojia, the son of Shi Yushi Yu Chengye, and set up a bronze gate in the court hall to accept informants from all over the country.There are four copper ridges, painted in four colors: green, red, white, and black, and placed above the court hall.Among them, the green one is called "Zhaoen" and is placed in the east, the dandy is called "Zhaojian" and is placed in the south, the white one is placed in the west and is called "Shenjiao", and the black one is placed in the north and is called "Tongxuan". .Then assign a special person to be responsible for accepting the whistle-blowing documents from all over the country.

Wu Zetian also ordered the whole country that all states and counties along the way must take care of those who come to Beijing to inform and receive them according to the treatment of fifth-rank officials.All whistleblowers will be interviewed regardless of rank, and will be rewarded if they are true, and will not be held accountable even if they are not true.Through this approach, Wu Zetian got a group of cruel officials, the most famous being Zhou Xing and Lai Junchen.Later, when Zhongzong dealt with these cruel officials, he listed 27 of them.

In order to attack the royal family of the Li family, the cruel officials invented a lot of torture.Wu Zetian used them, but did not fully trust them, and did not reuse them.When their scapegoat mission was completed, Wu Zetian took advantage of public anger and executed them one after another. Now the famous idiom "Please enter the urn" refers to Lai Junchen and Zhou Xing.

There were more than ten years before and after the cruel official politics, and the cruel official was used to basically wipe out the Li clan and the original aristocratic forces who opposed him.During this process, Wu Zetian also received the support of officials from the common clan.Therefore, although Wu Zetian sometimes behaved cruelly, she did not slaughter crazily and without restraint.In short, cruel official politics is only one of Wu Zetian's political means.

Through cruel officials politics, Wu Zetian consolidated her power and the throne, but she was in a dilemma when it came to the succession of the throne.After the establishment of the Zhou Dynasty, she let her nephews become prime ministers and generals, controlling the power of the court, and the ministers gave the surname Wu instead of Li for their merits.She also waived the land tax for the Wu surname, and changed her hometown Wenshui County to Wuxing County. Judging from these, Wu Zetian wanted to pass the throne to her nephew surnamed Wu.This prompted her nephew Wu Chengsi and others to publicly challenge Li Dan's crown prince status.

Re-establish the crown prince, a monument without words

In 693 A.D., Wu Zetian held a sacrificial ceremony in Vientiane Priest Mingtang. This time, Wu Zetian unexpectedly let his nephew Wu Chengsi be the first sacrifice, Wu Sansi was the final sacrifice, while the official crown prince Li Dan was left out in the cold , very embarrassing.Wu Zetian's actions were undoubtedly an open encouragement to her nephews.However, Wu Zetian's wishes were strongly opposed by Prime Minister Di Renjie and others, which made Wu Zetian extremely contradictory.If the nephew is made the crown prince, although the Zhou regime can be preserved, future successors will definitely not enshrine her in the ancestral temple, because she is a married woman of the Wu family, which is equivalent to an outsider in feudal society up.If she makes her son the crown prince and inherits the throne in the future, she can smoothly maintain the orthodox status of the queen, and enjoy the sacrifices of her children and grandchildren with her husband Gaozong.However, this would return to the old tradition she had broken.

Wu Zetian's conflict was resolved by the clever Di Renjie in the end.On this day, the 74-year-old Wu Zetian said to Di Renjie: "I had a strange dream last night, dreaming that the two wings of a big parrot were broken.

Ai Qing, what is the sign? "Di Renjie seized this excellent opportunity and said to Wu Zetian: "Your Majesty's surname is Wu, so the parrot is His Majesty."The two wings are His Majesty's two sons. If His Majesty uses the two beloved sons again, the two wings will recover. "

At the same time, Prime Minister Ji Xu is also working hard.He told Zhang Yizhi and Zhang Changzong, Wu Zetian's male favorites at the time, because you two were favored by Wu Zetian and despised the ministers, and were hated by the ministers. If you want to save your life, you can only contribute to the crown prince now, and you can redeem your sins in the future .You should take advantage of your proximity to Wu Zetian to persuade her to make Luling King Li Xian the crown prince.After listening to Ji Xu's words, the Zhang brothers played a key role in Wu Zetian's making Li Xian the crown prince.

In 698 A.D., Wu Zetian secretly took Li Xian back to Luoyang, the capital city. At that time, the prince Li Dan cleverly asked to withdraw and asked his mother to make his elder brother the prince.This made Wu Chengsi extremely angry, because his inheritance rights were completely deprived, and soon Wu Chengsi died of depression.In order to prevent her nephews and sons from killing each other after her death, Wu Zetian Pi deliberately summoned Prince Li Xian, Xiangwang Li Dan, Princess Taiping, and nephews surnamed Wu to the Mingtang, and then offered sacrifices to heaven and earth, set up iron coupons, The coupons are stored in the History Museum as evidence.From then on, until Wu Zetian passed away, there was finally a relatively long period of stability.

Wu Zetian's later years benefited from the careful care of the Zhang brothers, so Wu Zetian showed great favor to the Zhang brothers.The Zhang brothers, Zhang Yizhi and Zhang Changzong, were both from Anguo, Zhongshan, which is now Anguo, Hebei.

At the end of 704 A.D., Wu Zetian fell ill in bed and did not summon the prime minister for several months. Only the Zhang brothers served around and controlled major political affairs, which made the ministers feel at a loss.After careful deployment, Prime Minister Zhang Jianzhi launched a mutiny in the first month of 705, killed the Zhang brothers, forced the sick Wu Zetian to abdicate, restored Zhongzong, and rebuilt the Tang Dynasty.On the 25th day of the first lunar month, Wu Zetian reluctantly left the palace where she had been empress for 15 years and moved to Shangyang Palace, southwest of Luoyang Palace City.Zhongzong gave her the title "Emperor Zetian Dasheng".But without the throne, Wu Zetian was in a bad mood, lost her spiritual support, and her old body quickly collapsed. On the second day of November in 705, 82-year-old Wu Zetian died in the Xianju Hall of Shangyang Official .When she was dying, she was very sober, and made a will, including removing the title of Emperor, calling her the Great Sage Queen of Zetian, and being buried in Qianling, together with Emperor Gaozong.Only a stele was allowed to be erected for her, but no biography was allowed. This is the origin of Wu Zetian's wordless stele.There are also family members of the Empress Wang, Concubine Xiao Shu, and Chu Suiliang who were pardoned.Others persecuted by the torturers were pardoned long before she was forced to step down. In the first month of 706, Wu Zetian's coffin was transported back to Chang'an and buried with Emperor Gaozong in Qianling.

After Wu Zetian's death, her posthumous title has changed several times, but the respect attitude of her descendants has not changed.After Ruizong came to the throne for the second time, he was renamed "Tianhou", and later changed to "Great Sage Queen", honored as "Tianhou Emperor", and changed to "Holy Queen".After Tang Xuanzong ascended the throne, it was changed to "Empress Zetian", which is more objective.In 749, Wu Zetian's posthumous title was finally set as "Queen of Zetian Shunsheng".

(End of this chapter)