Chapter 25 Part Four - The Award Ceremony and the Prohibition of Slaughtering Pigs

Because the princes of the Tang Dynasty rebelled, the ceremony for Empress Wu to accept the "Holy Map" was delayed.After the turmoil was put down, the princes of the Tang Dynasty were killed and exiled by the elders, and everything was over. Now the picture granting ceremony is held in Shengtuquan.This is one of the grand ceremonies during the reign of Empress Wu.Empress Wu was wearing an emperor's dragon robe, a crown on her head, and twelve jade pieces hanging in front of her.After the ceremony, put the holy picture stone into the shrine, take it back and place it in the Vientiane Shrine.On New Year's Day in the first year of Empress Wu's Yongchang, the Holy Mother of Empress Wu sat in the Vientiane Shrine and was worshiped and celebrated by civil and military officials.

At that time, I was also sideways, watching constantly.At this time, beside me were Uncle Dan's wives Concubine Liu and Concubine Du, who were still alive at that time.The grandmother is sitting on the throne, holding a jade wat in her hand.On the front are seven jade objects related to Maitreya Buddha.Apart from the fine lines around her chin - which are only noticeable at close quarters - she looks energetic and healthy, looking very blessed, happy and content, like a snake that has just eaten a rabbit , and now they are coiled together, as if sleeping comfortably and soundly.Next to her was the shrine of the holy picture given by heaven, and the stone tablet was engraved with the words "The Holy Mother Comes, Yongchang Emperor's Success".Now this Virgin is the real God in the flesh.

Everything is luxurious and magnificent, there is no doubt about it.The New Year is also very lively.The Vientiane Shrine is decorated with resplendent gold and jade, and Vientiane is completely new.The Great Monk Zuo Weiwei, General Feng Xiaobao, is now the Duke of Liang, because he spared no effort to build magnificent high-rise buildings, which is really a great achievement.Now he is wearing a shining cassock of purple silk and satin, pacing up and down in the palace.Uncle Dan now appeared in front of the public for a time, because he should be the sub-offer in the ceremony.Grandma's eyes are usually squinted like a thread, but now when civil and military officials kneel in front of her, cheering and congratulating her as the Holy Mother, her eyes are now shining brightly, she is full of energy, and her face is full of joy.Empress Wu held the power of life and death, and the rank and title of civil and military officials were also in her hands. Empress Wu knew it herself, and she knew that the civil and military officials of the Manchu Dynasty also understood.

Now it's the turn of the next-ranking princes in the Tang family to kill and persecute.The intention is not to eliminate the conspirators and their accomplices, but to exterminate the clans of the Tang Dynasty before officially announcing the change of dynasty, and to strengthen terror and subdue the hearts of the people. The massacre happened in bursts, with no continuous traces in the middle.The second time was from March to April in the first year of Yongchang, Empress Wu. This batch of executions consisted of twelve princes.Hundreds of families have to travel two thousand miles to the south.After this time, the situation became tense again, and the third massacre followed.Wu Chengsi is now officially appointed as a servant.Wu Sansi instigates and instigates, helps the tyrant to abuse, princes and ministers are submissive and prostrate around.On the seventh day of this month, thirty-six princes, ministers, and generals were killed, including many Confucian scholars.Empress Wu was not only domineering and tough, but also suspicious.There were spies all over the world, and her spies immediately investigated anyone who seemed to be slightly dissatisfied with her, disagreed with the situation, or was ambiguous and unreliable, or could not always swear allegiance to the Virgin.And there are many people who are dissatisfied with her.During the purge trial, she killed nine generals, three Zhongshu orders, one Zhongshu servant, four servants, two servants, and six ministers (see Murder Table 3 at the end of this book).

At the time of the hearing, the evidence given by the witnesses is not important.In the first year of Guangzhai after Empress Wu, after Xu Jingye's rebellion failed, one of Xu Jingye's younger brothers wanted to flee to Turkic.At that time, two local officials in Youzhou helped him escape.Later, Xu Jingye's younger brother was arrested, and two magistrates were arrested.These two local officials have no qualifications, nor are they blessed to know the princes or ministers of the Tang family, nor can they know the actions of the princes and lords in Kyoto.Moreover, Xu Jingye's uprising in the first year of Guangzhai had nothing to do with the rebellion of the princes of the Tang Dynasty.One of the two petty officials wanted to take his own life. The imperial court gave him a list of people to be killed by the imperial court, and ordered him to sign the affidavit prepared by the judge concerning the conspiracy and connection. .In this way, the royal family of the Tang family can be killed or killed at will.

From the second half of the first year of Yongchang to the first half of the first year of Tianshou, the massacres happened one after another, closely connected.By the time of the fourth massacre, the royal family of the Tang family had been completely wiped out.The fourth massacre was mainly aimed at civil and military officials in the Tang clan.In the seventh month of the first year of Tianshou, that is, two months before the edict of the new dynasty, the slaughter was endless, which was really shocking. Therefore, such a frenzied massacre must be done exactly when the destiny returned to the empress. A person dares to say "no" to God.The legal and systematic massacres have intensified step by step.Wu Zetian made the common people firmly believe that the world of the Tang Dynasty was irretrievable, and that the Holy Mother of Heaven had risen, and the ancient prophecy was about to be fulfilled.Empress Wu knew that after two months, tens of thousands of people would come to ask her to abolish the Tang Dynasty. If she had refused at that time, there would be thousands of people who would come to ask her to start a new dynasty. week.At that time, and only at that time, she felt that it was difficult to refuse, so she had to reluctantly submit to public opinion and change the dynasty to be called "Emperor".

Some people may ask why it is necessary to massacre three thousand families.This is necessary and unavoidable.There is only one reason, and this reason is very important, that is, a daughter-in-law in the Tang Dynasty was not satisfied with being a queen, nor was she satisfied with being a powerful empress dowager, nor was she satisfied with being the supreme son-in-law in power: she must be an unprecedented in history. The empress can't! Only Wang Zizhe and Wang Zidan she did not want to kill.The two of them are still living under confinement, just like the last two pennies of a gambler who is a professional gambler, they always have to stay in his purse.The two princes were given the surname Wu by the Holy Mother.

Empress Wu has always disliked Xu Wang Sujie and Ze Wang Shangjin (not the biological sons of Empress Wu), and they have been imprisoned for a long time.Now the stepmother unhurriedly stretched out her long arms, bringing the two princes to fruition with ease.Xu Wang Sujie and his nine sons and Ze Wang Shangjin and his seven sons were killed again.Only a few of the youngest children were spared by the Holy Grace. Among them was my good friend cousin, who is now the British Duke. Their children were all exiled to Qiongya.That was the July of the first year of Empress Wu, shortly before Empress Wu ordered the world to abolish the Tang Dynasty and change the Zhou Dynasty.

The massacre ended two years before Empress Wu Tianshou, and the most terrible thing happened in the second year of Empress Wu's longevity.That year, Wan Guojun, a party member of the cruel official Lai Junchen, was sent to Guangdong to investigate the rumors that the orphans and widows left by those who were massacred by the court were dissatisfied with the court.Wan Guojun sent them to the government and ordered them all to commit suicide.The hall of the official mansion was full of cries, and it was gloomy and miserable.Wan Guojun said, "Okay, then follow me." He led three hundred orphans and widows to the river and slaughtered them all.Only in this way can he return to the capital and report to Empress Wu that the sinner's wife and children are extremely dissatisfied with the court and are eager to rebel. Fortunately, he arrived in time to prevent the plot from succeeding.Wan Guojun immediately paid homage to Doctor Yushi.

When others saw Wan Guojun receiving rewards for his meritorious service, they all reported that other prisoners were exiled to various places. I am afraid that there will inevitably be some who are dissatisfied with the court.As a result, several court officials were appointed as roving censors and sent to border areas in Sichuan, Guizhou, Guangxi, and Yunnan.So the massacres happened one after another.In order to show his loyalty to the imperial court, Liu Guangye slaughtered about 900 men, women, and children, Wang Deshou killed about 700, and several secret envoys of Empress Wu killed about 200 to 500 each.

Leaving aside the bloody facts, just listing the names of the people who were massacred is enough to be disgusting and hateful.In a word, the occurrence of these murders cannot be blamed on Zhou Xing and his party members, but is an important step in Empress Wu's vicious policy. At the back there is a rather exhaustive list of men and women who have been killed as a result of a megalomaniac woman trying to fulfill her ambitions.The name of a person listed on the massacre list is usually because of this person, a family of ten to twenty people is implicated and exiled, trekking in the wilderness and desolation to the remote Qiongya, or the subtropical south .The following tables do not include officials below the third rank.In Chinese and foreign history, if Wu Zetian is not the biggest murderer, there is no doubt that she can also be listed in the top few. In April of the first year of longevity, Empress Wu promulgated a decree at a wild and carnival banquet: Prohibition of slaughtering pigs!This is because she was influenced by the great monk Zuo Weiwei and the great general Liang Guogong Feng Xiaobao. She also converted to my Buddha Tathagata and became a devout Buddhist.