Chapter 9 Chapter 9 Wu Zetian’s Ridiculous Old Age

Chinese feudal society has always valued men over women, and women who hold power are mostly regarded as "beautiful women and troubles", and from ruling the government to changing the dynasty, they are even more regarded as treason.As the female emperor in Chinese history, Wu Zetian almost accounted for both beauty and treachery, and her life has been mixed with praise and praise.The reason why she still has a "reputation" lies in her illustrious achievements during her reign as emperor. Although the Wu Zhou Dynasty under Wu Zetian took the Tang Dynasty and replaced it, looking at his life, he inherited the prosperous road of the Tang Dynasty. Under Wu Zetian's rule, the economy, population, households, production and even military affairs of the Tang Dynasty Strength, all maintained a momentum of vigorous development.Internally, Wu Zetian regarded "persuading farmers to teach farming and mulberry" as an important criterion for evaluating local officials, encouraging the development of production, resettling fleeing farmers under land annexation, and easing social conflicts; The four towns of Anxi consolidated their rule in the Western Regions, and promoted the agricultural technology of the Han nationality in areas inhabited by ethnic minorities such as Qinghai, Gansu, and Mongolia, and practiced farming.Especially the Hetao area, which is an important wheat producing area in China today, actually started to flourish during the reign of Wu Zetian.

The imperial examination system that began in the Sui Dynasty also reached a new stage during the Wu Zetian period.She was born from a poor family, so she emphasized talent and learning over family status in the selection of the imperial examination, and a large number of officials from poor families also made great achievements.All of the above not only laid the foundation for the later Kaiyuan prosperity, but also had a far-reaching influence in Chinese history. But at the end of Wu Zetian's rule, she and the Wuzhou Empire she managed with great pains were really in crisis.Compared with the vigorous momentum most of the time after ascension to the throne, various problems appeared in the Wu Zhou Dynasty at the end of Wu Zetian's reign.All of this is due to both the necessity of economic development and her own absurdity.

Speaking of various maladministration in the late Wu Zhou Dynasty, many can be cited, but the one that has the greatest impact on later generations is land annexation. In fact, the issue of land annexation cannot be completely blamed on Wu Zetian, because this is the inevitable result of the economic development of feudal society.When the economy develops, there will be a gap between the rich and the poor. After the gap between the rich and the poor, the poor will sell their land, and the rich will expand their land. In this way, there will be problems of land annexation.The consequences of land annexation are serious. It will lead to intensification of social conflicts, reduction of national taxation, and even turmoil.For the Tang Dynasty-Wu Zhou period, land annexation was particularly fatal, because at this time China's taxation was based on the land equalization system, and China's military system was based on the Fubing system, both of which were based on the national land system. Based on the premise, once the land system of the country is destroyed due to land annexation, the consequences will be disastrous.

In China at that time, after the two dynasties of Tang Taizong and Tang Gaozong, the national economy had developed rapidly, and the gap between the rich and the poor also appeared as a result, and the emergence of land annexation was inevitable.However, throughout the dynasties, people of insight will issue laws and regulations to curb the development of land mergers, so it depends on human effort. If Wu Zetian can take corresponding measures, land mergers can be contained within a controllable range. After Wu Zetian came to the throne, she paid special attention to agriculture. She promulgated the "Book of Zhaonong's Basic Industry", which used agricultural production as the standard for evaluating local officials, and promulgated decrees on land reclamation.In the early days, farmers were encouraged to reclaim wasteland, and a tax-free policy was given to the reclaimed land. The reclamation of a large number of wasteland in southeast China, especially in the Jiangnan region, was related to this policy. From this time on, the economy of southern China gradually surpassed that of the north.During Wu Zetian's reign, China's population nearly doubled from 3.15 million households during the Tang Gaozong period to 6.15 million households at the end of the Wu and Zhou dynasties. However, under the rapid economic development, land mergers are inevitable.

Land annexation, in fact, was very serious during the reign of Tang Gaozong.During the reign of Tang Gaozong, due to conflicts caused by the annexation of land in the south of the Yangtze River, a peasant uprising occurred in Zhejiang.The leader of the uprising was a woman named Chen Shuozhen, who called herself Emperor Wenjia.Although it was suppressed only one month later, land conflicts have become prominent.In the early days of Wu Zetian's ascension to the throne, in order to stabilize the rule, he adopted policies such as cutting taxes and reducing labor, and the economy was stabilized and developed. However, another incident became the catalyst for land annexation in the Wu and Zhou Dynasties.

Wu Zetian's success in seizing the throne was due to her own unfathomable scheming and the weakening of Li Tang's royal family on the one hand, and the efforts of her own "team" on the other hand, especially the Wu clan as her backing.In order to consolidate her position, Wu Zetian offered rewards, and at the same time adopted an attitude of connivance and indifference to her clan's enclosure of land.Di Renjie, a famous official in the Wu Zhou Dynasty, had exposed Wu Zetian's nephew Wu Yousi's enclosure of land in his early years.Since then, the enclosure of land by the Wu clan has intensified. In the Henan area alone, the land under the name of Wu Zetian's nephew Wu Sansi amounted to more than 2,000 hectares, and quite a lot of it belonged to the Fubing. The common people were displaced, and even the army's land was not guaranteed.At the same time, Wu Zetian was also very good at "indiscriminately conferring titles". The generous rewards for the clan's children were quite a lot of "generosity to the country" and rewarded a large amount of land belonging to the people to the clan.Moreover, compared with Wu Zetian's early "light taxation", the Wu Zhou Dynasty in Wu Zetian's later years was also criticized for excessive taxation.Empress Wu Zetian worshiped Buddhism, overhauled temples in Henan, Shanxi, Shaanxi and other places, and sent corvee labor so much that the people fled one after another, and the related expenses were solved by increasing taxes.Land annexation and heavy taxes, as a result, the people are naturally struggling to live.

The serious consequences of land annexation also affected the army, especially the foreign operations of the Wu Zhou Dynasty.In 696 AD, Li Jinzhong of the Khitan rebelled, and Wu Zetian sent troops to crusade many times, but suffered repeated defeats.Wu Zetian was annoyed and changed Li Jinzhong's name to Li Jinmie, but it still didn't help.Regarding the defeat of this war, an important reason is that in the Hebei area that was in charge of the battle, the government military system was severely damaged due to land annexation, and a large number of soldiers fled into exile.At the same time, the Wu Zhou Dynasty also suffered repeated defeats in the battles with Tubo and Turks.Especially at the end of the Wu Zhou Dynasty, the Turks rebelled on a large scale and attacked the border many times, but the Wu Zhou army was unable to fight back. The Chinese army, which had been invincible since the Zhenguan period, had to face the increasingly severe border defense situation.

In terms of economy, how far has Wu Zetian reached in his later years? "Old Tang Book" contains: "The household registration in the world, more than half of them fled. The book figures of 6.15 million households have become empty words under the fleeing households, and the blow to the economy can be imagined. Another absurd thing in Wu Zetian's later years is the "lewdness" that later generations love to talk about. Wu Zetian's favorite male favorite has never ceased since she took the throne.She was 67 years old when she came to the throne, and she had been busy with political struggles most of the time before. After the throne was stabilized, Wu Zetian finally began to enjoy her "love" life.According to historical records, the first male favorite of Wu Zetian was the monk Xue Huaiyi, whose name was Feng Xiaobao. He was originally a drug seller in Luoyang City. , and then soared to the top.In order to deceive others, Empress Wu Zetian ordered him to become a monk and go to the palace as a monk to facilitate their tryst.Wu Zetian really liked this little monk very much, and built a "Mingtang" specially for him, and named him the mighty general and Liang Guogong.This Xue Huaiyi is not the "little boy" who eats soft food based on his appearance in today's imagination, but Kong Wu is powerful.In 693 AD, he also served as the general manager of the marching road, commanding troops to fight against the rebellious Turkic people.Moreover, for Wu Zetian's ascension to the throne, Xue Huaiyi also played a propaganda role. He tried his best to spread public opinion among the people, advocated that the heroine descend to earth, and created momentum for Wu Zetian's ascension to the throne. After ascending the throne, he made a lot of contributions.But this person's character is really bad, he is domineering, he specially recruited a group of hooligans to be monks in Luoyang City, and they are domineering all day long. Even Wu Sansi and other Wu Zetian's nephews respect him when they see him.Once Xue Huaiyi insulted the Prime Minister Su Liangsi in public, and was beaten up by Su Liangsi. Afterwards, Xue Huaiyi went to Wu Zetian and cried, but Wu Zetian was very sensible and did not favor Xue Huaiyi. All hooligans were punished. At this time, Wu Zetian still clearly distinguishes between public and private.

Later, Xue Huaiyi got used to being domineering and domineering, and Wu Zetian had a new favorite, and Xue Huaiyi became more and more indifferent to Xue Huaiyi. As a result, Xue Huaiyi, who was jealous of the wind, burned down the bright hall that Wu Zetian built for him, which can stab a hornet's nest.From then on, Xue Huaiyi fell out of favor completely, and then disappeared in history. Some said that he was eliminated by Princess Taiping, and some said that he was killed by Wu Sansi. In short, he was no longer favored by Wu Zetian. In addition to Xue Huaiyi, another male favorite of Wu Zetian's early days was the imperial physician Shen Nanmiao, but this imperial physician was timid and cautious, with a generous personality, and he just waited on Wu Zetian cautiously all day long.Because Wu Zetian favored and trusted him, Xue Huaiyi was so angry that he burned Mingtang down. Afterwards, the imperial physician Shen was terrified and died not long after.

Wu Zetian's early favor and trust in men was limited to her private life. Apart from causing many rumors, it did not have much impact on the government. In her later years, things changed because of the appearance of two brothers—Zhang Changzong and Zhang Yizhi. These two brothers have been favored by Wu Zetian since 697 AD. Unlike the previous male favorites, these two have extremely political ambitions.Compared with Xue Huaiyi's domineering and Shen Nanmiao's walking on thin ice, these two brothers are like ducks in water.Zhang Changzong was good at rhythm, and Zhang Yizhi was good at singing and dancing. The two brothers sang together and coaxed Wu Zetian to be in high spirits all day long.From then on, the two of them began to intervene in the government affairs. First, they took bribes, sold officials and nobles, and they were very honest.Once a person surnamed Yang bribed Zhang Yizhi. Zhang Yizhi's family forgot the person's name. Zhang Yizhi promoted all the people surnamed Yang in the capital without saying a word, but the corruption of the government also intensified.

It’s fine to collect some money, but as time goes by, the two brothers began to reject dissidents, especially in the later years of Wu Zetian, the two brothers were in power, and because of the enclave of land, the two brothers hated the prime minister Wei Yuanzhong, so they framed Wei Yuanzhong on charges. After that, Li Dan, In order to curry favor with these two brothers, Li Xian's two sons of Wu Zetian even invited them to become kings.In his later years, Wu Zetian was obsessed with having fun with his brothers all day long, and the state affairs were also neglected. Tubo invaded Liangzhou, Turks invaded Shuozhou, and the Wu and Zhou dynasties were slow to respond.From the first month of 705 A.D., Wu Zetian didn't see her ministers at all, and closed the door to play with her brothers, and she didn't seize power. Therefore, her death knell sounded. In the first month of 705 A.D., Prime Minister Zhang Jianzhi launched a coup and joined forces with General Youwuwei Li Duozuo to surround the Luoyang Palace on the 26th of the first month. Killed by Zhang Jianzhi.Under internal and external pressure, Wu Zetian was forced to abdicate. Ten months later, the 83-year-old Wu Zetian passed away as empress dowager, leaving behind a monument without words. The gravediggers of the Wu Zetian Dynasty naturally recommended Zhang Jianzhi first, but this Zhang Jianzhi was related to Di Renjie, a well-known official in the Wu Zetian era.As an important minister of Wu Zetian, Di Renjie's most important political achievements in his life were outstanding talents. Yao Chong, Song Jing and other later famous officials of the Kaiyuan Dynasty all came from his rewards, and Zhang Jianzhi was no exception.When Di Renjie first recommended Zhang Jianzhi, Wu Zetian only asked Zhang Jianzhi to be the governor. Di Renjie argued: "Zhang Jianzhi is the talent of the prime minister." In short, in Wu Zetian's later years, he gave her a fatal blow.This may be something that Di Renjie never thought of before.