Chapter 14 Empress Wu Zetian

In Chinese history, Wu Zetian was the only female emperor.She is the object of description and discussion in unofficial histories and literati novels of all dynasties. In these books, apart from all kinds of romantic affairs, there is also an enduring topic that has lasted thousands of years-prophecy. According to legend, Wu Zetian proclaimed himself emperor and changed the name of the country to Zhou, which was already predestined. As early as the early days of Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty, there was a nursery rhyme circulating in the society: "The middle of the Tang Dynasty is weak, and there is a female Wu acting as the king." The meaning is very simple, that is, in the middle of the Tang Dynasty, a woman surnamed Wu will appear as the king.This became the original version of the prophecy.

During the Zhenguan period, the stars in the sky also appeared abnormal.The Taibai star often appears in broad daylight, not at dusk.The officials in charge of studying astronomy and celestial phenomena made a divination on their own, but they did not expect that the divination showed "the heroine Chang".In this way, such a strange phenomenon coincides with the previous nursery rhyme.Tang Taizong was always restless because of this. At that time, it was a good year for the rule of Zhenguan, and there were not a few capable people and strangers in the court. Naturally, there were also people who were proficient in astronomy, calendar, and yin and yang.Among these people, the two most famous psychics are Li Chunfeng and Yuan Tiangang.Among them, Li Chunfeng was the most famous, and everyone called him "Suan Potian" in private.Tang Taizong summoned Li Chunfeng and wanted to hear how he interpreted the current vision.

Li Shimin had just expressed his doubts, but Li Chunfeng didn't care about the majesty's face at all, and told Tang Taizong directly that "Tang Zhong is weak, and there will be a female Wu Daiwang" is the destiny destined by heaven, and there is no way to change it.Moreover, Li Chunfeng also said a rather puzzling sentence. He said: "The omen has been fulfilled, and it is already in the palace. It will be another forty years and the king will be king, and the descendants of the Tang Dynasty will die." That is to say, this woman is already in the palace. In just forty years she will be king.Once the world is won, the descendants of the Li surname will be hunted down and killed.

Li Shimin was naturally taken aback when he heard that, he quickly came up with a plan and said, if this is really the fate, then he should kill all the Wu surnames in the world now.Li Chunfeng stopped the emperor's stupid behavior, he said: "Heaven ordered, you can't go." Moreover, Li Chunfeng also pointed out that this woman is the emperor's beloved, but she will be old after forty years, although She can sit in Datang's country, but she will never lose Datang's life.If the emperor killed all the Wu surnames in the world because of this self-interest, it would be going against the sky. Not only would the emperor not be able to become a wise king, but he would also anger the heavens and send younger people to overthrow the Tang Dynasty.At that time, it will really be the day when the descendants of the Li family will be exterminated.

When Tang Taizong heard it, he felt that the words were reasonable, so he let go of his murderous intentions, but this did not mean that he obeyed the destiny from then on.Li Shimin is still on guard against people surnamed Wu, and the cleaning activities in a small area have never stopped.Once, Emperor Taizong invited all the generals to a banquet, and during the banquet, taking advantage of the revelry, Taizong asked everyone to say their nicknames.Li Junxian, a famous general at the time, said that his nickname was "Wu Niangzi", but Taizong turned it into "Wu Niangzi" by mistake for a while, and he remembered that nursery rhyme at that time.Although Taizong pretended to be calm during the banquet and said: "I want to see what kind of woman can be so brave!" But after the banquet, he still killed Li Junxian.The reason is so surprising that Li Junxian's feudal city is the Duke of Wulian County, his official position is General Zuowuwei, and he guards the Xuanwu Gate. In addition, he is also called "Five Niangzi". Li Junxian is none other than Li Junxian.As a result, none of the Li family, young or old, escaped.

The destiny is inviolable after all.After Taizong's death, Empress Wu Zetian finally appeared in the eyes of the people. In fact, Wu Zetian entered the palace at the age of 14 and became a talented person for Li Shimin. Every day in the palace, she dreams of being able to mother the world.But Li Shimin didn't like her. After Taizong's death, in order to show her loyalty and filial piety, she had to cut off her hair and enter the temple as a nun. Wu Ze was born with a strong personality, and she had some tricks that men couldn't use. Even Taizong had to admire her superhuman ambition and courage.But precisely because of this, Taizong also deliberately alienated this talented person.Seeing that Li Shimin was old, Wu Zetian took the opportunity to befriend Prince Li Zhi.After Li Shimin's death, although she became a nun, she has been waiting for the opportunity to be rescued from this fire pit by the new emperor.In order to quell the harem struggle, the empress of the dynasty even took the initiative to take Wu Zetian back to the palace from the temple to be her patron.But I didn't expect that Wu Zetian even snatched the queen's position in the end.

In order to put the original queen to death, Wu Zetian actually killed her own daughter with her own hands, thus blaming the queen.His cruelty is evident.And so far, the original prophecy must have been half accurate.This vicious woman surnamed Wu finally began to show her true face. Since then, Wu Zetian has been called the "two saints" together with Gaozong since she was in charge of the court.When Emperor Gaozong died, Emperor Xianzong came to the throne, and Wu Zetian became the Empress Dowager.Later, she abolished Xianzong by virtue of her strong political means and made Tang Ruizong Li Dan the emperor. In fact, she was a puppet emperor at all.

But Wu Zetian was not satisfied with being a behind-the-scenes hero after all.In the end, she abolished Tang Ruizong and made herself king, calling herself the Emperor of the Holy God, changing the country name of Tang Dynasty to Zhou, and setting the capital in Luoyang City. The prophecy of "Nvwu Daiwang" has finally become a reality. Wu Zetian proclaimed herself king in 690 A.D., which was almost the same as the prophesied forty years. Even though she has the emperor's order, Wu Zetian himself is very clear that in a patriarchal society, the opportunity given to him by God to be in power is actually going against the grain.So after her death, she set up a stele without words for herself, leaving all the merits and demerits to future generations to comment on.