Chapter 19 Wu Zetian

When I started teaching in the United States, I often felt that there were certain subjects that were not easy to deal with, and Wu Zetian was one of them.If you attack her from a traditional moral standpoint, you know that the so-called "killing sons, brothers, kings, and mothers" is half-featured and fictional.And she has presided over China's political situation under different names for half a century, and her influence is not inferior to that of the most romantic emperors of all dynasties.So the facts are by no means so simple, and can be summarized by us as "good" and "bad".And what I teach is the outline of Chinese history, and it is also related to people today, so it is even more difficult.

Wu Zetian's father, a samurai, was attacked by Emperor Gaozu of the Tang Dynasty at the end of the Sui Dynasty. He was an official to the Minister of the Ministry of Industry and the governor of Jingzhou.It's just that she entered the palace between the ages of thirteen and fourteen and became a talented person of Emperor Taizong.The so-called talented people are half maids and half concubines who have no real status in the emperor's palace.After Taizong's death, she was sent to Ganye Temple as a nun, where she met Gaozong Li Zhi.Later, she was promoted from Gaozong's Zhaoyi to the concubine Chen, and she was established as a queen in 655 AD. It is estimated that she should be around 30 years old.

She has the power to control Gaozong since meeting him, there is no doubt about it.Gaozong had 8 sons, the first 4 sons came from other concubines in the harem, and the last 4 sons were all born to Empress Wu.Considering the number of concubines and grandchildren of emperors in the Tang Dynasty, such as Taizong had 12 sons, Xuanzong had 30 sons, and Xianzong had 20 sons, Wu Zetian must have favored Li Zhi's harem. Gaozong died in 683, and Wu Zetian made her son Li Xian the emperor at the beginning. The empress dowager's title remains the same.In 690 A.D., she "revolutioned Tang Ming", changed the name of the country to "Zhou", and called herself "Emperor of the Holy God".In this way, it has been about 15 years since the heroine became the emperor.In the spring of 705, she fell ill and was restored by Li Xian as Zhongzong.Empress Wu Zetian died at the end of that year. Officially, she was eighty-one, but some say her actual age was eighty-three.Five years after Zhongzong's restoration, it is said that he was killed by his empress Wei, but Wei's plan to continue to use the title of the heroine was overthrown by Li Dan's subordinates.Li Dan was restored in 709 AD as Ruizong.Only in this way, Li Xian and Li Dan, Zhongzong and Ruizong are all sons of Wu Zetian, and the other 15 emperors of the Tang Dynasty are all her grandchildren and descendants.So even though Empress Wu's title was changed again and again, she was still the ancestor and mother of the Tang Dynasty.A person who usurped the throne and turned the dynasty upside down, and enjoyed a lifetime in the Taimiao, also made it difficult for the compilation of national history.They neither dare to praise nor criticize much, so it also creates opportunities for many people to confuse rumors with historical facts.

Wu Zetian also has two attention-getting places: one is her politics of terror.In 686 she set up copper rails here and there to receive informants.He also appointed Lai Junchen as Yushi Zhongcheng (Vice President of the Supervisory Council). He and his secret agents were the tools of torture. In addition, Wu Zetian's private life is said to be related to the Russian Queen Catherine.When she was in her sixties, because she loved Xue Huaiyi, she taught him to become a monk in a monastery, and entered Xingjian in the name of a monk.When she was in her 70s, she had fun with the beautiful young Zhang Yizhi and Zhang Changzong's brothers "Fu Fenshi Zhuyi Splendid Clothes" and her and her daughter Princess Taiping Yanju.Huan Yan and Fan Shangshu, the Minister of Justice, impeached them, pointing out that "Your Majesty cannot bear to be punished first because of his kindness for a long time; Changzong blamed himself for his many crimes of rebellion."It is self-proclaimed that Luen is the love between the mane and the toe.Wu Zetian did not ask nor pursue the admonishers.There is also Zhu Jingze, a right-hand man, who is even more abrupt, citing outside rumors to criticize Empress Wu is even more obscene, and she reprimands: "I don't know what you are talking about."

With these unkind and unrighteous behaviors, Wu Zetian was still praised by Lu Zhi, the virtuous minister of Dezong Dynasty.Li Zhi, who commented on history with an "informal" attitude in the Ming Dynasty, and Zhao Yi, who commented on history with a formal and objective attitude in the Qing Dynasty, both left praises for Wu Zetian. Observing Wu Zetian only from a short-distance side view, it is difficult for us to see her contribution to Chinese history.In some places, she is also like Wang Mang, that is, according to "Zhou Li" and other reasons and personal preferences, she changed the appearance and names of government agencies and various things.Luoyang is actually her capital, and she renamed it from "Eastern Capital" to "Shendu Capital" after she took over the power.The six departments of officials, households, rituals, soldiers, criminals, and workers are the six officials of heaven, earth, spring, summer, autumn, and winter.The province under the door is Luantai, and the province of Zhongshu is Fengge.The banner is golden, and the Zichen Palace she is guarding is covered with light purple curtains, and officials below the eighth rank who used to wear green are now wearing green.If someone came to Luoyang suddenly at this time, they would probably be shown off by this magnificent city of gods, or they might mistake the government of a great empire for a zoo because of Luantai Fengge.

However, anyone who thinks that the empress dowager of the Tang Dynasty became the emperor of the Great Zhou Dynasty, who only decorated the facade and added a more distinctive feminine color and artistic sentiment to various things, absolutely underestimated Wu Zetian's "revolution". Chinese historians usually think that Tang Gaozong and Li Zhi were weak and incompetent, which caused this "women's trouble". "Old Tang Book" says, "Since the Emperor Xianqing, he has suffered a lot from wind and disease: all the performances of the divisions have been entrusted to the Queen of Heaven to make detailed decisions."It now appears that he suffered from high blood pressure, which also hampered his vision, for many years.Therefore, relying on Wu Zetian to judge the books, and letting her "listen to the government behind the curtain", after the emperor's throne, I learned that Zhao's conversation with his ministers began to be implemented in 650 and 660 respectively. In addition, the existing historical materials cannot prove that he was a puppet for a long time. The emperor, besides, his activeness and willingness to change are comparable to those of Empress Wu.During the reign of Empress Wu, the reign name was changed 16 times, and Gaozong changed it 14 times.In the last 5 years of his reign, the year name was different every year, which was unprecedented.He once decided to lead the empress to go to Korea, but he gave up because of empress Wu's bitter remonstrance.He and Empress Wu traveled to Qufu, the capital of Xingdong, and sealed Mount Tai.On the day of his death, he was still planning to climb the gate of Zetian Tower, but he couldn't mount the horse because of shortness of breath, but he still finished the amnesty ceremony in front of the hall.He also built Penglai Palace, Hebi Palace, Jiucheng Palace and Mirror Palace, all of which have a style that breaks the tradition.His plan to become the emperor's grandson is unprecedented, so he called it "self-death", which means that I will create this historical precedent.Li Zhi once said, "Emperor Yang died after refusing to remonstrate, and I always take it as a warning."Usually historians regard Empress Wu's palace examination as a milestone in China's examination system, but in fact, in 659 AD, Emperor Gaozong Li Zhi "introduced nine hundred candidates for the examination by himself".With so many deeds, it can be seen that even if he let Wu Zetian let her specialize, he can't be considered mediocre.Moreover, Gaozong has been in power for 34 years, and has repeatedly advertised in front of his ministers that his queen is his clone. The two of them called themselves "Emperor and Empress", and people called them "two saints".So he had already left a legal position for Wu Zetian during his lifetime.As soon as he died, according to the posthumous edict, the crown prince came to the throne, "if there are undecided military and state affairs, he will also take the queen to advance and stop", and he already has the power of the emperor's decree.Therefore, some Gaozong court officials, such as Dali Cheng (Supreme Court Judge) Di Renjie, who served Wu Zetian for several decades later, were not regarded as traitors.

But this kind of arrangement, after all, is not something that the whole court can accept satisfactorily.What's more, it took a lot of trouble for Gaozong himself to be established as the heir of Taizong Li Shimin in the past.Only because of Changsun Wuji's full support can he pass through difficulties.Changsun Wuji is the elder brother of Empress Wende of Emperor Taizong and uncle of Emperor Gaozong.In the early years of the Tang Dynasty, he instigated the Xuanwu Gate Change and helped Li Shimin seize the throne. After supporting Gaozong again, he has been a hero for three generations. reputation.It's just that he opposed the establishment of Empress Wu Zetian, and was falsely framed by Gao Zongchen's officials, exiled to Qianzhou, and later forced to commit suicide.With things like this in the background, Wu Zetian also knew that she had been arbitrarily powerful in the past few decades.

Soon after Gaozong's death, the first problem occurred was his son Li Xian.Although he was established as emperor, he had no real power.At this time, he appointed Wei Xuanzhen, the father of the empress (that is, the empress Wei who later became troubled), as a servant (director of the attendant room).But Zhongshu Ling, who was in charge of important appointments and dismissals, refused to agree with him.This is not only a matter of official rank and salary, but because the servant is an important official position, and it is assigned to the father of another queen, which is bound to conflict with the queen mother.This is also based on traditional Chinese politics, where truth flows from top to bottom, and imperial power can neither be rationalized nor divided.This matter did cause Wu Zetian to be dissatisfied with Li Xian, and became the main reason for his relegation and abolition as King of Luling.Soon, Xu Jingye rebelled with soldiers in Yangzhou.Jingye is the grandson of Xu Maogong, a veteran general who attacked Goryeo. He was relegated at this time, and his mood was dispirited. Flat in March.However, his call to challenge Wu Zetian, written by King Luo Bin, is a masterpiece of parallel prose and has been widely recited.It is mentioned in the article that "the king's beloved son is secluded in another palace, and the clan alliance of thieves entrusts him with a heavy responsibility." effect.The article also urges the old officials of the Tang Dynasty to liquidate Wu Zetian with their affection for the emperor, Li Zhi, and father and son.The article stated: "Where the words are still in the ears, do you forget the heart? The land is not dry, and what is the solitude of six feet?" It is even more provocative.This only made Wu Zetian go to extremes.

Her regime is the only guarantee for the safety of herself and her cronies, and her own son is also the target of the enemy, so she can only push one step at a time.Since Li Xian and Empress Wei were exiled and imprisoned, when an envoy came from Empress Wu, they would panic and think that it was the empress mother who wanted him to commit suicide.The other son, the so-called Zhanghuai Prince Xian, may have been killed by her cronies, but it is impossible to verify whether it was Wu Zetian's will or not.Another son died early, and the remaining son, Li Dan, dared not show up even if he was asked to be the emperor.Afterwards, she liquidated the Tang dynasty clan more and more tightly, and forced many princes of the Li family to rebel, so she killed them all. Only some young children who fled to Lingnan were spared.Such things can certainly show her fierce character, but on the other hand, it is also caused by many complicated factors.Her spy politics and terrorist politics were also a product of this time. Its purpose was to make people in the court separate from Shun Shun. Even Di Renjie, who was loyal to her for the country, was once sentenced to death.With such a development, it is difficult to find consistent logic in the personal experience of Wu Zetian and the "Queen Shunsheng" of the Tang Dynasty. Instead, it can only be seen in this political environment as a movement that transcends personal experience and has its ins and outs. .

So Wu Zetian has to create her logic.She found that being the empress dowager of the Tang Dynasty could no longer control the current situation. Even if her son was a puppet emperor, she still could not solve the problem. God Emperor".Fortunately, "Zhou Li", a classic with a fake history, fully praises the traditional Chinese state as the king and inherits the laws of nature. Utopia and other ideas can be fully utilized (such as the Ministry of Officials and Heaven, the Ministry of Households and The ground is in order, rituals are spring, soldiers are summer, punishments are autumn, and work is winter, etc. The design of the framework and an artistic trend).And the Buddhism she admires, invisibly advocates the equality of all beings, and there is no basic difference between men and women (but she still advocates filial piety to her parents. During Gaozong's time, her parents were prohibited from saluting to monks. The Buddha statue in Longmen Grottoes is to pray for her parents).With the "Da Yun Jing", it can be seen that although the emperor of the Zhou Dynasty was a woman, he might still be resurrected for Maitreya.

What makes Wu Zetian arouse the curiosity of historians is that despite the very unfavorable conditions, her deeds can still be successful.She has been the empress for 28 years, the empress dowager for 7, and hereby has been the emperor in her own name for 15 years. Except for the problems caused by herself, the country has not suffered any major changes.After she punished Junchen in 697, her rule has been relatively relaxed.Zhongzong's restoration, only a very small amount of bloodshed.The so-called "the mausoleum of the Sheji Ancestral Temple, the mausoleum, the marching flag, the official name of the Yutai Pavilion, the Tiandi, the Sun and the Moon Temple, and the story before Yongchun (682 AD)" are easy to do. It can be seen that these things in name and appearance are just Wu Zetian's great dictatorship It is not the essence of her governance that she is a tool of the oppressor. Today it is impossible to tell whether Wu Zetian was born with beauty or not. A simple way of saying it is that her talent, appearance, and insight cannot be regarded as mediocre.Even if she has the ability to "cover her sleeves and slander her, and seduce her master", that can only be regarded as a means to seize power at the beginning, and her historical importance has long been overwhelmed by her later deeds.We have to determine her place in history, or we have to take into account her era and circumstances.And her longevity is more important than her appearance and courage. The second half of the 7th century AD can be regarded as a period of adjustment and re-equipment of the "Second Empire" with the Sui, Tang and Song Dynasties as its façade.The Second Empire was forced by the Tuoba people to transform some nomadic tribes into an agricultural society, first forming the core of the Northern Wei regime, expanding from Shanxi to Henan, and even extending to Shaanxi.Its predecessor passed through the various stages of the Northern Wei, Northern Qi and Northern Zhou Dynasties, and was inseparable from the regime of the Hu people and the Han people. It adopted the "Zhou ritual" written design to control a large number of small farmers.Therefore, the focus of the three-head system, the land equalization system, the rent-yong system, and the government-army system is nothing more than a very simple mathematical formula to control and manage tens of millions of people.The Sui and Tang Dynasties of the Second Empire inherited this system.They have encountered the biggest problems. First, due to the expansion of the country, this primitive organization needs to be pushed from the loess area and the North China Plain to areas with complex terrain, disordered land ownership, and very different products and transportation. The administrative principles are too simple. , and the objects it tries to manipulate are too complicated. The second is the marriage between the chieftains of the minority nationalities and the well-established Han people. After going through various stages of the Northern Dynasties, they became a new type of aristocrats and tended to monopolize the government.Others aside, the Li and Tang Dynasty itself was influenced by this genetic factor.For example, the eldest grandson of Empress Wende of Emperor Taizong Li Shimin is the mother of Emperor Gaozong.Her ancestor was the brother of Tuo Bahong, Emperor Xianwen of the Northern Wei Dynasty.His family changed their surname to eldest grandson after going through the Western Wei and Northern Zhou lords.Before Gaozong was established, Li Chengqian, another prince of Li Shimin, was also born to Empress Changsun.He liked to speak Turkic, dressed in Turkic clothes, and practiced Turkic customs.Wu Zetian's own mother, the Yang family, was also in the same family as Sui Yang.Emperor Sui Yang still had a daughter who was the concubine of Li Shimin.And Emperor Sui Yang came from the Dugu family, which is also a Xianbei surname.At that time, there were many such people in the court.Gaozong's uncle, eldest grandson Wuji, has already been mentioned above.This new type of aristocracy is not only incompatible with the following system of organizing a large number of small farmers by civil servants, but also involves ethnic minorities and has a more divided force. Before Changsun Wuji fell, some people said that he was "Wang Mang and Sima Yi". There is more than one reason. In addition, since the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, the aristocratic clan of the Han people "neither can be ordered nor ordered", which has created a social force that exceeds political authority in various regions, and it has not subsided until the early Tang Dynasty.Taizong asked people to write "Clan Chronicles" in the hope that the official titles he granted would overwhelm the family that "their descendants' talents have declined, and the official titles have been replaced, but they are still proud of their family status".However, his own senior officials such as Wei Zheng, Fang Xuanling and Xu Maogong still married these aristocratic families, so they "have not diminished their old expectations".Because of this, Emperor Gaozong issued an imperial edict in 659 not to allow the children of 11 aristocratic families to marry themselves. These conditions summarize the background before and after Wu Zetian's appearance, so her 50 years in power, including the period after Gaozong, are really consistent with the Second Empire, which urgently needs to be adjusted and re-equipped. From this point of view, we have to appreciate what Denis Twitchett said in "Cambridge History of China" that Taizong Li Shimin's management is really personal politics, not institutional politics.Li Zhi and Wu Zetian, who called themselves "Emperor and Empress", changed a temporary system into a permanent system.Gaozong had promulgated the "Five Classics of Justice" before Liwu, and promulgated a new law format in 651 AD (according to Taizong's last edict, Yonghui replaced Zhenguan law). He and Empress Wu also used Luoyang as the eastern capital. The attitude of the reform of the people.Later, in Qufu, fortunately, the Confucian Temple was ordered to be built in all prefectures and counties. At the same time, it continued the trend since the Southern and Northern Dynasties, advocating Buddhism and worshiping Laozi on a large scale and in a systematic manner, resulting in a system of "unifying the three religions into one", which was considered a creation at that time. a new ideology.It’s just that time has passed, and it’s not easy for us to imagine its profound influence now (this point is similar to the influence of Western culture in modern China, and the new insights injected also enable ordinary people to expand their horizons). The difference between the politics of the Tang Dynasty and the previous ones was that the local government was also supervised and organized by the central government. In addition to Qianzhong, Lingnan and Minzhong, prefectural and county officials were also taught by the Ministry of Officials.When Qian Mu mentioned the scholars of the Eastern Han Dynasty, he said that their moral concepts were narrow, and when he talked about the Tang Dynasty, he said "the unlimited liberation of political power".Although one is ideology and the other is official system, there must be a common relationship between the two, otherwise there would not be such a big difference between the front and the back.Buddhism has been worshiped by ethnic minorities, and it can not only cater to intellectuals with wisdom and meditation, but also guide lay people through rebirth in a pure land. Under the conditions of "officials are twice as old as ancients, and scholars are less than officials", confusion between upper and lower levels easily occurs. effect.The emptiness and silence of Taoism are natural, and they also have the intention of being large and transforming.Many of these ideological and belief factors must be publicized and popularized by the government to serve as a kind of spiritual support for the new society in an era when engraving and printing books, education is more common, water transportation is developed, and the gentry class is active.We have no way of "proving" that without the arrangement of Tang Gaozong Li Zhi and Empress Wu, the Tang Dynasty could not continue to send lower-level bureaucrats to take office in a wide range of areas.But on the other hand, if these bureaucrats were like the famous scholars in the Eastern Han Dynasty, all of them took narrow moral concepts as the foundation of social order, and used their personal will as the law to implement, the entire organization would have collapsed long ago. . Gaozong's elimination of "rebellion" implicated his relatives, and then Empress Wu massacred the emperor's descendants and ministers, regardless of whether it was fair or not, and regardless of whether it was related to their motives at the time, the result was that the court aristocracy A big hit.As Richard Guisso mentioned, there are hundreds of companies involved, and the bureaucrats are generally above the fifth grade of Beijing officials, and their descendants are not allowed to take the exam. Therefore, during the 50 years of Empress Wu who presided over the state affairs, there must be a fierce conflict among the upper class of China. Variety. Setting up copper rails to inform people is not something we can admire today.It's just that the general bureaucrats of the day really needed to be purged.For example, during the reign of Emperor Gaozong, Liu Renzhi said that every time a prefecture or county sent people to serve as soldiers, the rich would be exempted if they gave money, while the poor would be conscripted to the old and weak, and some would flee and self-mutilate (it can also be seen that the government military system was only effective for a very short period of time) .At the beginning of Empress Wu, Lu Yuanrui, the governor of Guangzhou, was killed by a foreign businessman from Nanyang. Chinese records also say that it was because Lu's subordinates invaded and fished Fanships, and the Fanshangs who filed a complaint with the government were arrested.After another period of severe punishment by Empress Wu, at the end of her life, Wenchang Zuocheng (Cabinet Prime Minister) Zong Chuke brothers also committed stolen goods.The Chongli envoy in their residence, Princess Taiping, the daughter of Empress Wu, sighed: "Our generation is born with vain ears." The most heinous thing is that the Hebei government army could not resist the Khitan to protect the people. Collaborating with the enemy, moving and killing, only Di Renjie can report these things to Empress Dawu.Therefore, judging from various deeds, the large-scale organization of a bureaucratic system in the early Tang Dynasty encountered numerous technical difficulties. The crux of the problem was that it could not be managed numerically and required discipline.Both the environment and the facts expected the emergence of a great dictator, and Wu Zetian happened at the right time. Although Wu Zetian was not the one who initiated the palace examination, she was the first to come forward and often act as a strategist, regardless of her family status.She is very energetic, and many bureaucrats have been killed and exiled, so they need someone to make up for it, usually by herself.Some people say that during her reign, "replenishing the que and connecting the car, picking up the leftovers and equalizing the amount", it can be seen that there are so many new recruits.That is to say, in the case of Gaozong's era, there were more than 13,400 officials who entered the stream, and about one-tenth of the new recruits were absorbed every year.She has been manipulated and managed like this for decades.In terms of personnel arrangements alone, it can be seen that her power has a great influence. Wu Zetian is a special figure in the extraordinary period of traditional politics.We can easily see the appearance of China at that time from her deeds, but it is not easy to get a glimpse of her true character under the same circumstances.For example, it is not easy for us to assert her sex life from the existing materials (in contrast, Catherine's sex life is not just rumors, there are doctors' evidence in the books).Wu Zhi quoted the Zhang family brothers and gave them the names of "Controlling Hejian" and "Fengchen Order", which has the potential to reverse the official position of the female historian of Dianwei in the Tang Dynasty.She might even think that she is the emperor as a woman, so why not have a male concubine?But such things can only be conjectured by us.Her reaction to Zhu Jingze also had an air of stubbornness, as if she hadn't cared about these criticisms for a long time.It's just that when she was with the male attendants, she "laughed at the minister for fun", which showed that she had dealt with bureaucrats for half a century and had completely seen through their weaknesses. Wu Zetian created a new bureaucracy.Her success was due in part to the power she gained as a queen during Gaozong's time, but also to her practical understanding of the true character of the bureaucracy.The emperor is the chairman of the civil official group. He (or she) creates myths and legends with ideal beauty and goodness, and uses them as the basis for manipulating power.Since it is a myth, no one can pursue it very seriously.It's just that all officials regard the false as the true, or hold on to this starting point between the half false and the half true, that is, to give the absolute imperial power a fair support, which has made it impeccable and inviolable.Under this condition, it is even possible to use Tang as Zhou for the emperor in the future.She cultivated the aforementioned myths with the mysterious arrangements of "Hetu Luoshu", resounding year titles such as "Long Live Tongtian", and "resurrecting from falling teeth" and other miracles of immortality.On the other hand, she also frankly admitted that in the final analysis, the true face of traditional politics is nothing more than strength.She told Ji Xiang that there are three things to make a horse: an iron whip, two iron rods, and three daggers.If the whip does not obey, the head will be cut off, and if the whip is not obeyed, the throat will be cut off.In this regard, she also admitted that she herself still couldn't come up with this brutal method to deal with the difficult subjects.But she was nearly eighty then.On the one hand, she already feels safe in her position to speak out.On the other hand, the new civil servant group run by her has already laid a fairly solid foundation. As long as the iron whip is used frequently and the iron rod is used occasionally, there is no need to use the dagger more.