Chapter 12 Will be the master of the world in the future!

Samurai Xun's original partner, Li Shi, was a descendant of the Hu people, with a humble family background, and gave birth to four sons for Samurai Xun.After three years of Wude, the samurai became famous and the officials were honored. It is said that the family can enjoy the glory and wealth. However, the world is impermanent and human lives are in danger. The two sons died of illness one after another within a few months. Died of a disease. At that time, the samurai Xun, in addition to his position as Minister of the Ministry of Industry, also led the Jing Yue Army, one of the Twelfth Army in Guanzhong. Due to his busy work, he had no time to take care of his family. He never even asked for leave to go home to take care of his wife and children when they were seriously ill.However, one wife and two sons died one after another in such a short period of time. This was a heavy blow to the samurai Xun, but he still fulfilled his duties and never announced it to the public.In the days that followed, the samurai Xun took his remaining two sons Yuan Qing and Yuan Shuang to live a widowed life in silence.

Since the samurai Xun was a high-ranking official in the imperial court, the relevant departments reported the news of his wife's death to the emperor as usual.Emperor Gaozu Li Yuan was greatly moved when he heard about it, and immediately issued an imperial edict to praise him: "This man is more than loyal. Last year his son died, but today his wife died. He is so far away from each other. He has never said anything about it. He died and died for the country, which is incomparable!" Fu Yuangui·Ministry of Sanitation·Zhongjie") In the seventh year of Wude (AD 624), the samurai Xun participated in the revision of the first legal code of the Tang Dynasty-"Wu De Law", and was later promoted to be the first-rank Ying Guogong because of his meritorious service.At about this time, Emperor Li Yuan became a moon elder himself and found a woman for him as his successor.

This woman was the mother of the later Empress Wu Zhao, the daughter of Hongnong Yang, one of the six major county surnames in Guanzhong. The Hongnong Yang family has been a high-ranking family in Guanlong since the Han Dynasty. It has been prominent in the past dynasties. In the Sui and Tang Dynasties, it produced a large number of talents.Wu Zhao's mother, Yang, and Yang Jian came from the same clan. Yang's uncle, Yang Xiong, and father, Yang Dagui, were prime ministers of the Sui Dynasty. In the Tang Dynasty, Yang Gongren, the son of Yang Xiong, was the prime minister of the Wude Dynasty. He became the prime minister of Zhenguan Dynasty.

Born in such a famous family, Yang naturally received a very good education since she was a child. It is said in history that she is proficient in literature and history, crafts poetry and calligraphy, and is good at literature. At the same time, she has a very devout Buddhist belief. Female" ("Quan Tang Shu" Volume 239 "Wangfengtai Monument"). These advantages, or characteristics, of Yang's body were undoubtedly inherited one by one by the later Empress Wu Zhao.Many years later, people will find that whether it is self-cultivation, talent, knowledge, religious belief, healthy physique, abundant energy, or even the longevity gene (Yang Shi was 92 years old, Wu Zhao was 80 years old) One year old), the queen is exactly the same as her mother Yang.

Maybe it's because Yang's conditions are so superior that it is difficult to find a suitable husband, so her life's major events have been repeatedly missed.Before his father Yang Da was alive, the Yang family never married.In the eighth year of Daye (AD 612), Yang Da died on the way to conquer Korea. At this time, the Yang family was already a thirty-four-year-old girl.She simply announced that she would "be strict with her family forever, and live in elegance forever" ("Wangfengtai Monument"), and decided to live in Buddhism and never marry for life. If it wasn't for the later Emperor Li Yuan who personally arranged the marriage between her and the samurai Xun, Yang might really have spent her entire life in the company of wooden fish bells, green lanterns and yellow scrolls.

Yang was already forty-six years old the year she married the warrior Xun.In the Tang Dynasty, women usually married between the ages of thirteen and eighteen, and at this time, the Yang family can be regarded as a grandmother-level figure.If it hadn't been for the emperor in person to name the officiant, the super-old girl Yang might not necessarily agree to the marriage. No matter what state of mind Yang was in when she married the samurai Xun, anyway, after getting married, the married life can be considered harmonious and happy.As expected of a famous family, Yang's upbringing and knowledge are comparable to ordinary women. Since she replaced Xiangli's as Mrs. Ying Guo from the first rank, she quickly became the virtuous wife of the warrior Xun.In the next few years, the Yang family gave birth to three daughters for the warrior Xun. The eldest daughter was the later Mrs. Han, the second daughter was the later Empress Wu Zhao, and the third daughter died shortly after getting married.

Wu Zhao was born at the end of the eighth year of Wude (AD 625).In the second year after she was born, the Xuanwumen Incident that shocked the world broke out. Qin Wang Li Shimin successfully seized the throne, and then forced Gaozu to abdicate and ascended the throne as emperor. From then on, the history of Tang Dynasty opened a new page. In such a huge political change, the official career and destiny of the samurai Xun will of course be greatly affected. As the saying goes, one emperor and one courtier, after Li Shimin seized the throne, although he tried his best to reach political reconciliation with various factions, he did not persecute or cleanse the dissident forces, but there is no doubt that he will definitely transfer the power of the court from Wude From the hands of the old ministers to his direct descendants and cronies.Under such circumstances, as a high-ranking military official in Taiyuan and highly valued by Gaozu, the samurai Xun certainly had no reason to continue to stay in the power center of the empire.Therefore, during the Zhenguan Dynasty, the warrior Xun was successively released as the governor of Yuzhou, Lizhou, and Jingzhou, and never returned to the capital to serve in his life.

From the first year of Zhenguan (AD 627), Wu Zhao left Chang'an with his parents and family when he was a child, and began to travel around.In Lizhou (where the government is now Guangyuan City, Sichuan), Jingzhou (where the government is now Jiangling County, Hubei), and other places, there are still some place names, historical sites and legends named after "Zetian" and "Tianhou".In these folklore full of fantasy, Empress Wu Zhao has become a god with supernatural power without exception, and has been talked about and worshiped by local people for thousands of years.

Contrary to the colorful legends, there are basically no official records about the Queen's childhood.The only thing worth mentioning may be the mysterious prophecy made by the famous fortune teller Yuan Tiangang. It is said that Empress Wu Zhao was still in her infancy at that time, and Yuan Tiangang, a well-known fortune teller, once passed by Lizhou and was a guest at Wu Zhai.After seeing the hostess Yang's face, Yuan Tiangang exclaimed: "Looking at the bones of the lady, you will surely have a precious son." Yang then called out all the children and asked Yuan Tiangang to look at the face.When he saw Yuan Qing and Yuan Shuang, Yuan Tiangang said: "These two boys are the masters of the family, and they will be promoted to the third rank in the future." After seeing Yang's eldest daughter, he said: "This girl is also the most noble life, but it is not good for her future husband." (Mrs. South Korea will be widowed early in the future.) Finally, when Yuan Tiangang saw Wu Zhao who was hugged by a wet nurse and dressed in men's clothes, a gleam of light suddenly flashed in his eyes.

He stared at the child intently, his face suddenly changed.The samurai Xun and his wife looked at each other subconsciously, and hurriedly asked why.Yuan Tiangang shook his head and said, "It's not easy for this son to be sure, please let him go down to the ground and take a few steps to have a look." The nurse put the child down as promised, took her hand, and asked her to walk a few steps on the edge of the bed.Wu Zhao raised his head with a smile while walking, and looked at Yuan Tiangang with big clear eyes.Yuan Tiangang couldn't help exclaiming: "This child has dragon eyes and a phoenix neck, which is a noble figure!" Then he looked around the child, and exclaimed again and again: "It's a pity that you are a gentleman. If you are a woman, you will have a very bad future." It is limited, and in the future it will be the master of the world!" ("Old Tang Book Biography of Yuan Tiangang": "I turned to look at it, and said in surprise: 'It must be a woman, it is really impossible to see, and I will be the master of the world in the future!' ")

In this story, Yuan Tiangang spoke amazingly and convincingly, and his prophecy was confirmed by later history.However, anyone who is familiar with Chinese history knows that most of the founding emperors of the past dynasties had similar mysterious prophecies.Leaving aside the distant ones, let’s just say that the founders of the Tang Dynasty, Li Yuan and his sons, had a similar prophecy.When Li Yuan was young, the prophecy he got from Shi Shiliang, a "good man", was that "the male bone is very good, and he must be the master of others" ("Old Tang Book·Gaozu Benji"), and Li Shimin was as early as four years old. It was commented by a white-clothed fortune-teller who came and went without a trace-"The appearance of a dragon and a phoenix, the watch of the sun! The year is turning twenty, and it will surely help the world and the people!" ("Old Tang Book · Taizong Benji") How true these prophecies are, we have no way of knowing today.But there is one thing we can roughly infer—the more fulfilled a prophecy is, the more likely it is that it was purely an afterthought. In other words, when you find that a certain prophecy in history is almost 100% fulfilled, you should know that its distance from lies and myths is close to zero.Especially when this prophecy is closely related to politics, it should be viewed as such. In addition, one more thing we can be sure of is that no matter whether this prophecy is true or not, the Samurai and his wife probably would not really regard this daughter as a future queen to raise.And even if the prophecy is true, the samurai and his wife will not feel happy, only fear. Because in that kind of society at that time, it was not a fun thing for one's own child to be predicted as the "lord of the world". If Wusha and head are lost, the whole family will probably suffer as well!What's more, the "lord of the world" predicted by Yuan Tiangang is actually a girl, which is even more incredible.Under the social conditions of ancient China where men were superior to women, how could it be possible for a woman who was firmly bound by ethics and ethics to surpass the barrier of patriarchal supremacy and become the emperor who ruled all people and became rich all over the world? This is absolutely impossible! So we can fully imagine that when the samurai couple heard this sensational prophecy, apart from being stunned and terrified, they probably had only one thought in their hearts—Yuan Tiangang was crazy. This well-known fortune-teller, who is said to be a master of fortune-telling, is probably crazy this time! Of course, even if the beautiful and intelligent Wu Zhao was not raised by his parents as a future queen, there is no doubt that he was regarded as the apple of his eye.Especially from his mother Yang, Wu Zhao got an extremely good education.In just a few years, Wu Zhao has grown into a well-known lady with both talent and beauty.It is said in history that she "has a lot of wisdom, and is also involved in literature and history", so later Emperor Taizong "heard of her beauty, called her into the palace, and established her as a talented person" ("Old Tang Book·Zetian Benji"). ", which refers to her beautiful appearance and elegant manners. Time flies, and it is the ninth year of Zhenguan (635 AD) in a blink of an eye.In May of this year, the Supreme Emperor Li Yuan died.The bad news spread to Jingzhou. The warrior Xun vomited blood from his mouth because of his grief, and died of a disease at the age of fifty-nine. Wu Zhao, who was only eleven years old, lost his father in this way. In the autumn of the ninth year of Zhenguan, Wu Zhao, who was covered in white clothes, went back to his hometown in Bingzhou for burial with his mother, sisters, and two half-brothers, supporting his father's coffin.The carriage carrying the nanmu coffin walked in front, and Wu Zhao and his family sat in the carriage behind.The motorcade carrying the coffin back to the hometown rumbled all the way to the north, and the scenery along the way was desolate and desolate.Wu Zhao secretly opened a corner of the car curtain, and saw the thin and tall mourning banners trembling in the bleak autumn wind, and the paper money flying all over the sky, like a group of white elves with broken wings, struggling and circling in vain in the air, then helplessly They fell one by one. At that moment, Wu Zhao felt pain for the first time in his life. The young Wu Zhao knew that with the sudden death of his father, his carefree and happy life would come to an end.