Anecdote of the Fifth Queen Mother

Chapter 13 Empress Wu (1)
(624-705)
[-]. Wordless Monument
In the north of Qianxian County, Shaanxi Province, stands the high Liangshan Mountain. On the top of Liangshan Mountain, there is a world-famous huge mausoleum. This is the Qianling Mausoleum where Tang Gaozong Li Zhi and Empress Wu Zetian were buried together.Stone lions stand in front of the mausoleum, Weng Zhongcheng walks in a row, and two tall gray stone tablets stand outside the Suzaku gate in the south of the mausoleum.On the left is the "Shushengji Stele", with an inscription of about [-] characters. It was written by Wu Zetian himself and Tang Zhongzong Li Xian.The stele has seven sections, so it is also called "seven-section stele".On the right is the wordless stele, which is [-] meters high, [-] meters wide, and [-] meters thick. There are eight intersecting chi prime ministers on the forehead of the stele, and the side of the stele is engraved with cloud and dragon patterns.This is the famous wordless stele that Wu Zetian set up for himself before his death.

The wordless stele has stood silently in Liangshan for more than 200 years, and the ruthless wind and rain have left scars on it.Today, this wordless stele is already covered with densely packed handwriting, but those words were engraved by later generations. When this stele was erected, there was indeed no word engraved on it. It is an out-and-out wordless stele.People can't help asking, why did Wu Zetian build a monument for herself without saying a word?This is really an eternal mystery.

Some people say that this is taken from the meaning of "the people are famous for nothing" in "The Analects of Confucius", to show that Wu Zetian's skill is higher than the sky, which cannot be described in words.It is also said that the reason why Wu Zetian erected a blank monument is to leave it to future generations to evaluate his merits and demerits.There are really different opinions and no consensus.

In China's feudal history of more than 2000 years, there have been more than 300 monarchs, but there is only one woman, and this is Wu Zetian.On October 690, 10 A.D., the ninth day of September in the Gengyin Year of the Tang Dynasty, Wu Zetian, who was proud of the spring breeze, officially ascended the throne at the age of 16 on the Chung Yeung Festival in autumn, and was called "Emperor of the Holy God".This day, known as the Wu Zhou Revolution in history, is the first time in Chinese history that a woman becomes the emperor.This is undoubtedly an earth-shattering event.

Fourteen more springs and autumns passed, on February 705, 2 A.D., on the 20nd day of the first month of the Yisi Year of the Tang Dynasty, this mighty queen was overthrown by the "Five Kings Coup" launched by Prime Minister Zhang Jianzhi.Tang Zhongzong Li Xian was restored, and Zhou was changed to Tang.Although Wu Zetian proclaimed herself emperor for only 22 years, she has been in power for half a century.Although Tang Gaozong reigned for 14 years, he suffered from wind disease shortly after he came to the throne, and he was not a director since Xianqing, so in fact, Wu Zetian was in power for him for 33 years.Wu Zetian has been in power for 27 years from the sixth year of Yonghui (AD 655) when she became the "Queen of Heaven" to participating in political affairs until she abdicated in the first year of Shenlong (AD 705).

On December 705, 12 AD, the 11-year-old Wu Zetian died of a tragic illness in the Xianju Hall of Shangyang Palace in Luoyang where she lived after being deposed. Its name was changed to "Empress Zetian" ("Old Tang Book·The Book of Empress Zetian").Both "Books of Tang" are Wu Zetian's "Empress Benji". Historians of all dynasties do not regard her as the empress of the Great Zhou Dynasty, but still regard her as the empress and empress dowager of the Li and Tang royal family.This book incorporates Wu Zetian's biography into "Anecdotes of the Five Empress Dowagers", and the name "Anecdotes of Empress Wu" is also based on the above reasons.

In the 290-year ruling history of the Li-Tang Dynasty, Wu Zetian was in power alone for half a century, and her role cannot be ignored.Naturally, people paid more attention to such a unique female emperor in China who appeared in a special historical environment. For more than 1000 years, there have been many debates about Wu Zetian's merits and demerits, and there have always been mixed praises and criticisms, including praise and reviling.Some people describe her as a heinous and shameless tyrant, while others affectionately call her the "female Chinese hero" (Volume 22 of "[-] History Notes").

Qianqiu's meritorious deeds have their own comments.Let us follow Wu Zetian's step-by-step climb to the pinnacle of power for a brief review, and the ruthless history will draw a fair conclusion.

Two, fourteen spring and autumn
In the 11th year of Tang Zhenguan (AD 637), on a sunny and sunny day, the gorgeous palace carriages were parked in front of the tall vermilion lacquered gates of the Wu family in Chang'an. It's hard to tell.The mother was already in tears and choked up, but the young daughter persuaded with a nonchalant smile: "Isn't it a good thing to see the emperor? What is there to be sad about?" The tearful mother is Yang, whose husband died two years ago , The woman who spoke was Wu Zetian who was only 14 years old.

What was Wu Zetian's original name is not recorded in history.I only know that when she entered the palace at the age of 14, Tang Taizong named her a talented person and personally named her Wu Mei, so she was called Wu Mei Niang.In the first year of Tianshou (AD 690), Empress Wu Zetian created a batch of new characters. She chose one of the characters "赵" (pronounced "Zhao") as her name, and named herself Wu Zhao. As for the reason why she is generally called Wu Zetian, it is because she personally drew up the posthumous title "Zetian Great Sage Queen" for herself before she died.

In the first month of the seventh year of Wude in the Tang Dynasty (624 A.D.), Wu Zetian was born in the home of a poor upstart warrior.The samurai official worshiped Zheng Sanpin as Shangshu of the Ministry of Industry and was granted the title of Ying Guogong. He was the cousin-in-law of Tang Taizong Li Shimin's brother-in-law. Because he became the emperor's relative, he was extremely favored for a while.Speaking of this marriage, there is a story.

Samurai Yu, courtesy name Xin, was born in Wenshui, Bingzhou (now Wenshui County, Shanxi Province).In the last years of Sui Daye, he served as a small official of the Yingyang Mansion, and later made a fortune by operating the timber business.According to the "Taiyuan Deeds" quoted in Volume [-] of "Taiping Guangji": "Tang warrior Yu, a native of Wenshui County, Taiyuan. In the early days, he and Xu Wenbao, a township man, used vending materials as a matter of business. Tens of thousands of stalks of often aggregated wood, once turned into The jungle, the luxuriance, and the riches." When Li Yuan, Emperor Gaozu of Tang Dynasty, was stationed in Hedong, the samurai went to seek refuge, but Li Yuan stayed in Taiyuan and appointed him as the marching commander to join the army.Li Yuan raised the banner of anti-Sui in Taiyuan, and the samurai became one of the meritorious personnel of the first uprising.Since then, he has flourished. "The Flag of Righteousness was raised, and Shi Yi was the general's mansion. From the meritorious service of Pingjing, he worshiped Doctor Guanglu and was granted the title of Duke of Taiyuan." Book · Samurai Biography")
Wu Zetian's uncle, Samurai Leng, was originally a landlord in Bingzhou.Also because he participated in the Tang Gaozu's Taiyuan uprising, the official became the Minister of Agriculture and Shaoqing, and he was named the county magistrate of Xuancheng.Wu Zetian's second uncle, warrior Yi, also made military achievements. He was an official to Cao, a householder in the royal family of Qi, and was granted the title of Duke of Anling County.Wu's family has one state prince and two county princes, which is a symbol of his family's transformation from a humble landlord to a bureaucratic class.Ever since the warrior Jiang married the Yang family and became relatives with the royal family, he has become a new nobleman in the new dynasty, so majestic.

The Yang family was born in Guanzhong, and was the daughter of Yang Da, Nayan (clan prime minister) of the Sui Dynasty.Samurai Ou's ex-wife, Xiang Li, had two sons, Yuan Qing and Yuan Shuang.In the third year of Wude (620 A.D.), the Xiangli family died, and Tang Gaozu personally acted as a matchmaker for the warrior Yu Xuxian.Tang Gaozu's daughter and Li Shimin's younger sister, Princess Guiyang, changed her marriage to Yang's cousin Yang Shidao. Because of this relationship, Tang Gaozu introduced Yang to the warrior to show his special favor.Emperor Gaozu of the Tang Dynasty said to the warrior Yu: "There is Yang Da, the Duke of Suining in Nayan, who is the most talented, and Yiye is a relative. Now there is a woman, who is wise and capable, and can assist virtue." (Volume 40 of "Cefu Yuangui").Obviously this is a political marriage. When they got married, Yang was over [-] years old.

Tang Gaozu trusted Samurai Yu quite a lot, and Samurai Yu was also very grateful to Dade.After raising the army, Emperor Gaozu of Tang appointed him to join the army as the marching commander. He used his long-term business and good planning skills to manage military supplies and logistics for the army.After entering Chang'an, the samurai Yu was appointed as a doctor of the Ministry of Treasury to manage the armored battles.In the first year of Wude (618 A.D.), the samurai was promoted to General of the Forbidden Army and Yue General, and soon he was changed to the guard of the right wing of the school.During this period, his wife was critically ill and his two sons died of illness, and he did not take care of them.In recognition of his loyalty, Emperor Gaozu of Tang Dynasty proposed to marry him, and promoted the samurai Yu to be the Minister of the Ministry of Industry and Technology, and named Ying Guogong.

Wu Zetian is the second daughter born to the warrior Xuxian Yang.According to the "Old Tang Book·Samurai Biography", "At the beginning, Shiyi married Xiangli's family and gave birth to Yuanqing and Yuanshuang. He also married Yang's family and gave birth to three daughters: Chang Shiyue King's Mansion Gong Cao Helan Yueshi, followed by Tian, This time is suitable for Guo Shi."

Regarding the date and place of Wu Zetian's birth, there is no clear document in history, so it has caused a lot of controversy.Wu Zetian died in the first year of Shenlong (AD 705), and history books generally use this to infer her birth year. "Old Book of Tang" said she lived to be 83 years old, "Tang Huiyao" said she was 81 years old, and Wu Jing's "Ze Tian Shi Lu" concluded that she was 82 years old.According to "Tang Lu" and "Zhenguan Zhengyao" that Wu Zetian entered the palace in the 13th year of Zhenguan and was 14 years old when she entered the palace, her age should be 80 years old.To sum up, there are four records of Wu Zetian's age as 80, 81, 82, and 83 years old. According to this, his birth year should be the ninth year of Wude (626 AD), the eighth year of Wude (625 AD). Year), the seventh year of Wude (AD 624), and the sixth year of Wude (AD 623), but there has never been a record that Wu Zetian was born in the Zhenguan period.At present, the historians generally adopt the records in "Zizhi Tongjian" that has been tested by Sima Guang, and take the 82-year-old theory, that is, Wu Zetian was born in the seventh year of Wude.

As for Wu Zetian's birthplace, Guo Moruo tends to think that she was born in Lizhou (now Guangyuan, Sichuan).Guo Moruo's first evidence is that under the title of Li Yishan's poem "Lizhou Jiangtan Zuo", there is the author's own note: "Golden Wheel of Sensation".Wu Zetian was the "Emperor of the Golden Wheel Holy God", and "feeling pregnant" means that the emperor felt pregnant and became pregnant.In fact, the basis of Li Yishan's poem is a folklore.It is said that Wu Zetian's father, Wu Shiyu, was appointed as the governor of Lizhou. He took a boat to Lizhou to take office. Give birth to Wu Zetian.So far, there are still "Jiangtan" relics along the Jialing River in Guangyuan.This story is quite miraculous, and it is pleasant to tell, but if viewed as a letter of history, it is a bit absurd.

Guo Moruo’s second basis is the stele “Records of the New Temple of Tang Zetian Empress Wu’s Family” unearthed in 1955 when the Baocheng Railway was being built. , by Meng Chang.The inscription on the inscription respects Wu Zetian very much, and one sentence mentions Wu Zetian's life experience, namely: "During the time of Zhenguan, my father was the governor, so [Zhou, Shisheng] was born later." Unfortunately, when the stele was unearthed, it was broken, and the three characters in brackets It was made up by Mr. Guo according to his own wishes, so it seems that it is not very reliable to use it as evidence.

Volume 625 of "Quan Tang Wen" preserves the inscription "Panlongtai Stele" written by the Minister of the Ministry of Officials and Zhongshu Ling Li Kuo during Wu Zetian's period of the Tang Dynasty. The inscription records the life experience of the warrior in detail.From the eighth year of Wude (AD 626), the samurai was appointed as the governor of Yangzhou, and in the ninth year of Wude (AD 628), he was appointed as the governor of Yuzhou, and in the second to fifth years of Zhenguan (631-632 AD), he was appointed as the governor of Lizhou In the sixth year of Zhenguan (635 AD), he was re-elected as the governor of Jingzhou, and died in office in the ninth year of Zhenguan (624 AD).It seems that the samurai was not appreciated by Tang Taizong, and he never returned to the capital to serve as an official until his death.Since Wu Zetian was born in the seventh year of Wude (AD [-]), at that time, his mother Yang was living in Chang'an with her husband Wu Shiyu, who was the minister of the Ministry of Industry, so Wu Zetian could only be born in Chang'an, not in Guangyuan. .

Although Wu Zetian was not born in Guangyuan, she has a certain relationship with Guangyuan after all, and there are still many relics of Wu Zetian in Guangyuan.In addition to the above-mentioned Jiangtan, Guangyuan also has "Zetianba" named after Wu Zetian, the dressing building where Wu Zetian was a child (destroyed in 1958) and the "Thousand Buddha Cliff" where their mother and daughter often went to worship Buddha.In particular, Huangze Temple by the Jialing River used to be the family temple of the Wu family, and now it still retains the round stone statue of Wu Zetian completed in the Five Dynasties.On the legendary Wu Zetian's birthday (the 23rd day of the first month of the lunar calendar), until the eve of liberation, women in Guangyuan still have the custom of swimming in river bays to commemorate the empress.

In the ninth year of Zhenguan (AD 635), the 59-year-old samurai learned the news of Tang Gaozu's death, became sick with grief, and died of vomiting blood. This year, Wu Zetian was 12 years old.After his father died, Wu Zetian returned to live in Chang'an with his mother, but the two older half-brothers treated their mother and child coldly, often putting on a vicious face.From then on, the young Wu Zetian initially tasted the hardships of the world and experienced the cruelty of the world. She gritted her teeth and endured it, and coped with it with a forced smile.She secretly made a vow to rely on her own strength to change this painful situation, and one day, she must avenge this arrow.

In the 11th year of Zhenguan (637 A.D.), Wu Zetian was 14 years old. She was an outstanding talent. This girl matured prematurely, and her beauty even spread into the palace.Over the past ten years, she has moved around with her parents, and has seen a lot of worldly experiences. The warmth and comfort of her family has formed her peculiar character.The four high walls of the courtyard can't stop the spring scenery, let alone Wu Zetian's unrestrained heart.She is no longer satisfied with being an ordinary girl in a boudoir, her heart is full of colorful dreams.It may also be Wu Zetian's dream to enter the palace and become a concubine.With the relationship between her family and the royal family, this dream is not the moon in the mirror or the flowers in the water, but it may become a reality.Therefore, when the inner court eunuch was ordered by Tang Taizong to pick Wu Zetian into the palace, she was calm and composed, which was in sharp contrast to her mother Yang's love for children.

In this way, 14-year-old Wu Zetian ended her unfettered youth, and the wind of fate brought her to a turning point in her life. Her extraordinary beauty opened the door to power for her.

[-]. Lonely talents
Tang Taizong loved horses very much throughout his life. The stone carvings "Six Horses" in front of the original Zhaoling Mausoleum displayed in the Shaanxi Provincial Museum are all famous steeds who followed Taizong from birth to death. This probably has something to do with his frequent battles on horseback throughout his life.After the world was at peace, Tang Taizong still liked war horses very much.One day, he was playing with his beloved BMW "Shizi Cong", when suddenly, the fierce horse lost his temper, and even Tang Taizong, who was accustomed to riding horses, could not control it.At this time, Wu Cairen, who had just entered the palace, was beside her, and she said to Taizong: "I can subdue it!" Tang Taizong asked her how to do it, and she said: "My concubine has three magic weapons. First, beat him with an iron whip; Then use iron Lao (zhuā, that is, hammer) to hammer it; if it is not tamed, use a dagger to cut its throat!" (see "Helin Yulu" Volume B Volume [-] "Shi Zicong" article)

Wu Cairen originally wanted to make a big splash in order to please Tang Taizong, but unexpectedly, Tang Taizong had doubts about her.At such a young age, he has a vicious heart, which is obviously not liked by the resolute Tang Taizong.However, this story vividly reflects Wu Zetian's personality. Later, Wu Zetian came to power and implemented the policy of iron hammer.

According to the system of the Tang Dynasty and the Sui Dynasty, there were five classes of concubines in the harem. Yuan, Chongyi, Chongrong, and Chongyuan each have one person, nine concubines, the second rank; nine Jieyu, the third rank; nine beauties, the fourth rank; nine talents, the fifth rank" ("Old Tang Book· Concubine Biography").It seems that in the palace, the status of talented people is not high.

How did Wu Zetian become a talented person?It turned out that in the tenth year of Zhenguan (636 A.D.), the virtuous eldest grandson empress died prematurely at the age of 36.After her death, Emperor Taizong of Tang has been frowning and depressed.He heard that Wu Zetian's second daughter was very beautiful, so he immediately sent someone to call Wu Zetian into the palace. The 14-year-old Wu Zetian is not only outstanding in appearance, but also smart and well-behaved.As soon as she entered the palace, she won the favor of Tang Taizong, and gave her the name Wu Mei, and named her a talented person.

The strange thing is that from the time when Wu Zetian entered the palace at the age of 14 and was established as a talented person, until the death of Tang Taizong in the 23rd year of Zhenguan (649 AD), that is, the end of Tang Taizong's life, Wu Zetian has always been a talented person of the fifth rank.In the past 12 years, Wu Zetian has been treated coldly. Not only has her status not been promoted, but she has no heirs.It seems that Tang Taizong's interest in Wu Zetian was only short-lived, and the talented Wu Zetian was very unfavorable. It seems that Li Shimin quickly forgot about this young and beautiful young talent.This is yet another mystery.

Although Tang Taizong was a wise emperor, he was not without interest in beauty.During Tang Taizong's life, he held many large-scale beauty pageants, and many beauties were recruited in the harem.According to statistics, he had 35 children, 21 sons and 634 daughters; the only concubines who gave birth to him were Empress Changsun, Concubine Yang (daughter of Emperor Yang of Sui Dynasty), Concubine Yin, Concubine Wei, Concubine Yang (formerly Concubine Yuan Ji), Concubine Yan, Yang Shi, Wang Shi and more than a dozen people; among the concubines in the harem who have never been lucky enough to have Taizong in their lives, and have never given birth, it is even more difficult to count.Sometimes, even some beauties who have already engaged in marriage are forcibly selected into the palace.For example, in the eighth year of Zhenguan ([-] A.D.), Emperor Taizong of Tang Dynasty heard that "Zheng Renji, the daughter of Sui Tongshishe, was sixteen and seventeen years old", and "the beauty was so beautiful that it was beyond comparison at that time" (Volume [-] of "Zhenguan Zhengyao"), so he ignored it Betrothed to the scholar Lu Shuang, insisted on issuing an imperial edict to hire Zheng Nv to be a full-fledged woman.It was only later because of Wei Zheng's repeated admonitions that Taizong reluctantly gave up.No wonder Fan Zuyu, a great historian of the Northern Song Dynasty, once commented: "Taizong killed his brothers with his own hands, and he was not ashamed, but to recover Yuanji's concubine, there is nothing wrong with it." ("Tang Jian" Volume [-])
So, what is the reason why Wu Zetian was left out in the cold when he was Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty, and wasted 12 years of precious youth in vain?There are complex reasons for this.In addition to Tang Taizong's dislike for her aggressive personality mentioned above, there are two other reasons.

First, the emperors in the family are very superstitious, and they are also very suspicious. In the last year of Zhenguan (649 AD), a superstitious incident that spread widely almost killed Wu Zetian.At that time, Taibai star appeared in the daytime more than once, and Taishi associated this astronomical phenomenon and said that it was a sign of "the heroine is prosperous".Coincidentally, there is a picture prophecy book called "Secrets" circulating among the people, which says that after the third generation of the Tang Dynasty, there should be a "female king Wu" who will rule the world in Tang Dynasty.This absurd prophecy made Tang Taizong restless and restless.

(End of this chapter)