The Summoner of the Battle of All Realms

Wu Zetian was the second daughter of the warrior Xun, the governor of Jingzhou, and her mother was Yang.

Wu Zetian entered the harem at the age of fourteen. She was a talented person of Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty. She was given the title "Wu Mei" and was known as Wu Meiniang.

During the reign of Emperor Gaozong of the Tang Dynasty, she was granted the title of Zhaoyi and later the queen, with the title "Tianhou". Together with Emperor Gaozong Li Zhi, she was also known as the "Two Saints".

After the death of Emperor Gaozong, he became the empress dowager of Tang Zhongzong and Tang Ruizong. During this period, it was renamed "曌".

In the first year of Tianshou, Wu Zetian announced that the Tang Dynasty would be renamed "Zhou", and the historical name was Wu Zhou. He established himself as emperor, made Luoyang his capital, called the "Shen Capital", and established the Wuzhou Dynasty.

When Wu Zetian was in power, she killed the Tang clan and appointed cruel officials. However, she had many powers and was able to employ people, so talents emerged in large numbers. She also rewarded farmers and mulberry trees, reformed the administration of officials, and paid attention to the selection of talents, so the era during her reign was called the legacy of Zhenguan.

It is a pity that in his later years, he gradually became extravagant and arbitrary, and had many bad policies.

In the first year of Shenlong, Wu Zetian was seriously ill. Prime Minister Zhang Jianzhi launched a mutiny and supported the restoration of Tang Zhongzong, forcing him to abdicate. This is known as the "Shenlong Revolution" in history.

After Zhongzong restored the Tang Dynasty, he was given the title "Emperor Zetian the Great Sage".

In November of the same year, Wu Zetian died in Shangyang Palace.

Zhongzong followed her orders and changed her name to "Queen Zetian the Great Sage" and was buried in Qianling Mausoleum as a queen.

In the fourth year of Kaiyuan, her posthumous title was changed to Queen Zetian.

In the eighth year of Tianbao's reign, she was given the posthumous title of Queen Tianshun.

Wu Zetian was very wise, involved in literature and history, and was quite talented in poetry.

There are "Cui Gong Collection" and "Jin Lun Collection", which are now lost. His poems are preserved in "Complete Poems of the Tang Dynasty".

Chapter 1254 The Empress of China—Wu Zetian

In May of the first year of Yonghui, when Tang Gaozong went to Ganye Temple to offer incense on the anniversary of Taizong's death, he met Wu Zetian again. The two recognized each other and expressed their longing for each other after parting.

In the second year of Yonghui, Empress Wang, who had fallen out of favor due to childlessness, saw this and took the initiative to request Emperor Gaozong to bring Wu Zetian into the palace, in an attempt to attack her love rival Xiao Shufei.

Concubine Xiao Shu was a descendant of the Lanling Xiao family, a noble family in the Southern Dynasties, and a descendant of the Qi and Liang royal families. She was also the niece of Empress Xiao, Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty. She looked very similar to Empress Xiao, and she had a stunning appearance that captivated the country and the city.

Li Zhi's eyes lit up when he heard Queen Wang's proposal. He had already intended this and agreed immediately.

In May of the second year of Yonghui, when Emperor Gaozong of the Tang Dynasty had completed his filial piety, Wu Zetian entered the palace again. Before entering the palace, Wu Zetian was pregnant. After entering the palace, she gave birth to her son Li Hong.

After Wu Zetian returned to the palace, she quickly defeated Concubine Xiao Shu and gained Li Zhi's favor. In May of the following year, she was worshiped as the second-grade Zhaoyi.

At that time, Queen Wang and Concubine Xiao Shu often competed with Wu Zhaoyi for favor and said bad things to each other, but Li Zhi didn't listen.

Wu Zetian was born a politician and was good at observing people's words. She was not particularly favored during the Taizong period, so she turned to the prince Li Zhi. Later, when Li Zhi became the emperor, he took her into the palace as a nun and worshiped her as Zhaoyi.

Since then, because Emperor Gaozong was weak, Wu Zetian took the opportunity to interfere in government affairs step by step and win over people's hearts. Finally, he replaced Tang Dynasty with Zhou Dynasty and became emperor.

In August of the first year of the Shangyuan Dynasty, Li Zhi was called the emperor, and Wu Zetian was called the queen of heaven. They were named to avoid the first emperor and the successive ones, and they actually wanted to respect themselves.

Regarding Wu Zetian, there have always been various evaluations from different angles since the Tang Dynasty.

In the early Tang Dynasty, because all emperors were her direct descendants and Confucian orthodoxy had not yet fully taken hold, the evaluation of Wu Zetian was relatively positive at that time.

But as time went by, especially the "Zi Zhi Tong Jian" edited by Sima Guang, severely criticized Wu.

During the Southern Song Dynasty, Cheng-Zhu Neo-Confucianism occupied a dominant position in Chinese thought, and the fishing boat of undervaluing women determined the evaluation of Wu Zetian.

At the end of the Ming Dynasty and the beginning of the Qing Dynasty, the famous thinker Wang Fuzhi once commented that Wu Zetian was "not tolerated by ghosts and gods, and resented by the common people."

Wu Zetian also has a lot of negative comments. In the early days of her rule, due to the trend of informing, she reused cruel officials such as Zhou Xing and Lai Junchen. In addition, later historians despised her for violating traditional ethics. As a woman, she actually had many male concubines. The concubine, also known as the "male favorite", also openly had sex with many men and was not ashamed of it. Therefore, the history books criticized her for what she did, and denounced her as insidious, cruel, and good at manipulating power. The dictatorship of Empress Wei during the reign of Emperor Zong was collectively known as the "Wu-Wei Rebellion".

Sima Guang once said: Although he used his salary and position to gain the hearts of the world, he did not fulfill his responsibilities. If he was found, he would be deposed, or he would be punished even more. He used punishment and rewards to control the world. He governed by his own initiative, and he was wise and wise at that time. Also competing for it.

Great people once commented on Wu Zetian: Wu Zetian is indeed a talented person in governing the country. She has the capacity to tolerate people, the wisdom of recognizing people, and the skill of employing people.

…

Regarding Wu Zetian, Fusu also knew something about her.

According to rumors, when Wu Zetian was still in her infancy, Yuan Tiangang was surprised when he saw Wu Zetian's mother Yang and said: "Mrs. Fa will give birth to a precious son!"

Wu Zetian's mother took her two sons, Wu Yuanqing and Wu Yuanshuang, to meet Yuan Tiangang. However, Yuan Tiangang saw that they could reach the third rank, but they were just masters who could protect the family, and they were not considered very noble.

Yang also summoned Wu Zetian's sister to Yuan Tiangang to look after her. Yuan Tiangang said, "This girl is noble but unfavorable to her husband!"

Finally, the nanny took out Wu Zetian, who was dressed in boy's clothes. Yuan Tiangang was shocked when he saw the infant Wu Zetian, saying that she "has dragon eyes and a phoenix neck, and is extremely expensive!" But he said regretfully: "It's a pity that she is a man. If she is Women should be the masters of the world!"

Two strange people emerge from this story.

One is Yuan Tiangang and the other is Wu Zetian.

…

After Wu Zetian died, there were two monuments in front of the general's tomb. One was Gaozong's tombstone with Wu Zetian's inscription on it; the other was Wu Zetian's wordless tombstone.

The wordless monument is located in the Qianling Mausoleum where Wu Zetian and Emperor Gaozong were buried together. The entire cemetery is modeled after Chang'an City in the Tang Dynasty.

A superstitious queen's stone tablet does not have a single word engraved on it.

There are several theories: the first theory is that Wu Zetian erected the "Wordless Monument" to show off herself and to express her great achievements and virtues that cannot be expressed in words; the second theory is that Wu Zetian erected the "Wordless Monument" because she was Because she knew her sins were serious, she felt it was better not to write an inscription. The third theory is that Wu Zetian was a self-aware person, and it was a smart move to erect a "wordless monument". The merits and demerits are left to future generations to comment on. This is The best way; there is another saying that Wu Zetian's son hated his mother so much that she originally wrote the inscription, but her son hid it in the tomb, leaving a wordless tablet.

Some scholars believe that the stone tablet was originally planned to be engraved, but the political situation was turbulent after Wu Zetian's death, and various political forces were still unable to make appropriate evaluations of Wu Zetian, so the matter was abandoned.

There is also a theory that because Wu Zetian was both emperor and queen, others did not know how to write the inscription, so there was no text.

There has always been mixed praise and criticism for Wu Zetian. Li Bai listed Wu Zetian as one of the "Seven Saints" of the Tang Dynasty.

Chapter 1255 The Body of the Zodiac Cloud-Piercing Arrow - Renyixin

Fusu looked at the summoning card in front of him, crushed it with some excitement, and then summoned Wu Zetian.

Following Fusu's movements, a light curtain appeared directly in the summoning space.

Then, a figure walked out of the light curtain.

Fusu's eyes couldn't help but light up when he looked at Wu Zetian who had just appeared.

Wu Zetian was seen wearing a long silk brocade dress mixed with moon white and light pink.

The skirt and cuffs are piped with silver, and the cuffs are thin and have light yellow patterns. The light pink gauze cape is draped over the shoulders, and the skirt is embroidered with large purple duck flowers, which is really beautiful.

There is a red belt tied around Wu Zetian's waist. The belt has a well-proportioned figure and strange patterns are densely distributed on the belt. On both sides of the jade belt, there are sachets hanging on each side, exuding bursts of fragrance.

Wearing a pair of bright yellow palace shoes on her jade feet, the shoes are embroidered with a phoenix pattern. The pattern is graceful and very beautiful.

The shoes are surrounded by silk, which is very comfortable.