Dynasties of ChinaTang dynastyTang dynasty lineage
Tianshou and others · Reign 690—705
From Taizong Cairen and Queen Gaozong, she ruled as regent. In 690, she changed Tang Dynasty to Zhou Dynasty and became the only orthodox female emperor in Chinese history.
Wu Zhao was born in Wenshui, Bingzhou. His father, the warrior Xun, made a fortune from timber business. He followed Li Yuan in the army and became the minister of the Ministry of Industry. In 637, she entered the palace at the age of fourteen and became a talented person in Taizong. After Taizong's death, she entered Ganye Temple as a nun as usual. Soon she was recalled to the palace by Gaozong and given the title of Zhaoyi. In 655, with the support of Gaozong, she replaced Queen Wang and was established as queen. After that, she assisted the sick Gaozong in handling government affairs, and she and Gaozong were called the "Two Saints".
After the death of Gaozong in 683, she ruled as regent as the empress dowager. The following year, she abolished Zhongzong and established Ruizong successively, and quelled the rebellion of Xu Jingye's army and Li Tang's clan. She opened the door to informers and appointed cruel officials such as Lai Junchen to organize prisons. At the same time, she also employed people outside the rules and developed the imperial examination. In 690, she changed the name of her country to Zhou, made Luoyang the sacred capital, and called herself the Holy Emperor. In her later years, under the persuasion of Di Renjie and others, she recalled King Li Xian of Luling and established him as Crown Prince. In 705, Zhang Jianzhi and others launched the Shenlong coup, and she was forced to pass the throne to Zhongzong. She died of illness in the winter of the same year, and her legacy was deprived of the imperial title.
Wu Zetian ascended the throne as a woman, which is unique in Chinese history. She was in power for nearly half a century, cracking down on the old clans of Guanlong, developing imperial examinations, and recruiting talents under unusual circumstances. During this period, the household registration continued to increase, and she reserved talents for the Kaiyuan rule. However, she appointed ruthless officials, Daxing informants, killed clan ministers indiscriminately, favored Zhang Yi's brother in her later years, and the government gradually became chaotic. Historical historians have given her mixed praise and criticism, and she is still one of the most controversial emperors to this day.
PeopleEntering the palace as a talented person
When he was fourteen years old, he was summoned to the palace by Taizong because of his beauty. He was named a fifth-grade talent and given the title "Wu Mei". According to her later years, she told Taizong that she could use iron whips, iron cudgels, and daggers to subdue fierce horses and lions.
PoliticsBecome queen
Gaozong ignored the opposition of Zhangsun Wuji and other elders, deposed the king and queen, and established Wu Zhaoyi as his queen. The following year, her eldest son Li Hong was established as Crown Prince instead of Empress Wang's adopted son Li Zhong, and Empress Wu's status was consolidated.
PoliticsTwelve things to recommend
Together with Gaozong, she was also called the Emperor and the Queen of Heaven. She put forward 12 suggestions including persuading farmers and mulberry trees, reducing taxes on corvees, ending the army to moralize the world, opening up the public, putting an end to slander, and having her father mourn for her mother for three years. Gaozong issued an edict to implement it.
PoliticsRule as regent
In February, Zhongzong deposed his father-in-law Wei Xuanzhen on the grounds that he wanted to use his father-in-law Wei Xuanzhen as his minister, and appointed his youngest son Li Dan instead. He ruled as regent, and Ruizong could only live in a separate palace. In September, Luoyang, the eastern capital, was renamed the Divine Capital, the official name was greatly changed, and the Shangshu Province was renamed Wenchangtai.
MilitaryXu Jingye raised troops
Xu Jingye, the grandson of Li Ji, raised troops in Yangzhou under the name of Kuangfu Luling King. King Luo Bin wrote a memorial and denounced Empress Wu. When Empress Wu read, "A handful of soil is not yet dry, how can a six-foot-long solitude be supported?" She blamed the chief minister for burying talents. The troops were put down less than three months after they were raised.
PoliticsCopper whistleblower
A bronze guard was set up in the court hall to accept letters from people all over the world, and it was also stipulated that informants should be provided with food and drinks by the government along the way. Lai Junchen, Zhou Xing, Suo Yuanli and other cruel officials took the opportunity to fabricate crimes and create torture, resulting in many unjust deaths.
PoliticsThe clan's rebellion failed
Empress Wu demolished the Qianyuan Hall in Luoyang and built a Mingtang, named "Wanxiang Temple". In the same year, King Yue Li Zhen and Langya King Li Chong and their son rebelled against the army and were defeated in less than a month. After that, the Li Tang clan was massacred.
CultureCreate new characters
Zong Qinke was ordered to transform more than ten characters such as heaven, earth, sun, moon, stars, monarch, minister, and year, and implemented it throughout the country. Empress Wu named herself "zhao", which means the sun and moon are in the sky. After the fall of Wu Zhou, most of these new characters were abandoned.
Lasting legacyThe character zhao remains in use. The guo in the name of Tokugawa Mitsukuni, an Edo-period lord of Japan's Mito domain, was also one of the characters introduced under Wu Zhou.
PoliticsThe first imperial examination
In February, Empress Wu personally questioned candidates from various places in the Luocheng Palace, and the examination lasted for several days. It was said in history that "the examination of candidates in front of the palace began from then on." She also expanded the admission quota for Jinshi subjects, and a large number of middle- and lower-class scholars became officials.
CulturePromulgation of the Great Cloud Sutra
The monks Huaiyi, Faming and others contributed the Great Cloud Sutra and commentaries, and attached it to the idea that Empress Wu was Maitreya who was reborn and should be the lord of the world. Empress Wu ordered all states to build Dayun Temple, and the following year she stipulated that Buddhism should be placed above Taoism.
PoliticsChange Tang Dynasty to Zhou Dynasty
In September, Empress Wu accepted petitions from more than 60,000 officials, relatives, common people and Siyi chiefs. She changed the name of the country to Zhou and Yuan Tianzhi. She called herself the Holy Emperor. She named Ruizong as his heir and was given the surname Wu. Seven temples of the Wu family were established in the capital city.
MilitaryRecover the four towns of Anxi
Wang Xiaojie and Ashina Zhongjie led their troops to defeat Tubo, regained the four towns of Qiuci, Khotan, Shule, and Suiye, and resettled the Anxi Protectorate in Qiuci. They also sent 30,000 Han soldiers to garrison for a long time. The rule of the Tang Dynasty in the Western Regions was stable from then on.
MilitaryYingzhou Rebellion
Khitan leaders Li Jinzhong and Sun Wanrong were dissatisfied with the bullying by the governor of Yingzhou, so they raised troops to capture Yingzhou and defeated the Zhou army many times, which shocked Hebei. The following year, the Turks attacked its rear and the Zhou army attacked and was put down.
PoliticsLai Junchen Fu Zhu
The cruel official came to Junchen for Luo Zhi's crime, and he actually wanted to falsely accuse the kings of the Wu family and Tai Pinggongzhu. Everyone exposed him. June was beheaded in the busy city, and his enemies competed to cut his flesh. The politics of ruthless officials has basically ended.
PoliticsSummon the King of Luling back
Empress Wu once wanted to make her nephew Wu Chengsi or Wu Sansi his heir, but Di Renjie dissuaded her by saying, "Who is the relative between the aunt and nephew and the mother and son?" In March, she secretly recalled King Li Xian of Luling, and in September she established him as Crown Prince, thus laying the foundation for the restoration of Li and Tang Dynasties.
PeopleDi Renjie passed away
In September, chief minister Di Renjie died of illness, and Empress Wu cried, "The court is empty." Zhang Jianzhi, Yao Chong, Huan Yanfan and others recommended by him during his lifetime later became the backbone of Shenlong's restoration of the Tang Dynasty and the Kaiyuan rule.
Lasting legacyThe series of novels "The Case of Di Gong in the Tang Dynasty" created by the Dutch sinologist based on Di Renjie is very popular overseas. The story of Di Gong's case has been adapted into film and television works to this day.
MilitaryOpen a martial arts exam
In the first month of the year, martial arts examinations were set up for the first time to assess martial arts skills such as riding and shooting, infantry shooting, carbine, jumping, and weight-bearing. They were presided over by the Ministry of War. The later famous general Guo Ziyi was born in the martial arts examinations. In December, the Beiting Protectorate was set up in Tingzhou to govern the north of Tianshan Mountain.
PoliticsShenlong coup
In the first month of the first month, chief ministers Zhang Jianzhi and Cui Xuanwei, together with generals Huan Yanfan and Jinghui, led the Yulin army into the palace and killed Wu Zetian's favored ministers Zhang Yizhi and Zhang Changzong brothers. The next day Wu Zetian passed the throne to Crown Prince and restored the title of Tang Dynasty in February.
PoliticsDied of illness in Shangyang Palace
After abdicating the throne, she moved to Shangyang Palace in Luoyang, and Zhongzong honored her with the title "Empress Wu, the Great Sage Emperor". She died of illness in November, and her imperial title was removed from her legacy, and she was named "Empress Wu, the Great Sage Queen". The following year, she and Gaozong were buried together in Qianling Mausoleum.
Lasting legacyThe wordless stele in front of the Qianling Mausoleum originally did not have a single word engraved on it, and there are different opinions on its purpose; there are inscriptions from the Song and Jin dynasties on the stele, including rare small Khitan characters.
He paid homage to the prime minister twice and persuaded Empress Wu to appoint King Luling as his heir, saying, "Aunt-nephew is related to mother and son." He also recommended dozens of people, including Zhang Jianzhi and Yao Chong, to preserve talents for the revival of Li and Tang Dynasties.
The granddaughter of Shangguan Yi, her grandfather was killed and she was exiled to Yeting with her mother. Because of his quick thinking, he was in charge of imperial edicts for Empress Wu from the age of fourteen, and was later called the "heroine chief minister".
He wrote the "Informer Luo Zhi Jing" with his accomplices, specializing in using informants to frame ministers, and created various torture methods. He was executed in 697.
Recommended by Di Renjie, he became prime minister at the age of eighty. In 705, he launched the Shenlong Coup and forced the emperor to abdicate. Later, he was ostracized by Wu Sansi and demoted to Xinzhou. He died of sorrow and anger.
The youngest daughter of Wu Zetian and Gaozong, she was deeply loved by her mother. She participated in the Shenlong Coup and the Tang Long Coup, and became extremely powerful. In 713, she was sentenced to death by Xuanzong.
The nephew of Wu Zetian, he was granted the title of King of Liang during the Wu Zhou Dynasty, and he once planned to be crown prince. After his restoration, Zhongzong colluded with Queen Wei to exclude the Five Kings, and was killed by Crown Prince Li Chongjun in 707.
He is good at border defense and farming, so that the border army has sufficient food reserves. He was a kind and tolerant person, and once taught his younger brother to "take care of himself" and secretly recommended Di Renjie to become the prime minister.