After watching Wu Meiniang played by Fan Bingbing, someone asked me whether Wu Zetian was bad or not. If you ask me about her in history, I can only tell you unclearly, history

Although after Shangguan Yi was executed in the first year of Linde, Wu Zetian began to "listen to politics behind the curtain". In the first year of Shangyuan, she was called the "Two Saints" together with Tang Gaozong. However, what is puzzling is why Wu Zetian, who held great power and acted arbitrarily, did not appoint any prime minister or general while Tang Gaozong was alive? Why were Wu Zetian's twelve suggestions only "implemented briefly" by Emperor Gaozong of the Tang Dynasty? Why did Wu Zetian wait until the death of Emperor Gaozong of the Tang Dynasty before she dared to pursue the title of Li Yifu, Yuan Gongyu and others to whom she was kind? Did Tang Gaozong really "obey her words" to Wu Zezhen?

In fact, if you want to know how "obedient" Tang Gaozong was to Wu Zetian, the easiest way is to look at what Wu Zetian asked Tang Gaozong to do.

The first thing to bear the brunt was the attempted abolition of the Queen.

Anyone who knows a little bit about this period of history will know that the trigger of this post-abolition turmoil was the informant from the eunuch Wang Fusheng in the first year of Linde, claiming that Wu Zetian was so disgusted with winning. , then Prime Minister Shangguan Yi took the opportunity to raise the issue of abolishing the queen to Gaozong. However, those who are more careful can find that Shangguan Yi and Wang Fusheng, who caused this turmoil, have the same resume: they were both aides to Li Zhong, the eldest son of Emperor Gaozong and the deposed prince. When Li Zhong conferred the title of King of Chen, Shangguan Yi served as a counselor in the Prince of Chen's Mansion, and Wang Fusheng served as a chamberlain in the Prince of Chen's Mansion.

Looking at the palace events of the past dynasties, we can know that once the queen is deposed, the status of the prince she gave birth to will also be lost. Therefore, if Empress Wu is deposed, it is self-evident what kind of situation her biological prince Li Hong and the other three sons will face. As the prime minister, how could Shangguan Yi not know this? However, at this critical moment, Shangguan Yi not only did not urge Gaozong to protect the prince, but instead actively proposed to abolish the queen; and what was Wang Fusheng's intention in reporting the queen? This kind of behavior has to make people suspicious, so it is reasonable for Xu Jingzong to report to Gaozong that Shangguan Yi and Wang Fusheng secretly colluded with the deposed prince Li Zhong to plot evil.

Tang Gaozong's failed attempt to depose the queen seemed to end with Wu Zetian's victory - because Shangguan Yi was executed, Wu Zetian also won the opportunity to "listen to politics behind the curtain", and even became known as Emperor Gaozong. For the "Two Saints". However, the title of "Two Saints" was not unprecedented. Empress Dugu of the Sui Dynasty often discussed political affairs with Emperor Wen of the Sui Dynasty, "and they often agreed, so they were called the Two Saints in the palace." If we take a closer look at the list of prime ministers who subsequently took office, we can see that Wu Zetian's "victory" and so-called power are just a joke.

Liu Rengui paid homage to the prime minister in the first year of Qianfeng, followed by Dai Zhide, Zhang Wenguan, Hao Chujun and others, and Shangyuan Zhonglaiheng, Xue Yuancao and Li Yiyan also paid homage to the prime minister. Except for Dai Zhide, Zhang Wenguan, and Empress Wu, these prime ministers had no grievances or grudges, and the rest had quite a close relationship with Wu Zetian.

For example, Liu Rengui, an important figure in Gaozong's dynasty, was a general when he was in and out. He was both the humerus minister of Emperor Gaozong of the Tang Dynasty and a representative figure in the military. Unfortunately, he was not the same as one of Wu Zetian's favorite generals. Li Yifu is a mortal enemy.

For example, Hao Chujun and Li Yiyan, these two people sang in harmony when Emperor Gaozong of the Tang Dynasty wanted to abdicate his position as Empress Wu due to a sudden illness, and they made him give up the idea with just a few words.

Chu Jun replied: "I have heard from the Book of Rites that: 'The emperor regulates the yang way, and the queen regulates the yin virtues.' Then the emperor and the queen are like the sun and the moon, the yang and the yin, each has its own Your Majesty wants to violate this rule, and I am afraid that you will be relegated to heaven, and that you will be blamed by others. In the past, Emperor Wen of Wei issued an order that the queen was not allowed to come to the court after his death. How can your majesty now want to be the queen of heaven? As for the world, the world of the two sages, Emperor Gaozu and Emperor Taizong, is not the world of your majesty. Your majesty is responsible for guarding the ancestral temple and passing it on to your descendants. You must not be selfish for the descendants of the family. " Li Yiyan, the minister of Zhongshu, came forward and said: "The scriptures cited by Chu Jun can be relied upon, but if there is no doubt about the sacred concerns, then the people will be very lucky." The emperor said: "Yes." Then he stopped.

("Old Book of Tang·Biography Thirty-Four")

Another example is Lai Heng, whose younger brother is Lai Ji, a former prime minister of the famous anti-military faction; another example is Xue Yuanchao, whose father Xue Shou was a member of the Tang Dynasty One of Taizong's eighteen bachelors, her aunt Xue Jieyu was a concubine of Emperor Gaozu of the Tang Dynasty. Because of Xue Jieyu's "wonderful knowledge of classics and history, as well as her good literary talent", Emperor Gaozong "learned from her" when he was young and "respected her very much". Xue Yuanchao himself was the head of Hejing County, and his family had a very close relationship with the Li Tang royal family.

Not to mention the military generals. There is no need to mention Liu Rengui. Pei Xingjian is also one of the famous anti-military people, as well as Wang Fangyi, who is the brother of Empress Wang who was replaced by Empress Wu. Xue Rengui was promoted by Emperor Gaozong of the Tang Dynasty, as well as Cheng Wuting, Li Xiaoyi, etc. These are not the same as Wu Zetian. Wu Zetian's other two favorite generals, Yuan Gongyu and Cui Yixuan, were quite capable in the military, but it was a pity that they were exiled and demoted by Emperor Gaozong of the Tang Dynasty.

Even for the twelve suggestions that Wu Zetian later racked her brains to write, Tang Gaozong's reaction was just to "issue an edict to implement them" - the decree that was finally produced must not only be approved by Tang Gaozong. Implementation, and only "implementation", shows that Wu Zetian's opinions are simply insignificant to Tang Gaozong.

In fact, contrary to the imagined scene of Tang Gaozong obeying Wu Zetian's words, it can be seen everywhere in the history books that Wu Zetian was dedicated to pleasing Tang Gaozong and carefully guessing Tang Gaozong's thoughts.

Knowing that Emperor Gaozong of the Tang Dynasty wanted to carry forward the silkworm kissing ceremony of his mother's eldest grandson, the empress, so unlike the queen who never held a silkworm kissing ceremony, Wu Zetian's silkworm kissing ceremony was the most in the Tang Dynasty. Knowing that Gaozong advocated frugality, Wu Zetian took the initiative to change the thirteen pleats on the queen's skirt into seven. Knowing that Emperor Gaozong would not allow his relatives to become powerful, Wu Zetian specially wrote an "Internal Instruction" when she was Zhaoyi. After becoming the queen, she even produced a "Commandments for Wife Relatives" to "lead by example" and "Lead by example." When Tang Gaozong was alive, the Wu family was nowhere to be seen in the court. It was not until Tang Gaozong died that Wu Zetian had the opportunity to place all the Wu family members in important positions in the court.

We can even browse through the list of important ministers of Gaozong’s dynasty to see which prime minister was appointed by Wu Zetian, or which general was appointed by Wu Zetian. Let’s take this opportunity to appreciate Tang Gaozong’s method of “obedience” to Wu Zetian, and by the way, observe how Wu Zetian seizes the power of life and death.

It’s just a pity that when I look through the history books, I see only those people who supported Wu Zetian to ascend to the throne. Except for Xu Jingzong, no one ended up with a good end, but those who were repeatedly regarded by Wu Zetian A thorn in the flesh, he was favored by Emperor Gaozong of the Tang Dynasty.

For example, Wu Zetian hated Empress Wang and Concubine Xiao Shu so much that she had to kill them one by one. There is no need to mention the humiliation of her children and their families after her death. The queen's brother Wang Fangyi had no choice. Was Wu Zetian magnanimous? The history books clearly record how she "wanted to get rid of Wang Fangyi because of his crime, but failed to do so." However, when Wang Fangyi rose to prominence in Emperor Gaozong's reign, what else could Wu Zetian do except watch helplessly?

Another example is that Changsun Wuji often obstructed Wu Zetian's establishment of a queen, and Wu Zetian also secretly hated this. Although Changsun Wuji finally lost power, less than four years later, Changsun Wuji's direct grandson Changsun Yan returned to Beijing and became a fifth-rank official. What's even more ironic is that less than a month after Wu Zetian was called "Queen of Heaven", Emperor Gaozong of the Tang Dynasty issued an edict to recover Changsun Wuji's official title, buried him with Zhaoling, and ordered his great-grandson Changsun Yi to attack Duke Zhao Guogong. .

And where is Wu Zetian, who "controls the government" at this time?

For another example, when Li Yifu, Yuan Gongyu, Cui Yixuan and others who were instrumental in supporting Wu Zetian to ascend to the throne were exiled or demoted by Emperor Gaozong of the Tang Dynasty, what did Wu Zetian, who was "in power", do? Why could we only wait until the death of Emperor Gaozong of the Tang Dynasty before we remembered that these people "had the merits of Yizan in Yonghui" and then started to hunt for titles?

If Wu Zetian really had such a great influence on Emperor Gaozong of the Tang Dynasty, if she really had the power of life and death, then it would be no problem to deal with people like Wang Fangyi and Changsun Yan, and it would be no problem to deal with Li Yifu, Yuan Gongyu and others. It is even easier to promote people well. However, throughout the history books, Wu Zetian was nowhere to be seen when Emperor Gaozong of the Tang Dynasty spoke. Only when Emperor Gaozong was gone did Wu Zetian dare to come forward to deal with the people she once hated so deeply, and to grant titles to those who had been kind to her.

As for when Emperor Gaozong of the Tang Dynasty was alive, how much Wu Zetian knew about the military affairs and how much right she had to comment can actually be understood through her various policies after taking power.

After the death of Emperor Gaozong of the Tang Dynasty, Wu Zetian adopted the policy of "pacifying the internal situation first before fighting against foreigners" in order to monopolize power. She devoted most of her energy to eradicating dissidents and devoted herself to pacifying Xu Jingye, Langya King Li Chong and others. Civil strife among people. In the face of the Turkic rebellion on the border, Wu Zetian pursued a passive and laissez-faire response strategy. Unless the Turkic rebellion in the south was likely to threaten her dominance, Wu Zetian would send generals to resist.

It would be enough to just eliminate dissidents. Unfortunately, Wu Zetian herself did not have that military talent. She only knew the senior military generals who left Gaozong behind, such as Cheng Wuting, Wang Fangyi, Hei Te Changzhi, and Li Xiaoyi. , Zhang Qianxu, Quan Xiancheng and others killed them all and exiled them, but they didn't know how to win the battle. The generals appointed by Wu Zetian personally were all mediocre people with no military command ability, or they were the disciples of Wu who did not understand military affairs, such as Wu Chonggui, Wu Youyi, Wu Sansi, Wu Yizong, etc.; or they were their favorite ministers. , such as Xue Huaiyi, etc.; or civil servants who are considered reliable, such as Wei Yuanzhong, Di Renjie, Wei Daiqi, etc.; even real military officers are cowardly in battle, such as Chunyu Chuping.

Coupled with the lack of long-term and effective strategic concepts and military deployment, this led to the Wu Zhou era where hundreds of thousands of troops were often reduced to countless cannon fodder under the command of a group of mediocre generals. Therefore, Wu Zetian once tried to exchange supplies, gold and silk, and marriage for peace. However, because she did not recognize the true intentions of the Turks, Wu Zetian sent her nephew Wu Yanxiu, king of Huaiyang, to the Turks to welcome his bride. Instead, he was silently excused as Wu Yanxiu was not Li. He refused to marry a descendant of the Tang royal family - a marriage policy that was finally introduced was actually humiliated, and in the end it became an excuse for the Turks to send troops. Wu Zetian's "military talent" is simply appalling.

So the territory of the Wu Zhou Dynasty shrunk by nearly one-fifth compared with that of Tang Taizong and Tang Gaozong, and the borders during the Wu Zhou Dynasty were the worst before the Anshi Rebellion. It can be seen that when Emperor Gaozong of the Tang Dynasty was alive, Wu Zetian had never been exposed to the real core military affairs. Otherwise, after years of exposure, how could Wu Zetian's military level be so unsightly?