Eight mysteries about Wu Zetian: What is Wu Zetian’s name?
Wu Zetian is the only orthodox female emperor in Chinese history. She is smart, witty, profound, and has outstanding strategies. After assisting Tang Gaozong Li Zhi for nearly 30 years, she ascended the throne in person, proclaimed herself the "Holy Emperor", and changed the name of the Tang Dynasty to the Great Zhou Dynasty, becoming an unprecedented orthodox female emperor in the history of Chinese feudalism. However, she left eight major mysteries to the world in her life, which countless descendants have been unable to solve.
1. The mystery of the physiognomy
Wu Zetian was born in Wenshui County in central Shanxi today in the seventh year of Wude (624). After Wu Zetian came to power, she changed the name to Xingwu County because she was born here. She also followed the example of Liu Bang, the emperor of the Han Dynasty, and exempted people here from rent and taxes. After Wu Zetian abdicated, the name of Wenshui County was immediately restored.
As for Wu Zetian's appearance, "Old Book of Tang" calls her "beautiful"; "New Book of Tang" says she is "very beautiful"; "Tang Huiyao" calls her "talented and beautiful"; "Taiping Guangji" quotes "Ganding Lu" to exaggerate her "imperial appearance".
His father, the warrior Yi, asked Yuan Tiangang, a famous fortune teller in Yizhou, to read fortunes for the whole family, saying that the whole family was rich and honorable. Wu Zetian was still in her arms at that time, wearing boy's clothes, and was carried over by her wet nurse. Yuan Tiangang "raised his eyes and looked at it" and was shocked and said, "Dragon eyes and phoenix necks are extremely precious." He also predicted that if he were a woman, she would be the master of the world in the future.
The mystery of Wu Zetian's face
"Tang Xinyu" also said that Yuan Tiangang not only looked at Wu Zetian's face, but also asked her to take a few steps before confirming that "if she is a woman, Be the emperor." Emperors in history books either have auspicious signs or have supernatural appearances, which proves the "divine right of kings". Then, Wu Zetian is no exception.
2. The mystery of male doting
A calm analysis of Wu Zetian's male doting problem can be viewed from two perspectives: one is that she is a "person" and the other is a "woman" From the perspective of physiological needs, and from the perspective of her being a politician and a queen.
As a woman, she needs a man to satisfy her, but she will never be satisfied with this need.
In the first year of Tianshou (AD 690), Wu Zetian officially ascended the throne, changed the country's name to Zhou, and became a veritable female emperor. Her feminine needs were aroused. Xue Huaiyi, whom she favored because of his tall, strong and powerful figure, was later assassinated by her because he was not "tame".
The Mystery of the Male Favor
She favored Shen Nanliu, but was rejected because of her frail health in middle age. Her favored brother Zhang Yizhi had a peach-shaped face, and he served and slept well, which made her spiritually satisfied and her love for her was temporary. She thanked him for his dedication, appointed him a high-ranking official, and entrusted him with state affairs. He became the person she trusted most in her later years.
As a queen and a shrewd politician, it should be said that Wu Zetian kept male favorites mainly to show the queen's authority. After Er Zhang became a servant, Wu Zetian was already 73 years old. Even if she lived well, maintained good health, and took aphrodisiacs, it would be difficult for an old woman to rejuvenate. She was showing off to everyone: since a man can have a group of concubines as an emperor, a woman should also have male favorites to serve her when she ascends the throne. Looking at the historical picture of China, it is unique that a woman is the emperor.
She is a female politician who wants to be invincible in the era of male emperor autocratic rule. It can be said that "a big tree attracts the wind", and she faces the difficulty of fighting alone. In order to convince the subjects, one must artificially and proactively establish one's absolute authority and dignity. She must exercise the same power as the male emperor in all areas and enjoy the same benefits as the male emperor. Therefore, she also has to imitate the male emperor on the issue of "sex". Even if it is not for "sexual desire", she wants to have a few young members of the opposite sex who can comfort her loneliness and ease her worries in old age, which is understandable for her as the emperor.
In short, Wu Zetian's life was a great life, a unique life, and the second half of her life was full of the glory of "sexual happiness". Accompanied by many faces, as a grown-up woman, she calmly dealt with the tremendous work pressure of being the leader of an empire, and completed a woman's heavy and powerful fatal blow to masculinity.
3. The mystery of the name
According to historical records, Wu Zetian used the three names Meiniang, Mingkong and Zhao throughout her life.
Taiwanese scholars have verified that before she was called Mei Niang, she also had a name called "Yue".
The name of Mei Niang is recorded in the "New Book of Tang·Biography of Empress Wu": "Taizong heard that Shi Yan was a beautiful woman and called her a talented woman when she was fourteen years old." mother'". All in all, Wu Zetian only used the name Mei Niang for about 20 years. Because since she entered the palace for the second time in Ganye Temple, her identity has become Zhaoyi of Emperor Gaozong of the Tang Dynasty. Regardless of ethics or political considerations, it is obviously inappropriate to continue to call "Meiniang". What is clear is that after she ascended the throne, she immediately abandoned the name of Mei Niang.
The name of Mingkong is recorded in the "Gaiyuan Zaichu Edict" in the "Collection of Imperial Edicts of the Tang Dynasty": "I also heard that people must have names... I should use the name 'Mingkong'." Ming, the human world; emptiness, a Buddhist term. All four are empty. Perhaps because he had just ascended the throne, he chose this slightly negative name in order to show that he was keeping a low profile.
The mystery of the name
The name of Zhao is recorded in "Zi Zhi Tong Jian": "The Queen Mother named herself 'Zhao', and changed the name to "Zhi" in the imperial edict." It is very likely that Wu Zetian called "Zhao" Soon after "Ming Kong", it was renamed "曌". The word "ming" plus "empty" form the word "曌", which is pronounced as "zhao", showing light. Among the twelve original characters she created, the first one is the character "曌". In order to avoid taboos, the imperial edict was changed to a production book, and his grandson Li Chongzhao also had to change his name to Li Chongrun. From then on, Wu Zetian's name was Zhao, which was used until her death.
According to research by Taiwanese scholars, Wu Zetian also had a name called "Yue", which was mainly based on the "Old Book of Tang" about "Sun Chuyue" who "sought to avoid the taboo in the palace and changed his name to Maodao" This information is used to draw conclusions based on circumstantial evidence. Since there is no evidence, we can only speculate on this. However, it should be said that it is reasonable to say that she had a name before she was called Mei Niang, that is, before she was fourteen years old.
4. The mystery of "the daughter she gave birth to died violently"
Wu Zetian gave birth to four sons and two daughters for Emperor Gaozong of the Tang Dynasty. Among them, the eldest daughter died in infancy. Regarding the death of this baby, both Wu Zetian and Queen Wang were accused of "murder". However, there are different opinions as to the truth. Sima Guang, a man of the Song Dynasty, once asserted from the ethical common sense that "a tiger will not eat its seeds if it is poisoned", "I fear that Empress Wu would not be so frivolous", but most people would rather believe that it is true than that it is not true.
There is no record of this incident in the "Old Book of Tang" and the biographies. It is only mentioned in Shi Chen's "Zhou Lao Jue", but the details are unknown. "Tang Huiyao" records: "The daughter born to Zhaoyi died violently, and the king and queen were reported to kill her."
The mystery of "the daughter born to Zhaoyi died violently"
"New Book of Tang· "The Biography of Empress Wu" has a detailed record: "Zhaoyi gave birth to a daughter, and then she took care of it. When she left, Zhaoyi hid under her son's quilt to wait for the emperor to arrive. Yang was laughing, and she looked at her son and died. He asked again in surprise. Everyone on the left and right said, "Hou Shi Lai." Zhaoyi cried sadly, but the emperor couldn't see it, and said angrily: "You killed my daughter and went to covet my concubine, and now you are evil again!"
"Tong" "Jian" has a brief record of this, and recorded the incident in the fifth year of Yonghui. In short, whether he died due to unknown reasons, or was accidentally suffocated in a quilt, or it was really Wu Zetian's "hidden death", it is a fact that Wu Zetian had a daughter who "died violently", and this incident did become a symbol of Wu Zetian's attack on the queen. A sharp tool.
5. The mystery of "killing sisters and butchering brothers"
"An Exhortation to the Wu Family" written by King Luo Bin criticized Wu Zetian for "killing sisters and butchering brothers". "Killing sister" should be regarded as untrue, because there is no clear record of the death of his eldest sister, Mrs. Korea, in the books. But it is true that the two daughters of the Korean lady were harmed by Wu Zetian, and the death of one of the daughters, Helan, was directly related to Wu Zetian's "brother slaughter".
Wu Zetian's "brother slaughter" is established, but there are slight differences in the plot. For example, the "Old Book of Tang" says that the occasion when Helan was poisoned was at the residence of Wu Zetian's mother; while "Tongjian", based on "Zetian Shilu", says it was at a banquet commemorating the Fengchan Taishan.
After the death of Wu Zetian's eldest sister, Mrs. Wei, her daughter Helan was named Mrs. Wei and lived in the palace to serve Emperor Gaozong of the Tang Dynasty. At that time, Helan was only in his twenties, while Wu Zetian was already forty-seven. Therefore, she was jealous of her young niece.
So, at the banquet where all the officials presented food to the emperor and empress after her conferment on Mount Tai, she secretly placed poison in the food, and asked Wu Weiliang, the governor of Shizhou, and Wu Huaiyun, the governor of Zizhou, to present food to the Wei State. The lady offered food to him, and he died violently after eating it. Afterwards, he blamed Wu Weiliang's brothers, killed them, and changed their surname to "议". Piper is a kind of venomous snake, which is homophonic with the word "武". That is, it is slandered by combining its homophonic surname and the shape of a venomous snake.
The mystery of "Killing Sisters and Butchering Brothers"
Wu Weiliang and Wu Huaiyun are Wu Zetian's cousins. According to the new and old "Book of Tang" records, after the death of Wu Zetian's father, the warrior Yan, they " It's rude to meet Yang". Yang, Wu Zetian’s mother. "Discourteous" refers to something unknown.
In the early days of Wu Zetian's participation in politics, because she needed the help of her relatives, she promoted Wu Weiliang brothers to officials despite her hatred of their titles. However, their brothers did not appreciate it and even threatened that if they were promoted because of the queen, we would be "worried but not proud". Wu Zetian then calculated the old and new grudges together, "killing two birds with one stone", and took the opportunity to kill her niece first, and then her cousins.
6. The mystery of the tomb
If you ask which emperor’s tomb is the most difficult to dig in the world, then there is no doubt that it is Wu Zetian’s “Ten Thousand Years Life Domain”-Qianling Mausoleum. Her mausoleum has been hacked by swords from the Cold Weapon Age, and bombarded by machine guns and cannons from the Hot Weapon Age. However, during these long years of more than 1,200 years, Qianling Mausoleum has been able to survive alone.
The mystery of the mausoleum
Could it be said that there are no people who robbed the Qianling Mausoleum? No, from the moment Wu Zetian lay down in Qianling Mausoleum, Liangshan never stopped. The first person to visit Qianling was Huang Chao, the leader of the rebel army in the late Tang Dynasty. He led 400,000 peasant uprising troops and almost leveled half of Liangshan. However, he gained nothing because he misjudged the direction.
The second person who extended a sinful hand to Qianling was Wen Tao, the governor of Yaozhou in the Five Dynasties. This person had excavated 17 Tang imperial tombs before Qianling, and only Qianling remained. Like Huang Chao, he also mobilized tens of thousands of people to excavate the Qianling Mausoleum in broad daylight. Unexpectedly, he was hit by heavy wind and rain three times when he went up the mountain. As soon as the people and horses withdrew, the weather immediately cleared up. Wen Tao really couldn't understand what was going on, so he decided to No more thoughts. Qianling thus escaped the second calamity.
The most dangerous thing was the third time. Sun Lianzhong, the Kuomintang general during the Republic of China, dispatched a modern reorganization division, using military exercises as a guise, and used black explosives to blow up the three-story vertical stone bars of the tomb passage. When he was about to enter, Suddenly a plume of thick smoke appeared, spiraled upwards, and turned into a tornado, destroying the entire army into pieces. In this way, Qianling finally escaped the final disaster.
7. The mystery of Wu Zetian’s longevity
There are three theories about Wu Zetian’s longevity in official history: the eighty-one-year-old theory, the eighty-two-year-old theory, and the eighty-three-year-old theory. "Kaoyi": ""Jiu Zetian Benji" collapsed at the age of eighty-three, "Tang Li", Jiao Lu's "Chronicles of the Tang Dynasty", "Tongji", Mr. Ma's "Small Records of the Tang Dynasty", "Sheng Yun" "Tu" and "Huiyao" both state that he was eighty-one years old. According to "Tang Lu" and "Zheng Yao", Wu entered the palace in the 13th year of Zhenguan, which is now 80 years old according to Wu Jing's "Zetian Shilu". 2. Therefore, it is set in this year. "
Entering the palace at the age of fourteen is the reference year and event for determining Wu Zetian's lifespan. The author has special research on this: from the end of the eleventh year of Zhenguan (637) to the beginning of the twelfth year (638), Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty went on a tour in today's Henan and Shanxi provinces.
He left Luoyang, the eastern capital, in February of the twelfth year and drove back west. Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty should have "heard her beauty" at this time and brought Wu Zetian into the harem as a talented person. Based on this, it can be inferred that Wu Ze was born in the seventh year of Wude (624) and died in the first year of Shenlong (705). According to the traditional calculation of the virtual age in our country, she was eighty-one years old.
The mystery of longevity
8. The mystery of the "Wordless Monument"
On November 26, the first year of Shenlong (705), Wu Zetian died At the Xianju Hall in Luoyang, the eastern capital. Emperor Zhongzong of the Tang Dynasty discussed with his ministers to bury his mother and queen together in his father's Qianling Mausoleum. Yan Shansi was opposed by Yan Shansi. Citing the theory of Feng Shui and the ethics of male superiority and inferiority to women, he advocated "choosing an auspicious place next to the Qianling Mausoleum for the birth tomb." "The best way to build a tomb is to build another tomb." Emperor Zhongzong of the Tang Dynasty ordered hundreds of officials to discuss it carefully, and finally complied with Wu Zetian's "Gui Ling" edict and buried his nephew in Qianling.
Qianling Mausoleum is located on Beiliang Mountain in Qianxian County, Shaanxi Province. There are two 6.3-meter-high stone tablets in front of the mausoleum. One is the "Shu Sheng Ji" tablet, which was erected by Wu Zetian for Emperor Gaozong of the Tang Dynasty; the other was erected by Tang Dynasty for Wu Zetian. Because it has no words on the whole body, it is called the "wordless tablet" by later generations. ". There has never been any case of erecting monuments in the tombs of Chinese emperors and empresses.
The mystery of the "wordless monument"
However, Wu Zetian's mausoleum made an exception to erect a monument, but did not leave any words on the monument, which caused a lot of discussion among future generations. It is generally believed that it means that Wu Zetian left the merits and demerits of her life to future generations for them to comment on. However, there is no record indicating that she made it herself during her lifetime. There is a saying that the emperor's merits shine all over the world and there is no need to erect a monument to elaborate on them. This is not true, because "Shu Sheng Ji" is a monument praising Emperor Gaozong of the Tang Dynasty.
There is also a theory that it is difficult to describe Wu Zetian’s life experience as the daughter-in-law of the Li family, but she lived in the Zhou Dynasty and the Tang Dynasty. After being overthrown, she became the emperor and became the daughter-in-law of the Li family. This is not the case either, as the "Mourning Book" has already defended it. The author makes the following guess based on the regulations that the two monuments in front of the Qianling Mausoleum are both 6.3 meters high: When Wu Zetian was burying Emperor Gaozong of the Tang Dynasty, she prepared two monuments, one was the "Shu Sheng Ji" monument, and the other was prepared for herself, waiting for a hundred years. After that, engrave the text.
Unexpectedly, Wu Zetian abdicated and died soon after. Since the emperor Zhongzong of the Tang Dynasty fulfilled her wish to be buried in the Qianling Mausoleum, the monument she prepared during her lifetime was erected in the Qianling Mausoleum. At that time, I wrote the "Book of Sorrows". It was expedient to write it on paper and read it. If similar words were engraved on a stone tablet so that she could be remembered forever and become immortal, then that would be no different.
Obviously, no one would have proposed such a memorial at that time. Then, when the deceased is buried in peace and the monument prepared by the deceased is erected in front of the mausoleum, this funeral can not but be said to be "complete with merits and virtues."