Chapter 185: Wu Zetian 3
Wu Zetian is the only female emperor in Chinese history, and the 290-year history of the Li Tang Dynasty has been ruled by Wu Zetian for nearly half a century. The merits of her life www.biquge.info have been commented on from generation to generation, both praise and disparagement. The most detractor of her was that she once had several male favorites, which became a scandal for her through the ages, a topic of inversion among literati and artists, so much so that it was drowned out along with her outstanding political achievements.
Wu Zetian's favored people mainly include Xue Huaiyi, Shen Nanzhi and Zhang Yizhi, Zhang Changzong, etc., after Gaozong's death, it was Xue Huaiyi who first entered Wu Zetian. Xue Huaiyi, formerly known as Feng Xiaobao, was originally a vendor selling plasters on the streets of Tongguan County, but later because he accidentally injured people in a fight on the street, in order to avoid the arrest of the government, he absconded to Luoyang and became a monk in the White Horse Temple.
After the death of Taizong of the Tang Dynasty, Wu Meiniang, as Taizong's concubine, was sent to Ganye Temple to become a nun. The White Horse Temple and the Ganye Temple are only separated by a wall, and the two temples drink the same well water, one day Wu Meiniang and Feng Xiaobao met in the well platform, Wu Meiniang could not get the water, and was in trouble. At this time, Feng Xiaobao, who was tall and strong, also came to the well to carry water, helped Wu Meiniang make water, and sent it to the gate of the nunnery, and then went to carry the water himself, so the two met.
Monks and nuns all quit eating meat, and Feng Xiaobao certainly couldn't quit being a monk halfway. One day, Feng Xiaobao came to the well to fetch water again, and a pheasant was thirsty and fell on the edge of the well to find water to drink. A fat pheasant, Feng Xiaobao decided to eat the pheasant, he didn't pick up any water, picked up a pile of firewood, went to the woods in front of him, and raised the fire to roast the chicken.
Coincidentally, on this day, Wu Meiniang also came to the well to fetch water. On the well platform, I saw Feng Xiaobao's bucket missing, Wu Meiniang looked around for a long time, and there was no trace of Feng Xiaobao nearby. At this time, the smell of barbecue blew in the wind, and Wu Meiniang had never eaten meat since she left the harem. The smell of this meat is so fragrant, where did it come from? Isn't there still a wisp of green smoke in the grove not far away? It must be there. Thinking like this, Mei Niang couldn't help but walk towards the grove.
Wu Meiniang saw clearly, it was Feng Xiaobao who was roasting meat on the fire, I don't know what kind of meat was roasting, anyway, the fragrance went straight to the nostrils, and after a while, the meat was cooked, Feng Xiaobao took the browned chicken from the fire, tore off a thigh and took a bite.
"What kind of meat is it, why is it so fragrant?" Wu Meiniang couldn't help but ask.
Feng Xiaobao suddenly heard someone talking, he was startled, and when he looked back, he saw Wu Meiniang, so he smiled embarrassedly and said, "Chicken, pheasant." Falling on the well platform to drink water, I picked up the flat pole, just a moment, hahaha......"
As he spoke, he tore off another chicken thigh, handed it to Wu Meiniang and said, "Do you dare to eat it?" Wu Meiniang took it and ate it in a big gulp.
Since then, Feng Xiaobao has either made a chicken or a dog thigh in three days, and secretly gave it to Wu Meiniang. Wu Meiniang rushed to the edge of the well to fetch water, that is, to meet Feng Xiaobao.
After Wu Zetian became the emperor, he immediately made Feng Xiaobao the host of the White Horse Temple, a famous temple in Luoyang. After Gaozong's death, Wu Zetian let Feng Xiaobao enter and leave the harem casually, changed his name to Huaiyi, and gave him the surname Xue.
With his extraordinary intelligence and the feelings of the year, he was very cherished by Wu Zetian. Xue Huaiyi was promoted to the general of Zhengsanpin Zuo Wuwei because of his meritorious service in supervising the construction of the Vientiane Shrine, and was named the Duke of Liang Guogong, and later served as the chief administrator many times, commanding the army and expeditioning against the Turks.
Soon the imperial doctor Shen Nanli became Wu Zetian's new favorite, and Xue Huaiyi, out of jealousy, burned down the Vientiane Divine Palace, which cost a huge amount of money, but Wu Zetian did not pursue it. Then Xue Huaiyi became more and more arrogant, and finally aroused Wu Zetian's disgust, and ordered someone to assassinate him. After Xue Huaiyi's death, Shen Nanli, who had passed middle age, was gentle, but physically and mentally weak and could not meet Wu Zetian's requirements. In her seventies, she fell into loneliness and boredom again, moody and grumpy.
At this time, someone recommended Zhang Yizhi's brother to sleep, these two beautiful young men about 20 years old, not only smart and clever, proficient in music and rhythm, but also energetic, and have the ability to sleep. Serving Wu Zetian comfortably and happily, Wu Zetian immediately added four official grades to the two.
Since then, the two Zhang have been like princes, following Wu Zetian every day, waiting for her to listen to the government, and accompanying her in the harem. Erzhang was pampered and arrogant, not only arbitrarily and arbitrarily in the harem, but also formed a party to interfere in the government and politics, which caused public anger. Finally in the first year of Shenlong, Zhang Cambodia and others instigated a palace coup d'état, killed Erzhang, and Wu Zetian was also invited to the throne on the sickbed and gave way to Tang Zhongzong.
As a woman, she needs a man to satisfy her, but she will never meet this need.
When Wu Zetian entered the palace at the age of fourteen, he was given the name Mei Niang by Tang Taizong, who was charming and charming, with buds to be released, and her love was just beginning, and she longed for the emperor's favor, but she was only a talented person by Taizong's side for more than ten years, and the role of a maid was almost the same. Taizong is a world-class talent, he only requires women to be virtuous, docile, considerate, and delicate, and Wu Zetian's beauty and talent are naturally not appreciated by the emperor, so after Taizong's death, she was sent to Ganye Temple as a nun.
As a woman, Wu Zetian wants to repay her own losses, which can only be achieved through marriage, she needs to rely on a husband who obeys her orders, and she needs a weak person. The opportunity of history made Taizong's son Li Zhi her choice.
Gaozong Li Zhi likes beautiful women and is amorous, he is frail and sickly, indecisive, and affectionate to Mei Niang. Therefore, after spending five years of cold and lonely temple life, Wu Zetian entered the palace for the second time and became the Zhaoyi of Gaozong. At this time, Wu Zetian was nearly thirty years old, and Gaozong was only twenty-five years old.
She is sometimes affectionate, sad and resentful, sometimes willow eyebrows are angry, and her face is threatening, which makes it difficult for Gaozong to resist. In just over a year, she was promoted from a nun to Zhaoyi, Concubine Chen, and even the empress, and it was difficult for Gaozong to get close to other women at this time. Many concubines and maids in the palace have lost their obligation to accompany them to bed and have become pure female officials. In the next thirty years, Wu Zetian did not have a scandal of filth, and all her energy was spent on the struggle until Gaozong's death.
Wu Zetian officially ascended the throne, changed the name of the country to Zhou, and became a veritable female emperor, and her need as a woman was also stimulated. She favored Xue Huaiyi because he was tall, strong and powerful, and was later assassinated by her because he was not tamed. She pampered Shen Nanlian, who was rejected because of his middle-aged frailty. Her pampered Zhang Yizhi brother is like a lotus flower, and she has a good bed, so that she is spiritually satisfied, and she is temporarily in spring, she is grateful for the dedication of Erzhang, awarded a high-ranking official, entrusted with national politics, and became the most trusted person in her later years.
As a female emperor, Wu Zetian raised male pets mainly to show the authoritarian power of the empress. After the second Zhang entered the service, Wu Zetian had reached the age of seventy-three, even if he lived a good life and maintained his health, it would be difficult for an old woman to rejuvenate. She is showing off to everyone, since a man can have a group of concubines as the emperor, and a woman should also have a male favorite to serve when she ascends the throne.
Turning over the history of China, a woman is the only emperor, she is a woman in the era of male emperor autocracy, want to be invincible, it can be said that the tree is a big move, facing the difficulty of fighting alone. In order to convince the subjects, it is necessary to artificially and actively establish one's absolute authority and dignity. She is to exercise the same rights as male emperors in all spheres, and to enjoy the same benefits as male emperors.
Therefore, she imitates the male emperor, even if it is not for the purpose of going to bed, she wants to have a few young people of the opposite sex who can comfort loneliness and relieve the sorrows of old age, and it is understandable that she is the son of heaven.
The strange thing is that although the kings of all dynasties have 3,000 beauties in the harem for the emperor to enjoy themselves, especially Wu Zetian's grandson Tang Xuanzong Li Longji, there are still 40,000 concubines who are still insufficient, and even set up their daughter-in-law Yang Yuhuan as a concubine. Just because they are male monarchs, they are tolerated with only one heroic sentence.
From this point of view, Wu Zetian should be evaluated comprehensively, historically, and fairly, China's feudal society has always favored sons over women, and women who hold great power are regarded as troubles in most cases, and from being in charge of the government to changing the dynasty, it is regarded as a great rebellion.
As a female emperor in Chinese history, Wu Zetian almost took up both the red face and the great rebellion, and her life was also discredited. The reason why she is still famous is because of her outstanding political achievements when she was the emperor.
Wu Zetian favored the male pet, and he has not stopped since he ascended the throne. She was sixty-seven years old when she ascended the throne, and had been busy with political struggles for most of the previous years, and after the throne was secured, Wu Zetian finally began to enjoy her love life.
Wu Zetian's first male pet in public favor was the monk Xue Huaiyi, whose common name was Feng Xiaobao, who was originally a medicine seller in Luoyang City, and he was favored by Wu Zetian as early as when Wu Zetian was the queen mother, and then soared. In order to hide people's eyes, Wu Zetian ordered him to become a monk and enter and leave the court as a monk to facilitate the tryst between the two.
For this little monk, Wu Zetian really liked it very much, and built a Ming Hall for him, and was crowned as a mighty general and Liang Guogong. This Xue Huaiyi is not the little white face who eats soft rice by hue as imagined by today's people, on the contrary, Kong Wu is powerful.
He also served as the head of the marching road, commanding the army to crusade against the rebellious Turks, and for Wu Zetian's enthronement, Xue Huaiyi also played a propaganda role, he tried his best to walk public opinion among the people, advocating the heroine to go down to earth, and building momentum for Wu Zetian's enthronement, and even specially organized a monk petition group and a nun petition group to ask Wu Zetian to ascend the throne, and made a lot of contributions before and after the saddle.
But this person's character is really poor, he is high-flying, and he specially recruited a group of hooligans to be monks in Luoyang City, and he is rampant and domineering all day long, even Wu Sansi and other nephews of Wu Zetian are respectful when they see him, of course, there are also those who don't buy it.
Once Xue Huaiyi insulted Prime Minister Su Liangsi in public, and was beaten by Su Liangsi, Xue Huaiyi cried to Wu Zetian afterwards, but Wu Zetian was very sensible and did not favor Xue Huaiyi, but warned Xue Huaiyi to be honest, and asked Yushi Zhou Ju to punish all the little hooligans under Xue Huaiyi.
Later, Xue Huaiyi became arrogant and domineering, and Wu Zetian had a new favorite, and he became more and more cold to Xue Huaiyi, but Xue Huaiyi, who was jealous, actually burned down the Ming Hall built for him by Wu Zetian, which stabbed the hornet's nest. Xue Huaiyi completely fell out of favor from then on, and then disappeared into history, some say that he was eliminated by Princess Taiping, some say that he was killed by Wu Sansi, in short, he is no longer favored by Wu Zetian.
In addition to Xue Huaiyi, another male favorite of Wu Zetian in the early days was the imperial physician Shen Nanzhi, but this imperial physician Shen was timid and cautious, with a generous personality, and he just waited for Wu Zetian cautiously all day long. Because Wu Zetian favored him, he was so angry that Xue Huaiyi burned down the Ming Hall, and afterwards, the Imperial Doctor Shen was frightened and died not long after.
Wu Zetian's early favor of male pets was still limited to her private life, except for causing a lot of rumors, it did not have much impact on the government, but things changed in her later years, because of the appearance of two brothers - Zhang Changzong and Zhang Yizhi.
These two brothers were fortunate to be favored by Wu Zetian, and unlike the previous male favorites, these two people are extremely politically ambitious, compared to Xue Huaiyi's flying and domineering, Shen Nanmiao's walking on thin ice, but these two brothers are like fish in water. Zhang Changzong is good at music, Zhang Yizhi is good at singing and dancing, and the brothers sang and harmonized, coaxing Wu Zetian to be full of joy all day long.
From then on, the two of them began to intervene in the government, first taking bribes, selling official positions, and being very honest, characterized by doing things when they received money. Once a person surnamed Yang bribed Zhang Yizhi, Zhang Yizhi's family forgot the name of this person, Zhang Yizhi didn't say a word, and promoted all the people surnamed Yang in the capital, but the corruption of the government was also aggravated.
Forget about collecting some money, as time goes by, the two brothers began to reject dissidents, especially in Wu Zetian's later years, the brothers leaned towards the government and the opposition, and they hated the prime minister Wei Yuanzhong because of the enclosure, so they fabricated charges to frame Wei Yuanzhong, and then Li Dan and Li Xian, the two sons of Wu Zetian, were the two brothers who were the two brothers, and they actually asked them to be crowned kings.
In his later years, Wu Zetian was obsessed with the pleasures of his brothers and sons all day long, and many national events were wasted, the Tubo invaded Liangzhou, the Turks invaded Shuozhou, and the Wu and Zhou dynasties were slow to react. Wu Zetian simply didn't see the ministers, closed the door and had fun with the brothers, and stopped grabbing power, so her death knell also sounded.
Prime Minister Zhang Cambodia launched a coup d'état, united with Li Duozuo, the general of the Right Military Guard, to surround the Luoyang Palace, and at the same time welcomed the crown prince Li Xian to reinstate, forcing Wu Zetian to abdicate, and the two little male favorites were also killed by Zhang Cambodia. Under internal and external pressure, Wu Zetian was forced to abdicate, and ten months later, the eighty-three-year-old Wu Zetian died suddenly as the empress dowager, leaving behind a wordless monument.