The daughter separated when she got married, and when the queen of heaven learned about it, she didn't ask, and she really didn't have time to care about these trivial matters.

More than 60,000 people, including hundreds of officials, relatives, common people, monarchs of various ethnic groups, and monks, jointly wrote a letter to persuade them, and Emperor Li Dan also asked for a change in his surname Wu.

So, on September 19, the sixty-seven-year-old Empress Wu ascended the throne and became the emperor in the newly built Ming Tower of the Huaiyi monk.

Shen Mengxi was fortunate to see this grand ceremony.

As the most favored daughter, Shen Mengxi entered the palace on the 18th, and that night, having dinner with the queen of heaven, Shen Mengxi could see that the queen was very excited, a little apprehension and excitement were intertwined, and even her fingers trembled slightly.

She drank a lot of wine and watched the candlelight dance intently, and Shen Mengxi saw wrinkles and vague tears from the corners of her eyes.

"A-Niang left Ganye Temple at the age of twenty-nine, and to this day, nearly 50 years, has never relaxed. How many times! If it's one step behind, one step worse, it's dead. In just a few words, I finished talking about the bloody rain of nearly 50 years.

These "how many times" include countless confrontations with the harem concubines, with the Li clan, with the courtier family, with the Wu clan, and even with their own sons.

The queen lowered her eyelids, raised them again, her eyes were clear, she took another sip of wine, put down the cup with a smile, beckoned her daughter to come over, hugged her and said word by word: "A-Niang is not dead, A-Niang vows to live better, whoever wants me to die, I will let him die first!" ”

After speaking, he stroked Shen Mengxi's shoulder, "A-Niang's Yueniang, you don't have to suffer like A-Niang." ”

A woman, in a patriarchal society, has struggled to her current status, Shen Mengxi can't imagine what she has experienced, I don't know what emotions her eyes reveal, and the queen caresses her face, like an ordinary mother, "A-Niang also wants to live quietly with her husband and children, but no." ”

The last three words are as light as a feather, and you can't tell the regret in your tone if you don't look carefully.

Shen Mengxi was touched by the unusual, perhaps attracted by blood and family affection, and couldn't help but raise her hand to stroke her hair, "Tomorrow is the day A-Niang ascends the throne, A-Niang has done a groundbreaking event, Yue'er is also a woman, and I am deeply proud of A-Niang!" Under the whole world, it is not the king's land, and the shore of the land is not the king's minister. Yue'er didn't know what to send to A-Niang, to celebrate A-Niang. ”

"Ah Yue lives her own life, which is the best gift for Ah Niang." That's probably what all mothers expect.

"Yue'er has just mixed hair dye cream, why don't you let Yue'er dye A-Niang's hair by herself!"

The queen of heaven listened very interested, although she was properly maintained, but still could not stop the scythe swept by the years, these two years of exhaustion, the silver thread between the bun is no longer jewelry can be covered, especially the sideburns and forehead.

Shen Mengxi was in the Wuling space, found a plant hair dye cream, and found a eunuch with white hair, in front of the queen of heaven, asked the palace maid to dye his hair first, and half an hour later, the eunuch looked at his black hair in the mirror, and knelt down and kowtowed happily. The queen of heaven smiled and urged Shen Mengxi to dye her hair quickly.

The musician stroked the piano, the incense was swirling, and the palace maid stood cramped on the side, watching Her Royal Highness the princess wearing strange gloves and dyeing the hair of the queen lying on the couch with her own hands, and wanted to take over several times, but was refused.

The hair of the queen of heaven is very thick, which is completely inconsistent with the rule that nobles do not top their hair, Shen Mengxi gently smeared the hair dye cream with a comb little by little, "A-Niang's hair is dense and thick, it is really a blessing, this is a manifestation of full kidney qi and good health." ”

"Well, Ah Yue has studied medicine, and she will see Ah Niang." The queen of heaven said with her eyes closed.

"A-Niang's innate qi is sufficient, it is a good body given by her grandmother, plus A-Niang did not give birth prematurely, and she is properly maintained, so she is healthy, which is a sign of longevity."

"My mouth is honey." The diva listened happily.

Shen Mengxi smiled and didn't speak, although the queen of heaven is sixty-seven years old, her body is indeed healthier than that of ordinary people at fifty years old.

After dyeing her hair, the queen stroked her hair in the mirror for a long time, her hair was not only black, but also brightened, and her eyes were wet again, "Yue'er, is A-Niang old, and I think of that year, my hair was shaved off in Ganye Temple, so much, so black, it fell to the ground, A-Niang didn't cry, today's hair has become oily black, why does A-Niang want to cry!" ”

Shen Mengxi understands the state of mind of a person, especially a woman in her twilight years, this woman with an iron heart, on the eve of her accession to the throne, became soft and sentimental. She is not qualified to sympathize with the queen of heaven, and she is convinced that tomorrow morning, she will be another hard-hearted woman, a woman of supreme power, destined to be lonely and lonely.

"A-Niang is not old." Shen Mengxi gently massaged the head of the diva, "Go to bed early and nourish your spirits." ”

The queen leaned her head on her daughter's arms and enjoyed it very much.

On September 19, the weather was fine.

After the fifth watch, the gate of the imperial city was opened, and the hundred officials were arranged in order to enter the palace city.

The Ming Hall has three floors, more than 100 meters high, surrounded by gold, shining brightly, and can be seen from ten miles away.

Wu Zetian wore a scarlet flower crown on his head, a yellow dragon-patterned robe, and a thirteen-ring gold and jade leather belt, looking radiant, sitting on top of the Ming Hall. The gold bricks on the ground reflected the light, and the people under the stairs looked up and felt that the empress on the dragon throne was like a god descending from heaven.

Three cannons sounded, the golden drums sounded in unison, and the enthronement ceremony began.

The proclamation official read out the edict loudly, announcing that the name of the country would be changed to Zhou, and the yuan would be changed to heaven.

Then the emperor's treasure seal was presented, and the civil and military officials, royal family relatives, and Siyi chieftains stepped forward to congratulate in turn, and everyone was surprised that the empress's gray hair became dark and shiny overnight, and they all sighed that it was really the will of heaven and the heroine who obeyed the public opinion.

Shen Mengxi bowed respectfully with everyone in the clan, and when he got up, he saw Wu Zetian's face solemn, and sure enough, this woman only gave herself a relaxing moment for the night, and from today on, she started a more difficult trek and journey.

Wu Zetian, the first female emperor in history, was also the oldest emperor when he ascended the throne. Self-proclaimed Holy Spirit Emperor.

In the past 16 years, although Wu Zetian did not ascend the throne, but has been actually in charge of real power, as a woman, her political ability is not inferior to men, has proposed 12 suggestions, reduce taxes, educate the world with morality, open up the way of speech, put an end to slander, and those with high talents can be promoted beyond the level. Each of them is to the point of the times, which can be called a strategy for enriching the country and strengthening the army, and was adopted by Gaozong one by one.

Shen Mengxi admired Wu Zetian's ability to govern the country and kill decisively, but it was very hard to have such a mother. Taiping's four elder brothers, none of them were spared, all of them lived in the shadow of their biological mothers, Li Hong, Li Xian, Li Xian, Li Dan, the dead, the prisoners, the wasted, whether they were virtuous and talented, or cowardly and incompetent, by Wu Zetian's side, they were all at a loss.

Shen Mengxi felt that although every time they met, Wu Zetian felt that her daughter was similar to her, and showed her love and connivance, but she promised that if she really showed the same enthusiasm for government and politics as Empress Wu, she would not end well.

Shen Mengxi has no such experience in his life: glory and wealth and disaster are just a thin line. She was caught up in a sense of insecurity that she had never felt before.

After Wu Zetian ascended the throne, he took a series of measures to make his speech smooth, attach importance to advice, and know people well; optimize the government and military system, consolidate the border and strengthen the army; Reform the imperial examination system, create a palace examination, set up a martial arts examination, and can also be self-proposed, that is, self-recommendation. In addition, the system of trial officials is also implemented to recruit talents, regardless of family rank, not to deceive the nameless, and not to avoid hatred and resentment.

But she also reuses cool officials, there is always a stack of secret letters on the desk that report and expose, and everyone can report and whistleblow, her important ministers include people of insight like Di Renjie and Shangguan Wan'er, as well as cool officials like Zhou Xing and Lai Junchen.

In this way, Wu Zetian used his wisdom, strategy, broad-mindedness and ruthless methods to rule the Great Zhou Dynasty, and the country continued to prosper.

In the second year of heaven, natural disasters continued. First of all, the locust plague in the northwest was rampant, and the seedlings were eaten up and the grains were not harvested; Then the Yangtze River flooded, flooding large areas of fertile land and villages, and then there was a major epidemic, killing countless people. In the southwest, there was ground movement at night, and the entire landslide buried the entire village, and no one survived.

In July, Luoyang rained heavily for three days, and it was dark, thunder and lightning.

In response to a sentence, people sit at home, disaster comes from the sky, a family of people in Tongjifang, open a grocery store in the West Market on weekdays, but the market cannot be opened due to heavy rain, and the whole family of seven people are sitting at home with big eyes and small eyes.

Heavy rain, rain seeped into the room from the window, the roof also ticked and leaked, the family got up and wiped the window lattice, took the clay pot to catch the water, the daughter-in-law of the family was holding the rag to wipe the water stains, I saw a gust of wind blowing open the window, the rain drenched the daughter-in-law, a copper basin-sized red fireball crackled and floated in from the window, the daughter-in-law was hit and fell to the ground, the chest was scorched black, everyone wanted to save people, the fireball floated and chased towards the male owner of the house, the family was frightened, opened the door, and rushed to the courtyard, a thunderclap sounded in the sky, and the whole family knelt on the ground and kowtowed repeatedly, chanting the gods to forgive their sins.

I don't know how long it took for a few people who were soaked to return to the house in fear, only to see that both of them on the ground had a large piece of charred black, and they had already died of exhaustion.

This incident alarmed the entire Luoyang City, and everyone was telling about this miracle, and it even spread to Chang'an.

In a huge country, it is inevitable that there will be disasters every year, but because the empress has recently ascended the throne, natural disasters have evolved into heavenly curses.

Wu Zetian was furious, resolute, and ordered Junchen to investigate the rumors, and Junchen's methods came out one after another, living up to Wu Zetian's high expectations, killing more than 20 people who spread rumors, and investigating the matter of the family surnamed Liu in Tongjifang, and finally concluded that the dead man had committed adultery with his daughter-in-law, and was punished by God, and was killed by the god of fireballs.

When Shen Mengxi heard this, he sneered, but the ball lightning broke into the house and hit people, how did it become an ash picking incident.

But, in the end, everything returned to calm.