Everyone is familiar with Wu Zetian. She is the only female emperor in the history of China. She also named herself Wu Zhao. The word "Wan" was also created by Wu Zetian herself. Only she has used it in history, which means that the moon rises to the sky and shines on the earth. Wu Zhao, formerly known as Wu Meiniang, was the concubine of Emperor Taizong Li Shimin. Later, Emperor Taizong died, and Wu Meiniang was rushed to Ganye Temple to become a monk. At first, everyone thought that Wu Meiniang could only spend his life in vain. Unexpectedly, Wu Meiniang seized the gap between Li Zhi and Tang Gaozong going to the temple to worship Buddha, and contacted Li Zhi again. He successfully returned to Li Tang's harem and started his own road to power. These stories of the female emperor are familiar to people in China. Many people can vividly tell the story of Wu Zetian who killed her daughter in order to frame the queen, so even if she doesn't read books, various TV dramas will take turns to popularize the story of Wu Zetian to people in China, not afraid that people don't know. However, there is a problem. Have you ever thought about it? In the history of China, there are many powerful, capable and scheming women like Wu Zetian, such as the famous Lv Hou and Cixi. But why can only Wu Zetian be proclaimed emperor? China's feudal dynasty had a special mechanism, that is, if the emperor was young and ignorant when he succeeded to the throne, the empress dowager could be in power for him. If the empress dowager is tough, it is easy to form a situation in which the empress dowager is in power. Due to the existence of this mechanism, empresses who can control the political situation and master the state affairs have appeared constantly in history, among whom Wu Zetian is not the only one with outstanding ability and strategy. Unfortunately, Wu Zetian is the only person in history who moved from the queen mother in power to the throne. The difference is very interesting. In order to study why only Wu Zetian can claim the title of emperor, American sinologist N. Harry Rothschild (Chinese name is Lohan) wrote the Wu Zhao to be introduced today. The subtitle of this book is "the only female emperor in China", which is also to emphasize the historical position of Wu Zetian to Americans-there are many powerful queens, but Wu Zetian is the only woman who claims this title. Lohan, the author of Wu Zhao, graduated from Harvard University. He is a pure American and has been studying the history of Tang and Song Dynasties. Wu Zhao is a popular history book about Wu Zetian. All the information in the book comes from official historical documents, such as The Book of the New Tang Dynasty and The Sword of Purple Tongzhi, without deifying or belittling the only emperor in China. In this book, Lohan tries to use American historical research methods to help readers restore a real Wu Zetian. Lohan believes that the infiltration of grassland culture, the rise of civilian officials and the spread of Buddhist thought are the main reasons for helping Wu Zetian surpass Lv Hou and other empresses and complete the last step of becoming emperor. Infiltration of Grassland Culture After the demise of the Western Jin Dynasty, grassland nationalities began to occupy the Central Plains, and there was a period in the history of China called Wu Luanhua. It was during this period that grassland culture began to spread in China with the establishment of political power by ethnic minorities. The royal family of Sui and Tang Dynasties was born out of the integration of Han and Xianbei nationalities, so the royal family of Sui and Tang Dynasties acted with a strong grassland style. In grassland culture, the superiority of men over women is not as obvious as that of the Han nationality, and it is not too important for the so-called human relations. For example, it is normal for a son to inherit the woman left by his father. In the Han Dynasty, Wang Zhaojun first married Hun Khan, and after Khan's death, he married Khan's son. This seems extremely shameful in * * *, but it is commonplace on the grassland. The most crucial step for Wu Zetian to set foot on the road of becoming emperor was her return to the palace from Ganye Temple, which once again narrowed her distance from the power center of the Tang Dynasty. Originally, Wu Zetian was the concubine of Li Shimin of Emperor Taizong, that is to say, she was Tang Gaozong, the elder of Li Zhi. According to Confucian etiquette, there should be no love between men and women between them, but Tang Gaozong can easily recall her from Kanye Temple and make her his own Zhao Yi, which is behind the infiltration of grassland culture into Li Tang. Without the infiltration of grassland culture, Li Zhi's behavior of taking his elders as concubines is obviously against Confucian ethics, which will surely shake the ruling and opposition parties and lead to chaos. Another concept on the grassland also silently helped Wu Zetian to take the lead behind her back. On the grassland, there is no concept of "men are the masters outside, women are the masters inside", and women have to ride horses to graze and take part in labor, which leads to a more equal relationship between men and women on the grassland. Therefore, in the Sui and Tang Dynasties, which were deeply influenced by grassland culture, the relationship between men and women was more equal and open than other dynasties, and people would not be prejudiced against women's public appearances like other dynasties. Although Tang Gaozong Li Zhi was very clever and managed the Tang Dynasty well, he was in poor health and often fell ill. During his illness, he had to hand over state affairs to Wu Zetian. In this way, Wu Zetian gradually mastered the power, until finally she and Li Zhi were called "double saints". At that time, people could calmly accept that Wu Zetian and Li Zhi were neck and neck in politics, which reflected the infiltration of grassland culture into Li Tang. The popularity of the concept of equality between men and women has made Wu Zetian less obstacles on the road to power. Especially in 666 AD, Wu Zetian, as a queen, could go to Mount Tai for a meditation ceremony, and she would hold a ceremony to worship the land in the name of the queen. Without the popularization of the concept of equality between men and women on the grassland, this would never have happened in ancient society. Because in ancient times, Mount Tai meditation was a great event of the dynasty, which was always held by emperors and ministers, and women were not allowed to participate. Wu Zetian's ability to hold a ceremony to worship the earth means that she is no longer a vassal of imperial power, but can be regarded as an independent political force. Because of the popularity of the concept of equality between men and women, men in the Tang Dynasty felt that it was not shameful to submit to a woman, so Wu Zetian did not encounter much opposition when she came to power. Behind this is the infiltration of grassland culture into the Central Plains. The rise of cloth officials and the infiltration of grassland culture can only help Wu Zetian return to the palace and let her participate in state affairs. If she really wants to take power, she needs to build her own team. At that time, the rising civilian forces just met her needs, and the civilian forces also needed their own spokesmen in the imperial court, so they hit it off and became an independent political force in Li Tang. In the early Tang Dynasty, Guanlong nobles took power in the imperial court, represented by Sun Chang Wuji. When Li Shimin was alive, with his personal prestige, he could suppress the nobles in Guanlong, especially Sun Chang Wuji. After Li Shimin's death, Guanlong Group, especially Sun Chang Wuji, lost its repression. Sun Chang Wuji himself has a strong desire for power, and his behavior is extremely bad. He constantly attacked other political forces in the imperial court and planted people from Guanlong Group. Although the royal family of Li Tang was also born in Guanlong nobles, the dominant position of Guanlong nobles made the royal family of Li Tang feel uneasy. Based on this situation, Tang Gaozong hopes to introduce other political forces to balance Guanlong Group, so as to ensure the stability of its throne. In this way, the contradiction between the two sides broke out on the matter of "abolishing the king." At that time, Li Zhi wanted to abolish the Queen of Guanlong Group and make Wu Zetian the queen, which caused dissatisfaction of Guanlong Group, especially the opposition of Wuji. Sun Chang Wuji thinks that Wu Zetian is the daughter of a timber merchant. She was born too low to be a mother instrument in the world. Based on Sun Chang's infinite authority, most officials dare not speak out. At this time, some officials from civilian backgrounds saw the opportunity. Because of their origins, these officials in cloth can't take the high position, but they feel that if they support Li Zhi and Wu Zetian this time, once they succeed, they will have a chance to be promoted. At that time, there was a minister named Li Yifu, who was a commoner and had no foundation in North Korea. He was a small official in charge of drafting letters, and was exiled to other places because he offended Sun Chang Wuji. Faced with this situation, Li Yifu's friends suggested that the emperor was planning to establish Wu Zhaoyi as the queen. Now Sun Chang has no objection, and ministers dare not support the emperor, which makes the emperor very embarrassed. If you dare to jump out to support the emperor first, the emperor will definitely repay you in the future. Li Yifu listened to his friend's advice and immediately wrote a letter to the throne, clearly supporting Tang Gaozong to establish Wu Zetian, and also preaching everywhere that the plowman can change his wife if he has money. Why can't the emperor do this? Under the example of Li Yifu, more and more civilian ministers began to support Tang Gaozong. Later, Wu Zetian became the queen, and the support of these cloth officials contributed greatly. And all this was kept in mind by Wu Zetian, who promoted these civilian officials at the first opportunity. For example, Li Yifu, who was the first to express his support, later became prime minister step by step. Civilian officials and Wu Zetian supported each other and soon became an independent force, which could fight against Guanlong Group and influence the political situation in Li Tang. Later, Tang Gaozong Li Zhi died and Wu Zetian came to power. In order to crack down on the old forces that opposed her, Wu Zetian began to reuse the cruel officials who were born in common people, such as the famous generals Zhou Xing, Lai Junchen, Suo Yuanli and others. It is precisely because these cruel officials from ordinary people worked hard and attacked the royal family of Li Tang and Guanlong Group by terrorist means, which effectively weakened their power. Wu Zetian finally ascended the throne of the queen. It can be said that it was the support of officials in Buyi that made Wu Zetian cross the two thresholds of "being a queen" and "claiming the emperor", so the rise of officials in Buyi was an important boost for Wu Zetian to become a female emperor. The spread of Buddhist ideas Wu Zetian, who has her own political team, wants to be an emperor and needs the last step of help, that is, ideological support to make the people of the whole country agree with her. For a long time, as an emperor, she was helped by Confucianism. However, Confucianism prefers boys to girls and never recognizes a woman as an emperor. Therefore, Wu Zetian can't get the support of Confucianism, which is the biggest resistance for her to be an emperor. Confucianism can't help Wu Zetian. Wu Zetian needs to find another way to find other ideological support, and the prevailing Buddhism just meets her needs. Buddhism was very popular in the Tang Dynasty, especially after Master Xuanzang went to India to learn Buddhist scriptures, which had a greater influence on China. Buddhism has always emphasized the equality of all beings, which is very beneficial to Wu Zetian as a woman. At that time, there was a Buddhist classic called Da Yun Jing, which described a story that a bodhisattva would become a pure girl, and then the Buddha predicted that this pure girl would become a king and help all beings. Anyone who opposes this pure girl will be punished by the Buddha. After seeing this story, Wu Zetian, like a treasure, began to promote the Great Cloud Sutra to the whole country, constantly looking for someone to tell the people that she was the reincarnation of Jingguang Tiannv mentioned in the Buddhist Sutra, and emphasized that Jingguang Tiannv was the embodiment of Maitreya, because Maitreya was the most recognized among the people at that time. In this way, Wu Zetian was slowly shaped into the incarnation of Maitreya Buddha, clearing the last ideological obstacle for her to ascend to the throne. The infiltration of grassland culture made Wu Zetian return to the center of power, and the rise of cloth officials gave Wu Zetian a team that could fight against the nobles in Guanlong. The prevalence of Buddhism helped Wu Zetian gain the support of the people, so Wu Zetian was able to leapfrog the other Empresses in power and become the first person in ancient and modern times. Later generations have different opinions on Wu Zetian's merits and demerits. Due to the influence of Confucianism, Wu Zetian, who claimed to be the female emperor, was not highly appraised in the new and old Tang books. Wu Zetian was described as a vicious woman in the five dynasties old Tang books. Ouyang Xiu, who wrote the Book of the New Tang Dynasty in the Song Dynasty, also said that it is said that evil is rewarded with evil and good with good, but this rule failed when Wu Zetian came. After modern times, historians believe that Wu Zetian inherited the rule of Zhenguan and laid the foundation for the prosperity of Kaiyuan. After all, during the reign of Wu Zetian, the economy of the Tang Dynasty was developed, the society was stable, and the population increased greatly. However, Wu Zetian herself is very free and easy. After her death, she set up a tablet without words for herself, and she didn't judge herself, so that everyone could speak freely. Source: A drunken wind embracing the moon