For those who are very interested in Wu Zetian, the History Encyclopedia editor brings detailed articles for your reference.
There is a saying that Wu Zetian’s governing power was indeed excellent. If it weren’t for the fact that Wu Zetian was a female emperor and experienced too much internal strife and friction at the beginning of her rise to power, I believe Wu Zetian would have accomplished more.
Wu Zetian’s talent was particularly outstanding even when she was still an empress. Especially in Li Zhi’s eyes, Wu Zetian is definitely an officially certified and unique chief political assistant expert. In the Tang Dynasty at that time, it was the couple who jointly handled political affairs. They worked together to crack down on the Guanlong Gate clique, strengthen central sovereignty, plan wars in the south and north, defeat Goguryeo, the Turks, Baekje, and so on. During the reign of Li Zhi, Wu Zetian had already begun to govern the country very well.
So, what did Wu Zetian do during her reign?
Firstly, during the reign of Empress Wu Zetian, she dealt a severe blow to the aristocratic families and liberated the slaves and maidservants. And Wu Zetian, in order to ascend to power, dealt a blow to these political enemies who opposed her, which can be said to have uprooted many people. At the same time, by limiting the number of slaves and maidservants, we can protect the slaves themselves and crack down on landlords and aristocrats. Whether you are a big family or a small aristocrat, you will be completely eliminated.
Finally, Wu Zetian successfully destroyed the traditional aristocratic group and liberated a large number of laborers, leading to a good development in social productivity. The development of social productive forces can indicate that people’s lives have improved, and for the sake of their own lives, people are naturally more willing to work.
Wu Zetian also reformed the system of three provinces and six ministries. She pioneered the idea of “coordinating official affairs with the Secretariat” and selected a large number of low-level officials to enter the court. This also provided more opportunities for some inexperienced low-level officials. If there really are talented individuals among these officials. It is not impossible to ascend to the position of prime minister from a small household. In this way, not only can more talents be discovered, but also the relative power can be weakened. It’s really killing two birds with one stone.
She also established a whistleblowing system similar to today’s, where anyone can directly submit a letter to the emperor to discuss political issues, their own wrongful cases, or self recommend themselves. Not just seeking justice for oneself, recommending oneself. Wu Zetian further improved the imperial examination system, establishing the palace examination and launching the first military examination, greatly increasing the number of imperial examination seats. This led to the Tang Dynasty’s court from being dominated by palace nobles to later dominated by imperial examination bureaucrats.
This is a bit like you all disobeying me, so I replaced you all and then selected a new group of talents myself. Because the official position and opportunities are given to you by me, you will definitely be more loyal to me. It can also create more opportunities for the people, so these are all things that benefit the people.
Not only that, Wu Zetian also played a significant role in the development of agriculture at that time. During the decades when Wu Zetian intervened in political affairs, the border of the Central Plains was constantly at war with barbarians. But even so, it did not delay the population growth of the Central Plains from almost doubling. For these people, during the reign of Empress Wu Zetian, it was almost always a peaceful and prosperous era, and the common people lived and worked in peace and contentment, singing and dancing in harmony.
Overall, the reign of Empress Wu Zetian was definitely beneficial to the people, but at the same time, because she was a woman herself, there were many obstacles during her rule. Therefore, when Empress Wu Zetian became emperor, more energy and time were consumed in consolidating her position and eliminating the rebellious party that opposed her.
Many people say that the box inspection system implemented by Empress Wu Zetian at that time was a system of whistleblowing, which was a form of torture and fostered the unhealthy trend of whistleblowing. In fact, such a generalization is unfair, because such a policy is more like the current reporting system, and Wu Zetian is not someone who listens to wind and rain without any opinions.
Every emperor ascending to power and eliminating dissidents is of paramount importance. There are ministers within their own country’s court who are determined to overthrow and bring down themselves, which is a very dangerous thing. So, it is understandable that Wu Zetian would spend a lot of time clearing them.
Do you think Wu Zetian was a good emperor who served the people and the country?
