Wu Zetian was the only legitimate female emperor in Chinese history, and the History Encyclopedia editor provides detailed information about her.
Wu Zetian’s family was wealthy and had a long-standing connection with the Li family. Tang Gaozu Li Yuan was highly appreciated by Wu Zetian’s father before achieving great success, and later received a lot of help and support from the Wu family, deepening their friendship. Later, Tang Gaozu rebelled in Taiyuan, and Wu Fu generously provided money and clothing to Li Yuan, helping him establish the Tang Dynasty. After achieving great success, Li Yuan was extremely grateful and appointed Wu Zetian’s father as the Minister of Works and conferred the title of Duke of Yingguo.
But the good times didn’t last long. Wu Zetian’s father passed away not long ago, and her life at home was extremely difficult. She was often provoked and bullied by her half brother. Wu Zetian did not want to continue living like this, so she went to Chang’an with her mother. It was from this moment on that Wu Zetian’s fate began to slowly change.
As Wu Zetian grew older, she became more and more beautiful. At the age of fourteen, Emperor Taizong of Tang, Li Shimin, saw her stunning beauty and decided to take her into the palace as a talented person. The mother lamented her daughter’s unfortunate fate and held her in her arms, crying bitterly.
But Wu Zetian remained very calm, thinking that this might be a major turning point in her life. Nowadays, the emperor is still very wise, not necessarily “accompanying the emperor like a tiger”, so there is no need to feel sad. From her calm and composed words, it can be seen that there was a reason why Wu Zetian was able to achieve great success later on.
I thought that entering the palace would allow Wu Zetian to showcase her talents, but despite her appearance, she was never favored by Li Shimin. Li Shimin only recognized her as a talented person and gave her the name “Mei”, which later became known as “Wu Meiniang” by the world. Later, Li Shimin fell seriously ill, and Wu Zetian served beside him. The Crown Prince Li Zhi also served beside him. The two of them had a good impression of each other, and Li Zhi was very infatuated. He even fell deeply in love with his father’s imperial concubine Wu Zetian.
And this seemingly fruitless relationship unexpectedly saw a turning point after the death of Emperor Taizong of Tang. Emperor Taizong of Tang passed away due to illness, and his concubines entered the temple to fast and recite Buddhist scriptures as nuns. Li Zhi often held private meetings with Wu Zetian in temples under the pretext of burning incense and praying for blessings for Emperor Taizong of Tang. Later, he found an opportunity to take Wu Zetian out of the temple. Li Zhi ascended to the throne and became Emperor Gaozong of Tang, holding great power and successfully bringing Wu Zetian into the palace.
Emperor Gaozong of Tang deeply loved Wu Zetian and even had the idea of establishing a new one after being abandoned. Wu Zetian was also a woman with strategy and a city government. She emerged from the fiercely contested harem and rose to the throne with her own means. And constantly cultivated her own power. When Li Zhi was seriously ill, she “watched from behind” to stabilize the situation. After Li Zhi’s death, she refused to let her biological son ascend to the throne and instead became the emperor herself, becoming a generation of empresses.
Just when everyone thought she would pass the throne to the people of the Wu family, she resolutely decided to return the throne to the Li family again. Her actions may be difficult for many people to understand, but when it comes to the reasons behind it, it is still related to Wu Zetian’s difficult to let go emotions and the overall livelihood of the people.
Although Wu Zetian was able to cultivate her power behind the scenes during Li’s treatment of illness, in her later years she remembered her past and felt that she had deeply loved Li Zhi. Her current achievements were also due to Li Zhi’s help, and it was only natural for her to pass on the throne to her and Li Zhi’s biological son.
This was due to Wu Zetian’s emotional considerations. On the other hand, there are political factors that cannot be ignored. Although Wu Zetian made mistakes during her fifteen years in power, she also made many achievements. Regardless, she is an outstanding politician in Chinese history.
Conclusion: She still attaches great importance to the development of the country. Although the Wu family is part of her family, they are mostly mediocre individuals who passed down their lineage to the Wu family. Although Jiangshan’s surname is Wu, it is not her direct bloodline. For the sake of Jiangshan and the continuation of her great cause, Wu Zetian ultimately returned Jiangshan to the Li family. Thanks to Wu Zetian’s early revelation of this secret, she was able to live a peaceful life in her later years.
