Do you know why Wu Zetian abdicated for a year and died? It’s okay if you don’t know, the history encyclopedia editor will tell you.
In ancient feudal society, the status of women was always relatively low, and the belief was that “women without talent are virtuous”. Therefore, there were not many powerful women, but there were some who existed. Today, the editor wants to talk about one of them, and she is Wu Zetian.
She is the only legitimate female emperor in history, so you probably know her well. After all, in history class, you often heard the teacher repeatedly emphasize her strength, not to mention that she is really very skilled. When she first entered the palace, she thought she was a talented person, but because Li Shimin recognized her cruel personality, she distanced herself from her. For more than a decade, she felt like she had been thrown into a cold palace.
But it seems that she did not live in despair because of this. Instead, when Li Shimin was seriously ill, she seized the opportunity and got involved with his son Li Zhi, deeply capturing his heart. Therefore, after Li Shimin’s death, she was admitted to the palace by Li Zhi despite opposition from the crowd at the nunnery, right?
In fact, from this point on, Wu Zetian began to slowly expose her ambitions. She killed her daughter and falsely accused Queen Wang, took the throne herself, intervened in court affairs, and was known as the “Two Saints in Court”. After Li Zhi’s death, she kicked out her son and usurped the Tang Dynasty to establish herself. The process went smoothly as planned, and she gained and lost a lot in the process.
In this way, she also served on the throne for many years. In her later years, she was bored and raised a bunch of male pets, and even allowed them to interfere in the court affairs, making the court chaotic. That’s why some courtiers launched a coup and forced her to abdicate. In this way, she lost her power and also became a male pet.
Unexpectedly, she passed away one year after abdicating. Historical records state that she died of illness, but this is not the case. Before her death, she did not have any illness, indicating that she died of depression. This can be seen from Wu Zetian’s unwillingness to dress up and her serious illness after abdicating. It is just that historians are embarrassed to record the reasons. After all, her later life was really chaotic, and it also left her with a certain dignity. After all, Wu Zetian seemed to realize her mistake after her death, otherwise she would not have omitted the imperial title in her will and erected an wordless monument for herself.
