For those who are very interested in Wu Zetian and her mother’s family, the History Encyclopedia editor brings detailed articles for your reference.
Speaking of Wu Zetian, I believe everyone is familiar with her. She was the only female emperor in ancient history. In ancient times, under a highly centralized male dominated social system, it was unimaginable for a woman to ascend to the throne and become emperor. In the thousands of years of patriarchal society in ancient times, Wu Zetian’s coronation as emperor was considered the most shocking event. Wu Zetian’s actions also provided a reference precedent for women who wanted to take control of the government in later generations. After Wu Zetian succeeded to the throne, she also did many things that were beneficial to the development of the Tang Dynasty. Although Wu Zetian was considered a good emperor, she was very cruel and killed many loyal courtiers before she declared herself emperor. Most of these old ministers were against her proclaiming herself emperor, and besides them, Wu Zetian also killed many of her own family members. However, it is strange that after Wu Zetian declared herself emperor, she crazily promoted her own family members. Why did this empress do so? If there is anything inappropriate about this matter, we welcome everyone’s guidance.
Wu Zetian’s stills
Firstly, let’s understand why Wu Zetian massacred her own family members before proclaiming herself emperor. The editor believes that the first reason for this is that Wu Zetian’s childhood was very tragic, which also made her hate the Wu family very much. After Wu Zetian’s father passed away, her life with her mother Yang was also very difficult. The most tragic thing is that her second sister and brother-in-law have also passed away one after another. In the following decade, Wu Zetian and her mother also lived a miserable life of wandering without support, and it was difficult to eat enough every day. Therefore, Wu Zetian’s two half brothers also took advantage of this opportunity to bully her, and even many of her father’s relatives took advantage of it, causing many difficulties for Wu Zetian and her mother. Although Wu Zetian did not have the ability to protect her mother at that time, she certainly saw and hated all of this in her eyes and heart. After Wu Zetian gained power, what she wanted to do was definitely to seek revenge, which is also one of the reasons why she slaughtered the Wu family.
Wu Zetian’s stills
The second reason for this is that Wu Zetian’s family members were restless and took the opportunity to try to decentralize power with her. After Empress Wu Zetian ascended to the throne, the first thing she did was to exile her two half brothers who had once bullied her to the border. One of these two people was scared to death because she was too afraid of Wu Zetian, and the other one couldn’t live well and was killed by Wu Zetian for any excuse. After Wu Zetian’s revenge, her hatred towards the Wu family members also weakened significantly, and the remaining Wu family members could rely on Wu Zetian to obtain positions in the court and enjoy prosperity and wealth. But what Wu Zetian didn’t expect was that her maternal family was too restless and wanted to compete with Wu Zetian for favor. Therefore, Wu Zetian had to kill her own niece and two cousins. It is said that after Wu Zetian gained favor, her elder sister and niece were granted the privilege of freely entering and leaving the palace by Emperor Gaozong of Tang. After a long time, the elder sister and niece began to flirt with Emperor Gaozong of Tang, which also made Wu Zetian very concerned.
Wu Zetian’s stills
Since Wu Zetian hated her family members so much, why did she desperately promote descendants surnamed Wu after proclaiming herself emperor? In the editor’s opinion, this is mainly because after Wu Zetian declared herself emperor, Li Shi’s exclusion of her left her helpless, so she had to promote her own mother’s family. After all, both my mother’s family and I have the surname Wu. As long as I sit firmly on the throne for a day, these people surnamed Wu will do their best to serve her. Moreover, these maternal family members are so easy to use, using them to suppress the Li aristocratic family is like how emperors throughout history have favored their relatives. Therefore, after ascending to the throne and proclaiming herself emperor, Empress Wu Zetian used the method of promoting the Wu family members to achieve her goal of suppressing the Li royal family. Wu Zetian wanted to elevate the status and power of her entire family through this method, so that there would be a wave of people in the court who would always support her, and the Wu family would naturally become the imperial family.
Wu Zetian’s stills
Based on the above reasons, the editor believes that these three factors played a decisive role in Wu Zetian’s significant change in attitude towards the Wu family. In the editor’s opinion, the most important point is that after Wu Zetian declared herself emperor, her own strength was too weak, and promoting her mother’s family was also a proof of her own power. Moreover, promoting her mother’s family can effectively suppress the Li family. Why wouldn’t Wu Zetian enjoy such a win-win situation?
