Wu Zetian changed Tang Dynasty to Zhou Dynasty, which can be said to have seized the power of the Li family. During her reign, she also cultivated the power of the Wu family, but when she returned power to Li Tang in her later years, she preserved the Wu family and did not drive

Wu Zetian changed Tang Dynasty to Zhou Dynasty, which can be said to have seized the power of the Li family. During her reign, she also cultivated the power of the Wu family, but when she returned power to Li Tang in her later years, she preserved the Wu family and did not drive them out like Empress Lu and others in history. So what did Wu Zetian do to prevent the Wu family from being destroyed?

The successor king

Wu Zetian replaced Datang . In order to ensure his orthodox status, he packaged his Wu family. Why she decided to name her country Zhou was because she said that she was a descendant of the Ji surname of Zhou Dynasty in history. In this way, her ancestors were the royal family and her status would be less controversial. However, the life span of ancient people was generally not high, and many emperors did not live to be 60 years old. Wu Zetian ascended the throne at the age of 67 and may die at any time, so establishing a successor is the safest way to ensure the security of her dynasty.

But Wu Zetian was born as a girl, and her children were all named Li. Why Wu Zetian's ascension to the throne was possible is because the royal members of the Li family believed that the future heirs would still be the Li family, and the power would eventually return to the Tang Dynasty. But Wu Zetian didn't want this. She wanted her Wu family to inherit the country, so that her regime could be considered long-lasting, otherwise it would be short-lived.

As far as the current situation is concerned, whether you choose your own child with the surname Li as the heir, or let one of the relatives and nephews of the Wu family be the heir. Between the two families, when one party takes power, the other party will be purged. Therefore, in order to give her Wu family a better chance, Wu Zetian dealt a blow to the Li family royal family at the beginning, and there were only a few people left. Even Li Shimin 's sisters, who are older than Wu Zetian, actually recognized Wu Zetian as their mother in order to protect themselves.

Return of the Kingdom to the Li Family

Although Wu Zetian dealt a cruel blow to the royal family surnamed Li, none of his descendants from the Wu family were worthy of taking over the throne. If Wu Zetian allowed his son to inherit the country, it would undoubtedly bring the Wu family into a cruel abyss. But in the end, Wu Zetian still made her son Li Xian the prince, which was more due to Di Renjie .

Di Renjie can be said to be Wu Zetian's confidant, and when Wu Zetian was hesitant about his successor, Di Renjie gave his own opinion, which directly made Wu Zetian make up her mind. Di Renjie used the example of ancient people worshiping their ancestors. Generally, when future generations worship their ancestors, they only worship their parents and ancestors. There has never been any precedent of worshiping their aunts.

These words deeply hurt Wu Zetian's heart. Even if he won the throne for the Wu family, he might not be able to enter the Ancestral Temple in the end. And to return the country to the Li family, as the parents of their son, Li Zhi's wife will definitely be commemorated by future generations.

So Wu Zetian made her son Li Xian the prince, but the result was that a hundred years later, the Wu family would definitely suffer revenge from the Li family. Therefore, in order to ease the direct conflict between the two families, they would often arrange for the two families to get together, cultivate their relationship, and even hope that the two families could get married. However, this cannot completely guarantee the safety of the Wu family, but Wu Zetian's decision before his death saved the Wu family from revenge.

A simple sentence

In order to ensure the safety of Wu family after his death, and even ensure Wu Zetian's status after his death. The wise Wu Zetian took retreat as an opportunity to advance, and wrote in her posthumous edict, "Remove the title of Emperor and call her the Great Sage Queen Zetian." The meaning of this sentence

reveals that after her death, she will be the queen of Li Zhi, not the emperor, and the country will still belong to the Li family. In addition, his son is the emperor, so he will not go too far with the relationship between the two parties. Not only can it ensure the safety of the Wu family, but you can even enter the Ancestral Temple to enjoy worship.

In this way, Wu Zetian became the daughter-in-law of the Li family again, no longer the aloof emperor. The change of identity allows me to arrange my funeral arrangements properly.It has to be said that Wu Zetian's achievements are inseparable from his intelligence and decisiveness. Being able to give up in time ensures his subsequent gains. The pattern is not something that ordinary people can achieve. She is worthy of being the only female emperor to ascend the throne in history.