The crown prince Li Hongshen was loved by Gaozong, and Gaozong wanted to be in the prince's position. Empress Wu wanted to take over the power, dissatisfied with Prince Hong, just when Prince Hong saw Xiao Shufei's daughter Yiyang and the second princess of Xuancheng being imprisoned in the palace because her mother offended Empress Wu, she was over 30 years old and unmarried. Empress Wu was angry, and soon the prince died in Hebi Palace, and people thought that Empress Wu was poisoned.

In the first year of Hongdao (683), Tang Gaozong died of illness, and his deathbed edict: Prince Li Xian ascended the throne in front of the coffin, and those who could not adjudicate on military affairs were decided by Wu Zetian. Four days later, Li Xian ascended the throne as Tang Zhongzong. Empress Wu was revered as the Empress Dowager.

In the first year of Guangzhai (684), Zhongzong wanted to take Wei's father, Wei Xuanzhen, as his servant, but Pei Yanli did not listen, and Empress Wu deposed Tang Zhongzong as the king of Luling and moved to Fangzhou. The fourth son, Li Dan, King Yu, was appointed as the emperor, which was for Tang Ruizong, and the Empress Wu was in charge of the dynasty and ruled by himself.

In the same year, Xu Jingye and Xu Jingyou brothers, together with Tang Zhiqi and Du Qiuren, raised troops in Yangzhou to oppose the army in Yangzhou with the call of supporting the King of Luling, and gathered 100,000 troops in more than ten days.

Empress Wu immediately took Li Xiaoyi, the general of Zuo Yuchao, as the governor of Yangzhou Province, and led 300,000 troops to conquer. Xu Jingye committed suicide in defeat.

In the second year of the vertical arch (686), Empress Wu ordered the manufacture of copper boxes (small copper boxes), which were placed in front of the palace city of Luoyang, and accepted the subordinates at any time. At the same time, the door to whistleblowing was opened, stipulating that anyone could whistleblow. For all informers, the state must provide wagons and horses and food. Even the farmer and woodcutter were personally received by the Empress Wu. If the matter is in accordance with the will, it can be made exceptional. If the accusation is not true, there will be no guilt.

Meantime. Empress Wu successively appointed a large number of cool officials such as Suo Yuanli, Zhou Xing, Lai Junchen, and Hou Sizhi to take charge of the prison, and if the defendant was thrown into this prison, the cool officials used all kinds of torture for interrogation, and there was no one who could get out of prison alive. In this way, with the rise of the trend of whistleblowing, the number of people who were tortured to death by the cruel officials increased day by day.

As a result, a very terrifying political atmosphere was formed inside and outside the court, so that the ministers had to say goodbye to their families every time before going to court, and they were in fear all day long.

Whistleblowing as a reward. Empress Wu made an exception for whistleblowers. Hou Sizhi, who made a living by selling cakes, was a scoundrel who was appointed as a guerrilla general and a servant of the imperial history for falsely accusing Shu Wang Yuanming of rebelling against Hengzhou Assassin Shi Pei Zhen.

Wang Hongyi. Known for his lack of virtue. Sue the township for rebellion. He was awarded the guerrilla general and the history of the palace servant.

In that year, he killed twelve members of the clan such as Wang Ying of Annan, and whipped the two sons of the late prince Li Xian, and the Tang clan was completely killed. His young and weak survivors also went to Lingnan, and hundreds of his pro-party families were punished.

Empress Wu plotted to seize Li Tang's Sheji and eliminate the Tang clan, and the kings were not at ease and wanted to raise troops to fight. Before there was a consensus, Li Chong, the evil king of Bozhou, raised troops in Bozhou (now northeast of Liaocheng, Shandong) in the fourth year of the arch (688). Li Zhen, the king of Yuzhou, raised troops in Yuzhou (now Runan, Henan).

Empress Wu dispatched Qiu Shenji and Wei Chongyu to attack him. Li Chong, the evil king of Lang, was defeated and killed in seven days, and Li Zhen, the king of Yue, committed suicide in defeat. Empress Wu wanted to get rid of the kings of the Li family, so that Zhou Xing and others interrogated him, and forced Li Yuanjia, the king of Han, Li Lingkui, the king of Lu, Li Wei, the prince of Huang Guo, Li Rong, the prince of Dongguan County, and Princess Changle to commit suicide, and their cronies were all executed.

In the same year, he ordered the monk Xue Huaiyi to lead more than 10,000 people to destroy the Qianyuan Hall and build the Ming Hall, which took nearly a year to complete, with a height of 294 feet and a width of 300 feet. There are three floors in total, and the upper part is a round cover, and there is a nine dragons as a posture of holding. There is an iron phoenix on it, one zhang high. Decorated with gold, it is called the "Vientiane Shrine".

The Ming Hall was completed, and the monk Xue Huaiyi was ordered to cast a large statue, and the little finger of the big statue can also accommodate dozens of people, and the five-storey heaven in the north of the Ming Hall was used to accommodate this big statue. The cost is in the trillions, and the government finances are dried up.

In the same year, Wu Chenghei ordered someone to chisel the white stone for the text: "Our Lady is coming, and the Yongchang Emperor is the industry." It is claimed to be found in Luoshui and dedicated to the Empress Wu, who was overjoyed and ordered its stone to be called "Treasure Map". Later, Empress Wu was honored as the "Holy Mother of God".

During the reign of Empress Wu, the imperial examination system was further developed. A total of 205 Jinshi were admitted during the Zhenguan period, and more than 1,000 people were admitted during the reign of Empress Gaozong. The average number of admissions per year has more than doubled compared to the time of Zhenguan. In the first year of Empress Wu (690), Empress Wu personally asked the Gongshi in the Luocheng Palace, which was the beginning of the "palace test".

It is the year to send ten people to patrol the provinces, recommend talents, a year later, a total of more than 100 people, the martial arts do not ask about the background, all to be received, the number of appointees, or for the trial of the Fengge (Zhongshu Province) people, to the matter, or for the test of the outside Lang, the imperial history, the supplement, the legacy, the school book Lang, the trial system since then, the people have "make up the que even the car, pick up the amount of flat buckets, push the imperial history, wrist off the school book. Words. Although the Empress Wu bought the hearts of the people with his official position, he would also depose those who were incompetent, and the people at that time were also willing to serve the Empress Wu.

In the following year, the monk Faming and others wrote four volumes of the "Great Cloud Sutra", saying that the Empress Wu was the incarnation of Maitreya Buddha and should be the master of the world, and the Empress Wu ordered the promulgation of the world. Ordered the two capitals and prefectures to each place a Dayun Temple, Tibetan "Dayun Sutra", ordered the monks to explain, and enhance the status of Buddhism above Taoism.

The imperial historian Fu Youyi led 900 people in Guanzhong to the table, please change the country name to Zhou, and give the emperor the surname Wu. Therefore, more than 60,000 officials, imperial relatives, common people, Siyi chiefs, shamen, and Taoist priests also asked to change the country name. Wu Houzhun was invited, changed Tang to Zhou, and changed Yuan Tianzhu.

Honored as the Holy Spirit Emperor, with Ruizong as the emperor's heir, given the surname Wu, and the crown prince as the emperor's grandson. The seven temples of the Liwu clan are in the divine capital, and the king of Zhou Wen is posthumously respected: the ancestor Emperor Wen. Liwu Chenghei is the king of Wei, Wu Sansi is the king of Liang, and the rest of the Wu family is the king and the eldest princess.

The Wu clan sent Wang Xiaojie, the general of the Right Eagle Yangwei, as the commander of the Wuwei Army, and led the troops to the Western Regions to conquer Tibet with the general Ashina Zhongjie. The Tang army won a great victory, and the four towns of Anxi, including Khotan, Shule, Qiuci, and Xiaye, still placed the capital of Anxi in Qiuci and sent troops to defend it.

In the third year of longevity (694), Wu Sansi led the leaders of the four Yi to cast the heavenly pivot in copper and iron and stand outside the end gate to praise the merits of the Empress Wu. Empress Wu personally inscribed: "The Great Zhou Dynasty All Nations Ode to Tianshu".

Tianshu casting lasted eight months, its shape is like a pillar, one hundred and five feet high, twelve feet in diameter, eight sides, five feet on each side, the lower is the iron mountain, one hundred and seventy feet in circumference, the copper is the dragon and the unicorn surrounds it; the upper is the diameter of the Tengyun Chenglu Plate, and the four dragons on the plate stand upright and hold the fire beads, one zhang high.

The worker Mao Boro made a model, Wu Sansi was the text, and the names of the hundred officials and the leaders of the four Yi were engraved on it. With two million catties of copper and iron, "Please gather hundreds of billions of dollars, buy copper and iron is not enough, and give folk agricultural tools enough." 」

In the first year of Long Live Tongtian (696), the Khitan leaders Li Quanzhong and Sun Wanrong led their troops to revolt, captured Yingzhou, and killed the governor Zhao Wenyi. The Wu clan sent generals Cao Renjie, Zhang Xuanyu, Li Duozuo and others to lead troops to conscript.

Due to the mistaken ambush of the Tibetan soldiers, the whole army was annihilated. Then, the Wu clan sent Wu Youyi, Wang Xiaojie and others to lead troops to fight, but they were all defeated.

In the first year of Shengong (697), Wu Zetian sent Wu Yizong, Lou Shide, and Sha Zha Zhongyi to lead 200,000 troops to crusade against the Khitan. Sun Wanrong was defeated and killed, and the remnants of the Khitan surrendered to the Turks.

In the first year of Shengong (697), Wu made Wu Yizong interrogate Liu Sili for rebellion, and Wu Weizong said that as long as Liu Sili pointed out which courtiers had plotted rebellion, he would be exempted from the death penalty, so Liu Sili falsely accused the prime minister Li Yuanyuan, Sun Yuanheng and other 36 "famous people in the sea", all of whom were exterminated, and more than 1,000 people were close to the old and sat on the rookie. At the time, people thought that Wu Yizong's brutality was second only to Zhou Xing and Lai Junchen.

In that year, Lai Junchen wanted to sue the kings of the Wu clan and Princess Taiping (the sister of Zhongzong, the only biological daughter of Wu Zetian who had grown up), and wanted to accuse the emperor's heir (Tang Ruizong) and the king of Luling (Tang Zhongzong) of conspiring against the Northern and Southern Ya, intending to catch them all.

The kings of the Wu clan and Princess Taiping were very frightened, and jointly exposed his crimes, and were sentenced to death in prison. The enemy fights for his flesh, and in a short time it will be eaten up. Lai Junchen is cunning and greedy, trapping innocents, weaving rebellions, and killing people is incalculable. "The bribes are like mountains, and the souls are blocked", and the Empress Wu also knew the resentment of the world, and ordered him to count his crimes and confiscate his family property. (To be continued......)