PART 3 | The Concubine Who Became China's ONLY Empress Regnant? | Wu Zetian

We left Wu in part two at the very height of her ambitions so far. She had removed most of her rivals, including members of her late husband's family, one of her remaining sons who had technically been emperor had stepped aside, and Wu had ushered in a new dynasty as Empress Regnant of all China. It was the first, and as it would turn out, only, time a woman would be ruler of China as Empress. Wu presented her new reign not as a usurpation from the rightful imperial family, but merely as a way of protecting it from Li family cousins who wanted to take the throne for their own purposes. She even backed this up by placing Rui Zong, who had been emperor himself before handing the throne to his mother, as her heir. All of this was neatly forgetting that she still had another son who had also been emperor previously, Zhang Zong, who was still out in the far provinces with his ambitious wife, Wei. Wu was also careful not to implement any new rules or laws that had not already been established during her years as regent for Gao Zong and her sons. She was also heavily aware that she had to do away with any superstitions that might question her position as Empress. Ironically, it was gazing at omens and portents that had got her into the throne in the first place, by her lover-turned-Buddhist monk Huaiyi using an old scripture called the Great Cloud Sutra. But now she had to prevent anything that might suggest she shouldn't be where she was, and Wu made proclamations twice against superstitions. But just to muddy the waters, there were still a few times she would use a supposed omen when needed, such as when flowers bloomed early in a park in Luoyang in January. Before word got out, she issued a statement that she apparently had told spring to start early and for the flowers to blossom. Not long after, she proclaimed that a new tooth had apparently grown in her mouth, an impossible feat for a woman well into her 60s, but was of course a sign of her rejuvenation as her reign was sold on the idea she was a living reincarnation of Buddha. Not everyone was happy with Wu's sudden dismissal of the miraculous, however. Many of her relatives had built up careers alongside the Empress off the back of these rumours and portents, and now it seemed they would have to make do with actual proof of their abilities for a role at court. And of course, her lover monk, Huayi, was now at something of a loose end as he suddenly had no obscure myths to interpret. In 694, he decided he would try a military career, and he was sent with an army to push back Turkish invaders at China's borders. The army succeeded, Huayi erected a stone monument to mark the event, and returned home victorious. He then decided this needed to be followed up with a larger monument, and he proposed a Buddhist addition to Wu's enormous Hall of Illumination, the Palace-cum-Temple complex that he had overseen a few years before. Wu agreed to fund this, especially as it would have contained the largest statue at that time of the Buddha, but a freak storm destroyed the building while construction was still underway. Many started muttering about possible divine displeasure with Huayi, but as ever, there were plenty of other intrigues going on that would cause problems within the palace, and for Wu, this would include both her secret police and her nephew, Wu Chengxi. Her secret police were notorious for being overzealous, and often it appears they acted without the In fact, sometimes they were conspiring with Chengxi, who seems to have had an idea that he should replace Wuzong as the Empress's heir. This could possibly be used to explain that Wu was not aware of all the atrocities carried out during her reign, and that it was in fact Chengxi who was giving the okay to much of what happened. Of course, the opposite argument could also be true, that Wu absolutely did have knowledge of what was happening, but allowed it knowing she could put her nephew in the firing line if he ever got ideas above his station. Several of his political opponents were sent away into the provinces thanks to his machinations with the secret police, but Chengxi wanted to push more. He got a commoner to come and petition Wu about him taking the place of Wuzong, and court records show that the Empress increasingly became irritated with the man asking about it. Eventually, she ordered Vice Minister Li Zhaoda to have the man flogged and sent away from the palace. Zhaoda was also outspoken against Chengxi becoming Crown Prince, pointing out that her nephew had never taken the place of a son, and that as Wu had essentially been entrusted with China by Gaozong, it would do him a Wu agreed, understanding that her heir had to be of Gaozong's line, otherwise her own tenuous position as Empress was lost. In response to this, she sent away several male relations of the Wu family in much the same manner she had sent her half-brothers away years before to prevent their influence. Any that stayed were given weak positions that allowed them very little power at all. It wasn't long before the secret police went the same way, and the remaining leader, known as the cruelest there, Lai Chunchen, was found to have falsified evidence and was duly executed, we can only hope in much the same manner as many of his innocent victims. He was discovered thanks to Di Renjie, a judge who had never been afraid of standing up to the secret police, At the time, Wu had implemented a rule that stated if the accused admitted they were guilty, their sentence would be commuted from execution to banishment. Renjie had done this just by refusing to answer either way, and he managed to sneak a letter out to his son in the lining of his coat, which was allowed to be taken from the prison to his family. Upon finding the note, Renjie's son went straight to the Empress, who had no choice but to bring forth all parties and find out the truth. Again, this shows that Wu herself was not acting as a mad despot, but that she was taking a reasonable approach to justice. Although it's also possible she did this only when the spotlight was on her. In 693, accusations came in closer to home. With the Wu relatives sent away, there was still trouble to be made with Wu's son, Rui Zong. Not long after New Year's, one of Wu's ladies-in-waiting accused two of Rui Zong's wives, including Crown Princess Liu, of witchcraft. The whole thing had similarities to when Wu had taken advantage of Empress Wang and Consort Xiao's accusations of witchcraft years before. Aware of the delicacy of his own position, Rui Zong did On top of this, it became clear even he was growing tired of his secluded position within the palace, and Wu also caught two officials who had planned to meet with her son in secret, also having them executed for plotting. Rui Zong himself might have been next, was it not for one of his servants. The man swore to cut out his own heart to prove his loyalty to Rui Zong, and therefore Rui Zong's loyalty to Wu, and she was convinced enough by this stunt to send a surgeon to help the servant and to excuse her son for many accusations. This shows that the early years of Wu's reign were somewhat mixed. As an example, men like Di Renjie were granted high official posts, but equally so would those with opposing views also be appointed to equivalent posts. She was also a popular leader amongst ordinary folk who were enjoying a prosperous period in China when the economy was doing well, and in 695 Wu even allowed everyone to go without paying tax for the year, and the culture of the time changed as Wu continued to push Buddhism in her reign. She had two magnificent new temples built at Luoyang and Chang'an, raised several Buddhist monks to dukedoms, as well as giant Buddha statues at Longmen Grottoes, including a colossal Maitreya that was apparently based on Wu herself. But this in turn attracted many who saw it as a way to gain popularity points and money from the Empress, including a con woman who ran an abbey that was really a brothel. But those charlatans closer to home would also soon run into problems. Huayi helped out at a festival in early 695 for New Year, but when he threw coins into the crowd for good luck, it caused a stampede which killed several people. This, along with other strange incidents such as cutting his leg and smearing blood on a statue of Buddha during a religious ceremony, meant Huayi soon retreated from court with his entourage of monk thugs. Obviously, when he was absent, those who disliked the monk used the opportunity to badmouth him to the Empress, who was immediately put on alert as soon as the words, he might be planning a revolt, were uttered. Now in a position of the highest power and having used every trick in the book to get herself there, Wu was paranoid of it being ripped away and she agreed to an investigation into Huayi's activities. When he was ordered back to court to defend himself against evidence that had apparently been found of his wrongdoing, Huayi again left in disgust, having ridden in on horseback both into and out of the palace hall itself. Wu was in a forgiving enough mood to allow this behaviour, but she was less forgiving with her lover's favourites and she banished several of his entourage to far-flung corners of China. Why Huayi thought he was above the Empress, no one can ever be sure, but in an act of spite, he decided to set fire to the Hall of Illumination. Perhaps he even possibly hoped Wu would be caught inside as it went ablaze. It was destroyed along with Wu's belief in her many religious hangers-on and she decided Huayi wouldn't even face a trial for what he had done. However, it is also impossible to know what actually happened to him. He disappeared, no trace of him, until his dead body turned up in a cart at the White Horse Temple in Luoyang. Rumours abounded of him being tied to trees and whipped to death or strangled under the illusion he was to partake in an orgy with Wu's serving girls, but either way, the truth was, he was now out of the picture. Wu now discarded any remaining faith she had in omens or fortunes and became much more heavily involved in the administration and protection of her realm. In the spring of 696, the western and northern borders of China faced threats from the Tibetan Empire. Wu's armies had previously made gains just a few years before, but this time her army failed and was soundly beaten back. To add to these troubles, a few months later in the summer, she faced a rebellion from the Khitan people to the north. This was entirely understandable on their part, as they had been refused extra provisions of grain while China had a bad harvest the year before and many of their people were starving. Wu sent armies that were pushed back by the Khitan, but they did have a hint of some help, although it would turn out to not really be help. Khan Qhapaqgan was a Turkish leader who had, a few years earlier, attempted to raid China's borders, being stopped by no less than Hawaii while he was still around, and had instead bent the knee and received a dukedom. He offered aid in pushing back the Khitan tribes, but in exchange he wanted a larger area under his control, more food from China's reserves, and a whole swathe of farming implements to cultivate the land. To back up his words, he attacked a Khitan camp and his men carried off the women there, so then Qhapaqgan demanded his daughter should be married to a Chinese prince. Wu was convinced and she sent grain, silk, farming tools, and her great-nephew Yanxiu to be a bridegroom. Some officials were unhappy about this and they pointed out that the granting of more land now effectively placed the Turkish closer to areas that would be difficult to control with an army, as opposed to before when they had a desert to cross. The Empress ignored the suggestion though and went ahead with her gifts. It was no surprise to some that a few weeks later came back a reply from Qhapaqgan, complaining that the silk was old, the grain rotten, the tools broken, and Yanxiu not royal enough. Therefore, he added, he had decided to attack northern China instead of defending it. But Qhapaqgan's excuse for this turnaround was not apparently to gain anything, but rather because he had heard only Xiongzong and Ruizhong had survived of the Li family, and as a patriot he felt he had to help restore them to the throne. It was a nightmare for Wu, as she was now forced to redirect her military forces towards the north. It meant she had no choice but to now try and appease the Tibetans attacking from the west. She tried to bulk up her army with people fleeing the north to avoid taxation and conscription, and when that didn't work, Wu had no choice but to use slaves and criminals. It can't have been a very effective army. On top of this, she put one of her nephews in charge of leading the army, and he messed everything in the campaign up, which set off whispers that the Wu family was unsuited for their royal position. However, there was a member of Wu's family who was also part of the Li family, and she was about to use his popularity with the court and the people, her son, Xiongzong. No doubt during his exile he had worried about when some secret plot to kill him might come about, or just a command back to the court for nefarious means, and yet he had so far survived. In fact, Di Renjie had been pushing gently for a while for Wu to accept bringing her sons back to court, well aware that time was not on her side as she aged. Xiongzong was smuggled back into the palace in the summer of 698 to be revealed to Renjie, who apparently wept tears of happiness at the prince's return, before he was bustled out again and brought in with much more public ceremony with a quickly arranged entourage. Again, Rui Zong had to step aside, he must have been used to it by that point, and Xiongzong became crown prince and heir to his mother, who had removed him from the throne in the first place supposedly for treason. But that was all water under the imperial bridge now. Xiongzong was sent north with Renjie to take charge of the mess being made. The people there rallied by the sight of two respected figures, and this time the campaign was a success for Wu. The new crown prince had taken his mother's name for the time being as a mark of respect, but it would only last as long as she was alive. Nevertheless, Wu seemed to have now accepted that it would not be her family the throne passed to, especially as none of them seemed competent enough to rule. There aren't many hints as to Wu worrying about old age as she entered her 70s, but there is one very big hint. In 699, she ordered Xiongzong, Rui Zong and their sister Taiping to come to court together, along with other surviving members of the Wu and Li families. She made them all swear a pact to her and each other that after she was gone, a mostly forbidden subject for a ruler assumed to be a living goddess, they would not fall out with each other and they would live in peace with each other. Wu knew how ridiculously slim this idea probably was, and had the whole thing carved onto an iron tablet deposited within the palace archives in an attempt to make it stick. In this year, she also created a new section of her government called the Office of the Crane. The entire purpose of this department was to find elixirs, potions and ointments that might prolong the empress's life, something considered entirely normal for a ruler approaching very old age and it had been done by previous emperors. However, Wu's choice of age-defying medicine raised a lot of eyebrows and considering the double standard around Chinese ideas of sex at the time was frowned upon. The two men put in charge of the office were two brothers, Zhang Yixi and Zhang Changzong. They were young, attractive and since 697 had been spending time with the empress within the inner palace, drinking and gambling. It was heavily hinted that the two young men were in fact Wu's lovers. They were just two of many young, good-looking men who became part of Wu's entourage at that time. Courtiers began to recommend male family members for a position not based on skills or aptitude, but on looks. One court official was heard boasting that he had better size than either the late Huaiyi or the Zhang brothers and so he expected to soon be brought into the inner palace. But the strangest part is that Wu felt the need to hide her male concubines if that's what they were and it definitely looks that way. Had she been an elderly male emperor, she would have been expected to sleep with several young women in order to extend her life. So therefore as ruler, was she not simply doing the same albeit with the genders reversed? This was in fact a much deeper issue and comes back to the dislike of Wu's empress purely based on the fact she was female and that her position was only ever seen by many contemporaries as a holding place for her sons. An empress being in charge had had an effect on the female population of China as well and many women had stopped wearing veils, had started wearing the trousers worn by their northern neighbors and many women at court now conducted their own affairs with young men including Princess Taiping. Unfortunately the way in which Wu had previously been concerned about corruption within her government seems to have bothered her less as she grew older. Sending away everyone she thought was an enemy to the throne to outer provinces had made sure these distant places saw little of the talent that remained at the palace. Wu did make some half-hearted attempts to curb the corruption within many of the Buddhist temples that had thrived under her patronage and in her old age she began to lean more towards Daoism again than Buddhism. It's possible she was worried about what she might be reincarnated as after a lifetime of dubious behavior. In 700 Renji who by that point had become Wu's most trusted advisor died. Wu was genuinely saddened by his death apparently saying that the court was empty without his presence but of course his death left a vacuum and it was quickly filled by the Zhang brothers. Wu came to lean on them more and more and those at court realized that if they wanted something doing they needed the influence of the brothers. One of their other siblings Zhang Changyi was approached with an offer of gold to help a man who had passed his imperial examinations but was yet to gain a position. Changyi agreed but forgot the man's full name except for his surname. Unfortunately on the shortlist for the position the surname appeared 60 times so the man in charge of hiring had no choice but to hire all 60 people with the surname if he wanted to avoid being in trouble with the Zhang brothers. This grew worse with a squabble between some of Wu's grandchildren. Zhang's eldest son Changfu was the son of a lower concubine rather than the empress Wei and this meant he had no chance of becoming his father's heir. So he cozied up to the Zhang brothers and then tattled on his relatives saying that his half-siblings Princess Yide and Princess Yongtai and his brother-in-law Wu Yanji had been complaining openly about how close Wu was to the Zhangs. Wu's reaction was severe even for her and it's possible Changyi had cooked up some worse evidence than we know of but she gave them a punishment of flogging that would lead to death. Others also tried to work against the Zhangs. One official in 703 claimed he had heard one of the brothers had visited a fortune teller who had told him he had an imperial future if he built a new Buddhist temple. When the temple building began a lot of the court assumed naturally that the Zhangs well aware that their power would disappear with Wu's death and likely end with theirs as well were trying for the throne. The Zhang brothers in turn accused two officials of speculating on when Wu might die and they were sent away from the capital along with another who suggested the Zhangs might be overstepping their place but by the winter of 704 Wu had other matters to worry about as she fell ill. She was much like Gao Zong when he grew severely ill too sick to attend court and she would only permit Yi Xi and Chang Zhong to visit her. Not even her sons were allowed to come and see the empress and many assumed the worse. Many were determined to bring the Zhang brothers down now and one official named Zhang Jianxi, not related, made his move. He quickly ensured he was surrounded by loyal courtiers and men who would answer only to him. However Jianxi and his associates were careful to maintain that their loyalty was to the imperial throne and Gao Zong's sons and by extension therefore to Wu as well. It was the Zhang brothers they wanted to prevent gaining the throne. On the 20th of February 705 Jianxi and a group of chancellors and generals arrived at Chang Zhong's palace and told him that they had hundreds of men ready to But at the last minute, revealing the character he would keep for much of his reign to come, Zhang Jianxi asked if they were absolutely sure despite the fact there was literally an army on the way to the imperial palace at that moment. Li Zhan, one of the ministers present, lied and said the revolt would only stop if the army saw Zhang Jianxi himself riding out to stop them. This was nonsense of course and in fact the sight of him would give them the go-ahead, but Zhang Zhong was happy as he could at least later claim he had tried to stop events. When he arrived, the armed men went in and put Wu's servants out of the way, then dragged Zhang Jianxi and Zhang Changzong out into the courtyard and beheaded them without a trial. Wu came out from her quarters still ill and loftily told her son and the ministers to leave the palace now they had killed her two lovers. It suggests she didn't at first realise she had been overthrown or alternatively Wu wasn't willing to acknowledge it. A minister finally bravely spoke up and said that no, Zhang Zhong would be taking over as per Gao Zhong's will. Wu swore for a bit, asked if everyone was proud of coming in with every weapon imaginable to cut down two defenceless men, then went back to bed. It was an odd takeover. However the following day Zhang Zhong was made regent and the day after on the 22nd of February Wu Zetian stepped down as empress and passed her throne to her eldest surviving son. On the 23rd Wu was moved to the Changyang palace or the palace of dawn under heavy guard. Zhang Zhong and his wife Wei moved into the imperial palace as emperor and empress and the new emperor offered a pardon to everyone except the Zhang brothers remaining relatives. Princess Taiping had also sided with her brother and would be given a huge number of honours and residences. The short-lived Zhao dynasty ended on the 3rd of March and the Tang dynasty was restored. But Wu was simply now held up as a woman who had kept the throne warm for her son until he could take it, despite her being under guard and she was allowed the honorary title Empress Regent Zetian Dasheng. The next ten months was uncomfortable for both mother and son. Once a fortnight Zhang Zhong would brave a visit to Wu during which he would tensely inform her about what acts and proclamations he had carried out and she would laugh at him and tell him he was doing it all wrong. However it does appear Wu started to have some regrets as death came closer and she decided that she no longer wanted to be remembered as a living goddess or even as an empress after her death, but in fact merely to be remembered as Gao Zong's wife and to be buried next to him. It shows that she had loved Gao Zong even if she had simultaneously seen a way to create power for herself during his illness. She also pardoned some people she had sentenced to execution during her long life, although many would have privately thought the list was rather short. On Wu's list were the Empress Wang and Consort Xiao as well as a small number of ministers but no one else. Again there was no mention of the niece she had supposedly poisoned at the dinner party or her sister Helan or her mother or any of the other suggestions that came up after Wu had passed away. She also made no mention of the many Li relatives or Wu relatives that had died under her orders. This means that Wu did not see herself as responsible for any of these other deaths and that she had either not taken part in them or felt she had done the right thing by ordering their executions as there was no reason to lie so close to the end of her life. On the 16th of December 705 Wu finally died at the grand old age for the time of 81. The following year in 706 Zhang Zhong had his mother's body interred with his father's in a joint burial at Qianling Mausoleum in Shaanxi province. Wu had been an ambitious woman but then everyone in the palace where she had lived since a 14 year old girl was equally ambitious if they had a chance of nearing the top. What she had done was no different to Helan sleeping with her brother-in-law the emperor or consort Zhao having children with Gao Zong to get ahead or any of the other women who had passed through the palace. The only difference was that Wu succeeded where they did not. Life within the palace was filled with polite etiquette but was also vicious and cruel. Every word hanging on a knife edge with the wrong person or the wrong ear listening. Living within the imperial palace was a matter of survival. Although her enemies especially once she was dead would happily paint this state of affairs as being Wu's doing in fact nothing changed after her death. As Zhang Zhong took over as emperor his ambitious wife Wei caused problems and he fell out with both Wu Zong and princess Taiping. Eventually Wei and one of her daughters princess Anlei would poison Gao Zong and place one of his sons on the throne as a placeholder until they could put Anlei on it while Taiping would attempt a coup of her own with Wu Zong's third son. This would end in a bloody battle between family members in the grounds of the palace that placed Zhang Zhong Wu Zong's son on the throne. Wei and Anlei were killed and Taiping was allowed to commit suicide. Zhang Zhong now held the throne and the Tang dynasty would continue for two more centuries. Wu was absolutely a cold-hearted despot who was cruel and ruthless when needed but she was also a woman who raised herself from an unknown middle-class family as a lower concubine who had no right to even ever expect to spend time with the emperor to an empress worshipped as a living goddess who held all of China in her hands as firmly as she did the imperial throne. Had she been a man she would have been praised for the way in which she dispatched her enemies cleared out the dead wood from the government and her own family and dealt with her economy and administration. Instead the majority of those who still remembered her when her history was being written up during the reign of Yuan Zong were men who had only been around during her elderly years when her reign grew more confused with a mixture of her illness and her favorites. We still have great difficulty today determining who Wu really was and this is partly due to Wu herself changing history when she had a chance to write it up as well as her enemies giving their one-sided view of events but she was as with all rulers not one-sided. Wu was neither a benevolent leader nor a mad despot but somewhere in between and she adapted herself and survived as the occasion needed. In short she was a woman who exceeded the expectations of her time and while her true character remains hidden partially behind a screen as when she would listen in at Gao Zong's court Wu nevertheless left her indelible mark in Chinese history.