Empress Wu Zetian's problem of succession ended the queen's dream of later generations ―― the queen's complete submission under the powerful patriarchal culture (I would like to congratulate Women's Day on March 8th. As we all know, Wu Zetian has been hesitant about the issue of establishing a reserve, hovering between the surnames "Wu" and "Li". On the one hand, Wu Chengsi and Wu Sansi actively lobbied, and on the grounds that the succession of the Emperor can only be passed on to the same surname; On the other hand, the old ministers of the Tang Dynasty, represented by Di Renjie and Ji Zhuan, suggested that she should consider which relationship is more recent, mother and son, and that mother and son should be superior to aunt and nephew. But no one has suggested whether mother and daughter (such as Princess Taiping) or one of the other relatives of Wu Zetian's mother Yang can be used as candidates. Why? Let's talk about Princess Taiping first. It is said that she was called "like herself" by Wu Zetian, which may be somewhat similar to Wu Zetian in appearance, and may also be similar in personality and interest. Like her mother, Princess Taiping likes to take part in politics. In Wu Zetian's court, she personally introduced Zhang Changzong as Toy Boy for her mother, thus consolidating her political position. When Zhongzong was restored, Princess Taiping and her eldest son, Xue Chongjian, cooperated with Li Longji, the third son of Prime Minister Li Dan, to launch a coup, which wiped out Empress Wei and Princess Anle in one fell swoop and completely shattered Princess Anle's dream of "being an imperial concubine". There is a detail in history that can explain the resolute and decisive character of Princess Taiping. After the rebellion between Queen Wei and Princess Anle was put down, everyone wanted to ask King Li Dan (the younger brother of Emperor Li Xian) to replace the puppet master Li Zhongmao, but how to ask him to step down was also a problem. That day in the Taiji Hall, the young master was sitting to the west, and Li Dan, the prime minister, was standing next to Tang Zhongzong's coffin. Princess Taiping asked Liu Youqiu, the prime minister, for a pretence: "The emperor wants to give up his throne to his uncle, can he?" Qi Youqiu immediately replied: "When this country is troubled, the emperor is kind and filial, and it is really out of the heart of being selfless to follow the tradition of Yao and Shun Zen sages." It is an expression of my uncle's kindness to my nephew that Xiang Wang takes the place of the emperor to shoulder the burden of governing the world. " But the young master didn't know enough to continue sitting on the throne without moving. Princess Taiping immediately stepped forward and said, "The hearts of all the subjects in the world have been attached to the king, and this throne no longer belongs to you!" " Then he pulled him down from the throne. This successfully completed the succession of Tang Ruizong Li Dan. It can be seen that Princess Taiping also has the aggressive temperament of Wu Zetian. When he came to power in Tang Ruizong, he was a typical shopkeeper of cutting and hesitating about everything. Princess Taiping is more powerful because of her great achievements. Tang Ruizong often discussed the major policies of the imperial court with her. Every time she entered the DPRK to play things, she would sit with Ruizong and talk for a period of time. Sometimes she didn't go to court, and Ruizong would send a prime minister to her home to ask her for advice on how to deal with some problems. Whenever the prime ministers talk about something, Ruizong will ask, "Have you ever discussed this with Princess Taiping?" Next, I would like to ask: "Have you discussed with Saburo (Li Longji)?" Only after receiving the affirmative reply from the prime ministers will Ruizong agree with the opinions of the prime ministers. Even to the point where power outweighs the emperor, many people can achieve the goal of promotion directly through her. Princess Taiping's desire for power and her personal ability have a great legacy of her mother. Then, why didn't Wu Zetian consider her in the matter of establishing a reserve? Because the history is vague about women's names and birthdays, we can only infer that Princess Taiping was born in 663. From the first year of Wu Zetian's natural gift (69) to the first year of Zhongzong Shenlong (75), when she abdicated and became ill, Princess Taiping was about 27 to 42 years old. Wu Zetian won the actual power at the age of 5, that is, in the first year of Shangyuan (674) (Emperor Gaozong entered the number "Emperor" and added the number "Queen", and everyone in the world listed them as "Two Saints". In fact, it was Wu Zetian who replaced Gao Zong to exercise the authority of the emperor. ), comparatively speaking, Princess Taiping was still a little immature at that time. Princess Taiping not only had no age advantage in the whole Wu Zetian period, but also did not have the strength to win the big position politically and the strong family support from behind. Neither the Wu family nor the Li family's supporters have put the young princess on the list of candidates for storage. At least in the Li family, there are many other princes and grandchildren to consider, and it is not yet the turn of a daughter who has already married the Xue family or remarried the Wu family (around 69 AD). In 698, when the struggle for storage was the fiercest, Princess Taiping, the daughter of the Li family and the daughter-in-law of the Wu family, was even less likely to be accepted by both families at the same time. Because Wu Youji belongs to Wu Chengsi, Wu Sansi and others' peers in Takeshi, if Princess Taiping comes out to fight for the position of the Crown Prince, it will immediately form the effect of crowding out Wu Chengsi and Wu Sansi, and naturally it will not be supported by Takeshi. Similarly, Princess Taiping's brother Li Xian, though only one year older than her, is also Wu Zetian's own flesh and blood, and is of Li family origin, so he naturally becomes the best candidate recommended by Li Jiabang. The result of sticking on both sides may be that both ends can't be settled. Therefore, unless Princess Taiping actively asks Wu Zetian herself, it is impossible to get any external support. Princess Taiping must have a deeper understanding of Wu Zetian than others. For Wu Zetian who successively deposed the eldest son Li Hong (poisoned), the second son Li Xian, the third son Li Xian and the fourth son Li Dan, she knew that although she was deeply loved by her mother, once she was suspected by her, the consequences would be very serious. Therefore, Princess Taiping herself did not dare to fight for the position of Crown Prince for herself. Therefore, according to historical records, in the end of the Wu Zetian Dynasty, because Taiping was afraid of the majesty of Wu Hou, Taiping was always restrained and refused to actively solicit power. (Princess Taiping is sensitive and has more power than others, but Wu Hou thinks that she is like herself, so she loves her luck alone among all the scholars, and she has to plot in advance, but she is still afraid of Wu Hou's strictness and does not dare to recruit power.) It was not until a coup that Zhang Yizhi and others began to directly intervene in politics. Therefore, under such a strong mother as Wu Zetian, Princess Taiping still dared not make a move. And Wu Zetian didn't take her into account at all. Let's talk about Wu Zetian's mother's branch-Yang. According to historical records, Wu Zetian's biological mother is Wu Shihuo's second wife, the daughter of Longyou scholar-bureaucrat, prime minister of Sui Dynasty and Suining Yang Da. Because it came from a wing, and Wu Zetian's mother gave birth to three more daughters, she has been despised in the Wu family. Especially after Wu Shihuo's death, Wu Yuanqing, Wu Yuanshuang, and Wu Shihuo's brother's sons Wu Weiliang and Wu Huaiyun all treated Yang rudely, and Yang held a grudge against them. When Wu Zetian became a queen, she immediately took revenge on her half-brothers at the instigation of her mother Yang. (At the request of Wu Zetian, Emperor Gaozong demoted Wu Weiliang as the secretariat of the first state of the school, Wu Yuanqing as the secretariat of Longzhou, and Wu Yuanshuang as the secretariat of Haozhou. After Wu Yuanqing arrived in Longzhou, he died of anxiety and illness. Wu Yuanshuang died because of his conviction and exile in Zhenzhou. Later, he poisoned his sister and her daughter with a trick, and then framed Wu Weiliang and Wu Huaiyun, thus killing all the enemies who had despised her in those years. ) but in history, except for Wu Zetian's mother, Yang, Wu Zetian didn't benefit his good fortune from any other relatives of Yang. The reason is that, firstly, Wu Shihuo was the founding hero who fought against the Sui Dynasty, and the Yang Da family was actually the remnant of the old royal family in the Sui Dynasty, which was probably ruined in the war at the end of the Sui Dynasty. Second, after Yang married the Wu family, he was no longer a member of the Yang family, and his father, Yang Da, Suining, died as early as the eighth year of Emperor Yangdi's great cause (Renshen, AD 612). In the generation of Wu Zetian, it is even more impossible to have anything to do with the Yang family. The reason why the Yang family of Wu Zetian's mother is mentioned is actually to explain a more profound paradox: Wu Zetian's surname itself is the product of the male clan as the main body, that is, from the father's surname rather than the mother's. If Wu Zetian wants to continue the rule of "Wu" family and replace "Li" with "Wu", it is just a paternal family replacing another paternal family to grasp the imperial power; It also immediately offset the special significance of Wu Zetian as a female host and proclaimed herself emperor. Of course, judging from Wu Zetian's consideration at that time, she did not particularly want to consider the "female emperor" as a priority condition to consider the crown prince; Even she simply failed to put forward any suitable female heirs as the target of consideration. Although Wu Zetian has the right to create a symbol representing equality between men and women, she can't change her established background of patriarchal clan relationship, and can't change the symbol that both "Wu" and "Li" are still marked by patriarchal clan, and the dominant and subordinate relationship between these male family symbols and her. In fact, when Wu Zetian consulted Di Renjie about the establishment of the Treasury, Di Renjie once said, "The Emperor Gaozong entrusted his two sons to your majesty, but now your majesty wants to hand over the country to a foreign surname. Isn't this against the will of heaven? Besides, who is closer to the mother and son? Your majesty makes his son a prince, and after a long life, he will offer sacrifices to the ancestral temple, which will be inherited from generation to generation without end; If my nephew is made a prince, I have never heard that my nephew has become a son of heaven and sacrificed his aunt to the ancestral temple. " In this regard, Wu Zetian had to seriously consider it, because she could rule the world before her death, and it was difficult to guarantee whether she would have a place in the ancestral temple after her death. Because this whole sacrificial system is also implemented in line with the patriarchal clan system, it is almost impossible to change it in Wu Zetian's generation. Even if she insists on making the Wu family the crown prince, it is difficult to guarantee that the Wu family can continue to maintain her status after her death. Therefore, she finally decided to set up her son Li Xian as the storage. After being forced to abdicate to Prince Li Xian, Wu Zetian became seriously ill and died at the end of the same year. The last testament took the initiative to remove the title of emperor, and later it was called the Great Sage Queen, pardoning the Wang and Xiao families, who were persecuted by the emperor, and the relatives of Chu Suiliang, Han Xuan and Liu. It is also a return to the state of etiquette before Wu Zetian proclaimed himself. However, the appearance of Wu Zetian still inspired other female members of the royal family who were vaguely planning to attack the patriarchal status at that time. When Zhongzong ascended the throne, Webster's, who shared his joys and sorrows, was made queen, and he also planned to follow the example of Wu Zetian to interfere in politics. When Zhongzong came to the DPRK, the empress Wei also sat behind the curtain and took part in the handling of military affairs. When it came to the generation of Princess Anle, the daughter of Zhongzong and Wei Hou, Princess Anle, with the support of Wei Hou, actually asked Zhongzong to make her "the emperor's wife". This unique title, in today's view, is even more significant than Wu Zetian's claim to the throne. Because, in history, not only Wu Zetian was qualified to ascend to the throne, but there were actually many women masters with real political power who could directly ascend to the throne to replace the weak monarch. However, Wu Zetian's historical lesson was taken as a warning, and most of them later chose the form of listening to politics to indirectly control power. Without the cooperation of the follow-up system, even if they get the title of the emperor for a while, they will eventually have to hand over the throne to other royal descendants because of the issue of inheritance; Except for a moment of glory, you can't get more value at all. Finally, there seems to be no extra benefit except leaving a stone tablet without words like Wu Zetian. However, if Princess Anle's plan is realized, it will fundamentally subvert the traditional patriarchal inheritance system, and there may not be only one female emperor in history. Because, once both male and female royal descendants have equal inheritance rights, it is normal for a female emperor to pass on to her daughter, and it is necessary for the new female emperor to keep all the titles of the former queen, instead of giving up the titles of the emperor on her own as Wu Zetian did in her later years. In this way, the female emperor system can be fundamentally consolidated. This may be a possibility that Wu Zetian failed to consider at that time, but it may be an institutional obstacle that she could not decide to change categorically at that time, and it was the biggest weakness that she finally had to succumb to traditional forces. However, because Princess Taiping, together with Prime Ministers Li Dan and Li Longji, staged a coup, Queen Wei and Princess Anle were killed in one fell swoop, and the only attempt recorded in China's history to request the establishment of the so-called "imperial wife" was completely extinct. Throughout history, until the Tang Dynasty, there were always some very smart women dressed up on the political stage with men as the leading role, and the Tang Dynasty really reached a peak, with a large number of politically ambitious and active women such as Wu Zetian, Princess Taiping, Princess Anle and Shangguan Waner. Coupled with the existing female official system in the Tang Dynasty, it also created the greatest possibility for women to win political power. However, even in this era, after the emergence of Wu Zetian, after the peak of women's participation in politics, the political culture in which male chauvinism is deeply rooted in the bone marrow has gradually begun to mean the threat to women, constantly strengthening the oppression of women from the system and culture, and being more alert to any clues of women's involvement in politics. As early as the reign of Wechsler, a minister, Huan Yanfan, quoted the Book of Changes and Shangshu to persuade Zhongzong to stop Wechsler's political power. (Huan Yanfan said: "The Book of Changes" says:' Women have nothing wrong, and it is auspicious to take charge of housework at home.' Shangshu said:' If the hen crows in the morning, this family will be ruined'. I found that every time your majesty came to Korea, the queen always sat behind the curtain and took part in the handling of military affairs. I have observed the emperors of the past dynasties, and no one ruled with a woman without causing the country to die. Besides, yin is above yang, which is against the laws of nature; It is against human relations for a woman to bully her husband. I hope your majesty will observe the experience and lessons of the ups and downs of the rebellion in ancient and modern times, always think about the country and the people, and urge the queen to strictly observe the duties of the queen, devote herself wholeheartedly to the education of women, and not to interfere in state affairs in foreign countries. ") This shows from another side that the literati class of that era also began to be wary of Wu Zetian's lessons and actively tried to avoid them in theory and practice. After the Tang Dynasty, although there were occasionally smart women who came to the DPRK as empress dowager or powerful queen, they were only a flash in the pan, and most of them finally chose a prince and grandson to inherit the throne. Because under the double restriction of culture and politics, moderns, a female politician, is gone forever in the traditional political history. Conclusion: The Queen of Europe and the Queen of China may be compared by interested readers. Why can female royal family members be allowed to inherit the throne in the history of European dynasties? The author analyzes that there are at least two reasons. First, in western history, women's right to inherit family property is not absolutely prohibited, so female heirs are not absolutely excluded in the royal inheritance law. For example, in Britain, Austria, Spain, Russia, Portugal, Denmark, the Netherlands and other countries, women not only have the tradition of inheriting the throne, but also have many outstanding female monarchs in history. Second, we have to find the reasons from marriage and blood relationship. Although there is no prohibition, traditionally it is generally stipulated that female heirs can only be considered for inheritance if there is no suitable male heir. And this kind of situation, in the ancient history of China, basically the probability of occurrence is extremely low, unless the emperor has no fertility at all, such as Han Zhao Di. As for the European royal family, because they practice a limited marriage system after all, in principle, in monogamy, the royal children are naturally far less prosperous than the China emperor who has the so-called "three palaces, six courtesans and 72 concubines". Moreover, because the European royal family is very concerned about the purity of blood, it constantly encourages intermarriage between royal families. As a result, the genetic quality has been declining due to inbreeding, and even many royal family genetic diseases have appeared. The fertility quality and fertility of this combination are naturally greatly reduced. What is even more problematic is that once the royal family does not