Historical Essay (Evaluation by Wu Zetian)
Wu Shi's achievements Wu Zetian abdicated from queen to emperor for fifty years. On the whole, she was a talented feudal ruler. During her reign, the politics, economy and culture of the Tang Dynasty were developing. Her achievements are mainly manifested in the following three aspects: (1) She continued to carry out reforms, broke the situation that the gentry in Guanlong (now Shaanxi and Gansu) controlled politics, and introduced civilian landlords to participate in political power. This practice was progressive at that time. At the beginning of the Tang Dynasty, the ruling group was mainly Guanlong gentry. When Wu Zetian seized power, it was this group that opposed her. For example, the representatives of this school, Sun Chang Wuji and Chu Suiliang, strongly opposed Wu Zetian as a queen, thinking that she was born in poverty and was not qualified to be a queen. After Wu Zetian became queen, they were demoted and died one after another. After Tang Gaozong's death, Wu Zetian obeyed the court, and Xu Jingye and others opposed Wu Zetian in Yangzhou. Later, Li Zhen, the imperial clan of the Tang Dynasty, also set up troops in Henan, Shandong and other places. Has been suppressed by Wu Zetian. Wu Zetian suppressed the political opposition even more cruelly, killing hundreds of nobles and ministers in the Tang Dynasty. Many of these people who were killed were Guanlong cremation or belonged to Guanlong cremation. Since then, Guanlong cremation has declined. (2) Reuse common scholars. Wu Zetian reused civilian scholars and took the following three important measures. First, when she was a queen, Tang Gaozong ordered that the "family record" be changed to "family name record". Genealogy was compiled by Emperor Taizong. Although the content of the Tang Dynasty was graded according to the officials and nobles, it paid great attention to whether it belonged to the gentry, and the old concept of the gentry was very strong. The record of surnames eliminated the boundaries of the gentry, and was completely recorded according to the competition in Gong Pin, which improved the political and social status of the humble commoner officials. Secondly, Wu Zetian further promoted the imperial examination system, passed the examination and hired talents. Many of them come from common people. Third, Wu Zetian is unconventional in employing people. For example, she asked officials and people above grade nine to recommend themselves. Wu Zetian did select a group of talents, such as her famous figures Di Renjie and Zhang Jian, and later the famous figures Yao Ai and Song Tuo in Kaiyuan period were all reused or selected by her. (3) Attach importance to the development of agricultural production. Wu Zetian has ordered many times to persuade farmers to teach mulberry and reward local officials for attaching importance to developing agricultural production. County governors whose land has been reclaimed and whose families have surplus grain can be promoted. State and county officials who abuse their powers and have scattered accounts will be punished. During this period, the social economy has developed greatly. Judging from the increase of registered permanent residence, the registered permanent residence was 3.8 million when Emperor Taizong was in power, and it had increased to 6 10/00000 in the last year of Wu Zetian's rule. During the reign of Wu Zetian, there were also many problems. She hired a group of brutal officials, such as Zhou Xing, Lai Junchen and Suo Yuanli, and killed many innocent people through their involvement. She employs too many people, has too many redundant staff, has a huge bureaucracy, believes in Buddhism and overhauls temples, which has added a heavy burden to the people. Land annexation is serious, and many farmers go bankrupt and flee.