The biggest worry after Wu Zetian proclaimed himself emperor was that she would return to the Tang Dynasty after her death. But because she couldn't solve the successor problem, she had to give up her original intention, which was sad. Wu Zetian is so great, but she can't overcome the obstacles of China's feudal autocracy that men are superior to women. In the end, she had to succumb to feudal ethics and acquiesce in the restoration of the Tang Dynasty against her will, paving the way for the restoration of the Tang Dynasty. On New Year's Day of the first year of God's grant, Wu Zetian formally held a ceremony of enthronement, using the sacred title of emperor. This time, as the only female emperor in history, Wu Zetian officially stepped onto the historical stage. With the establishment of the regime of Wu and Zhou, the question of the throne appeared. At this time, although the heir is still Li Dan, he was appointed as the Crown Prince and changed his surname to Wu. However, Wu Zetian knew clearly that although his son succeeded to the throne, his surname was Li. Once she dies, Li Dan will still change the Li Tang Dynasty of the Wu Zhou Dynasty. Even if he doesn't change it, Li Tang's old ministers and officials loyal to the Li Tang dynasty will change the Wuzhou dynasty to the Li Tang dynasty, and the issue of heirs once troubled Wu Zetian. Wu, who smelled this smell, was ready to stir and try his best to seek the position of heir. Among the courtiers, Zhang Jiafu, the principal of Fengge, actively sought the position of prince for Wu. So Wang Qingzhi, a native of Luoyang, wrote behind the scenes to make Wu a prince. And collected hundreds of signatures from Luoyang citizens and wrote to Emperor Wu Zetian. At this time, Wu Zetian also had the will to establish Wu Chengsi as a prince. On New Year's Day, the second year of longevity (692), the Emperor of Heaven worshipped heaven and earth in Vientiane Shrine. After the emperor's first sacrifice, according to the rules, the Asian sacrifice should be Prince Li Dan, but this time it was Wu Heliang and King Wu Sansi who went to Asia. Prince Dan was completely excluded. In this way, although the emperor didn't say it clearly, at this time, the balance of the heir to the throne still tends to this side. After that, she began to persecute Prince Li Dan's family based on some false accusations. First, because the maid-in-waiting group falsely accused Li Dan's Liu Fei and De Fei (Li Longji's mother) of witchcraft, the second princess was killed. Then Li Dan's five sons were made princes, driven out of the palace, and placed under house arrest together in the palace. Then someone fell on the ground and accused the prince of rebellion. The emperor sent cruel officials to the East Palace for interrogation. Under the torture of cruel officials, almost all the servants, handmaids, craftsmen and eunuchs in the East Palace admitted to conspiring with the Prince. Except one person. This man is Li Dan's craftsman, named An Jincang. No matter how he extorts a confession, he always says, "No one in the East Palace wants to rebel at all." The cruel officials were so vicious that they bravely went to Anjinzang. Seeing that the situation was not good, Jin Cang rushed to the prince's sword hanging in the corner, grabbed it and inserted it into his chest. At that time, there was a lot of blood, and An Jinzang fell in a pool of blood. Brutal officials were shocked by An Jin Zang's desperate behavior. In an instant, the ladies-in-waiting and eunuchs quickly saved people together. Emperor Zetian was very shocked when he heard about it. A servant who had nothing to do with himself gave his life to prove his master's innocence, and his heart was strongly shocked. From this sudden incident, she keenly felt that her son was innocent! So she hurried to the East Palace and immediately ordered the physician to save people. After the doctor's full rescue, An Jin-zang regained consciousness. Facing the trend of asking Wu to be a prince, Li Zhaode, assistant minister of Fengge, remonstrated: "The prince is his own son, and your majesty's world should be passed on to future generations! Where in history have you passed the world on to your nephew? Since ancient times, no nephew has built a temple to sacrifice to his aunt. Your majesty is entrusted, if this matter spread to Wu's world, there will be no sacrifice. In ancient times, there was inevitably a bloody conflict between the emperor and his father for the throne, not to mention between the nephew and the aunt. " Then Emperor Tiandi was almost moved by Li Zhaode's words and said in surprise, "I have never thought about this before." In fact, Wu Zetian was deeply aware that if Wu Li's nephew was a prince, the Wu and Zhou Dynasties could ensure this. However, she also knows that Wu has no talent and moral character except ambition, and he is not the tool of the son of heaven. Wu besides Wu, there is no second person. Even if Wu Chengsi succeeds to the throne, his descendants will be completely annihilated, and constant rebellion will also make the world chaos. In Wu Zetian's mind, the heir did encounter unprecedented trouble. She also thought about Princess Taiping more than once. Princess Taiping is the best among her children in both talent and courage. And she married the Wu family, and all the children were surnamed Wu. If she becomes the wife of the emperor and her son named Wu Can becomes the grandson of the emperor, it is an ideal choice. But in that feudal society where men are superior to women, it is not feasible to pass on the big position to their daughters. Therefore, although the wise queen said she didn't want to pass on the throne to her son, she acquiesced in the decision to pass on the imperial power to her son after weighing the pros and cons. After that, she even made some preparations for this decision: First of all, welcome back to King Luling. In March of the first year of the Gregorian calendar (698), Wu Zetian recalled Zhongzong, who was deposed as the king of Luling, from Fangling. King Luling was recalled, mainly due to the admonition of De Renjie and other ministers. After King Luling returned to the palace, Prince Dan made a request to give way to his younger brother, because he was a younger brother. On September 15, Wu Zetian agreed to Li Dan's request and made Li Xian the new prince. Li Xian was 43 years old. At the same time, the prince's attendance at court meetings was restored, making Li Xian a veritable prince. When Li Dan was a prince, he was a prince in name only. He was forbidden to go to Chaoya, just like being under house arrest. He stays in the East Palace every day and doesn't take part in political affairs at all. When the new prince was registered, Hebei was invaded by Turks, and the Turkic army raided houses in Hebei, killing and setting fire to people and plundering wealth. The emperor appointed the Prince as the marshal of Hebei Army to pacify the Turks, and Di Renjie as the deputy marshal to pacify the Turks together. This conquest drove the Turkish army that invaded Hebei out of the country, and Hebei was settled, and the courtiers' hearts were also settled. The second is to release the king. In October of the second year of the Gregorian calendar (699), Wu Zetian released Li Dan's five princes in the claustrophobic palace in the second year of longevity (693). In those days, the claustrophobia of these five princes was nominally related to the murder of Princess Li Dan and Princess De Fei. In fact, Wu Zetian took measures to contain Li Dan in order to prevent some courtiers from pushing Li Dan to restore the Tang room and taking the five princes as hostages. At this point, first of all, their father Li Dan has given way to his younger brother Li Xian, and there is no need to be a hostage. Secondly, Wu Zetian has made up her mind to take her son as a successor, and it is time for her children to live a free and happy life. While releasing the five emperors, Wu Zetian also released Shou Li, the son of Xian Wang, who was claustrophobic because of his father's involvement. It has been more than ten years now, and Shouli is 28 years old at this time. After his release, Shouli also inherited the title of father Wang Yong. Wu Zetian gave the six released grandsons to his wife, maid-in-waiting and slave in the palace to compensate these grandchildren who suffered from life torture. The third is to see the emperor. In the first year of Shenlong (705), Wu Zetian's illness continued to deteriorate. Tang ministers headed by Prime Minister Zhang Jianzhi thought the time had come and launched the "Dragon Revolution" on January 22nd. Together with Prince Xian, he led more than 500 people from the Royal Guards into the palace, killed two of them and forced Wu Zetian to abdicate. When Wu Zetian saw her son involved, she suppressed her anger and said calmly, "It's you! Now that the boy has been killed, it's not too early to go back to the East Palace! " The voice is solemn and dignified, and the attitude is correct. On the 23rd, the emperor ordered the Prince to supervise the country. On the 24th, Wu Zetian officially gave way to Prince Xian, the empire of the Zhou Dynasty ended and the Tang Dynasty was revived. On the 27th, Emperor Wu Zetian was honored as the "Emperor" and went to Shang Yang Palace to visit his mother emperor. Seeing the pale and frightened expression of the loyal emperor, Wu Zetian's maternal love suddenly welled up in her heart. She said softly, "It's still so good. You have inherited the throne, so you must be personally responsible for major affairs. " Zhongzong knelt in front of the hospital bed, tears streaming down his face, indicating that he remembered his mother's teachings. But after all, Zhongzong failed to do what his mother emperor said, so that power fell into Wei Ruyun's hands, which led to his death, which was also because of his incompetence. On July 26th, the first year of Shenlong (705)1/kloc-0, Wu Zetian died at the age of 82. Will: Abolish the title of "Zetianda Saint Emperor" and change it to "Zetianda Saint Queen", and be buried with Gaozong in Ganling. Some people think that the testamentary edict was invented by Zhang Jianzhi and others, but the author thinks that from Wu Zetian's persecution of Li Dan to acquiescence in the restoration of the Tang Dynasty, the testamentary edict was all done by Wu Zetian. First, since Li Xian was made a prince in the first year of the holy calendar, he has never proposed to establish others many times, and the heir is stable; Second, she has acquiesced in the possibility of restoring the Tang Dynasty, but she didn't expect to be forced to abdicate when she was alive, which she didn't want to see, but after the established facts, she accepted this reality very rationally; Thirdly, the mausoleum she built for herself and Gaozong also showed her willingness to be buried with Gaozong after her death. Ganling was built under her design and personal supervision. It is a wise choice to be buried with Gaozong as the queen. Fourth, setting up a tablet without a word is also a proof that she left her merits and demerits to future generations, whether it was the emperor or the queen; Datang or Dazhou; Whether it is right or wrong, history is a fait accompli, waiting for future generations to comment!