The causes, nature, and effects of the conflict between Pei Yan and Wu Zetian
The Tang and Zhou dynasties were important events in the medieval history of China, from the aristocratic center to the Han center, and from the martial arts politics to the cultural rule, which had a far-reaching impact on the society of the Tang Dynasty.
Pei Yan helped Wu Zetian take power, but then there was a conflict that eventually led to his death.
So what's going on here?
In the early stage of the Tang Dynasty society in the mainland, after Wu Zetian came to power, in September 690, the Li Tang Dynasty was changed to the Great Zhou.
The political pattern before and after Gaozong's death changed completely different from that of the Taizong Dynasty from the sixth year of Yonghui (655) when Wu Zetian became the empress to the death of Gaozong in the first year of Hongdao (683).
First, after Wu Zetian won the battle for the abolition of the empress, he intervened in the government and dealt a heavy blow to the forces of the elders and important ministers such as Changsun Wuji and Chu Suiliang, so that the power of the Guanlong aristocratic group in the center of power was eliminated.
Judging from the prime ministers appointed by Gaozong before his death, except for the core figure Pei Yan, who is a remnant of Guanlong, most of the others are from Shandong, and in the dispute over the abolition, they should belong to the pro-military faction, but they oppose the aristocratic group to control power, and it cannot be said that they are Wu Zetian's party.
When Wu Zetian's power clashed with the Li Tang Emperor, they naturally sided with the Li Tang Imperial Family.
After the first year of Lin De (664), Wu Zetian completely controlled Gaozong, and during this period, Wu Zetian opened a large election, promoted the Han clan, invoked his cronies, and greatly increased his strength, and the trend of the Tang Dynasty has begun to emerge.
In the first year of Hongdao (683), on the 4th of February l, Gaozong died. The power structure of the Zhongzong ruling and the auxiliary government of the prime minister group headed by Pei Yan was formed.
This pattern constrained Wu Zetian's authority, and the emperor and prime minister only asked Wu Zetian to make decisions when "there were indecisives in the major military affairs".
From the institutional level, Wu Zetian can no longer directly intervene in government affairs and has lost the reason to continue to govern.
On the surface, Pei Yan's request was only an expedient act in the days before Zhongzong's accession to the throne, but in fact, there should be a deeper reason, Pei Yan's dissatisfaction with Zhongzong's "weak circle" is a major factor.
The fear that Zhongzong's proximity to Yu may cause the rise of the Wei family, a great nobleman of the Later Clan, and pose a threat to his own power, should be another important reason, which can be seen from Pei Yan's performance in the deposed incident of Zhongzong later.
No matter how Pei Yan thought about it, the consequences of asking Wu Zetian to announce the order and the subordinates were serious.
First, it broke through the restrictions of Gaozong's edict, enabling Wu Zetian to clear the institutional obstacles to ruling without giving people the truth to oppose it; Second, it has made Wu Zetian's ruling rule a precedent and cannot be controlled, and "political affairs depend on the situation."
The central political landscape began to undergo subtle changes. And Pei Yan, as Zaifu, is politically inflexible and forward-looking, which is also an important reason for Zhongzong's abolition.
Zhongzong was a young man, strong in blood and blood, in the name of the emperor, political affairs were decided by the queen mother, and he was constrained by Zaifu, his heart was dissatisfied, and even said angry words, which were the natural manifestations of his psychological depression, and he never had the true intention of letting Guo Wei Xuanzhen, for Pei Yan, who has rich political experience and life experience, it is not difficult to understand this reason.
However, Pei Yan was only worried that Zhongzong's willfulness would damage the system of the dynasty and his own interests, but he could not understand Wu Zetian's scheming, conspired against Wu Zetian, and decided to abolish the system, causing Wu Zetian to be in the dynasty system, which was undoubtedly a disastrous consequence for Li Tang's imperial power.
After Zhongzong was deposed, the structure of central power underwent a fundamental change, from the pattern of the emperor in charge and the prime minister to the auxiliary government to the situation of Wu Zetian's dictatorship, and the process of Wu Zetian's dynasty of Tang Dynasty took a real and substantial step.
In order to successfully replace the Tang Dynasty, it is first necessary to strike at the center of the opposition forces, and the final conflict of Pei Wu is inevitable.
The nature and impact of the armed conflict In the course of the Tang and Zhou dynasties, the struggle between various pro-Tang forces and the Wu clique has always been fierce, and sharp conflicts have occurred many times.
Regarding the nature of the conflict between Pei and Wu, first of all, the contradiction between the prime minister and the imperial power.
Pei Yan was the only minister entrusted to Gu at the time of Gaozong's death, and in December 683 he was reappointed from Shizhong to Zhongshu Ling, and the system of deliberation of the prime minister was also changed due to the change of his position.
According to the Tang system, all major military policies must be approved by the prime minister's meeting of the political affairs hall, and even the emperor's edict must be discussed and approved by the political affairs hall and countersigned by the prime minister before it can take effect.
This determines that Pei Yan is the core of the Zaifu Group, and his power is unsurpassed.
The weakness of Zhongzong's circle is conducive to Pei Yan's consolidation of his power, but after Zhongzong was abolished, Wu Zetian called the system, but his power was not guaranteed.
Pei Yan relied on the system and the status of the chief assistant to prevent the establishment of the seven temples of the Wu clan and the killing of the king of the clan, which inhibited the expansion of Wu Zetian's power and hindered the pace of Wu Zetian's self-reliance in the Tang Dynasty, which precisely showed the sharp conflict between the power and the imperial power during this period.
Secondly, there is the conflict between the nobility and the Han people.
On the surface, the conflict between Pei Yan and Wu Zetian is a matter of Empress Wu's rule but not his return to power, but the historical and cultural background implied in it is very profound, that is, the conflict of interests between the long-formed aristocratic group and the Han people.
Pei Yan's family, the Hedong Pei family, is a well-known Gaomen clan in the Guanlong group, and Pei Yan and Wu Zetian should have been politically cooperative at the beginning.
But when Pei Yan became prime minister, he became the political representative of the family.
After the power of the Guanlong group was dismantled, especially after Zhongzong was abolished and Ruizong lived in seclusion, Pei Yan became the representative and protector of the remnants of the Guanlong aristocratic group.
In the context of the great importance attached to family origin in medieval society, Pei Yan also had to assume the responsibility of protecting the interests of the family and the class and personal power.
Empress Wu was born in the Han clan in Shandong, and although her maternal line was from the Yang Sui royal family, her father was not an aristocratic person.
In the dispute over the abolition of the empress during the Yonghui period, Wu Zetian was strongly opposed by the Guanlong aristocratic group headed by the eldest grandson Wuji.
Later Wu Zetian degraded and killed the eldest grandson Wuji and others, and eliminated the core figures of the Guanlong group in the axis of power.
In order to gain political support, Wu Zetian held the imperial examination, and used new people to replace the old ministers, so as to prepare for his ascension to the throne.
But the direct consequence at that time was to impact and break the pattern of interests of the aristocratic monopoly regime.
After Pei Yan was killed, the remnants of the Guanlong nobles were killed in the killing of the Wuhou to clear the obstacles, such as Pei Judao, Pei Chengxian, Pei Bandit, Pei Wang, Pei Lian, etc., the Xue family in Hedong was killed Xue E, Xue Shao, and the Liu family in Hedong was killed by Liu Mingsu and Liu Mu, and the other Guanlong clans were roughly the same.
It can be seen that the conflict between Pei and Wu behind the battle for imperial unification is not simply a question of supporting the Tang Dynasty and representing the Tang Dynasty, but also has a deeper historical and cultural reason, that is, it reflects the conflict of interests between the aristocracy and the Han people at a time of social change.
The influence of Pei Wu's contradictions and conflicts in the Tang and Zhou dynasties cannot be ignored.
The process of the transformation of the Tang and Zhou dynasties was divided into two stages, roughly divided into two stages, before and after the death of Gaozong.
In the previous stage, although Wu Zetian had the power to dispose of the government, his power was still threatened from time to time.
With the death of Gaozong, the Tang and Zhou dynasties really entered the substantive stage.
In order to maintain the lineage of Li and Tang, the Li Tang clan and various pro-Tang forces resisted Wu Zetian many times, including Pei Yan's struggle against Wu Zetian, Xu Jingye's rebellion in 684, and the rebellion of Yue Wang Zhen and Langya Wang Chong in 688.
Among these rebellions, the greatest threat to the Wu clan was Pei Yan's struggle.
Different from the regional characteristics of Xu Jingye's rebellion and Yue Wangzhen's and Langya's rebellion, Pei Yan's struggle against the Wu dynasty and Tang dynasty had the characteristics of overall and integral.
He not only carried out a strong check on Wu Zetian at the level of the system, but also protected the pro-Tang forces from being harmed, so that the Li Tang clan and the pro-Tang forces formed a corresponding whole from the central government to the local level.
Pei Yan's authoritative position in politics also determined that a large number of pro-Tang people could gather around him and become the core of various anti-Tang forces.
After Pei Yan was imprisoned, a large number of officials risked their lives to rescue him. Wu Zetian killed Pei Yan and collapsed the original Zaifu group.
After Pei Yan was killed, Empress Wu completely controlled the situation in the court, and with Pei Yan's killing as a symbol, the core of the anti-military forces in the DPRK and China had been disintegrated, and no one in the court dared to express dissent.
After stabilizing the court, Wu Zetian took Li Xiaoyi as the governor of Yangzhou Province and led an army of 300,000 to defeat Li Jingye, and his position was unprecedentedly consolidated.
In the following years, various local pro-Tang and anti-military forces were crushed due to the lack of strong reinforcements from the DPRK.
In the first year of Zaichu, the Wu clan successfully proclaimed himself emperor and completed the Tang and Zhou dynasties.
To sum up, in the entire process of the Wu and Zhou dynasties, the struggle between Pei Yan and Empress Wu was, in essence, a political struggle within the ruling class, and its influence could not be ignored.