A Female Richelieu
Five years after the death of the great Taitsong, his son Kaotsong,
Emperor of China, fell in love with a woman, a fact in no sense new in
the annals of mankind, but one which was in this case destined to exert
a striking influence on the history of an empire. This woman was the
princess Wou, a youthful widow of the late emperor, and now an inmate of
a Buddhist convent. So strong was the passion of the young ruler for the
lawful empress, and, in the year 655, made his new love his consort on
the throne.
It was a momentous act. So great was the ascendency of the woman over
her lover that from the start he became a mere tool in her hands and
ruled the empire in accordance with her views. Her first act was one
that showed her merciless strength of purpose. Fearing that the warm
love of Kaotsong might in time grow cold, and that the deposed empress
or some other of the palace women might return to favor, she determined
to sweep these possible perils from her path. At her command the unhappy
queens were drowned in a vase of wine, their hands and feet being first
cut off,--seemingly an unnecessary cruelty.
This merciless act of the empress, and her dominant influence in the
government, soon made her many enemies. But they were to find that she
was a dangerous person to plot against. Her son was proclaimed heir to
the throne, and the opposing officials soon found themselves in prison,
where secret death quickly ended their hostility.
Wou now sought to make herself supreme. At first assisting the emperor
in the labors of government, she soon showed a quickness of
apprehension, a ready wit in emergencies, and a tact in dealing with
difficult questions that rendered her aid indispensable. Step by step
the emperor yielded his power to her more skilful hands, until he
retained for himself only the rank while she held all the authority of
the imperial office.
Under her control China retained abroad the proud position which
Taitsong had won. For years war went on with Corea, who called in the
Japanese to their aid. But the allies were defeated and four hundred of
the war-junks of Japan given to the flames. The desert nomads remained
subdued, and in Central Asia the power of China was firmly maintained.
Now was the era of a mighty commotion in Southern Asia and the countries
of the Mediterranean. Arabia was sending forth its hosts, the sword and
the Koran in hand, to conquer the world and convert it to the Mohammedan
faith. Persia was in imminent peril, and sent envoys to China begging
for aid. But the shrewd empress had no thought of involving her
dominions in war with these devastating hordes, and sent word that
Persia was too far away for an army to be despatched to its rescue.
Envoys also came from India, but China kept carefully free from
hostilities with the conquerors of the south.
Kaotsong died in 683, after occupying the throne for thirty-three years.
His death threatened the position of the empress, the power behind the
throne. But she proved herself fully equal to the occasion, and made
herself more truly the ruler of China than before. Chongtsong, son of
the late emperor, was proclaimed, but a few days ended his reign. A
decree passed by him in favor of his wife's family roused Wou to action,
and she succeeded in deposing him and banishing him and his family,
taking up again the supreme power of which she had been so brief a time
deprived.
She now carried matters with a high hand. A nominal emperor was chosen,
but the rule was hers. She handled all the public business, disposed of
the offices of state, erected temples to her ancestors, wore the robes
which by law could be worn only by an emperor, and performed the
imperial function of sacrificing to Heaven, the supreme deity of the
Chinese. For once in its history China had an actual empress, and one of
an ability and a power of maintaining the dignity of the throne which
none of its emperors have surpassed.
Her usurpation brought her a host of enemies. It set aside all the
precedents of the empire, and that a woman should reign directly,
instead of indirectly, stirred the spirit of conservatism to its depths.
Wou made no effort to conciliate her foes. She went so far as to change
the name of the dynasty and to place members of her own family in the
great offices of the realm. Rebellious risings followed; plots for her
assassination were formed; but her vigilance was too great, her measures
were too prompt, for treason to succeed. No matter how great the rank or
how eminent the record of a conspirator, death ended his career as soon
as her suspicions were aroused. The empire was filled with her spies,
who became so numerous as largely to defeat their purpose, by bringing
false accusations before the throne. The ready queen settled this
difficulty by an edict threatening with death any one who falsely
accused a citizen of the realm. The improbable story is told that in a
single day a thousand charges were brought of which eight hundred and
fifty proved to be false, those who brought them being at once sent to
the block. Execution in the streets of Singan, the capital, was her
favorite mode of punishment, and great nobles and ministers died by the
axe before the eyes of curious multitudes.
A Richelieu in her treatment of her enemies, she displayed the ability
of a Richelieu in her control of the government. Her rule was a wise
one, and the dignity of the nation never suffered in her hands. The
surrounding peoples showed respect for her power, and her subjects could
not but admit that they were well and ably ruled. And, that they might
the better understand this, she had books written and distributed
describing her eminent services to the state, while the priesthood laid
before the people the story of her many virtues. Thus for more than
twenty years after the death of Kaotsong the great empress continued to
hold her own in peace and in war.
In her later years wars broke out, which were handled by her with
promptness and success. But age now weighed upon her. In 704, when she
was more than eighty years old, she became so ill that for several
months she was unable to receive her ministers. This weakening of the
strong hand was taken advantage of by her enemies. Murdering her
principal relatives, they broke into the palace and demanded her
abdication. Unable to resist, she, with unabated dignity of mien, handed
to them the imperial seal and the other emblems of power. In the
following year she died. For more than forty years she had been the
supreme ruler of China, and held her great office with a strength and
dignity which may well be called superb.
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