Research On The Influence Of Prime Ministers On Wars In Northern Frontier During Wu Zetian Period

The Wu Zetian period,as the connection between the two prosperous times of the Tang Dynasty,is of great significance to the development of the Tang Dynasty.The resolution of the defense crisis during Wu Zetian’s period was a prerequisite for the prosperity of the Kaiyuan era to be realized.The prime minister is an important part of the central power,and prime ministers in the Wu Zetian period had an important and complex influence on northern wars.The prime minister system in Wu Zetian’s period has undergone many changes compared with the past.The first chapter of the thesis studies the prime minister system in Wu Zetian’s period from three aspects: the official name,the power,and the selection of the prime minister.Statistics show that there are eighty-five prime ministers,and know their overall relationship to the war on the northern frontier.The second chapter gives a general overview of northern wars during Wu Zetian’s period,and investigates the defense crisis in Wu Zetian’s period from four aspects: the number of wars,the victory rate of wars,the territory map,and the number of frontier troops.The third chapter aims at some scholars’ point of view that the defense crisis was attributed to Wu Zetian,and further discusses the negative influence of the prime ministers on northern wars: Factional fighting led to the collapse of Tang rule over the northern frontier,the battle between high-born and low-born led to the failure of the Qinghai War,the Prime Minister’s wrong decision led to the serious intrusion of the post-Turkic forces,and these negative effects made the Tang’s rule over the northern frontier gradually collapsed.The fourth chapter discusses the prime minister’s active participation in the northern frontier war,the recovery of the four towns in Anxi,the victory in the Hongyuan Valley and other wars,which reversed the situation of the northwestern frontier war;governing the northern frontier;adopting measures such as reusing the generals,selecting talents,and strictly rewarding and punishing,alleviating the dilemma of "no good generals",and using the new policy to solve the problem of fleeing peasants.These positive policies and measures have resolved the defense crisis.The policies and measures adopted by the prime ministers during the Wu Zetian period to solve the frontier crisis not only had a very important impact on the military construction during the Wu Zetian period,but also laid a good foundation for the unification and prosperity of the Kaiyuan period.