The Ghosts that Haunted the Female Emperor

range north of the Yangzi River. The earthquake's meaning seemed obvious to any brave enough to allow the thought to enter their head. A woman becoming the emperor upset the natural order of things. The earth itself was rejecting Wu Zetien, her manipulations, her power, hungry assent. But Wu had not become the Emperor of China by accepting things as they were. The earthquake was not a bad omen, she remarked to the nobleman who surrounded her that afternoon, but a blessing.

Those jagged mountain ranges that had been thrust into the sky with the shaking of the earth where a symbol of the Buddhist Mountain of Paradise. As she was becoming China's ruler su Marou was coming to earth. But that night, when she went to bed, wuz A Tiene didn't think of mountains or paradise. Instead, in her dreams, she was visited once again by the ghosts of a concubine named Jiao and a former empress named Lady Wang. The two

of them never said anything. They hadn't since they first began coming to woo Za Tienne's dreams decades ago, when she was still just the wife of an emperor. The ghosts had no hands and no feet. Their limbs were left bloody, but they didn't seem to be in pain. They just floated in the night, looking at Wu asking her with their eyes what she had done and whether it had been worth it. I'm Danis Schwartz, and this

is noble blood. Woza Tan had needed to be incredibly beautiful to be selected to be a concubine for Emperor tai Zong. She was only fourteen at the time, plucked from her well to do family in the year six hundred and thirty six a d she would stay at the palace and serve in the imperial household, But still it was just a junior position, and being a third or fourth or fifth tier concubine, as Wu was, was more of an honorary title than anything else. In this case.

Young women at that level would be lucky to get even a few minutes of face time with the Emperor, the man who could raise their station and allow them any sorts of social advancement with the flick of arrest. But Wu was assigned to work as a laundress. That was her first advantage. She changed the emperor's bed sheets. That was where he first noticed her. A girl with bright, inquisitive eyes and clear skin and a well practiced guilelessness.

Wu came from a wealthy family. Her father had encouraged her to read and to study, and so she charmed the emperor not just with her beauty but with her mind, the two of them discussing books and ideas, with Wu acting more as a secretary than as an object of pleasure. Living at the palace, Wu befriended the emperor's son, the boy who would go on to become Emperor Gaujong. She was only a few years older than him, and she often caught him looking at her when she went about

her daily chores. It was he one day, who interrupted her while she was folding sheets to tell her that the entire court was gathered outside to watch a new stallion in the courtyard that refused is to be broken. The horse was called Lion Stallion, and it seemed that no one was up to the task of riding him. The pair of them raced downstairs to watch the show. The horse trainer yanked at the reins, while the horse snorted and whipped its head back and forth in defiance.

Before long, a new rider came forth, walking with a swagger that hid any hint of fear. He had the trainer step aside, and he took the horse's reins in his own hand. In one fluid motion, he swung a leg over the horse and pulled himself onto its back. In another fluid motion, the horse bucked and flung the man into the dirt. There was silence for a few seconds, as the crowd considered whether anyone was going to try again, or whether they should just disperse and go about their day.

The emperor looked around. I'll break the horse, said a small voice from the crowd. It was Woo, standing next to the prince. The Emperor looked over at the girl and smiled, Will you now, Wu stepped forward and lowered her shoulders. I will, I only need three tools, the emperor laughed, and the rest of the crowd joined him. And what tools might those be? When Wu spoke, her voice never shook, her lips never lifted, and even the hint of a smile. I will need an iron whip,

an iron hammer, and a dagger. I will whip the horse with the iron whip. If it doesn't submit, I'll hammer its head with the iron hammer. And if it still refuses to submit, I'll cut its throat with a dagger. That will break the horse. The emperor's eyes gleamed. It was only after he started laughing that Wo Zatienne smiled too, just a little bit. She had caught the emperor's attention yet again with her bravery, and he wouldn't forget her now.

But service to an emperor is a short term job prospect. When Emperor Taizong died, all of his concubines, or rather the concubines who hadn't borne him any children, were forced to shave their heads and retreat to a temple to live the rest of their lives as Buddhist nuns. It was the greatest disrespect for a woman who had served the emperor to be touched by any other man. Wu had no choice, and she knew that life has rules

and paths for people to follow. Even witty, beautiful, charming young girls who had once dazzled all of court with a glistening moment of bravery must retire to a countryside life and let other younger dazzling girls try their hands at the game of court. Resent it, fight it, cry about it. The future still happened. We don't know if we cried when she shaved her beautiful, thick hair, when she gave away her things when she arrived at the modest Gante Temple where she was supposed to spend the

rest of her life. What we do know is that even if she did cry, she never would have let anyone see it. Even with her head shaved, she was still beautiful, but no one noticed in the temple. The wife of Emperor Gauzong had a problem. Well, she had several problems. Her husband was sickly, prone to bouts of disease, and he was young, only twenty one when his father, Emperor Taizong died, and he Gaujong had been given the throne. If his older brothers hadn't been disgraced, he wouldn't have

been made emperor at all. That was one of Lady Wang's problems, her weak and ineffective husband, But by far her biggest worry, the thing that kept her pacing the palace walls and chewing at her fingernails was one of her husband's concubines, Consort Jao. Consort Jaw was beautiful, and that was fine. Concubines are supposed to be beautiful, but she was also charming, and worst of all, she had

a son and two daughters with the Emperor. The Empress Lady Wang didn't have any sons, and she was having difficulty maintaining another pregnancy, and that became all the more difficult because her husband was spending all of his time with Joo. She had beguiled him and raptured him. He was a man obsessed. The Empress knew that the Emperor would have concubines, but why did he have to be

so obvious in choosing a favorite. His attention diverted to a dozen concubines was no threat An individual woman was one afternoon before heading off to spend the rest of the day lounging in Zoo's chambers. Emburg Gauzong mentioned to his wife that he had been to the Buddhist temple and he had recognized one of the nuns there. It's so funny, he remarked, even with her shaved head, I would have recognized her anywhere. She was one of my father's concubines, but I had such a crush on her.

I would follow her around like a puppy. He left, and Lady Wang left to go to the Buddhist temple. When she arrived, she asked for Woo. Zetienne, the nun, now seven, came to the Empress with her eyes downturned. The Empress informed Wu that the time had come for her to return to court and that she should stop shaving her head. Wou accepted, and so a former concubine turned Buddhist nun came to court with hair slowly growing out,

under the watchful protection of the Empress. Lady Wang consort Joo knew what the Empress was doing, but still her legacy was secure. She had given the emperor's son, and she still his favorite, even if he found a new temporary plaything. Wu couldn't hold his attention for long. The tragedy of Zhao's life began when she underestimated wu Za Tien as for Empress Wang. She was making a calculated bargain, a gamble one woman for another. But the problem with

gambling is people tend to lose. Before long, Ember Gaozong was gleeful at the return of wu Za Tiene to court. She was the manifestation of all of his childish fantasies. Hers was the face he had seen behind his closing eyes before he went to bed, back when he was young and everything was still new. Without a moment's thought to how it would look, he made her an official concubine,

and it didn't look great. There was a reason concubines were sent to temples after their emperor died, and the new emperor bringing back an old concubine was even more troublesome when the new emperor was the old emperor's son. Whispering voices considered the situation incestuous, a son lying with the same woman as his father, but Gauzong didn't care. He was the emperor now and he had wu Zetien, and now as an adult woman, Wu better understood the

mechanisms of court and power. She understood that she was a woman and that her access to power was restricted. But she would not be flung back to a temple disposed of as a dead man's property. Not again. And even as Emperor Gauzong's concubine, she was still disposable. The two sons should go on to bear him didn't mean anything if his wife, Empress Wang decided that she had enough social capital to get rid of her, and then

there was still Jhaou, still the emperor's favorite. Even for all that though he spent less time with her, she still had a particular hold on him. Away that he responded to her quicker than he did with Wu Xiao was a threat, and Wu hated threats. Wu was particularly vulnerable after giving birth to her third child, a daughter.

After delivery, Wu was confined to her chambers, and though the Emperor visited her, giving her little gifts and kisses on her head, he had fallen back into Chao's bed, and the baby made the Empress hate Wou even more. The woman that she had brought to the palace had turned into a walking reminder of her own failings. With each new baby that Wu gave the Emperor, Empress Wang became all the more painfully aware of what she couldn't do.

One day, Empress Wang came to visit Wu and saw the new mother cooing over her baby in its cradle. You must be tired, Empress Wang said, We agreed. Wang held the baby, and the little girl giggled in her arms. Take a walk, Wang said, relax, I can take care of the baby for the night and put her to sleep. Wu wanted to protest, but she wasn't sure on what ground.

Wang was the Empress after all, and truth be told, she did desperately need a moment to herself, and so she smiled, and Wang smiled back at her, and Wu kissed her baby girl goodbye and left the palace to walk the grounds where she could be alone with her thoughts. She spent the night with the Emperor, secretly pleased at the idea that Joo was somewhere fuming and the Empress

was gazing at her baby with envy. The next morning, Wu returned to her baby's room to find the little girl sleeping peacefully in bed, so peaceful, in fact, that she didn't stir when Wu approached or Win, Woo placed a hand gently on the baby's back. The realization came through Woo's body like a slow drip of acid, a realization that curdled through her throat down into her belly and made her head spin and mouth taste like copper.

She began to whale. Much later, when she had stopped wailing, when she was once again alone, she thought about what had happened. The Emperor's wife, Lady Wang, had murdered her baby. Had placed her hand on the mouth of the infant child and held it until the baby stopped moving. She had been so jealous of Woo, how easily she had gotten pregnant over and over again, and brus Wang wasn't capable of doing the murder on her own. No, she wasn't able to kill a child, but she had been

goaded on by consort Joo. Joo was also jealous. She knew that the emperor had been spending more time with Wu and wanted to get back at her. She was so desperate to become the favorite again that she was willing to join Lady Wang and help her kill a child. At least that's the story Woo z Etienne told the Emperor Lady Wang had no alibi. She had been the last one to hold the baby, and she had been the one to put her to bed, And so, spurned on by Woo z Etienne's passion and rage, the Empress

and the emperor's one time favorite consort were imprisoned. Wooz Etienne, victim of tragedy, became the Emperor's new wife, his empress one dead child for the throne of China, and it was the throne. Gazong was so sickly. It was Wu who truly ruled. She would never admit it out loud, only to herself in quiet moments when her heart beat slowed and she was alone. But it had been worth it.

The former Empress Wang and Zoo, once despised enemies, were locked together in a tiny cell, a room with no windows and just a single narrow slot for food to be shoved through once a day. Six days after their imprisonment, the Emperor came to visit them through the wall. They threw themselves upon his mercy. Oh beloved husband, Wayne cried, if you ever had love for me, please ease this imprisonment.

Please just let us see sunlight. The Emperor had always been easily swayed, and it broke his heart to know that two women he had loved were so despondent, even if they had murdered his daughter. He came to his new empress, woo Ze ten and asked her if they might grant at least small mercies so the women she had posted. Wu saw what her feeble husband couldn't. How easily mercy became forgiveness became love again, became anger towards her wou for locking them up in the first place.

She had sacrificed so much to reach where she was, She had lost a daughter for it, and so she insisted to her husband that the women be killed. He acquiesced. According to rumors and brass, wos A Tienne had their hands lopped off at the rest and their feet cut off at the ankles, and both women tossed into vats of wine where they would drown. Slowly. Let those bitches get drunk to their bones, they say. Woza Tienne remarked,

colorful as it is. It isn't true wa Tienne just had her rivals hanged, but even in death they tormented her. They visited her every night, silently, staring sentinels and judgment, with blood dripping like tears from their eyes. It became so miserable, so tortuous, that Woo had the entire court moved to a different palace miles away, where she thought the ghosts of her past wouldn't be able to find her.

Woo is buried beneath a massive stone slab that looks all the more massive because there's nothing written on it. It's completely blank. The Tang dynasty emperors were meant to be buried under blank tablets so that later the full

scope of their accomplishments could be written down. No one wrote about what Woo had achieved during her reign, nor would she had achieved during the proxy reign when she ruled behind her husband, or when she had ruled behind her son, and then when she overthrew her son and eventually became emperor in her own right. There were many accomplishments she made. Buddhism the official state religion, stabilized power, we did out corruption, allowed commoners to hold political positions

that had previously been restricted to them. But she was also brutal, executing nobles who threatened her powers, letting gossip in word of mouth, serve as death sentence to people around her in the government. The story of her initial rise to power the death of her infant child became a story of her cold bloodedness. They say that Wou had been the one to suffocate her daughter herself, that she saw the opportunity to frame and dispatch her rivals,

and she took it. There's no way to know for sure, or to know if maybe the infant had just died in her sleep. Unfortunately, unlike Noble Blood episodes that focus on more recent royal figures, there are very few primary sources about the life of wou x Etienne in the seventh century. Writings about her tend to be either political propaganda written to bolster her reputation or slander's accusations of out and out villainy from those who resented the amount

of power held by a woman. Even the story of the earthquake from her coronation is unconfirmed. Even mountains can't be set in stone when it comes to woo z Etienne. I have tried to find a human story in the facts I could find, and I told a version of her story that makes sense to me. But in this case, I can't promise at all entirely true, and I don't know what the genuine version of the truth is. They didn't carve her legacy on her funeral slab because they

couldn't figure out what it was. It was a decision of scorn and fusion, but a decision that's still made about women today. When we can't fully understand a woman, we choose instead to leave her blank. Noble Blood is a production of I Heart Radio and Aaron Mankey. The show is written and hosted by Dana Schwartz and produced by Aaron Mankey, Matt Frederick, Alex Williams, and Trevor Young. Noble Blood is on social media at Noble Blood Tales, and you can learn more about the show over at

Noble blood Tales dot com. For more podcasts from I Heart Radio, visit the I heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.