Editing Wu Zetian (section)

=== Empress dowager ===
====Plenipotentiary regent for Emperor Zhongzong ====
Upon the death of her husband Emperor Gaozong, Wu became empress dowager ({{lang|zh|皇太后}}, ''húangtàihòu'') and then regent and she automatically gained full power over the empire. She had the power to remove and install emperors. Just as before, government decisions were made by her. Wu had already poisoned the crown prince Li Hong and had enough other princes exiled that her third son, [[Emperor Zhongzong of Tang|Li Zhe]], was made heir apparent. Furthermore, Gaozong's will included provisions that Li Zhe should ascend immediately to the imperial throne, he should look to Empress Wu in regards to any important matter, either military or civil, and Empress Wu should claim the senior authority in the Empire for herself.<ref name="Paludan, 97">{{harvp|Paludan|1998|p= 97}}</ref> In the second month of 684, Li Zhe ascended to the imperial throne, known as his temple name Zhongzong, for a short six weeks.

The new emperor was married to a woman of the Wei family. Because Zhongzong was as weak and incompetent as his father, the new Empress sought to place herself in the same position of great authority that Empress Wu had enjoyed.

Immediately, Emperor Zhongzong showed signs of disobeying Empress Dowager Wu. Emperor Zhongzong was under the thumb of his wife, Empress Wei. Under her influence, the Emperor, appointed his father-in-law as prime minister. He also tried to make his father-in-law ''Shizhong'' ({{lang|zh|侍中}}, the head of the examination bureau of government, {{lang|zh|門下省}}, ''Menxia Sheng'', and a post considered one for a chancellor) and gave a mid-level office to his [[wet nurse]]'s son—despite stern opposition by the chancellor Pei Yan, at one point remarking to Pei:<ref name="ZZTJ203" />

{{blockquote|What would be wrong even if I gave the empire to Wei Xuanzhen? Why do you care about ''Shizhong'' so much?}}

Pei reported this to Empress Dowager Wu, and she, after planning with Pei, Liu Yizhi, and the generals Cheng Wuting ({{lang|zh|程務挺}}) and Zhang Qianxu ({{lang|zh|張虔勖}}), deposed Emperor Zhongzong and replaced him with her youngest son, [[Emperor Ruizong of Tang|Li Dan]], the Prince of Yu (as Emperor Ruizong). Wu had Zhongzong's father-in-law, Wei Xuanzhen ({{lang|zh|韋玄貞}}), brought up on charges of treason. Wei Xuanzhen was sent into seclusion. Zhongzong was reduced to the title of Prince of Luling and exiled. Wu also sent General Qiu Shenji ({{lang|zh|丘神勣}}) to Li Xián's place in exile and forced Li Xián to commit suicide.

====Plenipotentiary regent for Emperor Ruizong ====
Wu was the absolute ruler in both substance and appearance during the reign of her youngest son, Emperor Ruizong. She did not follow the customary pretense of hiding behind a screen or curtain and, in whispers, issued commands for the nominal ruler to formally announce. Her reign was fully recognized. Ruizong never moved into the imperial quarters, or appeared at imperial function, and remained a virtual prisoner in the inner quarters.<ref>{{harvp|Paludan|1998|pp= 97–101}}</ref> He held the title of emperor, but Wu firmly controlled the imperial court, and officials were not allowed to meet with Ruizong, nor was he allowed to rule on matters of state. It was to Wu that officials reported, with Ruizong not even nominally approving official actions. Soon after Ruizong took the throne, Wu carried out a major renaming of governmental offices and banners. Wu elevated Luoyang's status, making it a coequal capital. At her nephew Wu Chengsi's suggestion, she expanded the shrine of the Wu ancestors and gave them greater posthumous honors, and made Wu's ancestral shrine the size of the emperor's ancestral shrine.<ref name="ZZTJ203" />

Soon thereafter, Li Ji's grandson [[Li Jingye]], the Duke of Ying, who had been disaffected by his own exile, started a rebellion at Yang Prefecture ({{lang|zh|揚州}}, roughly modern Yangzhou, [[Jiangsu]]). The rebellion initially drew popular support in the region, but Li Jingye progressed slowly in his attack and did not take advantage of that support. Meanwhile, Pei suggested to Empress Dowager Wu that she return imperial authority to the Emperor, arguing that doing so would cause the rebellion to collapse on its own. This offended Wu, and she accused him of being complicit with Li Jingye and had him executed; she also demoted, exiled, and killed a number of officials who, when Pei was arrested, tried to speak on his behalf. She sent General Li Xiaoyi ({{lang|zh|李孝逸}}) to attack Li Jingye, and while Li Xiaoyi was initially unsuccessful, he pushed on at the urging of his assistant [[Wei Yuanzhong]] and eventually crushed Li Jingye's forces. Li Jingye fled and was killed in flight.<ref name="ZZTJ203" />

By 685, Empress Dowager Wu was having an affair with the [[Buddhist monk]] [[Xue Huaiyi|Huaiyi]], and over the next few years, Huaiyi received progressively greater honors.<ref name="ZZTJ203" /><ref name="ZZTJ204">{{harvp|Zizhi Tongjian|1084|loc= [[:zh:s:資治通鑑/卷204|vol. 204]]}}</ref><ref name="ZZTJ205">{{harvp|Zizhi Tongjian|1084|loc= [[:zh:s:資治通鑑/卷205|vol. 205]]}}</ref> In 686, Wu offered to return imperial authorities to Emperor Ruizong, but Ruizong, knowing that she did not truly intend to do so, declined, and she continued to exercise imperial authority. Meanwhile, she installed copper mailboxes outside the imperial government buildings to encourage the people of the realm to report secretly on others, as she suspected many officials of opposing her. Wu personally read all the reports of betrayal. Secret police officials, including [[Suo Yuanli]], [[Zhou Xing (Tang dynasty)|Zhou Xing]], and [[Lai Junchen]], began to rise in power and carry out systematic false accusations, torture, and executions.<ref name="ZZTJ203" />

In 688, Empress Dowager Wu was set to make sacrifices to the deity of the [[Luo River (Henan)|Luo River]] ({{lang|zh|洛水}}, flowing through the Henan province city of [[Luoyang]], then the "Eastern Capital"). She summoned senior members of Tang's Li imperial clan to Luoyang. Worried that she planned to slaughter them and secure the throne for herself, the imperial princes plotted to resist her. But before a rebellion could be comprehensively planned, Li Zhen and his son [[Li Chong (Tang dynasty)|Li Chong]], the Prince of Langye rose first, at their respective posts as prefects of Yu Prefecture ({{lang|zh|豫州}}, roughly modern [[Zhumadian]], [[Henan]]) and Bo Prefecture ({{lang|zh|博州}}, roughly modern [[Liaocheng]], [[Shandong]]). The other princes were not yet ready, and did not rise, and forces sent by Empress Dowager Wu and the local forces crushed Li Chong and Li Zhen's forces quickly. Wu took this opportunity to arrest Emperor Gaozong's granduncles Li Yuanjia ({{lang|zh|李元嘉}}) the Prince of Han, Li Lingkui ({{lang|zh|李靈夔}}) the Prince of Lu, and Princess Changle, as well as many other members of the Li clan, and forced them to commit suicide. Even Princess Taiping's husband Xue Shao was implicated and starved to death. In the subsequent years, there continued to be many politically motivated massacres of officials and Li clan members.<ref name="ZZTJ204" />

In 690, Wu took the final step to become the [[empress regnant]] of the newly proclaimed [[Wu Zhou|Zhou dynasty]], and the title ''Huangdi''. Traditional Chinese [[order of succession]] (akin to the [[Salic law]] in Europe) did not allow a woman to ascend the throne, but Wu was determined to quash the opposition and the use of the secret police continued after she took the throne. While her organization of the civil service system was criticized for its laxity of the promotion of officials, Wu was still considered capable of evaluating the officials' performance once they were in office. The [[Song dynasty]] historian [[Sima Guang]], in his ''[[Zizhi Tongjian]]'', writes:<ref name="ZZTJ205" />
{{blockquote|Even though the Empress Dowager{{NoteTag|Throughout the ''Zizhi Tongjian'' descriptions of Wu Zetian's reign, Sima referred to her as "the Empress Dowager", implicitly refusing to recognize her as empress regnant, although he used her [[Chinese era name|era name]]s.}} excessively used official titles to cause people to submit to her, if she saw that someone was incompetent, she would immediately depose or even execute him. She grasped the powers of punishment and award, controlled the state, and made her own judgments as to policy decisions. She was observant and had good judgment, so the talented people of the time also were willing to be used by her.}}