Editing Wu Zetian (section)

=== Imperial consort (650–655) ===
Gaozong became emperor at the age of 21. He was not the first choice, as he was inexperienced and frequently incapacitated with a sickness that caused him spells of dizziness.<ref name="Paludan, 96" /> Gaozong was made heir to the empire only due to the disgrace of his two older brothers.<ref name="Paludan, 93" /> 

On or after the anniversary of Emperor Taizong's death,{{NoteTag|The modern historian [[Bo Yang]], based on the fact that Consort Wu's oldest son [[Li Hong]] was born in 652, fixed the date of this incident as 650, but 651 is also a possibility. See ''Bo Yang Edition of Zizhi Tongjian'', vol. 47.}} Gaozong went to Ganye Temple to offer incense to Buddha. When he and Consort Wu saw each other, they both wept. This was seen by Gaozong's wife, [[Empress Wang (Gaozong)|Empress Wang]].<ref>[[Bo Yang]], ''Outlines of the History of the Chinese'' ({{lang|zh|中國人史綱}}), vol. 2, p. 520.</ref> At that time, Gaozong did not favor Wang. Instead, he favored his concubine [[Pure Consort Xiao]]. Furthermore, Wang had no children while Xiao had one son ([[Li Sujie]]) and two daughters (Princesses Yiyang and Xuancheng). 

Wang, seeing that Gaozong was still impressed by Wu's beauty, hoped that the arrival of a new concubine would divert the emperor from Xiao. Therefore, she secretly told Wu to stop shaving her hair and later welcomed her to the palace. (Some modern historians dispute this traditional account. Some think that Wu never left the imperial palace and might have had an affair with Gaozong while Taizong was still alive.)<ref>{{cite wikisource
|title=唐會要
|chapter=卷003
|quote=太宗聞武士彠女有才貌，召入宮，以爲才人。時上在東宮，因入侍，悅之。
|wslanguage=zh
|trans-title=Tang Huiyao
|trans-chapter=Volume 3
|trans-quote=Taizong heard the daughter of Wu Shiyue is talented and beautiful; he called her into the palace and given her the title ''cairen''. At that time, Li Zhi was in the eastern palace, and because she served him, she also pleasured him.
}}</ref>

Wu soon overtook Xiao as Gaozong's favorite. In 652, she gave birth to her first child, a son named [[Li Hong]]. In 653, she gave birth to another son, [[Li Xian (prince)|Li Xián]]. Neither of these sons was in contention to be Gaozong's heir, because Gaozong, at the request of officials influenced by Wang and her uncle (the chancellor [[Liu Shi (Tang dynasty)|Liu Shi]]), had designated his eldest son [[Li Zhong]] as his heir. Li Zhong's mother, Consort Liu, was of lowly birth. Wang did this in order to receive Liu's gratitude.

By 654, both Wang and Xiao had lost favor with Gaozong, and these two former romantic rivals joined forces against Wu, but to no avail. For example, as a sign of his love for Wu, Gaozong conferred posthumous honors on her father, [[Wu Shiyue]]. In the same year, Wu gave birth to a daughter. But her daughter died shortly after birth, with evidence suggesting deliberate [[Strangling|strangulation]]. The evidence include allegations made by Wu herself, and she accused Wang of murder.<ref name="Paludan, 96" /> Wang was accused of having been seen near the child's room, with corroborating testimony by alleged eyewitnesses. Gaozong was led to believe that Wang, motivated by jealousy, had most likely killed the child. Wang lacked an alibi and was unable to clear her name.

Scientifically credible [[forensic pathology]] information about the death of Wu's daughter does not exist, and scholars lack concrete evidence about her death. However, scholars have many theories and speculations.{{cn|date=November 2024}} Because traditional folklore tends to portray Wu as a power-hungry woman unconcerned about whom she hurt or what she did, the most popular theory is that Wu killed her own child in order to accuse Wang. Other schools of thought argue that Wang indeed killed the child out of jealousy and hatred of Wu. The third argument is that the child died of [[asphyxiation]] or [[crib death]].{{cn|date=November 2024}} The ventilation systems of the time were nonexistent or of poor quality, and the lack of ventilation combined with using coal as a heating method could have led to [[carbon monoxide poisoning]]. In any case, Wu blamed Wang for the girl's death, and as a result, tried to remove Wang from her position.

Because of the child's death, an angry Gaozong also wanted to depose Wang and replace her with Wu.{{cn|date=November 2024}} But first he needed to make sure that he had the support of the government chancellors. So Gaozong met with his uncle [[Zhangsun Wuji]], the head chancellor. During the meeting, Gaozong repeatedly brought up Wang's childlessness. Childlessness was a sufficient excuse to depose Wang, but Zhangsun repeatedly found ways to divert the conversation.{{cn|date=November 2024}} Subsequent visits made by Wu's mother, Lady Yang, and an official allied with Wu, [[Xu Jingzong]], to seek support from Zhangsun were met with disappointment.<ref name="ZZTJ199">{{harvp|Zizhi Tongjian|1084|loc= [[:zh:s:資治通鑑/卷199|vol. 199]]}}</ref> 

In the summer of 655, Wu accused Wang and her mother, Lady Liu, of using witchcraft. In response, Gaozong barred Liu from the palace and demoted Wang's uncle, Liu Shi.<ref name="ZZTJ199" /> Meanwhile, a faction of officials began to form around Wu, including [[Li Yifu]], Xu, Cui Yixuan ({{lang|zh|崔義玄}}), and Yuan Gongyu ({{lang|zh|袁公瑜}}). That autumn, Gaozong summoned the chancellors Zhangsun, [[Li Shiji|Li Ji]], [[Yu Zhining]], and [[Chu Suiliang]] to the palace. Chu had deduced that the summons were about changing the empress. Li Ji claimed illness and refused to attend. At the meeting, Chu vehemently opposed deposing Wang, while Zhangsun and Yu showed their disapproval by silence. Chancellors [[Han Yuan]] and [[Lai Ji]] also opposed the move. When Gaozong asked Li Ji again he responded, "This is your family matter, Your Imperial Majesty. Why ask anyone else?" {{cn|date=November 2024}}

Gaozong therefore resolved to demote Chu to commandant at [[Tanzhou (in modern Hunan)|Tan Prefecture]] (roughly modern [[Changsha]], Hunan),<ref name="ZZTJ199" /> and then deposed both Wang and Xiao. He placed them under arrest and made Wu empress. Later that year, Gaozong showed signs of considering their release. Because of this, Wang and Xiao were killed on Empress Wu's orders. After their deaths, they often haunted Wu's dreams over the years.<ref>{{cite wikisource
|title=新唐書
|chapter=卷076
|quote=武后頻見二人被髮瀝血為厲，惡之，以巫祝解謝，即徙蓬萊宮，厲復見，故多駐東都。
|wslanguage=zh
|trans-title=New Book of Tang
|trans-chapter=Volume 76
|trans-quote=Wu often sees [in her dreams] the two [Wang and Xiao] in bloody shape, and she disliked it. She tried ''wu'' (shaman) practices and moved to Penglai palace, yet still seeing them. Therefore, she mostly lived in the eastern capital from then on.
}}</ref>

Wu came to believe their spirits were after her. For this reason, Emperor Gaozong started remodeling a secondary palace, Daming Palace (大明宮), into Penglai Palace (蓬萊宮). When Penglai Palace's main hall, Hanyuan Hall (含元殿), was completed in 663, Gaozong and Wu moved there. It was later renamed Hanyuan Palace, yet Empress Wang and Consort Xiao still continued to appear in her dreams. Therefore, for the rest of Gaozong's reign, he and Wu often took up residence at the eastern capital [[Luoyang]] and only infrequently spent time in [[Chang'an]].<ref name="ZZTJ200">{{harvp|Zizhi Tongjian|1084|loc= [[:zh:s:資治通鑑/卷200|vol. 200]]}}</ref>