A thousand-year-old family begins with one fighting against ten thousand.

Wu Zetian even began to try to handle state affairs on her own.

He made all the decisions himself in the face of the court's measures, without reporting to Li Zhi.

This clearly violated the agreement between Wu Zetian and Li Zhi.

When Li Zhi supported Wu Zetian, they made an agreement that Wu Zetian must submit her draft plan to the emperor for approval before it could be implemented, in order to handle major military and national affairs, personnel appointments and removals, and policy planning.

Initially, it was just minor matters such as the governance of prefectures and counties, the regulations of the harem, and sporadic rewards. Wu Zetian directly approved and issued the documents, and only briefly informed Li Zhi afterwards.

Then she told Li Zhi that this was to reduce his burden, so that he could focus on recuperating and use his brain less. She made the decision for him on some small matters.

Emperor Gaozong (Li Zhi) suffered from headaches for many years and was often unable to attend court. He was exhausted from governing the country and initially thought it was just to reduce his burden without taking it seriously.

Even after secretly investigating, he found that they were all minor matters, hardly reaching the level of the various departments. Given Wu Zetian's power, they were indeed insignificant. So he acquiesced to the matter, which allowed him to reduce the number of memorials he had to review and focus on recuperating.

After all, Wu Zetian reported the whole thing to him afterwards, without hiding anything. She knew everything and had it all under control.

In the twelfth year of the Yonghui era, the world was at peace and the country was well-governed. The people lived in peace and contentment. After the power of the Guanlong aristocratic families was reduced, a large number of talented people from humble backgrounds emerged. Emperor Li Zhi felt that the country was prosperous and decided to perform the Fengshan ceremony at Mount Tai.

During the preparations for the Fengshan ceremony, Emperor Gaozong (Li Zhi) suddenly suffered from a headache and entrusted a large amount of state affairs to Empress Wu Zetian.

Under the pretext of reforming the ritual system and cracking down on the Guanzhong region's power, Wu Zetian dismissed many nobles and promoted many officials who were loyal to her.

At the same time, he began to directly issue orders for the selection of some officials, bypassing Li Zhi, and reporting to Li Zhi after the matter was completed.

Li Zhi was busy recuperating and preparing for the Fengshan ceremony at Mount Tai, and for a time he neglected state affairs and failed to react.

He still believed that the court was under his control, thinking that he was simply busy with the Fengshan ceremony. Wu Zetian was merely handling these political matters herself.

Once this busy period is over, everything will return to normal.

After tasting the benefits, Wu Zetian began to intensify her efforts, bypassing Emperor Gaozong (Li Zhi) and promoting officials who were loyal to her.

Her actions aroused the dissatisfaction of many court officials, but at that time Wu Zetian still had Li Zhi's trust, and these people could do nothing about it.

This situation continued for three years. In the fourteenth year of the Yonghui era, the discontent of the court officials reached its peak and began to erupt.

These officials dispatched a eunuch named Wang Fusheng, who had access to Li Zhi.

The eunuch Wang Fusheng secretly reported to Emperor Gaozong that Empress Wu Zetian had secretly summoned the Daoist priest Guo Xingzhen into the palace to perform witchcraft and sorcery, without informing Emperor Gaozong of this in the slightest.

Li Zhi was completely unaware of this!

He began to sense that something was wrong. Since ancient times, witchcraft had been a taboo subject in the hearts of emperors, and no one was allowed to violate it.

Empress Wu Zetian secretly practiced witchcraft behind his back. What was she trying to do?!

Li Zhi's political ideas made him keenly aware that something was amiss.

Why didn't he notice anything about something so important?

Is the government still truly under his control?

Li Zhi had a deep question mark in his mind.

Reflecting on Wu Zetian's recent actions, he realized that on many occasions, she seemed to bypass him and conduct political affairs directly, which he found utterly unacceptable.

He summoned one of his trusted confidants in the court, the prime minister Shangguan Yi.

After he began to suspect Wu Zetian, he couldn't wait to find out how much of the court was still under his control and how much had slipped out of his grasp.

After summoning Shangguan Yi to the Imperial Study, Li Zhi dismissed all the eunuchs. The palace was already inextricably linked to Wu Zetian and was extremely close to her. He now had no idea how many people around him were actually Wu Zetian's people.

So he dismissed everyone.

However, Wu Zetian had an extremely keen political sense. When she discovered that Li Zhi had secretly come to see Shangguan Yi without telling anyone, she knew that something was very wrong.

He was always wary of this, and just as Li Zhi thought, there were indeed Wu Zetian's people around him, and they were his closest eunuchs, several of whom had already been subdued by Wu Zetian.

"The Empress has been secretly practicing witchcraft and acting in secret from me. She makes most of her own decisions on state affairs, large and small, without reporting to me anymore. Are you aware of the current situation in the court?"

Li Zhi asked Shangguan Yi.

As prime minister, Shangguan Yi had long been extremely dissatisfied with Wu Zetian, a woman from the inner palace, for wantonly interfering in state affairs. This was a complete slap in the face to him as prime minister.

With the empress in control of the government, his position as prime minister became largely useless. This is a rare occurrence throughout history and is a disgrace to civil officials.

"The empress is autocratic, causing disappointment both inside and outside the court, and is not in accordance with the rites of the ancestral temple."

"As the Empress, she has interfered in state affairs and practiced witchcraft, which has long exceeded her duty as a regent. Your Majesty should abolish the Empress to rectify the court and secure the country."

Then Shangguan Yi gave Li Zhi a detailed account of Wu Zetian's actions, which greatly surprised Li Zhi.

"Why don't you all report this to me?"

Li Zhi said angrily.

Shangguan Yi lowered his head deeply and remained silent.

Li Zhi also realized that he had previously trusted Wu Zetian immensely, and if these people were to say such things in front of him, they would likely be in danger of losing their lives and fortunes.

After learning about Shangguan Yi's predicament, Li Zhi calmed down a bit.

In recent years, Wu Zetian appointed and dismissed officials, arranged the court, and purged the old Guanlong faction. She always acted first and reported later, and she only learned about many of these things later in her life.

It seems that Wu Zetian had long harbored thoughts she shouldn't have.

Moreover, the fact that his power as emperor had fallen into the wrong hands was something he could not accept at all.

He immediately approved Shangguan Yi's memorial and ordered Shangguan Yi to draft an edict to depose Empress Wu Zetian.

At the same time, he had his close eunuch attendant grind ink for Shangguan Yi and serve him with writing brush and ink.

This young eunuch had long been bribed by Wu Zetian, and upon learning the news, he immediately spread it.

Wu Zetian, who had already been informed by the eunuch beside Li Zhi, rushed over immediately.

When Wu Zetian arrived, she immediately ordered a eunuch to open the palace gates and rushed inside.

When Wu Zetian entered, Li Zhi was shocked to realize what had happened. He hurriedly tried to destroy the draft edict, but it was too late.

After Wu Zetian entered, she immediately saw the edict drafted by Shangguan Yi on the table.

In less than a second, Wu Zetian's eyes were already red.

She threw herself into Li Zhi's arms and burst into tears, her voice filled with grievance and questioning.