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

"Your Majesty, I have served you for decades, accompanying you in eliminating powerful ministers like Changsun Wuji and securing the Tang Dynasty. I have toiled day and night in the palace, sharing the burden of state affairs, and for many years, I have assisted Your Majesty in handling matters of state that Your Majesty is unable to manage due to your illness. How could I have ever harbored the slightest disloyalty?"

"At first, Your Majesty's illness was not serious, and I consulted Your Majesty on everything, big or small."

"Later, seeing that Your Majesty's illness had worsened, I took matters into consideration for Your Majesty's health and made some decisions on my own, but I always consulted Your Majesty afterward."

"Has Your Majesty ever done anything that Your Majesty has explicitly forbidden over the years?"

"The Taoist priest Guo Xingzhen entered the palace because I had been troubled by nightmares and mental distress in my early years. I asked him to pray for blessings and ward off disasters. It was by no means a curse or spell. The eunuch Wang Fusheng was a former servant of the deposed Crown Prince Li Zhong. He harbored resentment and deliberately framed me with slander. Your Majesty did not investigate carefully and readily believed one side of the story, and even issued an edict to depose the Empress?"

"Your Majesty entrusted me with all matters of state in your early years. Now that I have a little autonomy in governance, I am slandered by court officials as a usurper. Your Majesty listened to Shangguan Yi's instigation, disregarding our shared hardships as husband and wife, and ignoring the fact that the princes are still young, issuing a decree to depose the Empress. Where is the dignity of the royal family? Where is our long-standing relationship?"

Seeing that Li Zhi's expression wavered, she softened her tone and appealed to his emotions and reason.

"Your Majesty has always been benevolent. Have you forgotten how you defied public opinion to bring me back to the palace and how you overruled the court officials to make me Empress? Now you listen to the slander of foreign ministers and make a hasty decision. It is not only my heart that is chilled. Your Majesty, think of Hong'er. If Your Majesty deposes me, how will Hong'er live?"

"If my position as Empress is revoked, so be it. My heart belongs only to Your Majesty and Hong'er; I have no power whatsoever. But what about Hong'er's position as Crown Prince afterward?"

"Your Majesty is well aware of the brutality of the struggle for the throne! It's a bloodbath, fratricide, and even the destruction of one's own flesh and blood. Will Your Majesty also depose my poor child along with him?"

"If the throne isn't abolished, what will happen to the new empress and her son whom His Majesty appoints in the future?"

"Will they just stand by and watch? Without my support, how badly will they bully Hong'er in the future?"

"If His Majesty deposes Hong'er from his position as Crown Prince, will he spare Hong'er once a new Crown Prince ascends the throne?"

"Does Your Majesty wish for a repeat of the events of the previous dynasty? If this continues for three generations, what will the people of the world think of our Great Tang?"

"All future rulers are of Your Majesty's blood; does Your Majesty wish to see them kill each other generation after generation?"

Li Zhi was rendered speechless by Wu Zetian's words, and her words also stirred up old feelings. In the end, fearing that what Wu Zetian said might become the truth, the Li imperial family would turn against each other generation after generation.

Although he had never witnessed the struggle for the crown prince position during Li Shimin's generation, he knew the fates of his two elder brothers.

He absolutely did not want his son to experience the same thing.

Moreover, after these years of development, he had no idea just how much Wu Zetian's power had expanded.

If Wu Zetian had not discovered this, the prime minister could have drafted the edict and stamped it with his seal, thus making everything a fait accompli. Even if Wu Zetian retaliated, she would not have been able to stir up any trouble.

But now that this has been known in advance, Wu Zetian's power is sufficient to launch a counterattack.

The court will surely suffer a great loss of strength at that time.

Moreover, Li Zhi wondered why Wu Zetian had learned of this news so quickly, and a shadow fell over his heart.

He also had Wu Zetian's people around him, and he dared not imagine what would happen if Wu Zetian really went mad.

Left with no other choice, he had to shift all the blame onto Shangguan Yi.

"Your Majesty is overthinking it. I have never intended to depose you. This was all Shangguan Yi's idea."

Shangguan Yi hadn't been able to get a word in edgewise, but now that Wu Zetian had finally finished speaking, it was Li Zhi's turn. He wanted to offer some explanation, but then he heard the emperor he served say something that betrayed him.

Wu Zetian glared fiercely at Shangguan Yi. "Your Majesty, what is the punishment for slandering the Empress and plotting against the Crown Prince?"

Shangguan Yi looked at Li Zhi with a pleading expression: "Your Majesty, this wicked empress is bringing ruin to the country!"

"Have you not heard of Empress Lü Zhi of the early Han Dynasty, or Xi Shi of Wu?"

Shangguan Yi offered his advice to Li Zhi.

"presumptuous!"

"All my handling of state affairs is done with His Majesty's permission; how can it be considered a calamity to the country!"

"Do you perhaps have some kind of problem with His Majesty?!"

Wu Zetian snorted coldly.

"Your Majesty! We must punish the wicked empress and restore order to the court!"

Shangguan Yi ignored Wu Zetian and focused solely on speaking to Li Zhi.

Li Zhi closed his eyes helplessly, and Shangguan Yi's heart closed at the same time.

He was abandoned by Li Zhi.

Wu Zetian's lips curled into a cold smile. "Guards, drag Shangguan Yi out and throw him into the imperial prison."

"Exterminate the entire Shangguan clan, three generations of them, and wipe them all out!"

Li Zhi's lips moved, but he acquiesced to Wu Zetian's judgment. He dared not open his eyes to look at Shangguan Yi; it was clearly his order, and otherwise, Shangguan Yi would not have ended up like this.

But now he neither wants to nor can he turn against Wu Zetian, so he has no choice but to sacrifice Shangguan Yi.

After returning to the palace, Wu Zetian secretly summoned Xu Jingzong and told him about what had happened that day. Xu Jingzong immediately understood and, upon returning, interrogated Shangguan Yi in the imperial prison, subjecting him to severe torture and fabricating charges against him.

He connected eunuch Wang Fusheng, Crown Prince Li Zhong, and other forces opposing Wu Zetian, and uprooted them completely.

In the fourteenth year of the Yonghui era, all forces in the court that opposed Wu Zetian were eradicated, and Li Zhi completely lost the power to check and balance Wu Zetian.

The court officials pitied Shangguan Yi's death and were unwilling to serve Li Zhi again, especially in dealing with Wu Zetian, as they feared being betrayed by Li Zhi once more.

Whenever she held court, Wu Zetian would rule from behind a screen, and all matters of state, including life, death, rewards, and punishments, were decided by her. This was known in history as "the government returning to the central palace."

The entire Tang Dynasty entered the era of Wu Zetian's rule.

Although there may be unrest in the world, it is only because the harem holds power; it's not like we haven't experienced it before.

There were many empress dowagers in the Han Dynasty, and the same was true in previous dynasties.

If the emperor wanted, he could easily ask the Wei family to intervene and set things right.

However, the emperor did not do so, and no one knows why.

Perhaps the emperor did try to contact them, but the Wei family avoided meeting them.

After all, compared to Li Zhi, Wu Zetian was more able to bring benefits to the people.

Because Wu Zetian wanted to seize power, those powerful clans were an insurmountable obstacle. Wu Zetian's base of support was in the common people, and the powerful clans were her absolute adversaries.

After Wu Zetian came to power, in order to further weaken the power of nobles and aristocratic families and pave the way for her own advancement, she ordered the tightening of the hereditary succession and appointment of nobles to official positions, and restricted the children of aristocratic families from entering officialdom directly without taking the imperial examination.

At the same time, the detailed rules for evaluating officials were revised, prioritizing performance evaluation and no longer determining rank and promotion based on family background.

The document reaffirms that local officials in prefectures and counties will be selected by the Ministry of Personnel, thus preventing powerful families from privately appointing subordinates.

Her policies dealt a heavy blow to the status quo where powerful families controlled officials, allowing many people from humble backgrounds to enter officialdom. These officials were all supporters of Wu Zetian.

In the seventeenth year of the Yonghui era, the Fengshan ceremony at Mount Tai, which had been delayed by various matters, was finally completed in the court controlled by Wu Zetian. Wu Zetian also officially lifted the curtain to step from behind the scenes to the forefront.