As Empress

As soon as she became Empress in 656, Wu Zetian took the initiative, and overriding Gaozong's resistence, she had newly promoted officials like Li Yi-Fu and Xu Jing-Zong bring criminal charges of dubious validity against all five of the Zai-Xiang who had opposed her elevation to Empress, so that by late 659, all had been driven to disgrace and death. In that same period, she also effected the destruction of the former Empress Wang and Xiao Shu-Fei and with needless brutality. Wu Zetian was also careful to avoid the charge that her family benefited too greatly from her position. Therefore, in the same year that she became Empress, she transferred her two half-brothers to provincial postings. Most sources suggest that the real reason for the transfer was the Empress' dislike of her brothers since they were disrespectful to her mother. The brothers did not survive long in the unhealthy regions, both dying at their posts soon after they took office.

As for Gaozong, it seems that as his wife's vengeance unfolded, he became more and more debilitated in spirit and morale, weeping openly, for instance at the fate of his former Empress and his uncle Zhang-Sun Wu-Ji one of the Zai-Xiang who had opposed Empress Wu. However, at the same time he seemed to be quite a competent ruler. For instance, his armies conquered the Western Turks in 658 and incorporated the vast area of the An-Hsi protectorate-general into the empire. In 659, he demonstrated his centralizing talents with important measures to weaken aristocratic regionalism and to confer prestige upon the examination sytem. Also, during this period he completed an extensive program of building and restoration at Luoyang, and designated it he Eastern Capital. However all this may have only been accomplished with the help and advice given by Empress Wu.

In 660, Gaozong suffered a stroke which resulted in the temporary delegation of his duties to the Empress. This was the start of Empress Wu's role in political affairs and the beginning of her seize of power. Warned that the Empress' unrestrained influence was detrimental to the empire, Gaozong considered deposing Empress Wu in late 664.

It seems that Empress had been seeing a Taoist priest known to be skilled in the occult. These activities could easily be construed as sorcery, one of the potential crimes to which Empress Wang's fall had been attributed, and it was as such that a eunuch reported it to to Gaozong. In anger he had one of his chief ministers, Shang-Guan Yi, draft a decree of deposition. The Empress got wind of what was happening and hurried to confront her husband. The Emperor, fearing her anger, said it was done on the advice of Shang-Guan Yi. Shang-Guan Yi and the eunuch were then executed.

After this event, the Empress Wu always hung a curtain and listened behind whenever Gao Zong attended to political matters. Her power and authority in government became equal to that of the Emperor and they were known at the time as the Two Sages.

The year 665 was notable for the celebration of the Feng-San sacrifice , the most important of state rituals whose function it was to announce to Heaven the successful achievements of a ruler's tasks and to beg continued blessings. Both Gao Zu and Tai Zong, feeling unworthy to perform this most solemn of rites, had refused ministerial requests to do so. In 665 the initiative seems to have been the rulers' and while it certainly related to domestic prosperity and the success of Chinese arms abroad, it may also have been symbolic of the restored harmony of Gao Zong's family life. Empress Wu was the only female in Chinese history who participated in this ceremonial.

The aftermath