Li Shimin faked his death? Then I will be powerful enough to conquer the world!

Chapter 816 The Great Purge The morning bells and evening drums of Chang'an City still rang on time, but in the Taiji Palace, a secret power transformation was quietly taking place.

In the spring of the fourth year of Xianheng, officials walked hurriedly in the corridor of the Ye Ting Palace, with uneasy eyes hidden under the lowered brims of their hats.

In this seemingly ordinary season, Li Zhi officially canonized Wu Meiniang as the Queen of Heaven.

At that time, undercurrents were surging in the court.

Officials headed by Pei Yan were all key ministers assisting the government. They adhered to traditional etiquette and originally believed that making Wu Zetian the empress was not only against moral principles, but they were also worried that this ruthless woman would disrupt the stable power structure of the Tang Dynasty.

At the enthronement ceremony, Pei Yan held a tablet in his hand, his expression solemn, and earnestly advised: "Your Majesty, Wu is of humble origin and once served the late emperor. If you give your all now, I'm afraid it will be criticized by the world and shake the foundation of the country!"

Liu Rengui even banged his head against the pillar, staining the steps of the palace red with blood, trying to use this extreme method to prevent the enthronement.

Li Zhi had made up his mind. He stood on the Dragon Platform, his eyes firm but concealing complex emotions. He waved his hand to signal the consecration ceremony to continue.

The enthronement of the Queen of Heaven was just the beginning of this power transformation.

As Wu Zetian entered the imperial palace, Li Zhi gradually discussed more and more government affairs with her.

At first, it was just some insignificant matters, such as the arrangements for court festivals.

But gradually, Li Zhi began to let Wu Zetian participate in court discussions and listen to the reports of ministers.

On this day, after the morning court session ended, Li Zhi kept several important officials and announced that he would let Wu Zetian participate in the decision-making of state affairs.

As soon as the news came out, the hall suddenly fell silent and the air seemed to freeze.

A moment later, the court erupted in an uproar. Liu Rengui was the first to step forward and loudly remonstrate, "Your Majesty, since ancient times, there has never been a precedent for the Empress to participate in government affairs. This is a move that will disrupt the government and must not be tolerated!"

Other ministers also echoed this, and for a while, opposition voices arose one after another.

Li Zhi frowned and looked displeased, but did not change his mind. He just waved his hand and signaled everyone to leave.

After that, a phoenix throne appeared next to the dragon throne in the Taiji Hall.

During every court meeting, Li Zhi sat on the dragon throne, while Wu Zetian sat on the phoenix throne, ruling from behind the curtain.

All the civil and military officials in the court looked at this scene with mixed feelings, shocked and helpless.

They couldn't understand why Li Zhi, who had always been gentle and kind, would make such a bold decision to give half of his power to the queen.

Outside the imperial court, the streets of Chang'an were buzzing with discussion. In a teahouse, a storyteller, clacking a wooden clapper, recounted palace secrets with spit flying: "Ladies and gentlemen, do you know that the Tang Dynasty is about to undergo a complete transformation? The Empress is now even able to attend court alongside His Majesty to govern the country. This is unheard of, from ancient times to the present!"

The tea drinkers listened with great interest, whispered to each other, and speculated about the future direction of the Tang Dynasty.

Questions about Wu Zetian's participation in government affairs, which were against etiquette, never stopped both inside and outside the court.

In Confucian classics, women are expected to support their husbands and raise children, and are not allowed to interfere in government affairs.

But now, Wu Zetian openly participates in the decision-making of national affairs, which is undoubtedly a huge challenge to traditional etiquette.

Those officials who were well-read and deeply influenced by Confucianism could not accept such a situation from the bottom of their hearts.

They believed that the emperor, as the Son of Heaven, possessed supreme power and was the ruler of the world, while the empress could only live in the harem, assist the emperor, and could not interfere in state affairs.

In their view, the situation where "Emperor and Empress" were referred to together was extremely absurd and a blasphemy against the dignity of imperial power.

But no matter how the officials advised, the memorials they submitted fell on deaf ears and received no response.

Li Zhi seemed to be deliberately avoiding these controversies and often stayed in his own palace and did not meet with ministers.

Once, several ministers knelt outside the palace for a whole day, hoping to meet Li Zhi and express their views in person. However, until night fell, the palace gates were still closed, and they could only return home disappointed.

As time went on, Wu Zetian began to be responsible for approving more and more memorials.

She sat at the desk reviewing memorials, her eyes sharp, the red pen in her hand moving quickly across the memorials, writing down instructions one after another.

Her decision-making was decisive and resolute, no less than that of any male emperor.

At first, officials were skeptical about her replies and even dismissive of them, but gradually, they discovered that Wu Zetian's handling of government affairs was not only clear and organized, but also extremely far-sighted.

In order to gain a firm foothold in the court, one must have sufficient power.

So, she began to control the Jinyiwei and the Bad People, who represented the imperial power. The Jinyiwei was originally the emperor's personal army, responsible for reconnaissance, arrest, interrogation and other matters.

The Bad People are a special force that maintains public order in Chang'an City. They are well-informed and can be found in every street and alley.

Wu Zetian used various means to firmly grasp these two forces in her hands.

She rewarded the leaders of the Jinyiwei and the bad guys with a large amount of gold, silver and treasures, and promised them high positions and generous salaries to make them loyal to her.

Soon, Wu Zetian had spies in every corner of Chang'an City, and every move of the ministers in the court could not escape her eyes.

After gaining control of the intelligence force, Wu Zetian began to use Li Yifu. Although Li Yifu was talented, he was cunning and good at opportunism.

He keenly sensed Wu Zetian's rise, and without hesitation joined her army, becoming her right-hand man in the court.

With the support of Wu Zetian, Li Yifu's career was prosperous and he was promoted step by step.

He was appointed Sikong.

Relying on Wu Zetian's support, he acted arrogantly in the court, excluded dissidents, and suppressed officials who opposed Wu Zetian.

An unprecedented purge quietly unfolded within the Tang Dynasty.

From the six ministers and other court officials to local county officials, any official who posed a threat to Wu Zetian's rule or had opposed her became the target of the purge.

Wu Zetian sent out the Embroidered Uniform Guards and the Outlaws to collect evidence of officials' crimes. Even some trivial matters would be magnified infinitely and become reasons for punishment.

Many officials were arrested and imprisoned without any warning, their property was confiscated, and their families were implicated.

For a time, everyone in the court was in danger. Officials were very cautious when attending court and did not dare to say a word for fear of being killed.

After the Great Purge, Wu Zetian recruited a large number of cruel and ruthless officials.

Among them, Lai Junchen and Zhou Xing were the most notorious. They invented various cruel tortures to interrogate prisoners. The mere mention of tortures like "The Jade Maiden Climbs the Ladder" and "The Phoenix Drys Its Wings" is enough to make one shudder.

Once someone falls into the hands of these cruel officials, few can escape intact.

They created panic through torture and forced confessions.

Its brutality was several times more terrifying than the three major purges of officials during the Qianwu period.

When officials talked about these cruel officials in private, they couldn't help but tremble all over, and their fear of Wu Zetian reached its peak.

However, those high-ranking ministers all knew in their hearts that the truly terrifying person was never Empress Wu Zetian.

All her power came from Li Zhi.

If Li Zhi was unwilling, no matter how clever Wu Zetian's methods were, she would not have been able to cause such a bloody storm in the Tang Dynasty.

In this power game, officials also discovered a big problem. As the purge progressed, a large number of official vacancies appeared in the court.

However, it wasn't long before all the vacancies were filled. What shocked the officials even more was that the people who filled these vacancies were all familiar to them: the Five Surnames and Seven Famous Names had returned!

The Five Surnames and Seven Ancestral Families are the Longxi Li family, the Zhaojun Li family, the Boling Cui family, the Qinghe Cui family, the Fanyang Lu family, the Xingyang Zheng family, and the Taiyuan Wang family. These families have been prominent and powerful families since the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, and have played an important role in politics, economy, culture and other aspects.

After the establishment of the Tang Dynasty, the previous emperor destroyed the power of the aristocratic families, and the court took a series of measures to restrict the development of the Five Surnames and Seven Families.

But now Wu Zetian re-employed the children of these aristocratic families and allowed them to serve as officials in the court.