On the twenty-second day of the first month of the first year of the Shenlong Dynasty, Wu Zetian was seriously ill, and the crown prince Li Xian, together with the chancellor Zhang Kamzhi, Huan Yanfan, and others, took the opportunity to launch a mutiny. They first killed Zhang Changzong and Zhang Yizhi at the Jixian Temple, and then led an army to surround the Yingxian Palace where Wu Zetian lived, in an attempt to force Wu Zetian to abdicate.
When the army surrounded the Yingxian Palace, Wu Zetian was lying in bed recuperating, and when he heard the shouts of killing outside, he was shocked and quickly asked the left and right who was causing the disturbance. Zhang Kamzhi replied outside the door that the Zhang brothers' conspiracy to rebel had been ambushed, and the ministers and others had alarmed the Heavenly Son and deserved to die. Wu Zetian saw through the window that Li Xian was also there, so he asked Li Xian, this matter was directed by you, right? Now that these two boys have been killed by you, you can go back.
Wu Zetian asked, Li Xian did not know how to answer, Yulin general Huan Yanfan took the opportunity to stand up and said, how can the prince go back to the Eastern Palace? When The former emperor entrusted the prince to His Majesty, now that he is older, how can he always be the prince? The people also missed the Li family, and the ministers did not dare to forget the kindness of His Majesty Emperor Taizong, and also asked His Majesty to cede the throne to the crown prince to conform to the will of the people.
Wu Zetian walked out of the room, she did not answer Huan Yanfan's words, but looked at the crowd under the steps, found that Li Zhan, the son of Li Yifu, the governor of Yangzhou, was also there, and asked him, Did you kill the erzhang brothers? I used to treat your father and son well, and I couldn't imagine that I would be treated like this today! Li Zhan's face was flushed with shame, and he didn't know how to answer, so he had to hide behind the crowd.
Wu Zetian's gaze continued to scan the crowd, and he suddenly found that Cui Xuanwei was also there. She pointed to Cui Xuanwei and asked, everyone else was promoted after being recommended by others, only you have always been hand-picked by Shu, why are you here today? In the face of Wu Zetian's questioning, Cui Xuanwei did not have a shameful face, and he bowed slightly to Wu Zetian and said that the minister had come here today to repay His Majesty's great kindness to the minister.
Listening to Cui Xuanwei's answer, Wu Zetian had already understood that even his closest courtiers had betrayed her, and it seemed that abdication was a foregone conclusion. After a moment of silence, she said to the people at the bottom of the steps, you should go back first, and you will have your own arrangements. The ministers listened to Wu Zetian's words and did not move, but set their eyes on the crown prince Li Xian, and left the Yingxian Palace under Li Xian's jaw.
The next day, Wu Zetian issued an edict, deciding that the crown prince Li Xian would oversee the administration of the country and grant amnesty to the world. On the third day, Wu Zetian officially ceded the throne to the crown prince Li Xian. After Wu Zetian abdicated, the courtiers were overjoyed by this, and only Shi Yaochong, the governor of the Xiang Dynasty, cried with a headache. Although he also participated in the persecution of the palace in yingxian Palace, he was full of sympathy for Wu Zetian's suffering, and he couldn't help but cry and weep at the thought that Her Majesty the Empress was forced to take the throne by the group of courtiers at the age of 82.
After Wu Zetian abdicated, he only lived for about 11 months before he died, and after his death, he erected a wordless monument for himself, which was not merit or demerit to posterity to comment. When Wu Zetian announced his abdication, Zhang Kamzhi, Cui Xuanwei and others were all ecstatic, they all had meritorious service, and all of them were ministers from the Dragon, waiting for the new emperor to ascend the throne to appreciate the merits, and only Yao Chong, the empress, wept. As everyone knows, after 1 year, these people who did not cry are all dead, and the end of several of them is still very tragic.
After Li Xian's restoration, several of the ministers who led the coup d'état of the Five Kings were rewarded, and each one was made a marquis, such as Zhang Kamzhi was made "King of Hanyang", Yuan Shuji was made "King of Nanyang", Jinghui was made "King of Pingyang", Cui Xuanwei was named "King of Boling", and Huan Yanfan was made "King of Fuyang". Although Yao Chong, who shed tears in public when the empress abdicated, also caused displeasure to Zhang Kamzhi and others, he also played a great role in forcing the palace as the head of the Xiang Dynasty, so he was also named "Marquis of Liang County". Among these five kings and one marquis, only Yao Chong, alone, received a good death.
After Li Xian ascended the throne, Yao Chong, because of his sympathy for Wu Zetian, was sent out of Bozhou to serve as an assassin. After Emperor Ruizong of Tang succeeded to the throne by Li Dan, Yao Chong was recalled to serve as Shangshu of the Bingbu and Zhongshu Ling, and was later demoted to the title of Assassin of Shenzhou for refusing to attach himself to Princess Taiping. After Emperor Xuanzong of Tang ascended the throne, Yao Chong, again, was summoned to the court by Emperor Xuanzong, and the officials paid homage to Shangshu and Tongping Zhangshi of the Military Department, moved to Zhongshu Ling, and created the Duke of Liang. He later assisted Tang Xuanzong in creating the Kaiyuan Dynasty, and became a famous person with Fang Xuanling, Du Ruhan, Song Jing and others.
As for Zhang Kamzhi, Yuan Shuji, Cui Xuanwei, Jinghui, and Huan Yanfan, although they were later made the king of the county by Li Xian, they were soon retaliated against by the Wu clan. At first, the governor of Luo Prefecture, Shi Xue Jichang, had persuaded Jinghui to uproot the Wu clan, but Zhang Kamzhi disagreed, believing that the eradication of the Wu clan was Li Xian's family affair and should be decided by Li Xian himself.
As the saying goes, fighting snakes does not die, and it is self-inflicted. The five were soon framed by Wu Sansi, saying that they were disrespectful to Empress Wei and intended to rebel. Therefore, only a year after Wu Zetian's abdication, Zhang Kamzhi and five other people were no longer in the scenery, and all of them were exiled to remote places by Li Xian. Zhang Kamzhi was killed by anger during the exile, Cui Xuanwei died of illness during the exile, and Huan Yanfan, Yuan Shuji, and Jinghui had the most tragic ending, and they were eventually tortured and killed by Zhou Lizhen, a cool official left behind by Wu Zetian. During the Wu zhou period, most of the old ministers, except for Yao Chong, and a few others, did not get a good ending.