Although Empress Wu Zetian won the throne by not-so-bright means, she appointed talents in the early days of her reign, rectified the rule of officials, and severely punished corrupt officials, laying the foundation for the "rule of Kaiyuan". During her reign, a large factor in political clarity was that she spoke widely and paid attention to advice, and few people were convicted of direct advice. Among them, Di Renjie, known as the "Divine Detective", advised her many times, and Wu Zetian did not punish him.
Di Renjie, also spelled Huaiying, was born in 630 in Taiyuan, Hezhou. When he was young, he took the imperial examination and was awarded the title of Judge of zhibei Prefecture (授汴州判佐) in the Ming Dynasty. Later, he was recommended by Yan Liben, an envoy of The Deposed Governor of Henan Province, and promoted to the position of Fa Cao, the governor of Hezhou. During the Yifeng period, he was awarded the post of Dali Temple, and within one year, he adjudicated a large number of dali temple backlogged cases, involving 17,000 people, and none of them were wrongfully prosecuted. After that, he was promoted and demoted several times.
In 690, Wu Zetian ascended the throne and changed the name of the country to Zhou. In September of the following year, at the age of 61, Di Renjie was promoted from Sima of Luozhou to the position of Prefectural Official Shilang (侍郎), acting as an agent for Shangshu affairs, and was awarded the title of Tongfengge Luantai Pingzhangshi (同凤阁) and became prime minister. Wu Zetian said to him, "When you were an official in Runan, your political performance was very good. But someone slandered you, but who do you know? Di Renjie replied, "If Your Majesty thinks that the subject has done something wrong, the subject should change it; if His Majesty knows that the subject is not at fault, this is the subject's luck." The minister did not want to know who the person who had slandered me was, and would treat him as a friend. Wu Zetian was impressed by his words.
Di Renjie liked to advise from the time of Emperor Taizong of Tang, and so did Wu Zetian during his reign. In the later period of Wu Zetian's reign, the situation was stable, and he began to relax, indulge in pleasure, and raise male pets in the harem. Zhang Changzong's brothers gradually began to extend their claws to the court, and as long as they were dissatisfied with them, they would eventually be executed. Wu Zetian's grandsons, granddaughters, and granddaughters-in-law were secretly saying that the Zhang brothers' behavior was not good, and after Zhang Changzong knew about it, they complained to Wu Zetian, and eventually several people were forced to die by her. It is worth mentioning that Wu Zetian's granddaughter is still pregnant and has not escaped the disaster.
The Zhang brothers acted recklessly, and the ministers dared to be angry and did not dare to speak, nor did they dare to advise Wu Zetian. Only Di Renjie advised her to abstain from lust many times, but did not explicitly say it, but only advised her to focus on the dragon body. Wu Zetian was not angry, because she respected him very much, called him the elder of the country, and never called him by his name. Di Renjie repeatedly asked to return to his hometown, but Wu Zetian refused. She also exempted Di Renjie from the bowing ceremony and prevented him from being on duty in the palace at night.
Although he loved Di Renjie, after all, he was a heavenly son, and after many persuasions, Wu Zetian was still a little angry. And she became more and more radiant under the advice of the doctor. One day, she said to Di Renjie, "Come, what do you see here?" So he opened his mouth and asked him to come and see. Wu Zetian showed Di Renjie her newly grown teeth, and the subtext was that she was still young. Di Renjie didn't know what she meant, so he stopped persuading her later.
In September 700, Di Renjie died of illness at the age of 70. Wu Zetian abolished the dynasty for three days and cried bitterly: "The court is empty! After that, when she encountered major events that could not be decided, she would think of Di Renjie and sigh, "Why did heaven take away the elder of the fallen country so early!" ”