In fact, it is not that Wu Zetian likes monks, but that the identity of the monk is a disguise for male pets.
Because of the strong religious atmosphere in the Tang Dynasty, monks and Taoists had more opportunities to enter the palace, in order to facilitate the entry of their male pets into the palace, Wu Zetian in the empress dowager's period thought of a way - that is, to let his male pet shave as a monk, so that the problem of entering the palace was solved!
Why did Wu Zetian like monks so much?
This must start with Wu Zetian's first male favorite, Feng Xiaobao.
Feng Xiaobao was originally a small selling wild medicine on the streets of Luoyang, because he was strong and able to speak the Tao, he was favored by the maid of Princess Qianjin, and the two were discovered by the princess when they met in the princess house, and later, Feng Xiaobao was retained by the princess herself...
After some testing, the princess felt that such a talent should be dedicated to Wu Zetian.
At that time, Wu Zetian was still the empress dowager, who had just quelled Xu Jingye's rebellion, and was very happy after receiving the male favor. But how to let Feng Xiaobao into the palace made her very embarrassed.
Because she was still the empress dowager at that time, Emperor Gaozong's bones were not cold, so Wu Zetian thought of a way to make Feng Xiaobao shave and become a monk, giving a new name called "Huaiyi".
In order to solve the problem of Feng Xiaobao's low status, Wu Zetian asked Princess Taiping's horse, Xue Shao, to recognize Xiaobao as an uncle and change his surname to "Xue".
Since then, Feng Xiaobao appeared next to Wu Zetian as "Xue Huaiyi", and Wu Zetian also made him the abbot of the White Horse Temple of Luoyang Ming Temple.
Feng Xiaobao also collected a lot of street thugs, making them shave their heads and follow them to run errands around themselves.
When Feng Xiaobao was with Wu Zetian, he did several great things for her, one was to build the Ming Temple--later, because of the jealousy of the wind, he was set on fire by Feng Xiaobao himself, and soon after Feng Xiaobao also died mysteriously; the second was to help Wu Zetian find a classic in the Buddhist classics that could support Wu Zetian as emperor- that is, the later "Great Cloud Classic"; the third was to help Wu Zetian fight against the Turks- although every time it was because of good luck, either the army had withdrawn when the Turks arrived, or the Turks had not yet sent troops to leave...
After Feng Xiaobao, Wu Zetian's most valued male favorite was no longer a monk, but the taiyi Shen Nanyan and Zhang Yizhi and Zhang Changzong brothers.