What is history: it is the echo of the past to the future, the reflection of the future on the past. - Hugo
In the first year of shenlong (705), the ministers headed by the chancellor Zhang Kamzhi launched the "Shenlong coup" to force Wu Zetian to abdicate. The main reason for the "Shenlong Coup" was that Wu Zetian sheltered the male pets Zhang Yizhi and Zhang Changzong in his later years, resulting in variables in the established arrangement of "Fu Li Tang Artifact".
It is strange that Wu Zetian began to play male pets after the death of Tang Gaozong, but she has always maintained a good balance between pampering male pets and governing the world. If this was the case, why did Wu Zetian, in his later years, not hesitate to commit public anger and protect the brothers Zhang Yizhi and Zhang Changzong who were killed?
First of all, although it is an unprecedented generation of empresses, Wu Zetian is still a person after all. With the aging of the body, in his later years, Wu Zetian had problems of slacking off and indulging in pleasure. Zhang Yizhi and Zhang Changzong were important tools for Wu Zetian's pleasure, and Wu Zetian was somewhat inseparable from them in his later years.
Secondly, in the first year of the Holy Calendar (698), Wu Zetian made Li Xian crown prince, marking the return of the world to Li Tang. With Wu Zetian's decision to "restore the Li and Tang artifacts", the Fu Tang faction, which had been suppressed before, regained momentum, and the development of the korean situation showed a "one-sided" tendency, weakening Wu Zetian's imperial power.
Although Wu Zetian decided to "restore the Li Tang Artifact", it did not mean that she had to give up her power. In the face of the revived Tang faction, Wu Zetian had to support other forces to balance them. Zhang Yizhi and Zhang Changzong were the new forces that Wu Zetian used to balance the Fu Tang faction, and of course they had to be sheltered.
Unfortunately, aging led to a decline in Wu Zetian's judgment and control over the imperial court, and the political tricks of supporting Zhang Yizhi and Zhang Changzong to balance the Fu Tang faction were finally played off, triggering the "Shenlong Coup". Wu Zetian's glorious political career came to an end in a sad way.