In her later years, Wu Zetian fell into the dispute between "Li" and "Wu", but in general, she was more inclined to her son. However, she still wanted to retain the honor of the surname Wu, and even had extreme behaviors, such as wanting to change the surname of Li Dan, the fourth son of Tang Gaozong, to Wu and canonize him as the emperor's heir. However, the courtiers did not approve of this approach, and insisted that Li Xian, the third son of the former Tang Zhongzong and Wu Zetian, who had been deposed as the king of Luling, should succeed him, citing the order of the eldest and youngest.
After some fierce arguments and trade-offs, the empress finally listened to the advice of her favorite minister Di Renjie and decided to take back the king of Luling and let him take the throne with the surname Li. Behind this decision, in fact, is a helpless and inevitable choice. In the Wu family, there is a lack of talents who can take on great responsibilities, and the sons of the Li family are more inclined to the orthodox position than the nephews of the Wu family.
Returning to Li Tang is a helpless move and an inevitable choice. Wu Zetian has a total of four nephews, and relatively speaking, Wu Chengsi and Wu Sansi are relatively close to Wu Zetian.
One is Wu Sansi, who was enabled because he was Wu Zetian's nephew, and before Wu Zetian sat on the throne, he had done positions with real power such as General Wei, the Ministry of War and the Ministry of Rites, and supervised the history of the country, but he did not make great achievements during his official period. In the first year of Tianzhu (690), when Wu Zetian ascended the throne as the emperor and divided his clansmen, he was named the king of Liang, and then flattered Emperor Wu, curryed favor with Li Xian, killed courtiers, was ambitious, and had ill intentions.
The second is Wu Chenghei, who was promoted as a cronie when Wu Zetian was the queen of heaven, and gave advice and publicity for Wu Zetian's ascension to the throne, and was in the limelight for a while. In the first year of Guangzhai (684), he was awarded the three products of the Ministry of Rites and the Book of the Sect of the Ministry of Rites, and in the first year of the vertical arch (685), he was awarded the three products of the Tongfeng Pavilion Luan in the north and south, and since then he has been promoted all the way, and even achieved such a high position as the left minister of Wenchang. He was fortunate to hold power because he was favored by Wu Zetian, but he was arrogant and domineering, brutalized Zhongliang, sycophant, and tried in vain to ascend to a high position, and he was not the material of the emperor. In comparison, although the two brothers Li Xian and Li Dan are cowardly and mediocre, they can also be benevolent.
Moreover, the return to the Li Tang Dynasty is also the political and interest needs of the Li Tang royal family. Although the Xinwu Zhou Dynasty retained the inherent traditions of the previous dynasty in terms of its basic system, social and popular base, and the internal composition of the ruling group, the Li Tang clan still secretly planned for restoration under the desire for restoration. And in the hearts of the people, the Li Tang Dynasty is the orthodoxy that ended the troubled times. Although the former Tang Zhongzong and Tang Ruizong were deposed, their status in the hearts of the people was still unshakable, and the nephews and grandchildren of the Wu family, such as Wu Chengsi and Wu Sansi, were far from being comparable to the orthodox princes in terms of physiology, social attributes, and kinship in terms of inheritance of the temple.
In addition, the counterattack of the conservatives and the family gate lords was also an important factor that prompted the empress to return to power in Li Tang. As Wu Zetian grew older and her physical condition deteriorated, the foundation of her rule gradually fell into crisis. Smelling the hope of restoration, some keen old-fashioned politicians began to secretly run around, uniting with the former ministers of the Li Tang dynasty to plot to seize the throne. They launched an offensive from multiple angles, causing the foundation of Wu Zetian's rule to gradually fall into crisis.
Finally, in the first month of 705 AD, Zhang Khan Zhi, Cui Xuanwei and Huan Yanfan, Jing Hui, Yuan Shuji and others staged a coup d'état, forcing the empress to step down and reinstate the crown prince Li Xian. In February of the same year, the state name of the Tang Dynasty was restored, and the regulations should be in accordance with the old rules of the previous dynasty. At this point, the 15-year short reign of the Wu Zhou Dynasty came to an end. And Wu Zetian himself also retreated from the stage of power to the background and became the queen mother who teased Sun.