After Wu Zetian ascended the throne, her private life did not restrain because of this, but after stabilizing the throne, she began to immerse herself in "love". When it comes to her staggering male pets, the first thing that comes to people's minds is the monk named Xue Huaiyi. Xue Huaiyi, formerly known as Feng Xiaobao, was originally a medicine seller in Luoyang City, but he had already won her favor before Wu Zetian became emperor. In order to hide people's eyes, Wu Zetian arranged for him to become a monk, so that the two could have a tryst in the palace.
For this little monk, Wu Zetian favored him very much, not only built a gorgeous "Ming Hall" for him, but also gave him the honorable title of mighty general and Liang Guogong. Xue Huaiyi was not the kind of "white-faced scholar" who only relied on his beauty to please people, he was powerful, and even led an army to fight against the rebellious Turks in 693 AD. He also played a role in fueling Wu Zetian's accession to the throne, actively spreading public opinion among the people and building momentum for Wu Zetian's accession to the throne. However, his conduct is really flattering, and he is arrogant, and he has recruited a group of hooligans as monks in Luoyang City, and he is overbearing. Although he was once beaten for insulting Prime Minister Su Liangsi, Wu Zetian's handling of the matter appeared fair and did not favor him.
However, as Wu Zetian's new favorite continued to appear, Xue Huaiyi's status gradually declined, and he burned down Mingtang because of his jealousy, and finally completely fell out of favor and disappeared from history.
In addition to Xue Huaiyi, another male favorite in Wu Zetian's early days was the imperial physician Shen Nanmiao. Imperial Physician Shen was cautious and generous, he waited for Wu Zetian carefully, but because of Xue Huaiyi's jealousy and the burning of the Ming Hall, he was frightened all day long, and died soon after.
Wu Zetian's early male favorites did not have much impact on the government, but with the emergence of Zhang Changzong and Zhang Yizhi's brothers, the situation changed. The two brothers had been favored by Wu Zetian since 697 AD, and they were not only good at music and dance, but also had strong political ambitions. They began to interfere in the government's affairs, accepting bribes, selling official positions, and even excluding dissidents and framing Zhongliang. In her later years, Wu Zetian indulged in pleasures with them, and many national events were abandoned, which eventually led to her abdication and the decline of the Wu Zhou Dynasty.
In 705 AD, Prime Minister Zhang Cambodia staged a coup d'état, forcing Wu Zetian to abdicate, and the two little male favorites were also executed. Under internal and external pressure, Wu Zetian was forced to abdicate, and died soon after as the empress dowager, leaving a wordless monument for posterity to comment.