The so-called "thousands of miles of dust, a son of heaven and a courtier." After the abdication or death of the current emperor, the ministers in the court were faced with two choices: whether to show their loyalty to the new emperor or to stick to their feelings for the previous emperor. For these ministers in the court who have long been mixed with human spirits, this choice is actually not difficult, most of the ministers understand that the previous emperor is in the past tense anyway, and the current emperor who counts is the emperor who is now in power, and in order to pursue a better political future, he naturally chooses to show his loyalty to those in power.
However, there will always be some different ministers in history, who, for various reasons, cannot give up their support for the previous emperor, and are reluctant to immediately show loyalty to the new emperor like most court ministers. When Wu Zetian was forced to abdicate by the ministers, most of the ministers in the court were overjoyed, and only he wept bitterly about this, and he was Yao Chong, a famous minister of the Tang Dynasty.
Yao Chong's talents can be discovered, and it should be said that Wu Zetian has indeed played a great role. At the beginning, Wu Zetian saw that Yao Chong's handling of the extremely complicated affairs of the Khitan rebellion was actually able to be orderly, so he admired Yao Chong, promoted Yao Chong's official, and made him a Xiaguan Shilang (兵部侍郎). Only two years later, Yao Chong was promoted to Tongfengge Luantai Pingzhangshi (tongping zhangshi) and became a genuine prime minister. Although it was later changed to Ren Fengge Shilang (中書侍郎) and Xiang Wangfu Changshi, it should be said that Wu Zetian's cultivation of Yao Chong's intention was very obvious.
During the reign of Wu Zetian, Wu Zetian was gracious to Yao Chong. During the reign of Wu Zetian, Yao Chong successively held positions such as Tongping Zhangshi, Libu Shangshu, Zhongshu Shilang, and Bingbu Shilang, and almost never left the decision-making circle at the highest level, which shows that Wu Zetian valued Yao Chong. Although in Wu Zetian's later years, Yao Chong was demoted for offending Wu Zetian's male favorite Zhang Yizhi, Wu Zetian still appointed zhang Kamzhi, a servant of the punishment department whom he recommended, as chancellor.
Later, in the first year of shenlong (705), Zhang Kamzhi, recommended by Yao Chong, united with the courtiers and launched the Shenlong coup, and Emperor Zhongzong of Tang was proclaimed emperor and restored the Tang Dynasty. Yao Chong, who was also in the capital at this time, was also involved in the coup. After the success of the coup, Although Yao Chong, although he was the party that became profitable, he wept bitterly. Zhang Kamzhi blamed Yao Chong, saying that he should not cry on such a day, which would bring him misfortune.
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Yao Chong, however, said that he had served Emperor Zetian for a long time, and it was difficult for him to accept the result of Emperor Zetian's abdication for a while, so he felt sad. He also said that his participation in the crusade against the traitors was to do the duty of a courtier, and to cry for the old lord was to be a courtier's discipline, and even if he was convicted, he would not regret it. After all, Yao Chong's unsociable behavior was not recognized by Emperor Zhongzong of Tang, and soon Yao Chong was transferred out of the capital to serve as an assassin in various places, and in the Zhongzong dynasty, Yao Chong basically went to various places and never returned to the capital, basically being excluded from the center of power.
However, because Emperor Zhongzong of Tang himself had no outstanding talent, he was usurped by Wei Hou, and even let Wei Hou breed the idea of trying to emulate Wu Zetian's ascension to the throne as emperor, and finally he was poisoned alive by Wei Hou. After this, King Xiang's son Li Longji joined forces with Princess Taiping to launch a mutiny, and put Li Longji's father, Li Dan the Prince of Xiang, on the throne. And we know that Li Dan, the King of Xiang, was an old acquaintance of Yao Chong, who had long served as a subordinate official of Li Dan the Prince of Xiang when he was an official in the capital, so that Yao Chong was able to return to the capital and was awarded the posts of Shangshu of the Bingbu and Sanpin of the Tongzhongshu Menxia by Li Dan, officially returning to the highest decision-making level, and soon promoted to Zhongshu Ling, once again becoming the prime minister above ten thousand people under one person.
After Yao Chong's return to the court, he cooperated with another famous minister of the Tang Dynasty, Song Jing, and the two reformed the government together, and in order to eliminate the maladministration caused by the Zhongzong period, the two boldly appointed ministers with both talent and moral integrity, and there were clear standards for reward and punishment. In this way, the atmosphere of the court has been greatly improved. However, due to the fact that after Li Dan succeeded to the throne, Princess Taiping has always had exclusive power, resulting in an increasingly sharp conflict between Princess Taiping and Li Longji as the crown prince. Yao Chong and Song Jing tried to solve this dilemma, and wanted Li Dan to take back the military power of Princess Taiping's main supporters, that is, the kings of the imperial family, which angered Princess Taiping. Yao Chong was once again sent to the local government as an official.
But this time Yao Chong did not stay in the place for long, because soon after Li Dan saw that the contradiction between the prince and the princess Taiping could not be reconciled, he simply gave the Zen seat to Li Longji. After Li Longji succeeded to the throne, he immediately launched a coup d'état, and Princess Taiping and her henchmen were killed, and Li Longji regained power. After this incident, Li Longji soon summoned Yao Chong, and the two talked very happily, so much so that Emperor Xuanzong of Tang, Li Longji, appointed Yao Chong as the Bingbu Shangshu and Tongzhongshu Menxia Sanpin the next day, and made him the Duke of Liangguo, and soon returned to the position of Zhongshu Ling.