Cui Xuanwei - During Wu Zetian's Reign

During Wu Zetian's Reign

In 701, by which time Empress Wu had taken the throne herself as "emperor" of a new Zhou Dynasty, interrupting Tang Dynasty, Cui Xuanwei was made the deputy minister of civil service affairs (天官侍郎, Tianguan Shilang), and he was said to be upright and not susceptible to improper influence by powerful people. Later that year, he was made Wenchang Zuo Cheng (文昌左丞), one of the secretaries general of the executive bureau (文昌臺, Wenchang Tai). A month later, Wu Zetian summoned him and told him, "Since your office was changed, I heard that the officials often feasted because they could now again be corrupt. I will put you back in your old position." She thus made him deputy minister of civil service again and gave him an award of silk.

In 704, when Cui was still serving as deputy minister of civil service affairs, he was given the designation Tong Fengge Luantai Pingzhangshi (同鳳閣鸞臺平章事), making him a chancellor de facto. By late that year, when Wu Zetian was ill and was often attended only by her lovers Zhang Yizhi and Zhang Changzong, Cui made the suggestion to her that she should have her sons Li Xian the Crown Prince and Li Dan the Prince of Xiang attend to her—not members of other clans (i.e., not the Zhang brothers). Wu Zetian, while thanking him for his input, paid no heed. Cui later supported the imperial censor Song Jing in Song's attempt to investigate Zhang Changzong for corruption and plotting treason, but Wu Zetian did not permit the investigation. She did, however, approve a petition jointly submitted by him and Li Jiao and supported by Huan Yanfan that the people who were found guilty and executed due to accusations by her secret police officials (such as Zhou Xing and Lai Junchen) early in her reign be posthumously restored to honor.

In spring 705, with Wu Zetian continuing to be ill, Cui entered into a plot with a number of officials and generals, including Zhang Jianzhi, Huan, Jing Hui, and Yuan Shuji, to kill the Zhang brothers. With agreement from Li Xian, they acted on February 20, killing Zhang Yizhi and Zhang Changzong, and then surrounding Wu Zetian. While they allowed her to retain the title of "emperor," they had her put under house arrest at the secondary palace Shangyang Palace (上陽宮) and forced her to yield the throne to Li Xian, who was formerly emperor, and he was restored to the throne (as Emperor Zhongzong). As she confronted the plotters, she said to Cui, "All of the others became key officials because of others' recommendations. Only you were personally selected by myself, and yet you stand here with them." Cui responded, "What I do today is to repay your Imperial Majesty's great grace to me."