Wu Chengsi
Emperor Gaozong died in 683, and was initially succeeded by his and Empress Wu's son Li Zhe the Crown Prince (as Emperor Zhongzong), but Empress Wu retained power as empress dowager and regent. In spring 684, after Emperor Zhongzong showed signs of independence, she deposed him and replaced him with another son, Li Dan the Prince of Yu, but wielded power even more tightly thereafter. Around this time, it appeared that Wu Chengsi became a close confidant of hers, and later that year, when the chancellor Liu Rengui, who was then in charge of the capital Chang'an (with Empress Dowager Wu, who disliked Chang'an and favored the eastern capital Luoyang, taking up permanent residence at Luoyang), offered to resign, it was Wu Chengsi that she sent to Chang'an to comfort Liu and to dissuade him from resigning. It was also Wu Chengsi who formally acted for her at Emperor Ruizong's enthronement. In summer 684, she made Wu Chengsi the minister of rites and gave him the designation "Tong Zhongshu Menxia Sanpin" (同中書門下三品), making him a chancellor "de facto", although she removed him from that position three months later and made him the minister of ceremonies. Later that year, pursuant to a formal request of his, she posthumously created five generations of Wu ancestors princes or dukes and built a five-generation ancestral temple for them, second only to the imperial ancestral temple (which included seven generations). Meanwhile, he and a cousin, Wu Sansi (Wu Yuanqing's son), knowing that Empress Dowager Wu was contemplating taking the throne herself, advocated that two senior members of the Li imperial clan—Emperor Gaozong's uncles Li Yuanjia (李元嘉) the Prince of Han and Li Lingkui (李靈夔) the Prince of Lu—be killed, lest that they interfere with her plans. Empress Dowager Wu agreed, but did not immediately carry out the plan.