Pei Yan
In 682, due to a famine in the Guanzhong region (i.e., the region around the capital Chang'an), Emperor Gaozong left Chang'an and took up residence at the eastern capital Luoyang, leaving Li Zhe in charge at Chang'an, assisted by Pei Yan and his fellow chancellors Liu Rengui and Xue Yuanchao. In 683, when Emperor Gaozong became ill, he summoned Li Zhe to Luoyang, accompanied by Pei, and when Emperor Gaozong's illness became even more serious, he formally put Li Zhe in charge of important state matters, assisted by Pei, Liu Jingxian, and Guo Zhengyi. Around the new year 684, Emperor Gaozong died, and formally on Pei's suggestion, Emperor Gaozong's powerful wife Empress Wu (later known as Wu Zetian), At that time For almost two decades, before the emperor's death, she was actively involved in running the government, now empress dowager, took regent powers until a formal enthronement of Li Zhe (as Emperor Zhongzong). She made Pei "Zhongshu Ling" (中書令), the head of the legislative bureau of government (中書省, "Zhongshu Sheng"). (The office of the chancellors, "Zhengshi Tang" (政事堂), was prior to this event located in the examination bureau. When Pei became "Zhongshu Ling", he moved it to the legislative bureau, where it would remain from that point on.)