The Divine Stone and the Gathering Storm

In 684 AD, Empress Wu Zetian faced her greatest crisis since seizing power—the Li Jingye rebellion and Pei Yan’s attempted palace coup. Swiftly suppressing these threats, she executed Pei Yan, confined puppet Emperor Li Dan, and eliminated all immediate obstacles to her ascent. Yet one lingering threat remained: the Tang imperial clan, whose royal bloodline posed a potential challenge to her ambitions.

The catalyst for confrontation came through an extraordinary artifact—an ordinary white stone inscribed with eight purple-red characters: “The Holy Mother descends among mortals; the imperial enterprise shall prosper forever.” Presented by a man named Tang Tongtai who claimed to have fished it from the Luo River, this “Heaven-Sent Treasure Map” triggered a propaganda frenzy. Ministers declared it a divine endorsement, comparing Wu’s achievements to the goddess Nüwa mending the heavens. Historical records later revealed the stone as a forgery orchestrated by Wu’s nephew Wu Chengsi, part of a calculated campaign to legitimize her rule.

Wu Zetian embraced the spectacle, adopting the unprecedented title “Holy Mother Divine Emperor” while the reigning Emperor Li Dan still lived. She announced grand ceremonies at the Luo River and Mingtang hall, summoning all regional governors, Tang princes, and relatives to witness her divine mandate. To the paranoid Tang clan, this smelled like a trap.

The Tang Princes’ Desperate Gambit

Two prominent figures emerged as rebellion leaders:
– Li Yuanjia, Prince of Han: A celebrated polymath capable of simultaneous calligraphy, poetry, and arithmetic
– Li Zhen, Prince of Yue: A pragmatic military strategist despite lesser scholarly fame

Their conspiracy unfolded in three acts:
1. Psychological Warfare: Li Yuanjia circulated coded letters warning of Wu’s “illness” (her ambition) requiring immediate “treatment” (rebellion).
2. Forged Edicts: They fabricated imperial decrees urging princes to rescue the “imprisoned” emperor and halt Wu’s usurpation.
3. Premature Revolt: Before coordination was complete, Li Zhen’s impulsive son Li Chong launched a botched uprising in Bozhou (modern Shandong).

Nature itself seemed to oppose them—winds shifted during a crucial fire attack, burning their own troops. Within seven days, Li Chong was decapitated by his gatekeeper. Li Zhen’s belated rebellion in Yuzhou collapsed after his “invincibility charms” failed to stop government arrows. Both father and son died by suicide.

Wu Zetian’s Ruthless Cleansing

The failed revolt became Wu’s pretext for exterminating the Tang bloodline. Initially, an honest investigator refused to implicate uninvolved princes, prompting Wu to appoint the notorious torturer Zhou Xing—nicknamed “Ox-Head Granny” for his grandmotherly appearance and hellish cruelty. Under his interrogation:
– Core conspirators like Li Yuanjia and Princess Changle were forced to suicide
– Over 60 Tang princes perished—60% of all Tang dynasty royal unnatural deaths
– Even the informant Li Ai was later executed, proving bloodline alone was a capital offense

Only sycophants survived, like 70-year-old Princess Qianjin, who groveled to become Wu’s “adopted daughter” after recommending her lover Xue Huaiyi.

Legacy: The Scaffolding of a Revolution

Wu Zetian’s systematic eradication of the Tang clan (688–690 AD) completed her three-step path to sovereignty:
1. Matriarchal Authority: Deposing Li Zhe and controlling Li Dan as “Holy Mother”
2. Militaristic Dominance: Crushing the Yangzhou rebellion and executing Pei Yan
3. Dynastic Purge: Eliminating rival bloodlines

As Sima Guang noted in Zizhi Tongjian: “The Tang imperial house was nearly extinguished.” With the last obstacles removed, Wu would soon declare China’s first female emperorship—but that revolution, built on propaganda, terror, and rivers of royal blood, had already been won in the shadows.

The “Heaven-Sent Stone” proved prophetic—not as divine mandate, but as the first domino in Wu Zetian’s meticulously engineered apotheosis.