During Empress Dowager Wu's Regency
Emperor Gaozong died in 683, and while his son Li Zhe succeeded him (as Emperor Zhongzong), his powerful wife Empress Wu (later known as Wu Zetian) took over power as regent and empress dowager. In spring 684, when Emperor Zhongzong displayed signs of independence, Empress Dowager Wu deposed him and replaced him with his younger brother Li Dan the Prince of Yu (as Emperor Ruizong). However, Empress Dowager Wu held onto power even more firmly thereafter.
in 686, Cen, who was by that point minister of defense, was made Neishi (內史) -- the head of the legislative bureau of government (鳳閣, Feng Ge) and a post considered one for a chancellor; he also continued to serve as minister of defense. In 688, when Emperor Gaozong's brother Li Zhen, the Prince of Yue, and Li Zhen's son Li Chong (李沖), the Prince of Langye, suspecting that Empress Dowager Wu was set on seizing the throne herself, rose in rebellion, Cen was one of the generals that Empress Dowager Wu sent against Li Zhen. Li Zhen was quickly defeated, and it is not clear whether Cen participated in Li Zhen's defeat.
In 690, Cen was made Wenchang Youxiang (文昌右相), one of the heads of the executive bureau of government (文昌臺, Wenchang Tai), and also carried the designation Tong Fengge Luantai Sanpin (同鳳閣鸞臺三品), signifying that he was still a chancellor.
Read more about this topic: Cen Changqian
Famous quotes containing the word empress:
“We never really are the adults we pretend to be. We wear the mask and perhaps the clothes and posture of grown-ups, but inside our skin we are never as wise or as sure or as strong as we want to convince ourselves and others we are. We may fool all the rest of the people all of the time, but we never fool our parents. They can see behind the mask of adulthood. To her mommy and daddy, the empress never has on any clothes—and knows it.”
—Frank Pittman (20th century)