Li Jiongxiu - During Wu Zetian's Reign

During Wu Zetian's Reign

At some point, probably during the reign of Wu Zetian (the wife of Emperor Taizong's son Emperor Gaozong), who had taken the throne in 690 as "emperor" and established her own Zhou Dynasty, interrupting Tang, Li Jiongxiu was made a low level official in charge of grading officials' performances. It was said, however, that Wu Zetian favored his talent, and he was given important responsibilities at the ministry of civil service affairs before he was made Fengge Sheren (鳳閣舍人), a mid-level official at the legislative bureau of government (鳳閣, Fengge). It was said that Li Jiongxiu's mother was of low birth but had received Li Yiben's favor on account of her beauty. Li Jiongxiu himself had married a wife of high birth, Lady Cui, but Lady Cui was in the habit of using harsh language against her female servants -- which, when Li Jiongxiu's mother heard, hurt her badly as they reminded her of her own sufferings as a servant. When Li Jiongxiu realized this, he divorced Lady Cui. A friend of his asked him, "While your wife was careless with her words, she did not commit any act that would normally call for a divorce. Why do you divorce her?" Li Jiongxiu replied, "Marrying a wife is for the purpose of supporting parents. Now she has offended my mother. How can I keep her?"

As of 697, Li was serving as Fengge Shilang -- the deputy head of the legislative bureau -- when Wu Zetian gave him an unusual "assignment" -- serving as the lover for her lover Zhang Yizhi or Zhang Changzong's mother Lady Zang. In 699, when Wu Zetian established a corps of imperial attendants, with Zhang Yizhi in charge and including such individuals as Zhang Yizhi, Zhang Changzong, Ji Xu, Tian Guidao (田歸道), Xue Ji, and Yuan Banqian (員半千), Li was also named one of the imperial attendants. During this time, he also successively served as minister of civil service affairs (天官尚書, Tianguan Shangshu) and minister of defense (夏官尚書, Xiaguan Shangshu).

In 701, while still serving as minister of defense, Li was given the designation Tong Fengge Luantai Pingzhangshi (同鳳閣鸞臺平章事), making him a chancellor de facto. Wu Zetian, at times, would send ladies in waiting to visit Li's mother to see how she was doing, and at times invited her to the palace. Li was said to be literarily talented, and he often invited guests to his house to feast. It was, however, also said that he associated with Zhang Yizhi and Zhang Changzong and therefore was looked down upon by others.

In 704, the imperial censor Ma Huaisu (馬懷素) accused Li of accepting bribes, and Li was demoted to be the prefect of Lu Prefecture (廬州, roughly modern Hefei, Anhui).