Lai Junchen
Encyclopedia
Lai Junchen (died April 28, 697) was a secret police
official during the Chinese
dynasty Tang Dynasty
and Wu Zetian
's Zhou Dynasty, whose ability to interrogate and falsely implicate officials of crimes made him a subject of fear and hatred. In 697, he was accused of plotting to falsely accuse Wu Zetian's sons and other family members of treason, and he was executed.
capital Chang'an
. His father was one Lai Cao (來操) -- who was said to have won Lai Junchen's mother, then the wife of his friend Cai Ben (蔡本), after winning in gambling with Cai. Lai Junchen was said to be a thug who did not work, who was investigated for thievery while he was at He Prefecture (和州, roughly modern Chaohu, Anhui
) and who then made false accusations against others to the prefect, Li Xu (李續) the Prince of Dongping, a cousin of then-reigning Emperor Ruizong
. Li Xu had him caned 100 times and thrown out.
In 689, in the aftermath of rebellions against Emperor Ruizong's mother and regent
Empress Dowager Wu
(later known as Wu Zetian) by Emperor Ruizong's uncle Li Zhen
the Prince of Yue and Li Chong
the Prince of Langye, Li Xu, along with many other imperial Li clan members, was executed by Empress Dowager Wu. Lai again made a secret report, this time directly to Empress Dowager Wu, who encouraged such reports from anyone. When she met with him, he claimed that what he was reporting earlier dealt with Li Zhen's and Li Chong's rebellions, and that Li Xu had improperly suppressed them. Empress Dowager Wu believed him and thought he was faithful to her, and therefore made him a secret police official, rising to the rank of deputy imperial censor (御史中丞, Yushi Zhongcheng).
.
In 691, the official Liu Xinggan (劉行感) was accused of treason. Wu Zetian had the chancellor Shi Wuzi
investigate along with Lai. After Liu Xinggan and his brothers were executed for treason, Lai further reported to Wu Zetian that Shi had good relations with Liu Xinggan and had tried to hide evidence of Liu Xinggan's guilt. Wu Zetian had Lai investigate Shi as well and Shi, in fear, committed suicide.
That year, a famous incident involving Lai and fellow secret police official Zhou Xing
occurred. Earlier that year, the general Qiu Shenji (丘神勣) had been accused of crime and executed, and subsequently, there were secret reports that Zhou was involved with Qiu's crimes. Wu Zetian had Lai investigate, without Zhou's knowledge. One day, Lai and Zhou sat down to lunch, and Lai asked Zhou the question of, "Many of the accused are not willing to confess. Do you have an idea on how to get them to confess?" Zhou responded, "That is easy. Take a big urn and set a fire under it. Put the accused in it, and surely he will confess everything." Lai had a big urn brought and a fire set underneath, in accordance with Zhou's instructions, and then rose and stated to Zhou, "I had received secret instructions from Her Imperial Majesty with regard to you, my brother. Please enter the urn." Zhou, in fear, knelt and confessed. Wu Zetian did not execute Zhou but exiled him, and on the way to his place of exile, Zhou was killed by his enemies. (This incident inspired the Chinese proverb "invite the gentleman into the urn" (請君入甕, qing jun ru weng), now used for the concept of putting a person into a trap that he himself or she herself had set.)
Later that year, when investigating the general Zhang Qianxu (張虔勗), Lai interrogated Zhang and tortured him severely. Zhang, unable to stand the torture, yelled out to another official in charge of investigations, Xu Yougong (徐有功), who was known for being merciful. Angry that Zhang was yelling out to Xu, Lai had his guards slash Zhang to death with their swords and then beheaded him. When he subsequently investigated the prefect Yun Hongsi (雲弘嗣), he did not bother interrogating Yun -- he just beheaded Yun and then forged a confession from Yun.
Yet later that year, the chancellors Cen Changqian
and Ge Fuyuan
offended Wu Zetian by strenuously opposing the proposal to elevate her powerful nephew Wu Chengsi
to be crown prince, and she had them arrested. Lai coerced Cen's son Cen Lingyuan (岑靈原) into implicating another chancellor, Ouyang Tong
, whom Lai subsequently arrested and tortured. However, he was unable to get Ouyang to admit to treason, and so he forged a confession from Ouyang. Cen, Ge, and Ouyang were all executed. Lai also killed the general Li Anjing (李安靜).
In 692, Lai falsely accused the chancellors Ren Zhigu
, Di Renjie
, and Pei Xingben
, along with other officials Cui Xuanli (崔宣禮), Lu Xian (盧獻), Wei Yuanzhong
, and Li Sizhen (李嗣真) of treason. Lai tried to induce them to confess by citing an imperial edict that stated that those who confessed would be spared their lives, and Di confessed and was not tortured. He then wrote a petition on his blanket and hid it inside cotton clothes, and then had his family members take the clothes home to be changed into summer clothes. Wu Zetian thereafter became suspicious and inquired with Lai, who responded by forging, in the names of Di and the other officials, submissions thanking Wu Zetian for preparing to execute them. However, the young son of another chancellor who had been executed, Le Sihui
, who was seized to be a servant at the ministry of agriculture, made a petition to Wu Zetian and told her that Lai was so skillful at manufacturing charges that even the most honest and faithful individuals would be forced into confessions by Lai. Wu Zetian thereafter summoned the seven accused officials and personally interrogated them, and after they disavowed the forged confessions, released but exiled them. Later that year, Lai demanded a bribe from the general Quan Xiancheng (泉獻誠), the grandson of the former Goguryeo
regent Yeon Gaesomun
and, when Quan refused, falsely accused Quan of treason and had him strangled.
In 693, the officials Pei Feigong (裴匪躬) and Fan Yunxian (范雲仙) were accused of secretly meeting with the crown prince Li Dan (the former emperor), and when Fan tried to speak on his own behalf, Lai had his tongue cut off, and then had Pei and Fan both executed by being cut in half at the waist. Wu Zetian decreed that officials would not be allowed to meet with Li Dan. When, subsequently, there were secret accusations that Li Dan was plotting to overthrow her, she had Lai investigate Li Dan's associates, whom Lai arrested and tortured. One of them, An Jinzang
, proclaimed Li Dan's innocence and cut his own abdomen, causing the organs to fall out. When Wu Zetian heard this, she was touched, and she had the imperial physicians treat An, barely saving his life, and on account of An's assurance that Li Dan was not plotting against her, ordered Lai to end his investigations against Li Dan. Meanwhile, Lai falsely accused the minister of public works, Su Gan (蘇幹), of having been a co-conspirator of Li Chong's, and had him executed.
Either in 693 or 694, Lai was accused by the imperial censor JI Lüzhong (紀履忠) of five crimes, including corruption, and initially, Lai was sentenced to death, but Wu Zetian, believing him to have accomplished much for her, spared his life and reduced him to commoner rank -- and soon thereafter reinstated him as secretary general of palace affairs (殿中丞, Dianzhong Cheng). Lai was, however, thereafter again accused of corruption, and he was demoted to be a military officer at Tong Prefecture (同州, roughly modern Weinan
, Shaanxi
), interrupting his career as a secret police official.
to serve as the sheriff of Hegong County (合宮), one of the two counties making up Luoyang. In late 696, the sheriff of Mingtang County (明堂, one of the counties making up Chang'an), Ji Xu
, heard about a treasonous plot by the officials Liu Sili (劉思禮), Qilian Yao (綦連耀), and Wang Ju (王勮) -- as the conspirators believed that Qilian was fated to be emperor one day. Ji relayed the plot to Lai, and had Lai submit a secret report of it. Wu Zetian had Wu Yizong (武懿宗) the Prince of Henan, the grandson of her uncle Wu Shiyi (武士逸), investigate. Liu implicated some 36 officials into the plot, and they and their families were executed. Lai, wanting to monopolize the rewards for reporting this plot, was prepared to falsely accuse Ji of crimes as well, but Ji found this out and submitted a secret petition; he was able to meet Wu Zetian, who promoted him, while Lai was further restored to good graces in Wu Zetian's eyes and was promoted to be the deputy minister of husbandry (司僕少卿, Sipu Shaoqing).
It was said that, particularly after this restoration to power, Lai did what he could to seize beautiful women for his gratification, finding ways to implicate and execute their husbands and then seize them. (He had been planning to seize a beautiful servant girl of Western Tujue's Jiezhongshizhu Khan Ashina Huseluo, then at Luoyang, and he therefore accused Ashina Huseluo of treason, but Ashina Huseluo escaped death when the chiefs of his subordinate tribes pleaded in front of the palace and cut their own faces to vouch for Ashina Huseluo.) It was further said that he created a book of the officials' names and then random chose whom to accuse by drawing lots, and that he compared himself to Shi Le
, the founder of Later Zhao
. As he had an inimical relationship with the censor Li Zhaode
, he and another enemy of Li Zhaode's, Huangfu Wenbei (皇甫文備), falsely accused Li Zhaode of treason, and Li Zhaode was arrested later in 697.
Meanwhile, Lai was said to be ready for something much more major -- falsely accusing Li Dan, his older brother Li Zhe
the Prince of Luling (also a former emperor), the Wu clan imperial princes, and Wu Zetian's powerful daughter Princess Taiping
, of treason as well, to wipe them out gradually to give himself a chance to start a coup to seize the throne himself. His friend Wei Suizhong (衛遂忠), publicly reported the plot, and the Wu clan princes and Princess Taiping responded by submitting accusations against Lai. Wu Zetian arrested Lai, and Lai was sentenced to death -- but Wu Zetian, still believing that he was faithful to her, did not approve the execution order for three days. Only at Ji's urging did she approve the execution, and Lai and Li Zhaode were executed on the same day. It was said that the people mourned Li Zhaode while celebrating Lai's death -- with his enemies cutting out his flesh and organs, consuming much of it in anger.
Secret police
Secret police are a police agency which operates in secrecy and beyond the law to protect the political power of an individual dictator or an authoritarian political regime....
official during the Chinese
History of China
Chinese civilization originated in various regional centers along both the Yellow River and the Yangtze River valleys in the Neolithic era, but the Yellow River is said to be the Cradle of Chinese Civilization. With thousands of years of continuous history, China is one of the world's oldest...
dynasty Tang Dynasty
Tang Dynasty
The Tang Dynasty was an imperial dynasty of China preceded by the Sui Dynasty and followed by the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms Period. It was founded by the Li family, who seized power during the decline and collapse of the Sui Empire...
and Wu Zetian
Wu Zetian
Wu Zetian , personal name Wu Zhao , often referred to as Tian Hou during the Tang Dynasty and Empress Consort Wu in later times, was the only woman in the history of China to assume the title of Empress Regnant...
's Zhou Dynasty, whose ability to interrogate and falsely implicate officials of crimes made him a subject of fear and hatred. In 697, he was accused of plotting to falsely accuse Wu Zetian's sons and other family members of treason, and he was executed.
Background
It is not known when Lai Junchen was born, but it is known that he was from Wannian County (萬年), one of the two counties making up the Tang DynastyTang Dynasty
The Tang Dynasty was an imperial dynasty of China preceded by the Sui Dynasty and followed by the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms Period. It was founded by the Li family, who seized power during the decline and collapse of the Sui Empire...
capital Chang'an
Chang'an
Chang'an is an ancient capital of more than ten dynasties in Chinese history, today known as Xi'an. Chang'an literally means "Perpetual Peace" in Classical Chinese. During the short-lived Xin Dynasty, the city was renamed "Constant Peace" ; yet after its fall in AD 23, the old name was restored...
. His father was one Lai Cao (來操) -- who was said to have won Lai Junchen's mother, then the wife of his friend Cai Ben (蔡本), after winning in gambling with Cai. Lai Junchen was said to be a thug who did not work, who was investigated for thievery while he was at He Prefecture (和州, roughly modern Chaohu, Anhui
Anhui
Anhui is a province in the People's Republic of China. Located in eastern China across the basins of the Yangtze River and the Huai River, it borders Jiangsu to the east, Zhejiang to the southeast, Jiangxi to the south, Hubei to the southwest, Henan to the northwest, and Shandong for a tiny...
) and who then made false accusations against others to the prefect, Li Xu (李續) the Prince of Dongping, a cousin of then-reigning Emperor Ruizong
Emperor Ruizong of Tang
Emperor Ruizong of Tang , personal name Lǐ Dàn , known at times during his life as Li Xulun , Li Lun , Wu Lun , and Wu Dan , was the fifth and ninth emperor of Tang Dynasty...
. Li Xu had him caned 100 times and thrown out.
In 689, in the aftermath of rebellions against Emperor Ruizong's mother and regent
Regent
A regent, from the Latin regens "one who reigns", is a person selected to act as head of state because the ruler is a minor, not present, or debilitated. Currently there are only two ruling Regencies in the world, sovereign Liechtenstein and the Malaysian constitutive state of Terengganu...
Empress Dowager Wu
Wu Zetian
Wu Zetian , personal name Wu Zhao , often referred to as Tian Hou during the Tang Dynasty and Empress Consort Wu in later times, was the only woman in the history of China to assume the title of Empress Regnant...
(later known as Wu Zetian) by Emperor Ruizong's uncle Li Zhen
Li Zhen (Tang Dynasty)
Li Zhen , formally Prince Jing of Yue , posthumously known during Wu Zetian's reign as Hui Zhen , was an imperial prince of the Chinese dynasty Tang Dynasty who, along with his son Li Chong rose against Wu Zetian, then empress dowager and regent, as they feared that she was about to slaughter the...
the Prince of Yue and Li Chong
Li Chong (Tang Dynasty)
Li Chong , formally the Prince of Langye , posthumously known during Wu Zetian's reign as Hui Chong , was an imperial prince of the Chinese dynasty Tang Dynasty. Along with his father Li Zhen, Li Chong rose against Wu Zetian, then empress dowager and regent, as they feared that she was about to...
the Prince of Langye, Li Xu, along with many other imperial Li clan members, was executed by Empress Dowager Wu. Lai again made a secret report, this time directly to Empress Dowager Wu, who encouraged such reports from anyone. When she met with him, he claimed that what he was reporting earlier dealt with Li Zhen's and Li Chong's rebellions, and that Li Xu had improperly suppressed them. Empress Dowager Wu believed him and thought he was faithful to her, and therefore made him a secret police official, rising to the rank of deputy imperial censor (御史中丞, Yushi Zhongcheng).
First stint as secret police official
It was said that Lai Junchen personally retained a staff of several hundred men who were previously thugs, with the intent to have them make reports. If he decided to falsely implicate someone in a crime, then he had the men submit false reports that corroborate each other. Lai and his assistant Wan Guojun (萬國俊) even authored a text known as the Classic of Accusation (羅織經), teaching their subordinates how to accuse people of crimes and how to create details that make the alleged plot appear logical and likely. Lai and the other secret police officials were also said to have created a number of torture methods and equipments to get the accused to confess, and further, each time he knew that a general pardon was set to be issued, he had the jailers kill important prisoners first before the general pardon would be declared. Lai's authorities continued to grow, particularly after Empress Dowager Wu herself took the throne in 690 as "emperor" of a new Zhou Dynasty, interrupting Tang and reducing Emperor Ruizong to the rank of crown princeCrown Prince
A crown prince or crown princess is the heir or heiress apparent to the throne in a royal or imperial monarchy. The wife of a crown prince is also titled crown princess....
.
In 691, the official Liu Xinggan (劉行感) was accused of treason. Wu Zetian had the chancellor Shi Wuzi
Shi Wuzi
Shi Wuzi was an official of the Chinese dynasty Tang Dynasty and Wu Zetian's Zhou Dynasty, serving briefly as chancellor during Wu Zetian's reign....
investigate along with Lai. After Liu Xinggan and his brothers were executed for treason, Lai further reported to Wu Zetian that Shi had good relations with Liu Xinggan and had tried to hide evidence of Liu Xinggan's guilt. Wu Zetian had Lai investigate Shi as well and Shi, in fear, committed suicide.
That year, a famous incident involving Lai and fellow secret police official Zhou Xing
Zhou Xing (Tang Dynasty)
Zhou Xing was a secret police official of the Chinese dynasty Tang Dynasty and Wu Zetian's Zhou Dynasty. He was largely responsible for carrying out her actions to wipe out senior members of Tang's Li imperial clan, but, in a turnabout, was in 691 himself accused of crimes and, under threats of...
occurred. Earlier that year, the general Qiu Shenji (丘神勣) had been accused of crime and executed, and subsequently, there were secret reports that Zhou was involved with Qiu's crimes. Wu Zetian had Lai investigate, without Zhou's knowledge. One day, Lai and Zhou sat down to lunch, and Lai asked Zhou the question of, "Many of the accused are not willing to confess. Do you have an idea on how to get them to confess?" Zhou responded, "That is easy. Take a big urn and set a fire under it. Put the accused in it, and surely he will confess everything." Lai had a big urn brought and a fire set underneath, in accordance with Zhou's instructions, and then rose and stated to Zhou, "I had received secret instructions from Her Imperial Majesty with regard to you, my brother. Please enter the urn." Zhou, in fear, knelt and confessed. Wu Zetian did not execute Zhou but exiled him, and on the way to his place of exile, Zhou was killed by his enemies. (This incident inspired the Chinese proverb "invite the gentleman into the urn" (請君入甕, qing jun ru weng), now used for the concept of putting a person into a trap that he himself or she herself had set.)
Later that year, when investigating the general Zhang Qianxu (張虔勗), Lai interrogated Zhang and tortured him severely. Zhang, unable to stand the torture, yelled out to another official in charge of investigations, Xu Yougong (徐有功), who was known for being merciful. Angry that Zhang was yelling out to Xu, Lai had his guards slash Zhang to death with their swords and then beheaded him. When he subsequently investigated the prefect Yun Hongsi (雲弘嗣), he did not bother interrogating Yun -- he just beheaded Yun and then forged a confession from Yun.
Yet later that year, the chancellors Cen Changqian
Cen Changqian
Cen Changqian , briefly known as Wu Changqian during the reign of Wu Zetian, formally the Duke of Deng , was an official of the Chinese dynasty Tang Dynasty and Wu Zetian's Zhou Dynasty, serving as chancellor during the reign of Emperor Gaozong, as well as Wu Zetian's reign and her earlier...
and Ge Fuyuan
Ge Fuyuan
Ge Fuyuan was an official of the Chinese dynasty Tang Dynasty and Wu Zetian's Zhou Dynasty, serving briefly as a chancellor during Wu Zetian's reign....
offended Wu Zetian by strenuously opposing the proposal to elevate her powerful nephew Wu Chengsi
Wu Chengsi
Wu Chengsi , formally Prince Xuan of Wei , was a nephew of Chinese sovereign Wu Zetian and an imperial prince during her Zhou Dynasty...
to be crown prince, and she had them arrested. Lai coerced Cen's son Cen Lingyuan (岑靈原) into implicating another chancellor, Ouyang Tong
Ouyang Tong
Ouyang Tong , formally the Viscount of Bohai , was an official of the Chinese dynasty Tang Dynasty and Wu Zetian's Zhou Dynasty, serving briefly as chancellor during Wu Zetian's reign.- Background :...
, whom Lai subsequently arrested and tortured. However, he was unable to get Ouyang to admit to treason, and so he forged a confession from Ouyang. Cen, Ge, and Ouyang were all executed. Lai also killed the general Li Anjing (李安靜).
In 692, Lai falsely accused the chancellors Ren Zhigu
Ren Zhigu
Ren Zhigu was an official of Wu Zetian's Zhou Dynasty, serving briefly as chancellor.Despite Ren's high status, little is firmly established about his background or career except for the time that he served as chancellor—as, unusual for a chancellor, he did not have a biography in either the Book...
, Di Renjie
Di Renjie
Dí Rénjié , courtesy name Huaiying , formally Duke Wenhui of Liang , was an official of the Chinese Tang Dynasty and Wu Zetian's Zhou Dynasty, twice serving as chancellor during her reign...
, and Pei Xingben
Pei Xingben
Pei Xingben was an official of Wu Zetian's Zhou Dynasty, serving briefly as chancellor.Despite Pei's high status, little is firmly established about his background or career except for the time that he served as chancellor—as, unusual for a chancellor, he did not have a biography in either the...
, along with other officials Cui Xuanli (崔宣禮), Lu Xian (盧獻), Wei Yuanzhong
Wei Yuanzhong
Wei Yuanzhong , né Wei Zhenzai , formally Duke Zhen of Qi , was an official of the Chinese dynasty Tang Dynasty and Wu Zetian's Zhou Dynasty, serving as chancellor during the reigns of Wu Zetian and her son Emperor Zhongzong.- Background :It is not known which year Wei Yuanzhong was born, but it...
, and Li Sizhen (李嗣真) of treason. Lai tried to induce them to confess by citing an imperial edict that stated that those who confessed would be spared their lives, and Di confessed and was not tortured. He then wrote a petition on his blanket and hid it inside cotton clothes, and then had his family members take the clothes home to be changed into summer clothes. Wu Zetian thereafter became suspicious and inquired with Lai, who responded by forging, in the names of Di and the other officials, submissions thanking Wu Zetian for preparing to execute them. However, the young son of another chancellor who had been executed, Le Sihui
Le Sihui
Le Sihui was an official during Wu Zetian's Zhou Dynasty, briefly serving as chancellor.It is not known when Le Sihui was born. His father Le Yanwei served as chancellor during the reign of Wu Zetian's husband Emperor Gaozong of Tang...
, who was seized to be a servant at the ministry of agriculture, made a petition to Wu Zetian and told her that Lai was so skillful at manufacturing charges that even the most honest and faithful individuals would be forced into confessions by Lai. Wu Zetian thereafter summoned the seven accused officials and personally interrogated them, and after they disavowed the forged confessions, released but exiled them. Later that year, Lai demanded a bribe from the general Quan Xiancheng (泉獻誠), the grandson of the former Goguryeo
Goguryeo
Goguryeo or Koguryŏ was an ancient Korean kingdom located in present day northern and central parts of the Korean Peninsula, southern Manchuria, and southern Russian Maritime province....
regent Yeon Gaesomun
Yeon Gaesomun
Yeon Gaesomun was a powerful and controversial military dictator and Generalissimo in the waning days of Goguryeo, which was one of the Three Kingdoms of ancient Korea. Yeon is also remembered for a number of successful resistance in military conflicts with Tang Dynasty under Emperor Li Shimin and...
and, when Quan refused, falsely accused Quan of treason and had him strangled.
In 693, the officials Pei Feigong (裴匪躬) and Fan Yunxian (范雲仙) were accused of secretly meeting with the crown prince Li Dan (the former emperor), and when Fan tried to speak on his own behalf, Lai had his tongue cut off, and then had Pei and Fan both executed by being cut in half at the waist. Wu Zetian decreed that officials would not be allowed to meet with Li Dan. When, subsequently, there were secret accusations that Li Dan was plotting to overthrow her, she had Lai investigate Li Dan's associates, whom Lai arrested and tortured. One of them, An Jinzang
An Jinzang
An Jincang was a Tang Dynasty court official responsible for saving the life of Li Dan, the future emperor.A native of Luoyang, he was employed in the Court of Sacrificial Worship under the Empress Wu Zetian...
, proclaimed Li Dan's innocence and cut his own abdomen, causing the organs to fall out. When Wu Zetian heard this, she was touched, and she had the imperial physicians treat An, barely saving his life, and on account of An's assurance that Li Dan was not plotting against her, ordered Lai to end his investigations against Li Dan. Meanwhile, Lai falsely accused the minister of public works, Su Gan (蘇幹), of having been a co-conspirator of Li Chong's, and had him executed.
Either in 693 or 694, Lai was accused by the imperial censor JI Lüzhong (紀履忠) of five crimes, including corruption, and initially, Lai was sentenced to death, but Wu Zetian, believing him to have accomplished much for her, spared his life and reduced him to commoner rank -- and soon thereafter reinstated him as secretary general of palace affairs (殿中丞, Dianzhong Cheng). Lai was, however, thereafter again accused of corruption, and he was demoted to be a military officer at Tong Prefecture (同州, roughly modern Weinan
Weinan
Weinan is a Municipality in the province of Shaanxi, PRC. The Grand Historian Sima Qian was born in Weinan.-Administration:...
, Shaanxi
Shaanxi
' is a province in the central part of Mainland China, and it includes portions of the Loess Plateau on the middle reaches of the Yellow River in addition to the Qinling Mountains across the southern part of this province...
), interrupting his career as a secret police official.
Second stint as secret police official
In 696, Lai Junchen was recalled to then-capital LuoyangLuoyang
Luoyang is a prefecture-level city in western Henan province of Central China. It borders the provincial capital of Zhengzhou to the east, Pingdingshan to the southeast, Nanyang to the south, Sanmenxia to the west, Jiyuan to the north, and Jiaozuo to the northeast.Situated on the central plain of...
to serve as the sheriff of Hegong County (合宮), one of the two counties making up Luoyang. In late 696, the sheriff of Mingtang County (明堂, one of the counties making up Chang'an), Ji Xu
Ji Xu
Ji Xu was an official of Wu Zetian's Zhou Dynasty, serving briefly as chancellor.- Background :It is not known when Ji Xu was born, but it is known that he was from the Zhou capital Luoyang. He was said to be tall, good at hiding his emotions, but daring to speak...
, heard about a treasonous plot by the officials Liu Sili (劉思禮), Qilian Yao (綦連耀), and Wang Ju (王勮) -- as the conspirators believed that Qilian was fated to be emperor one day. Ji relayed the plot to Lai, and had Lai submit a secret report of it. Wu Zetian had Wu Yizong (武懿宗) the Prince of Henan, the grandson of her uncle Wu Shiyi (武士逸), investigate. Liu implicated some 36 officials into the plot, and they and their families were executed. Lai, wanting to monopolize the rewards for reporting this plot, was prepared to falsely accuse Ji of crimes as well, but Ji found this out and submitted a secret petition; he was able to meet Wu Zetian, who promoted him, while Lai was further restored to good graces in Wu Zetian's eyes and was promoted to be the deputy minister of husbandry (司僕少卿, Sipu Shaoqing).
It was said that, particularly after this restoration to power, Lai did what he could to seize beautiful women for his gratification, finding ways to implicate and execute their husbands and then seize them. (He had been planning to seize a beautiful servant girl of Western Tujue's Jiezhongshizhu Khan Ashina Huseluo, then at Luoyang, and he therefore accused Ashina Huseluo of treason, but Ashina Huseluo escaped death when the chiefs of his subordinate tribes pleaded in front of the palace and cut their own faces to vouch for Ashina Huseluo.) It was further said that he created a book of the officials' names and then random chose whom to accuse by drawing lots, and that he compared himself to Shi Le
Shi Le
Shi Le , courtesy name Shilong , formally Emperor Ming of Zhao , was the founding emperor of the Chinese/Jie state Later Zhao...
, the founder of Later Zhao
Later Zhao
The Later Zhao was a state of the Sixteen Kingdoms during the Jin Dynasty in China. It was founded by the Shi family of the Jie ethnicity...
. As he had an inimical relationship with the censor Li Zhaode
Li Zhaode
Li Zhaode was an official of Wu Zetian's Zhou Dynasty and at one point served as chancellor. He was known for his abilities and strong will, which eventually led to a conflict with Wu Zetian's secret police official Lai Junchen...
, he and another enemy of Li Zhaode's, Huangfu Wenbei (皇甫文備), falsely accused Li Zhaode of treason, and Li Zhaode was arrested later in 697.
Meanwhile, Lai was said to be ready for something much more major -- falsely accusing Li Dan, his older brother Li Zhe
Emperor Zhongzong of Tang
Emperor Zhongzong of Tang , personal name Lǐ Xiǎn , at times during his life Li Zhe and Wu Xian , was the fourth Emperor of the Tang Dynasty of China, ruling briefly in 684 and again from 705 to 710.Emperor Zhongzong was the son of Emperor Gaozong of Tang and Empress Wu...
the Prince of Luling (also a former emperor), the Wu clan imperial princes, and Wu Zetian's powerful daughter Princess Taiping
Princess Taiping
Princess Taiping was a princess of the Chinese dynasty Tang Dynasty and her mother Wu Zetian's Zhou Dynasty. She was the youngest daughter of Wu Zetian and Emperor Gaozong and was powerful during the reigns of her mother and her elder brothers Emperor Zhongzong and Emperor Ruizong , particularly...
, of treason as well, to wipe them out gradually to give himself a chance to start a coup to seize the throne himself. His friend Wei Suizhong (衛遂忠), publicly reported the plot, and the Wu clan princes and Princess Taiping responded by submitting accusations against Lai. Wu Zetian arrested Lai, and Lai was sentenced to death -- but Wu Zetian, still believing that he was faithful to her, did not approve the execution order for three days. Only at Ji's urging did she approve the execution, and Lai and Li Zhaode were executed on the same day. It was said that the people mourned Li Zhaode while celebrating Lai's death -- with his enemies cutting out his flesh and organs, consuming much of it in anger.