Zong Chuke - During Wu Zetian's Reign

During Wu Zetian's Reign

Later in 690, Wu Zetian had Emperor Ruizong yield the throne to her, and she took the throne as emperor, establishing a new Zhou Dynasty and interrupting Tang Dynasty. She made Zong Qinke Neishi (內史) -- the head of the legislative bureau of government (鳳閣, Fengge) and a post considered one for a chancellor, while Zong Chuke remained a deputy minister and Zong Jinqing became a commander of the imperial guards. Just slightly over a month after taking the throne and making Zong Qinke a chancellor, however, she received accusations that Zong Qinke was corrupt and Zong Chuke and Zong Jinqing, in addition to being corrupt, also committed rape. She demoted Zong Qinke to be the sheriff of Zunhua County (遵化, in modern Qinzhou, Guangxi) while exiling Zong Chuke and Zong Jinqing to the same region. Zong Qinke died in exile, but Zong Chuke and Zong Jinqing were recalled after about a year in exile. It was probably around this time that he served as a low-level official at the minister of defense and became considered familiar with military matters. On one occasion, when there were reports that the Tujue chief Tashili Tudun (沓實力吐敦) was set to rebel. Zong Chuke, knowing that Tashili Tudun was faithful, opined that this must be a false report by Tashili Tudun's nephew Tashili Mozi (沓實力默子). Soon, news came that Tashili Mozi was the one who rebelled, and that he had been captured by joint forces of Tashili Tudun and Tang forces.

In 697, Zong was serving as deputy minister of defense (夏官侍郎, Xiaguan Shilang) when Wu Zetian gave him the designation of Tong Fengge Luantai Pingzhangshi (同鳳閣鸞臺平章事), making him a chancellor de facto. However, in 698, he was stripped of the chancellor designation, although he continued to serve as deputy minister of defense.

Around this time, he developed an enmity with his cousin Wu Yizong (武懿宗) the Prince of Henan (a grandson of Wu Zetian's uncle Wu Shiyi (武士逸)). Around the new year 699, while Zong Chuke was serving as Wenchang Zuo Cheng (文昌左丞), one of the secretaries general of the executive bureau (文昌臺, Wenchang Tai), Wu Yizong submitted articles of impeachment against him and Zong Jinqing, accusing them of corruption and building mansions of excessive luxury. Zong Chuke was demoted to be the military advisor to the prefect of Bo Prefecture (播州, roughly modern Zunyi, Guizhou), while Zong Jinqing was exiled to Feng Prefecture (峰州, roughly Vinh Phuc Province, Vietnam). (It did appear that the Zongs had overly luxurious mansions, for when Wu Zetian's only daughter Princess Taiping visited their mansions, she stated, "Once we look at their mansions, it is like we have not lived.")

After some time, Zong Chuke was allowed to move closer to the capital Luoyang, and he successively served as the prefect of Yu Prefecture (豫州, roughly modern Zhumadian, Henan), then deputy director of palace supplies (少府少監, Shaofu Shaojian), then prefect of Qi Prefecture (岐州, roughly modern Baoji, Shaanxi) and then Shan Prefecture (陝州, roughly modern Sanmenxia, Henan). He eventually became deputy minister of defense again, and in 704 was again made chancellor with the Tong Fengge Luantai Pingzhangshi designation. Later that year, however, he was accused of retaining a servant girl originally of Li Chongrun the Prince of Shao (Wu Zetian's grandson, whom she forced to commit suicide in 701), and he was demoted to be the commandant at Yuan Prefecture (原州, roughly modern Guyuan, Ningxia), as well as the commanding general of the army in the region.