Chapter Fourteen - Lovers, Liars, and Lamas

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

Lovers, Liars, and Lamas

BY THE TIME she hit her 60s, Wu Zetian was the most powerful person in East Asia, and possibly the most feared.

But even the sharpest empires rot at the core.

And at the core of Wu’s court?

Sex, scandal, and whispers in the dark.

Their names were Zhang Yizhi and Zhang Changzong. Two handsome, well-groomed brothers with soft voices, silky robes, and a talent for flattery.

They weren’t generals. They weren’t scholars. They weren’t even from important families.

But they were young.

And Wu liked them.

By now, she was older, more isolated, and surrounded by cautious men who were either terrified of her or trying to replace her. The Zhang brothers didn’t pretend. They doted on her. Pampered her. Played music. Wrote poetry. Massaged her legs. Kept her company.

They made her feel alive again.

And she rewarded them for it.

She gave them titles. Power. Land. Political access. They were brought into state meetings. They sat in on confidential briefings. They issued edicts in her name. They weren’t just lovers, they became her gatekeepers.

If you wanted to reach the emperor, you had to go through the Zhang brothers first.

And the court hated them for it.

Officials gossiped. Ministers grumbled. Confucian scholars lost their minds. The idea of two pretty boys sleeping with the emperor and basically running the empire was too much.

But Wu didn’t care.

Because in her eyes, they were loyal. More loyal than her sons. More loyal than her officials. And loyalty, at this stage, meant everything.

This is also when esoteric Buddhism started ramping up in her court.

Not the chill, meditative kind. The ritual-heavy, secret-mantra, cosmic-power kind. Think spells, seals, incantations, and rites that claimed to channel cosmic power.

Wu leaned into it hard.

She invited tantric monks. She funded strange rituals. She supported the spread of sutras that reinforced her divine status as a female messiah, sometimes even blending Hindu and Buddhist ideas into the mix.

Some called it a spiritual revival. Others called it cultic madness.

But it kept the spotlight on her as sacred, chosen, and eternal.

The truth is, Wu probably knew the Zhang brothers weren’t saints. They were ambitious, manipulative, and greedy. But she kept them close anyway. Because they gave her something she needed.

Escape.

From death. From paranoia. From isolation. From being the most feared person in the empire.

But outside the palace?

Resentment was growing.

The court was tired. The people were restless. The Tang loyalists were watching. And they weren’t going to stay quiet forever.

The woman who built her empire on discipline and precision was now surrounded by perfume and poetry and whispers.

And the walls were starting to creak.