Yao Shu
Yao Shu , courtesy name Lingzhang, formally Count Cheng of Wuxing, was an official of the Chinese dynasty Tang Dynasty and Wu Zetian's Zhou Dynasty, serving twice as chancellor during Wu Zetian's reign.
Background
Yao Shu was born in 632, during the reign of Emperor Taizong. His grandfather was the historian Yao Silian, the lead author of the Book of Liang and Book of Chen, the official histories of Liang Dynasty and Chen Dynasty. His father Yao Chuping served as a military census officer and died early. Yao Shu raised his brothers and sisters and was said to be kind to them. He was also said to be well-studied and good at rhetoric.During Emperor Gaozong's reign
During the middle part of the Yonghui era of Emperor Taizong's son and successor Emperor Gaozong, Yao Shu passed the imperial examination and was made a secretary at the mansion of Emperor Gaozong's crown prince Li Hong. While serving there, he participated in a compilation work commissioned by Li Hong, the Yaoshan Yucai, and after the work was completed, he was made Mishu Lang, a secretary at the Palace Library. During Emperor Gaozong's Tiaolu era, he was promoted to be Zhongshu Sheren, a mid-level official at the legislative bureau of government and created the Viscount of Wuxing.During Emperor Zhongzong's and Emperor Ruizong's first reigns
Emperor Gaozong died in 683 and was succeeded by his son Li Zhe the Crown Prince , but actual power was in the hands of Emperor Gaozong's powerful wife Empress Wu, as empress dowager and regent. In 684, when Emperor Zhongzong displayed signs of independence, she deposed him and replaced him with his brother Li Dan the Prince of Yu, but thereafter wielded power even more firmly. Later that year, Li Jingye the Duke of YIng started a rebellion against her with the articulated goal of restoring Emperor Zhongzong, but the rebellion was quickly defeated. As Yao Shu's cousin Yao Jingjie participated in Li Jingye's rebellion, Yao Shu was demoted to be the secretary general for the commandant at Gui Prefecture. Once Yao Shu got to Gui Prefecture, he, knowing that Empress Dowager Wu favored signs of good fortune, visited the mountains and forests of the area, and collected a number of items containing the character "Wu." He then submitted them as signs of fortune, and this pleased her greatly. She recalled him to serve as the deputy minister of civil service affairs. He was said to be good at selecting people to serve as officials and was praised for this ability.During Wu Zetian's reign
In 690, Empress Dowager Wu had Emperor Ruizong yield the throne to her, and she took the throne as "emperor," establishing Zhou and interrupting Tang. In 692, she made Yao Shu Wenchang Zuo Cheng, one of the secretaries general at the executive bureau, and gave him the designation of Tong Fengge Luantai Pingzhangshi, making him a chancellor de facto. At that time, the customs called for officials in charge of recording imperial history to record the acts of the emperors and chancellors, but as Wu Zetian's meetings with the chancellors rarely included those official historians, the meetings were not being recorded. Yao believed that given the importance of the meetings, they should be recorded, and therefore advocated that, by rotation, one of the chancellors be required to record the meetings. Wu Zetian agreed, and this became a custom thereafter followed. Later in 692, however, he was accused of improprieties not recorded in historical accounts, and he was made the minister of vassal affairs, no longer a chancellor.In 694, Wu Zetian made Yao Shu Nayan, the head of the examination bureau and a post considered one for a chancellor. Around that time, there was an incident where his fellow chancellor Doulu Qinwang, without informing the other officials what the contents of his petition was, ordered the other officials to sign a petition—which, without their knowledge, contained an offer for all officials to give up two months of salary in order to aid in the war effort against Eastern Tujue. When Doulu's subordinate Wang Qiuli objected, on the account that the low level officials would not be able to support themselves if they gave up two months of salary, and reported this objection in person to Wu Zetian, Yao initially tried to rebuke Wang, stating, "Wang Qiuli, you do not know what is important." Wang responded, "Do you, Yao Shu, really know what is important?" Thereafter, however, apparently by Wu Zetian's directive, the matter of having the officials give up two months of salary was no longer mentioned. Later that year, when Wu Zetian's nephew Wu Sansi proposed that a pillar made of copper and iron be built to commemorate Wu Zetian's reign and to deprecate Tang, Wu Zetian put Yao in charge of the project, and it was said that the project required so much metal that he ordered farmers to give up their farming equipment to be melted down for the material. After the completion of the pillar, Wu Zetian was set to give him a greater title, when he requested that instead posthumous honors be granted on his father Yao Chuping. Wu Zetian agreed, and posthumously honored Yao Chuping as a prefect.
In 695, Wu Zetian's lover Huaiyi, because she had another lover, Shen Nanqiu, was jealous, and set the imperial meeting hall on fire—an event that Wu Zetian hid the truth of and indicated was an accidental fire, but she considered stopping an imperial feast she was holding at the time to show humility in light of what might be divine disapproval. Yao opposed, however, stating:
Wu Zetian agreed, continued to feast, and further ordered that the meeting hall be rebuilt, with Yao in charge. After it was rebuilt, she gave him the honorific title Yinqing Guanglu Daifu.
In 696, the Umayyad Caliphate offered to give Wu Zetian a lion as a gift. Yao opposed accepting the gift, stating:
Wu Zetian agreed and declined the lion. Also at Yao's suggestion, she stopped a proposal to coat with gold nine ding that she had built as symbols of her governance. Later in 696, when Khitan's khan Li Jinzhong attacked, she commissioned Wu Sansi to serve as the commander of an army to defend against Khitan attacks and had Yao serve as Wu Sansi's assistant. During the campaign, Eastern Tujue's khan Ashina Mochuo indicated that he was willing to be aligned with Zhou against Khitan and made a number of requests for return of Tujue people who had surrendered to Zhou, various treasures, and food supplies, which, after Yao and fellow chancellor Yang Zaisi argued were necessary to maintain an alliance with Eastern Tujue, Wu Zetian agreed to give Ashina Mochuo, allowing him to become even stronger than before. After the end of the campaign against Khitan in 697, there was accusations against Yao, and she demoted him to be the secretary general at Yi Prefecture.
At the time that Yao went to Yi Prefecture, it was said that the low level officials of the region were largely corrupt and violent. Yao made thorough examinations and removed many of them. Wu Zetian appreciated his efforts and wrote him a letter to thank him, and further commented, "It is easy for a superior official to be clean himself, but it is difficult for him to make his subordinates clean. Yao Shu is able to do both."
Around that same time, however, there was an incident where Zhu Daipi, the secretary general of Xindu County, part of Yao's responsible area, was accused of corruption and sentenced to death. Zhu was friendly with a large number of Buddhist monks in the area, and it was said that Zhu secretly organized them to prepare to rebel, kill Yao, and occupy the region. This plot was reported to Yao, and Yao investigated and killed thousands of people. Wu Zetian further sent the secret police officials Song Yuanshuang and Huo Xianke to investigate, and several hundred more people were arrested and tortured. A large number of people were executed or exiled, and there was much mourning for the excessive killing. The imperial censor Yuan Shuji, believing that the investigations were improper, submitted articles of impeachment against Yao, and Wu Zetian initially ordered that Yuan and Yao debate with each other, but soon cancelled the debate. She promoted Yao to be the minister of treasury, and then instead made him the minister of public works. She also put him in charge of the western capital Chang'an. During the middle of her Chang'an era, he requested retirement, which she approved, and promoted his title to be that of a count.