an efficient and fair judge, judging some 17,000 cases within a year without anyone complaining about the results. In 676, there was an event in which the general Quan Shancai (權善才) and the military officer Fan Huaiyi (范懷義) accidentally cut cypresses on Emperor Taizong's tomb—an offense punishable by removal from office, but Emperor Gaozong ordered that the two be executed. Di pointed out that, by law, the two should not be executed. This initially offended Emperor Gaozong, who ordered Di to leave his presence. Di continued to object, and eventually, Emperor Gaozong relented and exiled them. Several days later, he appointed Di to the imperial censorate. Around 679, the minister of agriculture Wei Hongji (韋弘機) built three magnificent palaces around the eastern capital Luoyang—Suyu Palace (宿羽宮), Gaoshan Palace (高山宮), and Shangyang Palace (上陽宮). Di submitted an accusation against Wei, arguing that he was leading Emperor Gaozong into being wasteful, and Wei was removed from his office. Meanwhile, around the same time, the official Wang Benli was said to be favored by Emperor Gaozong and, on account of that favor, was committing many illegal deeds and intimidating other officials. Di accused Wang of crimes; initially, Emperor Gaozong was set to pardon him. At Di's insistence—pointing out that the empire did not lack people with Wang's talent—Emperor Gaozong relented and allowed Wang to be punished. During Emperor Ruizong's first reign As of 686, during the reign of Emperor Gaozong's son Emperor Ruizong, Di Renjie was serving as the prefect of Ning Prefecture (寧州, roughly modern Qingyang, Gansu). At that time, the censor Guo Han (郭翰) was commissioned to tour the prefectures in the area, and wherever he went, he found faults with the prefects and corrected them, but when he arrived at Ning Prefecture, it was said that the people had no complaints about Di and praised him greatly. Guo recommended Di to Emperor Ruizong's mother and regent Empress Dowager Wu (later known as Wu Zetian), and Di was recalled to Luoyang to serve as deputy minister of public works (冬官侍郎, Dongguan Shilang). In 688, Di was touring the Jiangnan Circuit (江南道, the region south of the Yangtze River). He believed that the region had too many temples dedicated to unusual deities, and at his request, some 1,700 temples were destroyed; only four kinds of temples were allowed to remain—those dedicated to Yu the Great, Wu Taibo (吳太伯, the legendary founder of