Wu had Princess Taiping become a Taoist nun to gain divine favor on behalf of Lady Yang. During the Yifeng era (676-679), when Emperor Gaozong was negotiating a peace treaty with Tufan, the king of Tufan requested to marry Princess Taiping, Emperor Gaozong declined — and, as an excuse, built a Taoist temple named Taiping Temple (太平觀) and commissioned her as the abbess of the temple. In 681, however, Emperor Gaozong and Empress Wu selected Xue Shao (薛紹), a son of Emperor Gaozong's sister Princess Chengyang and Princess Chengyang's second husband Xue Yao (薛曜) (and thus, Princess Taiping's cousin) to be Princess Taiping's husband. A grand wedding was held in the fall of 681, and it was said that there were so many torches used in the procession from the palace to Xuanyang District (宣陽坊), where the Xue clan lived, that many trees on the sides of the streets died due to the heat and smoke. Empress Wu, believing that Lady Xiao, the wife of Xue Shao's brother Xue Yi (薛顗), and Lady Cheng, the wife of another brother Xue Xu (薛緒), were both of low birth and should not be her daughter's sisters-in-law, commented, "How can my daughter be a sister-in-law to the daughters of farmers?" She considered forcing Xue Yi and Xue Xu to divorce, but someone noted to her that Lady Xiao was a grandniece of the deceased chancellor Xiao Yu, and she relented. Xue Shao and Princess Taiping had two sons — Xue Chongxun (薛崇訓) and Xue Chongjian (薛崇簡) — and a daughter (686 - 710) who was created Lady Wanquan (萬泉縣主). During Empress Dowager Wu's regency: Participate in politics Emperor Gaozong died in 683 and was succeeded by Princess Taiping's older brother Crown Prince Li Zhe (as Emperor Zhongzong), but actual power was in the hands of Empress Wu, as empress dowager and regent. In 684, when Emperor Zhongzong showed signs of independence, she deposed him and replaced him with another brother of Princess Taiping's, Li Dan, Prince of Yu (as Emperor Ruizong), but thereafter wielded power even more firmly. As she viewed Princess Taiping as similar to her in appearance and attitude, she favored Princess Taiping greatly and often discussed the affairs of the state with her.<ref>(后常谓"类我"。而主内与谋，外检畏，终后世无它訾。 ) New Book of Tang, vol. 83</ref> In 688, after a failed rebellion against Empress Dowager Wu led by Emperor Gaozong's brother Li Zhen, Prince of Yue