responded semi-jocularly, "Your Eminence should enter through the North Gate [(i.e., directly into the palace without going through the governmental buildings to the south of the palace)]. The Southern Palace is where chancellors gather; do not violate it." In 688, Empress Dowager Wu tore down Qianyuan Hall (), and commissioned the construction of the imperial meeting hall (明堂, MIng Tang) over the same location. She commissioned Huaiyi to oversee the project and conscripted several tens of thousands of men to serve as construction workers. After the imperial meeting hall was completed later that year, for his contributions, she gave him a general title and created him the Duke of Liang. In 689, Empress Dowager Wu commissioned Huaiyi to serve as the commander of an army against Eastern Tujue. He advanced to the Zi River (紫河, a tributary of the Yellow River) but did not encounter Eastern Tujue forces. He erected a monument at Chanyu Tower (單于臺, in modern Hohhot, Inner Mongolia) before withdrawing. In 690, Empress Dowager Wu changed Huaiyi's title to Duke of E. Later that year, she took the throne away from Emperor Ruizong, establishing a new Zhou Dynasty with herself as "emperor." In 694, Eastern Tujue's khan Ashina Mochuo attacked Ling Prefecture (靈州, roughly modern Yinchuan, Ningxia), and Wu Zetian commissioned Huaiyi, assisted by the chancellors Li Zhaode and Su Weidao, to defend against Ashina Mochuo's attack, but before the army could set out, Ashina Mochuo withdrew, and therefore Huaiyi's army never launched. Death In late 694, Wu Zetian held a grand Buddhist gathering at the imperial meeting hall, and she commissioned a giant painting of Buddha drawn with cattle blood, but claimed that it was miraculous drawn with just the blood from Huaiyi's knee, and she hung the portrait at one of the bridges entering Luoyang, Tianjin Bridge (). However, at that time, she had another lover, the imperial physician Shen Nanqiu (), and this drew jealousy from Huaiyi. Huaiyi secretly set fire to the Heavenly Hall (), north of the imperial meeting hall, and the fire burned both halls to the ground. However, when Wu Zetian subsequently ordered the reconstruction of both halls, she still put Huaiyi in charge of the construction. After this incident, however, Huaiyi grew increasingly arrogant and unreasonable, and Wu Zetian began to despise him. To guard herself, she selected a group of strong ladies in waiting. She then had Wu