Hou Sizhi

Who was Hou Sizhi?

Hou Sizhi was a secret police official during the Chinese dynasty Tang Dynasty and Wu Zetian's Zhou Dynasty.

It is not known when Hou Sizhi was born, but it is known that he was from Tang's capital prefecture Yong Prefecture. He was said to be poor and unable to make a living from selling bread, and so he served as a servant at the household of the general Gao Yuanli in Heng Prefecture. In 690, he was accused of inappropriate conduct, and the prefect of Heng Prefecture, Pei Zhen, was set to sentence him to caning. A local official advised him to make a secret report to Wu Zetian, who was then empress dowager and regent over her son Emperor Ruizong, and he did so, accusing Pei and Emperor Ruizong's granduncle Li Yuanming the Prince of Shu of plotting treason together. Empress Dowager Wu, already looking for excuses to act against senior members of the Li imperial clan, exiled Li Yuanming and executed Pei and Li Yuanming's son Li Dan the Prince of Yuzhang. She gave Hou a general title, but Hou offered to become an assistant censor, which was ranked lower but which had the authority to investigate crimes. Empress Dowager Wu asked him, "You are illiterate. How can you be a censor?" Hou responded, "A xiezhi is also illiterate, but it could use its horn to hit the evil!" Empress Dowager was pleased and made him a censor. On one occasion, she was set to award a house to Hou that was seized from a person accused of treason. Hou declined and stated, "I hate treasonous individuals, and I do not want a house from one!" She was further impressed.