However, he was also said to be frequently listening to false accusations, and staff members who dared to speak against his actions were often dismissed.
In spring 684, when Emperor Zhongzong showed signs of independence, she deposed him and replaced him with his brother Li Dan the Prince of Yu, but thereafter held onto power even more tightly.
Sometime during these times, Li Zhen was made the prefect of Yu Prefecture (豫州, roughly modern Zhumadian, Henan).
They became heavily alarmed when Empress Dowager Wu, after she had finished constructing a grand imperial hall, the Mingtang (明堂), issued orders to summon members of the imperial clan to the eastern capital Luoyang to be ready for a ceremony to worship the god of the Luo River (洛水, near Luoyang).
However, prior to the princes' working out a coordinated plan, on September 16, 688,[1] Li Chong launched a rebellion himself at Bo Prefecture (博州, roughly modern Liaocheng, Shandong), where he was serving as prefect.
Li Zhen, in turn, notified his aunt the Princess Changle and her husband Zhao Gui (趙瓌) the prefect of Shou Prefecture (壽州, roughly modern Lu'an, Anhui), and both the Princess Changle and Zhao Gui encouraged him.
He also had his soldiers wear amulets blessed by Taoist and Buddhist monks that purportedly would protect them from swords.
Li Zhen's bodyguards, while fighting off the attacking forces, told him, "Your Royal Highness should not wait to die by the sword."
He posthumously restored Li Zhen's family name and imperial clan status, but not his titles, as the move was opposed by his cousin and trusted advisor Wu Sansi (his cousin on the Wu side of the family) and his concubine Consort Shangguan Wan'er.