If Wu Zetian Never Really Came to Power

My name is Shangguan Wan'er. It took me forty-nine years to understand three women. The first woman is my master. Her name is Wu Zetian. The whole world thought she was the eternal empress - she deposed the emperor, killed Li Tang's clan, changed the country's name to Zhou, and ascended the dragon throne that had always belonged only to men. But I can tell you a secret. She had never truly lived a day in her life according to her own will. Her ink pen for reviewing memorials, her abolition of the imperial edict for setting up a prince, her military orders for launching wars - every order came from her hand, but behind every order stood a person she could not see. That person had chosen her since she was nineteen years old, spent forty-two years pushing her to the throne, and spent another fifteen years making her return the country she had stolen. She is not a chess player. She is a chess piece.