Yang Zaisi

Yang Zaisi (楊再思) (died 709), formally Duke Gong of Zheng (鄭恭公), was an official of the Chinese dynasty Tang Dynasty and Wu Zetian's Zhou Dynasty, serving several times as chancellor during the reigns of Wu Zetian and her son Emperor Zhongzong. Yang was criticized by traditional historians for his flattery.

It is not known when Yang Zaisi was born, but it is known that his family was from Zheng Prefecture (鄭州, roughly modern Zhengzhou, Henan). He passed the imperial examination when he was young, and was made the sheriff of Xuanwu County (玄武, in modern Deyang, Sichuan). On one occasion, when he was in the capital Chang'an on official business and staying at an inn, there was a thief who stole his baggage. As the thief was leaving, Yang happened to encounter him, and the thief begged for forgiveness. He told the thief, "You, sir, must be committing this crime only out of poverty. Please go and not make a sound, as to not alert anyone else. Just leave me my official papers; the money you can have." The thief left, and Yang borrowed money for the remainder of his trip. He was eventually promoted to serve as a low-level official at the ministry of civil service affairs, and then as imperial censor.

In 694, Yang Zaisi was still serving as censor when he was made Luantai Shilang (鸞臺侍郎), the deputy head of the examination bureau of government (鸞臺, Luantai), and was given the designation of Tong Fengge Luantai Pingzhangshi (同鳳閣鸞臺平章事), making him a chancellor de facto.

In 697, during a rebellion by Khitan's khan Sun Wanrong, Eastern Tujue's khan Ashina Mochuo, who had been at times ally and at times enemy of Wu Zetian's Zhou Dynasty, indicated that he was willing to be aligned with Zhou against Khitan and made a number of requests for return of Tujue people who had surrendered to Zhou, various treasures, and food supplies, which, after Yang and fellow chancellor Yao Shu argued were necessary to maintain an alliance with Eastern Tujue, Wu Zetian agreed to give Ashina Mochuo, allowing him to become even stronger than before.

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