The powers of the secret police officials meanwhile continue, but appear to be curbed starting about 692, when Lai Junchen is foiled in his attempt to have the chancellors Ren Zhigu, Di Renjie, Pei Xingben, and other officials Cui Xuanli, Lu Xian, Wei Yuanzhong, and Li Sizhen executed, as Di, under arrest, had hid a secret petition inside a change of clothes and had it submitted by his son Di Guangyuan.

The seven are still exiled, but after this incident, particularly at the urging of Li Zhaode, Zhu Jingze, and Zhou Ju, the waves of politically motivated massacres decrease, although do not end entirely.

Also in 692, Wu Zetian commissions the general Wang Xiaojie to attack Tufan, and Wang recaptures the four garrisons of Xiyu that had fallen to Tufan in 670—Qiuzi, Yutian, Shule, and Suiye.