Troubles had been brewing between members of the Wu and Li families. The issue was that of succession. Although Wu Chao owed her family nothing, certain members of it entertained hopes of succeeding her. On the Li side, Kao Tsung's nephews, supported by the dissatisfied old aristocratic families, reasoned that they were the rightful heirs, now that Wu Chao's two sons had been deposed. After the usurpation, the Empress had appointed Jui Tsung to be the heir apparent She obviously considered him more capable than Chung Tsung. She did, not, however, want her Wu relatives to be annihilated in a new reign, and so she called both sides together and made them swear an oath that they would live in peace after she died. The oath was stored in a box and deposited in a Buddhist temple.