Tang Dynasty historians

Fang Hui

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Fang Hui was a scholar of the late and early from Huizhou's 徽州 She4 歙 county , who lived from 1227-1307.

Sima Guang

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Sīmǎ Guāng was a historian, scholar, and high chancellor of the Song Dynasty.

Life, profession, and works

He was born in 1019 in present-day to a wealthy family, and obtained early success as a scholar and officer. When he was barely twenty, he passed the Imperial examination with the highest rank of ''jìnshì'' , and spent the next several years in official positions.

In 1064, Sima presented to Emperor Yingzong of Song a book of five volumes , the ''Liniantu'' . It chronologically summarized events in Chinese history from 403 BCE to 959 CE, and was something like a prospectus for sponsorship of his ambitious project in historiography. These dates were chosen because 403 BCE was the beginning of the Warring States period, when the ancient State of Jin was subdivided, which eventually led to the establishment of the Qin Dynasty; and because 959 CE was the end of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms Period and the beginning of the Song Dynasty.

In 1066, he presented a more detailed 8-volume ''Tongzhi'' , which chronicled Chinese history from 403 BCE to 207 BCE . The emperor issued an edict for compiling a groundbreaking universal history of China, granting full access to the imperial libraries, and allocating funds for all the costs of compilation, including research assistance by experienced historians such as Liu Ban , Liu Shu , and Fan Zuyu . After Yingzong died in 1067, Sima was invited to the palace to introduce his work in progress to Emperor Shenzong of Song. The new emperor not only confirmed the interest his father had shown, but proclaimed his favor by changing the title from ''Tongzhi'' to the honorific ''Zizhi Tongjian'' . Scholars interpret this titular "Mirror" to mean a work of reference and guidance; indicating that Shenzong accepted Sima as his mentor in the science of history and its application to government. The emperor maintained his support for compiling this comprehensive history for decades until it was completed in 1084.

Such loyalty is notable, especially since Sima was a leader of the conservative faction at court, resolutely opposed to the reformist policies of Chancellor Wang Anshi. Sima presented increasingly critical memorials to the throne until 1070, when he refused further appointment and withdrew from court. In 1071, he took up residence in Luoyang, where he remained with an official sinecure, providing sufficient time and resources to continue compilation. Indeed, though the historian and the emperor continued to disagree on policies, Sima's enforced retirement proved essential for him to fully complete his chronological history.

Sima Guang was also a lexicographer , and spent decades compiling his 1066 ''Leipian'' dictionary. It was based on the Shuowen Jiezi, and included 31,319 Chinese characters, many of which were coined in the Song and Tang Dynasty.

Sima Guang is best remembered for his ''Zizhi Tongjian'' masterwork, and Rafe de Crespigny describes him as "perhaps the greatest of all Chinese historians" .

There is a folktale that Sima Guang broke a great ceramic container where a boy was drowning. It is called SIMA GUANG DA PO GANG, which could simply be a play on his name for rhyming.

Ma Duanlin

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Ma Duanlin , was a historical writer and encyclop?dist. In 1317 he published the 348 volumes comprehensive Chinese encyclopedia ''Wenxian Tongkao''.

Hu Sansheng

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Hu Sansheng , born Hu Mansun , courtesy names Shenzhi , Meijian , and Jingcan , was a historian and commentator who lived during the late Song Dynasty and early Yuan Dynasty.

Hu was born in Ninghai . He was a mid-level official under the prime minister Jia Sidao during the 1250s. After the fall of Song, he hid himself in the country, and he spent the next few years, until the end of his life, writing his influential corrections and commentaries for the ''Zizhi Tongjian''. Hu's commentaries are considered highly valuable for readers of the work.

Xue Juzheng

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Xue Jucheng was a historian and scholar who served under the Song Dynasty, as well as four of the Five Dynasties that preceded the Song. Xue is best known for compiling the ''Five Dynasties History'' which was put together in the 960s and 970s.

Xue was born during the Later Liang, the first of the Five Dynasties. He received his Jinshi examination degree during the Later Tang. He continued to serve the remaining three dynasties of the Five Dynasties, the , Later Han, and the Later Zhou.

When the Song Dynasty replaced the Later Zhou in 960, Xue took service with the new dynasty as he had with dynasties prior to the new rulers of northern China. During the first two decades of the Song, Xue set about to compiling a history of the Five Dynasties.

Entitled ''Five Dynasties History'', the main purpose of the work was to reinforce the claim of the Song to the Mandate of Heaven from the Tang Dynasty through the Five Dynasties to the reigning Song.

Death and legacy

Xue did not live much longer than after compilation of the ''Five Dynasties History'' in 974, dying in 981. However, his legacy of writing a history of a previous era of Chinese history for the purpose of bolstering the current patron dynasty would be repreated later in Chinese history, notably with the Yuan Dynasty’s writing of the ''History of Liao''.

Zhang Xi (Chinese official)

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Zhang Xi , formally the Duke of Pingyuan , was an official of the dynasty Tang Dynasty and Wu Zetian's Zhou Dynasty, serving as on two occasions.

Background

It is not known when Zhang Xi was born, but it is known that he came from a line that had served for generations as officials of Northern Wei, Northern Qi, Sui Dynasty, and Tang Dynasty. Zhang Xi's father Zhang Wencong served as a deputy minister during the reign of Emperor Gaozong of Tang, and his uncle Zhang Wenguan served as a .

During Wu Zetian's reign

The first historical reference to Zhang Xi's own career as an official was in 700, during the reign of Emperor Gaozong's wife Wu Zetian, when Zhang Xi was serving as the deputy minister of civil service affairs . On that occasion, Zhang Changyi , the brother of Wu Zetian's lovers Zhang Yizhi and Zhang Changzong, had received a bribe from a reserve official with the surname of Xue to ask to be given an actual commission. Zhang Changyi took the bribe and his certificate of reserve commission and gave the certificate to Zhang Xi, ordering him to find a position for the man. Several days later, Zhang Xi found that he had misplaced the certificate, and he met Zhang Changyi to ask him what to do -- to which Zhang Changyi replied, "How am I supposed to remember what his name was? The only way to salvage the situation is to give a commission to everyone named Xue." Zhang Xi, in fear, left Zhang Changyi's presence, and gave commissions some 60 reserve officials named Xue. Later in 700, Zhang Xi was made ''Fengge Shilang'' , the deputy head of the legislative bureau of government and given the designation ''Tong Fengge Luantai Pingzhangshi'' , making him a chancellor ''de facto''. At that time, Zhang Xi's nephew Li Jiao was already serving as chancellor, and as Wu Zetian did not want both uncle and nephew to serve as chancellors simultaneously, she removed Li Jiao from his office, but it was still regarded as a great honor to the family at the time to have him succeed his nephew. He continued to serve in the capacity as selector of officials, along with Zheng Gao .

In 701, Zhang Xi was accused of revealing palace secrets and accepting bribes, and he was set to be executed. At the time of his arrest, he rode a horse to the jail for high level officials, and continued, once there, to enjoy luxurious meals, while another chancellor who was also arrested, Su Weidao, slept on a mat on the floor and ate very simple meals. When Wu Zetian heard this, she released Su and returned him to office, while setting an execution date for Zhang Xi, but at the last moment spared him and exiled him to Xun Prefecture .

After Wu Zetian's reign

Wu Zetian was overthrown in a coup in 705, and her son the Crown Prince, formerly emperor, was restored to the throne . Sometime during Emperor Zhongzong's reign, Zhang Xi was recalled to serve as the minister of public works and was also in charge of editing imperial histories, and was eventually put in charge of the eastern capital Luoyang.

In 710, Emperor Zhongzong suddenly died -- a death that traditional historians believed to be a poisoning carried out by his powerful wife and daughter Li Guo'er the Princess Anle, so that Empress Wei could become "emperor" like Wu Zetian did and that Li Guo'er could become crown princess. Meanwhile, though, Emperor Zhongzong's son by a concubine, the Prince of Wen, was made emperor, with Empress Wei retaining power as empress dowager and regent. She conferred on Zhang Xi the designation of ''Tong Zhongshu Menxia Sanpin'' , again making him chancellor ''de facto'', but had him remain in charge at Luoyang. Less than a month later, she and Li Guo'er were killed in a coup led by Emperor Zhongzong's sister Princess Taiping and nephew the Prince of Linzi, and Li Longji's father the Prince of Xiang, himself a former emperor, was restored to the throne . Emperor Ruizong demoted all of the chancellors that Empress Dowager Wei had commissioned, and Zhang Xi was demoted to be the prefect of Jiang Prefecture . Sometime after that, he was created the Duke of Pingyuan, and died after his retirement, but the date of his death is not known.

Yuan Zai

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Yuan Zai , courtesy name Gongfu , formally Viscount Huang of Xuchang and then Viscount Chengzong of Xuchang , was an official of the Tang Dynasty, serving as a during the reigns of and , becoming particularly powerful during the middle of Emperor Daizong's reign. He was said to be very capable as an official, but also treacherous and corrupt. His behavior eventually wore out Emperor Daizong's patience, and he was arrested and executed.

Background

It is not known when Yuan Zai was born, but it was known that his family was from Qi Prefecture . His father's name was originally Jing Sheng . Jing Sheng became the property manager for Princess Yuan, the wife of Li Ming the Prince of Cao, a son of Emperor Taizong of Tang, who was probably from the lineage of Northern Wei's imperial Yuan clan. He served her well, and she helped him to be adopted into her Yuan clan, and his name was changed to Yuan Sheng. Yuan Zai lost his father early in life, and it was said that in his youth, he was studious and intelligent, and particularly well-studied in Taoist writings. He was so poor that he went to the local examinations on foot, and he repeatedly failed to advance in the examinations.

During Emperor Xuanzong's reign

Early in the ''Tianbao'' era of , Emperor Xuanzong began to favor Taoism, and he scheduled a special examination for scholars well-versed in the ''Zhuangzi'', '''', ''Liezi'', and ''Wenzi''. Yuan Zai did well on this special examination and was made the sheriff of Xinping County . When the imperial censor Wei Yi was put in charge of selecting officials from Qianzhong Circuit , he invited Yuan to serve as his assistant. After Yuan became better known, he was promoted to be ''Dali PIngshi'' , a secretary at the supreme court . Later, when the official Miao Jinqing served as the official in charge of the eastern capital Luoyang, he also invited Yuan to serve as his assistant. After that term of service, Yuan became ''Dali Sizhi'' , a junior judge at the supreme court.

During Emperor Suzong's reign

In 755, the general An Lushan rebelled at Fanyang Circuit and established his own state of , throwing the Tang realm into a state of war and confusion. Yuan Zai fled to the region south of the Yangtze River during the war. Li Xiyan , the surveyor of Jiangdong Circuit commissioned Yuan as his deputy and the prefect of Hong Prefecture . After Emperor Xuanzong's son and successor recaptured the capital Chang'an and Luoyang from Yan forces, Yuan was recalled to the imperial government to serve as a junior official at the ministry of census . When he met Emperor Suzong, Emperor Suzong was impressed by his quick thinking, and gave him several responsibilities -- deputy minister of census , deputy chief imperial censor , and the director of financial matters of the Yangtze-Huai River region. Believing that the Yangtze-Huai region was still comparably wealthy compared to the rest of the realm, Yuan taxed the region heavily to replenish the imperial treasuries, sometimes taxing as much as 80% to 90% of the people's assets, leading to much flight and banditry in the region.

Meanwhile, Yuan began a close association with the powerful eunuch Li Fuguo, through Li Fuguo's wife Lady Yuan, who was a clanswoman of Yuan Zai's. In 762, at Li Fuguo's recommendation, Yuan was named the mayor of the special municipality that included Chang'an, Jingzhao Municipality . Yuan then met Li Fuguo and earnestly declined the post -- and Li Fuguo understood this to mean that he wanted an office ''higher'' than being the mayor of Jingzhao. The next day, when the Xiao Hua was removed from his office, Yuan was given the designation of ''Tong Zhongshu Menxia Pingzhangshi'' , making him a chancellor ''de facto''. He also continued to be in charge of financial matters.

During Emperor Daizong's reign

Emperor Suzong died later that year, and after a bloody struggle between Emperor Suzong's wife and Li Fuguo , Emperor Suzong's son and crown prince became emperor . For a while, Li Fuguo had even greater powerful than before. Yuan Zai continued to serve as chancellor and, knowing that Li Fuguo resented Xiao Hua , Yuan made false accusations against Xiao, leading to Xiao's exile. Yuan was soon made ''Zhongshu Shilang'' , the deputy head of the legislative bureau of government , and continued to serve as chancellor. He was also created the Viscount of Xuchang. In 763, during a surprise attack by Tufan forces against Chang'an (which forced Emperor Daizong to flee to Shan Prefecture , Emperor Daizong made the general Guo Ziyi the supreme commander of Tang forces in the Guanzhong region and made Yuan Guo's military advisor. When Emperor Daizong returned to Chang'an that year, the official Yan Zhenqing proposed that he offer sacrifices at the imperial ancestral tombs and temple first, before returning to the palace. Yuan refused to endorse Yan's proposal, and Yan, exasperated, stated, "How can you, lord chancellor, continue to harm the government?" This led Yuan to be resentful toward Yan. Meanwhile, when Emperor Daizong removed Miao Jinqing and Pei Zunqing from their chancellor posts after returning to Chang'an, it was said that Yuan became even more powerful. He bribed Emperor Daizong's eunuch attendant Dong Xiu and had his subordinate Zhuo Yingqian serve as a liaison to Dong. Through Dong and Zhuo, he was able to keep a close watch on what Emperor Daizong's opinions were and were able to agree with Emperor Daizong's opinions closely, thus drawing greater favor from the emperor. As he was finding the financial affairs too overwhelming for him to handle in addition to the chancellor duties, he transferred his financial affairs duties to his friend . It was said that by this point, Yuan was exceedingly powerful, and his wife Lady Wang and his sons were abusing power. Meanwhile, though, with Li Fuguo and Cheng Yuanzhen having successively been removed, Yu Chao'en had become a powerful eunuch, and he and Yuan did not get along with each other, and while the two did not openly dispute with each other, for the next several years, the power struggle between them would be a strong undercurrent in Tang court politics.

In 765, when Tufan sent emissaries to propose peace with Tang, Emperor Daizong had Yuan and fellow chancellor Du Hongjian meet with them to swear peace.

In 766, with Yuan being very powerful and fearing that people would submit secret accusations to Emperor Daizong against him, he proposed that before officials could submit letters to the emperor, they must first receive approval from their superiors -- thus hoping to cut off this avenue of secret submissions. Yan, then the minister of justice, vehemently opposed, pointing out that this would lead to the rise of another Li Linfu -- who used similar methods to block off criticism against him during his service as Emperor Xuanzong's chancellor. Yuan, already resentful of Yan, accused Yan of defamation and had Yan exiled. Later that year, when Yu, during a lecture on the ''I Ching'', tried to satirize the chancellors by talking about how a '''' would overturn if imbalanced, Yuan's fellow chancellor Wang Jin, was visibly incensed, but Yuan remained calm and pleasant, leading Yu to comment, "It is common for the target to get angry, but one who remains smiling needs to be paid attention to even more carefully."

By 767, it was said that Emperor Daizong, Yuan, Wang, and Du were all devout in Buddhism, with Wang particularly so. With the emperor and the chancellors leading the way, the populace was also largely devoutly Buddhist -- so much so that the energy of the government and the people were spent on worshipping, not on affairs of the state.

In 768, with Tufan continuing to carry out incursions on a yearly basis, Yuan came up with a solution -- as he believed that at that time, the only major army on the Tufan border, commanded by the general Ma Lin , was inadequate to defend against Tufan attacks. He proposed that Ma's army be moved from Bin and Ning to Jing Prefecture , while the stronger army under Guo's command, then at Hezhong be moved to Bin Prefecture. To alleviate fears that the border prefectures, then laid fallow by the wars with Tufan forces, would be inadequate to supply this large army, Yuan committed to sending revenues from the interior prefectures to supply it. Meanwhile, he tried to sow seeds of suspicion between Guo and Yu, but was unable to do so.

In 769, with Du having died, Yuan recommended an old superior, the senior official Pei Mian, who had also recommended him before, to be chancellor. Pei, however, would die shortly after himself.

In 770, with Emperor Daizong's patience about Yu's hold on the imperial guards -- with which Yu was able to dominate the Chang'an region -- finally wearing thin, Yuan secretly conferred with Emperor Daizong and persuaded Emperor Daizong to act against Yu. Yuan bribed two close associates of Yu's -- the guard commander Zhou Hao and the general Huangfu Wen -- and was able to get full grasp of Yu's activities. In spring 770, at Yuan's suggestion, Emperor Daizong carried out several moves that were intending to be preludes to eliminating Yu -- moving the general Li Baoyu from being the military governor of Fengxiang Circuit to Shannan West Circuit , while moving Huangfu, then the military governor of Shan Circuit to Fengxiang -- while allaying Yu's suspicions by transferring control of four counties near Chang'an to the imperial guards, under Yu's command. Soon, when Huangfu arrived in Chang'an, Yuan laid a trap for Yu with Huangfu's and Zhou's soldiers, and at a secret meeting between Emperor Daizong and Yu, Yuan and Emperor Daizong acted and killed Yu.

After Yu's death, Yuan became even more powerful and corrupt. He also became extremely confident of his own abilities, and was living luxuriously, beyond his means. With Yang Guan the deputy minister of civil service affairs not willing to bow to his wishes in determining official commissions, he made Yang the principal of the imperial university and replaced him with a corrupt official, Xu Hao , who followed his orders. Emperor Daizong by now had heard about Yuan's corruption, but wanted to maintain a good relationship with him. He therefore several times personally urged Yuan to curb his ways, but Yuan could not change his ways, beginning to cause him to lose Emperor Daizong's favor. In 771, Emperor Daizong, without seeking Yuan's concurrence and without foreknowledge on Yuan's part, named the official Li Qiyun the chief imperial censor. It was said that this marked the beginning of the fall of Yuan's power. Indeed, in 773, after Li Qiyun indicted several of Yuan's associates -- Xu Hao, Xue Yong , Du Ji , and Yu Shao -- causing them to be demoted out of the capital, it was said that corruption became somewhat curbed at court.

Meanwhile, though, Yuan was working on another military project -- proposing that Yuan Prefecture -- formerly Tang territory, but now in a no-man's land between Tang and Tufan, with neither side guarding it -- be rebuilt; that Ma's forces be moved from Jing Prefecture to Yuan Prefecture; and that Guo's forces be moved from Bin Prefecture to Jing Prefecture; and that these posts then be used as bases of further forward advances against Tufan. Emperor Daizong consulted with the general Tian Shen'gong about this plan, and Tian responded, "Battling and judging the status of enemies is difficult even for well-seasoned generals. Why would Your Imperial Majesty listen to a civilian and put the entire realm's forces under his control?" Yuan's wife Lady Wang, as well as his sons Yuan Bohe , Yuan Zhongwu , and Yuan Ji'neng , were all executed. His family tombs and temples were destroyed, and his assets were confiscated. It was said that Yuan had large storages of pepper as well as gold, silver, and other treasures. Only his daughter Yuan Zhenyi , then already a Buddhist nun, was spared, but she was confiscated to be a servant inside the palace. A large number of Yuan's associates, including Yang Yan , Han Hui , Bao Ji , and Han Hui , were demoted.

After Emperor Daizong died in 778 and was succeeded by Emperor Dezong, Emperor Dezong remembered that Yuan was involved in his being named crown prince. In 784, he posthumously restored Yuan's titles and offices and permitted him to be reburied properly. Yuan's subordinates Xu Chu , Yang Jiao , and Ji Tao paid out of their pockets to rebury Yuan. Yuan was also given the posthumous name of ''Huang'' , later changed to the slightly less derogatory ''Chengzong'' .

Yao Silian

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Yao Silian , courtesy name Jianzhi ,, formally Baron Kang of Fengcheng , was an official of the dynasties Sui Dynasty and Tang Dynasty and was the lead author of the ''Book of Liang'' and ''Book of Chen'', official histories of Liang Dynasty and Chen Dynasty, which his father Yao Cha , a Chen official, had begun but did not finish.

Background

It is not known when Yao Silian was born, other than that it was during Chen Dynasty. His father Yao Cha was the minister of civil service affairs during Chen, and after Chen's destruction by rival Sui Dynasty in 589, Yao Cha moved his family from Wuxing to the Sui capital Daxing , successively serving as an advisor to Emperor Wen of Sui's crown prince Yang Yong and the secretary general of the archival bureau , carrying the title of Duke of Beijiang. During Yao Cha's life, he had begun to write the histories of Chen and its predecessor Liang Dynasty, but was unable to complete it before his death.

Yao Silian studied the ''Book of Han'' under his father when he was young. It was said that he had few desires other than to study. Prior to Chen's destruction, he served as the secretary to Chen Zhuang the Prince of Kuaiji, a son of Chen's last emperor Chen Shubao.

During Sui Dynasty

After Chen's destruction, Yao Silian served as a military advisor to Emperor Wen's son Yang Liang the Prince of Han. At some point, due to Yao Cha's death, he resigned to observe a mourning period. He thereafter served as a secretary at the government of Hejian Commandery . He requested permission from Emperor Wen's son and successor to continue writing the histories of Liang and Chen that Yao Cha had started, and Emperor Yang agreed. Emperor Yang further ordered him and another official, Cui Zujun , to lead a team of scholars in drafting regional maps and histories. He later served as a teacher of Emperor Yang's grandson the Prince of Dai.

By 617, the Sui state was engulfed by agrarian rebellions, and Emperor Yang was in Jiangdu , leaving Yang You nominally in charge of Chang'an, when the general the Duke of Tang started a rebellion and attacked Chang'an, claiming that his intent was to make Yang You emperor. When Chang'an fell in winter 617, it was said that Yang You's staff all fled, except for Yao Silian, who stayed with Yang You, and as Li Yuan's soldiers entered Yang You's mansion, yelled out sternly, "The Duke of Tang started his uprising in order to secure the imperial clan. You cannot be impolite to the Prince." The soldiers backed off. Li Yuan was impressed with Yao's dedication to Yang You, and while he still had Yang You seized by his own subordinates, allowed Yao to accompany Yang You to Shunyang Pavilion before leaving. People who witnessed the event commented, "It is said that kind people are also brave. This man is an example." Li Yuan soon declared Yang You emperor , but after receiving news in 618 that Emperor Yang had been killed in a coup at Jiangdu led by the general Yuwen Huaji, had Yang You yield the throne to him, establishing Tang Dynasty as its Emperor Gaozu.

During Tang Dynasty

After the founding of Tang Dynasty, Yao Silian served as a scholar at the mansion of Emperor Gaozu's son and leading general the Prince of Qin. Later, when Li Shimin was on a campaign against a rival agrarian rebel ruler, Xu Yuanlang the Prince of Lu, Li Shimin had some discussions with others about the events during Sui Dynasty, and he commented, "Yao Silian dared to stand up to swords to show his faithfulness, and this was difficult even in ancient days." At that time, Yao was not with him, but was at Luoyang. Li Shimin sent a messenger to Luoyang to award Yao with silk, stating, "I have just remembered your faithfulness and righteousness and I am now awarding you for them."

In 626, Li Shimin, then locked in an intense rivalry with his brother Li Jiancheng the Crown Prince, ambushed and killed Li Jiancheng and another brother who supported Li Jiancheng, Li Yuanji the Prince of Qi, at . He then effectively forced Emperor Gaozu to create him crown prince and then yield the throne to him . Yao became an imperial scholar at the institute Hongwen Pavilion . Emperor Taizong had him continue the compilation of the histories of Liang and Chen, under supervision by the Wei Zheng. Yao, taking in also commentaries that had been written by Xie Gui and Gu Yewang , completed the works in 636, and Emperor Taizong awarded him with silk and promoted him to be ''Tongzhi Sanqi Changshi'' , a senior advisor at the examination bureau of government . It was said that Yao was faithful and gave honest advice whenever needed. In 632, for example, there was an occasion when Emperor Taizong was about to visit the summer palace Jiucheng Palace , when Yao argued against it, opining that visiting secondary palaces was something that Qin Shi Huang and Emperor Wu of Han did, not what rulers who were even better regarded -- the legendary Emperor Yao, Emperor Shun, Yu the Great, and Tang of Shang did. Emperor Taizong, while citing that he was going to Jiucheng Palace to avoid an asthma attack, nevertheless awarded Yao with silk. In 635, he created Yao the Baron of Fengcheng. Yao died in 637 and was buried with honor, near the tomb of Emperor Taizong's wife Empress Zhangsun, where Emperor Taizong himself would eventually be buried. His grandson Yao Shu would later serve as a chancellor during the reign of Emperor Taizong's daughter-in-law Wu Zetian.

Xu Jingzong

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Xu Jingzong , courtesy name Yanzu , formally Duke Gong of Gaoyang , was a of the dynasty Tang Dynasty, and he, allied with 's wife , was exceedingly powerful during most of Emperor Gaozong's reign.

During Sui Dynasty

Xu Jingzong was born in 592, during the reign of Emperor Wen of Sui. His ancestors had served as officials of the Southern Dynasties during the Southern and Northern Dynasties period for generations and claimed to be originally from Gaoyang Commandery before moving south of the Yangtze River in light of 's loss of the north. Xu Jingzong's father Xu Shanxin was serving as an emissary of Chen Shubao, the last emperor of Chen Dynasty, to Emperor Wen, whose Sui Dynasty then ruled the north, in 589, when Sui destroyed Chen to end the Southern and Northern Dynasties period and reunify China. Emperor Wen was impressed with Xu Shanxin's profound sadness at the fall of his state, and made him an official in his own administration.

Xu Jingzong himself was said to be knowledgeable of literature in his youth, and, after passing the imperial examination, was made a scribe at Huaiyang Commandery . He was soon made a low level official in the imperial administration of Emperor Wen's son . In 618, with virtually the entire Sui state engulfed by agrarian rebellions against Emperor Yang's rule, Xu Shanxin and Xu Jingzong were at Jiangdu with Emperor Yang and his other officials, when Emperor Yang was killed in a coup led by the general Yuwen Huaji. Yuwen was initially planning to spare Xu Shanxin, but after Xu Shanxin publicly refused to submit to him by dancing in his presence , Yuwen executed him. Xu Jingzong submitted to Yuwen and was spared. His exact travels after Emperor Yang's death were not clear, although it is known that he later served the rebel ruler Li Mi the Duke of Wei as a secretary , before eventually becoming a subject of Tang Dynasty, which emerged victorious from the civil wars near and after the end of Sui.

During Emperor Gaozu's reign

It is not clear what Xu Jingzong's activities were initially after becoming a subject of Tang Dynasty , but it is known that in 621, by which time Tang had prevailed over most, but not all, of its rivals in its campaign to reunify China after Sui's collapse, Xu was set to be sent to Lian Prefecture to serve as its prefect's chief advisor, when Emperor Gaozu's son the Prince of Qin, hearing that he was literarily talented, kept him in the capital to serve as a member of his literary staff at a mansion where he retained the best literary talent and served them with the best food and wine.

During Emperor Taizong's reign

In 634, eight years after Li Shimin had succeeded Emperor Gaozu as emperor , Xu Jingzong was made an imperial scholar responsible for editing imperial history, as well as a mid-level official at the legislative bureau of government . In 636, after Emperor Taizong's wife Empress Zhangsun died, the officials were observing a period of mourning and rotating in watching her casket, when Xu, seeing that the official taking that particular shift, Ouyang Xun, was exceedingly ugly in appearance, burst out in laughter, and was accused by the imperial censor for disrespect. He was demoted to the post of military assistant of the commandant at Hong Prefecture . Eventually, he was recalled to the capital to be in charge of imperial supplies and continued to also serve in the role of editing imperial histories. In 643, he assisted the chancellor Fang Xuanling in editing and then submitting imperial histories for Emperors Gaozu's and Taizong's reigns and, for his contribution to the project, was created the Baron of Gaoyang, given an award of silk, and promoted to be the acting deputy head of the examination bureau of government . He was also soon made a junior advisor to Emperor Taizong's crown prince .

In 645, Emperor Taizong was on the campaign against Goguryeo when the chancellor Cen Wenben, who was in charge of the legislative bureau and writing his edicts, died suddenly. Emperor Taizong had left Li Zhi at Ding Prefecture , to be in charge of logistics, assisted by a number of officials led by the chancellor Gao Shilian, and Xu was a member of Li Zhi's staff there. After Cen's sudden death, Emperor Taizong summoned Xu to the front and put him in charge of writing the edicts, and made him acting deputy head of the legislative bureau. After Emperor Taizong had a major victory over the main Goguryeo forces, he had Xu draft an edict announcing the victory, and he praised Xu for the beauty of the language that Xu used. Later, at Xu's suggestion, staff members of Li Zhi's older brother and predecssor as crown prince, Li Chengqian , who had been long banned from civil service, had their eligibility restored.

During Emperor Gaozong's reign

In 649, Emperor Taizong died, and Li Zhi succeeded him . As part of the reshuffling of the imperial government, the minister of ceremonies, Yu Zhining was made chancellor, and Xu took over Yu's post as minister of ceremonies. Around this time, however, he was accused of improperly accepting an excessive amount of bride price to give his daughter in marriage to a son of Feng Ang , a powerful regional official and chieftain of the local people in modern Guangdong, and, for this perceived impropriety was demoted to the post of prefect of Zheng Prefecture . In 652, he was recalled to the capital to serve as the minister of armory supplies, and in 655 was restored to his old post of minister of ceremonies.

Meanwhile, Emperor Gaozong's wife had lost her favors with the emperor, who now favored , and he wanted to depose Empress Wang and replace her with Consort Wu. The chancellors -- except -- were all opposed, with the harshest opposition coming from Chu Suiliang, Han Yuan, and Lai Ji. Xu became an ally of Consort Wu, along with the other officials Li Yifu, Cui Yixuan , and Yuan Gongyu . Xu tried to get the most powerful of the chancellors, Emperor Gaozong's uncle Zhangsun Wuji, to join their party as well, but Zhangsun, while not outwardly opposing Consort Wu's ascension, repeatedly showed implicit disapproval and refused to join Consort Wu's cause. He further repeatedly rebuked Xu, drawing Xu's resentment. Later in 655, despite severe opposition from Chu, Han, and Lai, Emperor Gaozong deposed Empress Wang and her ally and replaced Empress Wang with Consort Wu. During the controversy change of empresses, Xu publicly endorsed the move, stating that it was no one else's business if the emperor wanted to change empresses, and it was partly due to Xu's words that Emperor Gaozong's resolve was hardened, and he further demoted Chu out of the capital. In addition, once Empress Wang was deposed, Xu submitted a petition to have honors posthumously given to her father Wang Renyou rescinded.

In late 655, Xu also proposed that the crown prince Li Zhong be deposed and replaced with Empress Wu's oldest son Li Hong. In 656, Emperor Gaozong agreed and demoted Li Zhong to the title of Prince of Liang, creating Li Hong crown prince instead.

In 657, following Empress Wu's directions, Xu and Li Yifu accused Han and Lai of conspiring with Chu to rebel. Han, Lai, and Chu were all made prefects of distant prefectures and ordered to be permanently banished from the capital. Later that year, Xu was made ''Shizhong'' -- the head of the examination bureau and a post considered one for a chancellor. In 658, he was made ''Zhongshu Ling'' , the head of the legislative bureau and also a post considered for a chancellor; he was also promoted to the greater title of Duke of Gaoyang.

By 659, Empress Wu, with her powers firm, began to seek further vengeance against those she felt had slighted her, and her prime target was Zhangsun and Yu. At that time, a man named Li Fengjie had accused the low level officials Wei Jifang and Li Chao of conspiracy, and Emperor Gaozong put Xu and Xin Maojiang in charge of the investigations. Xu used various interrogation tactics, including torture, to cause Zhangsun to be implicated, and Xu, citing the example of Yuwen Huaji, informed Emperor Gaozong that Zhangsun was about to rebel and should be immediately expelled from the capital. Emperor Gaozong, after some hesitation, agreed without once meeting with Zhangsun to get his side of the story, exiling him to Qian Prefecture . Xu then implicated Chu , Han, Lai, and Yu in the alleged plot as well. Chu's posts were posthumously removed, and Han, Lai, and Yu were removed from their posts. Chu's sons Chu Yanfu and Chu Yanchong were killed on their way to exile. Several of Zhangsun's relatives were also exiled. Later that year, Xu revised the rankings of various clans, promoting Empress Wu's Wu clan to the highest rank. In fall 659, Emperor Gaozong further ordered Li Ji, Xu, Xing, Ren Yaxiang, and Lu Chengqing to investigate Zhangsun's plot again. Xu, in response, sent Yuan to Qian Prefecture to force Zhangsun to commit suicide. Also apparently at Xu's suggestion, Emperor Gaozong ordered the executions of Han and Empress Wang's uncle .

In 662, Emperor Gaozong made Xu an advisor to the new crown prince as well as ''de facto'' chancellor of the first class, while continuing to exercise actual authority over the legislative bureau. Later that year, partially at Xu's instigation, fellow chancellor Xu Yushi was removed from his post, on the account that Xu Yushi had failed to report on his son Xu Ziran 's causing damage to private property, merely punishing Xu Ziran himself by caning him.

In 664, Emperor Gaozong, angry over Empress Wu's grip on power, secretly discussed with the chancellor Shangguan Yi the possibility of deposing her, but the discussions were discovered by Empress Wu, and Emperor Gaozong, in fear, blamed Shangguan for everything. At Empress Wu's instigation, Xu Jingzong submitted an accusation stating that Shangguan, who had previously served on Li Zhong's staff, was conspiring with Li Zhong and the eunuch Wang Fusheng , who had also previously served on Li Zhong's staff and who had reported to Emperor Gaozong that Empress Wu had engaged in witchcraft. Shangguan, his son Shangguan Tingzhi , and Wang were executed, while Li Zhong was forced to commit suicide.

In 670, at Xu's request, Emperor Gaozong allowed him to retire. He died in 672 and was buried near Emperor Taizong's tomb.

Criticism of Xu Jingzong and controversy over posthumous name

Traditional historians, both during Xu Jingzong's own times and in posterity, criticized Xu severely. In the aftermaths of his death, one of the imperial officials in charge for awarding posthumous names, Yuan Sigu , suggested giving him the unflattering posthumous name of Miu , stating that he deserved that posthumous name because he had given a daughter to Feng Ang's son in exchange for a large bride price, and because he had exiled his own son Xu Ang to the modern Guangdong region. Instead, Emperor Gaozong ordered further discussion, and at the suggestion of the minister of ceremonies, Yang Sijing , Xu was given the posthumous name of Gong .

Later historians' criticism of Xu were often on his twisting of history as a historian. They pointed out that he was resentful of Feng Deyi, who was chancellor during the reign of Emperor Gaozu and early in the reign of Emperor Taizong, because Feng had witnessed the coup at Jiangdu and had popularized Xu's disgrace in a couplet that stated: "When Yu Shiji was killed, Yu Shinan kneeled and asked to die in his stead; when Xu Shanxin was killed, Xu Jingzong danced to avoid death." Later, after Feng's death and Xu was in charge of writing history, he wrote a highly critical biography of Feng in order to pay Feng back. Other instances of Xu's twisting of history that were noted included:

* After marrying another daughter to the son of the general Qian Jiulong , again in exchange for a large bride price, he overly exaggerated Qian's contributions to Emperor Gaozu's success, ranking among with much greater contributors Liu Wenjing and Zhangsun Shunde .
* After having his son marry a daughter of Yuchi Baolin , he inflated the contributions of Yuchi Baolin's father Yuchi Jingde and hid Yuchi Jingde's faults, including attributing Emperor Taizong's poem ''Ode to a Powerful Phoenix'' , a tribute to Zhangsun Wuji, to be instead a tribute to Yuchi Jingde.
* The general Pang Xiaotai , whose contributions in Emperor Gaozong's campaign to conquer Goguryeo were minimal, was instead made out to be a major contributor during the campaign, after Pang gave Xu a major amount of treasure.

Generally, it was believed that Xu often altered the historical records of Emperors Gaozu's and Taizong's reigns based on personal likes and dislikes as well. It was, however, noted that Xu was a major contributor to many important imperially-commissioned works.

Wei Zheng

2008-09-21T02:45:00.005-07:00

Wei Zheng , courtesy name Xuancheng , formally Duke Wenzhen of Zheng , was a Chinese politician and the lead editor of the ''Book of Sui'', composed in 636. He served as a of Tang Dynasty for about 13 years, during the reign of .

Wei was born to a poor family in modern Hebei, and joined Li Mi's rebellion against Sui Dynasty during his youth. After Li Mi's submission to Tang Dynasty, Wei became a Tang official and eventually served on the staff of Li Jiancheng the Crown Prince, the oldest son of Tang's founding emperor . As such, he served against the interests of Li Jiancheng's younger brother the Prince of Qin, with whom Li Jiancheng was locked in an intense rivalry. In 626, Li Shimin ambushed and killed Li Jiancheng, and then effectively forced Emperor Gaozu to yield the throne to him. Rather than punishing Wei, however, he was impressed with Wei's faithfulness to Li Jiancheng, and he made Wei an important official, eventually a chancellor. Wei's promotion to this position gave him far broader freedom to criticise others, particularly the emperor, than other officers of the court. He emphasized propriety and opposed overextending the state. His advice and criticism were not always accepted, but in accordance with Confucian etiquette, the emperor would concede to his suggestions with some regularity.

After Wei's death in 643, the emperor commented that he was a mirror to show the mistakes of the court, and built an elaborate tomb for him near his own imperial tomb and betrothed one of his daughters, Princess Hengshan, to Wei Shuyu , son of Wei Zheng. Subsequently, as a result of false accusations made by others in the court, the stone monument that Emperor Taizong had built for Wei was destroyed, and Emperor Taizong cancelled the planned marriage between Princess Hengshan and Wei Shuyu. However, after the failure campaign against Goguryeo in 646, Emperor Taizong, believing that Wei would have stopped him from going on the campaign had he lived longer, restored the stone monument. Wei's effect and influence has been examined by many historians long after his death. Conflicting views of him even led to a controversy during the Cultural Revolution. Wei Zheng is also revered as a minor in parts of Taiwan.

Background

Wei Zheng was born in 580, shortly before the founding of Sui Dynasty in 581. His family was from Julu Commandery . His father Wei Changxian was a county magistrate during Northern Qi. Wei lost his father early in life and was poor, but had great expectations, not caring about making wealth. At one point, he became a Taoist monk. He favored studying, and as he saw that the rule of Emperor Yang of Sui was beginning to make Sui fall into a state of confusion, he particularly paid attention to strategic works.

Service under Li Mi

At the end of Emperor Yang's reign, there were many rebellions against Sui rule. One of the major ones was led by Li Mi the Duke of Wei. In 617, the secretary general of Wuyang Commandery , Yuan Baozang , rebelled against Sui as well and submitted to Li Mi. He invited Wei Zheng to serve on his staff, as his secretary. Wei subsequently drafted submissions from Yuan to Li Mi, suggesting that Li Mi attack and seize nearby Wei Commandery and a large food storage that Emperor Yang built, Liyang Storage . Li Mi was impressed, and when he found out that Wei wrote the submissions, he requested Yuan send Wei to him. He subsequently made Wei his secretary.

In 618, Li Mi was ready for a major confrontation with the Sui general Wang Shichong, who had seized power at the eastern capital Luoyang as the regent to Sui's last emperor Yang Tong . Wei spoke with Li Mi's secretary general Zheng Ting , advocating that Li Mi take a defensive stance, refusing to engage Wang and draining Wang's food supplies. Zheng rejected the proposal, and the proposal apparently was never submitted to Li Mi. Subsequently, when Li Mi engaged Wang, Wang defeated him. Believing that he could no longer hold out against Wang, Li Mi fled to Tang Dynasty territory and surrendered to Emperor Gaozu of Tang. Wei followed him to Tang territory. Subsequently, with Li Mi's major general still holding the Liyang region, Wei requested that Emperor Gaozu send him to Liyang to persuade Xu to submit to Tang as well. Xu did so.

During Emperor Gaozu's reign

In spring 619, with Yuan Baozang being attacked by Yuwen Huaji the Emperor of Xu , Wei went to Yuan to persuade him to submit to Tang. Yuan did so. Wei apparently subsequently went back to Liyang. In winter 619, when Dou Jiande the Prince of Xia, one of Tang's major rivals, attacked and captured Liyang, Wei was among the people captured by Dou, along with Emperor Gaozu's cousin Li Shentong the Prince of Huai'an, Emperor Gaozu's sister Princess Tong'an, and Li Shiji's father Li Gai . Dou made Wei his secretary.

In 621, Dou, while trying to aid Wang, under siege at Luoyang by the Tang general the Prince of Qin , was defeated and captured by Li Shimin. The Xia officials initially fled back to the Xia capital Ming Prefecture subsequently decided to surrender, and Wei followed Pei Ju back to the Tang capital Chang'an. Emperor Gaozu's oldest son Li Jiancheng the Crown Prince had long heard of Wei's talents, and he invited Wei to serve as his librarian. In 622, with Dou's general Liu Heita having risen against Tang and captured most of former Xia territory, Wei and another staff member, Wang Gui, suggested to Li Jiancheng that due to Li Shimin's accomplishments and fame, he posed a threat to Li Jiancheng, and that Li Jiancheng needed some victories of his own -- indicating that he should volunteer to attack Liu. Li Jiancheng agreed, and later in 622 crushed Liu's forces. As the brothers' rivalry intensified over the year, Wei repeatedly suggested to Li Jiancheng that he must act first and kill Li Shimin. Li Jiancheng could not resolve to do so.

In 626, however, Li Shimin, believing that Li Jiancheng would kill him, ambushed Li Jiancheng and another brother who supported Li Jiancheng, Li Yuanji the Prince of Qi, at , killing them. He then effectively forced Emperor Gaozu to create him crown prince. He summoned Wei and rebuked him, "Why did you alienate us brothers?" Wei's colleagues were all fearful for him, but Wei, instead of begging for forgiveness, stated boldly, "If the Crown Prince had listened to my words, he would not have suffered this disaster." Li Shimin, who had been impressed with Wei himself, was further impressed by the answer, and he changed his attitude and treated Wei with respect, inviting Wei to serve on his own staff. Subsequently, when he sent Wei on a mission to pacify the eastern prefectures, Wei, believing that no one would believe Li Shimin's words that Li Jiancheng's and Li Yuanji's staff members would be spared if some of them, then under arrest, were not released, ordered them released -- an act that Li Shimin was pleased with and impressed by. Later in 626, Emperor Gaozu yielded the throne to Li Shimin . Wei continued to serve in the imperial administration.

During Emperor Taizong's reign

After Emperor Taizong took the throne, he created Wei the Baron of Julu. Later in 626, when Emperor Taizong buried Li Jiancheng and Li Yuanji with honors due imperial princes, Wei Zheng and Wang Gui requested permission to attend the funeral procession. Emperor Taizong agreed, and further ordered that all officials who served on Li Jiancheng's and Li Yuanji's staffs to attend the funeral procession.

It was said that when Emperor Taizong first took the throne, he was looking for ways to improve his reign. As he believed that Wei had great abilities in governance, he often invited Wei into his own bedroom to converse with him. Wei had the fortitude to speak up for what he saw to be right, and Emperor Taizong often gladly accepted his suggestions. In 627, when it was rumored that Feng Ang , a former Sui official who had submitted to Tang several years prior, had started a rebellion, and Emperor Taizong wanted to send forces to attack Feng, Wei advised against it, pointing out that Feng did not advance outside his own territories and appeared to be simply fearful that he had been accused of treason. Under Wei's suggestion, Emperor Taizong sent the official Li Gongyan to comfort Feng; Feng then showed his submission by sending his son Feng Zhidai to follow Li Gongyan to Chang'an to pay homage to Emperor Taizong. Pleased, Emperor Taizong stated, "Wei had me send a messenger, and as a result the Lingnan region was pacified, better than if 100,000 men were sent. He must receive an award." He awarded Wei with silk. Around that time, he also made Wei a deputy head of the executive bureau of government .

Later that year, Wei was accused of nepotism. Emperor Taizong had the imperial censor Wen Yanbo investigate, and Wen found no evidence of wrongdoing. Wen nevertheless stated to Emperor Taizong, "Wei did not care about public perception or appearance of conflict of interest. Even though he had no wrongful intent, he should still be rebuked." Emperor Taizong agreed and rebuked Wei, but Wei bluntly refused to accept the rebuke, and Emperor Taizong later retracted the rebuke after concluding that Wei was correct. Throughout the rest of Wei's career, this became a pattern -- that Wei would dare to speak against the emperor's opinions or acts despite Emperor Taizong's anger, and while Emperor Taizong did not accept everything that Wei said, he always treated Wei with respect.

In 629, Emperor Taizong made Wei the head of the imperial archival bureau , but gave him the additional designation ''Canyu Chaozheng'' , making him a ''de facto'' . Later that year, when the assistant censor Quan Wanji accused the chancellors Fang Xuanling and Wang Gui of improper selection of officials, Emperor Taizong initially ordered Hou Junji to investigate. Wei, however, pointed out that both Fang and Wang were trusted officials who should be given free rein and not have the details of their acts be picked on. Emperor Taizong agreed and cancelled the investigations.

In 630, the general Li Jing had inflicted a heavy blow to the forces of Eastern Tujue's Jiali Khan Ashina Duobi, and later that year, after Ashina Duobi was captured, Eastern Tujue chieftains submitted to Tang. Emperor Taizong requested opinions on what to do with Eastern Tujue's people. There were many different opinions, but the two opinions that Emperor Taizong appeared to consider the most were the ones by Wen and Wei, who debated extensively before Emperor Taizong. Wen argued that, pursuant to precedents of what Eastern Han Dynasty did with the Xiongnu, the Eastern Tujue people should be placed within Tang borders but organized in tribal form, to serve as a defense perimeter on the northern border. Wei advocated that the Eastern Tujue people be placed north of Tang borders, believing that they would pose a threat if placed within Tang borders. Wen, however, argued that the Eastern Tujue people could eventually be assimilated and become an asset to the Tang state, and Emperor Taizong agreed with Wen. He established 10 prefectures to settle the Eastern Tujue people and made the major chieftains the prefects, while inviting a number of Eastern Tujue nobles to serve as generals at Chang'an.

Late in 630, Qu Wentai , the king of Gaochang, was set to arrive at Chang'an to pay homage to Emperor Taizong. When the other Xiyu states heard this, they wanted to send emissaries as well, and Emperor Taizong initially ordered Qu's official Yanda Gegan back to Gaochang to gather the emissaries to lead them to Chang'an. Wei advised against doing so -- pointing out that if that happened, Tang would become deeply involved in Xiyu matters, and that the Tang state was not yet in a position of doing so. Emperor Taizong agreed and ordered Yanda to stop.

In 631, despite Wei's advice against it, Emperor Taizong began setting up a scheme where the great contributors to Tang rule would be granted posts as prefectural prefects, to be inherited by their descendants.

In 632, at the urgings of many officials who believed that he should go to Mount Tai to sacrifice to heaven and earth , Emperor Taizong considered doing so, but Wei opposed, and this led to a famous conversation between them, which showcased Wei's personal philosophy against overextending the state:

:''Emperor Taizong asked, "You oppose my conducting ''Fengshan''. Is it that my accomplishments were not great enough?" Wei responded, "They are great enough." Emperor Taizong asked, "Is it that my virtues were not great enough?" Wei responded, "They are great enough." Emperor Taizong asked, "Is it that China is not pacified enough?" Wei responded, "It is pacified enough." Emperor Taizong asked, "Is it that the barbaric nations have not submitted to me?" Wei responded, "They have." Emperor Taizong asked, "Is it that we have not had good harvests?" Wei responded, "We have had good harvests." Emperor Taizong asked, "Is it that signs of blessings have not occurred?" Wei responded, "They have." Emperor Taizong asked, "Then, why is it that I still cannot conduct ''Fengshan''?"''

:''Wei responded, "Even though Your Imperial Majesty has accomplished these six areas, we are still inheriting the state left after the great confusion at the end of Sui rule. The population is greatly reduced and has not recovered. The food storages are still empty. When Your Imperial Majesty heads east , the thousands of horses and wagons require supplies everywhere they go, and it is difficult for the local government to do so. In addition, at ''Fengshan'', the rulers and chiefs of the nations should all attend you. However, from the Yi and Luo Rivers to the Sea and Mount Dai , there are still few villages and few people. The weeds grow thickly without end, and this would be inviting barbarians to our abdomen and showing them our weaknesses. Further, even if we greatly reward them, they would not necessarily be pleased, having come from afar. Even if you exempt the people from taxes for many years, you still cannot compensate them for their losses. Why would Your Imperial Majesty want to simply hold a great ''Fengshan'' ceremony but receive real detriments?"''

Incidentally, at that time, many prefectures around the Yellow River were suffering floods, so Emperor Taizong gave up the idea.

Around the same time, there was an incident when Emperor Taizong visited his summer palace Jiucheng Palace . He sent some of his servants back to Chang'an, and they were staying at the official lodges at Weichuan County , when the chancellors Li Jing and Wang Gui arrived. The county officials displaced the imperial servants to house Li and Wang. When Emperor Taizong heard this, he felt disrespected, and initially were going to punish the county officials. Wei disagreed, pointing out that Li and Wang were far more important and honored than the imperial servants. Emperor Taizong relented and did not punish the county officials, Li, or Wang.

Emperor Taizong was about to marry the Princess Changle to Zhangsun Wuji's son Zhangsun Chong . As the princess was born of Empress Zhangsun and was his favorite daughter, Emperor Taizong ordered that her dowry had to exceed that for his sister, the Princess Yongjia. Wei advised against it, pointing out that this was contrary to Emperor Ming of Han's observation that his sons should not be as honored as his brothers. Emperor Taizong agreed and also informed Empress Zhangsun, who was greatly impressed with Wei's honest advice, and therefore, after receiving permission from Emperor Taizong, she had her eunuchs send rewards of money and silk to Wei, praising him for his honesty. On another occasion, after Emperor Taizong returned from an imperial gathering, he was angry and yelled, "Let me find a chance to kill this farmer!" Empress Zhangsun asked whom he was referring to, and he replied, "I am referring to Wei Zheng. He always find a way to insult me in front of everyone in the imperial hall!" Empress Zhangsun retreated to her bedchambers and put on the official empress gown; standing solemnly, she prepared to bow to Emperor Taizong. He was surprised, and asked her what the reason was. She responded, "I have heard that only a most able emperor will have subordinates who have integrity. Wei shows this much integrity because you are an able emperor. How can I not congratulate you?" Emperor Taizong's anger turned to happiness, and he did not punish Wei. Soon, Wei was created a duke.

Later that year, there was an occasion when Emperor Taizong held a feast for the high-level officials at Danxiao Hall , and at the feast, Zhangsun Wuji made the comment, "Wang Gui and Wei Zheng were our enemies before. I did not know at the time that we would get the chance to feast together." Emperor Taizong responded, "Wang and Wei served their master faithfully, and that was why I retained them. I do have a question: Everytime that Wei gave me adverse advice and I did not accept it, then he refused to discuss the matter any further. Why?" Wei responded, "I give adverse advise only when I believe that something should not be done. If Your Imperial Majesty did not follow my advice, then if I continued to speak about it, the matter would be settled and would be done. That is why I spoke no further." Emperor Taizong responded, "You can first continue planning and then try to advise me again. What harm is there?" Wei responded, "It was written that Emperor Shun warned his officials, 'Do not obey me in my presence and make secret speeches against what I do.' If I know that something is wrong, but I continue to discuss it with Your Imperial Majesty, then I would be obeying you in your presence. That is not how Houji and Ziqi served Emperor Shun." Emperor Taizong laughed and stated, "Everyone says that Wei is arrogant and careless, but I call him 'delicate'; this shows it."

In 633, after Wang was accused of leaking palace secrets, Emperor Taizong made Wei ''Shizhong'' -- the head of the examination bureau of government and a chancellor post -- to replace Wang. At that time, there were also a large backlog of legal matters being handled by the executive bureau, and Emperor Taizong temporarily assigned Wei to handle them. It was said that while Wei did not study law, he reasoned logically, and he was able to make proper decisions.

In 634, when Emperor Taizong wanted to send officials to visit the circuits to see how the people were doing in the provinces, Li Jing recommended Wei. Emperor Taizong, however, responded, "Wei needs to point out ''my'' faults, and I cannot let him go." Instead, he sent 13 officials, including Li Jing and Xiao Yu, out to the circuits for this mission.

Emperor Taizong had commissioned the compilation of several official histories of Tang's predecessor dynasties -- commissioning Linghu Defen and Cen Wenben to compile the ''Book of Zhou'' ; Kong Yingda and Xu Jingzong to compile the ''Book of Sui'' ; Yao Silian to compile the ''Book of Liang'' and ''Book of Chen'' ; and Li Baiyao to compile the ''Book of Northern Qi'' . Wei was in charge of writing commentaries on a number of important persons whose biographies were contained in these histories, and after the histories were completed around 636, Emperor Taizong awarded him silk and upgraded his title to Duke of Zheng.

Also in 636, Wei tried to resign on account of eye illnesses. Emperor Taizong relieved him from his post as ''Shizhong'' and gave him the honorific post of ''Tejin'' , but still gave him full authority as if he were still ''Shizhong''. He also continued to designate him ''Canyi Deshi'' , keeping him as a ''de facto'' chancellor.

By this point, Emperor Taizong had begun to favor his son Li Tai over his oldest son and crown prince Li Chengqian. When there accusations made that the high level officials were disrespectful to Li Tai, Emperor Taizong was initially angry, rebuking the high level officials. However, Wei responded that those high level officials should, in fact, be more honored than the imperial princes, as the state's key personnel, and Emperor Taizong, seeing that Wei was correct, apologized.

In 637, a new code of rites, coauthored by Wei and Fang, was completed. Also in 637, Wei submitted a petition containing a number of advice for Emperor Taizong to continuously examine himself. This petition was later titled the ''Petition on Ten Thoughts'' and became a famous document often held up as examples of how officials should advise the emperor.

In 638, there was yet another incident where Wang, by then the minister of ceremonies, suggested that high level officials should not have to yield to imperial princes when their processions meet. Emperor Taizong initially saw this as an insult to the imperial princes -- particularly Li Tai, whom he was secretly considering replacing Li Chengqian with -- and he made the statement, "Life is uncertain. If the Crown Prince should die early, how do you know that one of the princes would not be your lord in the future. How can you disrespect them?" Wei, seeing what was happening, spoke bluntly, "Ever since Zhou Dynasty, succession is always from from father to son, not to brothers, to prevent plotting by younger sons and stop infighting at their origin. This is what the rulers need to be careful about." Emperor Taizong thereafter approved Wang's proposal.

In 638, Emperor Taizong, celebrating the birth of a grandson, held a feast for imperial officials, at which he made the comment:

:''Before I took the throne, it was by Fang Xuangling's assistance that I was able to seize power. After I took the throne, it was by Wei Zheng's assistance that I was able to have my errors corrected.''

He then awarded both Fang and Wei an imperial sword. Also around that time, Wei advised him to be cognizant that he was not accepting adverse advice from others as he had previously. Emperor Taizong agreed to examine himself more carefully.

In 639, after Ashina Duobi's nephew Ashina Jiesheshuai formed a plot to ambush Emperor Taizong, but his plot was discovered and destroyed, Emperor Taizong created a Tujue prince who had served him faithfully, Li Simo the Prince of Huaihua, as the of a newly recreated Eastern Tujue state , and had him take the Eastern Tujue people outside of Tang territory, to be settled between Tang and Xueyantuo. At that time, Emperor Taizong made the comment that he nearly suffered because he did not listen to Wei's suggestion in 630.

In 640, after a number of years during which Qu Wentai, initially submissive to Tang, became hostile to Tang interests and had allied himself with Western Tujue, Emperor Taizong sent Hou Junji to conquer Gaochang. Qu Wentai died from illness during the siege, and his son Qu Zhisheng surrendered. Wei advised that Emperor Taizong should keep Qu on the throne, as an ally -- a suggestion that Chu Suiliang also spoke of -- but Emperor Taizong disagreed and annexed Gaochang directly. When Hou's lieutenant Xue Wanjun was subsequently accused of raping Gaochang women, Emperor Taizong were going to hold cross-examination sessions between Xue and the alleged victims, but on Wei's urging -- that whatever the results were, the empire would be harmed -- Emperor Taizong cancelled the investigation.

In 641, Fang and Gao Shilian drew rebuke from Emperor Taizong when they inquired of the deputy imperial architect, Dou Desu of imperial construction projects — which Emperor Taizong saw as an encroachment on his liberty. However, Wei pointed out that chancellors were supposed to be responsible for all affairs of state, and Emperor Taizong, realizing that he had erred, was humbled.

In 642, Wei was ill, and Emperor Taizong and he exchanged letters with each other expressing how they missed each other, and in Wei's letters, he continued to give adverse advice to Emperor Taizong. Meanwhile, as Wei's mansion had no large halls, Emperor Taizong diverted the construction material that he was going to use for an imperial hall and constructed a hall for Wei in five days, and further awarded him with , bedding, a small table, and canes, hoping to comfort him. When Wei wrote to thank him, Emperor Taizong wrote back, stating, "I honor you for the people and the state, not for you. Why thank me?" Meanwhile, Chu, himself by now developing a reputation for offering adverse advice, was pointing out that Emperor Taizong's favors for Li Tai were creating uncertainties for officials, and Emperor Taizong, trying to stem the rumors that Li Tai would displace Li Chengqian, appointed Wei as a senior advisor to Li Chengqian. When Wei grew better, he personally went to the palace to decline, but Emperor Taizong pointed out the symbolic importance of having someone as important as himself serve as Li Chengqian's advisor, stating that even if Wei could only lie on the bed, his being named a senior advisor to Li Chengqian would help clarify the situation. Wei relented and accepted.

In spring 643, Wei was gravely ill. Emperor Taizong sent numerous messengers to attend to Wei's illness, and further had the official Li Anyan stay at Wei's mansion to oversee Wei's care. He also personally visited Wei, with Li Chengqian, and he pointed at his daughter Princess Hengshan and promised to give her to Wei's son Wei Shuyu in marriage. Wei died soon thereafter, and Emperor Taizong buried Wei with great honors and luxurious funeral supplies, although Wei's wife Lady Pei, pointing out that Wei was himself frugal in living, declined most of the luxuries. Wei was buried near the tomb of Empress Zhangsun , where Emperor Taizong would eventually himself be buried. He also commissioned a stone monument for Wei, and personally wrote the text of the monument. He missed Wei greatly and stated:

:''Using copper as a mirror allows one to keep his clothes neat. Using history as a mirror allows one to see the future trends. Using a person as a mirror allows one to see what is right and what is wrong. When Wei Zheng died, I lost a mirror.''

Later that year, when Emperor Taizong commissioned the Portraits at Lingyan Pavilion to commemorate the 24 great contributors to Tang rule, Wei's was one of the portraits commissioned.

Later in 643, however, Li Chengqian was found to have plotted with Hou to overthrow Emperor Taizong, as he was apprehensive that Emperor Taizong would displace him with Li Tai. Emperor Taizong executed Hou and the other coconspirators, while deposing and exiling Li Chengqian . As Wei had previously repeatedly recommended Hou and Du Zhenglun, a key advisor to Li Chengqian who was also exiled, as chancellor material, Emperor Taizong suspected Wei of factionalism. Also, it was discovered at the time that Wei had recorded his adverse advices to Emperor Taizong and given them to Chu, who was the imperial historian as well, displeasing Emperor Taizong further. He therefore cancelled the planned marriage between Princess Hengshan and Wei Shuyu and destroyed the stone monument that he had commissioned for Wei.

In 645, after Emperor Taizong carried out a failed attempt to conquer Goguryeo, he regreted the campaign and stated, "If Wei Zheng were still alive, he would not have allowed me to go on this campaign." He sent imperial messengers to make sacrifices to Wei and restore the stone monument, and he also summoned Wei's wife and children, greatly awarding them.

Wei Chengqing

2008-09-21T02:45:00.003-07:00

Wei Chengqing , courtesy name Yanxiu , formally Viscount Wen of Fuyang , was an official of the dynasty Tang Dynasty and Wu Zetian's Zhou Dynasty, serving as a during Wu Zetian's reign.

Background

Wei Chengqing might have been born in 640, during the reign of . Sometime before 699, he was removed on account of illness -- and Wu Zetian had his brother Wei Sili succeed him. Wei Chengqing himself was made a member of the staff of the Crown Prince . He later successively served as the prefect of Yu Prefecture , and then Guo Prefecture . He was eventually recalled to serve as deputy minister of civil service affairs , and was also responsible for editing the imperial history. It was said that people praised him for fairness during the three terms that he served in being responsible for selecting officials.

In 704, Wei Chengqing was made ''Fengge Shilang'' , the deputy head of the legislative bureau, and he was also given the designation ''Tong Fengge Luantai Pingzhangshi'' , making him a chancellor ''de facto''. As Wu Zetian did not wish to have two members of the same clan serving as chancellors simultaneously, Wei Sili, who was then chancellor as well, was made the principal of the imperial university. Meanwhile, there had been accusations against Wu Zetian's lover Zhang Changzong that he had permitted the fortuneteller Li Hongtai to foretell that he had the appearance of an emperor, and Wu Zetian had Wei Chengqing, Cui Shenqing , and Song Jing investigate. Wei and Cui, after investigation, concluded that Li Hongtai should be prosecuted, but Zhang should not, as he had reported what Li Hongtai said to Wu Zetian. Song insisted on investigating, but to no avail, as Wu Zetian protected Zhang.

During Emperor Zhongzong's second reign

In spring 705, when a coup led by Zhang Jianzhi, Cui Xuanwei, Jing Hui, Huan Yanfan, and Yuan Shuji overthrew Wu Zetian and restored Li Xian, a former emperor, to the throne , her lovers Zhang Changzong and Zhang Yizhi were killed. On the same day, Wei Chengqing, along with fellow chancellor Fang Rong and Cui Shenqing), were accused of being associates of Zhang Yizhi and Zhang Changzong and arrested. However, at that time, an imperial edict announcing a general pardon had to be drafted, and despite the fact that Wei was under arrest, the other officials still believed that no one could write it as well as he could, and so he was put in charge of drafting it. His style was said to be so beautiful despite the dangers that surrounded him that all who read the edict praised it. After half a month, Wei was demoted to be the sheriff of Gaoyao County . After about a year, he was promoted to be the prefect of Chen Prefecture , but even before he reported to Chen Prefecture, was recalled to serve as honorary ''Mishu Shaojian'' and again made an imperial historian. He was also created the Viscount of Fuyang. Emperor Zhongzong had him draft a memorial text for Wu Zetian, and once he completed it, praised him for its beauty, giving him the honorific title ''Yinqing Guanglu Daifu'' . He was soon commissioned to be ''Huangmen Shilang'' , the deputy head of the examination bureau , but died of illness before he could take office. Emperor Zhongzong mourned him greatly and recalled Wei Sili, then serving as a prefectural prefect, to succeed him.

Su Gui

2008-09-21T02:45:00.001-07:00

Su Gui , courtesy name Changrong or Tingshuo , formally Duke Wenzhen of Xu , was an official of the dynasty Tang Dynasty and Wu Zetian's Zhou Dynasty, serving as a during the reigns of , , and .

Background

Su Gui was born in 639, around the time that became emperor. He was a great-grandson of the Sui Dynasty chancellor Su Wei, and his grandfather Su Kui and father Su Dan also served as officials during Sui and its successor Tang Dynasty. Su Gui himself passed the imperial examination when he was young and was made a military officer at Heng Prefecture . When his mother died, his mourning was viewed as so deep and genuine that it got the attention of the Zhang Da'an, who recommended him for promotion, and he was made a member of the staff of Emperor Gaozong's son the Prince of Yu. He was respected by his superiors on Li Dan's staff, Wang Dezhen and Liu Yizhi.

During Wu Zetian's reign

During the reign of Emperor Gaozong's wife Wu Zetian -- who seized the throne and claimed the title of "emperor" of a new Zhou Dynasty in 690, interrupting Tang -- Su Gui successively served as the prefect of Lang Prefecture and She Prefecture . While he was serving as a prefect, the once-powerful secret police official Lai Junchen was demoted and made a military officer under him. Many people warned Su that he needed to pay particular respect to Lai, as he might be recalled and might become powerful again, but Su rebuffed, pointing out that he was Lai's superior and it was inappropriate for him to flatter someone like Lai. After Lai was recalled in 696, he much resented Su's attitude toward him, and made sure that Su would not himself be recalled to the capital. During Wu Zetian's ''Chang'an'' era , he was eventually made the secretary general of Yang Prefecture -- one of the riches prefectures of the realm, and it was said that his predecessors Zhang Qian and Yu Bianji both took much wealth from the prefecture when they left the post, but Su was said to have been so clean that when he left Yang Prefecture to become the prefect of Tong Prefecture , he had nothing but a soft mattress in his possession. While Su was at Tong Prefecture, there was a major drought, and the soldiers conscripted from Tong Prefecture thus could not properly prepare for military service. Moreover, at that time, Wu Zetian had sent officials to review governmental actions in the 10 circuits making up the realm, and these officials were strict making sure that the people were submitting taxes and reporting for public works service, much to the distress of the people. Su submitted a petition to Wu Zetian suggesting that those suffering from the drought be exempted from service, and that the circuit-touring officials be recalled. Wu Zetian was said to be pleased with Su, but it is not clear whether she approved his proposal.

During Emperor Zhongzong's second reign and Emperor Shang's reign

In 705, Wu Zetian was overthrown in a coup, and her son the Crown Prince , formerly an emperor, was restored to the throne . Around this time, Su Gui was recalled to serve as ''Shangshu You Cheng'' , one of the secretaries in general at the executive bureau of government and was created the Baron of Huai. As he was familiar with the laws, he was put in charge of revising the laws, regulations and forms. Later in 705, he was given the honorific title ''Yinqing Guanglu Daifu'' and made the minister of census . One of the reports that he made at the time indicated that there were 6,156,141 households in the realm at that time.

In spring 706, Su was made ''Shizhong'' -- the head of the examination bureau and a post considered one for a chancellor. He was also created the greater title of Viscount of Huaiyang. Soon, when Emperor Zhongzong left the capital Chang'an to visit the eastern capital Luoyang, Su was put in charge of Chang'an in Emperor Zhongzong's absence. While Emperor Zhongzong was away, a favorite sorcerer of his, Zheng Pusi , whose wife Lady Diwu was also a sorceress trusted by both Emperor Zhongzong and Emperor Zhongzong's powerful wife and whose daughter was a concubine of Emperor Zhongzong's, was accused of plotting treason. Su arrested Zheng and had his subordinate Fan Xianzhong investigate further, but once Emperor Zhongzong returned to Chang'an, he issued an edict ordering Su to release Zheng and to end the investigation. Su tried to convince Emperor Zhongzong not to release Zheng -- and while they were arguing, Fan made the remark: "Your Imperial Majesty, please behead Su Gui first!" Emperor Zhongzong was surprised and asked why, and Fan responded:

The senior chancellor Wei Yuanzhong then defended Su's actions and further also advocated that Zheng be put to death. Emperor Zhongzong did not do so, but exiled Zheng and executed his associates.

In 707, Emperor Zhongzong's son by a concubine, Li Chongjun the Crown Prince, who could not bear any longer repeated humiliation by his sister, Empress Wei's daughter Li Guo'er the Princess Anle and her husband Wu Chongxun , rose in rebellion and killed Wu Chongxun and his father Wu Sansi the Prince of Dejing , and then marched on to the palace. At that time, a number of chancellors, including Su, led forces to defend the palace. Li Chongjun was soon defeated and killed in flight.

In 709, when Emperor Zhongzong was set to offer sacrifices to heaven and earth, the principal of the imperial university, Zhu Qinming, and his deputy Guo Shanyun , wanting to flatter Empress Wei and Li Guo'er, proposed that Empress Wei be made the second stage sacrificer and Li Guo'er the third stage sacrificer. Su was one of the officials who opposed this, and ultimately, however, Emperor Zhongzong still let Empress Wei be the second stage sacrificer, although he made the chancellor Wei Juyuan the third stage sacrificer. Soon thereafter, Su was made ''Shangshu You Pushe'' -- one of the heads of the executive bureau but not considered a chancellor post by this point -- but remained chancellor as well, as Emperor Zhongzong gave him the ''de facto'' chancellor designation of ''Tong Zhongshu Menxia Sanpin'' as well. Su was also created the Duke of Xu. At that time, there was a custom that someone given a high office should offer food to the emperor, and the custom was known as ''shaowei'' . Su, however, did not do so, and at a subsequent imperial feast, the official Zong Jinqing tried to make fun of him on this issue. Su responded to Emperor Zhongzong:

Later in 709, Su was also put in charge of editing the imperial history, along with fellow chancellor Tang Xiujing.

In 710, Emperor Zhongzong died suddenly -- a death that traditional historians believed to be a poisoning by Empress Wei and Li Guo'er, so that Empress Wei could eventually become "emperor" like Wu Zetian, and Li Guo'er could become crown princess. Meanwhile, however, Empress Wei was set to name another son of Emperor Zhongzong's, the Prince of Wen, emperor, and under a will drafted for Emperor Zhongzong by Emperor Zhongzong's sister Princess Taiping and his concucbine , Empress Wei would retain power as empress dowager and regent, but Li Dan, now the Prince of Xiang, would be co-regent. Empress Wei, with Emperor Zhongzong's death still kept a secret from the people, convened a meeting of 19 officials, including Wei Anshi, Wei Juyuan, Xiao Zhizhong, Zong Chuke , Ji Chuna, Wei Wen , Li Jiao, Wei Sili, Tang Xiujing, Zhao Yanzhao, and Su to discuss the matter. During the meeting, the draft will was discussed, and Zong Chuke and Wei Wen, arguing that it was inappropriate for Li Dan to be co-regent, as traditionally, a brother-in-law was not supposed to speak to a sister-in-law. Su objected, stating, "How can an imperial will be altered?" Zong and Wei Wen became visibly angry, and Su did not dare to speak further, and so the provision of having Li Dan serve as co-regent was stricken from the draft will. Li Chongmao took the throne , and Empress Wei served as empress dowager and regent.

Less than a month later, a coup led by Princess Taiping and Li Dan's son the Prince of Linzi killed Empress Dowager Wei and Li Guo'er. Under urging by Princess Taiping, Li Longji, and Li Longji's brother Li Chengqi the Prince of Song, Li Dan, who had been himself a former emperor, took the throne again , and Emperor Shang was reduced back to being the Prince of Wen.

During Emperor Ruizong's second reign

Emperor Ruizong initially had Su Gui remain in chancellor role, and further slightly promoted him to be ''Shangshu Zuo Pushe'' -- also head of the executive bureau, but at the time, left was a more honored direction than right . Su soon asked to retire, however, on account of illness, and he was removed as a chancellor and made a senior advisor to Li Longji, who was created crown prince. He died later in 710 and was buried with honor, but per his directions, in a simple ceremony. His son Su Ting later served as a chancellor during Li Longji's reign.

Sima Zhen

2008-09-21T02:44:00.011-07:00

Sima Zhen , courtesy name Zizheng , was a historian born in what is now during the Tang Dynasty.

Sima Zhen was one of the most important commentators on the ''Shiji''. His commentary is known as the ''Shiji Suoyin'' , which means "Seeking the Obscure in the Grand Scribe's Records".

Lu Xiangxian

2008-09-21T02:44:00.009-07:00

Lu Xiangxian , né Lu Jingchu , formally Duke Wenzhen of Yan , was an official of the dynasty Tang Dynasty and Wu Zetian's Zhou Dynasty, serving as a during the reigns of and .

Background

Lu Jingchu was born in 665, during the reign of . His father Lu Yuanfang would eventually serve as twice during the reign of Emperor Gaozong's wife Wu Zetian. It was said that in his youth, Lu Jingchu was both capable and modest, and after he passed the imperial examinations, was made an officer at Yang Prefecture . After his term was complete, he was set to be promoted. At that time, both Ji Xu and his father Lu Yuanfang were deputy ministers of civil service affairs in charge of selecting officials. Ji selected Lu Jingchu to be the sheriff of Luoyang County -- not formally a particularly highly placed post but in actuality a highly regarded one, as Luoyang was the capital at the time -- and Lu Yuanfang, out of modesty, initially tried to decline on Lu Jingchu's behalf. Ji responded, "It is fair to select officials who are capable. Lu Jingchu is capable and elegant, and common people cannot compare to him. I am not recommending him out of the fact that he is the son of a deputy minister of civil service affairs." Ji went ahead with the recommendation, and Lu Jingchu was made the sheriff of Luoyang County. Lu Jingchu later served as an imperial censor, and then ''Zhongshu Shilang'' , the deputy head of the legislative bureau of government .

During Emperor Ruizong's second reign

In 710, during the reign of Emperor Gaozong's and Wu Zetian's son , Lu Jingchu was made the deputy minister of defense , and it was said that with him and Lu Huaishen serving in that capacity, assisting the minister , the military officers' promotion system, which was highly damaged by the irregular reign of Emperor Ruizong's brother , was repaired.

In 711, Emperor Ruizong's powerful sister Princess Taiping was set to recommend her lover, the official Cui Shi, as chancellor. Cui admired Lu Jingchu greatly, and therefore asked to be promoted along with him. When she initially declined to recommend Lu, Cui responded that he would not dare to be chancellor unless Lu was as well. She therefore recommended both. Thereafter, Lu was given the designation ''Tong Zhongshu Menxia Pingzhangshi'' , making him a chancellor ''de facto'', and was also put in charge of editing imperial histories. However, despite the fact that Princess Taiping recommended him, Lu was not considered part of her faction, and while other chancellors often tried to ingratiate her, he did not. Sometime during Emperor Ruizong's reign, Emperor Ruizong changed his name to Xiangxian, citing that the name had the meaning of "elaborating on ancestors' virtues."

During Emperor Xuanzong's reign

In 712, Emperor Ruizong passed the throne to his son the Crown Prince -- who was initially made crown prince despite his not being the oldest son or born of Emperor Ruizong's deceased wife -- because Li Longji was instrumental in his return to the throne in 710, having, along with Princess Taiping, started a coup against , Emperor Zhongzong's wife, after Emperor Zhongzong's sudden death in 710. Princess Taiping, finding the new emperor to be difficult to control, advised Emperor Ruizong to continue to wield imperial power as ''Taishang Huang'' , and Emperor Ruizong did so.

By 713, the conflict between Princess Taiping and Emperor Xuanzong were coming to a head, and Princess Taiping and her partisans were said to be plotting to depose or kill Emperor Xuanzong and replace him with his older brother Li Chengqi the Prince of Song. She told the chancellors that Li Chengqi was both older and born of Empress Liu and should not have been replaced by a younger brother who was not born of Empress Liu. Lu rebuffed her, however, pointing out that Emperor Xuanzong was made emperor on account of his accomplishments, and that unless he had public faults, he should not be deposed. Princess Taiping did not listen to him, and continued plotting against Emperor Xuanzong. Late in 713, Emperor Xuanzong acted first, using force to kill a number of her associates and forcing her to commit suicide. Emperor Ruizong yielded imperial powers to Emperor Xuanzong and thereafter was not involved in important decisions any more. Among the ones killed were several chancellors she recommended -- Cui, Dou Huaizhen, Xiao Zhizhong, and Cen Xi. Initially, Lu was set to be executed as well, but Emperor Xuanzong, knowing that he was not actually a member of Princess Taiping's faction, commented to him, "Only in the cold can one tell that the pine and the cypress are evergreens." He further created Lu the Duke of Yan, gave him the honorific title ''Yinqing Guanglu Daifu'' , and initially had him remain as a chancellor. When Emperor Ruizong heard of the incident, he climbed up the tower at Chengtian Gate to try to figure out what was happening, and stated to the officials who gathered, "If you will help me, stay. Otherwise, go." A number of officials stated their names and swore loyalty to Emperor Ruizong -- an act that greatly displeased Emperor Xuanzong. He gathered the names and asked Lu to arrest these officials, but Lu burned the list, drawing Emperor Xuanzong's anger. Lu responded:

Emperor Xuanzong realized the wisdom in what Lu is doing and praised him. It was said that Lu saved many people accused of being part of Princess Taiping's faction at the time, but did not speak of it, and his actions were not known at that time.

Later in the year, Lu was removed from his chancellor post and made the secretary general at Yi Prefecture , as well as the examiner of the Jiannan Circuit . While Lu served at Yi Prefecture, he was known for his lenience and kindness. His subordinate Wei Baozhen once complained that he was being overly lenient and that the people would not respect him, but he responded:

At a later point, Lu was made the mayor of Hezhong Municipality . In 718, when Hezhong Municipality was disbanded and converted back into Pu Prefecture , Lu remained prefect of Pu Prefecture and also made the examiner of Hedong Circuit . It was said that Lu's governance was simple and lenient at Pu Prefecture as well. On one occasion, a minor official committed an error, and Lu rebuked him. A higher ranked subordinate of Lu's suggested that the minor official be caned, but Lu declined, stating, "The emotions of every human are similar. If you think caning is proper, perhaps I should start with you." Another famous saying of Lu's was:

Lu was later recalled to serve as ''Taizi Zhanshi'' , the head of the household of the crown prince , and yet later served as the minister of public works . In 722, he was put in charge of selecting officials at the ministry of civil service affairs, and was further made the minister of justice . He later left public service for a time to observe a mourning period for his stepmother's death. In 725, he returned to public service, to serve as the prefect of Tong Prefecture , and was soon made an advisor to the crown prince. He died in 736.

Liu Zhi (historian)

2008-09-21T02:44:00.007-07:00

Liu Zhi , courtesy name Zuoqing , was a historian and author of the ''Zhengdian''. He was the fourth son of Liu Zhiji, little is known about his life, other than he was an official during the reign of Emperor Xuanzong of Tang and had been deposed on several occasions until the times of Emperor Suzong of Tang before his death.

Liu Youqiu

2008-09-21T02:44:00.005-07:00

Liu Youqiu , formally Duke Wenxian of Xu , was an official of the dynasty Tang Dynasty and Wu Zetian's Zhou Dynasty, serving as a during the reigns of and .

Background

Liu Youqiu was born in 655, during the reign of . His family was from Ji Prefecture . During the ''Shengli'' era of Emperor Gaozong's wife Wu Zetian, Liu passed the imperial examinations and made the sheriff of Langzhong County . The prefect of the prefecture Langzhong was in, however, did not respect him, and he, in frustration, left his post. Some time later, he was made the sheriff of Chaoyi County , a post that he was serving at as of 705, when Wu Zetian was overthrown in a coup and her son, the Crown Prince, a former emperor, was restored to the throne . For some time, the key officials in power were the coup leaders Zhang Jianzhi, Cui Xuanwei, Huan Yanfan, Jing Hui, and Yuan Shuji. Liu tried to warn Huan and Jing that Wu Zetian's nephew Wu Sansi the Prince of Liang posed a threat to the coup leaders and should be killed, but they did not listen to him. Soon thereafter, Wu Sansi, who carried on an affair with Emperor Zhongzong's powerful wife , became a trusted advisor to Emperor Zhongzong, and the coup leaders were exiled and eventually died or killed in exile.

Involvement in coup of 710

In 710, Emperor Zhongzong died suddenly -- a death that traditional historians believed to be a poisoning carried out by Empress Wei and her daughter Li Guo'er the Princess Anle, so that Empress Wei could become "emperor" like Wu Zetian and Li Guo'er could become crown princess. For the time being, Emperor Zhongzong's son by a concubine, the Prince of Wen, was made emperor , and Empress Wei retained power as empress dowager and regent. She viewed Emperor Zhongzong's brother the Prince of Xiang and sister Princess Taiping as threats, and considered killing them. Meanwhile, Princess Taiping and Li Dan's son the Prince of Linzi heard news of this, and therefore considered acting first. They, along with Princess Taiping's son Xue Chongjian , Zhong Shaojing, Wang Chongye , Liu, and Ma Sizong , planned a coup, and soon launched it, with support from imperial guard soldiers disgruntled at harsh treatment by their commanders Wei Bo and Gao Song , Empress Wei's nephews whom she had put in charge. During the coup, Liu was responsible for writing some 100 declarations for Li Longji, as he attended to Li Longji throughout the night of the coup. The coup was successful, and Empress Wei and Li Guo'er were killed. Li Dan was made regent, and for his contributions in the coup, Liu was made ''Zhongshu Sheren'' , a mid-level official at the legislative bureau , and given the designation ''Canzhi Jiwu'' , making him a ''de facto''. He was also created the Baron of Zhongshan. Two of his sons were given honors, and his grandfather and father were posthumously honored.

During Emperor Ruizong's second reign

Several days after the coup, Li Dan, at the urging of Princess Taiping, Li Longji, and Li Longji's brother Li Chengqi the Prince of Song, retook the throne , displacing Emperor Shang. Once Emperor Ruizong took the throne, Liu received further promotions and honors -- he was given the honorific title ''Yinqing Guanglu Daifu'' ; made ''Shangshu You Cheng'' , a secretary general at the executive bureau ; and created the Duke of Xu. He continued to serve as chancellor, and was given awards of silk, servants, a mansion, land, horses, and other assorted treasures. As Li Chengqi was older than Li Longji and was born of Emperor Ruizong's deceased wife , but Li Longji had the great achievement during the coup, Emperor Ruizong initially hesitated at deciding whom to make crown prince. It was based on Li Chengqi's repeated offers to yield and Liu's urging, pointing out that Li Longji was brave and able, that Emperor Ruizong decided to create Li Longji crown prince.

In 711, as part of a governmental reorganization that evolved out of a power struggle between Li Longji and Princess Taiping -- as Zhang Shuo and Song Jing had tried to remove Princess Taiping's influence from government but failed -- Zhang and Song were demoted, and Liu was also removed from being a chancellor, becoming the minister of census instead. Later in the year, when he was referred to as the minister of civil service affairs , another major governmental reorganization saw him made ''Shizhong'' , the head of the examination bureau , a post considered one for a chancellor. Further, Emperor Ruizong issued an edict that stated that Liu would be pardoned from death 10 times.

In 712, after Li Jin the prefect of Yan Prefecture submitted a false report to Liu about Xue Na the commandant at You Prefecture , under whom Li Jin was serving, Liu recommended that Xue be replaced by the general Sun Quan . Subsequently, Sun took an overly aggressive stance against Xi chiefain Li Dabu , and was defeated by Li Dabu, at great human cost.

During Emperor Xuanzong's reign

Later in 712, Emperor Ruizong passed the throne to Li Longji, who took the throne as Emperor Xuanzong. However, at Princess Taiping's urging, Emperor Ruizong retained most imperial powers as ''Taishang Huang'' . Liu Youqiu continued to serve as chancellor, and was soon given the post of ''You Pushe'' , one of the heads of the executive bureau, along with the chancellor ''de facto'' designation of ''Tong Zhongshu Menxia Sanpin'' .

Meanwhile, Princess Taiping continued to be highly influential in governmental matters through Emperor Ruizong, and most chancellors were her associates. Liu and the general Zhang Wei , with Emperor Xuanzong's approval, planned to mobilize the imperial guards to kill several of those chancellors -- Dou Huaizhen, Cui Shi and Cen Xi. However, after Zhang told the plan to the imperial censor Deng Guangbin , the news was leaked. Liu was arrested, and initially set to be executed. Emperor Xuanzong interceded on his behalf with Emperor Ruizong, and Liu, Zhang, and Deng were spared but exiled -- in Liu's case, to Feng Prefecture . Cui subsequently gave instructions to Zhou Lizhen the commandant at Guang Prefecture , under whose area of responsibility Feng Prefecture was, to have Liu killed. Liu's friend , who was then the commandant at Gui Prefecture , heard of this secret instruction, and therefore, when Liu went through Gui Prefecture, detained him and refused to let him go on to Feng Prefecture. Zhou submitted accusations that Wang was disobeying an imperial edict, and Cui repeatedly tried to pressure Wang to release Liu to Feng Prefecture. Liu himself pointed out to Wang that he did not want to put Wang in danger as well, but Wang refused to let Liu go on, and Liu was spared from death.

In 713, after receiving a report that Princess Taiping and her partisans were planning to overthrow him, Emperor Xuanzong acted first, killing her associates and forcing her to commit suicide. He recalled Liu from exile and made him ''Zuo Pushe'' , also head of the executive bureau, and gave him the chancellor ''de facto'' designation of ''Pingzhang Junguo Dashi'' and later again ''Tong Zhongshu Menxia Sanpin''. He also restored the title of Duke of Xu, stripped from Liu when Liu was exiled, and further gave Liu the honorific titles of ''Jinzi Guanglu Daifu'' and ''Shang Zhuguo'' . He also put Liu in charge of editing the imperial history. Later that year, when Emperor Xuanzong was poised to execute the chancellor Guo Yuanzhen due to the disorganization of the imperial guards, it was the urging of Liu and Zhang Shuo that Guo was not executed. Late that year, Liu again became ''Shizhong'', although he was soon removed from the chancellor position altogether when Zhang was replaced with Yao Chong. Instead, he became ''Taizi Shaobao'' , an advisor to the crown prince.

Nevertheless, Yao was still jealous of Liu's close relations with Emperor Xuanzong, and in 714 he accused Liu and Zhong Shaojing of complaining that they were not given important posts despite their contributions. Despite Liu's and Zhong's denials, they were still demoted -- in Liu's case, to be the prefect of Mu Prefecture . He was soon promoted to a slightly larger prefecture -- Hang Prefecture , but in 715 was demoted to a farther prefecture, Chen Prefecture . He was upset over the demotion, and he died on the way there. Emperor Xuanzong honored him posthumously and gave him the posthumous name Wenxian , and had Liu worshipped at the temple of Emperor Ruizong.

Linghu Defen

2008-09-21T02:44:00.003-07:00

Linghu Defen , formally Duke Xian of Pengyang , was an official of the dynasties Sui Dynasty and Tang Dynasty. During Tang, he was a major proponent for the compilation of the histories of Sui and its predecessor Northern Zhou and was eventually put in charge of compiling Northern Zhou's official history ''Book of Zhou'', which was completed in 636.

Background

Linghu Defen was born in 582, during the reign of Emperor Wen of Sui. His ancestors had been from a prominent clan of Dunhuang, but had later relocated to Yi Province . HIs father Linghu Xi served as an official during Emperor Wen's reign but died in anger after being imprisoned due to false accusations of corruption. Late in the reign of Emperor Wen's son , Linghu Defen was made the magistrate of Yaocheng County , but as by that time the Sui realm was had been thrown into a state of confusion due to agrarian rebellions, Linghu never took office. In 617, after the general the Duke of Tang rose in rebellion against Emperor Yang's rule, Li Yuan's cousin Li Shentong rose as well and made Linghu a member of his staff. In late 617, after Li Yuan captured the capital Chang'an and declared Emperor Yang's grandson the Prince of Dai emperor , retaining power as regent, he invited Linghu to serve as a secretary on his staff.

During Emperor Gaozu's reign

In 618, after Li Yuan received news that Emperor Yang had been killed in a coup at Jiangdu , he had Emperor Gong yield the throne to him, establishing Tang Dynasty as its Emperor Gaozu. He made Linghu Defen an imperial attendant. In 622, Emperor Gaozu made Linghu ''Mishu Cheng'' , the secretary general of the archival bureau of government , and had him participate on the compilation of the ''Yiwen Leiju'', with the Chen Shuda.

At that time, after the great disturbance at the end of Sui, much of old book collections had been lost. Linghu advocated, and Emperor Gaozu agreed, to seek out books and purchase them and, once they were bought, to have them copied as well. After several years, the imperial collections were more comprehensive. Linghu also pointed out that while the Southern Dynasties' histories were largely written, little have been formally compiled of Northern Zhou and Sui Dynasty's histories -- and that the deeds of the great people of those two dynasties, including those of Emperor Gaozu's ancestors, would be lost. Emperor Gaozu therefore issued an edict commissioning Xiao Yu, Wang Jingye , and Yin Wenli to compile the history of Northern Wei; Chen, Linghu, and Yu Jian to compile the history of Northern Zhou; Feng Deyi and Yan Shigu to compile the history of Sui; Cui Shanwei , Kong Shao'an , and Xiao Deyan to compile the history of Liang Dynasty; Pei Ju, Zu Xiaosun , and Wei Zheng to compile the history of Southern Qi; and Dou Jin , Ouyang Xun, and Yao Silian to compile the history of Chen Dynasty. However, after the issuance of Emperor Gaozu's edict, not much actual historical compilation was carried out, and the projects stalled.

During Emperor Taizong's reign

In 629, during the reign of Emperor Gaozu's son , Emperor Taizong was interested in the compilation of the histories, and he therefore issued an edict commissioning Linghu Defen and Cen Wenben to compile the history of Northern Zhou ; Li Baiyao to compile the history of Northern Qi ; Yao Silian to compile the histories of Liang and Chen ; and Wei Zheng to compile the history of Sui , and to oversee the overall compilation project with Fang Xuanling. These officials also convened to discuss the issue of the history of Northern Wei, but concluded that as Northern Wei's history has already been compiled in the past by Wei Shou and Wei Dan , it was no longer necessary to have a new compilation. At Linghu's suggestion, the imperial censor Cui Renshi was also invited to join the Northern Zhou project, and Linghu himself also contributed to the compilation of the histories of Liang, Chen, Northern Qi, and Sui. Later historians praised Linghu for spearheading the overall project.

In 632, Linghu was made the deputy minister of rites , but continued to serve as an imperial historian. He was also created the Baron of Pengyang.

In 636, the ''Book of Zhou'' was completed, and Linghu was awarded silk.

In 637, another work by Linghu, the ''New Rites'' , was completed, and his title was promoted to Viscount of Pengyang. Also that year, another project that Linghu participated in, the ''Records of Clans'' , was completed as well, and he was awarded silk again.

In 641, Linghu was made a member of the staff of Emperor Taizong's son Li Chengqian the Crown Prince. In 643, after Li Chengqian was deposed, Linghu was relieved of his duties.

In 644, Linghu was recalled to civil service and made the prefect of Ya Prefecture , but was later removed from office due to his acts there. Soon, however, when Fang was put in charge of compiling the history of Jin Dynasty , Linghu was made the lead editor on the project, which involved 118 editors, and the other editors largely followed Linghu's lead. After the work was completed in 648, Linghu was made ''Mishu Jian'' , the head of the archival bureau.

During Emperor Gaozong's reign

Emperor Taizong died in 639 and was succeeded by his son the Crown Prince . In 640, Emperor Gaozong put Linghu Defen in charge of editing the laws, and made him the deputy minister of rites again, as well as an imperial scholar at Hongwen Pavilion . He was soon made the minister of worship and continued to serve as imperial scholar as well.

In 643, Linghu was made ''Guozi Jijiu'' , the principal of the imperial university. As Linghu had compiled the records of Emperor Taizong's reign after 639, he was awarded silk and made an imperial scholar at Chongxian Pavilion . He was later put in charge of compiling the records of Emperor Gaozong's reign as well, and his title was promoted to Duke of Pengyang. In 662, he requested retirement and was allowed to retire with the honorific title of ''Jinzi Guanglu Daifu'' . He died in 666. It was said that in his late years he was particularly diligent in writing, and whenever there were major compilation projects, he would participate.

Li Xian

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Li Xian , courtesy name Mingyun , formally Crown Prince Zhanghuai , named Li De from 672 to 674, was a crown prince of the Tang Dynasty. He was the sixth son of , and the second son of his second wife . He was known for writing commentaries for the ''Book of Later Han'', the official history of the Eastern Han Dynasty. He became crown prince in 675 after his older brother Li Hong's death , but soon fell out of favor with Empress Wu himself. In 680, Empress Wu had her associates accuse Li Xian of treason, and he was demoted to commoner rank and exiled. In 684, after Emperor Gaozong's death, Empress Wu, then empress dowager, had her associate Qiu Shenji visit Li Xian to force him to commit suicide.

In 706, his younger brother provided Li Xian with an honorable burial by interring his remains at the Qianling Mausoleum.

Background

Li Xian was born in 653, as the sixth son of and the second son of his then-favorite concubine . There were, however, persistent rumors inside the palace that he was not actually born of Consort Wu but of her older sister . In 655, the same year that his mother Consort Wu displaced Emperor Gaozong's first wife as empress, Li Xian was created the Prince of Lu. In 656, he was initially titularly given the post of prefect of Qi Prefecture , and then the dual posts as prefect of the capital prefecture Yong Prefecture and commandant at You Prefecture . It was said that his behavior was elegant, even in his youth, and, according to a comment that Emperor Gaozong made to the , he studied the ''Classic of History'', ''Classic of Rites'', ''Analects'', and a number of ancient poems and could remember them clearly. In 661, his title was changed to Prince of Pei, and he was given the titles of commandant at Yang Prefecture and major general, but continued to also serve as prefect of Yong Prefecture. At this time, he had the literarily-talented official Wang Bo on staff. Around this time, the princes were apparently often engaged in cockfighting. Wang Bo wrote a playful piece entitled the ''Declaration Against the Prince of Zhou's Cock'' , which, however, when Emperor Gaozong read it, caused Emperor Gaozong to be angry, as he believed this would cause discord between his sons, and therefore expelled Wang from the Pei mansion. In 672, Li Xian's title was changed to Prince of Yong, and he was given the titles of commandant at Liang Prefecture , but continued to also serve as general and prefect of Yong Prefecture. His name was also changed to Li De. In 674, his name was changed back to Li Xian.

As crown prince

In 675, Li Xian's older brother Li Hong the crown prince died -- a death that traditional historians generally believed to be a poisoning ordered by Empress Wu. On July 3, Li Xian was created crown prince to replace Li Hong. Emperor Gaozong soon ordered that much of government matters be ruled on by Li Xian, and Li Xian was praised for making good decisions. Also around this time, Li Xian led a group of scholars, including Zhang Da'an, Liu Nayan , Ge Xiyuan , Xu Shuya , Cheng Xuanyi , Shi Cangzhu , and Zhou Baoning , in writing commentaries for the ''Book of Later Han'', the official history of the Eastern Han Dynasty, written by the Liu Song scholar Fan Ye.

Meanwhile, Li Xian's relationship with Empress Wu began to deteriorate, as Li Xian had heard the rumors that he was actually the son of Lady of Han, and had become fearful. Empress Wu, detecting this, had her literary staff write two works entitled, ''Good Examples for Shaoyang'' and ''Biographies of Filial Sons'' and gave them to Li Xian, and further wrote a number of letters rebuking Li Xian, making him more fearful. Further, when the sorcerer Ming Chongyan , who was well-trusted by Emperor Gaozong and Empress Wu, was assassinated in 679, Empress Wu suspected Li Xian -- as Ming had been known to repeatedly make comments to Empress Wu that included, "The Crown Prince cannot bear the responsibilitiies of state. The Prince of Ying has an appearance most similar to ," and "The Prince of Xiang has the most honorable appearance."

Meanwhile, Li Xian was also known for his liking of music and women. When Empress Wu heard this, she had people report this to Emperor Gaozong, who ordered an investigation led by the officials Xue Yuanchao, Pei Yan, and Gao Zhizhou. When they searched the crown prince's stables, they found several hundred black armors, and they believed this to be evidence of a coup, and after interrogation, one of Li Xian's favorite servants, Zhao Daosheng , admitted to assassinating Ming on Li Xian's orders. Emperor Gaozong, who had favored Li Xian, considered pardoning him, but Empress Wu refused. On September 20, 680, Emperor Gaozong deposed Li Xian and reduced him to commoner rank, delivering him from the eastern capital Luoyang to the capital Chang'an to be imprisoned there. His close associates were executed, and the armors seized were publicly burned to show the people that, in fact, Li Xian had committed treason. Li Zhe was created crown prince to replace him.

After removal

in 683, Li Xian was moved from Chang'an to Ba Prefecture . In 684, after Emperor Gaozong's death, Li Zhe initially took the throne , but soon was deposed himself due to signs of disobedience to Empress Wu , and Li Dan became emperor instead , although Empress Dowager Wu retained all powers as regent. In spring 684, she sent the general Qiu Shenji to Ba Prefecture with the order of, "Examine the house of Li Xian the former crown prince to prevent external attacks." However, she hinted to him that he should have Li Xian killed. When he got to Ba Prefecture, he placed Li Xian into a small room and forced him to commit suicide. When news of Li Xian's death arrived at Luoyang, Empress Wu publicly blamed Qiu and demoted him to the post of prefect of Die Prefecture , while publicly morning Li Xian and posthumously creating him the title of Prince of Yong. After Empress Wu's death in 705 and the restoration of Emperor Zhongzong to the throne, Emperor Zhongzong had Li Xian's casket returned to Chang'an, to be buried near the tomb of Emperor Gaozong. After Emperor Ruizong became emperor again in 710, he had Li Xian's crown prince title restored.

Li Linfu

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Li Linfu , nickname Genu , formally the Duke of Jin , was an official of the dynasty Tang Dynasty, serving as a for 18 years , during the reign of -- one of the longest terms of service for a chancellor in Tang history. He was known for his flattery of the emperor and skill in the political scene to be able to remain powerful throughout the lengthy duration as chancellor. His treachery in cutting off all routes for all potential competitors to challenge him, including false accusations against other officials and the granting of key military commands to non- commanders were blamed for the deterioration of Emperor Xuanzong's reign, which culminated in the Anshi Rebellion after Li Linfu's death.

Background

It is not known when Li Linfu was born. He was a great-grandson of Li Shuliang the Prince of Changping, who was a cousin of Tang Dynasty's founder . Li Linfu's grandfather Li Xiaobin carried the title of Duke of Huayang and served as a prefectural secretary general. Li Linfu's father Li Sihui served as a military officer at Yang Prefecture . Li Linfu's mother was a sister of the official Jiang Jiao , a close associate of Emperor Gaozu's great-great-grandson who became prominent during Emperor Xuanzong's reign, carrying the title of Duke of Chu. Li Linfu studied music and was favored by his uncle Jiang.

During Emperor Xuanzong's reign

Before chancellorship

During Emperor Xuanzong's reign, when Yuan Qianyao served as a , Li Linfu was a member of the staff of Emperor Xuanzong's crown prince . Yuan had been recommended by Jiang Jiao at the start of his career and had had his grandnephew Yuan Guangcheng marry Jiang's sister. Because of these relations, Yuan's son Yuan Jie relayed a plea from Li Linfu to be made ''Simen Langzhong'' , a low level official at the ministry of justice. Yuan Qianyao, however, did not view Li Linfu highly, and commented, using Li LInfu's nickname, "People who are to serve as ''Lang'' must have good talent and virtues. Genu is no ''Lang''." Several days later, however, he had Li Linfu promoted among the ranks of Li Siqian's staff members. Li Linfu later served as ''Guozi Siye'' , the deputy principal of the imperial university.

In 726, the official Yuwen Rong became deputy chief imperial censor . Yuwen was friendly with Li Linfu, and therefore recommended Li Linfu to serve as a colleague; Li Linfu was thus made a deputy chief imperial censor as well, and later successively served as deputy ministers of justice and civil service affairs . At that time, Emperor Xuanzong's favorite concubine dominated the palace, and her sons Li Mao the Prince of Shou and Li Qi the Prince of Sheng were Emperor Xuanzong's favorite sons, diverting favor away from Li Siqian . Li Linfu was friendly with many important eunuchs, and through them informed Consort Wu that he was willing to support Li Mao to try to supplant Li Ying. Meanwhile, Li Linfu had also been having an affair with the wife of the chancellor Pei Guangting, who was a daughter of Wu Sansi, a deceased nephew of Emperor Xuanzong's grandmother Wu Zetian and a relative of Consort Wu. After Pei died in 733, Lady Wu requested that the powerful eunuch Gao Lishi, who had served Wu Sansi at one point, to recommend Li Linfu to replace Pei. Gao did not dare to make the recommendation, but when Emperor Xuanzong was set to name Han Xiu chancellor, Gao leaked this information to Lady Wu first, who then told Li Linfu. Li Linfu submitted a petition endorsing Han, who became grateful. When Han subsequently had conflicts with fellow chancellor Xiao Song, he recommended Li Linfu to serve as chancellor, and Consort Wu was also speaking on Li Linfu's behalf. Emperor Xuanzong did not make him chancellor immediately, but made him ''Huangmen Shilang'' , the deputy head of the examination bureau of government and favored him more.

As chancellor

In 734, Li Linfu was made the minister of rites and was further given the designation ''Tong Zhongshu Menxia Sanpin'' , making him a chancellor ''de facto'', serving alongside Pei Yaoqing and Zhang Jiuling. By 736, he, who gained further favor from Emperor Xuanzong by flattering the emperor, was in serious conflict with the blunt Zhang, over a number of matters:

* In fall 736, when Emperor Xuanzong was at Luoyang, he had set to return to Chang'an on March 7, 737. However, at that time, an incident occurred where there were strange apparitions appearing in the Luoyang Palace, and Emperor Xuanzong did not want to stay at Luoyang. On or right before November 9, 736, he summoned the chancellors to ask them whether he could depart for Chang'an immediately. Pei and Zhang, pointing out the fact that it was harvest season and that the imperial train would interfere with harvest, requested a one-month delay. After Pei and Zhang exited, however, Li Linfu remained personally and stated his agreement with the departure, arguing that the farmers could be compensated by relieving their taxes. Emperor Xuanzong was pleased and immediately departed for Chang'an.
* Emperor Xuanzong was, then, impressed with Niu Xianke, the military governor of Shuofang Circuit , wanted to make him the minister of defense. Zhang, who pointed out that Niu was not well-learned and had started from the ranks of low-level administrators -- contrary to the Tang tradition of going through the imperial examinations -- opposed, and then further opposed the creation of a title. Eventually, despite Zhang's opposition, Emperor Xuanzong, with concurrence from Li LInfu, created Niu the Duke of Longxi.
* Li LInfu was trying to have Emperor Xuanzong make Li Mao crown prince to replace Emperor Xuanzong's Li Ying, who had long lost Emperor Xuanzong's favor and who had offended Emperor Xuanzong and Consort Wu over an incident where he and his brothers Li Yao the Prince of E and Li Ju the Prince of Guang privately complained about how Emperor Xuanzong had lost favor for their mothers. With Zhang strenuously opposing such a move, Li Ying remained in his position.
* The deputy minister Xiao Jiong , whom Li Linfu recommended, was demoted on the suggestion of Zhang and Zhang's friend Yan Tingzhi , who further offended Li Linfu by refusing to meet with him. Soon thereafter, there was an incident where Wang Yunyan , the husband of Yan's ex-wife, was accused of corruption. Yan tried to intercede on Wang's behalf, and this was discovered.

Li Linfu thus made accusations to Emperor Xuanzong that Zhang and Pei were engaging in factionalism. Around the new year 737, Emperor Xuanzong removed Pei and Zhang from their chancellor posts, making them ''Chengxiang'' -- the heads of the executive bureau of government instead, posts not considered chancellor posts. Niu was made chancellor to replace them, serving with Li Linfu, who was given the office formerly held by Zhang, ''Zhongshu Ling'' , the head of the legislative bureau . This was often viewed by traditional historians as the turning point of Emperor Xuanzong's reign, which up to that point was considered a golden age in Chinese history, toward a path of degeneration. The Song Dynasty historian Sima Guang, in his ''Zizhi Tongjian'', for example, commented:

It was said that because Niu was recommended by Li Linfu, he followed Li Linfu's directions, while Li Linfu discouraged dissent within the government -- telling junior officials that they, like imperial horses who would not obey directions, were easily replaceable. When the official Du Jin nevertheless submitted a proposal, Du was immediately sent out of a capital -- ostensibly for a promotion, but considered demoted due to his new post's being away. It was further said that Li Linfu held his emotions in check and was difficult to discern; he often used sweet words to please others and then attack them when they were not ready. He endeared those who were close to the emperor, while finding ways to eliminate potential competitors for power. The Chinese proverb "having honey in the mouth and a sword in the belly" , first became idiomatic when used to describe him.

In 737, after the imperial censor Zhou Ziliang angered Emperor Xuanzong by filing an indictment against Niu and was caned and then exiled, Li Linfu took the opportunity to point out that Zhang had recommended Zhou. As a result, Zhang was demoted out of the capital to serve as a prefectural secretary general.

Also in 737, Consort Wu decided to try to trick Li Ying, Li Yao, and Li Ju. She had a message sent to the three princes, stating, "There are bandits in the palace. Please report at once in armor!" The three princes arrived in full armor, and she thereafter told Emperor Xuanzong, "The three princes are planning treason. Look, they have come in full armor." Emperor Xuanzong had his eunuchs check out the situation, and the three princes were seen in full armor. Yang Hui subsequently accused Li Ying, Li Yao, and Li Ju of treason. When Emperor Xuanzong discussed this with the chancellors, Li Linfu stated, "This is Your Imperial Majesty's family matter. We will not interfere." The three princes were soon reduced to commoner rank and forced to commit suicide. Meanwhile, the deputy chief judge of the supreme court, Xu Jiao submitted a flattering report to Emperor Xuanzong, pointing out that there were only 58 death sentences handed down for the year and that the reduced number of sentences showed that Emperor Xuanzong's reign was so peaceful that they were not required. Emperor Xuanzong, in turn, credited the chancellors, and created Li Linfu the Duke of Jin and Niu the Duke of Bin. It was also around this time that a revision of the laws, led by Li Linfu, Niu, and the officials in charge of the justice system, was completed.

In 738, Li Linfu was made the deputy military governor of Longyou Circuit , but did not report to Longyou and remained in the capital as chancellor. He was soon also made the military governor of Hexi Circuit . Meanwhile, he was repeatedly urging Emperor Xuanzong to create Li Mao crown prince, but Emperor Xuanzong hesitated -- with Consort Wu having died in 737. Instead, at Gao's urging, Emperor Xuanzong created an older son, the Prince of Zhong crown prince instead.

In 739, Li Linfu was given the additional title as minister of civil service affairs and was put in charge of selecting civilian officials, while Niu was given the additional title as minister of defense and put in charge of selecting military officers. Meanwhile, when the eunuch Niu Xiantong was found to have accepted bribes, Li Linfu used this opportunity to accuse Xiao Song, now retired but still influential, of bribing Niu Xiantong, and Xiao was demoted out of the capital.

Meanwhile, Li Linfu was said to be constantly bribing the eunuchs and himself to keep an eye on Emperor Xuanzong's emotions and acts, to allow him to carry out actions that would help him stay in power. For example, when Emperor Xuanzong was impressed by the official Lu Xuan on one occasion and appeared poised to promote him, Li Linfu, viewing Lu as a potential threat, summoned Lu's younger clan members and informed them that Emperor Xuanzong was set to make Lu the commandant of distant Jiao Prefecture or Guang Prefecture -- technically promotion, but considered at that point to be positions of exile -- causing Lu to, in fear, submit a resignation, asking to be made a member of the staff of Li Yu . Lu Xuan was ultimately made a member of Li Heng's staff, out of contention for the chancellorship. Meanwhile, when Emperor Xuanzong appeared poised to recall Yan Tingzhi, perhaps to make him chancellor, Li LInfu tricked Yan's brother Yan Sunzhi into believing that the best way to have Yan Tingzhi recalled was to claim that Yan Tingzhi was ill. Li Linfu then managed to have Emperor Xuanzong make Yan Tingzhi a member of Li Heng's staff as well, along with Qi Huan , another influential senior official that Li LInfu viewed as a threat.

Meanwhile, with Li LInfu serving as chancellor, he entrusted the official selection process to the deputy ministers of civil service affairs Song Yao and Miao Jinqing. In 743, a scandal involving the imperial examination process thus developed, with Song and Miao wanting to ingratiate the official Zhang Yi , who was then favored by Emperor Xuanzong, by allowing Zhang Yi's son Zhang Shi to pass the imperial examinations. When the results were announced, they were largely viewed as unfair. The military governor An Lushan reported this to Emperor Xuanzong, and Emperor Xuanzong personally retested the 64 persons who passed the examination. Zhang Shi was unable to even write anything in response to Emperor Xuanzong's question. As a result, Song, Miao, and Zhang Yi were all demoted, but Li Linfu did not suffer any consequences.

By this point, Li Linfu was said to be so powerful that officials needed his recommendations for promotion, and that those who were commissioned without such recommendations would soon fall prey to his false accusations. For example, in 743, when the official Yang Shenjin was set to be promoted to be deputy chief imperial censor, he did not dare to accept the position because Li Linfu did not recommend him, accepting the office only in 744 when he received a recommendation from Li Linfu. Also, Li Linfu, viewing the official Pei Kuan as a potential threat to be chancellor as well, induced the general Pei Dunfu into accusing Pei Kuan of nepotism, and Pei Kuan was demoted. Meanwhile, Emperor Xuanzong, who was very trusting of Li Linfu at this point, considered formally letting Li LInfu take over all matters of state. Gao spoke against it, pointing out then that no one would be able to control the chancellor. Emperor Xuanzong was displeased with Gao's response, but did not formally bestow Li Linfu with such authorities.

By 745, Li Linfu was further using judges, the chief among whom were Ji Wen and Luo Xishi , who were known for using torture to extract confessions, in order to accuse his political enemies of crimes. For example, in 745, wanting to attack fellow chancellor Li Shizhi, who was then also minister of defense, and the official Zhang Ji , who was deputy minister of defense and a son-in-law to Emperor Xuanzong, he had some 60 officials under them accused of corruption. Under torture by Ji Wen, these officials all admitted corruption, although Emperor Xuanzong took no actions against Li Shizhi or Zhang Ji at this point.

Meanwhile, Li Shizhi and another official with designs on the chancellorship -- Wei Jian , who was Li Heng's brother-in-law, as well as Li Linfu's uncle Jiang Jiao's son-in-law and thus who had initially gained favor with Li Linfu -- were associating with each other, and Li LInfu viewed both as threats. He had Wei ostensibly promoted but removed Wei from a number of finance-related positions that he had held and at which he had gained Emperor Xuanzong's favors by adding to the imperial treasury income. In 746, he then tricked Li Shizhi into making a suggestion to Emperor Xuanzong of opening gold mines at Mount Hua -- and then himself informed Emperor Xuanzong that, based on Taoist principles, he believed that a mine at Mount Hua would damage Emperor Xuanzong's health, thus bringing imperial displeasure on Li Shizhi. He then accused Wei and a general close to Li Heng, Huangfu Weiming , of inappropriate close association and intimated that they were ingratiating Li Heng. Wei and Huangfu were thus demoted to be commandery governors. Li Shizhi, in fear, offered to resign his chancellorship. Emperor Xuanzong made Li Shizhi an advisor to Li Heng and removed him from his chancellor position. Li Linfu, believing that the official Chen Xilie, who became favored by Emperor Xuanzong because of Chen's dabbling in supernatural matters, would be easy to control, and therefore recommended Chen to succeed Li Shizhi. After Chen became chancellor, however, effectively, all matters were still decided by Li Linfu, leaving Chen with no real authorities.

Late in 746, when Wei Jian's brothers Wei Lan and Wei Zhi submitted a petition to try to defend their brother, the petition backfired badly, as their citation of what Li Heng had spoken caused Emperor Xuanzong to indeed believe that they were loyal to Li Heng and not to him. Li Heng, in fear, divorced Crown Princess Wei, and subsequently, Wei Jian and his brothers were exiled, and Li Linfu took this opportunity to several other officials associated with the Weis -- Li Shizhi, Wei Bin , Li Xuan the Prince of Xue , Pei Kuan, and Li Qiwu -- all demoted to remote posts. When, shortly after, Du Youlin the father of Li Heng's concubine Consort Du, as well as Du Youlin's son-in-law Liu Ji were accused of criticizing Emperor Xuanzong, Li Linfu took the opportunity to have Ji Wen extend the target, eventually convincing Emperor Xuanzong that Li Yong , Pei Dunfu, Huangfu, and the Wei brothers were all involved in the plot and had them all killed at their posts or in exile. A number of others, including Li Shizhi and Wang Ju , were terrorized into committing suicide. Li Heng, however, avoided consequences, as Emperor Xuanzong believed him to be filially pious. After Wei Jian's death, Li Linfu was still angry at Wei Jian, and had the judges continue to pursue people accused of being Wei Jian's associates and torture them, until Li LInfu's later death in 752.

Meanwhile, in 747, Emperor Xuanzong wanted to expand the government's talent pool, and so issued an edict ordering that the people who had unusual talents to come to Chang'an to be examined by himself. Li Linfu, fearing that these examinees might accuse him of improprieties when they get to meet the emperor, suggested that these examinees go through two levels of preliminary examinations -- by the local governments, and then by the executive bureau. As a result, no one passed the first two levels of preliminary examinations, and Li LInfu subsequently submitted a note to Emperor Xuanzong congratulating him that no talent has been overlooked by the imperial administration.

Meanwhile, Li Linfu was also apprehensive about how Wang Zhongsi, the military governor of Hexi, Longyou, Hedong and Shuofang Circuits, had become increasingly powerful and might be promoted to be chancellor. When Wang subsequently interfered with the campaign that the general Dong Yanguang against Tufan later in 747, Li took the opportunity to accuse Wang of plotting to overthrow Emperor Xuanzong and replace him with Li Heng -- with whom Wang was raised together in the palace, as Wang's father Wang Haibin had been killed in battle while serving in the army, and Emperor Xuanzong, taking pity on the young child, raised him in the palace. At the effort of Wang's subordinate general Geshu Han, whom Emperor Xuanzong was impressed with, Wang escaped death but was removed from his post.

Meanwhile, Li Linfu also became apprehensive of Yang Shenjin's continued rise, and induced Yang's cousin's son Wang Hong to falsely accuse Yang, who was a descendant of Sui Dynasty's emperors, of plotting to overthrow Tang and reestablish Sui. After Ji extracted confessions from the sorcerer Shi Jingzhong implicating Yang, Yang and his brothers Yang Shenyu and Yang Shenming were all forced to commit suicide. During these investigations, Li Linfu was repeatedly trying to implicate Li Heng, but as Emperor Xuanzong still trusted Li Heng, and Zhang Ji and Gao Lishi were doing all they could to protect Li Heng, he was never actually able to implicate Li Heng.

By this point, Li Linfu also feared that he had created too many enemies and that someone may try to assassinate him, expanded the corps of the chancellors' guards, with more than 100 guards protecting him at all times and establishment of elaborate security measures at home, including thick gates and walls and use of multiple bedrooms for himself, so that no one would know where he was sleeping on a certain night. He was also said to be living in extreme luxury, with one grand mansion in the capital itself and one country mansion, originally belonging to Li Xuan's father Li Ye . He had a large group of concubines and servant woman, and he had 25 sons and 25 daughters. Three of his sons and five of his sons-in-law served in important positions.

Meanwhile, Li Linfu was described to be also responsible for a policy that Emperor Xuanzong implemented late in his reign -- that non- generals were not only promoted to important border positions, but given large commands, as, prior to this point, border military commands were often viewed as stepping stones to chancellorships -- and, just during Emperor Xuanzong's own reign, this had been the route that Xue Na, Guo Yuanzhen, Zhang Jiazhen, , Zhang Shuo, Du Xian, Xiao Song, Niu Xianke, and Li Shizhi used to reach the chancellorship. Li Linfu, wanting to cut this route off for potential enemies, argued that non-Han generals were less likely to be engaged in factionalism and were more likely to be brave in battles. By 748, the main border posts were commanded by four non-Han generals -- An Lushan, An Sishun, Geshu, and Gao Xianzhi.

In 749, the commandery governor Zhao Fengzhang submitted a petition to Emperor Xuanzong accusing Li Linfu of over 20 crimes. Before the petition could arrive, however, Li Linfu already found out, and had Zhao arrested and caned to death.

By 750, however, a realistic threat against Li Linfu's power was rising -- as Ji Wen and , the cousin to Emperor Xuanzong's then-favorite concubine Consort Yang Yuhuan -- were aligned with each other, and they had Li LInfu's close associates Xiao Jiong and Song Hun demoted, to gradually reduce Li Linfu's power, with the intent of having Yang Zhao replace Li LInfu. Ji, soon, was also ingratiating An Lushan, and An was repeatedly recommending him. Subsequently in 751, Ji was made the deputy military governor of Hedong, which was under An's command at the time.

Meanwhile, though, by 752, Wang Hong was having authorities rivaling LI Linfu's, but as Wang was carefully cultivating his relationship with Li LInfu and humble to Li Linfu, Li LInfu did not act against him. However, Wang Hong's brother Wang Han , who believed that he was destined to be emperor, planned a coup with his associate Xing Zai . When Xing subsequently did rise in rebellion, the rebellion was suppressed by Gao, Wang Hong, and Yang Zhao . Li Linfu subsequently tried to defend Wang Hong before Emperor Xuanzong, and Emperor Xuanzong initially took no actions against either Wang Hong or Wang Han, but was waiting for Wang Hong to submit a petition asking for punishment. When none came, Chen Xilie, who was also beginning to be antagonistic to Li LInfu, and Yang accused Wang Hong of being complicit. Wang Hong was forced to commit suicide, and Wang Han was caned to death, causing terror in Li Linfu's heart. He thus, while keeping his chancellorship, resigned his military governorship of Shuofang and had the command transferred to An Sishun instead. That, however, failed to stem the accusations that Yang, Chen, and Geshu were making that Li Linfu was associating with not only Wang Hong and Wang Han, but also the ethnically Tujue general Li Xianzhong , who rebelled in 752 as well.

Meanwhile, with Nanzhao repeatedly attacking Jiannan Circuit , Li Linfu tried to defuse Yang's threat to him by requesting that Yang, who was also military governor of Jiannan, be sent to Jiannan to defend against Nanzhao attacks. Despite Yang's repeated pleas, Emperor Xuanzong sent him on his way, but promised to recall him soon to be chancellor. Meanwhile, Li Linfu was seriously ill by this point, and when a sorcerer indicated that if the emperor looked at him, he would be cured, Emperor Xuanzong considered visiting him. Ultimately, though, at the opposition of the imperial attendants, Emperor Xuanzong did not do so, but had Li Linfu brought out to the courtyard of his mansion and then ascended a tower to look toward Li Linfu. This had no beneficial effect on Li Linfu's illness, however. Meanwhile, once Yang reached Jiannan, Emperor Xuanzong recalled him. When Yang, after arriving back in the capital, went to visit Li Linfu, Li Linfu tried to ingratiate him and entrust his family to Yang. Li Linfu died around the new year 753.

After death

After Li LInfu's death, Emperor Xuanzong initially awarded him a number of posthumous honors, including ordering a grand funeral with imperial guards serving as honor guards and the use of royal funereal items. However, in spring 753, Yang Guozhong induced An Lushan into accusing Li Linfu of having been complicit with Li Xianzhong's rebellion, and then had Li Linfu's son-in-law Yang Qixuan corroborate this. Before Li Linfu's funeral could be held, Emperor Xuanzong issued an edict stripping all of his honors and exiling his descendants. Li Linfu's casket was split open, and three of the funereal honors -- the pearl in his mouth, the purple robe of chancellorship, and the golden fish to show rank -- were stripped, and he was instead buried with ceremony only due a commoner, in a small casket. It was said that while the people hated Li Linfu for his corrupt and harsh reign, they nevertheless mourned at how he was falsely accused after his death. After Li Heng later became emperor , he considered further infliction of humiliation on Li Linfu's body -- by exhuming and burning it and scattering the ashes -- but, at the suggestion of the imperial advisor , did not do so.

Li Kui (chancellor)

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Li Kui , courtesy name Duanqing , was an official of the dynasty Tang Dynasty, serving as a during the reign of .

Background

Li Kui was born in 713, at the start of the reign of . He was from a prominent clan that, by Li Kui's time, was domiciled in Zheng Prefecture but which traced its ancestry to a line of prominent officials of Northern Wei, who in turn traced their ancestry to Li Fan , a son of Li Gao, the founder of the Sixteen Kingdoms state Western Liang. After Northern Wei, Li Kui's ancestors served as officials of Sui Dynasty and Tang Dynasty. Li Kui was said to be intelligent, dextrous, and studious in his youth, and he was capable in writing.

During Emperor Xuanzong's reign

Toward the end of Emperor Xuanzong's ''Kaiyuan'' era , Li Kui passed the imperial examinations and was made the sheriff of Chenliu County . After he submitted his writing to Emperor Xuanzong, Emperor Xuanzong, apparently impressed, issued an edict allowing him to work at the legislative bureau of government on a trial basis. He was subsequently made ''You Shiyi'' , a junior official at the legislative bureau, and then successively served in the higher offices of ''You Bujue'' and ''Zhuzuo Lang'' at the legislative bureau, and then as ''Zhi Zongzi Biaosu'' , the official in charge of receiving and acting on submissions from members of the imperial clan at the ministry of imperial clan affairs . Later, he was promoted to be ''Sixun Yuanwai Lang'' , a junior official at the ministry of civil service affairs , and then the higher office of ''Kaogong Langzhong'' at the ministry of civil service affairs, in charge of evaluating the officials' performance. He was also involved in drafting edicts for Emperor Xuanzong. After the general An Lushan rebelled in 755 and forced Emperor Xuanzong to flee to Jiannan Circuit , Li Kui accompanied Emperor Xuanzong to Jiannan and was made ''Zhongshu Sheren'' , a mid-level official at the legislative bureau.

During Emperor Suzong's reign

Emperor Xuanzong's son and crown prince , however, did not follow him to Chengdu and instead fled to Lingwu, where he was declared emperor , an act that Emperor Xuanzong recognized when he heard the news. After Emperor Suzong recaptured and returned to Chang'an in 757, his wife became a dominating figure at court. She wanted her son Li Zhao the Prince of Xing, who was only several years old at that point, to be made crown prince. Emperor Suzong, however, was instead considering his oldest son the Prince of Cheng, who had contributed much to his campaigns to recapture Chang'an and the eastern capital Luoyang. Emperor Suzong consulted Li Kui and stated to him, "The Prince of Cheng is the oldest and had accomplished much. I want to create him crown prince. What do you think, sir?" Li Kui got up and bowed to Emperor Suzong, stating: "This is great blessing to the state. I am uncontrollably happy." Li Kui's comments affirmed Emperor Suzong's thoughts, and he created Li Chu crown prince in summer 758. In spring 759, when the officials who wanted to flatter Empress Zhang proposed that she be given a special honorific epithet of ''Yisheng'' . When Emperor Suzong consulted Li Kui on whether this was appropriate, Li Kui opposed, pointing out that the only prior instance when such an epithet was given to a living empress was to , the powerful and corrupt wife of Emperor Suzong's granduncle . After a lunar eclipse — which indicated divine displeasure with the empress — occurred around the same time, Emperor Suzong tabled the proposal.

By this point, Li Kui also had the additional office of deputy minister of rites . He was displeased with how the officials in charge of the imperial examinations at the time were making their testing questions test highly obscure facts, and he believed that this led to the selection of examinees who were not necessarily talented or capable in writing. He therefore, at the examinations, made the Confucian classics, histories, and qieyun references available to the examinees for them to look through the books during examination. He was much praised for this reform. It was also said that Li Kui was handsome in appearance and capable in rhetoric. Emperor Suzong once told him, "You, sir, are the highest grade in your clan's prominence, in your appearance, and in your writing.

Also in spring 759, Emperor Suzong, as a part of his reorganization of his chancellors, removed Miao Jinqing and Wang Yu from their chancellor posts and replaced them with Li Kui, Lü Yin, , and Diwu Qi. In Li Kui's case, he was given the post of ''Zhongshu Shilang'' , the deputy head of the legislative bureau, which was not itself a chancellor post, but given the additional ''de facto'' chancellor designation of ''Tong Zhongshu Menxia Pingzhangshi'' , making him a chancellor. He was also put in charge of editing the imperial history. At that time, there were much banditry within the city of Chang'an itself, and the powerful eunuch Li Fuguo wanted to commission several hundred soldiers from part of the imperial guard corps, the Yulin Army , to patrol the streets at night. Li Kui opposed this, pointing out that the Yulin Army and another part of the imperial guards corps, the Jinwu Guards , which were already responsible for patrolling the streets, served as counterweights to each other, and allowing the Yulin Army to patrol the streets throw the balance out of whack. Emperor Suzong agreed and tabled Li Fuguo's proposal. Nevertheless, it was also said that Li Kui did not dare to offend Li Fuguo, and despite the fact that Li Kui's clan was prominent, he bowed to Li Fuguo whenever he saw Li Fuguo, and referred to Li Fuguo as "Father Five" .

As chancellor, it was said that Li Kui was capable and decisive, but that he was also grasping onto fame and fortune, drawing criticism for doing so. He was also criticized for the fact that his brother Li Jie was also capable, but during Li Kui's term as chancellor, was stuck at a position that lacked actual power with Li Kui doing nothing about it. Meanwhile, Lü, who was removed from his chancellor position in 760, was sent out to be the military governor of Jingnan Circuit and was gaining a good reputation at the position. Li Kui, who did not get along with Lü while both were chancellor, was concerned that Lü might return to the capital to be chancellor again, submitted an accusation that Lü, who had recently had proposed having eight prefectures added to his circuit, was overly ambitious; Li Kui also sent officials to Lü's circuit to try to find faults with Lü. When Lü reported this to Emperor Suzong, Emperor Suzong, displeased, demoted Li Kui to be the secretary general of Yuan Prefecture .

During Emperor Daizong's reign

Several years later — therefore, therefore likely under the reign of Li Chu , as Emperor Daizong — Li Kui was slightly promoted, to be the prefect of She Prefecture . However, he would soon be trapped by an action from his past. While he was chancellor, Miao Jinqing had once recommended Yuan Zai for promotion. Li Kui, whose own clan was prominent and who looked down on those with humble origins — which was the case with Yuan Zai — refused, and stated to Miao:

This caused Yuan to have much resentment toward Li Kui. As Yuan became a powerful chancellor during Emperor Daizong's reign, he gave Li Kui an honorable post with little power or salary — acting ''Mishu Jian'' , the head of the archival bureau — and then ordered that Li Kui be sent to the region between the Yangtze River and the Huai River, on the excuse that Li Kui was ill and needed to tend to his illness. It was said that because the position lacked salaries and Li Kui lacked savings, his large household became so poor that members even had to beg for food. Li Kui moved from prefecture to prefecture, as he would move whenever the prefect would dishonor him. Only after Yuan was executed in 777 was Li Kui again given a substantive position — the prefect of Mu Prefecture . He later returned to Chang'an to serve as the principal of the imperial university and minister of rites .

During Emperor Dezong's reign

Emperor Daizong died in 779 and was succeeded by his son . Li Kui continued to serve as minister of rites, but the powerful chancellor Lu Qi was jealous of his reputation and seniority. In 783, after the Tufan emissary Qujiazan arrived in Chang'an to negotiate a border realignment treaty with Tang and after the treaty was completed, at Lu's instigation, Emperor Dezong made Li Kui emissary to Tufan to escort Qujiazan back to Tufan. Li Kui, then 70, stated to Emperor Dezong, "I do not fear going that far a distance, but I am afraid that I would die on the way and not complete my task." Emperor Dezong, who was saddened by the remarks, told Lu, "Li Kui is too old." Lu responded, "An emissary to a far-away foreign state needs to have a good reputation. Further, if Li Kui, who is this old, is sent as an emissary, then in the future, no official younger than Li Kui would dare to refuse such a task." When Li Kui got to Tufan, its king Trisong Detsen asked, "I heard that there is a Li Kui who is the most able of officials in Tang. Are you that person, lord?" Li Kui was afraid that this meant that Trisong Detsen intended to detain him, and therefore responded, "''That'' Li Kui would never be willing to come here." On his way of returning from Tufan in 784, he died at Feng Prefecture . He was buried with honor and given the posthumous name ''Gong'' .

Li Dashi

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Li Dashi , born in , was a historian, and an officer during the Sui and Tang dynasties. He began the ''History of Northern Dynasties'' and ''History of Southern Dynasties'', which were completed by his son, Li Yanshou.

Li Chunfeng

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Li Chunfeng was a Chinese mathematician, astronomer, and historian who was born in today's during the and dynasties. He was first appointed to the Imperial Astronomy Bureau to help institute a calendar reform. He eventually ascended to deputy of the Imperial Astronomy Bureau and designed the Linde calendar. His father was an educated state official and also a Taoist. Li died in Chang'an in 670.

Background and career

The Sui Dynasty was integral for uniting China, so it was a good time for learning. But when Li was sixteen the Sui fell, and the Tang rose. Nevertheless, the Tang did not harm the conditions for education. Indeed, it rather strengthened it. The Imperial Academy's math teaching was formalized. He was appointed as an advanced court astronomer and historian, once he had been appointed into the Imperial Astronomy Bureau in 627. Once several years had passed, he then was promoted to deputy of the Imperial Astronomy Bureau in 627.

Finally, he became deputy in 648. He was given these titles because the Chinese calendar of the era, despite that it had only been used for several years, was already having accuracy problems in predicting eclipses. In fact, Li was appointed partially because of his critique of the Wuyin calendar. Wang Xiaotong had been chosen to study the problem earlier. This was a very important job because of the Chinese belief in the Mandate of Heaven. So if one altered the calendar, that person would have some control over the connection between the heavens and the emperor.

Astronomy and calendar

In 665, Li introduced a reform calendar. It was called the Linde calendar. It improved the prediction of planets' positions and included an “intercalary month.” That is similar to the idea of a leap day. It would catch up a lunar year to a solar year because twelve lunar months are 1.3906 days short of one solar year. It was added every three years. The Linde calendar is the most prominent accomplishment of Li.

Li wrote a document complaining about the use of outdated equipment in the Imperial Astronomy Bureau, so he was commanded to construct a new armillary sphere. He completed it in 633. His construction had an additional third ring as opposed to the more common design of only two rings.

Mathematics

Li added corrections to certain mathematical works. Examples of this are in ''Nine Chapters on the Mathematical Art'' by Liu Hui. He demonstrated that the least common multiple of the numbers two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, and twelve was 27720, the answer was flawed in the original text. Yet another instance of this was in 's work about the area of a sphere. Li gave 22/7 instead of three as a better approximation of what we know now as pi. He began each annotation with the words “Your servant, Chunfeng, and his collaborators comment respectfully on…” Li did write some mathematical works of his own, little is know about them. They are usually dismissed as unimportant in comparison to his other accomplishments. With Liang Shu and Wang Zhenru, he wrote ''Shibu Suanjing'' in 656. These were ten mathematical manuals submitted to the emperor.

Literary works

Li contributed to the ''Book of Sui'' and ''Book of Jin'', which cover the history of the Sui and dynasties. He wrote about the discoveries in astrology, metrology, and music. These are the of the periods. The book ''Massage-Chart Prophecies'' is generally credited to Li. The book is a collaboration of attempts to predict the future using numerology. Therefore, Li is often thought of as being a prophet. The book gets it title from a poem near the end, discussing how much time it would take to tell the story of thousands of years, it would be better to take a break and enjoy a massage. Li wrote a book discussing the importance of astrology in Chinese culture called ''Yisizhan'' in 645. This is around when he would have been working on the Linde calendar. Yet another of is works is ''Commentary on and Introduction to the Gold Lock and the Flowing Pearls''. In this book he describes Taoist customs that was probably part of influence from his father.

Li Baiyao

2008-09-21T02:43:00.005-07:00

Li Baiyao , courtesy name Zhonggui , formally Viscount Kang of Anping , was a and an official during the dynasties Sui Dynasty and Tang Dynasty. He was honored for his literary abilities, and he was known for completing the official history of Northern Qi, the ''Book of Northern Qi'', which his father Li Delin had started.

Li Anqi

2008-09-21T02:43:00.003-07:00

Li Anqi was an official of the dynasty Tang Dynasty who briefly served as during the reign of .

Background

It is not known when Li Anqi was born. He came from a line of famed officials, as his grandfather Li Delin served as a high level official under Emperor Wen of Sui, and his father Li Baiyao served as an official of both Sui Dynasty and its successor Tang Dynasty. Li Baiyao also completed the ''Book of Northern Qi'', the official history of Northern Qi, the dynasty under which Li Delin started his career, which Li Delin started.

Li Anqi himself was said to be intelligent and articulate in his youth, and he was able to began interpreting texts when he was six years old. Late in the reign of Emperor Yang of Sui , Li Baiyao had been demoted to be the military advisor to the governor of Shi'an Prefecture , when he was intercepted by agrarian rebels near Lake Tai, and the rebels were about to put him to death, when Li Anqi wept and kneeled, asking the rebels to spare his father and to kill him instead. The rebels took pity on Li Anqi and spared them both.

Early in the reign of Emperor Taizong of Tang, Li Anqi, who had become a low level governmental official, served as the official in charge of the imperial seals and staffs. He participated in the editing of the official history of Jin Dynasty , the ''Book of Jin'', a project headed by the Fang Xuanling, and after the book was completed, he became an official at the ministry of ceremonies, serving as the deputy head of the department in charge of supplying the descendants of the imperial houses of Tang's predecessors Sui and Northern Zhou.

During Emperor Gaozong's reign

During the ''Yonghui'' era of Emperor Taizong's son and successor , Li Anqi served as a mid-level official at the legislative bureau of government , and later served as ''Huangmen Shilang'' , the deputy head of the examination bureau . As of 666, when Emperor Gaozong was offering sacrifices to heaven and earth at Mount Tai, Li Anqi was serving as the deputy minister of civil service, and Emperor Gaozong had him author the text for the monument at the altar.

It was said that Li Anqi had the ability to find talented people. Around 667, on one occasion, Emperor Gaozong rebuked his officials for not recommending talented people to be officials. Most of the officials were silent and unable to defend themselves, but Li responded:

Emperor Gaozong agreed, and he soon made Li the deputy head of the examination bureau again , and in summer 667 gave him the designation ''Tong Dong Xi Tai Sapin'' , making him a chancellor ''de facto''. However, four months later, he was no longer chancellor, as he was sent to serve as the secretary general at Jing Prefecture . He did not appear to have returned to central government service, and he was said to have died early in Emperor Gaozong's ''Xianheng'' era .

Fang Xuanling

2008-09-21T02:43:00.001-07:00

Fang Xuanling , formal name Fang Qiao but went by the courtesy name of Xuanling, formally Duke Wenzhao of Liang , was the lead editor of the ''Book of Jin'' and one of the most celebrated of the dynasty Tang Dynasty, and he and his colleague Du Ruhui, both serving during the reign of , were often asserted to be ideal models for chancellors.

During Sui Dynasty

Fang Xuanling was born in 579, shortly before the founding of Sui Dynasty in 581, during Sui's predecessor state Northern Zhou. His great‐grandfather Fang Yi was a general, official, and hereditary count during Northern Wei, and his grandfather Fang Xiong was also an official. His father Fang Yanqian was a county magistrate during Sui.

Fang Xuanling was said to be intelligent and well‐learned in his youth, and particularly skillful at . It was said that once, when he accompanied his father to the capital Chang'an, the state was peaceful, and the popular sentiment was that Sui would last a long time. However, Fang Xuanling secretly opined to his father:

Fang Yanqian was surprised by his son's opinion, which, however, eventually turned out to be prophetic. When he was 17, he was successful at the imperial examination, and he became a military officer. He particularly impressed the deputy minister of civil service, Gao Xiaoji . However, it appeared that he did not serve long, as his father became ill, and the illness lasted 10 years, during which Fang Xuanling attended to him earnestly. After his father's death, he fasted for five days. He later became the magistrate of Xicheng County .

In 617, when the general rebelled against the rule of Emperor Wen's son , one of Li Yuan's major generals was his son . Fang Xuanling went to Li Shimin's camp and offered his services. It was said that as soon as Li Shimin met Fang, they became like old friends, and Li Shimin invited him to serve on staff. Fang served Li Shimin faithfully, and wherever Li Shimin campaigned, while his staff members would collect treasures, Fang spent the time interviewing the people of the area and retained the capable people to add to Li Shimin's staff.

In 618, after news arrived at Chang'an that Emperor Yang had been killed in a coup at Jiangdu , led by the general Yuwen Huaji, Li Yuan had Emperor Gong yield the throne to him, establishing Tang Dynasty as its Emperor Gaozu. He created Li Shimin the Prince of Qin. Fang continued to serve on Li Shimin's staff.

During Emperor Gaozu's reign

In 621, when Li Shimin defeated Tang's major enemy Wang Shichong the Emperor of Zheng and captured the Zheng capital Luoyang , it was said that he sent Fang to the offices of Sui's legislative and examination bureaus of government to try to preserve Sui archives, but Fang's mission turned out to be unsuccessful as the archives had already been destroyed by Wang.

Later in 621, when Emperor Gaozu, awarding Li Shimin for his great accomplishments, bestowed on him the unprecedented title of "Grand General of Heavenly Tactics" , Li Shimin built a mansion where he housed those staff members with the best literary talent, supplying them with the best food and supplies and had them conduct research and writing. Fang was part of this establishment, along with, among others, the fellow future Du Ruhui and Xu Jingzong. When Du was subsequently commissioned as a prefectural secretary general, Fang told Li Shimin that Du was an uncommon talent that he should do everything he could to retain, and Li Shimin thus persuaded Emperor Gaozu to allow Du to remain on his staff. It was said that Fang was capable in planning and strategizing, but not decisive in his decisions, while Du was capable in making quick and correct decisions, and they divided their strategical responsibilities while on Li Shimin's staff in that manner.

By 626, Li Shimin was locked in an intense rivalry with his older brother, Li Jiancheng the Crown Prince, and Fang and Du often suggested that he act first against Li Jiancheng. As both Li Jiancheng and another brother who supported Li Jiancheng, Li Yuanji the Prince of Qi, feared Fang's and Du's strategic capabilities, they falsely accused both Fang and Du and had them demoted out of Li Shimin's staff. In summer 626, when Li Shimin decided to act against Li Jiancheng and Li Yuanji, however, he summoned Fang and Du to his mansion. Fang and Du, initially fearing Emperor Gaozu's orders forbidding them to serve Li Shimin, declined. In anger, Li Shimin sent the general Yuchi Jingde to summon Fang and Du, with directions if they declined again, to kill them. Yuchi, however, was able to persuade them that Li Shimin was in fact intending on acting against Li Jiancheng and Li Yuanji, and so Fang and Du put on disguises as Taoist monks and were able to get to Li Shimin's mansions, where they assisted Li Shimin in planning the ambush against Li Jiancheng and Li Yuanji. Li Shimin subsequently ambushed his brothers as and killed them, and then effectively forced Emperor Gaozu to create him crown prince. Once he was created crown prince, Fang and Du were restored to honored positions on his staff, and soon, Fang was made the ''Zhongshu Ling'' — the head of the legislative bureau and a post considered one for a chancellor. Two months later, Emperor Gaozu yielded the throne to Li Shimin .

During Emperor Taizong's reign

Later in 626, when Eastern Tujue's Jiali Khan Ashina Duobi launched a major incursion into Tang territory, reaching all the way to Chang'an, Fang Xuanling, along with Gao Shilian, attended to Emperor Taizong as he personally met Ashina Duobi to promise additional tributes, to induce Ashina Duobi to withdraw.

Late in 626, when Emperor Taizong personally ranked the contributions of the generals and officials in order to grant them fiefs, Emperor Taizong ranked five of them — Fang, Zhangsun Wuji, Du Ruhui, Yuchi Jingde, and Hou Junji to be contributors of the highest grade, and Fang was created the Duke of Han. When Emperor Gaozu's cousin Li Shentong the Prince of Huai'an, himself a key general, objected to being ranked below Fang and Du, stating that Fang and Du, in particular, were only bureaucrats, Emperor Taizong pointed out that it was with their strategies that he was able to become emperor, Li Shentong relented, which led to the other objectors to also cease their objections. Later in 627, at Emperor Taizong's direction, Fang carried out a major simplification of the central government, reducing the number of officials at the central government to 634.

In 629, Fang, along with Du, became ''Puye'' , a head of the important executive bureau of the government . It was said that at this time that the Fang and Du became known as the model for chancellors. It was also said that Fang, even though he had reached the pinnacle of officials' careers, was still very humble before the emperor, and whenever he received a rebuke, he would act as if disaster was coming. He also became responsible for organizing the imperial archives and the writing of official histories. Later that year, the assistant imperial censor Quan Wanji accused Fang and Wang Gui of being partial in their selections of officials, and Emperor Taizong initially ordered Hou to investigate. However, at the urging of another chancellor, Wei Zheng, who pointed out that Fang and Wang were trusted officials given important responsibilities, and it was inappropriate to pick on details of what they did, Emperor Taizong stopped the investigation.

In 630, when Emperor Taizong began to have his crown prince Li Chengqian formally rule on a number of matters of state, he commissioned Fang and Li Gang to sit with the Crown Prince and assist him on making the decisions. Also in 630, his title was changed to Duke of Wei.

In 636, for reasons unknown, Fang was briefly removed from his post and returned to his mansion. When Emperor Taizong's wife Empress Zhangsun died later that year, she, in her final words, pointed out to Emperor Taiizong that Fang had faithfully served him throughout his career and should not be removed. After her death, Emperor Taizong restored Fang to his post.

In 637, as part of Emperor Taizong's scheme to bestow prefectures on his relatives and great generals and officials as their permanent domains, Fang's title was changed to Duke of Liang, and he was given the post of prefect of Song Prefecture , to be inherited by his heirs, although he did not actually report to Song Prefecture but remained at Chang'an as chancellor. Soon, however, with many objections to the system, the strongest of which came from Zhangsun Wuji, Emperor Taizong cancelled the scheme, although Fang's title remained Duke of Liang.

Also in 637, a major revision of the laws, led by Fang, was completed, and the penal laws were said to be far more lenient than the Sui penal code, on which Fang's revision was based, with 500 statutory sections and 20 grades of penalty. Also that year, the code of rites, authored by him and Wei Zheng, was also completed.

In 638, Emperor Taizong, celebrating the birth of a grandson, held a feast for imperial officials, at which he made the comment:

He then awarded both Fang and Wei an imperial sword.

In 639, Emperor Taizong made Fang a senior advisor to Li Chengqian, ordering him to bow to Fang as he would Emperor Taizong. However, Fang was humble and never gave the Crown Prince any opportunity to bow to him, an act of humility that was praised. By this point, Fang's children were also highly honored, and his second son Fang Yi'ai married Emperor Taizong's daughter Princess Gaoyang, while his daughter married Emperor Taizong's brother Li Yuanjia the Prince of Han.

In 641, Fang and Gao Shilian drew rebuke from Emperor Taizong when they inquired of the deputy imperial architect, Dou Desu of imperial construction projects — which Emperor Taizong saw as an encroachment on his liberty. However, Wei pointed out that chancellors were supposed to be responsible for all affairs of state, and Emperor Taizong, realizing that he had erred, was humbled.

in 642, Fang was awarded the additional highly honorable title ''Sikong'' — one of the Three Excellencies. Later that year, when Emperor Taizong was debating between warring with Xueyantuo and making peace by marrying his daughter Princess Xinxing to Xueyantuo's Zhenzhu Khan Yi'nan, Fang was a proponent of peace, and Emperor Taizong agreed, although Emperor Taizong later changed his mind and broke the marriage treaty.

In 643, when Emperor Taizong commissioned the Portraits at Lingyan Pavilion to commemorate the 24 great contributors to Tang rule, Fang's was one of the portraits commissioned.

Later in 643, when Li Chengqian, fearing that Emperor Taizong would depose him in favor of his more favored brother Li Tai the Prince of Wei, was revealed to have plotted with Hou Junji to overthrow Emperor Taizong, Emperor Taizong had Zhangsun, Fang, Xiao Yu, Li Shiji, along with the responsible officials at the legislative and examination bureaus and the supreme court, investigate the matter. They confirmed Li Chengqian's guilt, and Li Chengqian was subsequently deposed, although Emperor Taizong, believing that Li Tai's machinations were responsible for Li Chengqian's downfall, exiled Li Tai as well and created another son, , crown prince. He subsequently made Zhangsun, Fang, and Xiao Li Zhi's senior advisors.

Later that year, Emperor Taizong requested to read the official history that Fang had written about his reign, and Fang initially resisted, stating that it would set a bad precedent . Emperor Taizong disagreed, and Fang thus submitted what he and his staff ahd written. Emperor Taizong noticed that Fang had avoided some of the more sensitive parts of the Incident at Xuanwu Gate, and he ordered Fang to write a more complete and less censored version.

In 645, when Emperor Taizong personally led a campaign against Goguryeo, Fang was put in charge of the capital. It was said that there was an incident where a man approached Fang and stated, "I am here to report that you are committing treason." Fang bound him and delivered him to Emperor Taizong. When the man arrived at Emperor Taizong's camp and accused Fang of treason, Emperor Taizong immediately executed the man and sent an edict to Fang, rebuking him for lack of confidence in himself, stating, "If something like this happens again, you should carry out the decisive act yourself."

In or around 646, Fang was again, for reasons unknown in history but described to be minor reasons, removed from his post and returned to his mansion. After Chu Suiliang submitted a petition stating that Fang's faithfulness should not be forgotten, Emperor Taizong visited Fang's mansion — a visit that Fang anticipated and had cleaned his house for — and he had Fang accompany him on the imperial wagon back to palace. Fang was said to be so influential in Emperor Taizong's decision‐making by this stage that an amusing incident occurred in 647, involving the official Li Wei . Emperor Taizong, then at his summer palace Cuiwei Palace , leaving Fang again in charge of Chang'an, had commissioned Li Wei as the minister of finances. When a messenger arrived from Chang'an, Emperor Taizong asked the messenger what Fang had said about Li Wei, and the messenger responded, "When Fang Xuanling heard that Li Wei was made a minister, all he stated was, 'Li Wei has a handsome beard.'" Emperor Taizong, realizing that Fang was making a veiled comment that Li was not a proper minister, demoted Li Wei to the post of prefect of Luo Prefecture .

In 648, the ''Book of Jin'', the offiial history of , with Fang as its lead editor, was completed. Also in 648, when Emperor Taizong was at another summer palace, Yuhua Palace , he again left Fang in charge of Chang'an, when Fang grew ill. Emperor Taizong summoned him to Yuhua Palace and had the imperial servants attend to him. For a while, Fang got better, and then grew worse. In his illness, Fang believed that the only danger that the empire faced at that point was Emperor Taizong's anger at Goguryeo, and therefore wrote an earnest petition urging the cessation of campaigns against Goguryeo. When Emperor Taizong saw the petition, he stated to Princess Gaoyang, "He is this ill, and yet he still worries so much about my empire." He personally visited Fang to bid farewell, and in fall 649, Fang died at Yuhua Palace and was buried near Empress Zhangsun's tomb .

The Tang Dynasty historian Liu Fang made these comments about Fang and Du Ruhui:

However, the honors the Fang clan received would not last long after Fang Xuanling's death. Emperor Taizong himself died in 649 and was succeeded by Li Zhi . In 653, Fang Yi'ai and Princess Gaoyang were accused of plotting, along with the general Xue Wanche , Emperor Gaozong's uncle Li Yuanjing the Prince of Jing, Li Ke the Prince of Wu, and another brother‐in‐law of Emperor Gaozong, Chai Lingwu , to overthrow Emperor Gaozong and making Li Yuanjing emperor. Fang Yi'ai was executed, and his older brother Fang Yizhi was demoted to be a county sheriff in modern Guangdong. Fang Xuanling, whom Emperor Gaozong had ordered to be worshipped at the imperial shrine with Emperor Taizong, was removed from the imperial shrine.

Fan Lubing

2008-09-21T02:42:00.008-07:00

Fan Lübing was an official of the dynasty Tang Dynasty, serving as during the first reign of .

During Emperor Gaozong's reign

It is not known when Fan Lübing was born. During 's ''Shangyuan'' era , Fan and several colleagues also known for literary talent -- Liu Yizhi, Yuan Wanqing , Miao Chuke , Zhou Simao , and Han Chubin -- were asked to serve as advisors to Emperor Gaozong's powerful wife , and they wrote a number of works on her behalf, including the ''Biographies of Notable Women'' , ''Guidelines for Imperial Subjects'' , and ''New Teachings for Official Staff Members'' . Collectively, they became known as the "North Gate Scholars" , because they served inside the palace, which was to the north of the imperial government buildings, and Empress Wu sought advice from them to divert the powers of the .

During Emperor Ruizong's first reign

Emperor Gaozong died in 683 and was succeeded by his son the Crown Prince , but Empress Wu retained actual power as empress dowager and regent. In spring 684, after he showed signs of independence, she deposed him and replaced him with his younger brother the Prince of Yu , but thereafter wielded power even more firmly. During her regency over Emperor Ruizong, Fan Lübing served successively as ''Luantai Shilang'' -- the deputy head of the examination bureau of government -- and deputy minister of civil service affairs . As of 689, he was serving as the minister of civil service affairs , when he was given the designation of ''Tong Fengge Luantai Pingzhangshi'' , making him a chancellor ''de facto''. He was also in charge of editing the imperial history. In 690, however, he was accused of having recommended as an official someone who later committed treason, and Empress Dowager Wu ordered him arrested and executed.

Cui Renshi

2008-09-21T02:42:00.007-07:00

Cui Renshi was an official of the dynasty Tang Dynasty who briefly served as a late in the reign of Emperor Taizong of Tang. His grandson Cui Shi later served as chancellor during the reigns of and .

Background

Cui Renshi was born in the 580s, during the reign of Emperor Wen of Sui. He was from Ding Province . Early in the reign of Tang Dynasty's founder , Cui Renshi passed an imperial examination and was made the military advisor to the prefect of Guan Prefecture . In 622, the Chen Shuda recommended Cui to be capable of editing imperial histories, and he was promoted to the post of military advisor to the commander of one of the imperial armies, but also given the responsibility of assisting in editing histories of Liang Dynasty and Northern Wei.

During Emperor Taizong's reign

Early in the reign of Emperor Gaozu's son , Cui Renshi was made an assistant to the imperial censor. In 627, there was an alleged treasonous plot that occurred at Qing Prefecture , and Cui was sent to investigate. When he got to Qing, there had been many people already arrested by the local authorities on suspicion that they were involved in the plot. Cui removed their restraints, gave them food, and allowed them to bathe. He eventually sentenced only the ten-odd leaders to death, while releasing all of the rest. After he returned to the capital Chang'an, Emperor Taizong sent an imperial messenger to Qing to carry out the executions, and the assistant chief judge at the supreme court, Sun Fuqie , who was friendly with him, warned him that if he released too many people, he might be accused by those sentenced to death of unfairness. Cui responded, "I have heard that an official in charge of criminal law should be kind and forgiving, and therefore, even if he were going to execute people or cut off their feet, he needed to do so with respect. How can I worry about my personal safety and not care about those wrongly accused? If I suffer, but I get 10 innocent people released, that would be my wish." Sun, in shame, withdrew from his presence. Meanwhile, when the imperial messenger reached Qing to verify Cui's actions, the prisoners sentenced to death had no objections, stating to the imperial messenger that Cui judged correctly and that they deserved to die.

At a later point, when Cui served as assistant minister of census, there was a time when he was reporting a number of expenditures -- more than 1,000 items -- to Emperor Taizong, and he recited them without having his books with him. Emperor Taizong found this odd and unbelievable, and he had the assistant head of the examination bureau of government, Du Zhenglun, fetch the books, and then had Cui re-recite his expenditures. As it turned out, Cui's oral report was correct without flaw, and Emperor Taizong was impressed. Around the same time, the imperial scholar Wang Xuandu had written commentaries for the Confucian classics ''Classic of History'' and '''', in which he disapproved of commentaries from the Han Dynasty scholars Kong Rong and Zheng Xuan. Wang then asked for imperial approval to replace Kong's and Zheng's commentaries with his own, as the official commentaries. Emperor Taizong convened a group of scholars to debate before him, and as Wang was a capable debater, the scholars all could not refute him. As a result, the official Xu Jingzong requested that Wang's commentaries be declared official, and Li Xiaogong requested that it be made coextensive with Kong's and Zheng's commentaries. Cui, however, disapproved of Wang's commentaries, finding them to rely on unreliable interpretations, and so he wrote a submission rejecting Xu's and Li Xiaogong's suggestions. Emperor Taizong, agreeing with Cui, rejected Wang's commentaries.

In 642, Cui was made an imperial attendant. At that time, the ministry of justice had submitted a proposal to increase the penalty for brothers of treasonous individuals, from removal from official posts to death. Emperor Taizong had his key officials discuss this matter, and Gao Shilian, Hou Junji, and Li Shiji were in favor of the increased penalties, while Tang Jian , Li Daozong, and Du Chuke were opposed. Most of the other officials favored the increased penalties, pointing out that during past dynasties, in cluding Han, Cao Wei, and , the penalty for treason was slaughter of three clans . Cui opposed, pointing out that in even more ancient times -- times held ideal by Confucian doctrine -- people were not punished for their families' misbehaviors, and the penalty for treason already included the death of sons -- that if treasonous individuals did not care about their own children, they would not care about their brothers. Emperor Taizong agreed and rejected the proposal to increase the penalty.

In 643, in the aftermaths of major conflict between Emperor Taizong's sons Li Chengqian the Crown Prince and Li Tai the Prince of Wei, who was Emperor Taizong's favorite son, causing Li Chengqian to plot to overthrow his father in fear that his father would replace him with Li Tai, Cui submitted a secret petition urging for Li Tai to be made crown prince. Emperor Taizong, after some deliberation, deposed both Li Chengqian and Li Tai, holding Li Tai's machinations responsible for Li Chengqian's downfall, and as Cui had wanted Li Tai made crown prince, he drew Emperor Taizong's ire and was demoted to the post of assistant minister of palace supplies. Later, his post was changed to deputy minister of census. During the preparations for Emperor Taizong's campaign against Goguryeo in 644, Wei Ting the minister of imperial shrines was made in charge of shipping troop supplies over the Bohai Sea, and Cui assisted him; Cui also had the additional responsibilities of shipping troop supplies in the Henan region. Cui, believing that the supplies from distant prefectures would not arrive in time, took the initiative of requisitioning the food collected as taxes in the region he was in charge and shipping those as food supplies for the troops. However, in spring 645, during the campaign, Wei was accused of not getting supplies to the troops quickly enough and demoted to commoner status. Cui was accused of not paying sufficient attention to the problems of laborers fleeing conscripted labor and was removed from his post. After the end of the Goguryeo campaign, when Emperor Taizong returned from the front to Zhongshan , he returned Cui to imperial service, making him an assistant to the head of the legislative bureau of government. He was soon also made acting minister of justice. Later, when Emperor Taizong was to visit his summer palace Cuiwei Palace , Cui submitted a poem to advise him against doing so in a veiled manner, not wanting Emperor Taizong to be away from Chang'an, and while Emperor Taizong did not accept his veiled advice, he appreciated it.

In 648, Cui was made ''Zhongshu Shilang'' , the assistant head of the legislative bureau, not typically considered a post for a chancellor, but Emperor Taizong gave him the additional designation ''Canzhi Jiwu'' , making him a ''de facto'' chancellor. Emperor Taizong was often listening to his advice, and this brought jealousy from fellow chancellor Chu Suiliang. It happened at this time that there was a person who came to the palace door to air his grievances, and Cui did not report this grievance to Emperor Taizong. Emperor Taizong saw this as hiding relevant events from the emperor and exiled him to Gong Prefecture . Later, after a general pardon, he was allowed to return from exile.

During Emperor Gaozong's reign

After Emperor Taizong's death in 649, Emperor Taizong's son made Cui the prefect of Jian Prefecture . Cui died soon thereafter.

Chu Suiliang

2008-09-21T02:42:00.005-07:00

Chu Suiliang , courtesy name Dengshan , formally Duke of Henan , was a of the dynasty Tang Dynasty, during the reigns of and Emperor Taizong's son . He became increasingly trusted by Emperor Taizong toward the end of his reign and was charged with the responsibilities of serving as the imperial historian and providing honest advice. At Emperor Taizong's death, Chu was entrusted with the responsibilities of assisting Emperor Gaozong, along with Emperor Gaozong's uncle Zhangsun Wuji. In 655, over his strenuous opposition to Emperor Gaozong's removal of his first wife and replacing her with , Chu was demoted, and that began a series of demotions, eventually to be the prefect of the extremely distant Ai Prefecture . He died in exile in 658.

Background

Chu Suiliang was born in 597, during the reign of Emperor Wen of Sui. His father Chu Liang had been a mid-level official during both Chen Dynasty and Sui Dynasty, and was known for his literary abilities. After Emperor Wen's death in 604, Chu Liang continued to serve Emperor Wen's son , but Emperor Yang was jealous of his abilities, and when the general Yang Xuangan rebelled in 613 and was quickly defeated, he accused Chu Liang of being friendly with Yang Xuangan and demoted him to be the census official for the distant Xihai Commandery . Chu Suiliang followed his father there.

In 617, when the agrarian rebel leader Xue Ju rose against Sui rule and declared himself the Emperor of Qin, Chu Liang and Chu Suiliang both joined Xue's administration. Chu Liang became a mid-level official, while Chu Suiliang became a low-level official. After Xue Ju's death in 618, his son and successor Xue Rengao was defeated by the Tang Dynasty general the Prince of Qin . Li Shimin spared Chu Liang and Chu Suiliang, and Chu Liang joined Li Shimin's staff, while Chu Suiliang remained at Qin Prefecture to serve on the staff of the commandant at Qin Prefecture. His activities thereafter, until 636, were not recorded in history, although it was mentioned that he was well-studied in literature and history, and was a talented , drawing praise from his father's friend Ouyang Xun, himself a famous calligrapher.

During Emperor Taizong's reign

By 636, when Li Shimin had been emperor for 10 years , Chu Suiliang was serving as a low-level official in the imperial archival bureau, when he was put in charge of recording Emperor Taizong's acts for historical records. When, on one occasion, Emperor Taizong put out notices of rewards, requesting that people submit works of the great calligrapher Wang Xizhi to him, many people submitted purported works by Wang, and it became difficult to tell which were genuine and which were forged. Chu was put in charge of discerning these purported Wang works, and he was able to clearly distinguish them. In 640, after Emperor Taizong sent the general Hou Junji to conquer Gaochang, both Chu and Wei submitted petitions requesting that, rather than annexing Gaochang, Emperor Taizong should reestablish Gaochang as a vassal kingdom -- advice that Emperor Taizong did not accept but would regret later.

In 641, Emperor Taizong was preparing to carry out grand ceremonies at Mount Tai in 642 to sacrifice to the gods of heaven and earth. At the suggestions of Xue Yi and Chu, however, he cancelled those plans. He also bestowed on Chu the title of imperial advisor, but continued to have Chu serve as the recorder of his acts. Once, When Emperor Taizong wanted to review the imperial historical records that Chu was responsible for keeping, Chu rebuffed Emperor Taizong, stating that it would be irregular for an emperor to look at how an imperial historian was writing about him. Emperor Taizong then made the comment, "Do you record the bad things I do as well?" Chu responded, "It is my responsibility, and I would not dare not to record them." The chancellor ] then stated, "Even if Chu Suiliang does not record them, everyone will." Emperor Taizong agreed with both of them. In 642, when Chu was troubled by the fact that Emperor Taizong was overly favoring his son Li Tai the Prince of Wei, over Li Tai's older brother Li Chengqian the Crown Prince, Chu pointed out that an emperor to overly favor sons other than heirs would have the undesirable effect of causing people to speculate as to who should succeed the emperor. Emperor Taizong gave oral approval of his advice, but did not follow it. In the subsequent months, Chu would repeatedly remind Emperor Taizong of this issue, but Emperor Taizong, while repeatedly informing his officials that he had no intent to displace Li Chengqian with Li Tai, was unable to stop the government from factionalizing into Li Chengqian's supporters and Li Tai's supporters.

in 643, Li Chengqian, apprehensive that he might be replaced by Li Tai, conspired with Hou, his brothers-in-law Zhao Jie and Du He , and his uncle Li Yuanchang the Prince of Han to overthrow Emperor Taizong. The plot was discovered, and Emperor Taizong deposed Li Chengqian while executing the other conspirators. He then promised Li Tai he would be created crown prince -- and Li Tai, wanting to appear appreciative, told Emperor Taizong that, if he were allowed to inherit the throne, he would kill his own son and make his younger brother the Prince of Jin crown prince. Emperor Taizong was touched, but Chu immediately pointed out the disingenuity in Li Tai's remarks, and advocated that Li Zhi be made crown prince instead -- an opinion shared by Emperor Taizong's brother-in-law Zhangsun Wuji, who was uncle to both Li Tai and Li Zhi. Soon, Emperor Taizong, who had also come to the conclusion that Li Tai's machinations were responsible for Li Chengqian's downfall, after first revealing his decision only to Zhangsun, Chu, Fang Xuanling, and Li Shiji, created Li Zhi crown prince and exiled Li Tai. Chu was made a junior advisor to the new crown prince, and Emperor Taizong had him, Liu Ji, Cen Wenben, and Ma Zhou often visit Li Zhi to advise Li Zhi on his studies.

Later in 643, Emperor Taizong was poised to, as per promises he made earlier, marry his daughter Princess Xinxing to Xueyantuo's Zhenzhu Khan, Yi'nan, when he, agreeing with the general Qibi Heli , made excuses and broke off the marriage treaty. Chu advised against breaking the treaty, but Emperor Taizong did not listen. In 644, Chu also advised against , although Emperor Taizong launched the campaign anyway after Li Shiji advocated for it. Later in 644, when Emperor Taizong, at an imperial gathering, stated to his key officials their strengths and weaknesses, he spoke, with regard to Chu:

:''Chu Suiliang is knowledgeable and firm. He often submitted faithful advice and is close to my heart, just as a delicate bird that deserves tender treatment.''

He soon made Chu ''Huangmen Shilang'' , the deputy head of the examination bureau of government , but further gave Chu the designation of ''Canyu Chaozheng'' , as a ''de facto'' chancellor.

In 645, Chu was involved in an incident that would result in Liu Ji's death. After the end of the Goguryeo campaign, Emperor Taizong returned to Ding Prefecture and was ill at that time. After Liu and Ma visited Emperor Taizong at his secondary palace and exited it, Chu asked them what the emperor's condition was, and Liu, weeping, stated, "The emperor is extremely ill, and it makes me worried!" Chu then falsely reported to Emperor Taizong that Liu said, "There is nothing to worry about as far as the matters of state were concerned. We only need to assist the young emperor. By the precedents of Yi Yin and Huo Guang, we execute the high level officials who were double-minded, and the state will be secure." Because Liu had previously made comments to Emperor Taizong that if any officials were unfaithful, he would execute them immediately, Emperor Taizong believed the accusation. Liu asked Ma to corroborate his innocence, and Ma did so, but Chu insisted that Liu did make the inappropriate comments. Emperor Taizong, believing Chu, ordered that Liu commit suicide, but pardoned his family.

In 646, Emperor Taizong sent 22 imperial officials to visit the prefectures throughout the empire, to see how the prefectures were governed. These officials submitted many accusations of misrules against prefects and county magistrates and proposed that those prefects and magistrates be punished. Many of the accused officials submitted appeals to Emperor Taizong, and Emperor Taizong put Chu in charge of reviewing the appeals. Eventually, Emperor Taizong made the final decision to find 20 of the officials innocent and promote them, to find seven severely guilty and execute them, and to give lesser punishments to almost 1,000 others. Later that year, Fang was dismissed from his chancellor post for a minor infraction, and Chu advised Emperor Taizong that Fang had great contributions to his rule and should not be easily dismissed. Emperor Taizong agreed and summoned Fang back to serve as chancellor.

In 648, Chu was made ''Zhongshu Ling'' -- the head of the legislative bureau of government and a post considered one for a chancellor.

In summer 649, Emperor Taizong, while at his summer palace Cuiwei Palace , was severely ill. He summoned Zhangsun and Chu into his presence and entrusted Li Zhi to them. He soon died, and Li Zhi succeeded him . Zhangsun and Chu, trusted by the new emperor, became effectively in charge of the government.

During Emperor Gaozong's reign

It was said that Zhangsun Wuji and Chu Suiliang worked well together and were effective in assisting Emperor Gaozong in governance, and that therefore, early in Emperor Gaozong's reign, the government was as effective as during the reign of Emperor Taizong. Emperor Gaozong created him the Duke of Henan.

In winter 650, Chu was charged by the imperial censor Wei Siqian of forcing a government interpreter to sell his land to Chu. Initially, the deputy chief judge of the supreme court, Zhang Ruice , ruled that Chu had broken no laws because he had paid compensation to the interpreter, but Wei pointed out to Emperor Gaozong that Chu had paid just the amount of compensation equal to government of the property, not fair market value, and Emperor Gaozong demoted Chu to the post of prefect of Tong Prefecture . In spring 652, Emperor Gaozong recalled Chu from Tong Prefecture to serve as the minister of civil service affairs and gave him the ''de facto'' chancellor designation of ''Tong Zhongshu Menxia Sanpin'' .

In winter 652, after a plot by Emperor Gaozong's sister Princess Gaoyang and her husband Fang Yi'ai to support her uncle Li Yuanjing the Prince of Jing as emperor was discovered, Zhangsun expanded the investigation and falsely executed a number of other people as alleged conspirators in spring 653, including Emperor Gaozong's older brother Li Ke the Prince of Wu, whom Emperor Taizong had considered as possible crown prince at one point and thus viewed by Zhangsun as a threat to Emperor Gaozong. Historical accounts implied, but did not state, that Chu was also involved in these false accusations, as Li Daozong the Prince of Jiangxia, a renowned general, was said to be implicated and exiled because he was a rival of both Zhangsun and Chu.

In fall 653, Chu was made ''Pushe'' , the head of the executive bureau of government, but also continued to be in charge of civil service affairs.

By 655, Emperor Gaozong's wife had lost his favor, and Emperor Gaozong's concubine wanted to displace her, and therefore falsely accused her of using witchcraft and also of killing Emperor Gaozong's infant daughter by Consort Wu. After one imperial gathering, Emperor Gaozong summoned the chancellors Chu, Zhangsun, Li Shiji , and Yu Zhining to the palace. Chu correctly guessed that Emperor Gaozong wanted to discuss with them deposing Empress Wang and replacing her with Consort Wu. Li Ji declined to enter the palace. When Chu, Zhangsun, and Yu met Emperor Gaozong, Emperor Gaozong tried to get their concurrence to depose Empress Wang and replace her with Consort Wu. Zhangsun and Yu were silent to implicitly show their disapproval, while Chu was adamantly against it -- citing the facts that Emperor Taizong had entrusted not only Emperor Gaozong, but also Empress Wang, to him, and that Consort Wu had previously been Emperor Taizong's concubine, and therefore having her as empress would be considered incest under Confucian principles. During the meeting, he became so emotional that he hit his head repeatedly on the ground while bowing such that he bled, and he also offered to resign, drawing Emperor Gaozong's ire. Two other chancellors, Han Yuan and Lai Ji, also opposed Consort Wu's ascension, to no avail, and eventually, when Li Ji made the comment that this was simply the emperor's own family matter, Emperor became resolved to carry out the change. He demoted Chu out of the capital, to serve as the commandant at Tan Prefecture , and a month later, in winter 655, he deposed Empress Wang and her ally , whom Consort Wu had also accused of witchcraft, and created Consort Wu empress to replace Empress Wang. In 656, Han tried to intercede on Chu's behalf to have him recalled to the capital, but Emperor Gaozong, while acknowledging Chu's faithfulness, stated that he was being uncontrollable, and refused Han's request. Meanwhile, Liu Ji's son Liu Hongye , in a move engineered by the chancellor Li Yifu, who despised Chu, submitted a petition asking that his father be posthumously cleared of wrongdoing, accusing Chu of falsely accusing his father. Many officials, wanting to ingratiate themselves with Li Yifu, all agreed with the petition, but Le Yanwei pointed out that clearing Liu would effectively state that Emperor Taizong's punishment was inappropriate. Emperor Gaozong agreed and took no action on Liu Hongye's petition.

Soon thereafter, Empress Wu became exceedingly powerful, and several of her allies were made chancellors. In 657, Chu, while remaining a commandant, had his command moved from Tan Prefecture to the more distant Gui Prefecture . Empress Wu's allies Li Yifu and Xu Jingzong then falsely accused Han and Lai of conspiring in treason with Chu -- stating that Gui Prefecture was a key military location and that Han and Lai had moved Chu there in preparation for a revolt. Emperor Gaozong demoted Han and Lai to distant prefectural posts, while further demoting Chu to the post of prefect of Ai Prefecture -- at the extreme southern border of the empire. Chu, after arriving at Ai Prefecture, submitted a petition pleading his own case, pointing how he had supported Emperor Gaozong as crown prince and later assisted him in governance, but his pleas fell on deaf ears. He died in 658, while still serving as the prefect of Ai Prefecture. In 659, when Zhangsun was falsely accused of treason and exiled , Xu and Li Yifu falsely accused Chu of having encouraged Zhangsun to plot. In response, Emperor Gaozong posthumously stripped Chu of all of his posts and exiled his descendants to Ai Prefecture as well; Chu's sons Chu Yanfu and Chu Yanchong were killed on their way to exile. When Emperor Gaozong died in 683, by his will, Chu's family was allowed to return to his home prefecture. In 705, after Empress Wu's own death , by her will , Chu's titles were restored.

Calligraphy

Cen Xi

2008-09-21T02:42:00.003-07:00

Cen Xi , courtesy name Bohua , was an official of the dynasty Tang Dynasty and Wu Zetian's Zhou Dynasty, serving as a during the reigns of , , and . He was known for his integrity as an official in charge of civil service affairs, but was later implicated as a partisan of Emperor Xuanzong's aunt Princess Taiping in 713 and was executed when Emperor Xuanzong suppressed Princess Taiping's party.

Background

Cen Xi's grandfather Cen Wenben served as a during the reign of , and his father Cen Manqian served as the secretary general of the capital prefecture Yong Prefecture and carried the title of Duke of Xi.

Cen Xi himself passed the imperial examinations sometime before 691 and served as ''Taichang Boshi'' , an official at the ministry of worship. In 691, during the reign of Emperor Taizong's daughter-in-law Wu Zetian, who had declared a new Zhou Dynasty and interrupted Tang Dynasty, Cen Xi's uncle Cen Changqian, then a chancellor, was accused of treason and executed. As a result, Cen Xi was demoted to be a legal officer at Chen Prefecture . He was subsequently made the magistrate of Jintan County. At that time, his brother Cen Zhongxiang was the magistrate of nearby Changzhou County and another brother Cen Zhongxiu was the magistrate of Lishui County . All three were known for their abilities in governance. The chancellor Zong Chuke, when an official was sent to examine the governance of the circuit containing those three counties, made the comment, "Do not forget about the three Cens east of the Yangtze River." He subsequently recommended Cen Xi, and Cen Xi was made the magistrate of Sishui County, near the capital Luoyang -- which was considered a major promotion due to its location.

As of 704, Cen Xi was serving as the magistrate of Guangwu County , when Wu Zetian asked the chancellors to recommend officials suitable of serving as low level officials in various ministries. The chancellor Wei Sili recommended Cen, but commented, "Alas, his uncle was Cen Changqian, and he suffers from the taint." Wu Zetian responded, "As long as he is capable, what taint can there be?" She therefore made Cen ''Tianguan Yuanwailang'' , an official at the ministry of civil service affairs. It was said that based on Cen's precedent, thereafter family members of officials previously killed during Wu Zetian's reign were able to begin getting promoted.

During Emperor Zhongzong's second reign

In 705, Wu Zetian was overthrown in a coup led by Zhang Jianzhi, Cui Xuanwei, Huan Yanfan, Jing Hui, and Yuan Shuji, and her son and crown prince , a former emperor, was restored to the throne . However, Wu Zetian's nephew Wu Sansi the Prince of Liang soon became a lover of Emperor Zhongzong's powerful wife and a trusted advisor of Emperor Zhongzong's. When the five coup leaders subsequently wanted to submit a petition to Emperor Zhongzong to have the ranks of Wu Sansi and other Wu clan members reduced, initially, no one was daring to draft the petition for them, but Cen Xi, then serving as ''Zhongshu Sheren'' , a mid-level official at the legislative bureau of government , was willing to do so, and wrote an eloquent argument for the proposal. Later that year, after Wu Sansi was successful in having the five coup leaders removed from government, he had Cen made ''Mishu Shaojian'' , the deputy director of the archival bureau -- an ostensibly honored position that carried little actual power. Eventually, he was made a deputy minister of civil service affairs and was in charge of selecting officials, along with Cui Shi, Zheng Yin, and Li Yuangong . Cui, Zheng, and Li were all known for corruption, but Cen was known for his integrity, during this time. Meanwhile, according to historical records that Cen himself later compiled, around this time, when Emperor Zhongzong's brother the Prince of Xiang and sister Princess Taiping were implicated in a failed coup by Emperor Zhongzong's son and crown prince Li Chongjun in 707 in which Wu Sansi and his son Wu Chongxun were killed, Cen and Xiao Zhizhong were the two officials who spoke on Li Dan's behalf, prompting Emperor Zhongzong to stop the investigation against Li Dan.

During Emperor Shang's reign and Emperor Ruizong's second reign

In 710, Emperor Zhongzong died suddenly -- a death that traditional historians believed to be a poisoning by Empress Wei and her daughter Li Guo'er the Princess Anle, so that Empress Wei could become "emperor" like Wu Zetian and LI Guo'er could be crown princess. Soon thereafter, before Emperor Zhongzong's death was announced, Empress Wei, as part of the governmental reorganization to consolidate her power, gave Cen Xi the designation ''Tong Zhongshu Menxia Pingzhangshi'' , making him a chancellor ''de facto''. For the time being, Emperor Zhongzong's son by a concubine, the Prince of Wen, was named emperor , but Empress Wei retained power as empress dowager and regent. She sent a number of officials to survey the circuits, and Cen was sent to survey the Henan Circuit .

Less than a month later, Princess Taiping and Li Dan's son the Prince of Linzi rose in rebellion and killed Empress Dowager Wei and Li Guo'er. Under their support, Li Dan, himself a former emperor, returned to the throne , displacing Emperor Shang. Cen was made ''You Sanqi Changshi'' and minister of justice , and later demoted to be the prefect of Shan Prefecture . He was, however, soon recalled to be the minister of census . In 712, he was made chancellor ''de facto'' again, with the greater designation of ''Tong Zhongshu Menxia Sanpin'' . He was put in charge of editing the imperial history and also the register of clans. In editing the chronicles of Emperor Zhongzong's reign, he recorded how he and Xiao Zhizhong had spoken in Emperor Ruizong's defense when Li Chongjun's coup attempt occurred, and when Emperor Ruizong read the records, Emperor Ruizong thanked Cen and awarded him with silk and a good horse; Emperor Ruizong also made him ''Shizhong'' , the head of the examination bureau , a post considered one for a chancellor. Emperor Ruizong also created him the Duke of Nanyang.

At that time, Cen Xi's older brother Cen Xian was the deputy principal of the imperial university, and his younger brothers Cen Zhongxiang and Cen Zhongxiu were prefectural prefects. Some 10s of his clan members were in fairly important positions. Cen Xi, at one point, sighed and commented, "When things become extreme, they will be reversed. This is what I am fearful of." However, he did not actually resign.

During Emperor Xuanzong's reign

In 712, Emperor Ruizong passed the throne to Li Longji, who was then crown prince, and Li Longji took the throne as Emperor Xuanzong. At the suggestion of Princess Taiping, however, Emperor Ruizong retained power as ''Taishang Huang'' , and Princess Taiping continued to be influential through Emperor Ruizong. Cen Xi was considered a member of her party. Later in 712, Emperor Xuanzong's associates, the chancellor Liu Youqiu and the general Zhang Wei , with Emperor Xuanzong's approval, planned to kill Cen and two other chancellors aligned with Princess Taiping -- Dou Huaizhen and Cui Shi -- but the news was leaked after Zhang informed the plan to the official Deng Guangbin . Liu, Zhang, and Deng were spared but exiled.

By 713, it was said that Princess Taiping, Dou, Cen, Xiao Zhizhong, Cui; along with other officials Xue Ji, Li Jin the Prince of Xinxing , Li You , Jia Yingfu , Tang Jun ; the generals Chang Yuankai , Li Ci , and Li Qin ; and the monk Huifan , were plotting to overthrow Emperor Xuanzong. It was further said that they discussed, with the lady in waiting Lady Yuan to poison an aphrodisiac that Emperor Xuanzong took regularly known as ''chijian'' ). When this alleged plot was reported to Emperor Xuanzong by Wei Zhigu, Emperor Xuanzong, who had already received advice from Wang Ju , Zhang Shuo, and Cui Riyong to act first, did so. He convened a meeting with his brothers Li Fan the Prince of Qi, Li Ye the Prince of Xue, Guo Yuanzhen, along with a number of his associates — the general Wang Maozhong , the officials Jiang Jiao and Li Lingwen , his brother-in-law Wang Shouyi , the eunuch Gao Lishi, and the military officer Li Shoude — and decided to act first. On July 29, Emperor Xuanzong had Wang Maozhong take 300 soldiers to the imperial guard camp to behead Chang and Li Ci. Then, Jia, Li You, Xiao, and Cen were arrested and executed as well. After his death, Cen's properties were confiscated.

Cen Wenben

2008-09-21T02:42:00.001-07:00

Cen Wenben , courtesy name Jingren , formally Viscount Xian of Jiangling , was a during the reign of Emperor Taizong of Tang. He was an assistant editor of the ''Book of Zhou'', the official history of Northern Zhou.

Background

Cen Wenben was born in 595, during the reign of Emperor Wen of Sui. His grandfather Cen Shanfang served under Emperor Xuan of Western Liang, a vassal of Sui Dynasty's predecessor state Northern Zhou who claimed to be the legitimate emperor of Liang Dynasty. His father Cen Zhixiang served as a magistrate of Handan County late in Sui Dynasty. In 608, Cen Zhixiang was falsely accused of crimes. Cen Wenben, who was already talented in writing and was calm and dexterious in his actions, went to the ministry of justice to proclaim his father's innocence and, when questioned, was able to answer and explain clearly. The officials were surprised by his ability to do so despite his young age, and, to test his writing ability, asked him to write an ode to lotus. Cen was able to write it well quickly. Subsequently, he was able to convince the officials that his father was falsely accused, allowing his father to be exculpated. He became famous from the incident. He was subsequently recommended for imperial examinations by the commandery government of his home commandery, but as by that time, most of Sui territory was engulfed in agrarian rebellions against , Cen Wenben did not report for the examinations.

Service under Xiao Xi and Li Xiaogong

In 617, Xiao Xi, a great-grandson of Liang's Emperor Xuan, whom Cen Wenben's grandfather Cen Shanfang had served, rose in rebellion, claiming to restore Liang Dynasty. Xiao Xi established his capital at Jiangling , and he summoned Cen Wenben to serve as ''Zhongshu Shilang'' , the deputy head of the legislative bureau of government . Cen was in charge of writing the imperial edicts. In 621, when the Tang Dynasty general Li Xiaogong the Prince of Zhao Commandery attacked Liang and put Jiangling under siege, Cen suggested to Xiao Xi that he surrendered, and Xiao Xi did so. After Xiao Xi's surrender, however, Li Xiaogong's subordinates wanted to pillage the city. Cen persuaded Li Xiaogong that it would be wrong to do so, and Li Xiaogong subsequently ordered against pillaging. As Li Xiaogong was then put in charge of the former Liang capital, he invited Cen to serve on his staff. In 623, when Emperor Gaozu sent Li Xiaogong to attack the rebel ruler Fu Gongshi the Emperor of Song, Cen followed Li Xiaogong and was in charge of his military correspondences. After Li Xiaogong defeated and killed Fu and was put in charge of Fu's capital Danyang , Cen continued to serve on Li Xiaogong's staff.

During Emperor Taizong's reign

Cen Wenben's activities for the several following years were not recorded in history. By 627, when Emperor Gaozu's son was emperor, he was a lowly-ranked secretary at the archival bureau but also served as a junior official at the legislative bureau. On one occasion when Emperor Taizong carried out a field-tilling ceremony , Cen wrote an ode to field-tilling, and on one new year's day when Emperor Taizong summoned the imperial officials to a feast, Cen wrote an ode to new years's day. The odes were considered beautifully written, and Cen became famous from them. The major general Li Jing also recommended him. He was promoted to a mid-level post in the legislative bureau and became more well-regarded by Emperor Taizong. After Yan Shigu, the official who was largely responsible for drafting imperial edicts during the reign of Emperor Gaozu, was dismissed around that time, the chancellor Wen Yanbo, the head of the legislative bureau, stated to Emperor Taizong that no one was capable as drafting imperial edicts as Yan and sought to have Yan reinstated. Emperor Taizong instead responded, "I have someone else in mind; you, Duke, need not worry." He then made Cen the deputy head of the legislative bureau and made Cen in charge of drafting imperial edicts. At that time, Cen was also assisting Linghu Defen in compiling the official history of Northern Zhou, the ''Book of Zhou''. It was said that most of the commentaries on the biographies were written by Cen. After the work was completed in 636, Emperor Taizong created Cen the Viscount of Jiangling. In 637, when Emperor Taizong visited the eastern capital Luoyang, there were heavy floods of rivers near Luoyang, and Cen took this opportunity to submit a secret petition urging Emperor Taizong to reduce his travel out of the capital. He also pointed out that too many construction projects were being carried out on behalf of Emperor Taizong's favorite son Li Tai the Prince of Wei -- that such expenditures will breed further expenditures. Emperor Taizong was pleased with Cen's petitions and awarded him with silk. In 642, Cen was given the additional designation of ''Zhuanzhang Jimi'' -- considered a chancellor ''de facto'' designation. It was said that Cen was humble and, despite his honorable status, he always greeted those who had known, no matter how minor that person's position was.

in 643, when Emperor Taizong's crown prince Li Chengqian was deposed after he was discovered to have plotted to overthrow Emperor Taizong, Cen and suggested that Emperor Taizong create Li Tai crown prince, but Emperor Taizong subsequently created another son, the Prince of Jin crown prince, believing that Li Tai's machinations was responsible for Li Chengqian's downfall. Emperor Taizong made many high level officials carry additional titles as Li Zhi's staff members, but when he tried to bestow such a title on Cen, Cen declined, stating that he wanted to concentrate on serving the emperor, although Emperor Taizong still had the crown prince meet with Cen every five days and treat him as a friend, not as a subordinate. In 644, when Emperor Taizong, at an imperial gathering, stated to his key officials their strengths and weaknesses, he spoke, with regard to Cen:

:''Cen Wenben is kind-hearted, and writes exquisitely. His logic and analysis are also enduring ones, and he will not fail my expectations.''

Later that year, he was made the head of the legislative bureau, but he rejected all attempts to congratulate him, stating "I will only receive condolences, not congratulations." When his mother asked why, he stated, "I did not have accomplishments and was not an old acquaintance of the emperor. I have, however, received great favors from the emperor, and my position is high and important. That is why I am afraid." When people suggested to him that he spend more time managing his properties, Cen responded:

:''I was only a plain-clothed man from the South, and I walked into the Guanzhong region on my own feet. All I wanted to do was to be an archivist or a county magistrate. I had no contributions on the battlefield, and I got to become ''Zhongshu Ling'' just based on my writing. This is the pinnacle of what I could become. I already receive too much salary. Why should I still try earn more?''

He instead put his younger brother Cen Wenzhao to be in charge of his properties. At that time, Cen Wenzhao was spending time associating with people, and Emperor Taizong was not pleased. He considered demoting Cen Wenzhao out of the capital, but Cen Wenben interceded on his brother's behalf, stating that his mother favored Cen Wenzhao the most, and not having his brother around would cause his mother much distress. Emperor Taizong thus changed his mind, keeping Cen Wenzhao in the capital after summoning him and rebuking him.

In 645, Emperor Taizong was attacking Goguryeo. Cen followed him on the campaign and was deeply involved in the logistics -- so much so that his energy was drained. Emperor Taizong saw that he was speaking in ways that were unusual forhim, and became worried, stating, "Cen Wenben came on this campaign with me, but I am afraid he will not return with me." Cen soon grew ill and died at You Prefecture . He was buried near the tomb of Emperor Taizong's wife Empress Zhangsun, where Emperor Taizong would eventually buried himself. His nephew Cen Changqian and grandson Cen Xi later also served as chancellors.

Zhu Qinming

2008-09-21T02:41:00.004-07:00

Zhu Qinming , courtesy name Wensi , was an official of the dynasty Tang Dynasty and Wu Zetian's Zhou Dynasty, serving as a under . He was a renowned scholar, but was later disgraced after Emperor Zhongzong's death for having flattered Emperor Zhongzong's powerful wife .

Background

It is not known when Zhu Qinming was born, but it is known that his family was from the Tang Dynasty capital Chang'an. His father Zhu Lin was himself a renowned scholar who wrote a number of works comparing the various interpretations of the . After one of Zhu Lin's students, Zhang Houyin , became an important official, Zhang recommended Zhu Lin to serve as an official as well, but Zhu Lin was never promoted beyond the post of being a county magistrate.

Zhu Qinming was said to understood the Five Classics well in his youth, and also studied the histories and the philosophies of the other schools of thought. During the reign of , after passing the imperial examinations, he served as a low level official at the legislative bureau of government . Sometime between Emperor Gaozong's ''Yunchun'' era and the ''Tianshou'' era , he passed additional imperial examinations and became ''Zhuzuo Lang'' , one of the officials in charge of chronicling the acts of the emperor. In 701, he started serving on staff of Wu Zetian's son and crown prince , a former emperor, and also served as an imperial scholar. He had the duty of assisting Li Xian in his studies.

During Emperor Zhongzong's second reign

In 705, Wu Zetian was overthrown in a coup, and Li Xian was restored to the throne . On account of Zhu Qinming's service to him, he promoted Zhu to be ''Guozi Jijiu'' , the principal of the imperial university, and further gave him the designation ''Tong Zhongshu Menxia Sanpin'' , making him a ''de facto''. He was soon made the minister of justice and then the minister of rites . He was also created the Duke of Lu and given the honorific title of ''Yinqing Guanglu Daiful'' . The coup leaders Huan Yanfan, Cui Xuanwei, Yuan Shuji, and Jing Hui, themselves now powerful chancellors , became his students in studying the ''Rites of Zhou'', and Zhu was well-respected. He was put in charge of editing the imperial history. However, in 706, he would have a brief downfall -- as he was indicted by the censor Xiao Zhizhong of having hidden a parent's death to avoid serving a mourning period, a severe breach of the Confucian requirements for filial piety -- and was demoted to be the prefect of Shen Prefecture .

Zhu, worried that he would never again be returned to power, took to flattering Empress Wei, and was soon recalled to again be the principal of the imperial university. In 709, when Emperor Zhongzong was set to sacrifice to heaven and earth south of Chang'an, Zhu and his deputy, Guo Shanyun , in order to flatter Empress Wei, took an interpretation of the ''Rites of Zhou'' to mean that Empress Wei should serve as the second stage sacrificer. Emperor Zhongzong initially doubted this interpretation and requested further opinions from scholars. Two scholars from the ministry of ceremonies, Tang Shao and Jiang Qinxu , as well as another deputy of Zhu's, Chu Wuliang , spoke against this interpretation and argued that such interpretation would only be reasonable in sacrifices to the imperial ancestors. Emperor Zhongzong had the chancellor Wei Juyuan rule on this matter, and Wei Juyuan ruled for Zhu's proposal, thus allowing Empress Wei to serve as the second stage sacrificer. However, with Tang's and Jiang's objection, he rejected a further proposal of Zhu's that Emperor Zhongzong's powerful daughter Li Guo'er the Princess Anle serve as third stage sacrificer, instead making Wei Juyuan the third stage sacrificer. During a feast in 710 after one of Empress Wei's relatives was married, Zhu volunteered to perform a dance known as ''Bafeng Wu'' -- during which he shook his obese body, his head, and rolled his eyes around, drawing laughter from Emperor Zhongzong but secret disgust from other officials.

After Emperor Zhongzong's death

In summer 710, Emperor Zhongzong died suddenly -- a death that traditional historians believed to be a poisoning carried out by Empress Wei and Li Guo'er. Soon, though, Empress Wei was overthrown in a coup led by Emperor Zhongzong's sister Princess Taiping and his nephew the Prince of Linzi. Emperor Zhongzong's brother the Prince of Xiang, himself a former emperor, was restored to the throne . After Emperor Ruizong took the throne, the censor Ni Ruoshui indicted Zhu Qinming and Guo Shanyun for flattering Empress Wei and misleading Emperor Zhongzong. Emperor Ruizong demoted Zhu to be the prefect of Rao Prefecture . At a later point, he was recalled to be an imperial scholar at Chongwen Pavilion , and died while serving in that role.

Zhu Jingze

2008-09-21T02:41:00.003-07:00

Zhu Jingze , courtesy name Shaolian , was an official of the dynasty Tang Dynasty and Wu Zetian's Zhou Dynasty, serving as a during Wu Zetian's reign.

Background

Zhu Jingze was born in 635, during the reign of . His family was from Bo Prefecture and had been known for generations, from Northern Zhou to Tang Dynasty, as a family that had filial piety and upright behavior. Zhu Jingze himself was said to value character and righteousness, and was known for his linguistic studies in his youth. He was also said to have lived with three cousins without any disputes between them about property and was friendly with Jiang Rong and Wei Yuanzhong, both of whom later became important officials as well. During the ''Xianheng'' era of Emperor Taizong's son , Emperor Gaozong heard of his reputation and summoned him, preparing to make him an important imperial official. However, the official Li Jingxuan spoke against Zhu, and Zhu was instead made the sheriff of Huanshui County .

During Wu Zetian's reign

As of 692, when Emperor Gaozong's wife Wu Zetian had been ruling as "emperor" of her own Zhou Dynasty, interrupting Tang, Zhu Jingze was serving as ''You Bujue'' , a low level official at the legislative bureau of government . Before that time, there had been a large number of officials accused of treason and executed based on the accusations of secret police officials, as Wu Zetian was seeking to wipe out actual or potential dissenters to her rule. Zhu, believing that such actions were no longer necessary to affirm her rule, submitted a petition to her pointing out that such measures were no longer necessary and were entrapping the innocent. While she did not abandon the policy immediately, she rewarded Zhu with silk for his suggestion.

In 700, Zhu was still serving as ''You Bujue'', when Wu Zetian established a group of imperial attendants, headed by her lovers Zhang Yizhi and Zhang Changzong, but also including other favorites of hers as well as officials with literary talent and young men with handsome appearances. Zhu submitted a petition suggesting that the Zhangs were sufficient for her and that she curb in the recruitment -- pointing out that such officials as Hou Xiang were flaunting their appearances to try to become imperial attendants and that such actions were causing damage to her reputation. Wu Zetian appreciated his petition and again rewarded him with silk.

In 703, Zhu was promoted to be ''Zhengjian Daifu'' , a senior consultant at the examination bureau of government . He was soon also given the designation ''Tong Fengge Luantai Pingzhangshi'' , making him a ''de facto''. Later that year, when Wei Yuanzhong was falsely accused by the Zhangs of plotting treason, and Wei's subordinate Zhang Shuo, whom Zhang Yizhi and Zhang Changzong initially tried to persuade to be a witness against Wei but later changed his mind and corroborated Wei's protestation of innocence, was also accused, the other chancellors were afraid to speak, but Zhu submitted a petition defending Wei and Zhang Shuo. Wei and Zhang Shuo were able to escape death and were exiled. When Su Anheng , a commoner who had repeatedly submitted petitions to Wu Zetian, also submitted a petition defending Wei but which used exceedingly insulting language against Zhang Yizhi and Zhang Changzong, Zhang Yizhi was incensed and tried to have Su executed, stopping only when Zhu, Huan Yanfan, and Wei Zhigu interceded on Su's behalf. Late that year, when Wu Zetian was concerned about a rebellion by the tribal chief Ouyang Qian at Shi'an , Zhu recommended Pei Huaigu to deal with the situation. Once Pei got to the area, he was able to, without military engagement, persuade Ouyang and the other tribal chiefs to submit. This recommendation of Zhu's, as well as his recommendations of Wei Zhigu and Zhang Sijing , impressed the people at the time at Zhu's good judgment of people's abilities, and it was said that while Zhu served as chancellor, he concentrated on finding appropriate officials to fill posts and did not worry about details.

In 704, citing his age, Zhu requested retirement from his chancellor post. Wu Zetian agreed and made him the deputy minister of public works and let him be in charge of editing imperial histories. Around that time, Zhang Yizhi and Zhang Changzong were commissioning a project of portraits of 18 officials, including her nephew Wu Sansi, Li Jiao, Su Weidao, Li Jiongxiu, and Wang Shaozong . They wanted to include Zhu in the project, but Zhu repeatedly declined, not wishing to be associated with Zhang Yizhi and Zhang Changzong, and the popular opinion at the time praised him.

During Emperor Zhongzong's second reign

In 705, Wu Zetian was overthrown in a coup, and her son the Crown Prince, a former emperor, was restored to the throne . Around this time, Zhu was sent to Zheng Prefecture to serve as prefect, and soon retired completely. In 706, after Emperor Zhongzong's son-in-law Wang Tongjiao was executed on accusation that he had planned to kill Wu Sansi, who was by then a trusted advisor of Emperor Zhongzong's, and depose Emperor Zhongzong's powerful wife , who was having an affair of Wu Sansi, the imperial censor Ran Zuyong , who had long been resentful of Zhu Jingze, falsely accused Zhu of being part of Wang's plot and had him exiled to serve as the prefect of Lu Prefecture . Several months later, however, Zhu was allowed to return to his home in Bo Prefecture, and when he returned home, it was said that he carried nothing from Lu Prefecture except for the horse he was on, and his sons and nephews walked next to his horse, attending him. He died in summer 709.

After Emperor Zhongzong's death in 710 and Emperor Zhongzong's brother the Prince of Dan became emperor , Emperor Ruizong posthumously honored many officials whom he believed were wrongly killed or demoted during Emperor Zhongzong's reign. When he discussed with the chancellor Liu Youqiu as to whether he was missing anyone, Liu, who was at one point Zhu's subordinate, pointed out Zhu's honesty and contributions, and Emperor Ruizong posthumously honored Zhu and gave him the posthumous name of Yuan .

Zhang Yanyuan

2008-09-21T02:41:00.001-07:00

Zhang Yanyuan , courtesy name Aibin , was a art historian, scholar, calligrapher and of the late Tang Dynasty. He was born to a high ranking family in present-day .

Zhang wrote several works about art and calligraphy, among them ''Fashu Yaolu'' , a collection of poems on color paper, and ''Lidai Minghua Ji'' - a general arts book, about the famous historical paintings. Zhang created his own style of art history writing, combining historical facts and art critic. His book also described the painter's lives thoroughly, including biography and works.

Zhang's art theory consists of several distinctive features:
He agreed with the theory of that art had moral and political functions. Zhang also stressed the importance of originality and creativity in painting, opposing stereotyped painting styles. The painter's background also had a great influence on the painting.

Liu Zhiji

2008-09-21T02:39:00.000-07:00

Liu Zhiji , courtesy name Zixuan , was a historian and author of the ''Shitong'' born in present-day during the Tang Dynasty. Liu's father Liu Zangqi and elder brother Liu Zhirou were official, and famous for their literary composition during the 7th century. He received his Imperial Examination degree in 680, and began working on several compilations with others in the court in 699. In 708, he decided to resign himself and started compiling the ''Shitong''.