Zhangsun Wuji

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Zhangsun Wuji bigraphy, stories - Chinese chancellor

Zhangsun Wuji : biography

594 – 659

Zhangsun Wuji (長孫無忌) (died 659), courtesy name Fuji (輔機), formally Duke of Zhao (趙公), was a chancellor of the Chinese dynasty Tang Dynasty during the reigns of his brother-in-law Emperor Taizong (Li Shimin) (husband of his sister Empress Zhangsun) and nephew Emperor Gaozong (Li Zhi). He was an important assistant of Li Shimin when Li Shimin was the Prince of Qin under his father Emperor Gaozu and helped Li Shimin in killing his rivals and brothers Li Jiancheng the Crown Prince and Li Yuanji the Prince of Qi at the Xuanwu Gate Incident, eventually enabling Li Shimin to become emperor. He was also instrumental in Emperor Taizong’s selection of Li Zhi as crown prince, and was exceedingly powerful after Li Zhi took the throne as Emperor Gaozong. However, he gradually lost his nephew’s favor by failing to support Emperor Gaozong’s decision to depose his first wife Empress Wang and replacing her with Empress Wu. In 659, Empress Wu’s political ally Xu Jingzong falsely accused Zhangsun of treason, and Emperor Gaozong exiled Zhangsun. Xu subsequently sent the official Yuan Gongyu (袁公瑜) to force Zhangsun to commit suicide.

During Emperor Gaozu’s reign

Li Yuan captured Chang’an in winter 617 and declared Emperor Yang’s grandson Yang You emperor (as Emperor Gong), taking power himself as regent. After he received news in spring 618 that Emperor Yang had been killed at Jiangdu (江都, in modern Yangzhou, Jiangsu) in a coup led by the general Yuwen Huaji, he had Emperor Gong yield the throne to him, establishing Tang Dynasty as its Emperor Gaozu. Li Shimin was created the Prince of Qin and thereafter became the main general in charge of his father’s campaigns to reunify China under Tang rule, which was largely complete by 623, when the last major rival to Tang, Liu Heita the Prince of Handong, was captured and killed by Li Shimin’s older brother, Li Jiancheng the Crown Prince. For Zhangsun Wuji’s contributions to Li Shimin’s campaigns, he was created the Duke of Shangdang.

By 623, however, Li Shimin was locked into an intense rivalry with Li Jiancheng, who was supported by another brother, Li Yuanji the Prince of Qi. For the next several years, the rivalry further intensified. By 626, Li Jiancheng and Li Yuanji, apprehensive that Li Shimin might act against them, had falsely accused Li Shimin’s staff strategists Fang Xuanling and Du Ruhui and military officer Yuchi Jingde and had them removed from Li Shimin’s staff. It was said that by that time, of Li Shimin’s closest confidants, only Zhangsun remained, and that Zhangsun, his uncle Gao Shilian, Hou Junji, and Yuchi advocated acting first against Li Jiancheng and Li Yuanji. They persuaded Li Shimin to take action. Li Shimin thereafter set up an ambush for Li Jiancheng and Li Yuanji, killing them at Xuanwu Gate, and then effectively forced Emperor Gaozu to create him crown prince. Zhangsun was thereafter made the minister of civil service affairs. Two months later, Emperor Gaozu yielded the throne to Li Shimin, who took the throne as Emperor Taizong.

During Emperor Taizong’s reign

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—Zhangsun Wuji, Fang Xuanling, Du Ruhui, Yuchi Jingde, and Hou Junji to be contributors of the highest grade, and Zhangsun was created the Duke of Qi. As Zhangsun was both a great contributor to his victory and a close relative, Emperor Taizong was particularly close to him, allowing Zhangsun to enter the palace frequently.

In spring 627, when the general Li Yi, an associate of Li Jiancheng’s, rebelled at Bin Prefecture (豳州, in modern Xianyang, Shaanxi), Emperor Taizong sent Zhangsun to engage Li Yi, although before Zhangsun could arrive, Li Yi was defeated by his own subordinates and killed in flight. In fall 627, Emperor Taizong, despite opposition from Empress Zhangsun (who feared that the Zhangsun clan was becoming overly honored and would become a target of attack), Emperor Taizong made Zhangsun Wuji Puye (僕射), one of the heads of the important executive bureau of the government and a post considered one for a chancellor. Later that year, when Emperor Taizong heard that Eastern Tujue’s Jiali Khan Ashina Duobi, who had made a deep incursion to Chang’an when Emperor Taizong first took the throne in 626, was having internal problems with his subordinates, he consulted Zhangsun and Xiao Yu, asking their opinions. Xiao advocated an attack on Eastern Tujue, but Zhangsun pointed out that the peace treaty between the two states should not be breached, and Emperor Taizong accepted his suggestion.