In Exile
Empress Dowager Wu soon ordered that Li Zhe and his family first be delivered to Fang Prefecture (房州, in modern Shiyan, Hubei), and then Jun Prefecture (均州, also in modern Shiyan), to be held under house arrest at the house that his uncle Li Tai had been placed after Li Tai was deposed in 643. (Subsequently, in 685, he was moved back to Fang Prefecture.) On the way to exile, Princess Wei gave birth to a daughter. There was nothing to wrap the baby with, so Li Zhe took off his own shirt and wrapped the baby in it. To commemorate this, the daughter was subsequently named Li Guo'er (Guo'er meaning "the child that was wrapped"). Li Zhe and Princess Wei both greatly favored this child born in distress.
Li Zhe was constantly in fear in exile, as Empress Dowager Wu had previously shown willingness to kill her own children—having forced Li Xián to commit suicide in 684 and having been rumored to have poisoned another son, Li Hong, in 675—and whenever there would be imperial messengers arriving from then-capital Luoyang, he would consider committing suicide, fearing that they brought orders for even worse fates. Princess Wei would repeatedly tell him:
There is no set pattern to bad and good fortune. Since we will all die one day anyway, why hasten death?At this point, they were deeply in love with each other, and at another point, he told her:
If we will see the light of day again, I will not stop you from doing anything.While Li Zhe was in exile, people who rebelled against or plotted against Empress Dowager Wu often used him as a symbol of their resistance. For example, when Li Jingye the Duke of Ying rose against Empress Dowager Wu later in 684, he declared that his goal was to restore Li Zhe. Other examples included Yang Chucheng (楊初成) in 687 and Li Yin (李諲) the Duke of Poyang (Emperor Gaozong's cousin) in 689.
In 690, Empress Dowager Wu had Emperor Ruizong yield the throne to her, and she took the throne as "emperor" of a new Zhou Dynasty, interrupting Tang. She created Emperor Ruizong crown prince with the unusual title Huangsi (皇嗣), and initially, Li Zhe's status was not changed.
Read more about this topic: Emperor Zhongzong Of Tang
Famous quotes containing the word exile:
“The bond between a man and his profession is similar to that which ties him to his country; it is just as complex, often ambivalent, and in general it is understood completely only when it is broken: by exile or emigration in the case of one’s country, by retirement in the case of a trade or profession.”
—Primo Levi (1919–1987)
“Public employment contributes neither to advantage nor happiness. It is but honorable exile from one’s family and affairs.”
—Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826)