Empress Wei Zifu - The Crown Prince Ju Revolt and Death

The Crown Prince Ju Revolt and Death

In his advanced age, Emperor Wu became paranoid about the use of witchcraft against him. In 96 BC, a series of witchcraft persecutions would begin. Large numbers of people, many of whom were high officials and their families, were accused of witchcraft and executed, usually with their clans. The first trial began with General Gongsun Ao and his wife, leading to the execution of their clan. Soon, these witchcraft persecutions would become intertwined in the succession struggles and erupt into a major catastrophe.

In 94 BC, Emperor Wu's youngest son Liu Fuling was born to Consort Zhao. Emperor Wu was ecstatic in having a child at his advanced age (62), and because Consort Zhao purportedly had a pregnancy that lasted 14 months long—the same length as the mythical Emperor Yao—he named Consort Zhao's palace gate "Gate of Yao's Mother." This led to speculations that he, due to his favor for Consort Zhao and Prince Fuling, wanted to make Prince Fuling crown prince instead. While there was no evidence that he actually intended to do anything of the such, over the next few years, there began to be conspirators against Crown Prince Ju and Empress Wei.

One of the conspirators against Prince Ju would be Jiang Chong (江充), the head of the secret intelligence, who once had a run-in with Prince Ju after arresting one of Prince Ju's assistants for improper use of an imperial right of way. It appears likely that Jiang was behind many of the witchcraft accusations against important persons—including Prince Ju's sisters Princesses Zhuyi and Yangshi and cousin Wei Kang (衛伉) (Wei Qing's son), who were executed in 91 BC after being accused of witchcraft. One other conspirator was Emperor Wu's guard Su Wen (蘇文), who had falsely accused Prince Ju of committing adultery with Emperor Wu's junior concubines.

Jiang and Su decided on using witchcraft as the excuse to move against Prince Ju. Jiang, with approval from Emperor Wu, who was then at his summer palace in Ganquan (甘泉, in modern Xianyang, Shaanxi), searched through various palaces, ostensibly for witchcraft items, eventually reaching Prince Ju's palace. He planted dolls and a piece of cloth with mysterious writing in Prince Ju's palace, and then announced that he found them there. Prince Ju was shocked. He considered his options, and his teacher Shi De (石德), invoking the story of Ying Fusu and raising the possibility that Emperor Wu might already be deceased, suggested that Prince Ju start an uprising. Prince Ju initially hesitated and wanted to speedily proceed to Ganquan to try to see his father to explain himself, but he found out that Jiang's messengers were already on their way. He decided to accept Shi's suggestion.

Prince Ju then sent an individual to impersonate a messenger from Emperor Wu to arrest Jiang and his coconspirators — except for Su, who escaped. After they were arrested, Prince Ju personally killed Jiang. He then led the guards of his and Empress Wei's palaces and prepared to defend himself. Su fled to Ganquan Palace and told Emperor Wu that Prince Ju was committing treason. Emperor Wu, not believing it to be true and correctly (at this point) believing that Prince Ju had merely been angry at Jiang, send a messenger back to Chang'an to summon Prince Ju. The messenger did not dare to proceed to Chang'an, but instead returned and falsely reported to Emperor Wu that Prince Ju was going to kill him. By now enraged, Emperor Wu ordered his nephew, Prime Minister Liu Qumao (劉屈犛), to put down the rebellion. The forces battled for five days, but Liu Qumao's forces prevailed after it became clear that Prince Ju did not have his father's authorization. Prince Ju fled the capital and eventually committed suicide.

Shortly after Prince Ju's escape, Emperor Wu sent two officials to Empress Wei's palace to seize her seal (i.e. to depose her). In response, she committed suicide, and was buried with a small coffin in the south of the city. Most of her clan members were killed in the turmoil.

After her great-grandson Liu Bingyi (through Prince Ju) became emperor in 74 BC as Emperor Xuan, he had her reburied in a larger but relatively modest tomb, not with her husband Emperor Wu, and gave her the posthumous title Wei Si Hou (衛思后, literally meaning "Empress Wei, the Deep Thinker"). Her new tomb, due to its remote location and relative humbleness, escaped the looting by tomb raiders later.