Background
Li Hong's mother Consort Wu had been a concubine of Emperor Taizong, and after Emperor Taizong's death in 649 she, like all of his surviving concubines who did not bear children, was sent to Ganye Temple (感業寺) to be a Buddhist nun. However, in 650 or 651, when Emperor Taizong's son and successor Emperor Gaozong visited Ganye Temple to offer incense, he saw her and remembered how he had been impressed by her beauty, and both of them wept. Emperor Gaozong's wife Empress Wang, who was sonless and had felt threatened by his favorite concubine Consort Xiao, who had given birth to a son (Li Sujie), found out about the situation, and decided to welcome Consort Wu back to the palace to be a concubine of Emperor Gaozong to divert his favors from Consort Xiao. Consort Wu soon became his favorite (so much so that Empress Wang and Consort Xiao, threatened by her, soon became allies against her), and she gave birth to Li Hong in 652. Li Hong was Emperor Gaozong's fifth son and her first son. In 653, he was made the Prince of Dai.
In 655, Consort Wu falsely accused Empress Wang and her mother Lady Liu of using witchcraft and of murdering her daughter. Emperor Gaozong deposed both Empress Wang and Consort Xiao and replaced Empress Wang with Consort Wu. Empress Wang and Consort Xiao were soon executed on Empress Wu's orders. Prior to this, in 652, Emperor Gaozong's oldest son (by his lowly-born concubine Consort Liu), Li Zhong, had been made the crown prince already, but Empress Wu had her ally, the official Xu Jingzong submit a petition arguing that now that the empress had her own sons, Li Zhong should step aside. Emperor Gaozong agreed, and in spring 656, Emperor Gaozong demoted Li Zhong to the title of Prince of Liang and made Li Hong the crown prince instead.
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