Background
Wei Sili was born in 654, during the reign of Emperor Gaozong. His father Wei Siqian was a mid-level official at the time (and would eventually serve as chancellor from 685 to 687, during the first reign of Emperor Gaozong's son Emperor Ruizong), and he was born of Wei Siqian's then-wife Lady Wang. He had at least one older half-brother, Wei Chengqing, born of a previous wife of Wei Siqian. It was said that Lady Wang was very strict in her discipline of Wei Chengqing because he was not born of her, and whenever she punished Wei Chengqing, Wei Sili would ask to be punished in Wei Chengqing's stead—and when she refused, he would have the household servants punish him in the same manner Lady Wang was punishing Wei Chengqing. Lady Wang saw this and realized that she needed to give Wei Chengqing better treatment. When others heard of this, they compared the Wei brothers to the Jin Dynasty (265-420) officials Wang Xiang and Wang Lan (王覽) -- half-brothers in a situation similar to the Wei brothers.
Wei Sili passed the imperial examinations in his youth, and initially served as the magistrate of Shuangliu County (雙流, in modern Chengdu, Sichuan), and was said to have governed the county so well that his performance evaluations topped those of other counties in the region.
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