Death
In 710, Emperor Zhongzong died suddenly—a death that traditional historians believed to be a poisoning carried out by Empress Wei and her daughter Li Guo'er the Princess Anle, so that Empress Wei could eventually be "emperor" like Wu Zetian, and Li Guo'er could be crown princess. Empress Wei initially did not announce Emperor Zhongzong's death, and immediately put Wei Wen in overall command of the imperial guards, with his cousin Wei Xuan (韋璿) and nephews Wei Bo (韋播) and Gao Song (高嵩) in command as well.
Meanwhile, though, under a plan drafted by Emperor Zhongzong's sister Princess Taiping and concubine Consort Shangguan Wan'er, Emperor Zhongzong's son by another concubine, Li Chongmao would be named emperor. Empress Wei would serve as empress dowager and regent, while Emperor Zhongzong's younger brother Li Dan the Prince of Xiang, himself a former emperor, would serve as coregent; Consort Shangguan subsequently formalized this in a will she drafted posthumously for Emperor Zhongzong. Wei Wen and another chancellor, Ji Chuna, however, opposed this plan on the grounds that this would require her and Li Dan to frequently confer, which violated Confucian principles that a brother-in-law and a sister-in-law should not converse with each other. Under Ji's and Wei Wen's insistence, the other chancellors did not dare to oppose their will, and Li Dan was not made coregent. Li Chongmao soon took the throne (as Emperor Shang), with Empress Wei serving as empress dowager and regent.
Meanwhile, Ji feared Li Dan and Princess Taiping, and was advocating to Empress Dowager Wei and Wei Wen that Li Dan and Princess Taiping should be killed. At the same time, though, Princess Taiping and Li Dan's son Li Longji had received news of this and were planning a coup—which was facilitated by that Wei Bo and Gao were alienating the imperial guards by being harsh to the guards, trying to establish their authority. Li Longji took this opportunity to encourage the guard commanders to rise against the Wei party, and on July 21, Princess Taiping and Li Longji, with the imperial guards' support, rose in rebellion, killing Empress Dowager Wei and Li Guo'er. Li Dan was named regent. Wei Xuan, Wei Bo, and Gao were killed on during the coup, but Wei Wen was not executed until July 24, for reasons unclear in history. After his death, his clan was massacred.
Read more about this topic: Wei Wen
Famous quotes containing the word death:
“My glass shall not persuade me I am old
So long as youth and thou are of one date,
But when in thee time’s furrows I behold,
Then look I death my days should expiate.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)
“‘Tis no extravagant arithmetic to say, that for every ten jokes,—thou hast got an hundred enemies; and till thou hast gone on, and raised a swarm of wasps about thine ears, and art half stung to death by them, thou wilt never be convinced it is so.”
—Laurence Sterne (1713–1768)