Wei Yuanzhong - During Wu Zetian's Reign

During Wu Zetian's Reign

In 690, Empress Dowager Wu had Emperor Ruizong yield the throne to her, and she took the throne as "emperor," establishing a new Zhou Dynasty and interrupting Tang. She recalled Wei Yuanzhong from exile, to again serve as a censor. In 692, however, he, along with the chancellors Ren Zhigu, Di Renjie, and Pei Xingben, and other officials Cui Xuanli (崔宣禮), Lu Xian (盧獻), and Li Sizhen (李嗣真), were falsely accused by the secret police official Lai Junchen of treason. They were arrested and interrogated by torture, with Lai's subordinate Hou Sizhi in charge of interrogating Wei. Wei refused to admit to treason, and Hou reacted by having him dragged on the ground feet-first. Wei sarcastically stated, "I am so unlucky that it is like having fallen from a donkey with my feet stuck to the stirrup, and being dragged by the beast." Hou, in anger, increased the speed of the dragging, and Wei responded, "Hou Sizhi, if you want my head, just cut it off. Do not ask me to admit treason." He further criticized Hou for using vulgar speech unfit for an imperial official—which, oddly, caused Hou to stop the torture and thank him for teaching him to speak properly. Meanwhile, Di was able to hide a secret petition inside clothes that were given back to his family members to be changed, and when the petition reached Wu Zetian, she released them, but exiled them—in Wei's case, to be the magistrate of Fuling County (涪陵, in modern Mianyang, Sichuan).

While Wei was in exile, many people spoke on his behalf, and in 697, Wu Zetian recalled him to serve again as censor. On one occasion, she asked him, "Why do you often get attacked by others?" Wei's response was, "Your subject is just like a deer. The false accusers are just like hunters who want to cut off my flesh for stew. They want to kill me in order to advance in government; it has nothing to do with me."

In 699, Wu Zetian made Wei Fengge Shilang (鳳閣侍郎), the deputy head of the legislative bureau (now renamed Fengge (鳳閣)), and gave him the designation Tong Fengge Luantai Pingzhangshi (同鳳閣鸞臺平章事), making him a chancellor de facto. Throughout the next few years, whenever there were Eastern Tujue and Tufan incursions, Wei would often be put in command of armies to defend against them. It was said that he was careful as a commander and did not have great gains, but also did not have great losses. He was also known for not being apprehensive of Wu Zetian's powerful lover Zhang Yizhi, and on one occasion, when Zhang Yizhi's servant attacked others, he whipped the servant to death, causing much fear in other people's minds for him.

By 703, because Wei's unwillingness to yield to the wishes of Zhang Yizhi and his brother Zhang Changzong, also Wu Zetian's lover, including his punishment of their brother Zhang Changyi (張昌儀) and refusal to promote another brother, Zhang Changqi (張昌期), Zhang Yizhi and Zhang Changzong were angry at him. At that time, Wu Zetian happened to be somewhat ill, and the Zhangs were fearful that if she died, Wei would kill them, and therefore falsely accused Wei and Gao Jian (高戩), a favorite official of Wu Zetian's daughter Princess Taiping, of having said that she was too old and that it would be better for them to support the Crown Prince (Li Zhe, who had by now been recalled from exile to serve in that role and renamed Li Xian and then Wu Xian, and on whose staff Wei also served). Wu Zetian, in anger, arrested Wei and Gao, and was ready to interrogate them before her. The Zhangs persuaded Wei's subordinate Zhang Shuo to corroborate their accusations, but Zhang Shuo, having been persuaded by his colleagues Song Jing, Zhang Tinggui (張廷珪), and Liu Zhiji that he needed to speak the truth, when reaching Wu Zetian's presence, instead revealed that he had never heard Wei say anything of that nature and that he had been asked by Zhang Yizhi and Zhang Changzong to testify that he had. As a result, Wei escaped death, but was exiled to be the sheriff of Gaoyao County (高要, in modern Zhaoqing, Guangdong), while Gao and Zhang Shuo were reduced to commoner rank and exiled as well. Before Wei departed, he said to Wu Zetian, "I am old now, and now I am going to Lingnan. There is less than a 10% chance that I will survive, but Your Imperial Majesty will think of me one day." When she asked why, he pointed to Zhang Yizhi and Zhang Changzong and said, "These two boys will create a disaster." The Zhangs quickly kneeled and claimed that Wei's accusation was false, to which Wu Zetian merely stated, "Wei Yuanzhong, you may go now."