Consort Shen - Post-Anshi Rebellion Efforts To Locate Her

Post-Anshi Rebellion Efforts To Locate Her

Emperor Daizong created Li Kuo crown prince, and he repeatedly sent imperial messengers throughout the realm to try to locate Consort Shen, but was unable to do so. In 765, a Buddhist nun named Guangcheng (廣澄) claimed that she was Consort Shen—but after interrogation, it was shown that she merely served as Li Kuo's wet nurse. Emperor Daizong had her whipped to death.

Emperor Daizong died in 779, and Li Kuo became emperor (as Emperor Dezong). In 780, although Consort Shen had not been located, he honored her in absentia as empress dowager. His official Gao Can (高參) suggested sending out officials to look for her. Emperor Dezong put his son Li Shu (李述) the Prince of Mu in nominal charge of the project, with the minister Qiao Lin as Li Shu's deputy. He also commissioned four members of the Shen family to assist the eunuchs sent out to find her.

In 781, there was an incident where it was thought that Empress Dowager Shen was in fact located. The lady in waiting Li Zhenyi (李真一) had interviewed an adoptive daughter of the once-powerful eunuch Gao Lishi, who had previously served inside the palace and was familiar with the events inside the palace. Li Zhenyi thought she might have been Empress Dowager Shen, and reported this to Emperor Dezong. At that time, no elders of the Shen family remained to tell whether Lady Gao was in fact Empress Dowager Shen, and the eunuchs and ladies in waiting who met her all thought she was Empress Dowager Shen. She initially denied that she was Empress Dowager Shen, but the eunuchs forcibly escorted her to Shangyang Palace (上陽宮), a palace that Emperor Dezong had set aside for Empress Dowager Shen, and supplied her with goods intended for the empress dowager. Lady Gao was enticed and induced into claiming that she was in fact Empress Dowager Shen. Emperor Dezong was very pleased and prepared for a ceremony to formally welcome her. Lady Gao's adoptive brother Gao Chengyue (高承悅) found out and feared that, if she were discovered, disaster would descend on the Gao household, and therefore submitted a letter to Emperor Dezong detailing her history. Emperor Dezong thus sent an adoptive grandson of Gao Lishi's, Fan Jingchao (樊景超), to meet her. When Fan saw her, he cried out, "Aunt, why are you putting yourself on the cutting board?" Her attendants, surprised at this disrespect for the "empress dowager," ordered him to leave. Instead, Fan yelled, "The Emperor has issued an edict: the Empress Dowager is not real. Leave now!" After the attendants left, Lady Gao protested to Fan that she was forced to claim herself to be Empress Dowager Shen. However, Emperor Dezong, fearing that punishing her would cause others to be unwilling to continue searching for Empress Dowager Shen, did not punish her and escorted her back to her home in a wagon. He stated, "I would rather be defrauded 100 times, as long as I can find my mother." It was said that after the Lady Gao incident, there were four other incidents in which women pretended to be Empress Dowager Shen but were proven to be not real. The real Empress Dowager Shen was never found.

In his mother's absence, Emperor Dezong honored her household greatly, including bestowing great honors posthumously on her father Shen Yizhi, grandfather Shen Jiefu (沈介福), uncle Shen Yiliang (沈易良), and brother Shen Zhen (沈震). It was said that more than 100 members of the Shen household were given titles. In 805, Emperor Dezong died and was succeeded by his severely ill son Emperor Shunzong, who in turn yielded the throne to his son Emperor Xianzong later in the year. At the suggestion of officials who pointed out that there was no further hope at that point of locating Empress Dowager Shen, Emperor Xianzong declared her deceased and had her formally enshrined in the temple of Emperor Dezong.