Li Hong
Li Hong (李弘) | |||||||||
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Crown Prince of Tang Dynasty | |||||||||
Spouse | Lady Pei (裴氏)[1] | ||||||||
Issue | Li Longji (李隆基; adopted)[2] | ||||||||
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Dynasty | Tang dynasty | ||||||||
Father | Emperor Gaozong of Tang | ||||||||
Mother | Wu Zetian |
Li Hong (
Background
Li Hong's mother Consort Wu had been a
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.
As crown prince
As Li Hong grew in age, he developed a reputation for studiousness and kindness. He had, at one point, studied the
In 661, formally by his orders, Xu Jingzong, Xu Yushi, Shangguan Yi, and Yang Sijian (楊思儉) compiled a collection of particularly beautiful writing into a 500-volume work entitled the Yaoshan Yucai (瑤山玉彩, literally "the Colors of Jade from Mount Yao") and presented it to Emperor Gaozong. Li Hong, as well as those officials, were rewarded with silk.
Around the new year 669, after Tang forces commanded by Li Ji had conquered Goguryeo in 668, Li Hong, noting the harshness of Emperor Gaozong's prior edict that conscripted soldiers who deserted would be beheaded and their wives and children forced into servitude, submitted a petition, in which he pointed out that at times the alleged deserters were in fact innocent—that they could have been ill, captured by Goguryeo forces without anyone realizing it, drowned while sailing on the way to the Goguryeo front, or been stuck behind Goguryeo lines. He requested that the penalty as to the alleged deserters' families be removed, and Emperor Gaozong agreed.
In 671, perhaps due to Empress Wu's distaste for the capital Chang'an (due to her recurring dreams of Empress Wang and Consort Xiao taking vengeance on her), Emperor Gaozong and Empress Wu left Chang'an and took up residence at the eastern capital Luoyang, rarely returning to Chang'an from that point on. Li Hong was left in charge at Chang'an, although it was said that he was often ill, and the decisions were largely made by his staff members Dai Zhide, Zhang Wenguan, and Xiao Dezhao (蕭德昭). However, several acts of kindness were attributed to Li Hong. Most notably, during a major famine in Guanzhong (the capital region), Li Hong, realizing that even his own guards were eating acorns and tree barks, distributed rice from the imperial storage, and distributing public lands at Tong Prefecture (同州, roughly modern Weinan, Shaanxi) to the poor.
Death and aftermaths
One of Li Hong's kind acts, however, caused a deterioration of his relationship with his mother Empress Wu. Consort Xiao's daughters Princess Yiyang and Gao'an had, because of their mother, been put under house arrest inside the palace, so much so that they were not yet married even though they were over 39 years in age.[5] Once, when Li Hong met them by chance, he took pity on them, and requested the Emperor Gaozong allow them to marry, and Emperor Gaozong agreed. In anger, Empress Wu immediately married them to two palace guards named Quan Yi (權毅) and Wang Xu (王勗), and she became displeased at Li Hong. Empress Wu acted like a ruthless ruler during her husband's reign, having those who opposed her assassinated or executed at will. Empress Wu became so powerful that Li Hong and next, his brother Li Xian, began to be concerned. The relationship between mother and son further deteriorated over Li Hong's repeated suggestions to Empress Wu that she not be so controlling of governmental affairs and asked her to hand over control of the government to him.
At a later point, by order of Empress Wu Li Hong was no longer in command at Chang'an, and he went to Luoyang to join his parents. There, he married his wife Crown Princess Pei, the daughter of the general Pei Judao.
In 675, Li Hong, while visiting Hebi Palace (合璧宮), near Luoyang, with his parents, died suddenly. Most traditional historians believed that Empress Wu poisoned him to death. Emperor Gaozong was greatly saddened by his son's death, and he, in an unprecedented move, posthumously honored Li Hong the title of Emperor Xiaojing, and ordered that he be buried with honors due an emperor. (However, when an imperial tomb was to be built for Li Hong, it was said that the conscripted laborers were so displeased at the labor that they simply threw the construction material they had and deserted.)
Li Hong was sonless. For a while, his nephew
Ancestry
16. Li Bing, Duke Ren of Tang | ||||||||||||||||
8. Wu Shihuo, Duke Ding of Ying | ||||||||||||||||
13. Lady Zhao | ||||||||||||||||
3. Empress Wu Zetian | ||||||||||||||||
28. Yang Shao | ||||||||||||||||
14. Yang Dá | ||||||||||||||||
7. Lady Yang | ||||||||||||||||
Notes and references
- ^ A Crown Princess Consort (太子妃) and the daughter of Pei Judao (裴居道), however, they were childless. Following her husband who honoured like an Emperor, she then become Empress Ai (哀皇后).
- Empress Wu Zetian's order, Li then became the adoptive son of the posthumously emperor who was childless.
- ^ Volume 202 of Zizhi Tongjian recorded that Li died on the jihai day of the 4th month of the 2nd year of the Shangyuan era of Tang Gaozong's reign. This corresponds to 25 May 675 in the Gregorian calendar.[(上元二年四月)己亥,太子薨于合璧宫]
- Duke Wen of Lu.)
- ^ The Old Book of Tang and the New Book of Tang both gave the princess' age as over 39, although the Zizhi Tongjian indicated that they were over 29. Compare Old Book of Tang, vol. 86 "舊唐書 列傳 卷三一至四十". Archived from the original on 2007-10-11. Retrieved 2007-09-20. and New Book of Tang, vol. 81 "唐書 列傳 第一至十". Archived from the original on 2008-02-19. Retrieved 2008-03-17. with Zizhi Tongjian, vol. 202.
- Old Book of Tang, vol. 86.[1]
- New Book of Tang, vol. 81.[2]
- Zizhi Tongjian, vols. 200, 201, 202