During Wu Zetian's Reign
In 690, Li Chongfu's grandmother Empress Dowager Wu forced his uncle Emperor Ruizong to yield the throne to her, interrupting Tang Dynasty and establishing her own Zhou Dynasty with her as "emperor" (thereafter known as Wu Zetian). In 698, under the advice of the chancellor Di Renjie, she recalled Li Zhe to Luoyang, which had been made capital. Soon thereafter, Li Dan, who had been made crown prince when he yielded the throne, offered to yield the position of crown prince to Li Zhe. Wu Zetian agreed, and created Li Zhe crown prince, changing his personal name to Xian and further changing his surname to Wu. In 700, Li Chongfu was created the Prince of Ping'en.
In 701, Li Chongfu's brother Li Chongzhao (who had, by this point, changed his name to Li Chongrun to observe naming taboo of Wu Zetian's name), along with their sister Li Xianhui (李仙蕙) the Lady Yongtai and Li Xianhui's husband Wu Yanji (武延基) the Prince of Wei (Wu Zetian's grandnephew), were put to death for criticizing Wu Zetian's lovers Zhang Yizhi and Zhang Changzong. Whether Li Chongfu was responsible for leaking their criticism to the Zhangs and therefore leading to Li Chongrun's death is not known. Li Chongrun's mother Crown Princess Wei, after she later became empress again, would later accuse Li Chongfu of leaking the information, although there appears to be no particular evidence Li Chongfu did so, and in the Zizhi Tongjian, it was asserted that her accusation against Li Chongfu was false.
In 704, Wu Zetian created Li Chongfu the greater title of Prince of Qiao.
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Famous quotes containing the word reign:
“The reign of imagagology begins where history ends.”
—Milan Kundera (b. 1929)