Li Yifu - Removal and Restoration

Removal and Restoration

By 658, Li Yifu was said to be so powerful due to favors that Emperor Gaozong and Empress Wu showed him that even his young children were given official posts, and that his mother, wife, and sons were receiving bribes from officials to give them preferential treatment. His fellow chancellor Du Zhenglun, whose post was also Zhongshu Ling, had considered himself senior to Li Yifu and therefore was not willing to yield to Li Yifu, while Li Yifu was also not yielding to Du. The conflict between the two eventually erupted into an argument before Emperor Gaozong. Emperor Gaozong, rebuking both for their conflict, demoted both to be prefectural prefect -- Du to Heng Prefecture (橫州, roughly modern Nanning, Guangxi), and Li Yifu to Pu Prefecture (普州, roughly modern Ziyang, Sichuan). (Du soon died at Heng Prefecture.)

Despite Li Yifu's demotion out of the capital, Empress Wu was still protecting him. Around the new year 659, Tang Lin (唐臨), the minister of civil service affairs, had submitted suggestions that Xu Hui (許褘) be made the examiner of the Jiangnan Circuit (江南道, region south of the Yangtze River) and Zhang Lun (張倫) be made the examiner of the Jiannan Circuit (劍南道, modern Sichuan, Chongqing, and Yunnan). The sensitive Empress Wu saw ulterior motives in this -- because Xu was a friend of Lai Ji's, and Lai Ji's prefecture Tai Prefecture (臺州, roughly modern Taizhou, Zhejiang) was a part of Jiangnan Circuit, whereas Zhang was an enemy of Li Yifu's, and Li Yifu's Pu Prefecture was a part of Jiannan Circuit. As a result, she had Tang Jian removed from his post.

In fall 659, Emperor Gaozong recalled Li Yifu to the capital, to serve as the minister of civil service affairs and de facto chancellor. It was said that at this time Li Yifu carried out a revenge killing. Li Yifu's ancestors were originally from Hejian Commandery (河間, i.e., Cang Prefecture), but after he had become chancellor the first time, he claimed that his ancestors were actually from Zhao Commandery (趙郡, roughly modern Shijiazhuang, Hebei), as the Lis of Zhao Commandery, during Northern Wei and the subsequent dynasties, had been considered one of the most honored clans of the land. Many young officials from the Li clan, because they wanted Li Yifu's favor, therefore claimed to be in fact of the same clan as Li Yifu; one of these junior officials was one Li Chongde (李崇德), who listed Li Yifu in his family tree. When Li Yifu was demoted to Pu Prefecture, Li Chongde immediately removed Li Yifu from his family tree. When Li Yifu returned to the capital, he falsely accused Li Chongde of crimes, and Li Chongde committed suicide.

Later that year, Li Yifu, angry that he had previously sought to have his son married with a daughter of a traditionally prominent clan but had been unsuccessful in doing so, persuaded Emperor Gaozong that it was improper for these clans to be exclusive in their marriages and also demanding large amounts of dowry or bride price. Emperor Gaozong thus issued an edict forbidding the seven most prominent clans from marriage with each other and also limiting the amount of dowry and bride price they are permitted to receive.

In 661, Li Yifu's mother died, and he resigned to observe a period of mourning for her, but was recalled in 662 to again serve as minister of civil service affairs and chancellor de facto. He soon received permission to rebury his grandfather near the tomb of Emperor Gaozong's great-great-grandfather Li Hu (李虎), and it was said that he conscripted seven counties' laborers for the task and that the reburial was so grand that no burial since the founding of Tang Dynasty could rival it.