Li Yifu - Rise To Power

Rise To Power

After Emperor Taizong's death in 649, Li Zhi became emperor (as Emperor Gaozong), and sometime thereafter, Li Yifu became a mid-level official at the legislative bureau (中書省, Zhongshu Sheng). In 651, he took on additional responsibilities of assisting in editing the imperial history.

Meanwhile, Emperor Gaozong's favor for his wife Empress Wang had been waning, and he particularly favored Consort Wu, who had designs on the empress position, and she falsely implicated Empress Wang in the killing of her daughter. By 655, Emperor Gaozong had wanted to depose Empress Wang and replace her with Consort Wu, but most of the chancellors were opposed. It happened at that time, the most powerful of the chancellors, Emperor Gaozong's uncle Zhangsun Wuji, who had not placed Li Yifu in high esteem, was set to send Li Yifu to Bi Prefecture (壁州, roughly modern Bazhong, Sichuan) to serve as the military advisor to the prefect. Li Yifu received the news in advance, and he requested advice from his colleague Wang Dejian (王德儉). Wang Dejian pointed out that Emperor Gaozong was favoring Consort Wu, and that if Li Yifu supported Consort Wu, his situation would be improved. Li Yifu agreed, and he submitted a petition to depose Empress Wang and replace her with Consort Wu. Emperor Gaozong and Consort Wu were pleased, and they promoted Li Yifu to be the assistant head of the legislative bureau. After Emperor Gaozong did depose Empress Wang and replace her with Consort Wu later that year, over the strenuous objections of the chancellors Chu Suiliang, Han Yuan, and Lai Ji and implicit disapproval of Zhangsun, Li Yifu was given the designation of Canzhi Zhengshi (參知政事), making him a chancellor de facto. He was also created the Baron of Guangping.

Traditional historians, when discussing Li Yifu's rise to power, stated that he appeared to be mild, humble, and respectful in his temperament, and he was often smiling, but in secret, he was full of treachery and machinations, and therefore, it was said that he had knives in his smile, and he was also referred to as "Cat Li" (李貓), referring to his insincere smiles.

In 656, after Empress Wu's son Li Hong was created crown prince, Li Yifu was given an additional post as Li Hong's assistant, and he was created the Marquess of Guangping. That year, he had heard that a Lady Chunyu, from the eastern capital Luoyang, was beautiful, and had been arrested for an offense and held in custody. Li Yifu had the secretary general of the supreme court, Bi Zhengyi (畢正義), improperly find her not guilty and release her, with the intent that he would then take Lady Chunyu as a concubine. When this improper release was noticed by the chief judge of the supreme court, Duan Baoxuan (段寶玄), Duan reported to Emperor Gaozong, and Li Yifu, in fear, forced Bi to commit suicide. The assistant imperial censor Wang Yifang (王義方) then submitted an accusation against Li Yifu, but offended Emperor Gaozong by using language that Emperor Gaozong found obscene -- language that implied that because of Li Yifu's good looks, Liu Ji and Ma Zhou must have favored him after having sexual relations with him -- and Wang was demoted to Lai Prefecture (萊州, roughly modern Yantai, Shandong) to serve as census officer, while Emperor Gaozong took no actions against Li Yifu.

Later in 656, with Chu having been demoted out of the capital, Li Yifu had Liu Ji's son Liu Hongye (劉弘業) submit a petition claiming that his father was forced to commit suicide after false accusations by Chu. (Liu Ji had been forced to commit suicide around the new year 646 due to accusations that he had planned to kill a number of high level officials disagreeing with him if Emperor Taizong had died from a serious illness that he was suffering from at the time.) However, after Le Yanwei pointed out that revisiting Liu Ji's case would imply that Emperor Taizong made improper decisions, Emperor Gaozong took no action on Liu Hongye's petition.

In 657, Li Yifu was made Zhongshu Ling (中書令), the head of the legislative bureau and an office considered one for a chancellor. He was also created the Duke of Hejian. Later that year, he, and another ally of Empress Wu's, Xu Jingzong, falsely accused Chu, Han, and Lai of conspiring to commit treason, and both Han and Lai (who were still chancellors) were demoted out of the capital to be prefects, while Chu and Empress Wang's uncle Liu Shi were demoted to be prefects of exceedingly distant prefectures.