Wei Juyuan - During Wu Zetian's Reign

During Wu Zetian's Reign

Wei Juyuan himself had become deputy minister of vassal affairs (司賓少卿) during the reign of Emperor Taizong's daughter-in-law (and one-time concubine) Wu Zetian. As of 693, he was serving as Wenchang Zuo Cheng (文昌左丞), one of the secretaries general of the executive bureau of government (文昌臺, Wenchang Tai), when Wu Zetian gave him the designation Tong Fengge Luantai Pingzhangshi (同鳳閣鸞臺平章事), making him a chancellor de facto. In 694, he was made the minister of defense (夏官尚書, Xiaguan Shangshu) and still chancellor with the Tong Fengge Luantai Pingzhangshi designation. He was said to be meticulous in matters of reviewing subordinates' actions and correcting them that his subordinates complained, but he was able to correct a number of problems that they were having.

In late 694, Wu Zetian, displeased with the powerful chancellor Li Zhaode, exiled Li, and fellow chancellor Zhou Yunyuan and the assistant chief judge of the supreme court, Huangfu Wenbei (皇甫文備), then submitted articles of impeachment against Wei and several fellow chancellors -- Doulu Qinwang, Du Jingjian, Su Weidao, and Lu Yuanfang -- for not being able to curb Li Zhaode's power. The five chancellors so accused were all demoted to be prefectural prefect—in Wei's case, to be the prefect of Fu Prefecture (鄜州, roughly modern Yan'an, Shaanxi). However, he was soon recalled to be the minister of treasury (地官尚書, Diguan Shangshu). By 700, he was again Wenchang Zuo Cheng, when he was made Nayan (納言), the head of the examination bureau (鳳閣, Fengge) and a post considered one for a chancellor. In 701, he was removed from that post, as his clansman Wei Anshi was becoming a chancellor at the time, and Wu Zetian did not like having multiple members of the same clan serving together as chancellors. He was subsequently put in charge of the capital Luoyang when Wu Zetian visited the western capital Chang'an, apparently to oversee a construction project at her mother Lady Yang's tomb. While she was still at Chang'an, in 702, she summoned Wei Juyuan to Chang'an and had his deputy Li Jiao put in charge of Luoyang. Subsequently, when she returned to Luoyang, he was put in charge of Chang'an.