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treason. Look, they have come in full armour." Emperor
Xuanzong had his eunuchs check out the situation, and the three princes were seen in full armour. Yang Hui subsequently accused Li Ying, Li Yao, and Li Ju of treason. When Emperor Xuanzong discussed this with the chancellors, Li Linfu, by now the most powerful official at court, stated that, "This is Your Imperial Majesty's family matter. We will not interfere." The three princes were soon executed. It was said that thereafter Consort Wu was often terrified by visions of the three princes in her dreams, and she offered sacrifices to them, but the dreams continued. She became ill, and died later that year in her 40s.
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waned. It was said that
Consort Wu was ambitious and, taking after Wu Zetian, had designs to be empress, and Empress Wang was often arguing with Emperor Xuanzong over the issue. In 722, Emperor Xuanzong discussed with his close associate Jiang Jiao (姜皎) deposing Empress Wang on the basis that Empress
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Emperor
Xuanzong posthumously honoured her as empress and buried her with ceremonies due an empress, but he rebuffed proposals for mourning periods to be observed for her. However, due to her significant and widely known offence on three princes, her son did not succeed "crown-prince" title, and her
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firmly opposed this, and when
Consort Wu sent her servant Niu Gui'er (牛貴兒) to try to lobby him, he refused and reported this to Emperor Xuanzong. Because of Zhang's firm opposition to Li Ying's removal, it was said that Li Ying's position was firm for as long as Zhang remained chancellor, but after
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Xuanzong, had lost favor to
Consort Wu. Princess Xianyi's husband Yang Hui (楊洄) reported this to Consort Wu, and she tearfully accused Li Ying of defaming her and Emperor Xuanzong. Emperor Xuanzong, in anger, discussed the possibility of deposing Li Ying with the chancellors. The senior chancellor
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In 737, Consort Wu decided to try to trick Li Ying, Li Yao, and Li Ju. She had a message sent to the three princes, stating, "There are bandits in the palace. Please report at once in armour!" The three princes arrived in full armour, and she told
Emperor Xuanzong, "The three princes are planning
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Some time later Li Siqian, whose name had by then been changed to Li Ying, met with his brothers Li Yao (李瑤) the Prince of E, born of
Consort Huangfu, and Li Ju (李琚) the Prince of Guang, born of Consort Liu, and each of them was complaining about how their mothers, originally favoured by Emperor
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era (713-741), she successively gave birth to two sons, Li Yi (李一, posthumously honored Prince Dao of Xia) and Li Min (李敏, posthumously honored Prince Ai of Huai), and one daughter (posthumously honored
Princess Shangxian), all of whom were described to be beautiful but all of whom died in their
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all treat her as the empress inside the palace and the officials down to the people were asked to act in this way for her. Her mother Lady Yang was created the Lady of Zheng, and her brothers Wu Zhong (武忠) and Wu Xin (武信) became honoured officials. She had one more son, Li Qi (李琦) the Prince of
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in 724, she became honored like an empress inside the palace, court, by the emperor and among the public until her death; Thus, she was the undisputed mistress of the palace, and wielded political power in the court and influence over the decisions of
Emperor Xuanzong. She never formally became
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entered into an alliance, where Li Linfu agreed to help her to have Li Mao created crown prince, while she recommended Li Linfu to be chancellor. Li Linfu became chancellor in 734, and thereafter began to lobby on Li Mao's behalf.
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Wang did not have a son, but after Jiang leaked the news, Jiang was exiled, and
Empress Wang remained in her position. In 724, however, Empress Wang's brother Wang Shouyi (王守一) was discovered to have engaged a
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Meanwhile, Consort Wu had designs to have her oldest son Li Qing, whose name was by then changed to Li Mao (李瑁) and who had been created the Prince of Shou, named crown prince. She and the official
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265:[(a former [[Chancellor of the Tang dynasty |chancellor]] who lost his post earlier in 726)] suggested this in order to become chancellor again. Not only this, but the
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Li Qing's birth date is not known, but he was created the Prince of Shou in 725, so this must have occurred sometime after 720 and before 725. See
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The Wus have an unbreakable enmity with the imperial clan. How can a member of that clan be the mother of the empire? The rumours all state that
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to use magic on her behalf and had her wear an amulet that he hoped would allow her to have a son. Empress Wang was deposed and died soon after.
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was not born of Consort Wu, who has her own sons. If she is created empress, the Crown Prince would be in danger.
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After Empress Wang was deposed, Emperor Xuanzong gave Consort Wu the highly honourable and impressive rank of
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the Prince of Ning to raise the child, and Li Xian and his wife Princess Yuan raised the child personally.
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143:698 – 1 January 738), posthumously
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868:Tang dynasty posthumous empresses
383:, vol.09. Lady Wu's biography in
67:Li Min, Prince Ai of Huai (懷哀王李敏)
64:Li Yi, Prince Dao of Xia (夏悼王李一)
848:Tang dynasty imperial consorts
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79:Li Qi, Prince of Sheng (盛王李琦)
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379:(十二月丙午，惠妃武氏薨，追谥为贞顺皇后，葬于敬陵。)
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417:"漢川草廬-二十四史-新唐書-卷七十四‧表第十四"
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104:Empress Zhenshun (貞順皇后)
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367:Notes and references
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660:Empress Dowager Guo
650:Empress Dowager Wei
356:Lady of the Dynasty
199:As imperial consort
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858:737 deaths
842:Categories
773:3 Kingdoms
730:Consort Wu
625:Empress He
605:Empress Lu
427:2009-03-13
414:, vol. 74.
275:concubines
175:Background
131:Consort Wu
735:Lady Yang
645:Wu Zetian
590:Wu Zetian
361:Joan Chen
263:Zhang Yue
181:Wu Zetian
169:Wu Zetian
160:concubine
124:Lady Yang
116:Wu Youzhi
725:Lady Dou
511:, vols.
468:Archived
453:Archived
450:vol. 107
400:, vol.76
307:Li Linfu
501:vol. 76
489:vol. 51
465:vol. 82
283:eunuchs
223:Li Xian
219:Li Qing
214:Kaiyuan
149:Chinese
139:(武惠妃) (
813:W. Xia
755:Xia →
350:(2000)
329:Suzong
281:, and
255:Huifei
136:Huifei
121:Mother
113:Father
74:Li Mao
46:Spouse
30:c. 698
757:Shang
57:Issue
829:Qing
825:Ming
821:Yuan
809:Song
805:Liao
797:Tang
761:Zhou
459:and
191:and
35:Died
27:Born
817:Jīn
793:Sui
777:Jìn
769:Han
765:Qin
525:214
521:213
517:212
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346:by
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