Emperor Ruizong of Tang
Emperor Ruizong of Tang, personal name Li Dan, also known at times during his life as Li Xulun, Li Lun, Wu Lun, and Wu Dan, was the fifth and ninth emperor of the Chinese Tang dynasty. He was the eighth son of Emperor Gaozong and the fourth son of Emperor Gaozong's second wife Empress Wu. He was wholly a figurehead during his first reign when he was controlled by his mother, and he was the titular and puppet ruler of the Tang Empire from 684 to 690. During his second reign after his mother's death, significant power and influence was exercised by his sister Princess Taiping.
In February 684, Li Dan's mother Empress Wu demoted his older brother Emperor Zhongzong who had attempted to rule free of his mother and named him emperor. Emperor Ruizong, however, was a hollow figurehead under control of his mother and had no real power, even nominally, his name was not included in the issued documents or orders. He was not even able to move freely around his private residence, let alone attend to governmental affairs. From then onwards, the Tang dynasty existed only in name and Empress Dowager Wu ruled China for over six years as quasi-emperor. Empress Wu, was comfortable about the empire being entirely under her control, decided finally to seize the throne, so in October 690 Emperor Ruizong ceded the imperial throne to his mother, who installed herself as empress regnant – the only woman in Chinese history ever to rule with this title. She issued a decree that ended the Tang dynasty and founded the Zhou dynasty. Emperor Ruizong was reduced to the position of crown prince, with the unconventional title of Huangsi. In the following years, Empress Wu's nephews Wu Chengsi and Wu Sansi tried to have one of them named heir to the throne, but Wu Zetian resisted these calls. Eventually, in October 698, faced with foreign invasion and dissatisfaction at home, Empress Wu accepted the suggestion of the chancellor Di Renjie and recalled the exiled Li Xian to the capital Luoyang. Soon, Li Dan offered to yield the position of crown prince to his elder brother, and Li Xian became crown prince instead.
In 705, a coup overthrew Wu Zetian and restored Emperor Zhongzong to the throne. The five years of Emperor Zhongzong's reign were dominated by Zhongzong's empress consort, Empress Wei. In the beginning of July 710, Emperor Zhongzong died, allegedly poisoned by Empress Wei who then named Zhongzong's youngest son Li Chongmao the Prince of Wen emperor. A mere two weeks later, Li Dan's sister Princess Taiping and Li Dan's son Li Longji the Prince of Linzi launched a coup which resulted in the death of Empress Wei. Princess Taiping, Li Longji, and Li Longji's brother Li Chengqi the Prince of Song then persuaded Li Dan to take the throne himself, and he agreed, returning to the throne in Emperor Shang's stead. Li Longji, although not the oldest son, was made crown prince on account of his accomplishments.
Soon, however, tensions mounted between Princess Taiping, who had immense power, complete trust of the emperor and many supporters, and Li Longji. Li Longji constantly criticized his aunt for influencing his father's administration, which was in vain, instead Princess Taiping also responded to the proposal to remove him from the post of crown prince, which was in vain. Eventually, in September 712, Emperor Ruizong, believing that astrological signs called for a change of emperors, abdicated in favor of Li Longji. However, at Princess Taiping's suggestion, Emperor Ruizong, now carrying the title of Taishang Huang, continued to wield actual and superior power. This allowed Princess Taiping to continue to participate and have influence in governmental affairs without change and still had the power to stubbornly resist and bitterly fight against Li Longji. Eventually, in 713, suspecting Princess Taiping of planning a coup, Emperor Xuanzong acted first, killing her associates and forcing her to commit suicide. After the death of Princess Taiping, Emperor Ruizong himself yielded imperial powers to Emperor Xuanzong and left the governmental scene. He died in 716.
Background
Li Xulun was born in 662, as the youngest son of Emperor Gaozong and his second wife Empress Wu. Later that year, he was created the Prince of Yin. In 664, he was nominally made the commandant at Ji Prefecture and the Chanyu Protectorate General. It was said that, as he grew, he became known for humility, the love for his siblings, and talent in calligraphy. In 666, his title was changed to Prince of Yu. In 669, his title was changed to Prince of Ji, and his name was changed from Xulun to Lun. In 675, his title was changed to Prince of Xiang. In 678, his title was changed back to Prince of Yu, and his name was further changed to Li Dan. He was also made the prefect of Luo Prefecture, the prefecture containing the eastern capital Luoyang. Sometime between 676 and 679, he married his wife Princess Liu.Emperor Gaozong died in 683 and was succeeded by Li Dan's older brother Li Zhe the Crown Prince, but Empress Wu retained power as empress dowager and regent. Emperor Zhongzong was a figurehead, and Empress Dowager Wu was the solely in charge of the empire's affairs. In 684, when Emperor Zhongzong displayed signs of independence, she deposed him and replaced him with Li Dan, but wielded power even more firmly. Indeed, she housed Emperor Ruizong in a different palace, She even forbade him to move around him personal residence and did not let him meet the imperial officials or give input on affairs of state, with Emperor Ruizong not even nominally approving official actions. Emperor Ruizong's wife Princess Liu was created empress, while her son Li Chengqi was created crown prince.
First reign: under Empress Dowager Wu's regency and dethronement
Soon after Emperor Ruizong took the throne, Empress Dowager Wu carried out a major renaming of governmental offices and banners. She, who disliked the capital Chang'an, also elevated Luoyang's status, making it a co-equal capital with Chang'an. She further, at the suggestion of her nephew Wu Chengsi, built an ancestral temple for five generations of her ancestors and had Emperor Ruizong posthumously create them princes.In fall 684, Li Jingye the Duke of Ying, started a rebellion against Empress Dowager Wu at Yang Prefecture, seeking the restoration of Emperor Zhongzong. Empress Dowager Wu, in response, sent the general Li Xiaoyi, assisted by the generals Li Zhishi and Ma Jingchen to suppress Li Jianye's rebellion, and Li Xiaoyi quickly did so. Meanwhile, believing the chancellor Pei Yan to be undermining her authority, she executed Pei under accusation of treason and demoted a large number of officials and generals who dared to speak in Pei's defense, later executing some of them.
In 686, Empress Dowager created a number of bronze boxes designed to encourage secret reports of crimes. She also began to retain a group of secret police officials to carry out torture and interrogation of people suspected of opposing her rule, including Suo Yuanli, Zhou Xing, and Lai Junchen. On one occasion, she offered to return imperial authorities to Emperor Ruizong, but Emperor Ruizong knew that she was not actually intending to do so, and therefore declined. She thereafter resumed exercising imperial powers.
Emperor Ruizong had completely stayed out of political matters during these years, but he made an exception in 687 when Empress Dowager Wu believed the chancellor Liu Yizhi, who had previously served on his staff when he was a prince, whom she had trusted and promoted, to have turned against her in favoring that she return imperial authorities to Emperor Ruizong. She had Liu accused of corruption and arrested, and Emperor Ruizong personally wrote a petition to request her to spare Liu—which, however, as Liu observed, had the opposite effect, and she ordered Liu to commit suicide.
In 688, fearing that Empress Dowager Wu was using a ceremony to worship the god of the Luo River as an excuse to summon them to Luoyang to slaughter them, the imperial princes considered rebellion, and one was launched by Emperor Ruizong's uncle Li Zhen the Prince of Yue and Li Zhen's son Li Chong the Prince of Langye, claiming that Emperor Ruizong was under arrest and needed to be rescued. However, both Li Zhen and Li Chong were quickly defeated; Li Chong was killed in battle, while Li Zhen committed suicide. Empress Dowager Wu used this opportunity to carry out a major purge of senior imperial Li clan members, including Emperor Ruizong's granduncles Li Yuanjia the Prince of Han and Li Lingkui the Prince of Lu.
In 690, Empress Dowager Wu received a number of petitions that she take the throne herself, and Emperor Ruizong also submitted such a petition. She accepted, and she took the throne as "empress regnant," establishing a new Zhou dynasty and interrupting Tang dynasty. She demoted Emperor Ruizong to the position of crown prince, and changed his name back to Lun. She further had him take her family name of Wu.
During Wu Zetian's reign
Despite the fact that Wu Zetian created Li Dan crown prince, she considered creating one of her nephews, Wu Chengsi the Prince of Wei or Wu Sansi the Prince of Liang crown prince, and a petition drive for Wu Chengsi to be created crown prince reached its peak in 691. The chancellors Cen Changqian and Ge Fuyuan were even executed for opposing it, but Wu Zetian never did carry out the change, and when the leader of the petition drive, Wang Qingzhi was caned to death by the official Li Zhaode, the petition drive dissipated.Meanwhile, in 693, Wu Zetian's lady in waiting Wei Tuan'er, who was resentful of Li Dan for reasons lost to history, falsely accused Li Dan's wife Crown Princess Liu and concubine Consort Dou of witchcraft, and Wu Zetian killed Crown Princess Liu and Consort Dou. In fear of offending Wu Zetian, Li Dan did not dare to mourn either and continued to behave normally. When Wei Tuan'er tried to further falsely accuse Li Dan, someone, in turn, reported her activities to Wu Zetian, and Wu Zetian executed her. Still, thereafter, Li Dan's sons were demoted in rank and kept under secure watch. Later in 693, the officials Pei Feigong and Fan Yunxian were executed on account of meeting Li Dan secretly, and there were accusations that Li Dan was planning to rebel against Wu Zetian. Wu Zetian ordered that the officials not be allowed to meet Li Dan, and further arrested his servants to interrogate them. The secret police official Lai Junchen tortured Li Dan's servants, and many of them, unable to stand up to the torture, considered falsely implicating Li Dan. One of them, An Jinzang, however, cut his own belly open and proclaimed Li Dan's innocence. When Wu Zetian heard this, she sent imperial doctors to save An, and, impressed by An's willingness to die to show Li Dan's innocence, ended the investigation against Li Dan.
In 698, after Wu Zetian had, at the encouragement of the chancellors Di Renjie, Wang Fangqing, and Wang Jishan, as well as her close associate Ji Xu and lovers Zhang Yizhi and Zhang Changzong, recalled Li Zhe from exile, Li Dan offered to yield the crown prince position to Li Zhe. Wu Zetian agreed and created Li Zhe crown prince and Li Dan the Prince of Xiang.
In 699, Wu Zetian, in fear that after her death that Li Xian and the Wu clan princes would not be able to coexist peacefully, had Li Xian, Li Dan, their sister Princess Taiping, her husband Wu Youji, and the other Wu clan princes swear an oath to each other and read the oaths to the gods. The oaths were then carved on iron and kept in the imperial archives. Later that year, the restrictions on his and Li Xian's sons were lifted, and they were allowed to live outside the palace.
In 701, when there was an incursion by the Eastern Tujue khan Ashina Mochuo, Li Dan was put in command of an army to defend against the attack, but before the army could be launched, Ashina Mochuo withdrew. Subsequently, Li Dan was nominally put in charge of the imperial guards.
In 702, Wu Zetian put Li Dan in command of an army and made the prefect of Bing Prefecture, with Wu Sansi, Wu Youning, and Wei Yuanzhong as his assistants, apparently preparing to attack Eastern Tujue, but the army was never launched. Later that year, she had Li Xian, Li Dan, and Princess Taiping submit formal petitions to have Zhang Changzong created a prince. She then formally rejected the petitions, but created Zhang Changzong and Zhang Yizhi dukes.
In 703, Li Dan was made the prefect of Yong Prefecture, the prefecture that included Chang'an.