Wei Yuanzhong

Wei Yuanzhong

Wei Yuanzhong? ~707), formerly known as Wei Zhenzai, the character Yuanzhong, was born in Songcheng County, Songzhou (now Suiyang District, Shangqiu, Henan Province). The Prime Minister of the Tang Dynasty.

At the beginning, he was a student of Taitai, studied the art of war, and worshipped the imperial censor in the palace. He served as Prime Minister twice in the three dynasties of Emperor Gaozong, Empress Wu and Emperor Zhongzong. He had both political and military talents. The rebellion in Yangzhou from dingxu Jingye played a positive role in the smooth transition from Zhenguan to Kaiyuan. He was one of the prime ministers in the Tang Dynasty. In her later years, Wu Zetian was framed by Zhang changzong and Zhang Yi and demoted to Gaoyao County captain. Emperor Zhongzong of the Tang Dynasty restored his position, worshipped his right servant, zhongshuling and Guanglu, and granted the Duke of Qi to go with the tide, instead of giving advice. Prince Li chongjun was involved in fighting against empress Wei, killing Wu Sansi and demoting Wuchuan County captain of Sizhou county.

In the first year of Jinglong (707), he died in Fuling at the age of more than 70. As a gift to Zuo pushe, the Minister of the state of Qi, and the governor of the state of Benzhou, he was buried in Dingling, with the posthumous title of Zhen.

Overview photo source: Wei clan genealogy of Yuyao, Zhejiang

Life of the characters

Early experience

Wei Yuanzhong was born in Songcheng County, Songzhou. In his early years, he was a student of Taitai. He had a noble ambition and didn't pay attention to recommendation. At that time, there was a Zuo Shi, who was born in Zha, and his surname was Jiang Mingrong. He wrote the map of setting up danger in Kyushu, which fully recorded the success and failure of military use in ancient and modern times. Wei Yuanzhong explained this content.

In the fourth year of Yifeng (679), Tubo invaded the frontier continuously. Wei Yuanzhong went to Luoyang to write a memorial, discussing the advantages and disadvantages of the imperial court's commanding officers in military operations. Tang Gaozong was very surprised, so he ordered him to rectify the characters for the Secretary of the province (in charge of collating ancient books), so that he would listen to the dispatch in Zhongshu Province, and soon served as the censor.

Calm down Yangzhou

In the second year of Hongdao (684), Wei Yuanzhong moved to the palace to serve as the censor. That year, Xu Jingye occupied Yangzhou and caused a rebellion. Li Xiaoyi, the general of Zuo Yuqian, supervised the crusade. Wu Zetian ordered Wei Yuanzhong to supervise the military. Li Xiaoyi came to linhuai, and his partial general Lei Renzhi was defeated by Xu Jingye's vanguard troops. Then Xu Jingye captured Runzhou and returned to fight against Li Xiaoyi. Li Xiaoyi was afraid of the enemy's strength and did not dare to March. Wei Yuanzhong said to Li Xiaoyi, "because you are the royal family's best friend, the imperial court has entrusted this great event to pacify the rebellion. The safety of the world really depends on this decisive battle. Moreover, the country has been peaceful for a long time. When I heard about the rebellion, I would like to wait for the good news. Now that the army has stopped, if the imperial court should send another general to replace you, what words will you use to extricate yourself from the sin of not leading the army? It's better to move in quickly in order to make a great contribution. Otherwise, disaster will come. " Li Xiaoyi thought that Wei Yuanzhong's words were right, so he led the troops to prepare for the crusade.

At that time, Xu Jingye was stationed in xiaaxi valley. Xu Jingyou, Xu Jingye's younger brother, led a partial division to Huaiyin. Wei Yuanzhong asked Xu Jingyou to attack first. All the generals thought, "it's better to attack Xu Jingyou first. If Xu Jingyou is defeated, Xu Jingyou can be captured alive without fighting. If you hit Xu Jingyou, then Xu Jingye will surely lead troops to rescue him, which will cause the enemy to suffer from both sides. " Wei Yuanzhong said: "otherwise, the enemy's soldiers are all in the lower Axi valley. They come here like ants. They can only win in one battle. Otherwise, we will go. Xu Jingyou's army is not used to fighting, but also has few people and weak morale. Our army is ready to win when it comes to battle. We will not only defeat Xu Jingyou, but also take advantage of the victory. If Xu Jingyou rescues Huaiyin, we will not be able to make it. He is also afraid that we will stop the enemy in the middle of the March. The enemy is tired. Our army will wait for work and defeat them is inevitable. It's like chasing wild animals. If the weak catch them first, how can they abandon the weak animals they can catch and attack the strong soldiers they can't fight! I'm afraid that's not a good idea. " Li Xiaoyi followed his advice. So he led the troops to attack Xu Jingyou and broke it in the first World War. Xu Jingyou escaped. Li Xiaoyi marched in and refused to meet Xu Jingye across the river. Su Xiaoxiang, the former army chief, was defeated by the rebels. Li Xiaoyi was afraid and wanted to retreat. At the beginning, Xu Jingye led his troops to xiaaxi Valley, and a meteor fell into their barracks. At this time, birds were flying in the array. Wei Yuanzhong said: "the realization of this situation is a sign of the defeat of the bandits. Now that the wind is smooth and the grass is dry, the fire attack will be beneficial." He insisted on asking for a decisive battle with the enemy, which calmed Xu Jingye. Wei Yuanzhong was promoted to Si Xing Zheng because of his meritorious service, and then to Luoyang order.

Ups and downs of official life

Soon, Wei Yuanzhong was falsely accused by Zhou Xing and was about to go to the execution ground. Wu Zetian sent him to Guizhou for his meritorious service in pacifying Xu Jingye and sparing his death. At that time, the person who delivered the order was going to the execution ground and ordered others to fly to the execution ground to page. The prison officer immediately released Wei Yuanzhong and asked him to stand up. Wei Yuanzhong said: "I don't know whether the amnesty is true or false. How can I just do it casually." He didn't stand up until he heard the announcement. Those who watched praised him for not worrying about his execution.

In the first year of the holy calendar (698), Wei Yuanzhong served as the censor, and later became the censor Zhongcheng. Later, he was framed by Lai Junchen and Hou Sizhi and exiled in lingbiao again. Later, he returned to the capital and was awarded Zhongcheng. Wei Yuanzhong was exiled three times before and after, and people at that time said he was innocent. Wu Zetian once said to him, "what's the reason for Qing's being trapped for many times?" He replied, "I'm like a deer. I'm a weaver. I'm like a hunter. I just want to use my meat to make soup. What's the crime of these people killing their ministers in order to gain access? "

In the second year of the holy calendar (699), he was promoted to Fengge minister, acting prime minister, censor and governor. Before long, he was granted the title of doctor Yin qingguanglu and moved to be the censor doctor of zuozuzhengtai. He was also the censor of governor Luo. His administration was clean and strict. In the middle of the year of Chang'an, Xiang Wang was the marshal of Bingzhou, and Wei Yuanzhong was the deputy. At that time, FengChen ordered Zhang Yizhi to connive the slaves to bully the common people. Wei Yuanzhong killed the slaves according to the law. All the powerful people are in awe. At that time, the Turks and Tubo invaded the border areas for many times. Wei Yuanzhong fought against the enemy for the chief manager. Wei Yuanzhong was self-defense in the army, neither winning nor losing.

When Li Xian was the crown prince of Tang Zhongzong, Wei Yuanzhong was the chief inspector of the school. At that time, the power of Zhang Yizhi and Zhang changzong became more and more prosperous day by day, and the officials of the Qing Dynasty all attached themselves to them. Wei Yuanzhong once played Wu Zetian for this reason: "the minister is respected by the former Emperor, and he is also gracious by his majesty. He can't do his utmost to be loyal to the country, so that the villain can be on the side of the emperor, and it's also the crime of the minister." Wu Zetian was very unhappy. Zhang Yizhi and Zhang changzong were enraged. Taking advantage of Wu Zetian's poor health, they framed Wei Yuanzhong, saying that he and Gao Jian, Secretary of state, conspired in private and said, "Your Majesty is old. We should take advantage of the crown prince to make the world better." When Wu Zetian heard this, she put Wei Yuanzhong in prison, called Prince Li Xian, Prime Minister Li Dan and prime minister to the court, and asked Zhang changzong and Wei Yuanzhong to confront each other in front of the palace. Zhang changzong asked Zhang Shuo, the Fengge sheriff, to be a witness. Zhang Shuo began to agree. When Wu Zetian called him to the temple for examination, Zhang said that Wei Yuanzhong had no such evidence. Wu Zetian realized that Wei Yuanzhong had been framed, but because of Zhang changzong, she was demoted to Gaoyao County captain of Duanzhou.

To be prime minister again

In the first year of Shenlong (705), after Li Xian ascended the throne, he sent a post horse to recall Wei Yuanzhong and appoint Wei Weiqing as acting prime minister. Soon after, he moved to be the Minister of the Ministry of war and was in charge of military affairs. Before long, he went to worship the Minister of the Ministry of war. At that time, Wu Zetian died, and Li Xianju died. Most of them did not pay attention to affairs. Wei Yuanzhong, an independent commission of the military and state affairs, acted as an agent for several days. Not long after that, Wei Yuanzhong was appointed as the commander of Zhongshu, and was granted the title of Guanglu, the Duke of Qi, and the supervisor of national history.

In 706, Wei Yuanzhong, Wu Sansi, Zhu Qinming, Xu Yanbo, Liu Chong, Wei Chengqing, Cui Rong, Cenxi, Xu Jian and others wrote 20 volumes of Empress Wu Zetian's memoir and 120 volumes of collected works. Li Xian said he was good and gave Wei Yuanzhong a thousand pieces of five color silk. He also granted his son the residence of King Wei to join the army, and Wei was promoted to be a male of Rencheng county. At that time, Wei Yuanzhong was especially favored by Li Xian, and was employed in the current Dynasty. At the beginning, when Wei Yuanzhong was the prime minister in Wu Zetian's court, the commentators thought that he was fair and clean. At this time, when he becomes prime minister again, people all over the world are looking forward to his promotion. However, Wei Yuanzhong attached himself to Quan Hao and abandoned Han Jun, so he could not reward good and punish evil, and encouraged to cultivate current politics. Later, Tang Jing served as the right servant of the minister and concurrently served as the Minister of the Ministry of war. Soon after, Wei Yuanzhong asked to return to his hometown and visit his ancestors. The Emperor gave him a collar of brocade robes, a thousand taels of silver, and four thousand cavalry officials as his followers. He wrote: "I care about this day when I am well dressed. I will pay more attention to it. I'm sorry that it belongs to sichen." When Wei Yuanzhong came to his hometown, he had no money to give. When he returned to the court, Li Xian went to Baima temple to welcome and comfort him. His kindness reached such a high level.

At this time, Princess Anle privately asked Li Xian to abolish the Crown Prince Li chongjun and establish herself as the Queen's daughter. Li Xian asked Wei Yuanzhong about this. Wei Yuanzhong insisted that it was not right before he gave up. Soon, Wei Yuanzhong was appointed as Zuo pushe, and his other duties remained the same. Wei Yuanzhong was envious of Wu Sansi's power. He was often indignant and sighed. He always wanted to get rid of Wu Sansi.

In the first year of Jinglong (707), Li chongjun launched an army to punish Wu Sansi. Wei Yuanzhong and Li duozuo, the general of zuoyulin, were secretly involved in the incident. The prince not only killed Wu Sansi, but also led the soldiers to the palace gate to ask for the abolition of empress Wei as a commoner. In Yong'an gate, he met Wei Sheng, the son of Wei Yuanzhong's servant, and forced him to obey. Li chongjun led his troops to Xuanwu downstairs. Li duozuo and others hesitated to fight, while Wei Yuanzhong held both ends. Therefore, the army failed, and Wei Sheng was killed by random soldiers. Li Xian thought that Wei Yuanzhong had made great contributions to pacifying the invaders, and he was always valued by Emperor Gaozong and Empress Wu Zetian. However, he was not involved in Wei Sheng's affairs, and his appointment remained unchanged.

Trapped and dead

At this time, Wu Sansi's best friend, the Minister of the Ministry of war

Chinese PinYin : Wei Yuan Zhong