[Yun]

Tang Taizong (Li Shimin) may be the most popular and respected emperor in Chinese history. In speaking of his achievements, many Chinese also give credit to his virtuous wife, Empress Zhangsun 长孙. It is also quite well known that Wu Zetian started out as one of his concubines. But seldom mentioned are two of Taizong's other concubines, who although not fortunate enough to have a biography in the dynastic history, were certainly of some importance in their time. It is rather striking that of the three children borne by them, two died tragically as victims of political intrigue, and one was a total disgrace, and this may be one reason why the mothers were basically excluded from the record.

1) Tang Taizong took one of Sui Yangdi's daughters as a concubine, and she bore him two sons named Li Ke 李恪 and Li Yin 李愔. She is mentioned in Li Ke's biography, but it is not stated what her name was, and when she married Li Shimin - whether it was before, during, or after the collapse of the Sui dynasty.

What is stated is that because of his mother's background, Li Ke enjoyed great prestige both in and out of the imperial court. He was skilled in both military matters (including horse archery) and literature. When Taizong's first Crown Prince Chengqian 承乾 was deposed for highly improper behaviour, Taizong made Li Zhi 李治 (later Tang Gaozong) the new Crown Prince, but was also considering replacing Li Zhi with Li Ke, because he felt that Li Ke most resembled him. But his trusted minister Zhangsun Wuji objected strongly, because Li Zhi (like Li Chengqian) was a son borne by his sister Empress Zhangsun.

Taizong thus kept Li Zhi as Crown Prince, but Zhangsun Wuji thereafter bore a great prejudice against Li Ke. 4 years after Li Zhi's accession to the throne (in 653), Zhangsun Wuji had Li Ke unjustly implicated in a coup plot and executed. Before he was beheaded, Li Ke cried out, "If there are gods in this world, then let Zhangsun Wuji's whole clan be exterminated!" His sons were exiled to Guangdong. In 659, Zhangsun Wuji and his clan were indeed wiped out by Empress Wu, and Li Ke was posthumously rehabilitated in 660 with the title Prince of Yulin.

Li Yin, the younger son whom the Sui princess bore to Taizong, was very different from his brother. He was an incorrigible lout who abused his power in every post he was given, and greatly disappointed Taizong, who lamented that even beasts and rocks could be made useful to men, and Li Yin was thus even worse than them. When Li Ke was executed, Li Yin was also implicated because they had the same mother. He was demoted to a commoner and exiled to Bazhou in Sichuan. But when Li Ke was rehabilitated, he was also re-enfeoffed as Prince of Fuling and died peacefully shortly after.

Li Ke's eldest son Li Ren 李仁 gained the favour of his aunt Empress Wu after his rehabilitation, and had his name changed to Qianli 千里 (thousand li) because Empress Wu praised him as the "thousand li steed of my family." Whereas Wu Zetian eliminated many capable princes of the Tang house after seizing the throne, Li Qianli survived by fawning on her and presenting many auspicious omens and objects to her court. Yet after Wu Zetian's death, when Tang Zhongzong's Crown Prince Li Chongjun launched a coup against Empress Wei and Wu Sansi, Li Qianli and his son rose in support of Chongjun and led a number of followers in an attack on the imperial palace. But Chongjun was defeated, and Li Qianli was executed. His family was reduced to slavery, and had its surname changed from Li to Fu 蝮 (a word meaning 'pit viper'). It was only after Li Longji and his father (Tang Ruizong) eliminated Empress Wei that Li Qianli's family was restored to its original surname and official ranks.

2) Tang Taizong also took as a concubine the widow of Li Yuanji 李元吉, the younger brother whom Taizong had killed along with his elder brother Crown Prince Li Jiancheng 李建成 at the famous Xuanwu Gate Coup. Yuanji's wife was called Lady Yang, and she bore Taizong a son named Li Ming 李明. Taizong was very fond of her and after Empress Zhangsun's death, actually wanted to make her the new empress. Prime Minister Wei Zheng successfully dissuaded him from this. Under Tang Gaozong, Li Ming was adopted over to Li Yuanji's lineage, to continue the ancestral sacrifices to Yuanji whose sons had all been executed by Taizong after the coup.

When Gaozong's Crown Prince Li Xian 李贤 was framed and exiled by his own mother Empress Wu, Li Ming was somehow implicated in the incident, and exiled to Guizhou. The local Commander-in-Chief Xie You 谢佑 then forced him to commit suicide, supposedly without official approval. Tang Gaozong was said to have been deeply grieved by this, and sacked all the officials in Guizhou as punishment.

In 688, Wu Zetian massacred much of the Tang aristocracy in retaliation against a failed rebellion by several Tang princes and princesses, and Li Ming's three sons were killed too. After Wu Zetian's death, Tang Zhongzong rehabilitated the exiled Tang princes and their children, including Li Ming's surviving grandson in Guizhou, and had them brought back to Chang'an. In 711, under Tang Ruizong, Li Ming was re-buried in Tang Taizong's own mausoleum of Zhaoling - an indication of how much Taizong had favoured this son.

[Borjigin Ayurbarwada]

I haven't herd Chang Sun Wuji exterminated, I thought he was only exiled, or is that what you mean by extermination?

[Yun]

Zhangsun Wuji was first exiled to Guizhou, and Empress Wu then sent someone to force him to commit suicide.