| Emperor Ai of Tang 唐哀帝 | |||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Emperor of the Tang dynasty | |||||||||||||||||
| Reign | 26 September 904[1][2] – 12 May 907[1][3] | ||||||||||||||||
| Predecessor | Emperor Zhaozong | ||||||||||||||||
| Successor | Dynasty abolished | ||||||||||||||||
| Born | Li Zuo 27 October 892[1][4] | ||||||||||||||||
| Died | 26 March 908 (aged 15)[1][3] | ||||||||||||||||
| Burial | Wen Mausoleum (溫陵) | ||||||||||||||||
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| House | Li | ||||||||||||||||
| Dynasty | Tang | ||||||||||||||||
| Father | Emperor Zhaozong | ||||||||||||||||
| Mother | Empress Xuanmu | ||||||||||||||||
| Tang Aidi | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chinese | 唐哀帝 | ||||||
| Literal meaning | "Pitious Emperor of the Tang" | ||||||
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| Li Zuo | |||||||
| Chinese | 李祚 | ||||||
| Literal meaning | (personal name) | ||||||
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Emperor Ai of Tang (27 October 892 – 26 March 908), also known asEmperor Zhaoxuan of Tang (唐昭宣帝), bornLi Zuo, later known asLi Chu (Chinese:李柷; pinyin:Lǐ Chù[6]), was the lastemperor of theTang dynasty of China. He reigned—as apuppet ruler—from 904 to 907. Emperor Ai was the son ofEmperor Zhaozong. He was murdered byZhu Wen.
Emperor Ai ascended the throne at the age of 11 after his father, the Emperor Zhaozong, was assassinated on the orders of the paramount warlordZhu Quanzhong in 904, and while Emperor Ai reigned, the Tang court, then atLuoyang, was under the control of officials Zhu put in charge. In 905, under the instigation of his associatesLiu Can andLi Zhen, Zhu had Emperor Ai issue an edict summoning some 30 senior aristocrats at Baima Station (白馬驛, in modernAnyang,Henan), near theYellow River; the aristocrats were thereafter ordered to commit suicide, and their bodies were thrown into the Yellow River. He could do nothing to stop Zhu from murdering his brothers and mother in the same year. Less than two years later in 907, Zhu made his final move against Emperor Ai himself, forcing the young emperor to abdicate to him. In Zhu's newLater Liang dynasty, the former Tang emperor carried the title of Prince of Jiyin, but in 908, Zhu had the prince poisoned, at the age of 15.
Li Zuo was born in 892, at the main palace at the Tang imperial capitalChang'an. His fatherEmperor Zhaozong was already emperor at that point, and he was Emperor Zhaozong's ninth son.[4] His mother wasConsort He, who had previously given birth to an older brother of his,Li Yu, Prince of De, who was Emperor Zhaozong's oldest son.
In 897, Li Zuo was created an imperial prince, along with his brothers Li Mi (李秘) and Li Qi (李祺); Li Zuo's title was Prince of Hui. Later in the year, with Li Yu having been createdCrown Prince earlier in the year, their mother Consort He was created empress.[7]
By 903,Zhu Quanzhong the military governor (Jiedushi) of Xuanwu Circuit (宣武, headquartered in modernKaifeng,Henan), already previously one of the most powerful warlords in the Tang realm, had taken Emperor Zhaozong's court at Chang'an under control, in alliance with thechancellorCui Yin. That year, Emperor Zhaozong was prepared to give Zhu the title of Deputy Generalissimo of All Circuits, with one of his sons serving, titularly, as Generalissimo, and he initially wanted to give that title to Li Yu as Li Yu was older. However, Zhu wanted a younger prince to serve as Generalissimo to avoid diverting the focus of authority, so Cui, under Zhu's orders, recommended Li Zuo. Emperor Zhaozong agreed and made Li Zuo Generalissimo.[5]
In 904, Zhu forced Emperor Zhaozong to move the capital from Chang'an toLuoyang, which was even more firmly under his control.[5] Later that year, fearing that the adult Emperor Zhaozong would try to rise against him while he was away on campaigns against other warlords, he had Emperor Zhaozong assassinated. Bypassing Li Yu and the other older princes, he had an edict issued in Emperor Zhaozong's name creating Li Zuo crown prince and changing his name to Li Chu. Shortly after, Li Chu took the throne (as Emperor Ai). Empress He, who survived the assassination, was honoredempress dowager.[2]
At the time Emperor Ai took the throne, one of the chancellors was Zhu Quanzhong's close associateLiu Can. Liu, not from an aristocratic family, resented the traditional aristocrats, and he advocated to Zhu that the senior aristocrats should be slaughtered to prevent them from resisting Zhu. Zhu agreed, and in 905, under edicts issued in Emperor Ai's name, some 30 of them were gathered at Baima Station and ordered to commit suicide; their bodies were then thrown into theYellow River. The victims included the former chancellorsPei Shu,Dugu Sun,Cui Yuan,Lu Yi, andWang Pu, as well as the senior officials Zhao Chong (趙崇) and Wang Zan (王贊). Around the same time, nine of Emperor Ai's brothers, including Li Yu, were also killed on Zhu's orders.[2]
Meanwhile, Liu, as well as Zhu's other close associates at the Luoyang court, Jiang Xuanhui (蔣玄暉) the director of palace communications and Zhang Tingfan (張廷範) the commander of theimperial guards, were preparing ceremonies to have Emperor Ai yield the throne to Zhu. Pursuant to past precedents on dynastic transitions, they first had Emperor Ai issue edicts to create Zhu the Prince of Wei (魏王) and bestow on him thenine bestowments—but Zhu, wanting the throne even faster and believing false accusations by Wang Yin (王殷) andZhao Yinheng that Jiang, Liu, and Zhang were intentionally slowing the transition down with these ceremonial formalities, then had Jiang, Liu, and Zhang put to death. Wang and Zhao then falsely accused Empress Dowager He, who had been cooperating with Jiang in the hopes that she and the young emperor would be spared, of carrying on an affair with Jiang. She was therefore also killed, and Emperor Ai was forced to posthumously had her defamed and demoted to commoner rank, although he was still allowed to mourn for her.[2]
In 907, under advice from his allyLuo Shaowei the military governor of Weibo Circuit (魏博, headquartered in modernHandan,Hebei), Zhu finally resolved to take the throne. Later in the year, he had the young emperor yield the throne to him, ending Tang and starting a newLater Liang as its Emperor (Taizu)—although several regional warlords, includingLi Keyong,Li Maozhen,Yang Wo, andWang Jian, refused to recognize him, and effectively became rulers of their own states (Jin,Qi,Wu, andFormer Shu, respectively). Of those new states, Jin, Qi, and Wu continued to use Emperor Ai'sTianyouera name, implicitly still recognizing him as emperor.[3]
The new Later Liang emperor created Li Chu the Prince of Jiyin and moved him from Luoyang to Cao Prefecture (曹州, in modernHeze,Shandong), and put his mansion under heavy guard, with a fence of thorns surrounding it.
In 908, he had Li Chu poisoned to death and gave Li Chu theposthumous name ofAi (哀, "lamentable").[3] In 928, by which time Li Keyong's adoptive sonLi Siyuan was ruling as the emperor of Jin's successor stateLater Tang (as Emperor Mingzong), which claimed to be the legitimate continuation of the Tang dynasty and which had earlier destroyed Later Liang, Emperor Mingzong's officials suggested that a temple be built to honor Emperor Ai. Emperor Mingzong had such a temple built at Cao Prefecture. In 929, Emperor Mingzong's officials further suggested giving Emperor Ai a more proper (i.e., more Tang-traditional) posthumous name of Emperor Zhaoxuan Guanglie Xiao, with atemple name of Jingzong, but they also pointed out that since Emperor Ai's temple was not among the imperial ancestral temples, a temple name was not proper. Therefore, only the new posthumous name was adopted, and the temple name was not.[8] Traditional histories thus referred to him mostly as Emperor Ai but also at times as Emperor Zhaoxuan.[3][4][9]
No family recorded in official histories;Song dynasty generalLi Gang was claimed to be a descendant through a son named Li Xizhao (李熙照)[citation needed]
柷 chù 用于人名，李柷，唐哀帝
Emperor Ai of Tang Born: 892 Died: 908 | ||
| Regnal titles | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Emperor of Tang 904–907 | Succeeded by (none) |
| Emperor of China (most regions) 904–907 | Succeeded by | |
| Emperor of China (Sichuan/Chongqing) 904–907 | Succeeded by Wang Jian (Emperor of (Former) Shu) | |
| Emperor of China (Shanxi) 904–907 | Succeeded by Li Keyong (Prince of Jin) | |
| Emperor of China (Jiangsu/Jiangxi/Anhui) 904–907 | Succeeded by | |
| Emperor of China (EasternInner Mongolia) 904–907 | Succeeded by | |
| Emperor of China (WesternShaanxi) 904–907 | Succeeded by Li Maozhen (Prince of Qi) | |
| Emperor of China (Zhejiang) 904–907 | Succeeded by Qian Liu (Prince of Wuyue) | |