Lai Ji
Lai Ji (Chinese:
Early life
[edit]Lai Ji's family was from Jiangdu (
It was said that Lai Ji, because his family had suffered such disaster and he had himself escaped many dangers, was particularly studious. He was said to be a good writer and good at rhetoric and analyzing situations. He did well in imperial examinations and was able to become an imperial official.
During Emperor Taizong's reign
[edit]As of 643, during the reign of the Tang dynasty's second emperor Emperor Taizong, Lai Ji was serving as a low level official at the legislative bureau of government (
During Emperor Gaozong's reign
[edit]In 649, Emperor Taizong died and was succeeded by Li Zhi (as Emperor Gaozong). In 651, Lai Ji was made Zhongshu Shilang (
At that time, Emperor Gaozong, who greatly favored his concubine Consort Wu, was considering deposing his wife Empress Wang and replacing her with Consort Wu. He first considered creating Consort Wu the unprecedented title of Chenfei (宸妃), but Lai and fellow chancellor Han Yuan opposed the move on the basis that the title was unprecedented, so Emperor Gaozong relented. However, in 655, he, over the explicit opposition of Lai, Han, and the highly regarded chancellor Chu Suiliang, as well as the implicit disapproval by his own powerful uncle Zhangsun Wuji, deposed Empress Wang and replaced her with Consort Wu. After Empress Wu's ascension, she submitted a petition ostensibly praising the faithfulness of Han and Lai in opposing the unprecedented Chenfei title, but showing instead that she remembered that they had offended her.
In 656, after Empress Wu's son Li Hong was created crown prince (displacing Emperor Gaozong's oldest son Li Zhong, whose mother Consort Liu was of low birth), Lai was made a junior advisor to the young crown prince, and his title was upgraded to that of a marquess. In 657, however, with Empress Wu and her allies Xu Jingzong and Li Yifu beginning to carry out a series of reprisals against officials who had opposed Empress Wu's ascension, Xu and Li falsely accused Han and Lai of encouraging Chu (who by that point had been demoted to the post of commandant at Gui Prefecture (
In 661, Western Tujue forces attacked Ting Prefecture. Lai gathered his forces to resist, and he told his subordinates, "I should have been executed a long time ago, and it is fortunate that I was spared. This is the time that I should sacrifice my body for the empire." He therefore engaged Western Tujue forces without wearing armor, and he was killed in battle. He was posthumously honored, and his casket was returned to his home territory to be buried.
References
[edit]- Old Book of Tang, vol. 80.
- New Book of Tang, vol. 105.
- Zizhi Tongjian, vols. 197, 199, 200, 201.
- Tang dynasty generals at war against the Göktürks
- 610 births
- 662 deaths
- Chancellors under Emperor Gaozong of Tang
- Historians from Jiangsu
- Politicians from Yangzhou
- Sui dynasty historians
- Sui dynasty government officials
- Tang dynasty generals from Jiangsu
- Tang dynasty people killed in battle
- Writers from Yangzhou