Empress He

Background It was not known when the future Empress He was born. She was from Zi Prefecture (, in modern Mianyang, Sichuan), and her family was not prominent. She became a consort of Li Jie's while he was the Prince of Shou. It was said that she was beautiful and wise, and therefore was favored by Li Jie. he created Consort He an imperial consort with the rank of Shufei , She was the mother of his oldest son Li You (who was created the Prince of De) and ninth son Li Zuo (who was created the Prince of Hui). )

In 897, while Emperor Zhaozong was at Hua Prefecture (, in modern Weinan, Shaanxi) after having fled the imperial capital Chang'an in 896 in response to an attack by the warlord Li Maozhen the military governor (Jiedushi) of Fengxiang Circuit (鳳翔, headquartered in modern Baoji, Shaanxi), he created Li You Crown Prince (and changed Li You's name to Li Yu), and then created Consort He empress. (She was the first living empress in a century since Emperor Zhaozong's great-great-great-grandmother Empress Wang, the wife of Emperor Dezong, was briefly empress for three days before her death in 786, even though there had been emperors' mothers who were honored empresses dowager while they were alive after their sons became emperors and/or been honored empresses posthumously.)

Emperor Zhaozong, however, subsequently resisted advice from the Tang dynasty chancellor, Cui Yin to wrest control of the Shence Armies from the eunuchs and put them under the command of the chancellors; instead, he commissioned the eunuchs Han Quanhui and Zhang Yanhong as the new commanders of the Shence Armies. This eventually led to the deepening of the enmity between Cui and the eunuchs. The chief eunuchs entered into an alliance with Li Maozhen, while Cui entered into an alliance with Zhu Quanzhong the military governor of Xuanwu Circuit (, headquartered in modern Kaifeng, Henan). When Cui summoned Zhu to Chang'an to try to use Zhu to wrest control of the Shence Armies from the eunuchs, the eunuchs kidnapped Emperor Zhaozong and Empress He, taking them to Fengxiang Circuit's capital Fengxiang Municipality. By 903, Fengxiang was out of food and under dire straits. Li Maozhen sued for peace with Zhu, agreeing to give him the emperor. However, to try to maintain a relationship with Emperor Zhaozong, before he released the emperor, he requested that Emperor Zhaozong marry Empress He's daughter Princess Pingyuan to his son Song Kan , and have Li Mi , the Prince of Jing, marry the daughter of the chancellor Su Jian, to whom Li Maozhen was aligned. Emperor Zhaozong, eager to be out of Li Maozhen's grasp, agreed to both marriage proposals despite Empress He's misgivings. Li Maozhen subsequently transferred the emperor and his household to Zhu, who took them back to Chang'an.

Cui subsequently realized that Zhu was leaving soldiers at Chang'an to control the emperor, and he feared the consequences. With the Shence Armies having been disbanded, he tried to reorganize the imperial army to resist Zhu. Zhu, in response, forced Emperor Zhaozong to order Cui's removal; he then put Cui to death. He then, believing that Li Maozhen and Li Maozhen's adoptive son Li Jihui the military governor of Jingnan Circuit (, headquartered in modern Xianyang, Shaanxi) might again attack Chang'an and seize control of the emperor, decided to destroy the city himself and forcibly move the capital to Luoyang, which was firmly under his control. Emperor Zhaozong was forced to agree. However, during the journey to Luoyang, Emperor Zhaozong tried to slow down the trip with the reason that Empress He had just given birth and could not travel fast — so that he could try to send out secret emissaries to other major warlords Wang Jian the military governor of Xichuan Circuit (, headquartered in modern Chengdu, Sichuan), Li Keyong the military governor of Hedong Circuit (, headquartered in modern Taiyuan, Shanxi), and Yang Xingmi the military governor of Huainan Circuit (, headquartered in modern Yangzhou, Jiangsu) — to no avail, as Zhu forced him to progress quicker to Luoyang. Titles During the reign of Emperor Yizong of Tang (r. 859–873) Lady He (何氏) Concubine of Prince Shou (寿王侍妾) During the reign of Emperor Zhaozong of Tang (r. 888–900) Pure Consort (淑妃, from 888) Empress Consort (皇后, from 898) During the reign of Emperor Ai of Tang (r. 904–907) Empress Dowager (皇太后, from 904) Commoner (庶人, from 905) During the reign of Emperor Mingzong of Later Tang (r. 926–933) Empress Xuamu (宣穆皇后, from 933)

Issue As Prince Shou's concubine: Li Yu, Prince De (德王 李𥙿; d. 905) Princess Pingyuan (平原公主) As Pure Consort: Li Zhu, Emperor Ai of Tang (27 October 892 – 26 March 908)