Wu Yuanheng

Wu Yuanheng (; – 13 July 815 ), courtesy name Bocang (伯蒼), formally Duke Zhongmin of Linhuai (臨淮忠湣公), was a Chinese poet and politician during the Tang dynasty, serving as a chancellor during the reign of Emperor Xianzong. Wu descended from a family of officials related to Empress Wu Zetian of Zhou and rose in the Tang bureaucracy during Emperor Dezong's reign, holding senior positions in the provinces and at court. After Dezong's grandson Xianzong ascended the throne, Wu became a chancellor and later served with distinction as governor of Xichuan Circuit in modern Chengdu, where he was a patron of the eminent poet Xue Tao. He returned to court in 813 to serve as chancellor and director of the examination bureau, and in that capacity supervised the court's campaign against the Henan warlord Wu Yuanji. On 13 July 815, Wu was assassinated in the imperial capital of Chang'an by agents of Wu Yuanji's ally Li Shidao, the military governor of Pinglu Circuit in Shandong.

Background Wu Yuanheng was born in 758, during the reign of Emperor Suzong. His family was from Henan Municipality (河南, i.e., the region of the Tang dynasty eastern capital Luoyang). His great-grandfather Wu Zaide was, according to Wu Yuanheng's biographies in the Old Book of Tang and the New Book of Tang, a younger cousin of Wu Zetian, Emperor Suzong's great-grandmother and the female ruler who interrupted Tang rule from 690 to 705 — although, according to the table of the chancellors' family trees in the New Book of Tang, it was Wu Zaide's father Wu Renfan who was a cousin of Wu Zetian's, as Wu Renfan was a son of Wu Zetian's uncle Wu Shiyi . Wu Zaide carried the title of Prince of Yingchuan during Wu Zetian's Zhou Dynasty, and at some point served as a prefectural prefect. Li Chun thus got the chance to meet Wu at his investiture as crown prince.

Almost immediately thereafter, Emperor Xianzong was faced with the situation where Li Qi the military governor of Zhenhai Circuit (鎮海, headquartered in modern Zhenjiang, Jiangsu), who had initially offered to come to the capital to pay homage to him, instead requested a deferral. When Emperor Xianzong consulted the chancellors, Wu stated: It was said that at that time, his fellow chancellors Li Jifu and Li Jiang often disputed with each other, and that he was the moderate between their opinions. submitted a petition accusing Wang Chengzong of having sent Zhang and the other Chengde officers to kill Wu Yuanheng. Emperor Xianzong had Zhang and the others arrested and interrogated by the mayor of Jingzhao, Pei Wu , and the imperial censor Chen Zhongshi . Under intense interrogation, probably including torture, Zhang and the others confessed to assassinating Wu and were executed. The assassins sent by Li Shidao fled. Emperor Xianzong declared a five-day mourning period for Wu Yuanheng and gave him great posthumous honors.