Li Cou (; died February 10, 835), formally Crown Prince Huaiyi (懷懿太子), was an imperial prince of the

Chinese Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of ...

dynasty

Tang Dynasty The Tang dynasty (, ; zh, t= ), or Tang Empire, was an Dynasties in Chinese history, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 618 to 907 AD, with an Zhou dynasty (690–705), interregnum between 690 and 705. It was preceded by the Sui dyn ...

who became implicated in an alleged plot that the

chancellor Chancellor ( la, cancellarius) is a title of various official positions in the governments of many nations. The original chancellors were the of Roman courts of justice—ushers, who sat at the or lattice work screens of a basilica or law cou ...

Song Shenxi Song Shenxi () (died August 18, 833 Academia Sinicabr>Chinese-Western Calendar Converter.), courtesy name Qingchen (), was an official of the Chinese Tang Dynasty, serving briefly as a chancellor during the reign of Emperor Wenzong. He was most ...

was supporting him to be emperor. He was, as a result, demoted by his brother Emperor Wenzong. After his death, Emperor Wenzong, coming to believe that the allegations were false, posthumously honored him as

crown prince A crown prince or hereditary prince is the heir apparent to the throne in a royal or imperial monarchy. The female form of the title is crown princess, which may refer either to an heiress apparent or, especially in earlier times, to the wif ...

Background

It is not known when Li Cou was born — but as his youngest known older brother, Li Han (the later Emperor Wenzong), was born in 809, and his eldest known younger brother Li Rong was born in 812, he must have been born between these points. He was the sixth son of Emperor Muzong, although the identity of his mother had been lost to history.''Old Book of Tang'', vol. 175.''

New Book of Tang The ''New Book of Tang'', generally translated as the "New History of the Tang" or "New Tang History", is a work of official history covering the Tang dynasty in ten volumes and 225 chapters. The work was compiled by a team of scholars of the So ...

'', vol. 82. He was said to be mild in temperament and appropriate in his behavior in his youth. In 821, when Emperor Muzong created his sons, as well as a number of younger brothers who had not been created titles, imperial princes, Li Cou was created the Prince of Zhang.

The Song Shenxi incident

By 831, an older brother of Li Cou's, Emperor Wenzong, was emperor. Emperor Wenzong, apprehensive of how much control the powerful

eunuch A eunuch ( ) is a male who has been castrated. Throughout history, castration often served a specific social function. The earliest records for intentional castration to produce eunuchs are from the Sumerian city of Lagash in the 2nd millennium ...

s had on his government at the time, had been planning with the

a way to eliminate the powerful eunuchs. As part of the plan, Song recommended Wang Fan (王璠) to be the mayor of Jingzhao Municipality (京兆, i.e., the region of the capital

Chang'an Chang'an (; ) is the traditional name of Xi'an. The site had been settled since Neolithic times, during which the Yangshao culture was established in Banpo, in the city's suburbs. Furthermore, in the northern vicinity of modern Xi'an, Qin Shi ...

) and informed him of the plan. Wang Fan, instead, leaked the plan, and the powerful eunuch

Wang Shoucheng Wang Shoucheng (王守澄) (died November 3, 835) was a powerful eunuch of the Tang dynasty of China, wielding substantial powers during the reigns of Emperor Xianzong, Emperor Muzong, Emperor Jingzong, and Emperor Wenzong. By 835, however, tw ...

and Wang Shoucheng's strategist

Zheng Zhu Zheng Zhu (鄭注) (died December 18, 835Academia Sinicabr>Chinese-Western Calendar Converter./ref>''Zizhi Tongjian'', vol. 245.), probably né Yu Zhu (魚注), was an official of the Chinese dynasty Tang Dynasty. He became a trusted advisor to ...

learned of the plan. Zheng reacted by ordering the

Shence Army The Shence Army () was a Tang dynasty (618–907) army unit established in 754 CE by Emperor Xuanzong of Tang, and based in Chang'an, forming the core of the imperial guards responsible for protecting the emperor. The command of the Shence Army ...

officer Doulu Zhu (豆盧著) to falsely accuse Song of plotting treason to put Li Cou on the throne. When Wang Shoucheng relayed the accusation to Emperor Wenzong, Emperor Wenzong believed it and was angry. Wang Shoucheng initially wanted to take this opportunity to massacre Song's household, but was stopped by another powerful eunuch, Ma Cunliang (馬存亮). However, during the subsequent investigations by Shence Army officers, after an attendant official to the imperial princes, Yan Jingze (晏敬則), and Song's associate Wang Shiwen (王師文) were tortured and confessed to serving as conduits for messages between Song and Li Cou, Song was found to be guilty and was set to be executed. The advisorial officials Cui Xuanliang (崔玄亮),

Li Guyan Li Guyan (李固言), courtesy name Zhongshu (仲樞), was an official of the Chinese Tang dynasty, serving two terms as chancellor during the reign of Emperor Wenzong. Background and early career It is not clear when Li Guyan was born.The Chin ...

, Wang Zhi (王質), Lu Jun (盧均), Shu Yuanbao (舒元褒), Jiang Xi (蔣係), Pei Xiu (裴休), and Wei Wen (韋溫) urged caution, however, believed there were substantial questions in the matter and urged a reinvestigation by imperial government officials. The chancellor Niu Sengru also took the same view. Zheng, fearing that a reinvestigation would lead to discovery of the truth, suggested to Wang Shoucheng that he recommend to Emperor Wenzong that neither Song nor Li Cou be executed. Li Cou was thus demoted to the title of Duke of Chao County (巢縣, in modern

Chaohu Chaohu () is a county-level city of Anhui Province, People's Republic of China, it is under the administration of the prefecture-level city of Hefei. Situated on the northeast and southeast shores of Lake Chao, from which the city was named, Ch ...

Anhui Anhui , (; formerly romanized as Anhwei) is a landlocked province of the People's Republic of China, part of the East China region. Its provincial capital and largest city is Hefei. The province is located across the basins of the Yangtze River ...

) while Song was demoted to be the military advisor to the prefect of Kai Prefecture (開州, in modern

Chongqing Chongqing ( or ; ; Sichuanese dialects, Sichuanese pronunciation: , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ), Postal Romanization, alternately romanized as Chungking (), is a Direct-administered municipalities of China, municipality in Southwes ...

). (There was suggestion in Li Cou's biography in the ''Old Book of Tang'' that Li Cou might have been ordered to report to Chao County and given 10 houses there, although the edict assured that there would be no additional punishment (e.g., forced suicide) coming.)

Aftermaths

In 835, Li Cou died, and was posthumously created the Prince of Qi. In 836, after Emperor Wenzong came to believe that Song Shenxi was innocent of wrongdoing, he ordered Song's posthumous rehabilitation. In 838, he further ordered that Li Cou be posthumously honored Crown Prince Huaiyi.''Zizhi Tongjian'', vol. 246.

Notes and references

* ''

Old Book of Tang The ''Old Book of Tang'', or simply the ''Book of Tang'', is the first classic historical work about the Tang dynasty, comprising 200 chapters, and is one of the Twenty-Four Histories. Originally compiled during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdo ...

'', vol. 175. * ''

'', vol. 82. * ''

Zizhi Tongjian ''Zizhi Tongjian'' () is a pioneering reference work in Chinese historiography, published in 1084 AD during the Northern Song dynasty in the form of a chronicle recording Chinese history from 403 BC to 959 AD, covering 16 dynast ...

'', vols. 241,

244 __NOTOC__ Year 244 (Roman numerals, CCXLIV) was a leap year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Tiberius Pollenius Armenius Peregrinus, Arm ...

, 245,

246 __NOTOC__ Year 246 ( CCXLVI) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar, the 246th Year of the Common Era ( CE) and Anno Domini ( AD) designations, the 246th year of the 1st millennium, th ...

. {{DEFAULTSORT:Li Cou 9th-century births 835 deaths Tang dynasty imperial princes