Zong Chuke
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Zong Chuke (宗楚客) (died July 24, 710[1][2]), courtesy name Shu'ao (叔敖), was an official of the Chinese Tang dynasty and Wu Zetian's Zhou dynasty, serving as chancellor during the reigns of Wu Zetian, her son Emperor Zhongzong, and her grandson Emperor Shang.
It is not known when Zong Chuke was born, but it is known that his family was from Pu Prefecture (蒲州, roughly modern Yuncheng, Shanxi). His ancestors were originally from Nanyang, and his great-grandfather Zong Pi (宗丕) had served as an official during late Liang dynasty (a period sometimes known as Western Liang). After Liang, then a vassal of Sui dynasty, was terminated in 587 by Sui, which directly took control of its territory, Zong Pi resettled in what would eventually become Pu Prefecture. Zong Chuke's father Zong Ji (宗岌) served on the staff of Emperor Taizong's favorite son Li Tai the Prince of Wei and participated in a project that Li Tai commissioned—the writing of a work known as the Journal of Geography (Kuodi Zhi). Zong Chuke's mother was a cousin of Empress Wu (later known as Wu Zetian), the second wife of Emperor Taizong's son and successor Emperor Gaozong. Zong Chuke had at least two brothers—an older brother named Zong Qinke, and a younger brother named Zong Jinqing (宗晉卿). Zong Chuke himself was described as tall, with a handsome beard. After passing the imperial examination, he served as an official, eventually serving as the deputy minister of census (戶部侍郎, Hubu Shilang) late in Emperor Gaozong's reign.
After Emperor Gaozong's death in 683, his son Li Zhe the Crown Prince succeeded him (as Emperor Zhongzong), but Empress Wu retained actual power as empress dowager and regent. In 684, after he showed signs of independence, she deposed him and replaced him with brother Li Dan the Prince of Yu (as Emperor Ruizong), but wielded power even more firmly thereafter, and as the years went by, she showed signs that she wanted to be "emperor" herself rather than just empress dowager. Zong Chuke's brother Zong Qinke encouraged her, and in 690 created a number of modified Chinese characters as signs of good fortune.
During Wu Zetian's reign
Later in 690, Wu Zetian had Emperor Ruizong yield the throne to her, and she took the throne as emperor, establishing a new Zhou dynasty and interrupting Tang dynasty. She made Zong Qinke Neishi (內史) -- the head of the legislative bureau of government (鳳閣, Fengge) and a post considered one for a chancellor, while Zong Chuke remained a deputy minister and Zong Jinqing became a commander of the imperial guards. Just slightly over a month after taking the throne and making Zong Qinke a chancellor, however, she received accusations that Zong Qinke was corrupt and Zong Chuke and Zong Jinqing, in addition to being corrupt, also committed rape. She demoted Zong Qinke to be the sheriff of Zunhua County (遵化, in modern Qinzhou, Guangxi) while exiling Zong Chuke and Zong Jinqing to the same region. Zong Qinke died in exile, but Zong Chuke and Zong Jinqing were recalled after about a year in exile. It was probably around this time that he served as a low-level official at the minister of defense and became considered familiar with military matters. On one occasion, when there were reports that the Tujue chief Tashili Tudun (沓實力吐敦) was set to rebel. Zong Chuke, knowing that Tashili Tudun was faithful, opined that this must be a false report by Tashili Tudun's nephew Tashili Mozi (沓實力默子). Soon, news came that Tashili Mozi was the one who rebelled, and that he had been captured by joint forces of Tashili Tudun and Tang forces.
In 697, Zong was serving as deputy minister of defense (夏官侍郎, Xiaguan Shilang) when Wu Zetian gave him the designation of Tong Fengge Luantai Pingzhangshi (同鳳閣鸞臺平章事), making him a chancellor de facto. However, in 698, he was stripped of the chancellor designation, although he continued to serve as deputy minister of defense.
Around this time, he developed an enmity with his cousin Wu Yizong (武懿宗) the Prince of Henan (a grandson of Wu Zetian's uncle Wu Shiyi (武士逸)). Around the new year 699, while Zong Chuke was serving as Wenchang Zuo Cheng (文昌左丞), one of the secretaries general of the executive bureau (文昌臺, Wenchang Tai), Wu Yizong submitted articles of impeachment against him and Zong Jinqing, accusing them of corruption and building mansions of excessive luxury. Zong Chuke was demoted to be the military advisor to the prefect of Bo Prefecture (播州, roughly modern Zunyi, Guizhou), while Zong Jinqing was exiled to Feng Prefecture (峰州, roughly Vĩnh Phúc Province, Vietnam). (It did appear that the Zongs had overly luxurious mansions, for when Wu Zetian's only daughter Princess Taiping visited their mansions, she stated, "Once we look at their mansions, it is like we have not lived.")
After some time, Zong Chuke was allowed to move closer to the capital Luoyang, and he successively served as the prefect of Yu Prefecture (豫州, roughly modern Zhumadian, Henan), then deputy director of palace supplies (少府少監, Shaofu Shaojian), then prefect of Qi Prefecture (岐州, roughly modern Baoji, Shaanxi) and then Shan Prefecture (陝州, roughly modern Sanmenxia, Henan). He eventually became deputy minister of defense again, and in 704 was again made chancellor with the Tong Fengge Luantai Pingzhangshi designation. Later that year, however, he was accused of retaining a servant girl originally of Li Chongrun the Prince of Shao (Wu Zetian's grandson, whom she forced to commit suicide in 701), and he was demoted to be the commandant at Yuan Prefecture (原州, roughly modern Guyuan, Ningxia), as well as the commanding general of the army in the region.