caption trad kingdom simp death_date wg pinyin post image_size title zi birth_date image article_title name
portrait of zhangsun wuji from sancai tuhui 長孫無忌 the tang dynasty 长孙无忌 659 chang-sun wu-chi zhǎngsūn wújì duke kung -rrb- of zhao -lrb- 趙公 赵公 zhào gōng chao 250px chancellor fuji -lrb- 輔機 辅机 fǔjī fu-chi -rrb- -lrb- unknown -rrb- zhangsun wuji.jpg zhangsun wuji
 zhangsun wuji
zhangsun wuji

zhangsun wuji -lrb- died 659 -rrb- , courtesy name fuji , formally the duke of zhao -lrb- -rrb- , was a chinese official who served as a chancellor in the early tang dynasty .
he was empress zhangsun 's brother , which made him a brother-in-law of emperor taizong -lrb- li shimin -rrb- and a maternal uncle of emperor gaozong -lrb- li zhi -rrb- .
he was an important advisor to li shimin when the latter was still the prince of qin during the reign of his father , emperor gaozu .
he helped li shimin overcome his brothers li jiancheng -lrb- the crown prince -rrb- and li yuanji -lrb- the prince of qi -rrb- in a succession struggle at the xuanwu gate incident , eventually enabling li shimin to become the heir apparent and later the emperor .
he was also instrumental in emperor taizong 's selection of li zhi as the crown prince , and was exceedingly powerful after li zhi took the throne as emperor gaozong .
however , he gradually fell out of his nephew 's favour by failing to support emperor gaozong 's decision to depose his first wife , empress wang , and replacing her with empress wu .
in 659 , zhangsun wuji was falsely accused of treason by empress wu 's political ally , xu jingzong , and eventually ordered to be sent into exile by emperor gaozong .
xu jingzong subsequently sent the official yuan gongyu -lrb- 袁公瑜 -rrb- to force zhangsun wuji to commit suicide on his way to exile .
