Li Yuanji, formally Prince La of Chao, more commonly known by the title of Prince of Qi, nickname Sanhu, was an imperial prince of the Chinese Tang dynasty.
24 Facts About Li Yuanji
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Li Yuanji was a son of the dynasty's founder Emperor Gaozu of Tang, and in the intense rivalry developed between his older brothers Li Jiancheng the Crown Prince and Li Shimin the Prince of Qin, he sided with Li Jiancheng and often advocated drastic actions against Li Shimin, including assassination.
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In 626, Li Shimin, fearing that Li Jiancheng and Li Yuanji were about to kill him, laid an ambush for them at Xuanwu Gate outside the palace and killed them.
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Li Yuanji was born in 603, during the reign of Emperor Wen of Sui.
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Li Yuanji was the fourth and final son of Li Yuan the Duke of Tang, a hereditary noble, and Li Yuan's wife Duchess Dou, who was herself the daughter of Dou Yi the Duke of Shenwu and Northern Zhou's Princess Xiangyang.
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Li Yuanji gave birth to an older sister of Li Yuanji's, the eventual Princess Pingyang.
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Li Yuanji then sent secret messengers to Hedong to summon his sons and to the capital Chang'an to summon his daughter and son-in-law Chai Shao.
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Li Jiancheng and Li Yuanji secretly travelled to Taiyuan, but left the 13-year-old Li Zhiyun at Hedong.
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Li Yuan made Li Jiancheng and Li Shimin both key generals, but the younger Li Yuanji was not, initially, although Li Yuan created him the Duke of Guzang.
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Less than a month later with the people of Taiyuan petitioning to have Li Yuanji kept in charge, Emperor Gaozu restored him.
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In summer 619, Liu Wuzhou launched an attack on the Taiyuan region, and Li Yuanji sent the general Zhang Da to resist Liu, despite Zhang's protestations that the army given him was too small to resist Liu.
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Liu soon put Taiyuan under siege, and while Li Yuanji initially repelled him, Liu was back and again had Taiyuan under siege.
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In 621, with Li Shimin leading the army in besieging Luoyang, the capital of Wang Shichong's rival Zheng state, Li Yuanji served as Li Shimin's assistant.
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Li Shimin received the most honors stemming from the victory, but Li Yuanji received promotions and honors.
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Subsequently, when Emperor Gaozu had the government mint new coins, there were strict prohibitions against minting by any other persons, except that Li Shimin and Li Yuanji were each granted the right to have three mints and Pei Ji was granted the right to have one mint.
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Later that year, when Dou's general Liu Heita rose in resistance to Tang rule and took over all of Dou's former territory, Li Shimin and Li Yuanji were sent against him.
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Meanwhile Liu returned from Eastern Tujue and again occupied Dou's old territory, and Li Yuanji was not able to stop him.
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Li Yuanji supported Li Jiancheng in this rivalry, as he believed that if Li Jiancheng became emperor, Li Jiancheng would create him crown prince.
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Since their mother Duchess Dou had died in 614, the fact that Li Jiancheng and Li Yuanji had better relations with Emperor Gaozu's favored young concubines than Li Shimin did take a notable importance, since those concubines helped rehabilitate Li Jiancheng's standing before Emperor Gaozu, causing him to no longer consider making Li Shimin crown prince instead, as he considered at one point.
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Around the new year 623, with Liu's forced bogged down while attacking Tang's Wei Prefecture, Li Jiancheng and Li Yuanji engaged him at Guantao, crushing him.
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Li Yuanji was given command of much of the army previously under Li Shimin's control, further troubling Li Shimin, who believed that with the army in Li Yuanji's hands, he would be unable to resist an attack.
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Li Shimin had Yuchi summon Fang and Du back to his mansion secretly, and then on one night submitted an accusation to Emperor Gaozu that Li Jiancheng and Li Yuanji were committing adultery with Emperor Gaozu's concubines.
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Li Yuanji personally fired an arrow that killed Li Jiancheng.
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Subsequently, Li Yuanji tried to kill Li Shimin, but Yuchi killed Li Yuanji instead during the struggle.