Wei Zheng

Also known as Zi Xuancheng · Zhengguo Gong · Wen Zhen

Wei Zheng, courtesy name Xuancheng, is described in the *Old Book of Tang* (*Jiu Tangshu*) as a native of Qucheng in Julu; orphaned and poor, he was briefly a Daoist priest. In the last years of Sui he joined Li Mi's Wagang rebels, and after going over to Tang he served the crown prince Li Jiancheng, urging him to act early against the Prince of Qin. After the Xuanwu Gate incident Taizong still made him Grand Remonstrator; he went on to head the Palace Library, serve as chancellor and become Duke of Zheng. His biography counts more than two hundred remonstrances, among them the 'Ten Thoughts' memorial of 637, and he oversaw the court histories of the five preceding dynasties, writing the prefaces of the *Book of Sui* (*Suishu*) himself. He died in 643, received the posthumous name Wenzhen and was buried near Taizong's tomb; the emperor said he had lost one of his mirrors. That year his portrait was among the twenty-four placed in the Lingyan Pavilion.