Li Cui

Also known as Tang Yizong · Li Wen · Yun Wang

Li Cui, first named Li Wen and titled Prince of Yun, was the eldest son of Emperor Xuanzong and was put on the throne by the eunuch Wang Zongshi in 859, adopting the era name Xiantong the next year. Early in the reign Qiu Fu raised a revolt in eastern Zhejiang that Wang Shi suppressed, and in 868 soldiers from Xu and Si garrisoned at Guizhou marched home under Pang Xun and rebelled, holding out until Kang Chengxun crushed them the following year. When his favorite daughter, Princess Tongchang, died in 870, he had more than twenty court physicians including Han Zongshao put to death and their relatives jailed, and exiled the chief minister Liu Zhan for protesting. He relied on the ministers Lu Yan and Wei Baoheng and lavished rewards on the actor Li Keji. In 873 he sent an escort to Famen Temple to bring the Buddha's finger relic to Chang'an, and died that summer; he was given the temple name Yizong and buried at the Jian Mausoleum.