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Wei Zhiyi
Chief minister installed by Wang Shuwen as the outer-court face of the Yongzhen Reform, later exiled to Yazhou on Hainan.
Mural of the event “Yongzhen Reform”, which this person took part in.
In 805, under the ailing Emperor Shunzong, Wang Shuwen and Wang Pi directed the court, abolished the palace market and the Five Workshops' bird-catchers, and tried to take command of the Shence Army from the eunuchs. Shunzong abdicated in the eighth month, the reform ended and its leaders were demoted and sent away: the Two Wangs and Eight Adjutants.
Also known as Chancellor Wei Zhiyi
- Roles
- Chief Ministers
Wei Zhiyi, from the capital region, was a precocious talent made a Hanlin scholar in his early twenties by Emperor Dezong, and came to know Wang Shuwen through the crown prince's circle. When Shunzong came to the throne in 805, Wang Shuwen, who meant to rule from inside the palace, had Wei appointed Left Assistant Director of the Department of State Affairs and chief minister to front the reform in the outer court. The two later drifted apart. After Emperor Xianzong's accession Wei was demoted in the eleventh month of 805 to marshal of Yazhou (the Old Book of Tang says revenue officer), and he died there, the most distantly exiled minister of the failed Yongzhen Reform.
Life and times
Dates Dates unknown; chief minister in 805; died in exile at Yazhou
- 805Yongzhen ReformTook part
- 805Two Wangs, Eight Adjutants Banished