Ministers › Statesman / Official
Ju Wenzhen
Powerful Tang eunuch who forced Emperor Shunzong to name a crown prince and abdicate, ending the Yongzhen Reform.
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 Liu Zhenliang (later name)
- Roles
- Statesman / Official
Ju Wenzhen was a mid-Tang eunuch who later took his adoptive father's surname and became Liu Zhenliang. Once army supervisor of the Xuanwu command under Emperor Dezong, he rose to General of the Right Guard and head of the Palace Domestic Service. When the Yongzhen Reform of 805 threatened the eunuchs' control of the armies and the palace markets, he plotted with fellow eunuchs such as Liu Guangqi and Xue Wenzhen to have the Prince of Guangling, Li Chun, named crown prince, and coordinated memorials from regional governors such as Wei Gao, forcing the ailing Shunzong to abdicate in the eighth month. Under the new Emperor Xianzong, Wang Shuwen, Wang Pi and their allies were exiled and the reform collapsed. He died in 813, the chief eunuch opponent of the reform.
Life and times
Dates Birth year unknown; died 813
- 805Yongzhen ReformTook part
- 805Emperor Shunzong Abdicates to Li Chun