An elder brother begged for days to give Xuanzong the Tang crown
By Confucian custom the throne belonged to the eldest son, but Li Chengqi wept and pleaded for days to step aside for his younger brother Li Longji, arguing that in dangerous times merit should outrank birth. Li Longji became Emperor Xuanzong, reigned longer than any other Tang ruler, and presided over the dynasty's dramatic fall.
Li Longji was born in Luoyang in 685, the third son of Emperor Ruizong, though real power then lay with his grandmother, the future Wu Zetian. Handsome and gifted in music, he grew up in a court of deadly intrigue. In 690 Wu Zetian pushed her son aside and declared her own Zhou dynasty, interrupting the Tang, and in 693 she had Li Longji's mother killed on a false charge of witchcraft. Her body was never recovered.
Wu Zetian was overthrown in 705 and his uncle returned to the throne as Emperor Zhongzong, only to die suddenly in 710. Traditional historians blamed poisoning by Empress Wei, who hoped to rule as Wu Zetian had. Tipped off that her faction planned to eliminate his father and his aunt, Princess Taiping, Li Longji struck first with Taiping's help that July, destroying the empress's party and restoring his father to the throne.
That was the moment of the famous brotherly deference. Li Chengqi told their father that heirs should be chosen by seniority in peace but by achievement in danger, and that he would rather die than be placed above his brother. Ruizong, persuaded, named Li Longji crown prince. Yet power remained split: officials learned that the emperor would first ask whether they had consulted Princess Taiping, then whether they had consulted Li Longji, and she often decided promotions with a single sentence.
Once on the throne from 712, Xuanzong inherited an empire in its golden age and was well served at first by chancellors such as Yao Chong, Song Jing and Zhang Yue. His 44-year reign ended differently. Misplaced trust in Li Linfu, Yang Guozhong and the general An Lushan led to the An Lushan rebellion, which ended the Tang golden age and nearly toppled the dynasty.
Source: Emperor Xuanzong of Tang
