Li Yuansu

Who was Li Yuansu?

Li Yuansu was an official of Wu Zetian's Zhou Dynasty, serving twice as chancellor.

Li Yuansu was the younger brother of Li Jingxuan, who served as chancellor during the reign of Wu Zetian's husband Emperor Gaozong of Tang. It was said that he, like Li Jingxuan, showed abilities as an official. He was, at one point, the magistrate of Wude County, when his superior, Li Wenjian the prefect of Huai Prefecture was set to collect gold and silver from the people to make barrels to offer to the emperor, and the people resented it. Other subordinates of Li Wenjian did not dare to speak about it, but Li Yuansu opposed it vehemently. Li Wenjian stopped collecting gold and silver from the people and, as he believed that Li Yuansu needed financial support, paid Li Yuansu out of his own pocket.

As of 692, during Wu Zetian's reign, Li Yuansu was acting deputy minister of treasury, when she promoted him to be Wenchang You Cheng, one of the secretaries general of the executive bureau of government and gave him the designation Tong Fengge Luantai Pingzhangshi, making him a chancellor de facto. Just slightly more than a month later, however, he, along with other chancellors Li Youdao, Wang Xuan, Yuan Zhihong, and Cui Shenji, and other officials Kong Siyuan, and Ren Linghui, were falsely accused of crimes by Wu Zetian's secret police official Wang Hongyi. They were relieved from their posts and exiled to the Lingnan region.