The Rebellion Case of Prince Qiao Li Chongfu in the First Year of Jingyun

In August 710, after Emperor Ruizong Li Dan was restored, Prince Qiao Li Chongfu, son of the late Emperor Zhongzong, felt endangered due to past persecution. Incited by Luoyang native Zhang Lingjun, who claimed Ruizong's accession violated primogeniture, Chongfu plotted to seize the throne. He dispatched Wang Daoxian to recruit warriors in Luoyang and then covertly entered the eastern capital to launch a coup. Censor Li Yong learned of the conspiracy, promptly closed the city gates, and organized resistance. Chongfu's forces failed to breach the palace's left gate and quickly dispersed. Pursued by imperial troops, the desperate prince fled to a nearby river and drowned himself. Enraged, Ruizong ordered his corpse dismembered and publicly displayed, while all captured conspirators were executed.

Li Chongfu drowned himself while fleeing the failed coup; his body was posthumously mutilated and exposed. Key conspirators including Zhang Lingjun and Wang Daoxian were publicly executed.

Whether Li Chongfu's armed action was a treasonous rebellion or a justifiable claim to the throne based on the principle of primogeniture, as he was the eldest surviving son of Emperor Zhongzong, thereby challenging the legitimacy of Emperor Ruizong's succession.

The failed rebellion intensified surveillance and suppression of the Zhongzong branch of the imperial family, temporarily consolidating Ruizong's authority. It highlighted the extreme volatility and bloody factional struggles during the Tang restoration period, foreshadowing further purges and the eventual power consolidation by Li Longji (later Emperor Xuanzong).