惟吉 Wéijí

Weiji, son of Dezhao

Weiji, styled Guoxiang, was the son of the Lady of Zhengguo of the Chen family. When Weiji was barely a month old, Taizu had him carried in a palanquin into the inner palace and chose two women to nurse and look after him; if he cried in the middle of the night, the emperor would always get up himself to soothe and hold him. At three, a small bow and light arrows were made for him and gold coins set up as a target for him to shoot at in play; he hit it eight times out of ten, and the emperor thought him remarkable. At five he read books and recited poems every day. Once the emperor shot at a flying kite and brought it down with one arrow; Weiji, beside him, jumped for joy, delighted, and the emperor too was pleased, and had gold cast into rare beasts and auspicious birds and gave them to him. He often rode in a small carriage or on a horse with a small saddle, held in the arms of a eunuch, and always went with the emperor wherever he went. When Taizu died Weiji was only six; he wailed in grief day and night, and only after Empress Xiaozhang had comforted and reasoned with him again and again did he begin to take some gruel. When Taizong came to the throne Weiji was still in the inner palace, attending the emperor at the midday meal every day. In the eighth year of Taiping Xingguo he first moved out to live in the Eastern Palace; he was made General of the Left Gate Guard and enfeoffed as Marquis of Pingyang Commandery, given the additional post of General-in-Chief of the Left Courageous Guard, and raised to Duke of Anding Commandery. In the fourth year of Chunhua he was promoted to General-in-Chief of the Left Palace Guard Army. In the second year of Zhidao he was made Surveillance Commissioner of Lang Prefecture. In everything provided for his residence, and in the carriages and clothes granted him, he was treated on a par with the princes, which the other princes' sons could not match. When Zhenzong came to the throne he was made Military Commissioner of the Wuxin Army and given the additional title of Joint Manager of Affairs with the Secretariat-Chancellery. At that time Shi Baoji was already a Commissioner-Councillor, but an edict ranked Weiji above him. At the beginning of Dazhong Xiangfu, at the feng sacrifice on Mount Tai, Weiji was ill and could not go with the procession; an edict allowed him to hasten to the imperial camp once he recovered. When the emperor halted at Yun Prefecture on the way back, Weiji went out to meet him; the emperor asked after him again and again, and changed him to Military Commissioner of the Gande Army. The next year his illness returned; the emperor visited him many times, watched in person as moxa was burned on him, sent him food from the imperial kitchen every day, and had Buddhist services held for him. He died in the fifth month of the third year, aged forty-five. Court was suspended for five days; he was posthumously made Secretariat Director and posthumously enfeoffed as Prince of Nanyang Commandery, with the posthumous name Kangxiao. Edit

Weiji loved learning and wrote well, and was filial by nature to the utmost. Empress Xiaozhang had brought him up with every care, combing and washing his hair herself. At the beginning of Xianping, the portraits of Taizu and Xiaozhang, with their clothes, keepsakes and utensils, were given to Weiji; at the seasonal sacrifices he mourned and longed for them most deeply. Whenever he recited the Book of Odes and came to the poem "Tall is the Ezhe", his tears flowed, and the imperial clan acknowledged his worth and filial piety. He was highly skilled in cursive script, clerical script and the "flying white" style; Zhenzong had his works arranged in seven scrolls, wrote a preface for them himself, and ordered them kept in the Imperial Archives. His son Shoujie presented the Thousand Character Classic in standard and cursive scripts written by his father, and an edict answered with praise and sent it to the Historiography Institute. Weiji was posthumously made Grand Commandant, and in the second year of Mingdao enfeoffed as Prince of Ji. His sons were Shoujie, Shouyue, Shouxun, Shoudu, Shoulian and Shoukang. Edit

Shoujie, son of Weiji

Shoujie rose through promotions to Acting Military and Surveillance Commissioner of the Zhanghua Army and Associate Administrator of the Great Office of Imperial Clan Affairs. When he died he was posthumously made Military Commissioner of the Zhenjiang Army and posthumously enfeoffed as Prince of Danyang Commandery, with the posthumous name Ximu. His sons were Shiyong and Shiyan. Shiyong succeeded as Duke of Xing and rose to Acting Military Commissioner of the Zhennan Army; he died in the first year of Xining and was posthumously made Military Commissioner of the Zhaoxin Army and Prince of Nankang Commandery, with the posthumous name Xiuxiao. Shiyan ended as General-in-Chief of the Right Militant Guard and Defence Commissioner of Jiang Prefecture, and was posthumously made Acting Military and Surveillance Commissioner of the Wuning Army and Duke of Pengcheng Commandery. Edit