Princess Pingyang
| Princess Zhao of Pingyang | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Born | 598 | ||||
| Died | 623 (aged 24–25) | ||||
| Spouse | Chai Shao 柴紹 | ||||
| Issue | Chai Zhewei, Duke of Qiao Chai Lingwu, Duke of Xiangyang |
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| Father | Emperor Gaozu of Tang | ||||
| Mother | Duchess Dou | ||||
| Posthumous name | |
|---|---|
| Zhao 昭 |
Princess Pingyang (simplified Chinese: 平阳公主; traditional Chinese: 平陽公主; pinyin: Píngyáng Gōngzhǔ), formally Princess Zhao of Pingyang (平陽昭公主) (598 - 623) was the daughter of Emperor Gaozu of Tang (Li Yuan), the founding emperor of the Tang Dynasty. She helped him to seize power and eventually take over the throne from Sui Dynasty by organizing an army of women (娘子軍), commanded by herself, in her campaign to capture the Sui capital Chang'an.
The future Princess Pingyang was the third daughter of Li Yuan the Duke of Tang, a hereditary duke during Sui Dynasty. She was his third daughter, but the only daughter of his wife Duchess Dou, who also bore four sons -- Li Jiancheng, Li Shimin, Li Xuanba, and Li Yuanji. Eventually, Li Yuan gave her in marriage to Chai Shao, the son of Chai Shen (柴慎) the Duke of Julu.
In 617, Li Yuan, then the general in charge at Taiyuan was planning to rebel against Emperor Yang of Sui, by whom he had been imprisoned before. He sent messengers to his daughter and son-in-law Chai Shao, then at the Sui capital Chang'an, summoning them back to Taiyuan. Chai worried that they would not be able to escape together easily, and when he consulted her, she told him to go and that she, as a woman, would be able to hide more easily. He therefore secretly headed for Taiyuan and, after first meeting Li Jiancheng and Li Yuanji, whom Li Yuan had similarly recalled from Hedong (河東, in modern Yuncheng, Shanxi), reported to Taiyuan.
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