[1]), né Wei Zhenzai (魏真宰), formally Duke Zhen of Qi (齊貞公), was an official of the Chinese Tang dynasty and Wu Zetian's Zhou dynasty, serving as chancellor during the reigns of Wu Zetian and her son Emperor Zhongzong.
[3] He was a student at the imperial university in his youth, and was said to be unrestrained in his behavior, and did not receive a commission as an official for a long time.
During that time, he also learned various military strategies from Jiang Rong (江融) from Zhouzhi (盩厔, in modern Xi'an, Shaanxi).
Wei Yuanzhong went to the eastern capital Luoyang, where Emperor Gaozong was at the time, and submitted a secret petition, making suggestions as to what to do with the Tufan threat—pointing out that at the time, the generals were largely past generals' sons who were not necessarily militarily talented; the reward and punishment system was not being utilized properly; and that the army was being crippled by a then-existent regulation prohibiting the people from keeping horses.
Wang Yifang [(王義方, an official who was demoted for indicting the chancellor Li Yifu, then a favorite of Emperor Gaozong and Empress Wu)] was allowed to die in a remote location.
In 689, when a number of officials were accused by Empress Dowager Wu's secret police official Zhou Xing of protecting Li Jingye's brother Li Jingzhen (李敬真) in his flight, a number of them were executed, and several, including Wei, Zhang Chujin (張楚金), Guo Zhengyi, and Yuan Wanqing (元萬頃), were spared of death at the execution field but exiled to the Lingnan region.
When Wang's voice was heard, the other prisoners were happy and jumping in joy, but only Wei remained sitting quietly, stating, "I do not yet know whether this is true or not."
Wei sarcastically stated, "I am so unlucky that it is like having fallen from a donkey with my feet stuck to the stirrup and being dragged by the beast."
Meanwhile, Di was able to hide a secret petition inside clothes that were given back to his family members to be changed, and when the petition reached Wu Zetian, she released them, but exiled them—in Wei's case, to be the magistrate of Fuling County (涪陵, in modern Mianyang, Sichuan).
At that time, Wu Zetian happened to be somewhat ill, and the Zhangs were fearful that if she died, Wei would kill them, and therefore falsely accused Wei and Gao Jian (高戩), a favorite official of Wu Zetian's daughter Princess Taiping, of having said that she was too old and that it would be better for them to support the Crown Prince (Li Zhe, who had by now been recalled from exile to serve in that role and renamed Li Xian and then Wu Xian, and on whose staff Wei also served).
Emperor Zhongzong was restored to the throne, and he immediately recalled Wei Yuanzhong and made him the minister of military supplies (衛尉卿, Weiwei Qing) and chancellor with the Tong Zhongshu Menxia Pingzhangshi (同中書門下平章事) designation.
He was soon made the minister of defense (兵部尚書, Bingbu Shangshu) with the greater chancellor de facto designation of Tong Zhongshu Menxia Sanpin (同中書門下三品).
Later in the year, he was made Shizong (侍中), the head of the examination bureau (門下省, Menxia Sheng) and a post considered one for a chancellor, and then Zhongshu Ling (中書令), the head of the legislative bureau (now again named Zhongshu Sheng) and also a post considered one for a chancellor.
There was much expectation by the people that he would help reform government, but it was said that after he became chancellor again, he did not have any particularly good suggestions for Emperor Zhongzong but was instead only going with the flow in the political arena, and the people were disappointed, those in hopes that he would serve as a counterbalance to Wu Zetian's nephew Wu Sansi, who had become powerful as a trusted advisor for Emperor Zhongzong and the lover of his powerful wife Empress Wei.
In 706, a sheriff named Yuan Chuke (袁楚客) wrote a letter to Wei, pointing out that there was much expectation the people had for him, and that it was not proper for him, as a senior chancellor, to be standing by and doing nothing while Wu Sansi and several other officials were leading Emperor Zhongzong astray in his reign.
Also around this time, when Emperor Zhongzong's and Empress Wei's favorite daughter Li Guo'er the Princess Anle asked to become crown princess (to displace her brother Li Chongjun, born of a concubine), Wei opposed it, pointing out that no woman had ever become the heir to an emperor, and also pointed out that there would be no appropriate title for her husband Wu Chongxun (武崇訓, Wu Sansi's son).
Emperor Zhongzong initially only had Wei retire and return to his mansion, but then had him demoted to be the military advisor to the prefect of Qu Prefecture (渠州, roughly modern Dazhou, Sichuan).
Zong and Ji continued their accusations, however, and Emperor Zhongzong then demoted Wei further to be the sheriff of Wuchuan County (務川, in modern Tongren Prefecture, Guizhou) on 9 October.