put in nominal command of half of the imperial guards (which had previously been all under Cui's command and which Cui was trying to rebuild to counter Zhu's army when Zhu preemptively killed him) and made the director of finances. Removal and death Later in 904, Zhu assassinated Emperor Zhaozong and replaced him with his son Emperor Ai. At that time, Dugu and the other chancellors Pei Shu and Cui Yuan all were senior officials who came from aristocratic families, and they despised their colleague Liu Can for associating with Zhu. By spring 905, Pei had offended Zhu by refusing to commission another associate of Zhu's, Zhang Tingfan (張廷範), as the minister of worship (太常卿, Taichang Qing)—trying to deflect Zhu by stating that Zhang should serve as a military governor rather than be bothered with the responsibilities of minister of worship. Liu thus took the opportunity to accuse Cui and Dugu, as well as Pei, of disrespecting Zhu. Zhu thus had all three removed from chancellor positions; in Dugu's case, he was made the military governor of the remote Jinghai Circuit (靜海, headquartered in modern Hanoi, Vietnam). With Zhu preparing to seize the throne, Liu and another associate of Zhu's, Li Zhen, argued for a general purge of high-level imperial officials who were from aristocratic families. Zhu agreed, and initially a large number of them were demoted and exiled—in Dugu's case, to be the prefect of Di Prefecture (棣州, in modern Binzhou, Shandong), and then to be the census officer of Qiong Prefecture. Soon thereafter, some 30 of these officials—including Dugu, Cui, Pei, fellow former chancellors Lu Yi, Wang Pu, and other officials Zhao Chong (趙崇) and Wang Zan (王贊)—were rounded up at Baima Station (白馬驛, in modern Anyang, Henan) and ordered to commit suicide. At Li Zhen's request (as Li Zhen, who was unable to pass the imperial examinations, resented these traditional aristocrats for claiming to be free from taint), Zhu had their bodies thrown into the Yellow River (as Li Zhen put it, to taint them). Notes and references 9th-century births 905 deaths Chancellors under Emperor Zhaozong of Tang Chancellors under Emperor Ai of Tang Tang dynasty jiedushi of Jinghai Circuit Forced suicides of Chinese people Executed Tang dynasty people 10th-century executions by the Tang dynasty