the capital, and assigned her son Crown Prince Liu Ju as the regent for all governmental and border affairs. Emperor Wu's trust in Empress Wei was such that when she wanted to inform him of important decisions to be made in the palaces during his absence, Emperor Wu received her reports verbally and most of the time refused to listen to them. He fully trusted Empress Wei's judgment on palaces' affairs. Later on, civil unrest broke out between Consort Li's family and Wei Zifu's family, leading to Li's downfall and several of Li's relatives being executed. The Crown Prince revolt and death In his advanced age, Emperor Wu became paranoid and suspicious over the possible use of witchcraft against him. A series of witchcraft persecutions would begin, and large numbers of people, many of whom were high officials and their families, were accused of witchcraft and executed, usually with their clans. Soon, these witchcraft persecutions would become intertwined in the succession struggles and erupt into a major catastrophe. In 94 BC, Emperor Wu's youngest son Liu Fuling was born to Lady Zhao, and Emperor Wu was ecstatic in having a child at the advanced age of 62. Lady Zhao herself was introduced to Emperor Wu by some warlock, and was also known as "Consort Fist" (拳夫人) or "Consort Hook" (鉤弋夫人) due to legend that she was born with a contractured clenched fist, which somehow magically opened up when Emperor Wu massaged it, revealing a jade hook in her palm. Because her pregnancy with Liu Fuling purportedly lasted 14 months long – the same as the mythical Emperor Yao — Emperor Wu decided to name her household "Gate of Yao's Mother" (堯母門). This led to speculation that Emperor Wu wanted to get rid of the 38-year-old Liu Ju and replace him with the 3-year-old Liu Fuling as crown prince instead. While there was no evidence that Emperor Wu actually intended to do such a thing, over the next year conspiracies began against Crown Prince Liu Ju and Empress Wei . One of the conspirators was Jiang Chong (江充), a high-ranking legal official known for his ruthlessness and opportunism. Jiang once had a run-in with Liu Ju after arresting one of the crown prince's assistants for improper use of an imperial road, and feared that Liu Ju would seek payback after ascending to the throne. Another conspirator was Emperor Wu's chief eunuch