Text/Feng Xuanyi
He was the tenth emperor of the Tang Dynasty (including Wu Zetian), and his grandfather, father, and himself were deeply affected by the Anshi Rebellion, and after inheriting the throne, he once tried to revitalize himself, but unfortunately he still failed to get out of the vicious circle of eunuch dictatorship and feudal division. He was Tang Dezong Li Shi.
01. The Road of the Crown Prince
Li Shi was Li Heng's grandson, Li Yu's eldest son, and his mother Empress Shen. He was born in the first year of Tianbao (742), when the Tang Dynasty was still in a state of prosperity. Less than a year after his birth, he was crowned king of Fengjie County. By the time he was fourteen years old, the Anshi Rebellion had broken out. The rebels soon captured Chang'an. The young Li Shi had to flee from Chang'an with the members of the royal family.
The Anshi Rebellion was quelled during the reign of his father Li Yu, who was originally made the Grand Marshal of the Terracotta Army, theoretically commanding various armies to fight against the rebels. In the second year of Baoying (763), after the Anshi Rebellion was settled, the imperial court rewarded the meritorious service, and Li Shiguan worshiped Shang Shu Ling, and sealed 2,000 households, along with the famous generals Guo Ziyi and Li Guangbi. The following year, Li Shi was made crown prince and became crown prince.
In this position as crown prince, he stayed for 15 years (he was made crown prince in 764 and ascended the throne in 779). His father Li Yu reigned for 18 years, and after his death, Li Shi took the throne as crown prince.
02, smoothly in place
Compared with the previous eight emperors, Li Shi's throne was smooth. We can comb through the twists and turns of the previous emperors when they ascended the throne:
Li Yu: Killed Empress Zhang with the support of eunuchs to take the throne.
Li Heng: In the face of the Anshi Rebellion, before his father died, he was supported by the army and eunuchs to take the throne.
Li Longji: First joined forces with Princess Taiping to launch the Tanglong coup and support his father Li Dan to restore the throne, and then launched a congenital coup d'état to kill Princess Taiping.
Li Dan and Li Xian: They were all manipulated by their mother Wu Zetian and did not have the right to make their own choices.
Wu Zetian: She directly took Li Tangjiangshan, and even changed the name of the country to Zhou.
Li Zhi: As Li Shimin's son, Li Zhi faced many competitors and was able to inherit the throne after Li Chengqian was deposed and Li Tai fell out of favor.
Li Shimin: Seized the throne through the Xuanwumen coup.
Behind these people's ascension to the throne, it is a turbulent past of Botai, how many people shed blood for it, and how many people died tragically. This is the struggle for power.
Compared with them, Li Shi was much luckier.
03. Reigned for twenty-seven years
Li Shi ascended the throne in 779 and died in 805, reigning for 27 years, ranking third among the Tang emperors (the first was Li Longji, who reigned for 45 years, and the second was Li Zhi, who reigned for thirty-five years). During his reign, in the early stages, he also made great efforts to govern, carefully selected officials, was diligent in government affairs, appointed Yang Yan as prime minister, implemented the reform of the "two taxes law", cracked down on the invasion of Tibet, and created a peaceful frontier environment for the Tang Dynasty. However, this momentum of diligence did not last long. In the middle and late period, he began to gradually trust the eunuchs, and handed over the power of the commander of the forbidden army to the eunuchs, appointed Lu Qi and other traitors, and greatly increased the heavy taxes and miscellaneous taxes, resulting in deeper and deeper popular resentment and the gradual formation of a situation in which the feudal towns were divided.
In the twenty-first year of Zhenyuan (805), Li Shi died of illness at the Huining Temple at the age of sixty-four.
Ouyang Xiu said in the New Book of Tang: "Emperor Dezong was suspicious and mean, and took on his own responsibilities with strength and clarity, and he was ashamed to succumb to the right theory, and forgot to be deceived by treachery." And the Old Book of Tang also pointed out: "Emperor Dezong deposed Xianxiang, a traitorous courtier, and caused the rebellion of Zhu Zhu and Huaiguang, and lost his people." It can be seen from this that Tang Dezong did make many mistakes in selecting and appointing people in his later years, resulting in the Tang Dynasty, which was waiting to be revived, once again losing hope of rejuvenation.