There was an emperor in the Tang Dynasty who was known as the most "pretender", who endured for many years, survived four candidates for prince, and was once thrown into a dung pit and almost died.
It was such a person who wrote the poem "Hanging White Juyi" and became a famous artist for a time. He deceived the eyes of the eunuch in power with a fool and ascended to the throne as an incompetent and cowardly figure.
No one expected that such a person, after ascending the throne, was like a rebirth, and during his reign, he worked hard to recover Tubo, known as "Little Taizong", and achieved the most brilliant period of the late Tang Dynasty.
This person was Tang Xuanzong Li Chen. Why did he pretend to be stupid for 36 years? What made him change?
Li Chen's original name was Li Yi and he was the thirteenth son of Tang Xianzong. However, he was not from a regular background, and Li Chen's mother, Zheng Shi, was only a small maid.
While wandering around the back garden, Tang Xianzong accidentally saw that his concubine's maid Zheng Shi had a bit of charm, so he incorporated it into the harem, and in 820 AD, he gave birth to Li Chen.
From the time Li Chen was born, other people's children were all crying and lively, but Li Chen only cried quietly, and was recognized by Tang Xianzong as stupid, plus he was born with a maid, and he did not like it more and more.
In the eyes of others, Li Chen was silent and sluggish since he was a child, and the other princes were either wen or martial at the banquet, each with their own strengths and talents, while Li Chen sat in the corner and never said a word. When I grew up, this situation not only did not improve, but became more and more serious.
At a banquet for the empress dowager's birthday, Li Chen, who entered the palace for the first time, experienced the assassination of assassins, although the final result was that there were no casualties and there was no danger, but since then Li Chen has become more taciturn, and the royal family relatives have always believed that it must be this assassination incident, which frightened this guy who was already dumbfounded.
As Tang Xianzong's obsession with Dan Medicine intensified, he finally fell ill and drove to Hexi. Li Heng served as Tang Muzong, indulged in deep lust all day, ignored the government, tried to live as immortal as his father, and eventually followed the old path of Tang Xianzong, and died after taking Dan medicine. Subsequently, The Tang Jing Emperor Li Zhan took the throne, reigning for only 2 years before he was assassinated, and the emperor turned again on Li Ang's body.
Emperor Wenzong Li Ang looked down on Li Chen the most, and often used the convenience of banquets to humiliate and make fun of Li Chen. Once, at a banquet for the prince, everyone sang and danced, laughing and laughing, but Li Chen sat by and did not say a word, which annoyed Emperor Wenzong, but it was not good, so he had to tell everyone that if anyone could make Li Chen talk or laugh, he would be rewarded heavily.
As soon as this remark came out, the princes rushed up and abused Li Chen in every way, but Li Chen still did not say a word, but only dodged everywhere in fear. This non-committal appearance caused the crowd to laugh, but one of the princes was greatly annoyed when he saw Li Chen's appearance, thinking that he had disgraced the face of the Li Tang royal family.
This greatly annoyed prince was Li Yan, the later Emperor Wuzong of Tang. As Emperor Wenzong fell into political interests and was impeached and deposed by various officials, Li Yan ascended the throne as emperor. After becoming emperor, Li Yan's temper became bigger and bigger, and whenever he saw Li Chen, his heart would always burn with nameless anger.
In order to save the face of the Li Tang royal family, Li Yan thought of many ways to harm Li Chen, but Li Chen was always a fool with a stupid fortune, and every time he ran back intact, which surprised Li Yan: once or twice can be said to be luck, and the number of times shows that this person is not as simple as it seems.
Li Yan gradually saw that Li Chen was pretending to be stupid, for himself whose foundation was unstable, this kind of person with a very deep city government was too much of a threat to himself, and Li Yan simply did not want to have any plans, and planned to kill Li Chen directly.
One night, Li Chen, who was sleeping, was suddenly tied up by four eunuchs and involuntarily thrown into the cesspool, intending to drown him in the nest, Li Yan planned to declare to the outside world that the emperor could not go to the toilet and fall into the dung pit and die, neither falling into the truth, nor letting others grasp any handle.
However, at this time, Li Yan's personal eunuch Qiu Gongwu began to think carefully. Qiu Gongwu told Li Yan that he could directly kill Li Chen with one sword. After getting Li Yan's nod of approval, Qiu Gongwu did not do so, but arranged for his henchmen to secretly rescue Li Chen and secretly arranged for him to be in a monastery in an attempt to pave the way for the future palace transformation.
Li Chen, who was in the monastery, practiced with the old Zen master of the monastery and soon became accustomed to eating and praying to the Buddha. But the old Zen master was as wise as a torch, and he saw that Li Chen was wise and foolish, and he would do a lot in the future. However, Li Chen was so able to pretend that after observing for several days, even the old Zen master could not figure out what Li Chen wanted to do.
Once, when the two were practicing in the mountains, they encountered a waterfall, and the old Zen master Shi Xing Dafa immediately said:
"Thousands of rocks and valleys do not spare any effort, and the source is high from a distance."
These two poems, seemingly casual, in fact, carefully tasted, but there are many articles in them.
The superficial meaning of the verse is that these streams flowed here after thousands of mountains and rivers, but as long as you look at it from a distance, you can know that the waterfall is formed because of the mountain.
The secret meaning is to test Li Chen: After experiencing all kinds of hardships, do you still want to soar to the top one day?
How to pick up these two poems?
Also facing the waterfall, the great poet Bai Juyi will definitely say here: "Why rush down the mountain, and add more waves to the world." ”
If Li Chen had also accepted in this way, it would mean that he had already seen through the red dust and was disheartened, and I am afraid that in the future, there would be no Xiao Taizong Tang Xuan Emperor, but one more monk in the mountains.
Li Chen looked at the smiling old Zen master, understood that he was testing himself, and no longer covered up, and generously expressed his ambition:
"How can the stream be retained, and eventually return to the sea as a wave?"
These two poems can see the true imperial mind from it. On the one hand, combined with the poems of the old Zen master, the upper and lower echoes, and the literary style is remarkable. On the other hand, he also made it clear to the Zen master that he had not been consumed by the life of the Qinglan Ancient Buddha.
Such ambition really frightened the old Zen master, and he also understood that Li Chen was destined not to stay out of the matter and live a stable life, but a giant eagle that was growing, and one day, it would definitely soar in the sky.
In 846, When Emperor Wuzong of Tang was critically ill, Li Chen received the news and discovered the opportunity, and he began to decide to fight for his future, so he took the initiative to contact the eunuch Qiu Gongwu who rescued him.
It turned out that Li Chen had gambled right this time, and his superb acting skills did not even have anyone in the eunuch group as a "human spirit" to doubt him.
After Qiu Gongwu received Li Chen's letter, he pondered for a while, but he was still undecided, and could only report upwards to listen to the views of others in the team. When the head of the eunuchs learned of this, he held an urgent meeting for this purpose. After many considerations, the eunuchs unanimously agreed that Li Chen was dazed and had a cowardly and incompetent personality, which was more convenient to control.
Therefore, after the death of Emperor Li Yan of Tangwu, the eunuchs led by Ma Yuanzhen welcomed Li Chen back to Chang'an, and vigorously defied the public opinion and supported Li Chen as the new emperor.
Tang Xuanzong Li Chen finally officially ascended the throne after 36 years of pretending to be stupid, and the eunuchs could never have imagined that this emperor was not only more difficult to control than the previous emperor, but also had a quick mind, creating one miracle after another.
Li Chen, who became emperor, handled things in an orderly manner, and treated the ministers even more decisively. With a majestic look, he carried out a new reform of the system above the imperial court. First, he uprooted the prime minister Li Deyu and his forces and replaced them with his own people.
The eunuchs were secretly happy to learn that their old rival Li Deyu had been deposed, but they were soon unhappy, because the eunuchs' power was also suppressed by Li Chen. At this time, the eunuchs suddenly realized that Li Chen, who sat on the throne, was really too strange.
After that, Li Chen found many loopholes in the process of governance, and in order to find out the "moths" in the imperial court, Li Chen made many private visits, observed the people's feelings, and strengthened his support for agriculture, so that the Tang Dynasty once had a situation of national wealth and strong troops.
It is also in this way that the common people call this reform "the rule of the great middle", and Li Chen is also known as "Little Taizong". Until the fall of the Tang Dynasty, the people still remembered Li Chen's contribution.
In terms of foreign relations, Tang Xuanzong Li Chen defeated Tubo, recovered Hehuang, and stabilized Northern Sai. In one fell swoop, it regained the tang dynasty's control over the region, which was the biggest military victory of the Tang dynasty against Tibet after the Anshi Rebellion.
In addition, there are also historical records that during Li Chen's reign, his favorite book to read was "Zhenguan Politician", he put this book on the bedside, and every time he read it, he respectfully held it between his hands, saw the wonderful points of the people's livelihood reform, and often did not think about tea and dinner.
Li Chen pretended to be crazy and stupid, Taoguang raised obscurity, struggled for 36 years, and survived the death of the Emperor of the Five Dynasties, such a hidden forbearance and willpower is beyond the reach of ordinary people. Unfortunately, Li Chen committed the same problem as the previous Emperor of the Five Dynasties - the pursuit of immortality. In his later years, Li Chen began to indulge in Dan Medicine, and eventually died at the age of 51 because of accidentally eating poisonous Dan Medicine.
And the Tang Dynasty also ended the brief glory of returning to the light with the death of Li Chen, and has since fallen into the abyss.