During the reign of Emperor Xuanzong of Tang, an Anshi Rebellion destroyed the prosperity of the ancestors for generations, and although this rebellion was put down by the crown prince Li Heng, it also took a long time. Li Heng was Tang Suzong, and from becoming crown prince to consolidating the throne, he was full of ups and downs, experiencing one political storm after another, which also made him grow gradually, and later even Tang Xuanzong's power was emptied by him. So what political turmoil has he experienced?
When the monarchs of the feudal dynasty became princes, they generally chose to be concubines or eldest sons, but this law was completely disrupted in the Tang Dynasty, and after Li Shimin overtook the throne by his brother, the competition between the thrones completely entered a state of disorder. Almost all of the princes and courtiers colluded to seize the throne.
Emperor Xuanzong of Tang killed Wei in a coup d'état, and then defeated his sister, forcing his father to give way to him. After Tang Xuanzong ascended to the throne, he strictly monitored almost every crown prince, and then made Li Ying crown prince, the prince was born to him and Zhao Lifei, but his most infatuated with Concubine Wu. Concubine Wu also gave birth to a son, named Li Mao, who, in order to gain power for her son, took advantage of the emperor's favor to depose the crown prince. She deliberately had the prince and the King of E, the King of Guang, and others, saying that thieves had entered the palace and let them enter the palace to catch the thieves, but she also told the emperor that "the prince and the two princes have rebelled and have entered the palace wearing armor." The emperor had always had great trust in this concubine, and after listening to her words, he quickly sent someone to inspect, and as a result, he just collided with the prince and others, and implemented the prince's crime. It was through the emperor's trust and the many coups that the emperor had experienced that Wu Huifei succeeded in getting the emperor to kill three sons in a row, including the crown prince, in one day.
Tang Xuanzong originally wanted Li Mao to inherit the throne, but because he was afraid that his foreign relatives would be too powerful and would not be easy to manage in the future, he simply established Li Heng as the crown prince under the advice of his courtiers.
After Li Heng became the prince, the situation was even more difficult, and Li Linfu, because he had a ghost in his heart, was afraid that the future prince would not be good for him, so he tried his best to frame him. The crown princess's older brother was named Wei Jian, and he had a close relationship with the crown prince, and on the day of the First Yuan Festival, Wei Jian met with the envoy of Hexi Jiedushi, and then met the prince. This matter was just discovered by Li Linfu, who went to the emperor and said that these three people had the intention of rebellion, because the relationship between the three people was relatively special, and the emperor was very angry after knowing that these three people met.
In the end, the crown princess fell into the hair as a nun, wei Jian was given death as the end, and the position of the prince was greatly affected.
After he had survived Li Linfu's death, Yang Guozhong attacked him again, and his status was slightly improved until after the outbreak of war. The reason why his position as crown prince was not lost, in addition to his prudence in doing things and trying to leave a good impression on his father's heart, was also related to Tang Xuanzong. In order to maintain the stability of the various forces in the DPRK and China, as long as the prince's actions were in accordance with the regulations, Tang Xuanzong strongly supported the prince.
The arrival of the Anshi Rebellion completely broke the original calm, because the emperor was unprepared, and the rebels soon hit Chang'an City. Seeing that Chang'an City could not be saved, the emperor could only flee with his concubines and courtiers.
During the time of Ma Songpo, he was forced by the rebels to kill Yang Guifei's brother and sister. After the mutiny, Tang Xuanzong and the crown prince soldiers divided into two routes, and the prince and his party arrived at Lingwu and ascended the throne under the advice of the heavy ministers. The emperor originally wanted the crown prince to attract enemy troops, but he did not expect that the crown prince would ascend the throne in Lingwu without authorization.
Even though he was not willing, but the crown prince had a large army in his hands, Tang Xuanzong could only recognize the status of the new emperor, but he still forcibly retained his supreme authority. In order to compete with his son, Tang Xuanzong created a small imperial court in Chengdu, replacing local officials with his own confidants, forming a pattern of two regimes in one country. In order to exert pressure on the new emperor, Tang Xuanzong specially sent many old ministers who had originally followed him to Lingwu.
Although Tang Xuanzong was forced to recognize his position, he was always criticized by people, and all the actions after Tang Xuanzong also brought many problems to the New Deal. If Tang Suzong wanted to take power, he had to eliminate all the forces of Tang Xuanzong, such as Fang Zhen, the prime minister, and in less than half a month, those old forces were eliminated by him.
However, after these obstacles to the new policy were cleared, the new emperor still felt uneasy. By the end of the war, the army had gradually gained an advantage on the battlefield, but Tang Suzong did not heed the advice and insisted on taking back Chang'an, which was meaningless. As a result, it took a great price to recover, and it lost its original advantages, which prolonged the war for many years.
In fact, the reason why the new emperor resolutely repossessed Chang'an was also to find an excuse to take back Tang Xuanzong and eliminate the existence of the small imperial court. After returning to Chang'an City, the new emperor wanted to take back Tang Xuanzong on the grounds of filial piety, but Tang Xuanzong refused. The new emperor had no choice but to assure Tang Xuanzong of his political status, and Tang Xuanzong returned to Chang'an after receiving an answer.
After all, politics is not as good as fairy tales, and after Tang Xuanzong returned to Beijing, he lived in the Xingqing Palace where he lived when he was not yet on the throne. Soon his cronies were expelled by Tang Suzong, and they were gradually put under house arrest. When Tang Suzong was seriously ill, Tang Xuanzong died in the place where he was placed under house arrest, and the two generations of emperors died only thirteen days apart. I don't know how Tang Suzong felt when he heard the news of his father's death.
Article author: Dahui
The entire graphic was produced by the team of the Big Cafe Say History Studio!