Text/Feng Xuanyi
When it comes to eunuch dictatorship, many people may think of the Ming Dynasty, it may be Wei Zhongxian. However, the worst plague of eunuchs in Chinese history was not the Ming Dynasty but the Tang Dynasty. In the Tang Dynasty, eunuchs controlled the army, controlled the government, and presided over the abolition of the emperor. Wei Zhongxian's little trick was simply a child in the eyes of these Tang Dynasty eunuchs.
After the Anshi Rebellion, eunuchs began to appear on the stage of power, and until the fall of the Tang Dynasty, no emperor could solve this "stubborn disease" well. In the middle and late Tang Dynasty, a group of eunuchs forced the palace to kill the emperor, and the dictatorship ran rampant, and there was no evil. There are Li Fuguo, the self-proclaimed "old slave who oppressed the emperor", Ju Wenzhen and Wang Shoucheng, who forced the palace to kill the emperor, Qiu Shiliang, who has experienced six generations of emperors and has been constantly favored, and Tian Lingzi, who is known as the "father of the emperor". These people have been introduced in the previous articles of the editor. Today, Xiaobian will tell you about another eunuch in the Tang Dynasty, Bian Lingcheng.
Is there anything remarkable about this eunuch? Yes, he did not do good deeds, specifically framed the members of the imperial court, and he once killed the three famous generals of the Tang Dynasty: Gao Xianzhi, Feng Changqing, and Ge Shuhan.
Bian Lingcheng was mainly active in the Xuanzong Dynasty. Before the Anshi Rebellion, he was an important eunuch in the palace. This person's origin and how he was promoted are rarely recorded in historical books. He only knew that he had a good relationship with Gao Lishi, another famous eunuch around Tang Xuanzong, who once told Xuanzong that Bian Lingcheng was "aware of the general body and worried about the society" and was a talentable person.
The reason why the eunuchs of the Tang Dynasty were so cattle and so powerful was mainly because the imperial court let the eunuchs participate in the military. After the Anshi Rebellion, eunuchs were put in charge of the forbidden army.
On the one hand, Bian Lingcheng flattered the emperor and gained trust, and on the other hand, he participated in the military, demanded bribes, and pit the generals, and was a complete villain.
In the sixth year of Tang Tianbao (747), the famous Tang general Gao Xianzhi led an army to defeat the small Buru state attached to Tubo and captured the king of the little Bolu state. In August of that year, Gao Xianzhi returned triumphantly with King Xiao Bolu and Princess Tubo. In September, when the army marched to Lianyun Fort in Pole Chuan, he met with the eunuch Bian Lingcheng.
At that time, Gao Xianzhi's official position was the deputy capital protector of Anxi and the deputy envoy of the four towns of Anxi, and the envoy of the Zhengjiedu was Fu Meng Lingzhi. According to the custom, the adjutant general won the battle, and the commander-in-chief should draft a chapter to report to the emperor. However, Gao Xianzhi bypassed Fu Meng lingzhi and directly reported his military achievements to the imperial court. This made Fu Meng Lingzhi very angry, but Gao Xianzhi was a meritorious person, and Fu Meng Lingzhi did not dare to question him, and he angrily scolded: Goryeo slaves who eat.
At this time, Bian Lingcheng admired Gao Xianzhi very much, and when he saw that Gao Xianzhi had won the battle, he was scolded by Fu Mengling, and his heart was uneven. After returning to the imperial court, he praised Gao Xianzhi's merits to Emperor Xuanzong, and then said that the main general Fu Mengling had treated things unfairly, which made Gao Xianzhi sad and angry day and night. Finally, he said something that seemed to be understated but was extremely lethal: "Xianzhi made meritorious contributions and died in fear, who will be used by the imperial court?" When Emperor Xuanzong heard this, he smiled and ordered that Fu Meng Lingzhi Anxi be removed from his post and transferred back to the interior to listen. Gao Xianzhi was allowed to replace Fu Meng Lingzhi as the envoy of Anxi Jiedushi. Bian Lingcheng's words made this famous general's life reach its peak. Thus, the weight of this eunuch's words.
It should be said that it is a good arrangement to let Gao Xianzhi serve as the envoy of the Anxi Festival. However, the reason why Bian Lingcheng spoke for Gao Xianzhi was not out of national interests, but from his own likes and dislikes, for his own interests. Once his likes and dislikes and interests deviate, the results are often bad. And such deviations are extremely easy to occur.
Gao Xianzhi was promoted because of his words, and also because of his words, his head fell to the ground.
After the Anshi Rebellion broke out, Emperor Xuanzong ordered Gao Xianzhi and Feng Changqing, two famous generals, to lead an army to quell the rebellion. He needed these guards to quell the chaos, but he was not at ease with the guards, so he invented the system of letting eunuchs supervise the army, which set a precedent for eunuchs to supervise the army. The first supervisor was Bian Lingcheng.
However, An Lushan had just raised an army and was very powerful, and after the battle, the Tang army collapsed. Gao Xianzhi led his army to retreat to Tongguan. Bian Lingcheng went to the army, did not consider the current situation, did not consider the war situation, and wantonly demanded bribes. This made Gao Xianzhi and other generals very disgusted. Bian Lingcheng did not understand military affairs, but he did not know how to pretend to understand, and made some unrealistic military suggestions to Gao Xianzhi, which were all rejected by Gao Xianzhi. Bian Lingcheng thus held a grudge against Gao Xianzhi. After returning to the imperial court, he said to Emperor Xuanzong: "Feng Changqing said that the strength of the rebels shook the hearts of the army, and Gao Xianzhi gave up hundreds of miles of Land in Shaanxi County, secretly withholding the food and rewards of the soldiers. After hearing Bian Lingcheng's one-sided words, Tang Xuanzong, who was old and faint, was furious and sent Bian Lingcheng to the army to behead Gao Xianzhi and Feng Changqing.
The two members of the Tang Dynasty were killed by a eunuch in this way, which was stifling.
Emperor Xuanzong killed two generals, and the anger in his heart was released, but the situation of the war did not improve at all. Soon, the rebels attacked Chang'an City.
Emperor Xuanzong gave the keys to the Forbidden Palace to Bian Lingcheng for safekeeping, and then fled from Chang'an with Gao Lishi, Yang Guifei's sisters, princes, princesses, concubines and imperial grandchildren, and the chancellor Yang Guozhong. When the emperor handed over the key to the palace ban to himself, Bian Lingcheng was grateful to Shu Zero, which was how much the emperor had a lot of favor for himself!
However, overnight, this favored letter of the emperor suddenly became a hot potato. The rebels are here in the blink of an eye, what to do?
Bian Lingcheng had seen the world, and he knew that the most taboo thing at this moment was hesitation. He immediately made a decision, sealed the key, and directly sent someone to Send It to An Lushan. Then open the gates of the city and put the rebels into the city. He himself took advantage of the chaos and fled.
After Emperor Suzong succeeded to the throne, he also wanted to continue to please the new emperor. It is a pity that the new emperor has a new joy, and he has become "history". Emperor Suzong ordered that Bian Lingcheng be beheaded and displayed to the public.