Text/Feng Xuanyi
During the four years of his reign, the Tang Dynasty's feudal divisions became more and more serious, rebellions one after another, the situation of the struggle between friends and the eunuchs in the imperial court intensified, and the political situation of the Tang Dynasty was turbulent. The New Book of Tang said of him: "Mu and Jing lost their morality, and they did not long after their establishment, so the world was not in turmoil, and Jingzong and his body had the ambition to please thieves!" "He is Tang Muzong Li Heng."
01, Li Heng is the power contest behind the throne
Li Heng, the third son of Emperor Xianzong of Tang. Born in 795, he was the feudal king of AnJun and later the king of Sui. Yuan He was made crown prince in the seventh year. After Emperor Xianzong's death, Li Heng took the throne as crown prince and changed his era name to Changqing.
There is a thrilling story behind every emperor's ascension to the throne. Li Heng, who took the throne as crown prince, was no exception.
Although Li Heng was made crown prince, Emperor Xianzong was always dissatisfied with him. There has always been a desire to abolish.
Emperor Xianzong's eldest son, Li Ning, became crown prince for two years before falling ill and dying. The second son, Li Yun, and the third son, Li Yun, were Li Heng. Of the two sons, Emperor Xianzong preferred Li Yun, and in order should also be Li Yun, but Li Heng's mother had an extraordinary status and was deeply rooted in the imperial court. Li Heng's original name was Yu,guo (郭氏), the granddaughter of the King of Fenyang and the second daughter of Du Wei (驸馬都尉). Compared with the strong political strength of the Guo family, Li Yun's current humble origins make it impossible for him to compete with the Guo family. Therefore, Emperor Xianzong had no choice but to make Li Heng crown prince.
Emperor Xianzong's favored eunuch Tutu Chengcui quickly captured the information that Emperor Xianzong liked Li Yun, so he gave advice to Emperor Xianzong from time to time, and deposed Emperor Xianzong.
At the end of the fourteenth year of Yuan He (819), When Emperor Xianzong's health deteriorated due to taking the elixir offered by fangshi Liu Bijin, the eunuch Tutu Chengcui continued to say bad things about Li Heng around Emperor Xianzong, and stepped up his plan to change Li Yun.
At this time, although Li Heng was the crown prince, his position was unstable, and he was also very aware of Tutu Chengxuan's sinister intentions, so he was very nervous. He went to his uncle, Guo Zhao, to consult on countermeasures. Guo Zhao instructed him that he must do his best to be "filial piety", and guo zhao would be prepared for other things.
On the 27th day of the first month of the fifteenth year of Yuan He (820), Tang Xianzong died violently. Under guo zhao's plot, and with the support of the eunuchs Liang Shouqian and Wang Shoucheng, the crown prince Li Heng finally sat on the emperor's throne. Tutu Chengxuan and the emperor's second son Li Yun were defeated, and both were killed.
Being an improper emperor is never your own business. Behind it is the game of interest groups. Li Heng won for Tang Muzong, who was 26 years old.
02. The political situation of the Tang Dynasty in which Muzong Dynasty was in a mess
Li Shimin, the most effective emperor of the Tang Dynasty, was 28 years old when he ascended the throne, and Tang Xuanzong was also 28 years old when he ascended the throne. Logically, Tang Muzong, who sat on the emperor's throne at the age of 26, should also learn from the two ancestors, work hard to govern, and restore the glory of the Tang Dynasty. Unfortunately, Li Heng did not have the political genes of Li Shimin and Longji at all. After Muzong ascended the throne, the biggest problem he faced was the rebellion of the clan towns.
During the reign of Emperor Xianzong, he reused the general Pei Du and suppressed rebellions in various feudal towns. The situation in the town was basically stabilized. However, after Muzong ascended the throne, the town of Hebei was eager to move again. In the year when Emperor Muzong ascended the throne, Chengde Jiedu made Wang Chengzong die, and his brother Wang Chengyuan temporarily took charge of military affairs, and wrote to the imperial court to send an envoy to Jiedu. The Mu Sect sent Tian Hongzheng to be the envoy of Chengde Jiedushi. Tian Hongzheng was originally an envoy of Wei Bojiedushi and later returned to the imperial court. He had twice enlisted Chengde and had a deep grudge with Chengde. The general Yang Yuanqing of Zuo Jinwu had advised him that it would be inappropriate to send Tian Hongzheng to Chengde at this time, fearing that the contradiction would intensify. Muzong did not listen to advice and insisted on going his own way.
After Tian Hongzheng set off, things really changed. In 821, Chengde Duzhi made Wang Tingzhuo take advantage of the soldiers' dissatisfaction with Tian Hongzheng to launch a rebellion, killing Tian Hongzheng and more than 300 people, including his staff, guards, and family members, and then sent troops to attack everywhere, threatening the imperial court to make him an envoy of Jiedushi.
In 821, a rebellion also broke out in the town of Lulong. The new Lu Longjiedu made Zhang Hongjing arbitrarily withhold imperial rewards, cut off the grain of the soldiers, and insult his soldiers with a whip. His atrocities aroused the resentment of the soldiers, who supported Zhu Kerong as an emissary and rebelled against the imperial court.
When the news came, the government and the opposition shook.
Emperor Muzong was forced to order the mobilization of the armies of Wei Bo, Henghai, Hedong, Yiwu and other feudal towns, with Pei Du as an envoy to suppress the rebellion.
However, Muzong did not have the same high level of trust in Pei Du as his father, and he listened to the rumors of Wei Hongjian, Yuan Shu and others, and obstructed Pei Du's military operations at every turn, making Pei Du unable to perform. The Hebei rebellion has been unrest for a long time.
The rebellion of the two feudal towns of Chengde and Lulong in Hebei province played a very bad leading role. Subsequently, Wei Bo also rebelled, and the three towns of Lulong, Chengde, and Wei Bo in Beihe were all out of the control of the imperial court. Towns around the country followed suit, and news of the rebellion reached the central government one after another.
After Muzong ascended the throne, due to the improper handling of the issue of the selection of chengde and jiedu, the unification situation of the Xianzong dynasty's painstaking management was broken, and within two years, the rebellion in the town of Fanzhen broke out again and became more and more intense. Until the fall of the Tang Dynasty, it could not be suppressed again.
During Muzong's reign, there were not enough successes and more than enough failures. Not only did he not learn from his ancestors' ambition to revive the great tang dynasty, but he was also incompetent. From the above, it can be seen that he handled the affairs of the clan town, and it can be seen that he has no ability to engage in politics. Soon after he ascended the throne, he indulged in eroticism in the palace and ignored the government. The minister said: "Your Majesty has just taken the throne, and the era name has not been changed. When the kingdom is greatly lost, the new monarch should put the world first, and should not feast in the harem all day." He didn't listen at all, and still went his own way.
03, spoiled eunuch, died of elixir
During the reign of Emperor Muzong, he favored eunuchs, eunuchs had exclusive powers, and the prime ministers used were mediocre and incompetent. Among the chancellors appointed by Emperor Muzong, Yuan Shu was more famous because his poetry was passed down from generation to generation. But Yuan Shu was not a politician, not even a qualified prime minister. In order to become the prime minister, he formed a party for personal gain, was jealous of Xian's ability, and even did not hesitate to sabotage Pei Du's strategy of revenge against Hebei.
Muzong was a eunuch who supported the throne, and naturally he was very spoiled for eunuchs.
Wang Shoucheng and Liang Shouqian were both popular eunuchs of the Muzong Dynasty.
In 822, Muzong and the eunuch were playing a game of batting in the palace, and a eunuch lost his hand and fell off his horse, and Muzong was frightened and seriously ill. The eunuch Wang Shoucheng colluded with the chancellor Li Fengji internally and externally to control the imperial government. After that, Muzong began to seek immortality, often taking various elixirs. The body is getting weaker and weaker, and the health is getting worse. In the first month of 824, Muzong fell ill and died in the Qingsi Hall of Chang'an Palace, at the age of 30. Tang Muzong was so faint, it is no wonder that the New Book of Tang would use the word "loss of morality" to evaluate.
Although Muzong was only 30 years old when he died, he gave birth to five sons, and three of them became emperors, that is, the later Tang Jingzong, Tang Wenzong, and Tang Wuzong, which is very rare in history and unique in the history of the Tang Dynasty. However, the mothers of these three sons were all different concubines, and after each son ascended the throne, he posthumously honored his birth mother as the empress dowager, so Tang Muzong had three empresses and him worthy of the Taimiao Temple, which is also very rare in history.
Resources:
1. New and Old Book of Tang
2. Chronology of the Lineage of Chinese Emperors
3. Wu Weibin: "Yuan Shu and Tang Muzong"