History is the memory of things that have been said and done. —Carl Baker
The reason why Li Siyuan was able to become emperor was a big drama.
Emperor Zhuangzong of Tang, Li Cunxun, was a god of war of a generation who laid the foundation of a country and called the emperor the Later Tang.
However, soon after he became emperor, he began to covet pleasures, favor eunuchs, and often sing and mix with Youling, and the government gradually became very chaotic.
For example, there was a chaotic incident, that is, the Weizhou army was sent to guard Waqiao Pass, and when the period of defense expired, the soldiers should have returned to Weizhou, but they would not let the soldiers return. As a result, the soldiers stopped working, and the soldiers represented by Huang Fuhui wanted to find someone to take the lead in the rebellion. So he caught a general Yang Rensheng. Yang Renzhao did not do anything, and the soldiers cut him down with a knife. Another colonel was caught, and the colonel did not do it, and the soldiers cut off the colonel's head again. Take these two heads to find General Zhao Zaili. Zhao Zaili was so frightened that he wanted to escape over the wall, but was dragged down the wall by the soldiers and showed zhao Zaili two heads. Zhao Zaili was afraid and had to rebel.
When Li Cunxun found out, he sent one of his most powerful generals, Yuan Xingqin, to quell the chaos. After Yuan Xingqin went, he could not attack for a long time. Li Cunxun was unable to do so, and sent Li Siyuan to succeed Yuan Xingqin in suppressing the rebellion. Li Siyuan was the adopted son of Li Cunxun's father, and he made great military achievements in the establishment of The Later Tang Dynasty. After Li Cunxun became emperor, he appointed him as the commander-in-chief of the horse infantry army inside and outside the Han Dynasty, equivalent to the commander-in-chief, but he was jealous of him and asked him to guard the border pass. In the end, it didn't work out. At this time, Li Cunxun couldn't do anything, so he had to use Li Siyuan again.
After Li Siyuan went, he dispatched Yuan Xingqin. However, Yuan Xingqin was replaced by Li Siyuan and was not happy, so he did not listen to the dispatch. Soon, Zhao joined forces with Li Siyuan's men to capture Li Siyuan and ask him to take the lead in the rebellion. Of course, Li Siyuan did not want to rebel, so he managed to escape and fled to Wei County. Then let Yuan Xingqin go together to suppress the rebellion. Unexpectedly, Yuan Xingqin not only disagreed, but also wrote to Li Cunxun of Tang Zhuangzong, saying that Li Siyuan had rebelled. Li Cunxun did not believe it, so he sent Li Siyuan's son to understand the situation. As a result, Yuan Xingqin was afraid that the false accusation against Li Siyuan would be revealed, so he killed Li Siyuan's son and encouraged Li Cunxun to personally recruit Li Siyuan. Li Siyuan was forced to fight with Li Cunxun.
Li Cunxun was unable to win the battle, and when he retreated back to Luoyang, Kyoto, he was killed by the eunuch Guo Congqian. So Li Siyuan called all the way to Luoyang. Originally, he only agreed to be the overseer of the state, but under the repeated persuasion of his son-in-law Shi Jingyao and the prime minister An Zhongjie, he finally became the emperor, and he was also Tang Mingzong.
Li Siyuan was an illiterate man, and after becoming emperor, he could not even understand the chancellor's recital, so he appointed a very learned minister named Feng Dao as a scholar of the Duanming Temple, responsible for reciting the recital to him. He also learned a lot of truth from Feng Dao.
Relatively speaking, Li Siyuan can be regarded as one of the best emperors among more than ten emperors in the five dynasties. After he came to power, he did several things that were praised by future generations.
First, political reforms have been undertaken. First, he changed the tradition of appointing officials to guard the door during the Tang Zhuangzong period, and did not look at the door to see the talent. Second, he established a talent recommendation and selection system. In addition, in order to ensure the quality of the recommended talents, a joint seat responsibility system has been implemented. In other words, if the referred person makes mistakes in the future, the referrer is jointly and severally liable. Third, Li Siyuan punished many corrupt officials and commended many honest and honest officials. This made Tang Mingzong's tiancheng years a rare period of political clarity in the five generations.
Secondly, economic reforms have been undertaken. Li Siyuan's economic reform includes these aspects: First, the phenomenon of tax evasion by landlords and rich households has been investigated and implemented in a serious manner. Second, many harsh taxes and miscellaneous taxes have been abolished, and some taxes owed by poor peasant households have been reduced or reduced. The third is to change the way that wine and iron can only be monopolized by the state, and allow the private sector to operate as well, which will also invigorate the economy. The fourth is to reduce the government establishment, streamline the organization, work hard and simple, and save money.
Third, military reforms have been carried out. It is mainly reflected in li Siyuan's military reform in response to the serious chaos in the early five dynasties. The first is to implement a town, that is, to rotate the commanders of the major military regions to avoid the town from becoming bigger. The second was to strengthen the strength of the central forbidden army, and on the basis of the original horse infantry army inside and outside the Han Dynasty, the Mabudu Command Division of the Guards and Pro-Army was established, and the power of some clan towns was transferred to the central forbidden army. The third is to transfer the power to appoint local officers to the central authorities, and local governments are not allowed to appoint officers themselves. The fourth is to severely crack down on local feudal towns that are engaged in chaos.
Overall, in the seven or eight years of serving as emperor, Li Siyuan, a big old man who did not know a word, still did a good job. However, he also had a lot of obvious mistakes. The first is the lack of moderation over the ministers of the DPRK and the Middle Kingdom, resulting in the emergence of powerful ministers in the five generations in addition to the division of the feudal towns, making the five generations more complicated. The second was that Meng Zhixiang of Former Shu did not carry out a resolute blow, resulting in territorial division. The third is not to educate future generations well. He himself died in horror during the rebellion of his second son, Li Congrong. The chaos in the later period, such as the adoption of li congke instead of his son Li Conghou as emperor, and the son-in-law Shi Jingyao replacing his adopted son Li Congke as emperor, are all manifestations of his failure to educate his descendants well and not to distribute power well.