As we all know, the era of the Tang Dynasty is divided into the early Tang, Sheng Tang, Middle Tang, and Late Tang, and the early Tang Dynasty to the Sheng Tang Dynasty is the rising period of the Tang Dynasty, and it is also the most powerful period of the Tang Dynasty. A chaos in the history of an anshi completely changed the history of the Tang Dynasty, the Tang Dynasty, which was at the peak of its national strength, suddenly fell from the peak, and the Tang Dynasty also stepped from the Sheng Tang to the Middle Tang, and the crises and contradictions hidden under the appearance of the prosperous world also broke out. The dictatorship of the eunuchs is one of these crises and contradictions.
Although the Tang Dynasty also had excellent eunuchs who were known as the first eunuchs, this did not mean that the problem of the eunuch dictatorship of the Tang Dynasty was not serious, on the contrary, the Tang Dynasty had been influenced by the eunuch dictatorship since it entered the Middle Tang Dynasty, until the fall of the Tang Dynasty, and the Tang Dynasty was therefore recognized by later historians as one of the most serious dynasties with the eunuch dictatorship. Since the Middle Tang Dynasty, the eunuch dictatorship has always threatened the authority of the imperial power, and the imperial power has constantly confronted it, and the origin and defeat of this eunuch that we want to talk about today is the concentrated manifestation of this confrontation trend.
Yu Chao'en, a famous eunuch in the Middle and Tang Dynasties. Yu Chao'en, like Li Fuguo, another powerful eunuch before him, was able to soar to the top by gaining the favor of Emperor Suzong of Tang and Li Heng during the Anshi Rebellion. However, unlike Li Fuguo, who quickly collapsed after Emperor Tang's succession, Yu Chao'en also gained his trust and grace after Emperor Tang's succession, and his reign was far longer than that of Li Fuguo, the first eunuch of the Middle Tang Dynasty.
To what extent has the power of the fish dynasty been great? During the Anshi Rebellion, Emperor Suzong of Tang set up a special post for him called "Guanjun Rongxuan Consolation Envoy", which served as a special envoy to command the Nine Roads Army of more than 200,000 people and had the highest command. During the Tang Dynasty, Yu Chao'en dared to insult him in front of the prime minister, but the prime minister was not good because of his favor.
Yu Chao'en's power was most vividly reflected in his request for a purple robe for his adopted son, Yu Chao'en's adopted son was specially given a green robe by Emperor Tang Dynasty at that time, and as a result, one day when he was in the upper dynasty, a colleague of higher rank than him was afraid of being late and accidentally bumped into him when he squeezed into the queue, and he went back to complain to Yu Chao'en, saying that he had been bullied, and Yu Chao'en was instantly thunderous when he heard it.
In order to give his adopted son a head, Yu Chao'en pulled his adopted son to meet Tang Daizong the next day, saying that his son was bullied by others because of his low official rank, and asked His Majesty to give him a purple robe, Yu Chao'en suddenly jumped two official ranks for his son (above the green coat is red, and then the purple robe) and does not say, the key is that he has not waited for Daizong to speak before he has put the purple robe on his son, and his adopted son is constantly giving Daizong Xie'en, and Daizong actually endured in the face of Yu Chao'en's extremely arrogant behavior. He also praised yu Chao'en's son for looking good in a purple robe.
After all, Yu Chao'en still did not understand the relationship between his status and imperial power, which also laid the groundwork for his eventual defeat. In the fifth year of the Gregorian calendar (770), the chancellor Yuan Zai secretly petitioned Emperor Tang Dynasty to kill Yu Chao'en, and even bribed two of Yu Chao'en's cronies with heavy gold, so that they could secretly monitor Yu Chao'en's every move. Finally, on the Cold Food Festival in March, the imperial palace held a banquet, and after the banquet, Yu Chao'en was preparing to go home, and Emperor Tang took the opportunity to stop him, saying that there was something to discuss. Yu Believed it was true and went straight to it without any doubt.
As a result, when Yu Chao'en arrived at Emperor Daizong's office, Emperor Daizong of Tang attacked him, accusing him of plotting against him, and while Yu Chao'en was defending himself, Yu Chao'en's cronies and left and right guards took Yu Chao'en down and strangled him to death in front of Emperor Daizong. However, Yu Chao'en's previous power was too large, so that Tang Dynasty Emperor did not dare to directly release the news of his execution after executing him, he first deposed Yu Chao'en's previous military power, and even did a full set of plays to increase Yu Chao'en's fiefdom, and retained his official position as a supervisor in the inner guard, after doing all this, Tang Dynasty Emperor released the news of Yu Chao'en's death, and released Yu Chao'en's body back home, and even at this time, he could only say that he hanged himself.
The rise and fall of Yu Chao'en is a concentrated display of the alienation of imperial power. Due to the alienation of imperial power, the centralized power of the absolute monarchy was stolen by eunuchs, and the huge power of imperial power could easily raise eunuchs who were not originally noble in status to the height of extremely popular subjects, but in the final analysis, eunuchs themselves are not the source of power, and their power is ultimately given by the imperial power. And when the alienation of imperial power ends and the monarch becomes the carrier of imperial power again, then even the most powerful eunuchs cannot avoid the point of defeat, because their source of power no longer gives them power.
To sum up, Yu Chao'en's downfall was caused by his failure to distinguish the relationship between his own power and imperial power, and the reason why his power was grand was not how superb his power and planning were, but the trust and favor from the two emperors of Suzong and Daizong, so that he had power that ordinary ministers could not reach, and when the emperor no longer trusted him, his power would lose its support like a rootless water, and the defeat could only be taken for granted.