At the beginning of his reign, Tang Dezong devoted himself to the great cause of cutting down the domain, but it ended in failure. The fundamental reason is that Tang Dezong did not have enough strong national strength and financial resources to support it, and insufficient troops and financial resources were doomed to failure.
When Tang Dezong Li Shi was also crown prince, he served as the Grand Marshal of the Terracotta Army, which was the supreme commander of the Tang Dynasty during the suppression of the Anshi Rebellion, although it was nominal. It can be seen that Li Shi has experienced this turmoil, so he is deeply disgusted with Fanzhen.
If he wants to strengthen the centralization of power and weaken the local feudal towns, it is harmless to The Tang Dynasty. But it is not so easy to cut the domain, who is willing to voluntarily give up the power in their hands.
If Tang Dezong wanted to cut the domain, it was not something that could be solved by talking, he needed to have enough financial resources, and he needed money to fight a war, and he was not confused.
Although the Anshi Rebellion was settled, Datang's strength was not fully restored to before the rebellion, not to mention that after so many years of war, Datang suffered heavy losses. The local economy made it impossible for the imperial court to receive money. To this end, he also adopted the suggestion of Yang Yan, the prime minister, and began to implement the "two tax laws". The purpose was to increase the state's revenue and prepare the town.
In the second year, Tang Dezong launched an action to cut the domain, and his method was very simple to calm down by force, and he was not willing to drag mud and water. However, the only Divine Strategy Army in his hands was obviously insufficient, so he adopted the "clan slashing the clan with the clan", that is, using force to fight and use the obedient clan town to attack the disobedient clan town.
In hindsight, this method is problematic, you can't just let the horses run and don't let the horses eat grass, although the most disobedient is the three towns of Heshuo, but other clan towns can also be reversed at any time, Tang Dezong was finally tortured by these clan towns to do a self-examination, the good situation led to a sharp turn.
The main reason why Tang Dezong adopted this method was that the Divine Strategy Army, which he relied on, was not enough to resist, but it was not that the combat effectiveness was not good, the key was that the number of people was not enough, and if he only relied on the Divine Strategy Army, the inevitable situation would be that he would lose sight of one or the other, and it was estimated that even the central military would be empty at that time.
The main reason for this situation is the lack of financial resources. Without the support of strong financial resources, it is impossible to build a huge army that obeys the orders of the central government.
So since we had to rely on local clan towns, but we didn't want them to become bigger, anything good fell on Tang Dezong, which was obviously impossible.
It is also very rare to say that Tang Dezong's determination to cut the domain is there, and if the imperial court does not have the determination to cut the domain, but just shows it, then it is even more impossible.
However, Tang Dezong was too eager to make quick gains, and the two tax laws began to be implemented, but they did not achieve much results, and the imperial court was weak, but Tang Dezong immediately began to slash the domain by force.
In the end, it was precisely because of his compromise with the clan town that the local moderation made it even more rampant. At the same time, because he was accompanied only by eunuchs when he fled, this also led to a fundamental change in his attitude towards eunuchs, and he began to favor eunuchs and handed over the power of the Divine Strategy Army to eunuchs.
At this point, Tang Dezong not only failed to cut the domain, but also the problem of eunuch monopoly became more and more serious.