Li Chen (27/28 July 810 – 7/10 September 859), courtesy name Li Yi, was the sixteenth emperor of the Tang Dynasty (reigned 22 April 846 – 7/10 September 859, except for Wu Zetian and Emperor Li Chongmao). As the sixteenth emperor of the Tang Dynasty, Tang Xuanzong Li Chen naturally belonged to the monarch of the late Tang Dynasty. Li Chen of Tang Xuanzong was the thirteenth son of Li Chun of Tang Xianzong and the half-brother of Li Heng of Tang Muzong.
During the reign of Emperor Xuanzong of Tang, Li Chen degraded Li Deyu, suppressed the excessive expansion of eunuch power, defeated Tubo, recovered Hehuang, and stabilized Northern Saibei and pacified Annan, thus creating the "rule of the Great Middle". Therefore, tang xuanzong is highly valued in history, believing that he is the same ming emperor as Emperor Wen of Han who ruled Wenjing and Emperor Taizong of Tang who ruled Zhenguan. So, the question is, Tang Xuanzong created the "rule of the great middle", known as the Little Taizong, why can't he save the Tang Dynasty?
One
First of all, Li Chen's life strives to emulate Emperor Taizong of Tang and Li Shimin, with the motto "To the chaos is not to be appointed to the undeserved, and to the rule is not to be loyal" as the motto. He put the book "Zhenguan Politician" on the screen, and read it every time. During the reign of Emperor Xuanzong of Tang, Li Chen, on the one hand, he rectified the administration of officials, and restricted the clan and eunuchs, so as to improve the operational efficiency of the Tang Dynasty. On the other hand, in the use of foreign troops, Tang Xuanzong Li Chen defeated Tubo, recovered Hehuang, and stabilized northern Saibei and pacified Annan, achieving achievements that were difficult for many previous emperors to achieve.
In this context, since the era name of Li Chen's reign was Dazhong, historians called it "the rule of Dazhong", and compared the rule of Dazhong to the rule of Wenjing of the Han Dynasty, and compared Tang Xuanzong to the Ming Emperor like Tang Taizong and Emperor Wen of Han. However, although the "rule of the Great Middle" restored the national strength of the Tang Dynasty to a certain extent, it did not completely eradicate the tang Dynasty's diseases. Specifically, as far as the issue of the rebellion in Fanzhen was concerned, Tang Xuanzong Li Chen still completely resolved it.
Two
During the reign of Emperor Xuanzong of Tang and Li Chen, rebellions in Jianghuai and other places arose in Fanzhen, although these rebellions were eventually put down. However, in the view of many historians, because the rebellion has spread to an important source of taxes in the Tang Dynasty, this directly affects the foundation of the Tang Dynasty. Correspondingly, as far as the Anshi Rebellion is concerned, although even the capital of the Tang Dynasty was breached, because the rebels did not spread to the Jianghuai region of the Tang Dynasty, that is, did not affect the source of taxes of the Tang Dynasty, which became an important reason why the Tang Dynasty was able to defeat An Lushan and others.
Therefore, in the late Tang Dynasty, because the scope of the Fanzhen rebellion was too wide, the Tang Dynasty was tired of coping. Just like in the last years of the Ming Dynasty, the existence of internal and external troubles, no matter how hard the Chongzhen Emperor tried, could not stop the trend of the Ming Dynasty's demise. On the other hand, although Li Chen of Tang Xuanzong was wise, during his reign, eunuchs still controlled the government. For example, before Li Chen succeeded to the throne, eunuchs already had the power to influence the emperor's abolition.
Three
At the same time, because Tang Xuanzong Li Chen was able to ascend the throne and become emperor, eunuchs played a key role, so during Li Chen's reign, he still handed over the military power of the forbidden army to the eunuchs. As a result, the problem of eunuchs controlling the government almost accompanied the decline and demise of the Tang Dynasty, and like the problem of feudal towns, it was not completely resolved. Further, during the reign of Tang Xuanzong, he neither weakened eunuchs nor relied heavily on courtiers, which, in my opinion, exacerbated the contradiction between the two to a certain extent and sowed the seeds for subsequent turmoil.
In the late Tang Dynasty, the strength of the enemy such as Tubo was actually unable to pose too much of a threat to the Tang Dynasty, that is, the demise of the Tang Dynasty was mainly due to internal friction, rebellion and other issues, which were naturally obviously different from the Song Dynasty and other dynasties. As far as Tang Xuanzong Li Chen was concerned, he could also control the overall situation during his reign. However, after his death, the abilities of Tang Yizong and Tang Yizong were really too different, which was also an important reason for the demise of the Tang Dynasty.
Four
Finally, in the thirteenth year of Da Zhong (859), Li Chen died. At the beginning of the second year of Emperor Qianfu of Tang (875), Wang Xianzhi sent a letter at Puyang (濮陽, in present-day southwest of Puyang, Henan) and led an insurgent army to conquer Cao prefecture and Puzhou. After the Wang Xianzhi Uprising, the Tang Dynasty broke out the Huangchao Uprising. The Huangchao Rebellion refers to the uprising led by Huang Chao from the fifth year of Qianfu (878) to the fourth year of Zhonghe (884). The Huangchao Rebellion turned to nearly half of the Tang Dynasty, resulting in a great decline in the national strength of the late Tang Dynasty. From this, it is very obvious that after the death of Tang Xuanzong Li Chen, the Tang Dynasty broke out many large uprisings, which directly weakened the Already declining national strength of the Tang Dynasty.
In the fourth year of Tianyou (907), Zhu Wen forced the Tang Emperor Li Yu to take the throne, the Tang Dynasty fell, zhu Wen changed the state name Liang, historically known as Hou Liang, for Liang Taizu, changed yuan kaiping, and fixed the capital Kaifeng (present-day Kaifeng, Henan). In general, Tang Xuanzong pioneered the "rule of the Great Middle", known as Xiao Taizong, although it restored the national strength of the Tang Dynasty, it could not solve the fundamental problems of the Tang Dynasty. After his death, successive uprisings eventually brought the Tang Dynasty to its demise.