The Tang Dynasty was a period of ancient Chinese feudal society, a prosperous dynasty, strong national strength, and world-renowned. Therefore, the Tang Dynasty also often appeared in the Taiping Prosperous Era, first there was the "Rule of Zhenguan" of Tang Taizong Li Shimin, then there was the efforts of the first female emperor in history, and then there was the "Kaiyuan Prosperous Era" of Tang Xuanzong Li Longji.
However, throughout the history of rulers, there are many people who have been Ming Jun, but from the time of ascending the throne until the end of their political careers, there are really very few who can always be Ming Jun. Tang Xuanzong Li Longji first created the "Kaiyuan Prosperous Era", but his rule was also a turning point in the decline of the Tang Dynasty.
The story of Tang Xuanzong and Yang Guifei
In 712, Wu Zetian's grandson Li Longji sat on the dragon chair and began his forty-four-year reign. Tang Xuanzong Li Longji was not only talented in literature and art, but also had great ambition and ability to govern the country, so he was diligent in government and loved the people and reused talents from the beginning of his ascension to the throne.
With the assistance of Yao Chong, Song Jing and other good ministers, a series of reforms were carried out. In this way, during the new year, the people lived and worked in peace and contentment, social stability and development, and political clarity, reaching another great prosperity since the founding of the Tang Dynasty.
Li Longji ascended the throne at the age of twenty-seven, and for more than twenty years he has been conscientiously managing major state affairs, and the energetic Li Longji has slowly entered his old age. During this period, the Tang Dynasty still belonged to the "Kaiyuan Prosperous Era", perhaps because of this, Tang Xuanzong had already relaxed about political affairs, and his attention slowly turned to poetry and song.
In this case, in 740 AD, Li Longji met the delicate Yang Yuhuan, but he encountered the biggest problem, that is, Yang Yuhuan's identity was his daughter-in-law. Although there are difficulties, it is also difficult to have something that cannot be obtained for the supreme ruler of the dynasty.
Under the pretext of praying for his mother's blessing, Tang Ming Emperor Li Longji let Yang Yuhuan become a monk, and naturally took Yang Yuhuan into the palace as his own concubine. Yang Yuhuan himself can also sing and dance, and knows the rhythm of music, so he and Tang Xuanzong can be described as communicating with each other, qinser and ming, often Xuanzong plays the piano, and Yuhuan dances.
Over the years, the feelings of the two are still heating up, Yang Yuhuan is also accompanied by Li Longji's side day and night, and the two are also like glue. Soon, in the fourth year of Tianbao, Yang Yuhua was promoted to a noble concubine and became the most favored red man of the dynasty.
Since 742 AD, when Emperor Xuanzong of Tang changed the name of the country to Tianbao, it was almost Li Linfu who single-handedly supported the heavens and controlled the government. As an official, Li Linfu only knew how to blindly sneak around and pat his horse to cater to Tang Xuanzong's preferences. He was worried that the civilian generals on the border had made military merits and came to seize his position as prime minister, so he played Tang Xuanzong.
Li Linfu suggested that Emperor Xuanzong appoint the illiterate general as an envoy to the frontier, and although there were sages such as Zhang Jiuling who advised him that "this move is inappropriate and should be cautious", Tang Xuanzong insisted on going his own way and ignored it, invisibly sowing the seeds of the decline of the Tang Dynasty.
Anshi Chaos! The Fall of the Tang Dynasty
A country does not perish suddenly in an instant, the seeds of a country's decline grow slowly. At the border, a strong man who stole sheep is about to be killed with a stick, but he is dying and struggling, and he gets the attention of the Envoy of Youzhou Jiedushi.
This strong man immediately grasped this life-saving straw, and with a clever tongue, offered his own advice to calm the war. And the festival made Zhang Shoujue feel that the sheep thief in front of him seemed to really have some skills, so he appointed him as a catcher.
However, such a low-level officer finally wanted to swallow the entire Tang Dynasty, and this person was An Lushan. An Lushan was proficient in various minority languages, and also had certain relations with the generals of the surrounding ethnic groups, coupled with his strong communication skills, and soon made great achievements in the military neutrality.
An Lushan's career was not smooth sailing, in the pacification of the Khitan was the Tang army suffered heavy losses, according to the law should be beheaded, but Zhang Shoujue wrote down An Lushan's previous battle achievements one by one, and promised to Tang Xuanzong, Tang Xuanzong ignored the opposition of the chancellor Zhang Jiuling, and let An Lushan dai make meritorious deeds.
An Lushan also often bribed emissaries who came to investigate the emissaries to say more good things about themselves in front of the emperor. Of course, it was certainly not enough to want to win the emperor's favor just in this way, so later after An Lushan became the envoy of The Festival, he often showed loyalty to Tang Xuanzong when he was in the dynasty.
Not only that, An Lushan even recognized Yang Guifei, who was much younger than himself, as his mother, and constantly seduced Yang Guifei and Tang Xuanzong, coaxing the two to be very happy, so An Lushan's power, strength and ambition have also been rising.
In 755, An Lushan and Shi Siming launched this "Anshi Rebellion", and they went south from Hebei to capture Luoyang and tongguan. At this time, Tang Xuanzong escaped, and he fled with Yang Guifei all the way to Ma Songpo, and it was here that the "Ma Song Change" occurred.
Also here, Li Longji loved Jiangshan and did not love beauty, and Yang Guifei was forced to hang herself. To put it simply, Tang Xuanzong was already unable to turn the tide at that time, and he could not even save himself, how could he save the Li Tang Dynasty?
100 beauties of Tang Suzong
It is worth mentioning that just when Emperor Xuanzong of Tang fled, Li Heng, who was then the crown prince, went north from Ma Songpo to Lingwu. At the same time, he was also proclaimed emperor, that is, Tang Suzong, and Tang Xuanzong also became the Taishang Emperor.
After Emperor Suzong of Tang ascended to the throne, he began a counter-offensive, and Li Heng transferred the elite troops guarding the northwest of the town, and with the help of the ethnic minority troops in the north, finally put an end to the war in 763. After the "Anshi Rebellion" was put down, after eighteen years as the crown prince, Li Heng, who had been cautious and cautious, finally held the imperial power.
Since ancient times, the emperor has paid attention to Zen concession or succession, but after all, Tang Suzong's throne was not directly given to him by Tang Xuanzong, but he established himself as emperor, so how to deal with the relationship with Emperor Taishang. It has also become a problem that Li Heng must face.
For this matter, there is also a story circulating in history, saying that in order to restrain the rights of the Emperor Taishang, Li Heng gave More than a hundred beautiful women to Tang Xuanzong to serve him, and the name of sending beautiful women may be the intention of supervision, and Li Heng's precautionary heart is still very heavy.
Li Longji, who had been emperor for decades, was also well aware of his son's worries, and in order to dispel his doubts, he began to diet in the name of fasting and monasticism. We all know that the old man is already fragile, and if he cuts back on food and clothing, his life will definitely not live long.
Sure enough, Tang Xuanzong's body was becoming thinner and thinner, worse than a day, and he died in less than two years, and Tang Suzong's throne was also firmly seated. Unfortunately, the Tang Dynasty inherited by Emperor Suzong of Tang and Li Heng was no longer prosperous.
On the contrary, the Anshi Rebellion caused heavy economic losses to the Tang Dynasty, the power of the central government was also declining, and the division of local feudal towns has always been a hidden danger. In addition, Li Heng reused eunuchs during his reign, which inflated the power of eunuchs.
In addition, Li Heng was very fond of Empress Zhang and broke the rule that the harem was not allowed to discuss politics, so Li Heng sometimes even had to be restrained by Empress Zhang. In the end, Li Heng, who had been emperor for six years, died of fear and illness, after which the Li Tang Dynasty declined sharply until it collapsed.
In general, the inheritance of the mainland feudal dynasty is generally the inheritance system of the eldest son, and the father and son of the imperial family are not pure father-son relationships, sometimes transform into a relationship between kings and subjects, sometimes imply vigilance and calculation, and even evolve into killing fathers or killing children.
It was also because of this that Tang Suzong would be in such a place as his own father. At the same time, the rise and fall of a dynasty seems to be an unchanging historical law, and when the moon is full, it is lacking, and when the water is full, it overflows. In its prime, rulers generally worked diligently and loved the people, reused their courtiers, and worked hard to govern and constantly reform.
In the decline of time, rulers were generally lazy to deal with political affairs, greedy for pleasure all day long, and very few people were able to "be cautious and independent" all the time, and Li Longji was a good example. What do you think about that?