Empress Dowager Guo was the granddaughter of Guo Ziyi and the granddaughter of Emperor Tang of Tang. Her parents are the drunken lords of Jinzhi, Guo Huan and Princess Shengping. In 793, because of his prominent family lineage, Guo was elected as the concubine of the King of Guangling (Li Chun), and Xianzong, who was then the King of Guangling, personally visited the family of Princess Shengping and welcomed her. Tang Shunzong, the duke of the then crown prince, was deeply favored because of the noble status of Princess Shengping, Guo's biological mother, and the fact that his father and ancestors had all contributed to the royal family.
In 795, Guo gave birth to Li Chun's third son, Li You, later Emperor Muzong of Tang and sixth son Li Wu. He later gave birth to a daughter, Princess Zhuangshu of Qiyang (married to Du Shu). Princess Zhuangshu of Qiyang was Emperor Xianzong's favorite daughter. In 813, Princess Fengqiyang, Emperor Xianzong ordered the chancellor Li Jifu to choose a horse among the clan, and Du You's grandson Du Yu was willing to remain the lord. When Princess Qiyang got married, the wedding was very grand, and Emperor Xianzong ordered three hundred people from the left and right Divine Strategists to go to Guangfanmen to clear the way.
Princess Qiyang Zhuangshu was the only concubine with a noble status and was favored by her father, but she was notoriously virtuous. Du Ma's cousin was the famous Tang Dynasty poet Du Mu. Therefore, the epitaph of Princess Zhuangshu of Qiyang was also written by Du Mu. Du Mu also had considerable respect for his cousin. If you are interested, you can baidu yourself to find an epitaph.
After twelve years of living together as the King of Guangling and the Princess of Guangling, in 805, Emperor Xianzong's grandfather Emperor Dezong died and passed on to his father, Emperor Shunzong. Emperor Xianzong was soon made crown prince, and Guo shi was made crown princess. When Emperor Shunzong succeeded to the throne, he was already paralyzed, but after ascending the throne, he appointed Wang Shuwang and other members of the old subordinates of the Eastern Palace to change the law, they maintained unity, advocated strengthening the centralization of power, opposed the division of feudal towns, opposed the monopoly of eunuchs, and actively promoted innovation, and adopted a series of reform measures, known in history as "Yongzhen Reform". Its members are Liu Yuxi and Liu Zongyuan, who we are familiar with. But the reforms shook the power of the eunuchs, and they decided to create a new monarch. Less than a year after Emperor Shunzong ascended the throne, the emperor was replaced by his son Tang Xianzong.
Tang Xianzong, unlike his father Shunzong, hated the eunuch clique, but instead trusted and valued eunuchs as much as his grandfather, Emperor Dezong. Although he appointed Du Huangsheng, Pei Du, and Li Dai as successive phases. He pacified Liu Pei and Li Qi, the envoy of Zhenhai Jiedu, of Sichuan Jiedu, of the three towns of Hebei, of Wu Yuanji and Ziqing jiedu of Huaixi, and of Li Shidao, and of The Town of Fan surrendered one after another to the imperial court. However, in the war with Fanzhen, Li Chun reused eunuchs and even appointed his confidant eunuch Tutu Chengcui as the general of the Left and Right Divine Strategy, the envoys of soldiers and horses in the Daoxing camp such as Hezhong, Heyang, Zhejiangxi, Xuanshe, and other important positions, as commanders and envoys, and led the troops on the expedition, which increased the power of the eunuchs. Some ministers persuaded Li Chun to prevent the eunuch from having too much power, but he replied: "Tutu Chengcui is just a domestic slave, no matter how much power he is given, I want to get rid of him, and it is not as easy as pulling out a hair." ”
During the reign of Emperor Dezong of Tang, he deliberately set up the official position of two lieutenants for the Shen Ce Army, and in this way, the eunuchs controlled the Northern Forbidden Army of the Li Tang Imperial Family at that time. But in fact, in the later period of Tang Dezong's reign, although the eunuchs had already mastered the left and right divine strategies, they could not fully grasp the forbidden army. During the reign of Emperor Xianzong of Tang, the forbidden army of the Tang Dynasty was further controlled by eunuchs. According to historical records, "Yuan And the second year, the provincial Shenwu Army. Next year, the Left and Right Shenwei Army will be abolished and merged into one, known as the 'Tianwei Army'. For eight years, the Tianwei Army was abolished, and its soldiers and horses were divided into the left and right Shen Ce Army. It can be seen from this that during the reign of Tang Xianzong, the divine strategy army controlled by the eunuchs had actually reached the point of dominance, and this also laid a foundation for the future eunuchs.
In addition, during the reign of Tang Xianzong, the position of privy councillor was also established, and the history records that "the name of the privy councillor, since Emperor Xianzong served as a eunuch Liu Guangqi", although the Tang Dynasty before Tang Xianzong already had the official position of privy councillor, but it was not determined. After the position of privy councillor during the tang xianzong period, eunuchs held this position for a long time. It is true that the establishment of the position of privy councillor has a certain historical significance, but as far as the history of the middle and late Tang Dynasties is concerned, eunuchs can rely on privy councillors to get involved in the government. As a result, history books often refer to the lieutenants of the Left and Right Divine Strategies Army and the two privy councillors as the "four nobles", which shows that the eunuch power was further developed during the reign of Tang Xianzong.
After Li Chunyuan and ZTE achieved some achievements, they thought they had made immortal achievements and gradually became arrogant. The appointment of the traitorous minister Emperor Fufu and the removal of Xianxiang Peidu, the political decline was increasingly declining. Believe in immortals and good Buddhas, and want to seek the medicine of immortality. In 813, the thirteenth year of Yuan He issued an edict to solicit alchemists. Huang Fubo recommended to him a mountain man named Liu Bi to prepare elixirs. Eunuchs were sent to Fengxiang to greet the Bones of the Buddha. Han Yue, the attendant of the Punishment Department, earnestly slandered him. Li Chun was furious and prepared to execute Han Yu. Pei Du and others said that Han Yue was loyal and straight, and Li Chuncai relegated Han Yue to the history of Chaozhou. The following year, Li Chun began to take elixirs, and his temperament became irritable and irritable, often reprimanding or killing eunuchs left and right, and the eunuchs and palace people who served him were afraid to live forever, and finally one night they were killed by the eunuch Chen Hongzhi. Crown Prince Muzong of Tang succeeded to the throne.
In the late Tang Xianzong period, the eunuch clique was divided into two groups, one faction supporting the crown prince Muzong. However, one faction took a different path and wanted to put Li Yun, the second son of Emperor Xianzong, on the throne. Huang Lou, a professor of history in Wuhan, believed that the sudden execution of Emperor Xianzong caused the eunuchs who had originally supported Li Yun the Prince of Li to abandon their original masters and support the crown prince Muzong. It should be known that when he first became crown prince, the courtiers supported the eldest son Muzong, and only some eunuchs supported the second son Li Yun the Prince of Li. And at this time, Muzong had also been serving as the crown prince for seven years. At this time, if the eunuch forcibly supported Li Yun, the king of Li, the group of courtiers could not accept it.
Emperor Muzong of Tang died after four years on the throne. Some eunuchs asked the empress dowager to exercise imperial power on behalf of the dynasty, but the empress dowager said: "In the past, Empress Wu was called emperor, which almost endangered the Jiangshan Sheji, and my family's generations of faithfulness and righteousness were by no means comparable to the Wu clan." Although the crown prince is young, if he can be assisted by a prime minister with both moral integrity and ability, none of you will interfere in the government affairs, and you will not have to worry about the instability of the country! Since ancient times, how could a woman dominate the world and achieve the great rule of the world like Tang Yao and Yu Shun? "After saying this, she tore up the edict that the eunuch had drawn up for her. When her elder brother Guo Zhao heard rumors in the palace that she would emulate Wu Zetian's imperial title system, he secretly wrote to the empress dowager, saying: "The empress dowager's reign in the dynasty is a major maladministration in the past, and if you obey the eunuch's request, I will lead Guo's sons to resign from all the officials and go home to farm." Emperor Muzong's eldest son Li Zhan succeeded him as Emperor Jingzong of Tang.
Two years after Tang Jingzong ascended the throne, he conspired to kill the eunuchs Liu Keming and Su Zuoming, and died at the age of seventeen. Later Su Zuoming and other corrections, let Guo Hou's second son Li Wu the Prince of Dai act as the overseer of the state. The Privy Counsellor Wang Shoucheng and the lieutenant Liang Shouqian led a forbidden army against Liu Keming and Su Zuoming, killed Li Wu the Prince of Dai, and installed Emperor Wenzong of Tang as Emperor Li Ang as emperor. In this way, Empress Guo's grandson Tang Jingzong and his second son Li Wu (李悟) the Prince of Dai became victims of the struggle for power and profit between the two factions of eunuchs.
After Tang Wenzong succeeded to the throne, he tried to get rid of the eunuch clique, first Li Ang and the chancellor Song Shenxi secretly plotted to get rid of the eunuchs, but Song Shenxi recommended Wang Fan to be Jing Zhaoyin, and secretly revealed Wenzong's plan to Wang Fan. However, Wang Fan leaked secrets, which alerted Wang Shoucheng and Zheng Zhu. Zheng Zhu instructed the shence army general Dou Luzhu to falsely accuse Song Shenxi and Li Shuo the Prince of Zhang of plotting to overthrow Emperor Wenzong and make Li Zhuo emperor. Both Song Shenxi and Li Qiu, the King of Zhang, were both degraded, along with Du Qiuniang, the fu mother of Li Zhuo, the King of Zhang. Later, Du Mu met her and made "Du Qiu Niang's Poem". Du Qiuniang was Emperor Xianzong's favorite concubine, and she was the same concubine of Li Qi as Emperor Xuanzong's mother, Zheng Shi, and Li Qi rebelled and fell into the court. However, Du Qiuniang did not have children, and after Emperor Xianzong's death, Tang Muzong made her the mother of the third son, Li Zhuo, the Prince of Zhang, to take care of and teach Li Zhao.
Because of the serious dispute between the Niu and Li parties in the DPRK, Emperor Wenzong could not find anyone to help him get rid of the eunuchs. In the end, Wen Zongce rebelled against Zheng Zhu and Li Xun, who originally belonged to the eunuch clique, both of whom were promoted by the eunuch clique and deeply trusted by the eunuch Wang Shoucheng. Because of this, Zheng Zhu and Li Xun were able to take advantage of the factions and contradictions within the eunuchs, and the right Shen ce lieutenant Wang Shoucheng and the left leading general Qiu Shiliang were at odds, and Zheng Zhu persuaded Tang Wenzong to appoint Qiu Shiliang as a lieutenant of the left Shen Ce to divide Wang Shoucheng's power, and then plotted to use Wang Shoucheng as the right and left divine strategy to watch the military rong, seize real power in a false name, divide and disintegrate, and then divide and rule, killing the eunuchs Wei Element, Yang Chenghe, and so on, and then designing to kill the eunuch leader Wang Shoucheng.
In order to wipe out the eunuchs, Zheng Zhu served as Fengxiang's envoy. Fengxiang di near the Beijing Division, one of the three auxiliaries of Jingzhao, is a military town. Before Zheng Zhu went to the town, he agreed with Li Xun that after arriving in the town, hundreds of warriors would be selected, each holding a white pole and carrying a sharp axe as a pro-soldier. Li Xun and Zheng Zhu agreed that on November 27, when Wang Shoucheng was buried near Shuishui, Li Xun ordered all the lieutenants and below the eunuchs to go to Shuishui for the funeral, and Zheng Zhu immediately asked his relatives to protect the funeral, and then ordered his relatives to slash and kill the eunuchs with axes, "leaving no one behind."
However, in order to monopolize the credit, Li Xun changed his plan and started ahead of time, and as a result, he failed to deal with things well, and was counterattacked by the eunuch clique, which caused disaster to the fish. Qiu Shiliang and others ordered Liu Tailun and Wei Zhongqing, deputy envoys of the Left and Right Divine Strategists, to each lead five hundred soldiers and rush out from the Zichen Hall with swords and blades to fight against the thieves. At this time, Wang Ya and other prime ministers were about to eat in the government affairs hall when suddenly an official reported: "A large group of soldiers rushed out of the palace and killed everyone!" ”
Wang Ya and the others fled in a daze. More than a thousand soldiers and officials from Zhongshu and Menxia Provinces and Kingowei scrambled to escape outside the door. After a while, the gate was closed, and all the more than six hundred people who had not yet escaped were killed. Qiu Shiliang ordered the division of troops to close the gates of the palaces, search the gates of the various divisions of the Southern Gate, and arrest the thieves. More than a thousand officials and guards, as well as the people and merchants who were selling alcohol inside, were all killed, their bodies in disarray and bleeding all over the place. The great seals of the divisions, maps and household registration archives, the curtains of the yamen and office tools were destroyed and looted. Qiu Shiliang and others also ordered the left and right Divine Strategists to dispatch more than a thousand cavalrymen out of the city to pursue the fleeing thieves, and at the same time sent troops to search and arrest the capital. Li Xun, Wang Ya, Jia Biao, Shu Yuanyu, Wang Bian, Guo Xingyu, Luo Liyan, Li Xiaoben, and Han Yue were successively arrested and killed. At the time of the incident, Zheng Zhuzheng led 500 of his own soldiers to Chang'an, but the governor was defeated and returned to Fengxiang, who was also killed by the supervision army. All of the above were condemned by the clan, and many more were implicated to death. After this massacre of eunuchs, the dynasty was almost empty.
After that, Emperor Wenzong was completely reduced to a puppet. Qiu Shiliang wanted to depose Emperor Wenzong several times, but the rebels made Liu Congzhi always threaten to raise troops to the side of the Qing Emperor in Beijing to avenge the grievances of the chancellor Wang Ya, and in 838, the crown prince Li Yong died suddenly and violently, and Qiu Shiliang, who was liu Congqing's target on the side of the Qing Emperor, never had a chance to make a move.
After the death of Crown Prince Li Yong, because of the issue of the choice of heir to the throne, the eunuch clique united in the change of Ganlu also split again. The Privy Counsellor made Liu Hongyi stand with chancellor Yang Sifu and Concubine Yang to support his brother Li Rong the Prince of An, while another privy councillor, Xue Jilin, and li Jue, the chancellor, supported the emperor's nephew and emperor Jingzong's son, Li Chengmei the Prince of Chen, while the lieutenants Qiu Shiliang and Yu Hongzhi of the two armies did not stand right. Five years after kaicheng, Emperor Wenzong's secret chancellor Li Jue and privy councillor Liu Hongyi were sent to the crown prince Li Chengmei to oversee the country. Qiu Shiliang ordered li yan, the brother of the Emperor Ying, who was uncared for, and made him the emperor's brother-in-law, and the crown prince Li Chengmeifu was the residence of King Chen. Enraged by Emperor Wenzong, Qiu Shiliang launched a new round of killing, killing Li Chengmei the Prince of Chen, Li Rong the Prince of An, and the restless Concubine Yang, the objects of political enemy support. By this time, Guo Hou's second son and five grandsons were the only one left in the eunuchs' struggle for power and profit.
After Emperor Wuzong of Tang ascended the throne, he summoned The Talented Huainan Jiedu to make Li Deyu (李德裕) the official Shangshu (吏部尚書), Tongzhongshu Menxia Pingzhangshi (同中書門下平章事), and concurrently a servant under the door. He was determined to eliminate maladministration and relied heavily on Li Deyu. During his reign, he subdued the town of Fanzhen, destroyed the Uighurs, and dismissed redundant officials. Tang Wuzong and Li Deyu's Huichang policy involved military, bureaucratic rule, rule of law, finance, and other aspects. All have achievements.
Qiu Shiliang attempted to incite the Forbidden Army to expel Li Deyu, but was deterred by Li Yan. Qiu Shiliang was confused and distraught, and in the third year of Huichang (843), he proposed to retire on the grounds of old age and illness, and Li Yan relieved Qiu Shiliang of his military power. Qiu Shiliang died in his mansion shortly after his retirement.
Although the reforms of Emperor Wuzong and Li Deyu revived the Tang Dynasty, they also offended many people, the first of which was the eunuch clique. Although Qiu Shiliang died, his family and his yu party had already taken advantage of Li Chen, the thirteenth son of Tang Xianzong. In March of the sixth year of Huichang, Emperor Wuzong Li Yan died. He is only 33 years old. As soon as Emperor Wuzong died, the eunuch Ma Yuanzhen (马元贽), a lieutenant in the army of Zuo Shence (左神策軍護軍), supported the so-called emperor Li Chen (李忱), the so-called emperor's uncle Guangwang (李忱), who was four years older than Emperor Wuzong.
After Emperor Xuanzong ascended the throne, he demoted Li Deyu to Chaozhou, and later to Yazhou, that is, Hainan Province. At the same time, it will also do its best to strike the Huichang policy. As long as it is the policy of the Huichang period, it is all the opposite. When Emperor Wuzong destroyed the Buddha, he revived the Buddha. Jinshi Sun Qiao said: "Ordinary people work hard and cannot feed themselves, while a large group of Buddhist monks who have gained nothing for nothing are sitting in a gorgeous room, wearing gorgeous clothes and eating exquisite meals, and about ten peasant families cannot afford to raise a monk." At that time, Emperor Wuzong really could not bear the suffering of the people so much, so he ordered 170,000 monks to grow their hair and return to the world, so that the 1.7 million peasant households in the world could breathe and recover. And Emperor Wuzong ordered the destruction of all monasteries and the fusion of Buddha statues into money to distribute to the people. Since His Majesty took the throne, he has ordered the restoration of the abandoned Buddhist temple, so that to this day the sound of axes and saws repairing the temples in the world is still heard, and the monks and nuns who have been redigned have almost returned to their previous numbers. Even if you can't get rid of the accumulated evils of the monks and beetles like Emperor Wuzong did, why should you revive the accumulated evils that have been abolished! The people, suffering in order to provide for Buddhism, asked His Majesty not to worship Buddhism anymore. ”
Earlier, it was said that Tang Xuanzong had already colluded with the Qiu Shiliang family. Qiu Shiliang had an adopted daughter of Qiu Shizong as a concubine of Emperor Xuanzong of Tang, who was highly favored and had a son and a daughter. In the fifth year of the middle school, qiu shi died, and Xuanzong personally wrote an epitaph for him, "The Epitaph of Qiu Shi, the Lady of the Ancient Nan'an County". In the same year, he rehabilitated the Qiu Shi Liang Shinto Monument to the "Inner Servant Provincial Supervisor Chu Guo Gong Qiu Shi Liang Shinto Stele". This Shinto stele can be found in Baidu.
Qiu Shiliang's five sons also served as high-ranking officials during the reign of Emperor Xuanzong of Tang. One of them was a non-eunuch. The Shinto tablets detail the official histories of his sons.
Finally, let's talk about our poor heroine, who succeeded Emperor Xuanzong with the death of Emperor Wuzong. Empress Guo also died in the second year of junior high school. On the day of his death, he and several attendants boarded the Qinzheng Building and prepared to jump off the building to commit suicide, but they were quickly stopped by the attendants on the left and right. The reason given was caused by Emperor Xuanzong's thin filial piety to Empress Guo. At this time, it had been 55 years since Guo Hou had married into the Li family, and she was already in her seventies at this time. The death of children and grandchildren one by one did not make Guo Hou think about it. Can you not think about this little thing? Although her sons and grandchildren were gone, Emperor Wuzong of Tang left her five grandchildren. According to the reason, Muzong was the concubine of Emperor Xianzong, and Emperor Wuzong was the concubine of Emperor Xianzong, and it was not impossible for the emperor to return to the throne of Emperor Wuzong's sons. Guo Hou was not so desperate that he wanted to jump off a building to commit suicide.
Looking through the history of Tang, the sons of Emperor Wuzong have lost all news since Emperor Xuanzong ascended the throne. The year of birth and death is also not recorded. Most likely, they were all removed by Xuanzong. But it should not have been the same year that their father, Emperor Wuzong, died. Instead, he gradually took control of the imperial court in the second year after Emperor Xuanzong degraded Li Deyu. That is, the year guo hou died.
Poor Empress Guo was born with great honor, but because of this, she was jealous of her husband and missed the position of empress that should have belonged to her. I thought that if I became the empress dowager, I would be rich and stable for a lifetime without getting involved in the imperial power. But I did not expect that the eunuchs were so powerful that they were above the imperial power. As the empress dowager and empress dowager, she could only watch her sons and grandsons die one after another under the butcher's knife of the eunuchs and could not do anything. Even in the end, even he died in the palace. It is also unknown whether her sister-in-law with Emperor Xianzong has any descendants left.
The tragedy of Empress Guo is also the tragedy of the Tang Dynasty, and Li Shangyin once wrote a poem that the sunset is infinitely good, but it is only near dusk. He greatly admires Li Deyu, and his evaluation of Li Deyu is a good look for all eternity, a generation of high priests. When Li Deyu showed his skills, Li Shangyin guarded the funeral for three years because of the funeral of his mother. When he returned to the court at the end of his mourning period, Tang Wuzong's life also came to an end. Therefore, Li Shangyin was depressed all his life for his career. In the year of Tang Xuanzong's death, the first peasant uprising occurred in the Tang Dynasty, the Qiufu Uprising in eastern Zhejiang. Although it was quickly suppressed, the Huangchao Rebellion more than a decade later semi-ended the Tang Dynasty.