Reading | Jump out of film and television dramas and traditional historiography of the Tang Dynasty Emperor Group Portrait - Reading Wu Peng's "Twenty-one Emperors of the Tang Dynasty"

The Twenty-first Emperor of the Tang Dynasty

Wu Peng

Published by Shanghai People's Publishing House

As the most desirable era in ancient China, the history of the Tang Dynasty has always been one of the top streams of costume dramas. From the classic memories of killing "Tang Taizong Li Shimin", "Zhenguan Changge", "Wu Zetian", "Daming Palace Words", "Tang Gefei", to the popular "Supreme Red Face", "Legend of Wu Meiniang", "The Twelve Hours of Chang'an", "Glory of the Tang Dynasty", "Imperial Gifts of Small Servants", etc., all of which are interpreted in the context of the history of the Tang Dynasty. Tang Emperor Taizong, Wu Zetian, Tang Xuanzong, Tang Dynasty Emperor, Tang Xuanzong and other Tang Emperors were indispensable protagonists of such film and television dramas.

Due to the needs of the plot, film and television dramas have artistic processing of the image of the Tang Emperor, and some even deviate from the original appearance of history. For example, in "The Legend of Wu Meiniang", Wu Zetian and Tang Taizong were in love with each other, and there were many emotional dramas; the rebellion of An Lushan in "Tang Gefei" was actually the personal instruction of Tang Suzong Li Heng when he was the crown prince, and it was a shocking conspiracy to seize power that he single-handedly planned to ascend the throne in advance; Tang Xuanzong in "Imperial Gifts of Small Servants" was addicted to carpentry, which was simply a copy of Emperor Xizong of the Ming Dynasty.

If the image of the Tang Emperor in film and television dramas is often deformed, then the appearance of the Tang Emperor in the canonical history such as the Old Book of Tang, the New Book of Tang, and the Zizhi Tongjian is more and more out of shape, and it is always impossible to escape the narrative mode of the moral dichotomy of sainthood and fainting. And the film and television drama's interpretation of the emperors of the Tang Dynasty is also deeply influenced by the old historical view in traditional historiography, such as the founding emperor of the Tang Dynasty, Gaozu Li Yuan, who was portrayed as a dimwitted and incompetent person who was drunk and had no great ambitions, from starting a military to starting a business to turning his family into a country, everything was pushed forward by Tang Taizong Li Shimin; Tang Xuanzong was ignorant, because he favored Yang Guifei and used Yang Guozhong, misused An Lushan, and thus exploded the chaos of An Shi.

The stereotypes of Tang emperors formed by the influence of film and television dramas and traditional historiography often ignore the complexity of history and the diversity of character faces. There is a distance between the conclusion of traditional historiography, the interpretation of film and television scripts, and the truth of history. Wu Peng's new book "The Twenty-first Emperor of the Tang Dynasty", a new writer of literary history, is a powerful attempt to build a bridge between historical truth, script interpretation, and historical conclusion.

Wu Peng, a doctor of history from Chinese University, specializes in sui and Tang history, and is a columnist of media such as China Youth Daily and People's Court Daily, who is good at building a historical trend from a high vantage point, telling historical details, and is especially good at telling the historical truth behind it through popular historical dramas. His interpretation of the "Twelve Hours of Chang'an" of "Zhang Xiaojing's Original Intention and Mission" series of articles, interpretation of "Qing Ping Le" "< Qing Ping Le > 65 years after the Northern Song Dynasty, what happened in the Northern Song Dynasty", with a large hand, wide perspective to tell the Tang Dynasty's economic, political and military insoluble dead knots during the Tianbao period, the Northern Song Dynasty reform and conservative Tianren war, the writing is wide open, the conclusion is thought-provoking, and it has become a hit on the Internet. In recent years, Wu Peng has published more than 150 articles in major media, and has authored "Selecting Talents -- < The Gains and Losses of Employing People in the > of Zizhi Tongjian". On the basis of fully absorbing the latest research results of the historical circles, the new work "Twenty-one Emperors of the Tang Dynasty" fills in the brain hole imagination in film and television dramas, removes the fog in traditional historiography, and restores the true face of the 21 emperors of the Tang Dynasty for us.

Having read "The Twenty-first Emperor of the Tang Dynasty", the above-mentioned true images of the Tang Emperors, which have been distorted by film and television dramas and covered up by traditional historiography, are three-dimensional and clear in front of us.

We will understand that from the Taiyuan army to the founding of the Tang Dynasty, Li Yuan has always been the supreme formulator of Li Tang's entrepreneurial strategy and the final decision maker of political determination. The Jinyang rebellion was led by Li Yuan, and the march into Chang'an was led by Li Yuan. Among the three sons of the Li family, Li Shimin made outstanding contributions, and Li Jiancheng did not hesitate to give up, but they were all carried out under the leadership of Li Yuan. It was Li Yuan who was leading Li Shimin forward, not Li Shimin pushing Li Yuan forward.

We will know that Tang Taizong did not have much good feelings for Wu Zetian, and although Emperor Taizong was "fierce in nature", he preferred women who were knowledgeable and polite and had a soft personality, such as Empress Changsun and Concubine Xu Huifei. From the eleventh year of Zhenguan (637) into the palace, to the death of Tang Taizong in the twenty-third year of Zhenguan (649), Wu Zetian's deep palace looked at the moon for 12 years, did not give birth to a son and a half daughter to Tang Taizong, and has been standing still in the position of talent, which is proof.

We will know that although Yang Guozhong was introduced by Yang Guifei, his rapid promotion did not have much to do with Guifei, and he was entrusted with heavy responsibilities by Emperor Xuanzong mainly because he was good at financial management. The years when Yang Guozhong soared were precisely the period when Xuanzong was under the greatest ideological pressure on financial issues, and Yang Guozhong reformed the fiscal and tax collection methods and improved the transportation and logistics system, so that the growth rate of the national treasury revenue was unprecedented, so he could take the fast lane of rising and moving. On February 13, 749, Li Longji led a hundred officials to visit the left treasury of the national treasury, and saw that the gold and silver treasures were piled up like mountains of silk and silk, which completely relieved yang Guozhong of the financial pressure that he had been constantly under in ideology since the beginning of the new century, and trusted Yang Guozhong even more, handing over all the administrative, financial, and user power to him, and even letting Yang Guozhong grasp some of the military power.

Although Emperor Xuanzong suppressed Li Hengduo in his later years with the help of Li Linfu and Yang Guozhong, without the historical opportunity of the arrow fired by the knight Zhang Xiaojing in the Ma Song Mutiny, Li Heng would most likely not be able to take the throne. However, Li Heng, as the crown prince of the country, would not have seized power in chaos by instigating An Lushan to rebel and provoking chaos in the world. In fact, Li Heng had always maintained a high degree of political vigilance against An Lushan's wolf ambitions, repeatedly bluntly saying that this thief would rebel and asking Xuanzong to take more control.

We will be even more helpless to see that the reason why Xuanzong reused An Lushan, and even trusted his mysteries, was not because he knew people but because he was forced to do so. At that time, the hu generals represented by An Lushan rose collectively, with a profound national and military background. During the Kaiyuan Tianbao period, the mainland's social economy prospered, and the sound of golden drums was not heard for many years. The long-term peace situation will inevitably lead to a decline in the military quality of Han soldiers in the interior, and the Han generals will be less talented. In order for the Tang Dynasty to adopt an offensive posture in the frontier areas, it must absorb a large number of Hu people distributed in the frontier to join the army. Hu Ren was skilled in bow and horse, and soon grew into a main soldier and a junior officer. Using Hu generals to command The Hu army is natural. It was only natural that General Hu would grow up and rise as a middle-ranking and low-ranking officer to a general. However, Emperor Xuanzong was afraid that the Han general would support the crown prince and threaten the throne; Li Linfu and Yang Guozhong were afraid that the Han generals would become increasingly famous, and that they would enter and enter the phase and threaten the position, which was also one of the reasons why Xuanzong's monarchs reused Hu generals, but it was not the main reason. Specific to An Lushan, his people are Hu people who can fight; they are born in the cold door, have no party and no support, are easy to control, and are easy to be encircled. Moreover, the situation in the northeast region is complicated, with large and small ethnic minority tribes living together, and the Hu people have gradually become the main source of border defense troops in the northeast. An Lushan was a hybrid Hu, whose father was a Sogdian and his mother, the Turks, who could effectively co-opt soldiers of various ethnic groups. Therefore, Xuanzong's heavy use of An Lushan had a lot to do with the distribution of ethnic groups in the northeast frontier, the composition of the soldiers in the border defense troops, and the changes in the border defense situation. The crux of the matter was that while Emperor Xuanzong reused An Lushan, he did not exercise effective checks and balances on it, but only instructed Yang Guifei to adopt An Lushan as an adopted son and use the title of king to grant knighthood.

We will also know that the Tang Dynasty after the Anshi Rebellion was not just in a slump, but also a U-shaped reversal; the Tang Emperors after Tang Xuanzong were not all lying flat and falling freely. Tang Suzong, Tang Dynasty, Tang Xianzong, Tang Wuzong, and Tang Xuanzong did not abandon and did not give up, and finally put the rebellion to rest in general, and successively created the rule of Yuanhe Zhongxing, Huichang Zhongxing, and Dazhongzhi, which continued the glory of The Tang Dynasty for another hundred years.

We will also find that Tang Xuanzong was quite diligent, good at employing people, and discerning the details of the situation, and during his reign, he ended the Niu-Li party struggle that lasted for more than forty years after Muzong Jingzong Wenzong Wuzong, recovered the Hexi Corridor that had fallen into the hands of Tubo for more than a hundred years, and created the last Tang Dynasty", "The Rule of Great Middle", with the reputation of "Little Taizong".

There are many such ideas and historical restorations in the book, which are addictive to read, and quite quick after the mountains and rivers are restored. Although the author is from a science class, the text is clear and bright, the readability is very strong, and the historical stories of a thousand years ago are as funny as the current paragraphs, humorous but rigorous and solid.

It is precisely by relying on humorous brushwork and professional skills that "The Twenty-first Emperor of the Tang Dynasty" has successfully restored the historical truth that has been misled by traditional historiography and distorted by film and television scripts in the field of Tang history, allowing us to see a different kind of Datang under the rule of the real Tang Emperor.

Author: Shao Chong

Editor: Jiang Chuting