In the sixth year of Huichang (846), Tang Wuzong died, and Ma Yuanzhen, the representative of the eunuch forces, chose to support Li Chen, the thirteenth son of Tang Xianzong Li Chun, as the emperor in order to continue to control the government, which was for Tang Xuanzong.
After the Anshi Rebellion, the Tang Dynasty faced the challenge of the feudal town externally, and also faced the threat of the eunuch power inside.
Tang Xuanzong (played by Nie Yuan)
Li Chen was born to a palace maid, his status in the palace is not high, in order to save his life, he has played an unwise image since he was a child, and in this way, he has been a fool for thirty-six years, and he has completely deceived everyone, except for Tang Wuzong Li Yan.
Tang Wuzong always thought that Li Chen was pretending to be crazy and stupid, and in order to expose him, he was first thrown into the chaotic horse and then in the snow, but Li Chen did not die and lived well, which also made Tang Wuzong even more convinced of his pretending to be stupid.
This time he was going to be ruthless and leave Li Chen in the pit of Yongxiang, a few days passed, Li Chen was still "honest" and smirked, and the eunuch Qiu Gongwu persuaded Tang Wuzong to kill him.
In order to prevent future troubles, Tang Wuzong ordered Gongwu to be fully responsible.
But did Qiu Gongwu really want to kill Li Chen? Actually, no, Tang Wuzong's health was already bad at this time, and in order to continue to control the government, the eunuchs planned to support Li Chen, a "stupid king", to become emperor.
In order to realize this plan, Qiu Gongwu sent Li Chen out of the palace, turned around and lied that Li Chen was dead, deceived Tang Wuzong, and did not send Ma Yuanzhen to welcome Li Chen back and make him the emperor's uncle.
It can be said that Li Chen relied on his acting skills to deceive the eunuchs to become the emperor, and he was continuously suppressed by Tang Wuzong, and Tang Xuanzong urgently needed to consolidate his orthodox status after coming to power.
In terms of acting skills, Tang Xuanzong can rank among the top three emperors of the Tang Dynasty
And the best way is to prove that he is the direct heir of Tang Xianzong.
Soon after ascending the throne, Tang Xuanzong continued to exaggerate how deep the father-son relationship between himself and Tang Xianzong was.
To tell the truth, would Tang Xianzong take a high look at the son of this palace maid? In addition, Tang Xuanzong had been pretending to be crazy and stupid when he was a child, and he would not pay attention to it.
Moreover, when Tang Xianzong died, Tang Xuanzong was only ten years old, and he only had some vague impressions of his father's memory.
But Tang Xuanzong doesn't care, it is all kinds of memorials, and even improves Tang Xianzong's status in the Taimiao, at this time Tang Xianzong has been dead for more than 20 years, but Tang Xuanzong relied on single-handed operation, so that the world "mistakenly thought" that Tang Xianzong had just died.
The deep love between father and son is fake, and it is true to use the name of Tang Xianzong to render his inheritance of the throne from Tang Xianzong, which is intended to skip Tang Muzong's lineage.
Sure enough, he soon characterized the four dynasties of Tang Muzong, Tang Jingzong, Tang Wenzong, and Tang Wuzong as "pseudo dynasties", declared them illegal successions, and even wanted to move their gods out of the Taimiao.
However, after all, Tang Muzong and his family ruled the Tang Dynasty for more than 20 years, and their rash elimination would inevitably lead to turmoil in the imperial court.
The feudal towns of Tang Xianzong and Tang Muzong leveled
But Tang Xuanzong also had a way, that is, to "investigate" the cause of Tang Xianzong's death, and insisted that it was Empress Dowager Guo and Tang Muzong's mother and son who joined forces to kill the monarch, and began to implicate the "suspected" object.
The tracing activities continued until the eighth year of Dazhong (854), and Tang Xuanzong reigned for only thirteen years, and Guangzhulian did most of the time, and even the Empress Dowager Guo died in the end.
Soon after, Tang Xuanzong began to apply a one-size-fits-all approach, opposing all the policies of Tang Muzong's lineage.
Tang Xuanzong believed that as long as the "puppet dynasty" was eliminated, he would be able to sit firmly in the position of putting things right.
Tang Muzong, Tang Jingzong and Tang Wenzong were not much, but Tang Wuzong reigned for six years, and the prime minister Li Deyu joined forces to create the "governance of Huichang" quite effective, and the Tang Dynasty gradually improved.
Tang Wuzong reigned for only six years, and the feudal towns and Uighurs were successfully suppressed, and even the three towns of Heshuo, which had always been a headache for the imperial court, actually obeyed the imperial court's orders, especially Lu Longjie's envoys, and even returned to the imperial court, not to mention the destruction of the Buddha to liberate the population and increase the income.
Not only that, Tang Wuzong and Li Deyu rewarded Gu Han and promoted talents, even the arrogant eunuchs were suppressed, and their power was greatly weakened, and the next step was to take back the military power of the Shence Army.
Tang Xuanzong, in order to prove the legitimacy of his rule, opposed for the sake of opposition, whether good or bad, was a one-size-fits-all approach, seriously deviating from the normal track of the Tang Dynasty.
As soon as Tang Xuanzong ascended the throne, he first deposed Li Deyu, Xue Yuansheng, and Shi Xiong, the hero of the Uighur eradication, while the degraded Niu Monk and Ru, Li Zongmin, and Yang Sifu were all transferred back, and the Li Party completely lost its position, and the Niu Party was fully restored.
Li Deyu
In essence, Li Deyu belonged to the reformist faction and advocated strengthening centralized power, while Niu monks and children were conservative and advocated conformism.
In the late Tang Dynasty, the only way for the imperial court to do was reform, and only reform could have a way out.
Even if the emperor does not like a certain minister, but likes it or not, the reform must continue, and it is impossible to belittle all those who have a tendency to reform.
But Tang Xuanzong did it, indiscriminately, and all of them were banished, which seemed to end the fierce party struggle since Tang Muzong, but the one-size-fits-all approach was tantamount to adding fuel to the fire.
In addition, due to the superstition of his father, Tang Xuanzong also particularly liked to appoint the children of famous ministers of the Tang Xianzong dynasty, such as the ministers of the dynasty, Ling Huxuan, Bai Minzhong, Pei Su, Du Sheng, Niu Cong, etc., all of whom were descendants of Tang Xianzong.
It can be said that inside and outside the imperial court, there are descendants of Tang Xianzong's courtiers everywhere who hold important positions, and Tang Xuanzong's dynasty seems to have become the imperial court during the Tang Xianzong period, intending to make the imperial court look like a continuation of Tang Xianzong's dynasty, and once again prove that he is the real successor of Tang Xianzong.
What Tang Xuanzong did was to prove that he was the heir of Tang Xianzong
Among them, Ling Hu served as the prime minister of the Tang Xuanzong Dynasty for ten years, becoming the longest-serving prime minister of the entire Xuanzong Dynasty.
It's a pity that they are only the halo of the children of famous ministers, and most of their actual abilities are average, so that in the later period of Tang Xuanzong, there were almost no virtuous generals:
In vain, the Great Wall of self-billet, that is, this end, has been small. The prime ministers used, such as Bai Minzhong and Ling Fox, are all incompetent. Although it is clear to observe, he is thrifty in trouble, and only cooperates with the lord of the prosperous world, which is not the material to save the crisis - "History of the Sui and Tang Dynasties"
This is the evaluation of the famous historian Cen Zhongmian, which can be described as hitting the nail on the head.
The consequence of cronyism is to lead to the decline of the Tang Dynasty, and the serious situation of feudal town division and eunuch dictatorship after the Tang Dynasty has never been improved.
So why can Tang Xuanzong still leave a good name in the history books?
The most important thing is because of his superficial skills, after all, he has been hiding for decades by pretending to be crazy and stupid, and it is not a problem to continue to maintain a certain character design, as for the character design, it is naturally an imitation of Tang Taizong.
During his reign, Tang Xuanzong imitated Tang Taizong everywhere, and even reused Wei Mo, the fifth grandson of Wei Zheng, with the intention of building himself into another "Zhenguan rule".
It's a pity that there is only a god, and Tang Xuanzong imitated it too deliberately, thinking that by reading "Zhenguan Political Leaders" and learning from Tang Taizong's "good at admonishment", he could achieve the same achievements as Tang Taizong.
Tang Xuanzong's imitation of Tang Taizong can be called clumsy
But Tang Xuanzong has no ability of Tang Taizong, and no Tang Taizong has the amount of people, relying on Handan to learn to walk, after all, it is just a dream.
If there is no accident, Tang Xuanzong can probably only belong to the middle and lower ranks in the Tang Emperor, after all, Tang Xuanzong is self-assured of his power and relies on balance to hold power alone, which is still much better than a group of emperors who are in power.
But sometimes luck comes, and it can't be stopped, such as recovering the Hehuang region.
After the Anshi Rebellion, Tubo took advantage of the civil strife in the Tang Dynasty and took the opportunity to occupy Hexi and Longyou regions.
But I didn't expect that during the period of Tang Wuzong, Tubo actually fell into civil strife, the two sides fought for power and profit, and it was a good time to recover, Tang Wuzong immediately convened his ministers to discuss the recovery of Hehuang, but he died before he could implement it.
Later, in the third year of Dazhong (849), the Tubo general was defeated in the internal strife, and planned to return the occupied Qinzhou, Yuanzhou and Anle prefectures, as well as Shimen Qiguan, to the Tang Dynasty.
Before the land of the river was annexed
After the land of the river was annexed
Why did you choose these three states? It turned out that this was just a condition for the peace between Tang Xianzong and Tubo during the period of Tang Xianzong, and it was just a great gift to Tang Xuanzong, who sought to inherit the legitimacy of Tang Xianzong.
But I didn't expect the Niu Party to oppose it and keep admonishing it, but this time, Tang Xuanzong didn't accept it, dismissed the officials who opposed it, and then gave the credit to Tang Xianzong.
Xuanzong has restored the seven passes of the river and Huang Sanzhou, and he has added the name of Shunzong and Xianzong to his merit - "New Tang Dynasty Book"
Tang Xuanzong thought that he had fulfilled Tang Xianzong's long-cherished wish, the son inherited his father's will, and the destiny of heaven returned!
Later, Zhang Yichao, a big clan in Shazhou, sent a big gift, taking advantage of the internal strife in Tibet to launch an uprising, and recovered the local eleven prefectures.
In the fifth year of Dazhong (851), Zhang Yichao sent his brothers to Chang'an and asked for annexation, and then the Tang Dynasty set up the Guiyi Army in the local area and awarded Zhang Yichao as the envoy of the Guiyi Army.
So far, the land of Hehuang, which has been lost for a hundred years, has been attached to the Tang Dynasty again, but Tang Xuanzong has recovered Hehuang, which is pure luck, and the return of Hehuang depends on the civil strife in Tubo, and the second depends on Zhang Yichao's uprising, and then takes the initiative to annex it, and put it on any emperor.
Mogao Grottoes "General Zhang Yichao's Traveling Map"
Of course, it can't be said that Tang Xuanzong has no credit, but the credit is limited, after all, the luck component of this credit is too great.
As for the problem of eunuchs, Tang Xuanzong had no effect.
During the period of Tang Xuanzong, although the eunuchs were suppressed by checks and balances, Tang Xuanzong had just died, and the eunuch forces collectively counterattacked and supported the emperor again.
In August of the thirteenth year of Dazhong (859), Tang Xuanzong was seriously ill due to an overdose of pills, and before his death, he planned to let the privy envoy Wang Guichang, Ma Gongru and Xuanhui Southern Court envoy Wang Jufang support Tang Xuanzong's fourth son Li Zi as emperor.
However, Li Zi has always been friendly with civil officials, and Wang Zongshi, the lieutenant of the Zuo Shence Protector Army, who holds the military power, set aside these three people and led the army to support Tang Xuanzong's eldest son, Yun Wang Li Wen, as the emperor, Li Wen later changed his name to Li Yizong, for Tang Yizong, and then forged a holy decree and executed Wang Guichang and the three people.
As soon as Tang Yizong succeeded to the throne, the Qiu Fu uprising broke out, obviously, Tang Yizong took the blame for his old father as soon as he succeeded to the throne.
In fact, during the period of Tang Xuanzong, there were frequent military mutinies in various places, and even Jiangnan, the economic center of the late Tang Dynasty, also revolted frequently, the main reason was to allow local feudal towns to levy and extort violently, in the hope that the local government would pay more tribute.
It can be said that under the gorgeous appearance of Tang Xuanzong's so-called "rule of Dazhong", Datang has long been riddled with holes.
Back to Qiu Fu's uprising, Tang Yizong used the people of Tang Xuanzong's dynasty to pacify it, and it took eight months to completely calm it down.
If Tang Xuanzong was alive, would he be able to quell Qiu Fu's uprising? Perhaps the time and effect would be the same as Tang Yizong's, and it would also be due to the ingenuity of Tang Xuanzong's death.
Twenty years after the death of Tang Xuanzong, the Huangchao Rebellion broke out
Of course, Tang Xuanzong's shortcomings are also found in other emperors, and even many of them are common problems of emperors, it's not that he has nothing to do with Tang Xuanzong, but he just wants to return to his original position, after all, with the halo of "Little Taizong", he has done feats that are far from Tang Taizong.
All the thieves were born in the Dazhong Dynasty, and the legacy of Taizong Yu Ze went to the people for a long time, and the virtuous ministers were reprimanded to death, and the cowardly reigned, and the world was deeply punished, and the world was sad - "New Tang Dynasty Book"
It looks like everything is important and everything is done, but in reality nothing is done.
Objectively speaking, Tang Wuzong and Li Deyu strengthened the dilapidated house of the Tang Dynasty, Tang Xuanzong directly cut down the pillars, and later generations commented that Tang died in Xuanzong, which may not be true at all.