The Tang Empire, a once glorious dynasty, is not the only way to go in the end. In 900, Tang Zhaozong returned to Chang'an, and he was about to start clearing the eunuch forces around him that had brought disaster to the country and the people, but he found himself in a greater power vortex. Eunuchs, scholars, and warlords, what kind of intrigue is hidden behind these seemingly different forces?
In ancient China, the rise and fall of empires was often accompanied by numerous intrigues and betrayals. The Tang Dynasty, as a glorious dynasty in Chinese history, was particularly bleak in its last years. In 900, Tang Zhaozong returned to Chang'an, an emperor who wanted to revive the dynasty, but found himself in a very bad situation. He was surrounded by a group of ambitious eunuchs, who had a heavy army in their hands and controlled almost the lifeblood of the entire empire.
Tang Zhaozong's chief strategist, Cui Yin, was a visionary scholar. He was well aware of the danger of eunuchs to the country, so he persuaded the emperor to eradicate these eunuchs who brought disaster to the country and the people. But the problem is that the power of the Shence Army is scattered in the hands of several eunuchs, and these people have different minds and are not united with each other. This gave Tang Zhaozong an opportunity to skillfully exploit the infighting.
The plan started smoothly, and several eunuchs who controlled the Shence Army were quickly removed and replaced by newcomers trusted by the emperor. The vacuum of power is always short-lived. Cui Yin believes that a simple personnel replacement cannot fundamentally solve the problem, and the power of eunuchs must be completely eliminated. This radical proposal has added to the already unstable political situation.
Soon, the eunuchs in the Shence Army sensed the crisis, and they began to look for foreign help to save their position and life. They found Li Maozhen, the king of Qi, and Han Jian of Huazhou, two powerful warlords who formed a powerful camp against the emperor and Cui Yin. Such an alliance made Tang Zhaozong's situation even more precarious.
The situation deteriorated rapidly, and the eunuchs, under the leadership of Liu Jishu, plotted to depose Tang Zhaozong and replace the crown prince Li Yu. Although this move was commonplace in the late Tang Dynasty, it was very easy to catch fire in the context of the competition among the heroes. Unsurprisingly, this action immediately aroused the covetousness of other forces.
Tang Zhaozong was placed under house arrest in Shaoyang Courtyard and lived a miserable life. At this time, Cui Yin still did not give up and continued to work hard to try to save the situation, but he was no longer able to do so. He tried to regain military power from the eunuchs, but because of the disparity in strength, he was besieged. The eunuchs sowed discord, causing trust between the emperor and his loyal ministers to disappear.
In this chaotic situation, Tang Zhaozong's situation became increasingly difficult. He gradually realized that he had become the target of public criticism. In the game of thrones, the emperor is often nothing more than a pawn. Every attempt to control the situation turned into a catalyst that hastened the demise of the empire.
With this, the frontier of the Tang Dynasty was also surging. The border jiedu envoys divided their territories one after another and established themselves as kings, and the territory of the Tang Dynasty shrank sharply. The prestige of the central power was almost gone, and Tang Zhaozong's orders could no longer leave Chang'an. This situation of internal and external troubles made the entire empire like a plate of scattered sand, and it was difficult to continue.
In this context, the efforts of Tang Zhaozong and Cui Yin are particularly bleak. They tried to revive the dynasty, but they did it step by step, and each counterattack became a new failure. The combination of eunuchs and warlords almost deprived the emperor of any chance to act. Each coup d'état has profoundly revealed the corruption and incompetence within the empire.
In desperation, Tang Zhaozong began to reflect. He wondered if the root cause of this series of failures was really just the treachery of the eunuchs, or a deeper institutional and cultural problem. But such thinking is clearly too late for an empire that has already existed in name only.
Even in the last moments of the empire, Tang Zhaozong could not get rid of the intrigues and betrayals that surrounded him. His reign eventually became the dust of history and became the object of reflection and lessons for future generations. And the ambition and cunning of the eunuchs and scholars who once controlled the fate of the empire also became the end of a legend with the fall of the empire.