One day in November 835 (the ninth year of Tang Taihe), a major news broke in the capital Chang'an - the fourteenth emperor of the Tang Dynasty, Li Ang (Tang Wenzong), was kidnapped by eunuchs!
The captor who kidnapped Tang Wenzong was Qiu Shiliang, a fighter among the eunuchs.
The reason why the eunuchs did this was forced to do so, when Tang Wenzong wanted to sweep the eunuchs all away.
And the emperor wanted to get rid of the eunuchs, but he was also forced to be helpless and couldn't bear it.
Li Ang, the emperor, was born in the firefight of the eunuchs.
Originally, Li Ang had no connection with the emperor's throne, because his brother Li Zhan (Tang Jingzong) was the protagonist of the Tang Dynasty's political stage, and his younger brother only had to watch the drama.
However, in December of the second year of the Baoli calendar (826), on the eighth day of the first month, the eunuch Liu Keming staged a coup d'état and killed the 18-year-old Emperor Jingzong, who forged his will in an attempt to make Li Wu, the son of Emperor Xianzong of Tang and the uncle of Emperor Jingzong, the Prince of Qi, emperor.
But the eunuchs were not monolithic, they were fighting with each other, and they were in the same situation;
Regarding Liu Keming's actions, the eunuchs Wang Shoucheng and Liang Shouqian were not convinced, why should you be the designated emperor with the surname Liu, and we can't?
Therefore, Wang Liang and the two of them attacked and entered the palace to kill Liu Keming and Li Wu the Prince of Dai, and established the 17-year-old King of Jiang Li Ang as emperor, changing his era name to "Taihe"
In this way, Li Ang was hit by a big pie falling from the sky, and became the emperor effortlessly.
But Li Ang, who was pushed to power in the bloody coup, was destined to be a puppet, at the mercy of the eunuchs, and died.
Li Ang disobeyed the order to become a veritable emperor, and according to the reality that the eunuchs were too powerful, he decided to "use eunuchs to control eunuchs", promote the obscure eunuch Qiu Shiliang, and poison the great eunuch Wang Shoucheng to death.
However, the front door drives the wolf, the back door enters the tiger, Qiu Shiliang is also a fierce character, and Li Ang's life is even more difficult.
At the instigation of The Prime Minister Li Xun, he decided to wipe out the hateful eunuchs once and for all.
On November 21, 835 (the ninth year of Tang Taihe), Qiu Shiliang and other eunuchs received a notice from the emperor's office to accompany the emperor to the backyard of the palace to see the nectar.
In fact, this was a trap set by the emperor, and the backyard had already ambushed the heavily armed Janissaries, and only the eunuchs could take them to the end as soon as they arrived.
Who knew that the leader of the Janissaries, Han Yue, was a pig teammate, and when he saw Qiu Shiliang, he looked panicked and his limbs trembled.
As a result, Qiu Shiliang saw the flaw and came to a counter-killing, he tucked the emperor into a palanquin and hijacked him, and commanded his men to kill the emperor's cronies.
Among them were Li Xun, Wang Ya, Jia Biao, Shu Yuanyu and other four prime ministers; the history called "the change of Ganlu Temple."
Next, Qiu Shiliang also planned the assassination of the prime minister Li Shi, because this person disobeyed his own leadership and challenged his authority.
Qiu Shiliang hated Li Shi to the bone and decided to kill the chicken to scare the monkey and assassinate him.
In the first month of 838 (kaicheng 3rd year), Li Shi was suddenly attacked by assassins on horseback and almost had his head cut off.
Although Li Shi escaped from death, he was terrified and resigned from his post as prime minister and went to Jingnan to serve as an envoy to Jiedu to escape.
At first glance, the prime minister was a high-risk profession, and there was no good fruit to eat against the eunuchs, and Qiu Shiliang's purpose of killing chickens and scaring monkeys was also achieved.
From then on, Emperor Jingzong's Emperor Li Ang was placed under house arrest and even lost his personal freedom, similar to a prisoner.
At this time, Li Ang, in addition to borrowing wine to pour sorrow, was engaged in literary creation and writing poetry to pass the day.
Living like a year, the depressed Li Ang died at the age of 31, ending his life, and his only wish to pass the throne to the crown prince Li Chengmei at the end of his life was not realized.
After the death of Emperor Wenzong of Tang and Li Ang, Qiu Shiliang forged the Holy Will and replaced Emperor Wenzong's younger brother Li Yi with the title of Emperor Wuzong of Tang.
In doing so, Qiu Shiliang violated the old rules handed down from his ancestors and inherited by the emperor, which was unpopular.
Therefore, he was very weak-minded, and he wanted to get rid of Tang Wenzong's son, the original crown prince Li Chengmei; this former prince was an out-and-out factor of instability and would become a banner for hostile forces to subvert the imperial power.
Therefore, on the night of the first month of the fifth year, several killers infiltrated Li Chengmei's residence and beheaded him.
Next, Qiu Shiliang intensified, sounding the rallying cry of liquidating the imperial family, and Tang Wenzong's Concubine Yang Xian and his son Li Rong the Prince of An were also killed.
Why didn't Emperor Wuzong interfere with his actions?
Emperor Wuzong also picked it up, and it was all the credit of Qiu Shiliang, and he wanted to be grateful.
Erze Wuzong was not a fuel-saving lamp, he was a political strongman, he borrowed the hand of Qiu Shiliang to eliminate political enemies.
On the surface, Emperor Wuzong was very at the mercy of Qiu Shiliang, but in fact he had been waiting for the opportunity to deprive him of his power and become a righteous emperor.
For Qiu Shiliang, Emperor Wuzong was silent, but on the surface he still had great respect, and even if he killed his attendants and music workers, Emperor Wuzong could not pretend not to see it.
But when important decisions were made, Emperor Wuzong no longer consulted him and bypassed him.
At the same time, Emperor Wuzong appointed Li Deyu as chancellor and put Qiu Shiliang in the air.
Li Deyu is also not a generalist, he is the elder of the Four Dynasties, once served the four emperors of Xianzong, Muzong, Wenzong, and Jingzong, and both his ability to govern and his connections should not be underestimated.
Qiu Shiliang was not a fool, he sensed the Conspiracy of Emperor Wuzong and looked for an opportunity to fight back.
In October 842 (the second year of Huichang), the opportunity finally came, and the emperor issued a document to reduce the treatment of the forbidden army, not only reducing salaries but also reducing the distribution of clothing and food.
Qiu Shiliang immediately attacked and said to the forbidden army, "Do you know whose idea it is?" Li Zaixiang, he is on the stage, we all want to live well. Therefore, we all want to make trouble to remove him. ”
When Tang Wuzong heard this, he immediately summoned the Forbidden Army to a meeting: "Reducing the treatment is the idea of Yuan, it is a temporary and expedient measure for the country to be temporarily difficult, and it will soon be improved, and it has nothing to do with Li Zaixiang." If you make trouble, you are directed against the Emperor and are against the imperial court. ”
In this way, the forbidden army no longer dared to make trouble, and Qiu Shiliang's plot failed.
Since then, Qiu Shiliang can no longer sleep at night, and often wakes up from nightmares in the middle of the night, not daring to be so arrogant anymore.
Soon, Emperor Wuzong of Tang began to fight back, and at a meeting, he launched a surprise attack, announcing that he was relieved of his post as a general on horseback, deposed him as a duke of the State of Chu, and demoted to the post of internal attendant.
The position of the internal attendant was that of the emperor's life secretary, who was at best the head of the general office, and his status plummeted.
Qiu Shiliang finally recognized the harsh reality and was determined to retreat in a hurry in order to seek a good death.
In 843 AD, he took the initiative to resign and returned to his hometown.
Qiu Shiliang's hand was similar to that of Wei Zhongxian in the Chongzhen period, and Wei Zhongxian, after being snubbed, resigned from Chongzhen and was approved, and returned to his hometown.
However, the fate of the two was very different, Wei Zhongxian left the capital, and Chongzhen ordered him to be hunted down and killed, forcing him to commit suicide.
Qiu Shiliang returned to his hometown of Guangdong and enjoyed his old age at the age of 63.
Not only that, but after his death, he was posthumously given the title of Governor of Yangzhou by Emperor Wuzong of Tang.
The reason for this is that Emperor Wuzong was supported by Qiu Shiliang to come to power, and he was kind to him, and Emperor Wuzong was a person of great affection and righteousness.
The reason why Zhu Youjian (Chongzhen) succeeded as the emperor's younger brother was also due to Wei Zhongxian's great credit.
Because the Emperor of the Heavenly Revelation obeyed Wei Zhongxian's words, when he was dying, he also specially explained to his younger brother Zhu Youjian: "Loyalty and loyalty can be counted on major matters."
It can be seen from this that if Wei Zhongxian did not want him to succeed him, the Emperor of Heaven would not have arranged it that way, and there were many candidates, and the Zhu family did not die.
However, after Chongzhen ascended the throne, he immediately eradicated Wei Zhongxian, and chongzhen was beyond reproach for doing so, but when Old Wei was already about to tell the old man to return to his hometown, it was a bit too much to pursue and kill Wei Zhongxian.
In contrast, Zhu Youjian was a thin-hearted emperor.
No matter how powerful a eunuch is, it is easy for the emperor to overthrow him.
When the power was in his hands, the eunuchs were very angry, in fact, they were just slaves; once the emperor was mad, he immediately fell, so did Qiu Shiliang, Liu Jin, and Wei Zhongxian.
In particular, when the eunuch returned to his hometown, he was nothing, and the influence quickly disappeared; Qiu Shiliang's experience was proof of this. Therefore, there is no harm without comparison, and Chongzhen is really not as generous as Tang Wuzong at this point.
However, as a eunuch, Qiu Shiliang was undoubtedly successful.
When they returned home, many eunuchs in the palace came to bid farewell to Qiu Shiliang, who once taught them the secret of his success: "Never let the emperor idle, try your best to make him indulge in pleasure, and have no time to take care of other things, so that my generation can do what they want and do whatever they want." ”
"Let the emperor be familiar with the business and learn knowledge, so that they will accept the lessons of the previous dynasty, do not let us approach him, and do not give our eunuchs the opportunity to realize their ideals."
It is not difficult to sum up history and see that what Qiu Shiliang said is really reasonable.