The "Yongzhen Reform" was a movement of reform and change during the Tang Shunzong period, and because of this change of law, it was "tiger-headed and snake-tailed" and "fruitless" and therefore received a very low evaluation in history.
But does this innovation really have no historical value? What was the final result of Emperor Shunzong of the Tang Dynasty during the period of the change of law?
Many mainstream views now believe that the historical value of the "Yongzhen Reform" is very low, and it lasted only eighty days before failing, so it has not contributed to the history of the Tang Dynasty.
Now to look at the "New Book of Tang", "Old Book of Tang" and "Zizhi Tongjian", all of them do not carry out severe reprimands on it, in fact, from a certain point of view, the author believes that this view is relatively one-sided. Many later historians have rejected this claim.
For the status of "Yongzhen Innovation", the mainstream voice of historians is naturally "denunciation". But in such a powerful condemnation, there are also people who hold different opinions, such as the famous Song Dynasty politician and literary scholar Fan Zhongyan and the early Qing Dynasty scholar Wang Fuzhi, who believe that this statement is biased.
According to the historical records, Fan Zhongyan, a famous minister of the Song Dynasty, believed that the Book of Tang was really some "refutation", and judging this change was completely "written because of its success or failure", which was completely a "correct" point of view.
He believes that it is unfair for the old and new Books of Tang to judge its historical status and significance by the success or failure of the "Yongzhen Reform". Wang Fuzhi, a famous thinker in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties, had a more obvious attitude toward this, positively affirming the role of Yongzhen's reform, exaggerating some measures to change the law, such as "boycotting the feng" and "degrading Li Shi" and other measures, which positively affirmed the reform and change of the law.
In summary, the author believes that this innovation is still of positive significance, do not talk about heroes with success or failure, although Wang Shuwen's innovation failed, but this innovation has a far-reaching impact on the history of the Tang Dynasty.
During the Yongzhen Reformation (806 CE), on August 4, Tang Shunzong, persecuted by the eunuchs who imprisoned him, reluctantly passed his throne to the crown prince Li Chun, and himself became the Emperor Taishang.
After Tang Xianzong ascended the throne, Emperor Shunzong dragged his sick body to xingqing Palace. On the nineteenth day of the first month of the first year of The Reign of Emperor Xianzong, more than five months after Emperor Shunzong moved to the palace, he was only 46 years old and died in the Chengning Hall of the Xingqing Palace.
Tang Shunzong Li Shi was the shortest reigning of the tang emperors (not including the Tang Long regime here), and it did not take more than 200 days from his accession to the throne, and the era name of "Zhenyuan" was agreed upon after Emperor Xianzong ascended the throne.
Regarding the cause of Tang Shunzong's death, there is no detailed record in the history books, and it has become a mystery for eternity.
In the eyes of many people, Tang Shunzong has been seriously ill since Emperor Dezong's later years, and there is no doubt that he died of illness. However, a book in the Tang Dynasty called "The Record of continued Xuan Monsters" recorded that tang Shunzong's cause of death was more mysterious.
The Records of the Continuing Xuan Monster was written by the Tang Dynasty li fuyan, and one of the articles, "Xin Ping Shangxian", uses the brushwork of a novel to describe the unnatural death of a Tang emperor.
According to the description of "Xin Ping Ping Shangxian", Xin Ping was a county lieutenant in Gao'an County, Hongzhou. In the last year of the Yuan Dynasty, he and Wei Chengshilian of Luling County, Jizhou, entered the Beijing election together, and encountered a strange thing on the way. On their way to Chang'an, the two of them met a green-clad official named Wang Zhen, who told them that he was not an ordinary person, but a yin official.
The so-called "Yin Officials" are officials who do not belong to the Yang Realm, and Wang Zhen also told them that the purpose of his coming to the Yang Realm this time was to welcome the emperor who was about to die. Wang Zhen said that Xin Ping was destined to see this scene, and asked him to wait at night under the Manchu ancient locust to enter the palace with him.
Later, Li Fuyan described how these people took the emperor away, of course, Xin Pingping saw it with his own eyes. Afterwards, Wang Zhen sent Xin Gong back to Cheng Tulian's residence before bidding farewell to him. Xin Ping did not dare to disclose this matter, and after a few months, he also "climbed" away. It was not until the early years of the Yuan Dynasty that this matter came out of the mouth of Xin Ping's son and was finally recorded.
Of course, this story is quite mysterious, but there is one thing that needs attention in this story, that is, the unnatural death of the emperor.
In the novel, there are two key points in time, that is, the "Yuan and the last year" mentioned at the beginning and the "Yuan and the beginning" mentioned at the end of the text, these two time points are very contradictory, if the emperor was killed in the yuan and the last year, then how can the time that came out be the yuan and the beginning of the year?
Based on the time of "Yuan and the last year", Mr. Chen Yinke deduced that this novel should describe the death of Tang Xianzong, which seems to be no suspicious, but in fact it is full of doubts.
The historian Mr. Huang Yongnian once expressed his views in his article "Xin Ping Shangxian is talking about The Xianzong and the Shunzong".
Mr. Huang Yongnian's breakthrough point is the time of "Yuan and Chu" mentioned at the end of the article, and he believes that this novel is basically about the death of Shunzong rather than Xianzong. Tang Shunzong abdicated in August of the twentieth year of the Zhenyuan Dynasty (805 AD) and died five and a half months later, and it was during this time that the text said that "more months, there is a weeping".
According to Huang Yongnian's deduction, Tang Shunzong may have been killed by eunuchs shortly after his abdication, and the news of his death was not made public until a few months later.
As for the phenomenon of time contradiction that appears in the text, Huang Yongnian believes that the Song Dynasty changed "Zhenyuan" to "Yuanhe" in order to avoid Emperor Renzong's Zhao Zhen's secret, in fact, the time of this incident should be "Zhenyuan Late Yuan and Early Yuan", which is just in line with the time of Shunzong's death.
Regarding the mystery of Tang Shunzong's death, although historian Huang Yongnian's views have a certain truth, it is necessary to note that the description in the "Record of the Continuing Xuan Monster" is after all a novel, even if the record is true, it is likely to be a folk legend at that time, so it cannot be used as a powerful evidence.
From the author's personal point of view, it is indeed more inclined to the theory that Tang Shunzong was killed by eunuchs, believing that his death was not a normal death.
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