Heavenly Son of The Merry Wind - Tang Xuanzong

Li Longji, one of the most important emperors in the history of the Tang Dynasty, revived the tang dynasty after the return of The Wu Dynasty to Li Tang and opened the rule of Kaiyuan. But it is precisely because he caused the Tang Dynasty to suffer an unprecedented disaster - the Anshi Rebellion, which exhausted the national fortune and national strength of the Tang Dynasty, and since then the situation has deteriorated day by day.

So what kind of person emperor Xuanzong really was, I want to summarize it in four words - the merry son of heaven. This wind flow is not the wind flow of the wind, but the wind flow of Su Dongpo - the great river east to the end of the waves, the wind flow of the people of the ages, or Chairman Mao - the past, the number of wind and current figures also look at the current flow of the dynasty.

So how did he get along?

First, the career flow

Emperor Xuanzong was emperor for 44 years plus Emperor Taishang for 6 years, for a total of 50 years, known as the 50 years of the Taiping Heavenly Son. Under his rule, the Tang Dynasty reached its peak at all levels.

In the early years of the new century, Emperor Xuanzong appointed the old minister Yao Chong as prime minister. One day Yao Chonglai came to report on his work and came to Xuanzong with a list of lang officials, who were five pin officials, not big officials. He wanted to ask Emperor Xuanzong if it would be okay to appoint this group of people as lang officials. Xuanzong sat on the temple, Yao Chong, standing below and read the list, after reading it he wanted to see what Xuanzong's reaction was, but Xuanzong did not react or speak and looked at Fang Liang. This is Yao Chong's somewhat puzzled, why did the emperor ignore me, is my voice too small the emperor did not hear it clearly, or I read it again, so Yao Chong's voice read it again. Whether this was Xuanzong or no reaction, this was Yao Chong's little panicked, where did I offend the emperor, so he withdrew from the hall curtly. Yao Chonggang withdrew from the great hall, and the famous eunuch Gao Lishi beside the emperor spoke, the emperor, why don't you pay attention to others, why don't you give a statement to others when they report to the prime minister. At this time, Xuanzong said, I am the emperor, I appointed him Yao Chong as the prime minister, I just let him do things for me, then these small things he can handle by himself, when he encounters major events to discuss with me, I will definitely give him guidance, but these small things also need my approval one by one, then what is the role of him as the prime minister? At this time, Gao Lishi understood the emperor's intentions, and quickly chased out to find Yao Chong, saying that Yao Xiangguo, don't think too much, the emperor just did not respond to you because he trusted you and let you do it. At this time, Yao Chong's hearing was also a sudden realization, and he would have more backbone in doing things in the future. So why does this matter show that Jun Mingchen xian? Although Emperor Xuanzong was young now, he knew how to be an emperor with a general understanding, and he knew what the emperor should do and what the emperor should not do. He knew that in order to be a good emperor, he must use people without doubt, and if he doubts people, he must delegate power to let the prime minister have certain rights. Yao Chong, who was already in his sixties at the time, had been the prime minister since the time of Wu Zetian, and his reputation was extremely high, but he did not bully the young emperor. High prestige but not authoritarian, even small things to ask the emperor, this is a good prime minister. Then Yao Chong is a sage and Gao Lishi is not a sage. Generally speaking, our impression of eunuchs is not very good, and we always feel that eunuchs are dictatorial and chaotic government to stir up dissension. But this GaoLishi was also a virtuous courtier, and he knew that it was rare to take the initiative to communicate the feelings between the emperor and the ministers. It is precisely because of this political atmosphere of kings and sages that the forces between the emperor, the imperial court, and the inner palace, which have been particularly difficult to balance since ancient times, can be harmonious. Therefore, there was a generation of British lords Tang Xuanzong, as well as the sages Yao Chong, Song Jing, and the eunuch Gao Lishi who was loyal to Qianqiu.

At that time, the Tang Dynasty was a superpower in the absolute sense and had a lofty international status. Chang'an is the heart of the world. At that time, a large number of merchants, envoys, and international students gathered in an international metropolis such as Chang'an Luoyang. To give an example, Li Bai has a poem: Japanese Chao Qing resigned from the imperial capital, and zhengfan a piece of winding pot. The bright moon does not return to the blue sea, and the white clouds are full of sorrow. This man was a Japanese student who came to China to study at the age of 19, and later became an official in China, all the way to the imperial history, equivalent to the current minister of supervision. He lived in China for 54 years until he died in China at the age of 73. At that time, there were more than 70 countries with tributary relations with the Tang Dynasty, and 2% of Chang'an at that time were foreigners, which was no less than that of Beijing today. We know that at that time, there were Tang monks who went to the Western Heavens to learn the scriptures, but in fact, more people came to China to learn the scriptures, and Muhammad, the founder of Islam in West Asia, said: Even if knowledge is far away in China, it should be sought.

There are two indicators of economic achievement in ancient times, one is population figures and the other is food consumption per capita. The official population statistics of the Xuanzong period were more than 50 million. Ancient population statistics have been underreported and underreported now, so modern scholars estimate that the population of the Tang Dynasty during the Xuanzong period should be able to reach 70 to 90 million. If we compare this figure, there were only more than 80 million people in Europe in the 14th century, and it took them more than 600 years to catch up with the Tang Dynasty. What was the per capita grain consumption during the Xuanzong period, according to statistics, it was more than 700 catties per capita. For comparison, after the founding of the People's Republic of China, it was not until 1982 that the per capita grain consumption reached 700 catties. It is conceivable that Kaiyuan Shengshi is really a great achievement. That's why Du Fu's poem: A Seat for the Whole Birthday of the New Century, Xiao Yi is hiding in the Ten Thousand Families Room. Rice is white, and public and private warehouses are abundant.

At that time, the cultural field was also extremely prosperous, and the poets Li Bai and the poet Saint Du Fu that we are familiar with were the darlings of that era, including the familiar names in our primary school textbooks: Meng Haoran, Zhang Jiuling, Wang Wei, Wang Zhizhuo, Wang Changling, Cen Layer, these were all people living in the Era of Xuanzong, and poetry became a fashion in the whole society, so the Tang Dynasty was a poetry country.

Second, the flow of fun

Speaking of love, Emperor Xuanzong was both literate and martial, with a wide range of hobbies. His poetry is also very good, how good is it, his poetry is the only emperor's poetry selected for the three hundred Tang poems, which were compiled by the Qing Dynasty, without any political factors. So Xuanzong's poetry was selected purely because of strength. And What is more commendable to Xuanzong is that he is very good at composing music, the most famous is the "Neon Dress Feather Song", which is said to have been conceived by Xuanzong when he dreamed. And Xuanzong also played karma drums, an instrument of the northwest ethnic minorities, which played a commanding role in the orchestra and was very popular with Xuanzong. Therefore, Xuanzong played very dazzlingly, to what extent, the prime minister at that time, Song Jing, had a praise: the head is like a green mountain, and the hands are like white raindrops. At that time, there was a folk artist named Li Guinian who was also very good at playing karma drums, and Xuanzong often invited him to come and play with him. Therefore, Emperor Xuanzong created a professional institution called Liyuan, which was equivalent to a conservatory directly under the imperial court. Emperor Xuanzong served as dean and chief professor. In terms of martial arts, Xuanzong was able to ride horses and shoot arrows, but what he was best at was playing polo.

Third, love flow

How to explain the flow of love? Xuanzong was actually a very handsome man, and in the Old Book of Tang it is said: Yi Fan Weili has an extraordinary appearance. Handsome and affectionate, harem beauty, this harem is too much is not good, easy to choose difficulties. So Xuanzong came up with a bad trick, he asked all the concubines to pick a flower and put it on their heads, and then he released a butterfly, and whoever the butterfly landed on, he would spoil which concubine and take the bamboo shoots! According to statistics, there are more than 40,000 people, more than 40,000 young and beautiful girls, who are trapped in the palace and become mothers from girls. But Xuanzong also had a hint of special affection, he was devoted to Yang Guifei.

But people are afraid of the whole, the month is not full. In the 14th year of Tianbao, that is, in 755 AD, the largest civil unrest in the history of the Tang Dynasty began, and the two scourges of An Lushan and Shi Siming were reversed. The rebellion lasted nearly eight years. This rebellion not only ended Xuanzong's career as emperor and exhausted the national strength of the Tang Dynasty, but more fatally, it was a watershed in China's feudal history. Why? Since the Anshi Rebellion, Datang's cultural self-confidence has slowly diminished, and as cosmopolitanism has weakened, nationalism has begun to rise. In the political field, as the war situation shifted from the northwest to the northeast, China's strategic center shifted from the northwest to the northeast. One of the most obvious signs is that China's capital has slowly moved from Chang'an in the northwest to Beijing. In the economic field, because of the scourge of the Anshi Rebellion, the economic center of gravity shifted from the north to the south, and since then China's north-south problem has replaced the east-west problem. Even more deadly is that there was no more heyday after the Anshi Rebellion. For Xuanzong personally, his life also took a sharp turn, he was the emperor when he fled from Chang'an to Sichuan, and when he returned to Chang'an from Sichuan, he became the Emperor Taishang, and he was also placed under house arrest by the son of the emperor, dispersing the people around him, leaving only a few old palace women. An emperor lost his country and his favorite concubine. He lifted Datang to heaven with one hand and pushed Datang to the abyss with the other. His life went up and down.