Many people mention Tang Wenzong, think that he is too unlucky, he is not good at women, diligent in listening to the government, practicing frugality, Ming Jun's advantages he has, but he encountered the eunuch dictatorship, and even some people think that if Tang Wenzong was born in Song and Ming, he would be a benevolent monarch like Emperor Renzong and Emperor Xiaozong. In fact, such praise was really excessive for Tang Wenzong, and historian Wang Tongling pointed out: "Wenzong claimed to be the lord of the order, but he was indecisive and ignorant." Although Tang Wenzong was able to be diligent and diligent and eat and drink, he lacked the ability to govern the country and was ultimately unable to eliminate the scourge.
Tang Wenzong's indecisiveness was already evident at the beginning of his ascension to the throne. Because Tang Jingzong was suddenly killed and did not make a will, the eunuch Wang Shoucheng supported him as emperor, and Tang Wenzong hesitated because of how he ascended the throne. At that time, it had become a habit for eunuchs to support the emperor since his grandfather Tang Xianzong, and it was impossible to say that Tang Wenzong had no private relations with eunuchs before he ascended the throne. moreover. The eunuchs in power also won the support of a large number of important courtiers such as the chancellor Pei Du, and the history books record that "the Privy Councillor Wang Shoucheng Yang Chenghe, the lieutenant Liang Shouqian Wei Congjian and the prime minister Pei Du welcomed the King of Jiang", and Tang Wenzong still "commanded the surrender, and there was no certainty". Tang Wenzong hesitated here because his self-esteem was too strong, and although the throne in his hand was a dream, he had the concept of "clear stream" in his bones: it was too faceless to be embraced by eunuchs. Until The Hanlin scholar Wei Chuhou advised him: "The crusade against Liu Keming and a bunch of other criminals is both justified and righteous, and the credit of those dead eunuchs is all on your head, what doubts do you have?" If you hesitate any longer, you will appear weak-minded! Leon made up his mind.
Eunuchs of the Tang Dynasty
The emperor should have spoken in the courtroom, but the history books say that Tang Wenzong was "diligent in listening to the government, but floating in decision-making, and the prime minister had to play things, often changing in the middle", although he was a member of the Broad Group, he did not remember that the Duke of Zhou had advised King Zhou Cheng that "there is no joke about the king". It took half a day for the monarchs and courtiers in the court to finalize the decision, and Tang Wenzong's turn of his head did not count, causing the ministers to be inexplicable and complaining, and slowly the emperor's prestige was reduced. The chancellor, Wei Chuhou, was very disgusted by his indecisiveness and said directly: "If it is out of Chen's heart, it means that the subjects do not believe; if they are out of arbitrariness, the ministers are not called Dingsi." ... The slightest minister is thin, and his majesty is promoted to use it, and he does not go out of his door, and if he does not obey his words, it is advisable for his subjects to retreat first." You guys, the things you decide to change back and forth, what is the use of us prime ministers? I don't have much insight as a person, in the future, you love who believes in whom, labor and management will not play with you! Wei Chuhou's words were already very rude. Tang Wenzong quickly explained to him: Your Xianneng Shuo knows drip, but you talk like this, so that Shuo can't come to the stage. Wei Chuhou said silently in his heart: "Oh, you have no faith in what you say, don't point your nose and scold to give enough face, and then turn your head and leave, Tang Wenzong had to call him back from the middle of the road, "Whatever Qing Qing wants, it is advisable to enlighten him." Later, Wei Chuhou really couldn't stand Tang Wenzong's indecisiveness, and simply made a resignation report in the second year of Taihe.
Tang Wenzong
The eunuch Wang Shoucheng became more and more unscrupulous in his power and support, and although Tang Wenzong was extremely dissatisfied, he could only choose to swallow his anger. Candidate Liu Rui slammed the eunuchs' evil deeds of chaotic government and misleading the country, and put forward the idea of "revealing the power of the state to return to its appearance, holding the military handle to return to its generals, going to the government of greedy subjects and gathering, and removing the harm of adulterous officials." Tang Wenzong did not dare to hire such a talent. Emperor Wenzong of Tang was not willing to be controlled by eunuchs, so he appointed Song Shenxi as the prime minister to plan the removal of the castration, but the plan was accidentally leaked, and Wang Shoucheng preemptively framed Song Shenxi to rebel, and Tang Wenzong believed it to be true, and in anger he wanted to execute his entire family. In this regard, the historian Cai Dongfan commented: "Emperor Wenzong wanted to get rid of the eunuchs, and the slander of the anti-believer eunuchs was so mediocre that it was better than that"! Fortunately, the eunuch Ma Cunliang fought hard, and Emperor Wenzong summoned the ministers to discuss, but everyone did not believe it, and Cui Xuanliang even shed tears and prostrated his head, saying that killing a commoner also requires evidence, not to mention the prime minister you trusted in the first place? At this time, Tang Wenzong also felt that Song Shenxi was framed, but did not dare to publicly offend Wang Shoucheng, so he once again summoned the prime minister for consultation, and the cattle monks and children who had not lost their conscience advised: "The highest status of the minister is only the prime minister, and now that Song Shenxi is already the prime minister, what will he do to support the king of Zhang?" And once again stressed that "Shen Xi is not here." Wang Shoucheng was afraid of once again investigating the truth, so he forced Tang Wenzong to demean Song Shenxi, Zhangwang and others, and a major case of "rebellion" was hastily concluded, and after this incident, the eunuchs' forces became even more arrogant.
Song Shin Seok
In addition to the eunuchs in power, the group of courtiers who survived under the pressure of eunuchs were not idle, and the two factions of civilian officials led by Niu Monk and Li Deyu excluded each other, and they even colluded with the eunuch forces, and Tang Wenzong was not strong enough, resulting in the party struggle reaching the most fierce point. After Li Zongmin became chancellor through the eunuch relationship, he introduced the cattle monks and children to the prime minister, and the two of them worked together to demote Li Deyu to Xichuan. However, Li Deyu was indeed a capable man, and he took advantage of the internal turmoil in Tubo to recover the important town of Victoria, and also suggested that the imperial court increase its troops to deal a heavy blow to Tubo. Ignoring the major state affairs, the cattle monks and children advised Tang Wenzong to "keep his word first and respond to the enemy second", and also exaggerated Tubo to intimidate Tang Wenzong, saying that Tubo soldiers and horses would "arrive at Xianyang Bridge in three days", and asked Li Deyu to return Victoria to Tubo, which did the evil deeds of relatives and enemies, but Li Deyu was angry. Later, Tang Wenzong also knew that this was a means for cattle monks and children to exclude Li Deyu, and he hated that cattle monks and children reused Li Deyu. The cattle and lee party quarrels caused Tang Wenzong to be unable to distinguish who was right and who was wrong, he used Li Deyu for a while, and the next he used cow monks and children, and the two factions of forces were like a marquee, making the government very chaotic, and Tang Wenzong could only helplessly shout: "It is easy to go to Hebei to be a thief, and it is difficult to go to the imperial court and friends!" ”
Li Deyu
Because Song Shenxi's plan was leaked, Wang Shoucheng was even more wary of Tang Wenzong, and he placed Zheng Zhu and Li Xun next to Wenzong. However, the arrival of Li Xun and Zheng Zhu caused Tang Wenzong to begin to change his strategy, first eliminating the partisans and controlling the imperial court, and then using the imperial court to eliminate eunuchs. Everyone knew that these two eunuchs were not right in their hearts, but Tang Wenzong believed that the two were not easy to be detected by eunuchs, and it was useless to let "the advisors of the two provinces beg the court". With the support of Tang Wenzong, Li Xun and Zheng Zhu used their status as Wang Shoucheng's henchmen to do things; they first promoted the Niu Dang, and let the Niu Dang use the "Zhangwang Case" created by Wang Shoucheng to eliminate the Li Dang, and then created the "Song Ruoxian Case" to eliminate the Niu Dang and the eunuchs behind them, and even those who were a little dissatisfied with themselves would surely die and then quickly, and for a time "the class was empty, everyone was worried, and if they collapsed," Tang Wenzong had to issue an edict to stabilize the mood of the ministers. In the first step, they promoted Qiu Shiliang to break up part of Wang Shoucheng's power; in the second step, they eliminated Yang Chenghe, Wei Yuan, and Wang Jianyan, who had a vendetta against Wang Shoucheng; in the third step, they joined forces with Qiu Shiliang to get rid of Wang Shoucheng's nemesis Chen Hongzhi; in the fourth step, they belittled 6 eunuchs, including Tian Quancao and Liu Xingshen, who were disgusted by Wang Shoucheng, and turned Wang Shouchengshu into a public enemy of the eunuch clique, and finally set wang Shoucheng up and poisoned him. At this point, Tang Wenzong achieved a stage victory.
Qiu Shiliang
With the strife between the partisans and the collapse of the Yuan and clan eunuchs, Tang Wenzong was a little drifting, and he forgot that he could fight Wang Shoucheng in the first place, relying on the strength of the force. Therefore, without having time to consolidate his own strength, he placed the eunuchs in opposition too radically. Tang Wenzong was undecided again when planning a very dangerous operation: he had just approved the funeral plan of Xunshui on his front foot, that is, he served as the envoy of Fengxiang Jiedu in the name of Zheng Zhu's fall from favor, and when the eunuch left the capital to send Wang Shoucheng a funeral, he "paid attention to the closure of the door, ordered the pro-soldiers to axe it, and left no one behind", similar to the "Gaopingling Change" in the Three Kingdoms period. This plan was perfect, one was that Zheng Zhu's ambush was not easy to attract the eunuchs to notice, the second was that the eunuchs went out without the protection of the Divine Strategist Army, and the third was to avoid the presence of the emperor and throw rat traps. However, Emperor Wenzong of Tang also acquiesced to Li Xun's "Ganlu Strategy", that is, to lead the eunuchs to the backyard of Zuo Jinwuwei to ambush, and to unite with the private soldiers of the clan town and the forces of Jing Zhaoyin and Yushitai to control the capital, similar to the "Xuanwumen Change" of the early Tang Dynasty. The problem with this plan was that it was too close to the eunuchs' sphere of influence, and the quality of the team could not be complimented: important officials, such as Wang Fan, Guo Xingyu, Luo Liyan, etc., were temporarily promoted and lacked experience in dealing with major issues; the only military general, Han Yue, was a good cook, but not a qualified general; most of the armies that Li Xun could command were security personnel, and they were not at all rivals to the eunuch-led Shen Ce Army. In the end, which plan was good, Tang Wenzong himself had no idea.
Manna of one
Tang Wenzong's indecisiveness led him to a complete defeat in the "Ganlu Plan": the eunuchs went to Zuo Jinwu Yamen to inspect Ganlu, and Tang Wenzong did not dare to give the order personally, as a result, Wang Fan was so nervous that his legs trembled, and he did not dare to take the Private Soldiers of Hedong to the Hanyuan Temple to ambush; although Guo Xingyu came forward to receive the order, his Private Soldiers of YingNing did not dare to enter the Danfeng Gate, and the external escort forces did not come in handy at all. Zuo Jinwu Yamen's ambush soldiers exposed their fillings, Zuo Jinwuwei's general Han Yue ran away, the eunuch quickly fled back to the Hanyuan Palace and kidnapped Tang Wenzong, Li Xun was in a hurry to bribe the Jinwuwei on the Hanyuan Palace with heavy money, and forcibly launched a killing of the eunuchs, but Tang Wenzong did not dare to come up with the grandeur of the monarch to calm the scene, but instead obeyed the eunuchs to enter the Xuanzheng Gate north. Some of jin wuwei slaughtered eunuchs in The Hanyuan Temple, Li Xun led dozens of Jin Wuwei to rob Tang Wenzong on the road, at this moment the emperor fell to whomever he fell, who could stand in an invincible position, Wenzong abandoned Li Xun and Jin Wuwei at a critical moment, allowing the eunuchs to bring themselves into the Xuanzheng Gate, and then Qiu Shiliang led the Shence army to counterattack, and the Ganlu plan was completely unsuccessful. After the incident, Tang Wenzong could only lament his sorrow in the deep palace, and if it were not for the firmness of the chancellors Zheng Qin and Li Shi, the imperial court would almost become a racetrack for eunuchs; if it were not for Zhaoyi Jiedu's envoy Liu Congzhi threatening to qing the side of the emperor, Tang Wenzong would have died early at the hands of Qiu Shiliang.
Tang Wenzong borrowed wine to pour sorrow
During the reign of Tang Wenzong, he worked hard to govern and was diligent in government affairs, and was a good emperor who was diligent in government and loved the people, but he was both mistaken in his use of people and lacked sophisticated planning, so the Old Book of Tang left an evaluation of "there is the way of an emperor, but there is no talent of an emperor". On the other hand, as far as Tang Wenzong's character is concerned, the success of the Ganlu plan is really not necessarily a good thing, and in the case of the exclusion of the Niu and Li parties and the eyes of the outside feudal towns, The Eunuchs are left to survive, and if the eunuch clique falls again, it is not impossible for The Tang to perish in advance.