Tang Dezong

Li Shi

Li Shi, Emperor Dezong of Tang Dynasty (from May 27, 742 to February 25, 805), was born in Chengji, Longxi. He was the ninth emperor of Tang Dynasty (except for Wu Zetian and Tang Shang emperor, from June 12, 779 to February 25, 805). He was the eldest son of Li Yu, and his mother was Shen, empress Ruizhen.

At first, Li Shi was appointed the prince of Fengjie. In the first year of Baoying's reign (762), he served as the marshal of the world's army and was renamed king of Lu and king of Yong. The next year, he worshipped the minister. Guangde two years (764), was established as the crown prince. In 779, Li Shi ascended the throne.

In the early days of Li Shi's reign, he insisted on being honest, civil and military officials, strictly forbidding eunuchs to interfere in politics, using Yang Yan as a prime minister, abolishing the regulations of rent and mediocrity, and changing to the "two tax laws", which was quite a resurgence. After that, Lu Qi and other eunuchs were appointed, and miscellaneous taxes such as Jian Jia and tea were increased nationwide, which led to the deepening of public resentment and the deterioration of the political situation. In the second year of Jianzhong (781), the war of cutting the vassal state was launched, which led to the outbreak of the rebellion between the two emperors and the four kings. Li Shi traveled to Fengtian, Liangzhou and other places, relying on the cooperation of Prime Minister Li Mi and General Li Sheng. In the later period of his administration, he appointed eunuch as commander-in-chief of the Imperial Army and tolerated many affairs of the vassal Town, but the overall situation was relatively stable. In the period of Li Shi's reign, the movement of ancient prose rose internally; in terms of external relations, he united with Huihe and Nanzhao to fight against Tubo, successfully reversed his strategic disadvantage to Tubo, and created a favorable external environment for "Yuanhe Zhongxing".

In the 21st year of Zhenyuan (805), Li Shi died in Huining hall. He was 64 years old and was in office for 27 years. His posthumous title is Emperor Xiaowen of Shenwu, and his temple title is Dezong. He was buried in Chongling.

Li Shishan is a writer, especially a poet. His poems are recorded in Quan Tang Shi.

(source of picture in overview)

Life of the characters

Early experience

Li Shi was born on April 19, the first year of Tianbao (May 27, 742) in the East Palace of Chang'an University. He is the eldest grandson of Li Heng, Emperor suzong of Tang Dynasty, and the eldest son of Li Yu, Emperor Zong of Tang Dynasty. In December of the same year, beitejin was granted the title of Fengjie Prefecture.

In November of 755, when Li Shi was 14 years old, an Shi rebellion broke out. The following year, when Chang'an was lost, Tang Xuanzong fled to Sichuan, and the whole world was in turmoil. Together with other members of the royal family, Li Shi experienced the war and the pain of his family and country, and also experienced the baptism and test of the war.

Marshal Chu Jun

In April of the first year of Baoying (762), Daizong ascended the throne. In May, Li Shi was appointed marshal of the army and horse in the world, and was renamed King Lu to shoulder the mission of the final decisive battle with an Shi rebels. In August of the same year, he was renamed King Yong. October, out of Shanzhou.

In the second year of Baoying (763), the rebellion between an and Shi was calmed down. Li Shi was worshipped as a minister for his work, and granted 2000 households in Shiyi. Eight people, including Guo Ziyi and Li Guangbi, were given Tiequan and Lingyan Pavilion.

In the first month of the second year of Guangde (764), Li Shi was made the crown prince as the eldest son and held a ceremony in February.

Ascend to the throne as Emperor

In May 779, Daizong died of illness in Chang'an palace. Li Shi ascended the throne at the age of 38. During Li Shi's funeral, all his behaviors were in accordance with the legislative provisions. He once called Li Jun, the king of Han, to dinner. He only ate horse tooth soup without salt and cheese.

In the first month of the first year of Jianzhong (780), Li Shi was honored with the title of emperor Shengshen Wenwu.

In the fourth year of Jianzhong (783), the "Jingyuan mutiny" broke out. The rebellious Jingyuan army occupied Chang'an, and Li Shi fled to Fengtian (now Qianxian County, Shaanxi Province). After that, Li Sheng, Hun Li and other generals were relied on to pacify the chaos. In 784, Li Shi returned to Chang'an. In the same year, the conflict between Li huaiguang, the governor of Hezhong, and some eunuchs and generals of the town intensified, and Li Shi sent Hun Li, Ma Sui, the governor of Hedong and Luo Yuanguang, the governor of Zhenguo, to fight against the rebellion, and put an end to the rebellion in August of the next year.

After several upheavals, Li Shi began to appoint a trusted eunuch as the commander of the forbidden army, and increased taxes on shelves and tea across the country, which led to growing public resentment. In his later years, he failed to employ troops in Huaixi Town, which resulted in the increasing power of the town.

In addition, when Li Shi was in power, according to the proposal of Prime Minister Li Mi, he fought against Tubo in North and Huihe, South and Nanzhao, xijiedashi and Tianzhu, successfully reversed his strategic disadvantage to Tubo, and created a favorable external environment for "Yuanhe Zhongxing" of Tang Xianzong.

He died of serious illness

On the first day of the first month of the 21st year of Zhenyuan (805), all the clansmen and their relatives came to the palace to congratulate Li Shi. Only Prince Li song was unable to come because of illness, so Li Shi wept and lamented. Since then, he has never been able to get up. In more than 20 days, the information between the inner palace and the outer court was interrupted. On the 23rd day of the first month (February 25), Li Shi died in Huining Hall of Chang'an at the age of 64. On September 1, Qun Chen was named emperor Shenwu Xiaowen and the temple was named Dezong. On October 14, he was buried in Chongling.

Political initiatives

Politics

In the early days of Li Shi's reign, he was strong and bright, insisted on being honest, civil and military officials, and strictly prohibited eunuchs from interfering in politics.

< sub > the right to withdraw

After Li Shi ascended the throne, he respected the famous general Guo Ziyi as his father, and added the Taiwei and zhongshuling. He gave up the post of deputy marshal, and let his ministries Li huaiguang, Chang Qianguang, Hun Li and so on take the post of Jiedushi. At the same time, Cui Ning, the governor of Xichuan, who "relied on the danger and strength of the land and troops and indulged in extravagance", entered the court and stayed in the capital.

< sub > Qingming thrifty

At the beginning of Li Shi's accession to the throne, two days after he appointed Cui Youfu as prime minister, he issued an imperial edict to the world to stop the annual tribute of hawks and harriers to the prefectures, Silla and Bohai. Another day later, Li Shi ordered Shannan loquat and Jiangnan citrus to pay tribute only once a year to enjoy the ancestral temple, and the rest of the tribute was stopped. A few days later, he issued a series of imperial edicts, announcing the abolition of the annual tribute to the palace of some places in the south, such as slaves and maidservants, spring wine, bronze mirrors, musk, etc.; prohibiting the world from paying tribute to rare birds and animals, and even stipulating that silver articles should not be decorated with gold. In order to show his determination, he also ordered 32 dancing elephants from Wendan country (now Laos) to be released to the Yang of Jingshan mountain, and all the five square eagles and dogs specially provided for the emperor's hunting were released. At the same time, three hundred redundant eaters of Liyuan envoys and Lingguan were abolished, and those who needed to be preserved belonged to Taichang temple. In order to show the greatness of the emperor's kindness, he ordered to release more than 100 palace maids. On his birthday, he refused to offer anything from all over the world, and returned all the 30000 pieces offered by Li Zhengji and Tian Yue to Duzhi to replace rent and tax. Li Shi's actions really show the new atmosphere after the new emperor ascended the throne.

< sub > dismissing eunuchs

When Li Shichu ascended the throne, the general situation was that he "spared eunuchs" and got close to court officials.

Li Shi's father Daizong, because he was supported by eunuchs, favored them very much, especially the eunuchs sent to various places, who were allowed to ask for bribes openly and plunder wantonly. When Li Shi was the crown prince, he was very clear about the malpractice, so at the beginning of his accession to the throne, he made up his mind to rectify it.

In the leap may of the year when he ascended the throne, Li Shi sent eunuchs to Huaixi to honor Li xilie, the Jiedu envoy. After the man returned to Beijing, Li Shi learned that Li xilie not only gave him 700 horses and 200 Jin of Huangming, but also gave him horses and maidservants. In a rage, Li Shi condemned him to exile after 60 years. When it came out of Beijing, those who had not come back quietly threw their gifts into the valley, and those who had not received them did not dare to come back.

Not only that, in the month of his accession to the throne, Li Shi also killed Liu Zhongyi, the eunuch with a secret plan.

After the "Fengtian difficulty", Li Shi appointed the eunuch as the commander-in-chief of the forbidden army, and increased taxes on shelves and tea across the country, which led to growing public resentment. He tolerated many affairs of the vassal Town, which made its power increase day by day.

< sub > suspecting ministers

The frequent personnel changes, especially the frequent change of prime minister in the imperial court, showed the incomplete trust in senior officials. Even if the government of Li Shi's reign occasionally presented an encouraging new atmosphere, it was only a flash in the pan and could not be maintained. The dispute of personnel made Li Shi have great ambition, but could not save the country.

< sub > appeasement

After Li Shi suffered from the setback of cutting the vassal, especially because of the "difficulty of worshiping heaven", he changed his strong force to appeasement. It is said that when Li Shi left the capital, he intended to flee to Chengdu, indicating that he was desperate about whether he could return to the capital after Zhu's rebellion, and felt that the prospect of eliminating the rebellious vassal town and Zhu of Chang'an was slim. If it wasn't for Li Sheng and Yan Zhen, the governor of Shannan Xidao, he might have really fled to Sichuan. If Li Shi suffered setbacks, he would lose his spirit immediately, which can be seen from his attitude towards vassal towns. The change of Li Shi's attitude towards vassal towns made the great situation and good opportunity to solve the problem of vassal towns fleeting. As a result, it is hard to return.

< sub > appointment of officials

< sub > official < / sub >

Li Shi changed his attitude towards eunuchs gradually in the process of escaping from the "change of Jingshi". The reason is that the general he trusted could not gather a single soldier to defend the palace when the rebels entered the city. When he fled in a hurry, he could rely on his eunuchs Dou Wenchang, Huo Xianming and more than 100 eunuchs. Li Shi was deeply stimulated by the loyalty of eunuchs and the difficulty of relying on military generals. Slowly, Li Shi began to hand over the matter of commanding the forbidden army to Dou Wenchang and Huo Xianming, indicating that he had begun to change his attitude of dismissing eunuchs at the beginning of his accession to the throne. In the first year of Xingyuan (784), Li Shizhong

Chinese PinYin : Tang De Zong