Tang Xianzong

Li Chun

Tang Xianzong Li Chun (March 17, 778 - February 14, 820), whose real name is Li Chun, was born in Chengji (now Qin'an County, Gansu Province) of Longxi. The 11th emperor of Tang Dynasty (except for Wu Zetian and Tang Shang emperor, who reigned from 805 to 820), the grandson of Li Shi, Emperor Dezong of Tang Dynasty, and the eldest son of Li Song, Emperor Shunzong of Tang Dynasty.

In the fourth year of Zhenyuan (788), Guangling was canonized. Zhenyuan 21 years (805), as the prince, renamed Li Chun, supervision of State Administration. In August of the same year, he succeeded to the throne. During his reign, he made great efforts to govern the country, valued the virtuous and virtuous, reformed the bad government, worked hard in the political affairs, and tried hard to revive, so as to achieve great achievements in cutting the vassal power of Yuanhe and revive the prestige of the central government.

In 820, he died in Zhonghe Hall of Daming Palace at the age of 43. His posthumous title is Zhaowen, from wudasheng to Shenxiao emperor, and his temple name is Xianzong. He was buried in Jingling.

(source: Sancai tuhui)

Life experience

Childhood experience

Li Chun, formerly known as Li Chun, is the eldest son of Li Song, Emperor Shunzong of Tang Dynasty. He was born in Chang'an Palace on February 14, 778. Li Chun was born in the late years of his great grandfather Li Yu in the Tang Dynasty. In the second year of his birth, his grandfather Li Shi of Dezong ascended the throne, and his father Li song was made Prince.

When Li Chun was six or seven years old, Tang Dezong held him on his lap and asked him, "whose child are you? How can you be in my arms?" Li Chun said, "I am the third son." Tang Dezong was surprised and liked him. As the eldest grandson of the emperor at that time, he answered "the third son" in the order of ancestor, father and son, which was unheard of and in line with reality. Li Shi could not help but love his grandson in his arms.

When I was young, I suffered from war, and my family relationship was in some confusion. His mother, Wang, was a talented person of the Tang Dynasty. Another brother was adopted by his grandfather, Li Shi. Li Chun's own marriage is quite strange. In 793, Li Chun, the king of Guangling, married Guo. Guo is the granddaughter of his father, Guo Ziyi. His father is Guo Han, the Duwei of his son-in-law. His mother is Princess Shengping, the daughter of Dai Zong. The story between Princess Shengping and Guo Han was compiled into a play "beating the Golden branch" by later generations, which spread widely. Because Guo's mother was the daughter of emperor Shunzong in Tang Dynasty, Guo and Shunzong were cousins, so Guo had the elder generation of Li Chun. In other words, in terms of seniority, Li Chun is one generation lower than his concubine Guo. After they got married, Li Song showed great love for Guo's daughter-in-law because his mother was expensive and his father and grandfather had great honor in the royal family. Li Chun himself didn't seem to be indifferent to the concubine, because in 795, two years after their marriage, Guo gave birth to his son Li you, who was later muzong of Tang Dynasty.

Ascend to the throne as Emperor

In June of the fourth year of Zhenyuan (788), eleven year old Li Chun was canonized as the king of Guangling. On April 6, the 21st year of Zhenyuan (805), he was granted the title of crown prince. On July 28, he acted as an agent in military and state affairs. On August 4, Li Chun got the throne of Shun Zong Li. August 9, officially located in xuanzheng hall.

Li Chun is a promising emperor. After he ascended the throne, he "read the real records of Liesheng, and saw the stories of Zhenguan and Kaiyuan, but he could not explain them." he took "the pioneering work of Taizong" and "the reasoning of Xuanzong" as examples to follow. He raised the authority of the prime minister and put down the rebellion of the vassal towns, which led to "the re opening of the discipline at home and abroad" and "the resurgence of the Tang Dynasty".

Flatten the vassal town

According to historian Zhang guogang's monograph on the study of Tang Dynasty's vassal towns, in most of the latter half of the Tang Dynasty, most of the vassal towns were not separated, only a few of them were separated, such as Heshuo. However, even the separated vassal towns implemented the policies and decrees of the Tang Dynasty to a certain extent, "they must rely on the authority of the imperial court to protect the military situation", and the separated vassal towns had been lifted. (it was only during the Huangchao rebellion in the late Tang Dynasty that a general separatist regime began to appear.)

In the first year of Yuanhe (806), Li Chungang ascended the throne, and Liu PI, the governor of Xichuan, rebelled. Gao Chongwen, the commander of the left Shence camp, and Li Yuanyi, the commander of Shence's Beijing West camp, led the troops to the crusade. Liu PI was defeated many times and finally defeated completely. He was captured and sent to Chang'an for decapitation.

In September of the ninth year of Yuanhe (814), Wu Shaoyang, the governor of Zhangyi (Huaixi), died. His son, Wu Yuanji, took charge of the military power. The imperial court sent envoys to hang sacrifices, but they refused to accept them. Then they rebelled and threatened the eastern capital. In the first month of the 10th year of Yuanhe (815), Li Chun decided to use troops in Huaixi. Huaixi Jiedushi is located in Ruyang, caizhou (now Runan, Henan). It is located in the Central Plains and has an important strategic position. Since Li xilie, he has been semi independent. Li Chun's determination to change this situation is reflected in his use of troops.

The use of troops in Huaixi has been a great shock. Li Shidao, the governor of Ziqing, felt threatened, so he claimed to help the army to attack Wu Yuanji. In fact, he supported Wu Yuanji's double faced tactics in an attempt to consolidate his position. In July of the 12th year of Yuanhe (817), Pei Du, who volunteered to go to the front, served as prime minister and Zhangyi Jiedushi. Pei Du immediately went to Huaixi and attacked Wu Yuanji with Deng Jiedu envoy Li Fang. In September, Li's army first defeated the Huaixi army by attacking caizhou. Wu Yuanji didn't expect that Li Guangjun was very fast and caught unprepared. The Huaixi rebellion, which lasted for three years, came to an end.

Wu Yuanji was defeated and Li Shidao was afraid. At first, he wanted to submit his land to the court, and took his eldest son as a pledge. Later, he rebelled against the Tang Dynasty. In July of the 13th year of Yuanhe (818), Emperor Xianzong dispatched Xuanwu, Weibo, Yicheng, Wuning and Henghai towns to fight against the enemy. Under the pressure of soldiers, Li Shidao's internal contradictions intensified. He knew that Liu Wu killed Li Shidao, and Ziqing and Jiangzhou were pacified by the imperial court.

In July of the 14th year of Yuanhe (819), Xuanwu Jiedu envoy Han Hong entered the court and twice contributed a lot of silk, gold, silver and horses, demanding to stay in the capital. Li Chun took Han Hong as the commander of the imperial court, and Zhang Hongjing as the Minister of the Ministry of official affairs. Tian Hongzheng, the governor of Wei Bo, made great contributions to Li Shidao's attack, and Li Chun served him as a servant. In order to show his loyalty to Li Chun, he made his brothers, sons and nephews become officials in the imperial court.

All of the above shows that Xianzong has made remarkable achievements in weakening the power of vassal towns and strengthening the centralization of the imperial court.

Bright in front and dark behind

After Li Chun succeeded to the throne, he was resolute and able to use loyalty and stratagem, trying to flatten the feudal regime. At the beginning of his reign, Du Huangshang, Peidu and Li Jiang were appointed as prime ministers one after another. After that, the envoys of Sichuan Province, Li pingqi, and the envoys of Hebei Province, were sent to the town of sanhuai to surrender. However, in the war with the vassal Town, Li Chun attached great importance to the eunuch, and appointed his confidant Tu Tu Tu Cheng Cui as the general of the left and right Shence, as well as the military envoy of Hezhong, Heyang, Zhexi and Xuanshe, and as the commander-in-chief to lead the army, which increased the power of the eunuch. Some ministers persuaded Li Chun to prevent the eunuch from having too much power, but he replied, "Tutu Chengcui is just a domestic slave. No matter how much power he is given, it's not as easy for me to get rid of him as pulling out a hair."

After Li Chun made some achievements, he thought he had made immortal achievements and gradually became arrogant and extravagant. The appointment of Huang Fu, a treacherous minister, and the removal of Pei Du, a virtuous prime minister, led to the decline of politics. I believe in immortals and good Buddhas, and I want to seek the medicine of immortality. In the 13th year of Yuanhe (818), an imperial edict was issued to ask for alchemists. Huangfubo recommended to him a mountain man named Liumi to prepare the medicine for longevity. Send eunuch envoys to Fengxiang to meet the Buddha bones. Han Yu, the Minister of justice of the Ministry of punishment, went to Shanghai for advice. Li Chun is furious and ready to put Han Yu to death. Pei Du and others said that Han Yu was loyal and straight, and Li Chuncai demoted Han Yu as the governor of Chaozhou. The following year, Li Chun began to take the elixir. He became irritable and often scolded or killed the eunuchs. The eunuch group was divided into two groups. The Tutu Chengcui group planned to make Li Yun the crown prince, while the Liang Shouqian and Wang Shoucheng groups supported Li Heng as the crown prince.

Death

In his later years, Tang Xianzong encountered the problem of the crown prince. Guo Fei was Guo Ziyi's granddaughter, who formed a powerful force in both the Imperial Palace and the imperial court. It was impossible for Li Heng, his son, not to ascend the throne. Tang Xianzong didn't want to be restrained and didn't like his son.

On the 27th of the first month of the 15th year of Yuanhe (820), Xianzong collapsed, Guofei group dominated everything, and Liheng ascended the throne. Throughout the Yuanhe Dynasty of Tang Xianzong, all the eunuchs in power were his confidants and promoted by Tang Xianzong. His trust and prestige were his absolute guarantee. On the death of emperor Xianzong of Tang Dynasty, all the eunuchs in Yuanhe Dynasty were killed except those who attached themselves to Prince Li Heng (emperor muzong of Tang Dynasty).

Historian Huang Yongnian pointed out that the relationship between the eunuch and the emperor in the Tang Dynasty was just the relationship between the slave and the master. In fact, the eunuch's behavior in the middle and late Tang Dynasty was that the slave was involved in the internal disputes of the royal family, just like the slave in each room of the old society helped their master and son fight for property, not that the power of the slave was so big that it could seize the property of the whole family.

Political initiatives

Politics

Tang Xianzong put "the cardinal of the military and the state in charge of the prime minister" and "can use loyalty and strategy without confusing the masses". Tang Xianzong successively appointed a group of prime ministers who were young and promising, loyal to the Communist Party and talented, strongly advocated cutting the vassal and opposed eunuchs interfering with the military and political affairs.

Around Xianzong, there were a group of Ministers who spoke out and defended the political integrity. For example, Hanlin bachelor, Zuo Shiyi, Bai Juyi opposed the eunuch Tu Tu Chengcui to go to war, advocated the national war to order generals; Yuan Zhen, the censor of Dongtai, corrected the impeachment of lawlessness and fought with the Chinese envoy; Han Yu, the Minister of punishment, advised Xianzong to welcome the Buddha and flatter the Buddha.

Li Chun was an enterprising emperor. After he ascended the throne, he "read the true records of Liesheng, saw the stories of Zhenguan and Kaiyuan, and was unable to explain them.",

Chinese PinYin : Tang Xian Zong