Xuanzong of Tang Dynasty

Li Chen

Li Chen, Xuanzong of Tang Dynasty (July 27 / 28, 810 to September 7 / 10, 859), was originally named Li Yi. He was the 16th emperor of Tang Dynasty (except Wu Zetian and Li chongmao, who was in power from April 22, 846 to September 7 / 10, 859). He was the 13th son of Li Chun, and the mother and brother of Li Hengyi, muzong of Tang Dynasty.

Li Chen was granted the title of King Guang in 821. In the sixth year of Huichang (846), Emperor Wuzong of Tang Dynasty died, Li Chen was eunuch, Ma Yuanzhi and so on.

Li Chen was diligent in political affairs and devoted himself to governance. During his reign, he reorganized the administration of officials and restricted the imperial clan and eunuchs. All the officials except Zheng Zhu and Li Xun who died in the change of Ganlu were Zhaoxue. On the external side, he defeated Tubo, recovered Hehuang, stabilized the northern part of the Great Wall, and pacified Annan. In particular, the recovery of Hehuang was one of the major military victories of Tang Dynasty over Tubo after an Shi rebellion. Li Chen was a man of insight and judgment. He was respectful and thrifty, and loved people's goods. When he was in power, the country was relatively stable and prosperous, which was called "the rule of Dazhong" in history. So until the end of the Tang Dynasty, the people still thought and chanted Li Chen as "little Taizong". However, some historians think that he "knows the minor points of the king, but does not know the major points" and "is good at listening and judging, but takes observation as the light, and has no intention of restoring benevolence", which eventually leads to the consequence of "the dispute between the internal officials for the king's successor is almost chaotic".

In the 13th year of Dazhong (859), Li Chen was poisoned by taking long crude drugs and died in Daming Palace. He was 50 years old and had been in office for 13 years. His posthumous title is emperor Shengwu xianwenxiao, and his temple name is Xuanzong. He was buried in Zhenling. Later, he became a posthumous emperor from Yuansheng to Chengwu of the Ming Dynasty, presenting his wisdom, benevolence, wisdom and filial piety.

There are six poems written by Li CHENGONG in the whole Tang Dynasty.

Life of the characters

Early experience

On June 22nd, 810, the fifth year of Yuanhe (i.e. July 27th, according to xuanzongji in the old book of Tang Dynasty; on June 23rd, i.e. July 28th, according to tanghuiyao),

Li Yi

(later renamed Li Chen) was born in Daming Palace in Chang'an city of Tang Dynasty, and was the 13th son of emperor Xianzong of Tang Dynasty. Li Yi's biological mother, the Zheng family (empress Xiaoming), was originally the concubine of Li Kai, the governor of Zhenhai. After Li Kai's plot of rebellion failed, the Zheng family entered the palace as the maid of Guo Guifei (empress Yi'an). Later, Tang Xianzong was lucky enough to give birth to Li Yi.

In March of 821, the first year of emperor Mu Zong of Tang Dynasty, Li Yi was granted the title of king of light. In terms of seniority, Li Yi is the emperor's uncle of Tang Jingzong, Tang Wenzong and Tang Wuzong, but her age is one year younger than that of Jingzong and Wenzong.

Li Yi is a serious person with few words, and the palace thinks that he is "not wise (not smart)". When he was more than ten years old, he was seriously ill. At that time, his illness became more and more serious. Suddenly, there was a light shining on his body. He immediately jumped up, straightened his body, bowed his hands and bowed his hands as if he were treating his subjects. His nursing mother thought it was a mental illness. But after seeing it, Mu Zong touched Li Yi's back and said, "this child is a wise man in my family, not a mental illness." He gave Li Yiyu Ruyi, Yuma and Jindai, and arranged Guo fan, the cousin of his mother, Empress Dowager Guo, to be Li Yi's master. Li Yi often dreams of riding the dragon to heaven. He tells Zheng about it. Zheng says to him, "this dream should not be known to others. I hope you don't talk about it again."

Li Yi, who lived in Taihe and Huichang dynasties, became more and more obscure. When she was with people, she did not say much. Wenzong and Wuzong often forced him to speak at banquets and gatherings, and called him "Uncle Guang". Wu Zong was a heroic man, especially despised Li Yi, and did not treat him well.

Ascend to the throne as Emperor

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On March 21, the sixth year of Huichang (846), Wuzong was critically ill. Ma Yuanzhi, the eunuch, thought that Li Yi was easy to control, so he established him as Huang taishu, "colluding in military and state affairs", and changed his name

Li Chen

To become the new heir to the throne. After Li Chen was in charge of the country, he received his subordinates with a sad face and made up his mind about affairs.

On March 21 of the same year, Wu Zong died and Li Chen became emperor. He was 37 years old and was Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty.

Li Chen was very fond of reading "Zhenguan dignitaries". After he ascended the throne, he was diligent in political affairs and devoted himself to improving various social problems left over from the middle Tang Dynasty. He demoted Li Deyu, put an end to the party struggle between Niu and Li, restrained the excessive expansion of the eunuch's power, and cracked down on the illegal dignitaries and relatives. All the officials except Zheng Zhu and Li Xun who died in the change of Ganlu were Zhaoxue.

Li Chen was diligent and thrifty in governing the country, sympathized with the people, reduced taxes and paid attention to talent selection. On the external issues, Li Chen constantly defeated the Tubo, Uighur, Dangxiang and Xi people, and recovered large areas of lost land occupied by Tubo after an Shi rebellion, which improved the Tang Dynasty's national power and made the people increasingly rich, and made the declining government present a "prosperous" situation. Therefore, historians think highly of Li Chen. They think that he is the same Mingjun as Emperor Wen of Han Dynasty and Emperor Taizong of Tang Dynasty. In history, this period is called "the rule of Dazhong".

Although Li Chen himself was "worried and diligent" after he ascended the throne, floods and droughts often occurred in the world. After the 12th year of Dazhong (858), because of the improper management of the generals, rebellions occurred in all the vassal towns: Xuanzhou expelled Kang Quantai, Zheng Xun, Shi zaishun, Han Cong, Wang Linghuan, Yang FA, Maohe, Zheng Xian. Li Chen ordered Cui Xuan to lead the observation envoys of Xuanzhou, Chizhou and Shezhou, Wen Zhang to serve as the governor of Xuanzhou, Cai Chong to serve as the observation envoys of Hunan, Li Chengxun to serve as the governor of Guangzhou, and Wei Zhou to serve as the observation envoys of Jiangxi.

Death due to illness

Since May, 859, Li Chen was poisoned by the elixir (long-term medicine) offered by Li Yuanbo, the imperial physician. He was "thirsty and dry", and his health condition was very bad. He couldn't go to court for more than a month. On August 7 (i.e. September 7, 859, which is recorded in xuanzongji of the old book of the Tang Dynasty; on September 10, which is recorded in the new book of the Tang Dynasty), the terminally ill Li Chen died at the age of 50. His posthumous title is emperor Xianwen of Shengwu, and his temple is Xuanzong.

In February of the 14th year of Dazhong (860), he was buried in Zhenling (now Jingyang County, Xianyang, Shaanxi).

In the 13th year of Xiantong (872), Emperor Yizong of Tang Dynasty named Li Chen emperor Congyi Dao Daxiao from Yuansheng to Mingcheng.

Political initiatives

Politics

Li Chen tried to follow the example of Emperor Taizong of Tang Dynasty, with the motto of "to be honest and virtuous in chaos and to be loyal and virtuous in governance". Every time he read the Zhenguan book, he would read it. He was observant and resolute in handling the affairs of the world. He was selfless in his usage. He followed the advice like a stream, cherished the official rewards, was respectful and thrifty, and loved the people's goods. Therefore, the policy he carried out in his middle age was still praised by people until the death of the Tang Dynasty. He was called "little Taizong" at that time.

Li Chen was diligent in political affairs and devoted himself to governance. First of all, Li Deyu, an important Minister of emperor Wuzong of Tang Dynasty, was cleared out of the temple in a very short time, which even caught Niu sengru, Li Deyu's political enemy by surprise. After that, Li Chen took advantage of the members of the niudang who attached great importance to the imperial examination (Li Chen himself attached great importance to the imperial examination), ending the "struggle between niudang and LiDang" that lasted for half a century.

When Wu Zong was in power, he once exterminated Buddhism on a large scale all over the country. When Li Chen was in power, he corrected the over corrected malpractice of exterminating Buddhism in Wu Zong period and made it recover properly. At the expense of the government, he seized the economic benefits of the temple and won the support of the court officials who believed in Buddhism and the general public, so as to establish his political foundation and play a certain role in strengthening the imperial power. His solid political foundation enabled him to refresh politics with his own will.

Li Chen appointed prime minister by himself. Once, Li Chen ordered Xiao Ye to be his prime minister and sent a secret envoy to ask if he would stay in his historical position. Fearing that he had a friend, Li Chen quickly changed Cui Shenyou to be his prime minister.

After Li Chen ascended the throne, he first thought of Bai Juyi when he decided the choice of prime minister. However, when he issued the imperial edict, Bai Juyi had been dead for eight months. Therefore, Li Chen wrote "Diao Bai Juyi" and deeply missed it.

In contrast, Li Chen showed no partiality for the imperial relatives who lacked talent. His uncle Zheng Guang was a governor, and Li Chen discussed with Zheng Guang about the way of administration; Zheng Guang's response to despicable, but Li Chen was displeased, and Zheng Guang eventually ceased to be a civilian official.

Jiang Shen, the Minister of the Ministry of war, once told Li Chen that it was easy to get an official position, and most of them were lucky enough to cause chaos. Li Chen sighed at his remarks and kept him for many times, saying, "I can't talk about politics with you alone any other time." Soon after, Li Chen worshipped Jiang Shen as his prime minister.

After Li Chen ascended the throne, he strictly controlled the number of senior officials in view of the malpractice of excessive promotion of senior officials in the previous dynasty. Since the Shang Yuan period of Emperor Gaozong of Tang Dynasty, it has been stipulated that three or more grades should be purple, four grades should be deep Fei, five grades should be light Fei, six grades should be dark green, seven grades should be light green, eight grades should be green, nine grades should be deep green, and foreign officials and common people should be yellow. At that time, Zi and Fei were regarded as high-ranking officials, and the so-called "giving Zi and Fei" was promoted to high-ranking officials. Li Chen cherishes purple and Fei very much, and his attendants always have purple and Fei clothes with them, but sometimes they don't offer one for half a year. His principle of conferring official titles is not to confer them before the time limit, not to confer them without political achievements, in other words, not to confer them with personal favor, not to confer them with closeness.

Li Chen attached great importance to the governor of the local government. He believed that the whole empire was made up of different places. The achievements of these officials were directly related to the people's aspirations. He stipulated that after the selection of the assassin was confirmed, he was not allowed to take office directly. He had to come to the capital to accept his face-to-face investigation to decide whether or not. His explanation is: "I don't think that there are many assassins, but they do harm to the people. Therefore, I have to meet them one by one and ask them how to manage their affairs, so as to understand their advantages and disadvantages, and then determine whether they can be appointed."

Although Li Chen is lenient and loving, his usage is very strict. especially

Chinese PinYin : Tang Xuan Zong