Tang Shunzong

Li Song

Li Song, Shunzong of Tang Dynasty (February 21, 761-806), was a native of Didao (now Lintao County, Gansu Province). The tenth emperor of the Tang Dynasty, the eldest son of Li Shi, the emperor of Tang Dezong, whose mother was Wang, the empress of Zhaode.

At the beginning, he was canonized as the king of Xuancheng. Tang Dezong ascended the throne. He was granted the title of xuanwang and was appointed the crown prince. He is kind, filial, generous, benevolent and good at judging. He is good at clerical script. In the first year of Zhenyuan, the victory of "Fengtian defense war" was organized. In the 21st year of Zhenyuan (805), he formally succeeded to the throne and appointed Wang Shuwen and other political reformers. This violated the interests of eunuchs and Jiedushi. He was forced to abdicate to the Crown Prince Li Chun and called himself Emperor.

The next year, he died. His posthumous title was Emperor da'anxiao of Zhide, and his temple name was Shunzong. He was buried in Fengling.

Life of the characters

Early experience

Li song is the eldest son of Li Shi, the emperor of Tang Dynasty. His mother is Wang, the queen of Zhaode. He was born in the east of Chang'an on February 12, 761. Xuancheng began to be the king of Xuancheng. In June of the fourteenth year of Dali (779), Xuancheng became the king of Xuancheng.

In December of the 14th year of Dali (779), when his father Li Shi of Tang Dezong ascended the throne, he was appointed the crown prince. In the first month of the first year of Jianzhong (780), a Book of gifts was prepared. On the 23rd day of the first month of the 21st year of Zhenyuan (805), the imperial edict of Tang Dezong was passed to the throne. On the 24th day, the imperial edict was announced, and he officially ascended the throne on the 26th day of the first month. In this way, Li song has been the prince for 25 years.

There is no record of Li Song's deeds before he was made the crown prince. The historical books only record that he was canonized as king Xuan. Li song was already 19 years old when he was elected crown prince. At this time, he was a new father. In February of the 13th year of Dali (778), his eldest son, Li Chun, was born.

Prince's career

In his 25 years as the crown prince, Li Shuo experienced the chaos and flames of rebellion, heard and witnessed the strife and criticism of the court ministers, and gradually became mature in politics. The evaluation of him in historical books is: "benevolence, filial piety, generosity, benevolence and good judgment." He was very interested in all kinds of Arts and learning, and also dabbled in Buddhist classics. He was good at writing, especially at clerical script. Every time Dezong wrote a poem and gave it to the minister and the Jiedushi of Fangzhen, he must have ordered the prince to write it. What is particularly praiseworthy is that in the "change of Jingyuan soldiers" in the fourth year of Jianzhong (783), when he fled with the emperor to avoid chaos, Li Song, the empress of the sword hall, faced with the advance of Zhu's rebels in more than 40 days of Fengtian defense war, often banned his troops first and took the city to resist the enemy. Under his supervision and encouragement, all the officers and soldiers fought bravely to win the battle of Mukden and ensure the safety of the escaped emperor Dezong.

Although Li Song's life as the crown prince was not as full of twists and turns as the crown prince in the early Tang Dynasty, he was often dismissed, but the prison of Princess Gao in August of the third year of Zhenyuan (787) almost pushed him to the abyss of extinction. Here's the thing: Princess Gao is the daughter of suzong, and a daughter born to her son-in-law Xiao Sheng is Shunzong's concubine when she was the crown prince. Relying on her special status, Princess Gao was free to enter and leave the eastern palace. After Xiao Sheng's death, she lived a dissolute life. She not only had an intimate relationship with Sima Li Wan of Pengzhou, but also had secret contacts with some officials, such as Prince Zhan Shi Li Min and Shuzhou Biejia Xiao Ding. If it's just personal life, it's not a big deal for the royal family in Tang Dynasty. However, some people denounced Princess Gao's "lechery", and at the same time, they also denounced that she was disgusted with witchcraft, which offended the emperor. Hearing this, Dezong was very angry. Because it involved the crown prince, Dezong immediately found him and criticized him severely. Shunzong was censured by his father, so he followed the old trick of suzong when he was the crown prince in Tianbao years and asked for a divorce from concubine Xiao. After the incident, Dezong initiated the idea of abolishing the crown prince and establishing Li Yi, the king of Shu, and summoned Li Bi, an old minister of the former dynasty who was then the prime minister, into the palace to discuss.

King Shu is the son of Li Miao (Prince Zhaojing), the younger brother of Dezong. Because Li Miao died early, Dezong adopted him and regarded him as his own son. Li mi thought that it was improper for the emperor to give up his own son and set up a nephew instead, which made Dezong very angry. Li mi gave him a detailed list of the experiences and lessons of abolishing the crown prince since Zhenguan, analyzed Emperor Taizong's caution in abolishing the crown prince and suzong's regret for killing King Jianning because of his impatience, and advised him to take the past as a warning and never act too hastily. Li Mi's words moved Dezong and eventually saved Li Song's crown prince.

Soon after, Princess Gao was imprisoned by Dezong and died in 790. Li Wan was killed on the charge of not knowing how to "avoid the clan" because he was promiscuous with the same clan. Her five sons, Pei ye, Xiao Wei, Xiao Pei, Xiao Ru, Xiao Min, Li Min and Xiao Ding, were exiled in lingbiao and remote areas. Xiao, Princess Gao's daughter and crown princess, was also killed. As a result, Shunzong, who was already cautious, became more cautious. Once, he served at the fish and algae palace. During the banquet, Zhang Shui was playing, the colorful boat was decorated with a new style, the palace people led the boat to sing songs, and the silk and bamboo were sent between them. Dezong was very happy. When his father asked him about his feelings, Li only quoted the sentence "no waste of happiness" in the poem as his answer. He did not answer directly, let alone give a positive answer.

Li Sheng was very cautious in his political attitude when he was the crown prince. In front of his father, he only expressed his opinion on one thing, that is, preventing Dezong from appointing Pei Yanling and Wei qumou as prime ministers at the end of Zhenyuan. As we all know, in his later years, because he had been in power for a long time, he became more suspicious and defensive of the ministers. He no longer pretended to be the prime minister, so that the crafty and mean people around him were trusted and reused. Pei Yanling, Li Qiyun, Wei qumou and others relied on the favor of Dezong. Because of the use of things, they made contributions, excluded and framed Lu Zhi and others. All over the world, people hate Pei Yanling and others for exploiting Li people and accumulating wealth. The imperial court dare to be angry. As the prince, Li song always looks for opportunities to argue calmly when his father is in a good mood, pointing out that these people can not be reused. Therefore, in the end, Dezong did not appoint Pei Yanling and Wei qumou as prime ministers. Han Yu commented that he "lived in the throne for 20 years (here it means probably, not really), and the world was given by him". His remarks are somewhat praiseworthy, probably referring to this matter. But for other things, Li song is always silent and dare not act rashly. Every time he talks about things and plays in front of his father, he is always more serious. Even to the eunuchs who are close to the emperor, he has no false color. He hides his personal joys and sorrows in his heart. He was basically inseparable from the people in the imperial court. However, these are superficial phenomena. When Li song was the crown prince, he was not indifferent to the affairs of the world and the politics of the imperial court. Wang Shi, Wang Shuwen and others around him often talked with him about the affairs of the world and the sufferings of the people.

Wang Xi, a native of Hangzhou. Because he was good at calligraphy, he became a calligraphy teacher when Shunzong was the crown prince, and was very trusted. Wang Shuwen, a native of Shanyin, Yuezhou (now Shaoxing, Zhejiang Province), was able to serve the East Palace because he was good at go. Wang he and Wang Shuwen were both imperial edicts. They were good at playing piano, chess, calligraphy and painting. Naturally, their mission was to accompany the crown prince for entertainment under the order of Dezong. Shunzong was very respectful to his master. Every time he met Tang Dynasty weiqi, he would give gifts first. Wang he and Wang Shuwen saw that he was not satisfied with playing, so they talked with him about the principles of governing the country and stabilizing the country between playing chess and studying ink. Once, when Wang Gu, Wang Shuwen and some other officials talked about the political affairs of the world, they talked about some sensitive maladministration at that time. Shunzong said to the people around him, "I'm ready to speak out these maladministration to my father so that I can correct them." Liu Yuxi, like everyone else, praised this move, but Wang Shuwen did not say a word. When everyone left, Shunzong left Wang Shuwen alone and asked him, "why didn't you talk just now? Does it mean something? " Wang Shuwen said: "I, Wang Shuwen, have won the trust of his Highness the prince. I have some opinions and opinions. How can I not offer them to his highness! In my opinion, the prince's duty is to serve the meal and greet the emperor. He is loyal and filial to the emperor. He is not suitable to comment on other matters. The emperor has been in power for a long time. If he suspects that the prince is buying people's hearts, how will his highness defend himself? " Hearing the speech, Shunzong suddenly realized that he was nervous and grateful and said to Wang Shuwen, "how can I understand the secret of this without your advice?" From then on, he especially liked Wang Shuwen, and the East Palace entrusted him and Wang to plan everything.

During his time as crown prince, Li Song not only secretly paid close attention to the government, but also formed a political force around him, forming a small political group in the east palace with the "two kings" as the center. Wang Shi and Wang Shuwen became the core of the group. Around them, there were a group of young and powerful members with common political ideals and goals. These members were well-known people at that time, the most famous of which were Liu Yuxi and Liu Zongyuan.

In addition, there are Wang Shuwen's old friend Ling Zhun, Han Tai who is good at planning, Han Ye who is handsome and talented, Cheng Yi who is good at official administration, Chen Jian, Lu Zhi, LV Wen, Li Jingjian, Fang Qi and so on. They are basically middle and lower level officials of the imperial censor and six Yamen. They often talk about state affairs together and gradually become important members of this group I'm a member.

For the above-mentioned personnel, it is customary to match them with the so-called "two kings Liu Liu", that is, Wang he and Wang Shuwen as well as Liu Yuxi and Liu Zongyuan as the representatives of Donggong group. In fact, in this group, there is another person who has to be mentioned. He is Wei Zhiyi, a Bachelor of Hanlin and later a prime minister. Wei Zhiyi was born into a famous family in Beijing. He was intelligent and talented when he was a child. He was promoted to a higher position in the middle school. He had a high degree in policy making. He was worshipped by Emperor Dezong and was called to the Imperial Academy as a bachelor. Only in his twenties, he was deeply favored by Dezong, and he was able to sing with the emperor

Chinese PinYin : Tang Shun Zong