From the rule of Zhenguan and the prosperity of the Kaiyuan dynasty, successive dynasties have hardly surpassed its glorious prosperity, and historians mostly respect the prosperous Tang Dynasty. However, the demise of a dynasty is mostly unstoppable, the Tang Dynasty is so prosperous, when the emperor is killed, the prince is strangled, and the loyal subjects are killed, how glorious it is, and how tragic it is when it dies.
First, the fuse of destruction
The fuse for the demise of the Tang Dynasty begins during the Xiantong period of Emperor Yizong of Tang in the late Tang Dynasty. Guilin, which was located in a corner of Lingnan, took advantage of the fact that the Li Tang Dynasty was beyond the reach of Lingnan rule, and engaged in force and encroachment. At that time, the people of the Lingnan region suffered greatly.
The official named Meng Qiu, who was then serving as the envoy of Xuzhou Jiedushi, was ordered to quell the soldiers and recruit a garrison in the local area, totaling about 2,000 people. Among them, there were 800 defenders stationed in Guilin. However, according to the military practice of the Tang Dynasty, as a dispatch of local troops, it should be replaced every three years, so that the soldiers do not have to be stationed at the border all the time, and the family is sick.
However, Yin Yange, the officer and soldier commander who was the head of local military defense, was seriously derelict in his duties. He was unable to carry out a triennial reshuffle programme because he had not been able to raise the funds and for the recruitment of new recruits. In order to cover up his mistakes, Yin Yuge concealed the imperial court and ordered the officers and soldiers to postpone it for another year.
The officers and men stationed in the southwest region are men who grew up in war-torn areas, and most of them are places where the people are fierce, so their personalities are extremely strong. The officers and men who had been stationed at the border pass were very angry when they heard this news and were extremely dissatisfied with the imperial court.
Among them, several officers and men with relatively low rank went directly to the local commander-in-chief to ask for an explanation, and they demanded that the guards must be changed on schedule, and they asked to go home. Unexpectedly, however, the local commander Wang Zhongfu was a very inflexible official, and he thought that these small soldiers had any qualifications to make demands.
Wang Zhongfu's attitude infuriated these officers and soldiers, and he directly moved hands with Wang Zhongfu's relatives, and the two sides fought fiercely, and finally these officers and soldiers actually beat Wang Zhongfu to death. Killing the local officials was a catastrophe, and these small soldiers became a group of sinners, and since the matter had reached this point, they consulted, found their own trusted ally Pang Xun, and elected Pang Xun as the leader to uncover the incident.
Second, the soldier suddenly
Encouraged by the alliance, Pang Xun, together with his rebel brothers, rushed out of Guizhou and led the army all the way north to lead the uprising. However, due to the suddenness of the uprising and the lack of grain and grass, Pang Xun and others began to rob the military salaries. At the same time, because of the end of the Tang Dynasty, the people in the border areas were miserable and joined the ranks of the uprising.
With Pang Xun and others moving north, the contingent of the uprising continued to grow, reaching the Xuzhou area, and had accumulated more than 10,000 people. And Tang Yizong's imperial court, the generals sent to the court were defeated one after another, and even the commander died on the battlefield.
Pang Xun's successive victories soon took control of the main parts of the Huai River Valley. At this time, the Tang court sent the famous general Kang Chengxun as the main general, hoping to fully resist this rebel army, and planned to completely annihilate Pang Xun. However, Pang Xun, a person who is capable of using military tactics well, sees this form and adopts roundabout tactics and does not confront them head-on.
The frontal clash between the two armies occurred in the Huaihai area, and it was not expected that the elite generals of the Tang Dynasty encountered unprecedented challenges, and even lost a major general, but did not capture Pang Xun. Kang Chengxun and others had to think of other tactics.
Kang Chengxun and others took advantage of Pang Xun's original desire to return to their hometown, analyzing that these people were just forced to want the imperial court to appease and return to their hometown, and launched a series of abduction activities against Pang Xun and others. Unexpectedly, such a psychological warfare actually broke the defense line of Pang Xun and others.
Pang Xun and others did not actually want to overthrow the court, because they still had illusions about the Tang court. Gradually, it has become active to passive, and the situation has become increasingly unfavorable. In the end, Pang Xun had to abscond in the case of successive defeats, and finally unfortunately died on the battlefield. The uprising failed.
However, although Pang Xun's uprising failed, the rule of the Tang Dynasty was greatly traumatized. Mass uprisings across the country burned like sparks, with Wang Xianzhi, Huang Chao, and others being the most massive. After several years of fighting, the Tang court was finally dragged to the brink of extinction.
Third, the tragic end
The eunuch dynasty was another reason for the destruction of the Tang Dynasty. In 903, after Xuanwu Jiedu had Zhu Wen take control of the then Tang emperor, Emperor Zhaozong of Tang, he sent troops to kill all the eunuchs and eunuchs and disintegrated the Tang military forces. Zhu Wen was promoted to deputy marshal of the Various Provinces, declared himself the King of Liang, and became the de facto controller of the imperial court in the last years of the Tang Dynasty.
In 904, Zhu Wen abducted Tang Zhaozong to Luoyang under the pretext that Chang'an's palace was too dilapidated. However, Zhu Wen's move was actually to get close to his military garrison, Daliang, so Tang Zhaozong had in fact become a prisoner of Zhu Wen. Despite this, Zhu Wen was still uneasy about Tang Zhaozong. In order to completely control Tang Zhaozong, Zhu Wen ordered his men to hang all of Tang Zhaozong's entourage officials and more than 200 other people.
After Tang Zhaozong moved the capital to Luoyang, Zhu Wen was already lustful and threatened to seduce Tang Zhaozong and ordered him to prepare for "abdication". Although Tang Zhaozong was extremely angry, he still dared to be angry and did not dare to speak. However, it is inevitable that dissatisfaction will be revealed between words. Zhu Wen saw that the emperor was increasingly resentful, worried that someone would suppress him, and simply ordered his cronies to enter the palace and directly killEd Tang Zhaozong.
After Zhu Wen killed Tang Zhaozong, he immediately supported Tang Zhaozong's ninth son to be called emperor, and was known as Emperor Of Tang. Subsequently, Zhu Wen proclaimed himself the King of Wei, the Xiangguo, and the Marshal of the Terracotta Army, and actually controlled the main power of the Tang Dynasty, and the Tang Emperor was just a puppet emperor. Zhu Wen's heart to claim the title of emperor was already impatient. Then some of the remaining royal families and officials were still bent on the Tang Dynasty, and they must be eliminated.
So in 905, Zhu Wen instructed Jiang Xuanhui to invite Tang Zhaozong's nine sons to a banquet. While the nine sons were drunk, they ordered all of them to be hanged and then thrown into the Nine-Curve Pool. Some other heartfelt ministers were also killed and thrown into the Yellow River. At this point, the Tang Dynasty collapsed.
summary
The fall of the Tang Dynasty was nothing more than three reasons, the monopoly of eunuch power, the division of feudal towns, and the struggle between friends and parties. The Tang Dynasty, from 618 to 907 AD, was the culmination of the Sui Dynasty, with a total of 21 emperors and 289 years in power. The prosperous Tang Dynasty ended in such a tragic way that people could not help but sigh.