This article is composed by: Third Floor Old Fan Original Creation
Tang Suzong Li Heng can be said to be a witness to the tang empire from prosperity to decline, "looking at the river of history, feeling the vicissitudes of history, the following and xiaobian to enter and understand."
After the Outbreak of the Anshi Rebellion, the rebels captured Tongguan, and Tang Xuanzong led his concubines and courtiers to flee to Chang'an, while the crown prince Li Heng and the general Chen Xuanli staged a mutiny at Ma Songyi, killing Yang Guozhong and forcing Yang Guifei to die, after which Li Heng went north to Lingwu to claim the title of emperor. Emperor Suzong of Tang began to focus his main energy on counterinsurgency, but he did not expect that because of his indulgence, he instead fueled the expansion of the power of the harem and eunuchs, and buried a deeper disaster for the Tang.
The Anshi Rebellion broke out, and Lingwu claimed the title of emperor in the north
Li Heng was li longji's third son, and after Li Ying was deposed and killed because of The framed concubine Wu Huifei, Li Heng was made crown prince. Although Wu Huifei died soon after, forces such as Li Linpu and Yang Guozhong, the prime minister, still posed a great threat to Li Heng, and it can be said that Li Heng's career as crown prince has always been full of crises and caution. Li Linfu later died, and Li Heng's political enemies were left with only one Yang Guozhong, which laid the groundwork for the later Ma Songyi mutiny.
In the fourteenth year of Tianbao (755), the three towns of Fanyang, Hedong, and Lulong caused An Lushan to rebel against the Tang, and the "AnShi Rebellion" broke out. An Lushan destroyed the decay all the way, first attacking Luoyang and then breaking tongguan. On June 13 of the following year, Emperor Xuanzong of Tang led some of his concubines and courtiers to escape from the crisis-ridden Chang'an and prepare to take refuge in Shu.
The fleeing team numbered as many as 3,000, and the rear team belonging to Li Heng alone was as large as 2,000 people, so the crown prince Li Heng sent his confidant eunuch Li Fuguo to woo the Zuo Longwu general Chen Xuanli and plot a mutiny against Yang Guozhong. After the team reached "Ma Songyi", the soldiers were hungry and tired, the team rioted, Li Heng immediately launched a mutiny, Yang Guozhong was hacked to death by a knife, and his son Yang Xuan and Lady Han were also killed by the rebels, and then forced to kill Yang Yuhuan.
Although Chen Xuanli cooperated with Li Heng in launching the mutiny, he was still loyal to Tang Xuanzong, so after the mutiny, the father and son parted ways, Tang Xuanzong continued to enter Shu, and Li Heng, on the advice of Li Fuguo and Empress Zhang, turned north to Lingwu.
On July 9, 756, in the fifteenth year of Tianbao (756), Li Heng, accompanied by Du Hongzhi and others, arrived at Lingwu, the headquarters of the Shuofang Army. On July 12, a simple enthronement ceremony was held at the Lingwu South Gate City Tower, officially titled Emperor, changed the era name to Zhide, and Honored Tang Xuanzong as Emperor Taishang.
Strive to govern and concentrate on quelling the rebellion
After Li Heng ascended the throne, he immediately threw himself into the great cause of quelling the chaos, first appointing Guo Ziyi as the envoy of Shuofang Jiedushi, and the following year appointing Li Guangbi, who was recommended by Guo Ziyi, as the emissary of Hedong Jiedushi.
On July 17, Li Heng, with the deputy marshals Li Yu and Guo Ziyi the Prince of Guangping as the Chinese army, Li Siye as the front army, and Wang Sili as the rear army, led the Shuofang and other armies and 150,000 troops from hui and the western region, claiming to be 200,000 troops, and set out from Fengxiang to fight the rebels in the east. Li Heng ordered Li Yu the Prince of Guangping to marry Ye Hu the Prince of Hui as brothers, and Ye Hu, the Prince of Hui, called Li Yu the Prince of Guangping a brother.
From the first year of Qianyuan (758) to the second year of Qianyuan (759), with the support of Emperor Suzong of Tang, Guo Ziyi, Li Guangbi and others led their armies to engage the rebels many times and defeated the rebels many times. After that, there were also changes within the rebel army, first An Lushan was killed by his son An Qingxu, then Shi Siming killed An Qingxu, and then Shi Siming was also killed by his son Shi Chaoyi.
During the reign of Emperor Suzong of Tang, the Tang dynasty officials and Hui armies repeatedly broke the rebels, and since the outbreak of the "Anshi Rebellion", the war finally began to turn around. However, after that, Tang Suzong did not heed the advice of the strategist Li Bi and directly attacked the rebels' lair, missing the opportunity to annihilate the enemy. Later, in the Battle of Xiangzhou, the eunuch Yu Chao'en was sent to supervise the army, and as a result, because Yu Chao'en intervened in the military, the Tang army was defeated, and Guo Ziyi was deposed under the deception of Yu Chao'en.
Although Tang Suzong was bent on quelling the rebellion, the rebellion did appear to be put down, but due to the final mistake, he was unable to completely quell the rebellion throughout his life. At the same time as countering the rebellion, Tang Suzong was also trying to change the political and economic shortcomings since Tianbao, hoping to continue the prosperity of the Tang Dynasty, but unfortunately this goal was also unsuccessful.
The rise of the empress and eunuchs laid the foundation for future generations
Perhaps most of the energy involved by the rebellion, the rise of eunuchs and empresses did not arouse his reuse. Under his laissez-faire, the eunuchs Li Fuguo and Cheng Yuanzhen, who were deeply favored by him, began to manipulate military and political power, and Empress Zhang also began to interfere in political affairs.
In particular, Li Fuguo and Empress Zhang, one inside and one outside, cooperated with each other, controlled the power of the DPRK and China, and wantonly cracked down on dissidents. Li Qi, the king of Jianning, repeatedly told Emperor Suzong about this matter, and Li Fuguo and Zhang Liangdi falsely accused king Jianning of "desperately wanting to be a marshal and murder the king of Guangping", and Suzong, in a fit of rage, gave death to Li Qi, the king of Jianning.
The situation was very similar to that of Li Heng when he was crown prince, and the position of the crown prince Li Yu at this time was also extremely dangerous. Empress Zhang had earlier bent on deposing the crown prince and installing her own son as crown prince, but the eldest son Li Ling died prematurely, and the second son Li Dong was young and never succeeded. But this did not make Empress Zhang give up, and she wanted to make Li Shi the Prince of Yue the Crown Prince.
As two people with a strong desire for power, Empress Zhang and Li Fuguo eventually inevitably had a conflict, and in order to oppose Empress Zhang, Li Fuguo turned to the crown prince Li Yu, and the two fought fiercely over the abolition of the prince.
At the end of the second year of the First Yuan Dynasty (761), Emperor Suzong fell seriously ill and ignored the government, that is, he ordered the crown prince to supervise the country. Especially after the death of Tang Xuanzong the following year, Tang Suzong's condition was more serious. Empress Zhang, for her own selfish desires, began to speed up the pace of deposing the crown prince Li Yu, first asking the crown prince Li Yu to kill Li Fuguo and Cheng Yuanzhen, and after being rejected, she wanted to kill Li Yu. As a result, the matter was revealed, and Li Fuguo led his troops directly into the palace, imprisoned Empress Zhang, and killed the Yue royal family and Yan Wang.
On this night, Tang Suzong also fell ill and died in the palace at the age of fifty-two. After Emperor Suzong of Tang, the phenomenon of eunuch dictatorship in the Tang Dynasty became increasingly serious.