The fallen monarch of every ancient dynasty could not imagine that the empire would die in his own hands, and even dreamed of recreating the glory of his ancestors. Unfortunately, the reality is cruel and often backfires, and Tang Zhaozong is a typical one.
Tang Zhaozong was the penultimate emperor of the Tang Dynasty, and for the last ten years of his reign he was under the control of feudal towns and eunuchs, and the subsequent Emperor of Tang was only a puppet of Zhu Wenli, so it is not an exaggeration to say that Tang Zhaozong was the king of the Tang Dynasty.
In the first seven years of Tang Zhaozong's reign, he had power and the opportunity to maintain or even improve the situation, but three major decisions failed, so that the people of the world knew that the emperor was just a paper tiger, and no matter how strong or weak he began to have the courage to fight the emperor's idea, so the Tang Dynasty irreparably entered the countdown to its demise.
【The mess that Tang Zhaozong took over】
When Tang Zhaozong succeeded to the throne, the situation was very sinister.
The eunuch Yang Fugong was a pro-founder of Emperor Zhaozong of Tang, and he controlled the only army directly under the imperial court, the Shen ce army, although he was not called "Father" by the emperor like Tian Lingzi in that year, but he was also a power opponent. Moreover, Yang Fugong pioneered the transfer of a large number of cadre sons to the local government to control the military power, and the strength was stronger than any previous eunuch in power. When Tang Zhaozong had just succeeded to the throne, the two sides were still in the honeymoon period, and Tang Zhaozong raised the status of eunuchs to the same as other ministers, "eunuchs first wore swords and swords to serve the temple", allowing eunuchs to wear formal imperial clothes to participate in national ceremonies, which was also unprecedented;
Although the Huangchao peasant revolt was suppressed, Qin Zongquan, who continued to hold high the banner of the Great Qi Empire, was also a hegemon in the Central Plains, known as the "Cai Thief", and his power had expanded to Huainan and other places, and Zhu Wen was in full swing in the Central Plains. Of course, Zhu Wen was also pinned down in Bian Prefecture, and the future end of the Tang Dynasty could only strive for self-preservation for the time being;
Li Ke, another terminator of the Tang Dynasty, is the strongest in strength, and its future Daibei clique, which will dominate the world, is growing barbarically. Li Keyong, while deeply cultivating his hometown in Shanxi, expanded eastward to Hebei, and his intention to find his old enemy Zhu Wen was very obvious, and he had not yet shown interest in Chang'an. In addition to Zhu Wen, Li Ke's opponents were tuguhun inner forces and youzhou fanzhen forces, which had been guarding the northern defense line of the Tang Dynasty, and the two sides had been fighting for more than ten years, but they were suspended for a while when Li Ke used his southward battle against Huangchao;
Several of the feudal towns around Chang'an were new forces that emerged during the suppression of Zhu Mei's rebellion, including Huazhou Assassin Shi, ZhenguoJun Jiedushi envoy Han Jian, Yingning Jiedushi envoy Wang Xingyu, and Fengxiang Jiedushi envoy Li Maozhen. These three were the closest to Chang'an, and they were close to the water tower, and they were also the three who bullied Tang Zhaozong the most fiercely later.
In short, the areas that the Tang Dynasty could really control were already pitiful, and among the local officials, those who maintained their superficial respect for Chang'an and symbolically provided some money and food were already rare loyal subjects.
(The map should be a map of the distribution of forces before the Huangchao Uprising, which has changed during the Tang Zhaozong period)
In the above situation, Tang Zhaozong, a young emperor who was only twenty-two years old, did not fully understand it, and even harbored the dream of reunifying the world and reviving the Tang Dynasty, and was therefore considered by the civilian class at that time to be an excellent emperor who far surpassed the previous emperor, after all, the previous Tang Yizong and Emperor Xianzong were really out of tune.
And those who know the direction of history can only look at Tang Zhaozong with a compassionate eye, see every wrong thing he did, and see that he personally buried the last glimmer of life of the Tang Dynasty in order to revive the Tang Dynasty.
In my opinion, Datang still has the last glimmer of vitality, that is, to abandon Guanzhong and retreat to Shuzhong to watch the changes in the world.
If Tang Zhaozong knew that he would be the end of the king of the fallen country in the future, he would have to take Shuzhong first at the greatest price, and then transfer the political center of the Tang Dynasty to Shuzhong. Shuzhong is easy to defend and difficult to attack, and relatively rich, with ten years or even longer to accumulate strength, even if there is no chance to recover the Central Plains, it should not be a problem to be peaceful for a few more decades.
(Chengdu Plain)
【Previous Years of Tang Zhaozong】
In the early days of Tang Zhaozong's reign, he was still very "energetic and diligent", and actively did many things, although he did more mistakes.
In March of the first year (888) of Emperor Wende of Tang, Emperor Wuzong of Tang fell ill and died, and Yang Fugong supported Emperor Zhaozong of Tang to succeed him;
In June of the first year (888) of Emperor Zhaozong of Tang's reign, Emperor Zhaozong of Tang appointed the chancellor Wei Zhaodu as the envoy of Xichuan Jiedu to retake Shuzhong;
In December of the first year (888) of Emperor Wende of Tang Zhaozong, Emperor Qin Zongquan of Daqi was captured, the "Cai Thief" was pacified, and Zhu Wen was freed and began to expand everywhere;
In May of the first year (890) of Emperor Zhaozong of Tang's reign, Tang Zhaozong, under the influence of Zhu Wen and others, appointed the chancellor Zhang Mao to lead the ShenCe army and 50,000 horses from various feudal towns to attack Li Keyong;
In October of the first year (890) of Emperor Zhaozong of Tang's reign, Li Ke defeated Li Cunxiao with his troops, and the Shen Ce army was almost completely destroyed;
In March of the second year (891) of Emperor Zhaozong of Tang's reign, Emperor Zhaozong of Tang ordered Wei Zhaodu to retire, and a few months later Wang Jian conquered Chengdu;
In September of the second year (891) of Emperor Zhaozong of Tang's reign, Emperor Zhaozong of Tang bestowed the eunuch Yang Fugong with the title of Grand General, but Yang Fugong did not comply and fled to Shannan's western province to rebel against his son Yang Shouliang;
In November of the first year (892) of Emperor Jingfu of Tang Zhaozong, Yang Fugong was defeated by the siege of the Fanzhen army and fled to Shanxi to join Li Ke and was captured.
Tang Zhaozong did these three major things in the early period of his reign, one was to recover Shuzhong, the second was to requisition Li Keyong, and the third was to attack the forces of the eunuch Yang Fugong, and as a result, all three major events failed, Shuzhong failed to take it, and completely broke with Li Keyong, although Yang Fugong was killed, but the surrounding feudal towns were able to take the opportunity to intervene.
(Tang Zhaozong Li Ye)
【Recovering the Failure of Shu Zhong】
Later in the tang dynasty, the eunuch Tian Lingzi, who was in power, knew that he had committed public anger, and Chang'an could not stay any longer, so he gave himself the title of Jiannan Xichuan Supervisor, and then ran to Chengdu with a cigarette, and his brother Xichuan Jiedu made Chen Jingxuan report to warm up. Chen Jingxuan's position was placed earlier by Tian Lingzi, and it was also the last retreat left by Tian Lingzi for himself.
But this treasure land in Shuzhong was a refuge for the Tang Emperor when Li Longji was there, so how could he get Tian Lingzi? Moreover, Jiangnan, Huainan and other areas where the tang dynasty's traditional tax sources were already occupied by separatist forces, and only a few areas that could provide Tang Zhaozong with money and food for raising people and soldiers were shuzhong and Guanzhong. Guanzhong had long been devastated by repeated wars, and if there were no more Shuzhong, Tang Zhaozong would not say that he would re-establish his authority and unify the world, and even eating would become a problem.
Therefore, after Tang Zhaozong succeeded to shuzhong, he appointed the chancellor Wei Zhaodu to march to Shuzhong, which was the most important decision tang zhaozong had made since he succeeded to the throne, and it was also a very correct decision.
Shuzhong has always been the self-reserved land of the Tang Emperor, and there is almost no conflict of interest with other feudal towns, and Tian Lingzi has been pointed out by thousands of people, and no one will speak for Tian Lingzi and solicit the time, location, and people in Shuzhong.
Unfortunately, Wei Zhaodu conquered Shuzhong for three years, besieged Chengdu for several months, and saw that victory was in sight, but Tang Zhaozong ordered his troops to retire in March of the second year of Dashun (891), and Wei Zhaodu returned to Chang'an. Wang Jian, a local official in Shuzhong who had originally cooperated with Wei Zhaodu, insisted on not retreating and captured Chengdu more than three months later, and later Wang Jian established Former Shu, one of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms, in Shuzhong.
After wasting three years and countless resources and materials, and finally leaving no way back for Datang and himself, tang Zhaozong's first major strategic decision since he succeeded to the throne ended in failure.
(Chengdu)
【Greedy and profitable】
The Zizhi Tongjian records that the reason for retiring from Shuzhong was that "the supply and transportation were not continued", that is, the supply of military salaries and grain and grass materials could not be improved. It seems that there was a reason for the incident, but according to Tang Zhaozong's behavior, it can be known that at that time, Tang Zhaozong's attention had shifted to Li Keyong, and under the deception of Zhu Wen and other feudal towns, Tang Zhaozong "tried to exclude the public opinion" when the war in Shuzhong was in a state of stalemate, and sent the prime minister Zhang Mao to lead an army to recruit Li Keyong, and returned with a big defeat.
Tang Zhaozong's conquest of Li Keyong was to pick up a bargain, and before that, Li Keyong was defeated under the tuguhun and Youzhou fanzhen army, and the general was captured, suffered a lot of losses, and was temporarily at a disadvantage.
The two who supported Tang Zhaozong in his crusade against Li Ke were the chancellors Zhang Mao and Kong Wei.
Zhang Mao is a lucky villain who can only talk about nothing, and his career was not smooth before, but he was famous for his Zongheng family. Zhang Fugong relied on Yang Fugong's recommendation to become an official in the dynasty, and later Yang Fugong lost power Zhang Mao turned to Tian Lingzi, and now that Yang Fugong has regained power, it is natural to see Zhang Fugong unhappy. In order to consolidate his position, Zhang Mao prepared to get battle merits in Li Keyong, and wanted to use li ke to attack Yang Fugong. Yang Fugong and Li Ke have a deep relationship with father and son, and are natural political allies.
The history books record Zhang Mao's plan to Tang Zhaozong, asking Tang Zhaozong to strengthen the army, "the army is strong and the world is obeyed." This is true, but it is only a castle in the air, the strength of the Tang Dynasty at that time was a problem, and it was not possible to build a strong army that could sweep the world in just a few years, let alone to test the color of Li Ke's use, Li Ke did not use soft persimmons like Tian Lingzi and Chen Jingxuan.
Another prime minister, Kong Wei, was also a confused man, a descendant of Confucius, loyal enough, but the ability to govern the country could only be said to be below the average level. At that time, Kong Wei was a "consul of the salt and iron transport envoys of the various provinces" and was the financial steward of the Tang Dynasty, and he had no experience in leading troops to fight. Kong Wei went so far as to pat Tang Zhaozong on the chest, saying that Li Ke would be defeated in a battle, and that the military expenditure for the use of troops "had not been scarce in one or two years," which strengthened Tang Zhaozong's determination to send troops. Originally, the words of predicting victory or defeat should not have been spoken by Kong Wei, and military geniuses such as Li Shimin and Li Jing did not say that they would be able to win the war, and the state finances of their own work were also unclear, if the Tang Dynasty's finances were so generous, how could there be a matter of later retiring from Shuzhong due to insufficient supply?
The confused ministers, together with the confused emperor, were both shot at by Zhu Wen, and as a result, Li Keyong, who had a chance to win, was pushed against him and lost the last military force of the Tang Dynasty.
[Intensified the contradiction with the eunuch forces]
Pinning his hopes on being able to command the world after defeating Li Keyong was the first serious mistake tang Zhaozong made. The consequence of this mistake was the inability to continue to attack Shuzhong, and the retreat from Shuzhong was a mistake. Later, Tang Zhaozong made the third mistake and took tough measures to solve the problem of the eunuch Yang Fugong, which intensified the contradiction and exposed the weak nature of the Tang Dynasty.
The Tang emperor and the eunuchs had been fighting for hundreds of years, and the principles and various cases were enough to compile a textbook, but Tang Zhaozong still made all the mistakes he had made.
Yang Fugong really should be killed, control the government, appoint private individuals, no emperor can allow such a figure to exist, but Tang Zhaozong did not expect that the price paid for getting rid of Yang Fugong was something that the Tang Dynasty and himself could not bear.
Tang Zhaozong had long wanted to attack Yang Fugong, and had previously co-opted Yang Fugong's righteous son to divide his power, which had a certain effect. Yang Fugong is already over fifty years old, if he continues to use this soft knife to cut meat, Yang Fugong is nothing more than the fate of qiu Shiliang and the like, after retirement, the emperor can dispose of it with a single means, if the means are clever, the emperor can take over all the forces without loss.
(Eunuch figurines unearthed from Tang tombs in Xinjiang)
However, Tang Zhaozong did not calm down, and in the absence of full preparations, he attacked Yang Fugong, and in September of the second year of Da Shun (891), Tang Zhaozong released Yang Fugong as the overseer of Fengxiang, and Yang Fugong refused to be ill, and Tang Zhaozong ordered Yang Fugong to be a great general. Yang Fugong naturally did not want to give up his power, and privately began to contact many of his sons.
Tang Zhaozong again made a mistake and sent people to arrest Yang Fugong, but after Yang Fugong resisted, his family fled and defected to his son Yang Shouliang. The lion and the rabbit also had to use all their strength, and Tang Zhaozong let Yang Fugong escape calmly, and turned the emperor's internal affairs of disposing of domestic slaves into a matter of ownership of this piece of fat meat in Shannan's Western Province.
Tang Zhaozong lost his last mobile force during his crusade against Li Keyong, and was no longer able to send troops to Shannan to eliminate Yang Fugong. Before Wang Jian seized Chengdu from Tian Lingzi's hands, he made a very bad start, and a large number of people stared at this piece of fat meat in Shannan's Western Province, trying to solve problems for the emperor and rush to send troops to conquest. The reward that these people demanded from Tang Zhaozong was the position of envoy of the Festival of the Western Province of Shannan, and the representative figure was Li Maozhen, who was then the envoy of fengxiang festival.
Shannan's Western Province was also one of the few areas that the Tang Emperor could control, and Tang Zhaozong did not dare to easily agree to it no matter how confused he was, but Li Maozhen and others already knew tang Zhaozong's paper tiger essence, and sent troops to Shannan on their own without a commandment, and Yang Fugong fled to Shanxi after being defeated and was captured and killed.
As a result, Yang Fugong's problem was indeed solved, but the Western Province of Shannan was returned to Li Maozhen, and Li Maozhen's power increased greatly, "Shi Maozhen had more than fifteen counties such as Liang, Yang, Xing, Feng, Qi, Long, Qin, Jing, and Yuan in Shannan, and the armor was majestic, and the weak royal family was quite ambitious."
Three consecutive big mistakes, the consequence is that Tang Zhaozong was completely trapped in Chang'an City, with no soldiers in his hands, and the government decree could not leave Chang'an. By this time, the demise of the Tang Dynasty was irretrievable, and the last glimmer of life was buried by Tang Zhaozong himself.
At this time, if Tang Zhaozong could recognize the reality, accept the arrangement of fate, and emulate Zhou Tianzi in the Warring States period, he might still maintain the identity of the co-lord of the world for a period of time, and the Tang Dynasty could also extend its life for several years. Unfortunately, Tang Zhaozong was still unwilling, and continued to do wrong things, making the situation worse, and he himself became the most humiliated of the Emperors of the Tang Dynasty, monopolizing the last four times in the "Nine Escapes of the Heavenly Sons" of the Tang Dynasty.
Interpret history in a mathematical and engineering way of thinking, in a vain attempt to use the past as a metaphor for the present. Polytechnic men read history, welcome to pay attention to and discuss.