Chapter 3 3. Follow the trend: Seize the opportunity to achieve dominance

The eunuch's monopoly at the end of the Tang Dynasty was an important reason for the demise of the Tang Dynasty. Because the ruler relied too much on the eunuchs and other close officials, their power was overinflated, and they confronted the courtiers and became a powerful force to control the government.During Tang Zhaozong's period, there was even an event that eunuchs abolished the emperor.The eunuch Liu Jishu colluded with the right lieutenant Wang Zhongxian to put Zhaozong under house arrest, and then arbitrarily appointed Prince Li Yu as the new emperor.The Prime Minister Cui Yin was extremely opposed to this change, and together with Sun Dezhao, the head of the escort, killed Liu Jishu to welcome Tang Zhaozong's restoration.The emperor, who was originally above ten thousand people, has become a tool in the struggle between courtiers and eunuchs, and has lost all dignity.The chaos at that time can be seen from this.

In the endless eunuch dictatorship and crony struggles, the national power gradually weakened, and the common people were in dire straits. This situation provided opportunities for those ambitious separatist forces.Zhu Wen, who was developing rapidly in the Yellow River Basin, discovered this opportunity and took advantage of this contradiction to quickly grasp the government, paving the way for himself to ascend to the throne. After the restoration of Tang Zhaozong, although the great eunuch Liu Jishu was killed by Cui Yin, the power of the eunuch still entrenched in the court.Tang Zhaozong, who had not long returned to the palace, was soon controlled by another eunuch Han Quanhui and became a pawn in his hands.Han Quanhui colluded with Li Maozhen and Wang Xingyu, the guards of Fengxiang, and took Emperor Zhaozong to Fengxiang, away from the sphere of influence of Prime Minister Cui Yin.Seeing this, Cui Yin issued an imperial edict to Zhu Wen in the name of Zhaozong, asking him to go to Fengxiang to rescue him.

Zhu Wen, who received this edict, was entrenched along the Yellow River at that time, and his power had been greatly developed. The only one who could confront him was Li Keyong.As the core of the country, Chang'an has always been the place Zhu Wen longed for. His long-term accumulation purpose is to attack the throne of Chang'an. However, as a local guard, he cannot directly command the capital without an edict. After ordering him to go to Beijing, Zhu Wen was overjoyed. Holding the imperial edict, Zhu Wen smiled and said to Xie Tong, Ge Congzhou and others: "I was worrying that I couldn't find an excuse to go to the capital, but it happened that Cui Yin sent the imperial edict. God help me!"

While everyone was overjoyed, Ge Congzhou said: "The emperor is now in the hands of the great eunuch Han Quanhui, and now an edict has suddenly come out. The authenticity of it needs to be discussed." Xie Tong said: "Actually, to us, it doesn't matter whether Cui Yin is a false edict or not. The important thing is that we have an excuse to enter Beijing. As long as we have this edict, we can march into Chang'an in a legitimate way. As for whether the edict came from the emperor hand, what does it matter?" Zhu Wen nodded and said, "Let others distinguish between the true and the false. Immediately dispatch the troops to Chang'an!"

Prompted by Cui Yin's Jiaozhao, Zhu Wen led 70,000 troops from the Hezhong area to Chang'an. The mighty team held the banner of King Qin, but they did not rush or panic along the way.Zhu Wen took the opportunity of sending troops this time, and took Tongzhou, Huazhou and other places into his pocket on the way from Hezhong to Chang'an. It took three months for this journey before he came to Fengxiang. In Fengxiang City, Tang Zhaozong, who was controlled by the eunuch Han Quanhui, felt desolate in his heart, no one could understand.With Han Quan's power all over the court, and Li Maozhen and Wang Xingyu having heavy soldiers in their hands, they had planned to hold the emperor for a while to make the world addicted, but Zhu Wen's arrival disrupted this wishful thinking.Zhu Wen had many brave generals under him, so Li Maozhen sent troops several times but was defeated.Seeing this, Han Quanhui couldn't help but said to Wang Xingyu angrily: "I originally pinned my hopes on Li Maozhen, hoping that he could protect my Tang Dynasty forever, but who knew that this person is so useless, it seems that I can only rely on myself ” While deploying resistance, he managed to get Emperor Zhaozong to write an imperial edict ordering Zhu and Wen to retreat.

When Zhu Wen received Tang Zhaozong's edict, military adviser Jing Xiang said to him: "This time the edict seems to be true." But Zhu Wen said with a smile: "It is of no benefit to me if the edict is true or false. I only need to know myself. It is enough to do what I want. The reason why I came to Beijing is because I wanted to, not because of the imperial edict; now, this paper order is useless to me." He said to Han Quanhui's envoy: "Since I We have already arrived in Fengxiang, and we will not go back unless we take the emperor back." Although there was an order to withdraw troops, Zhu Wen remained unmoved, and the plan to siege the city was proceeding in an orderly manner.Langfang Jiedu envoy Li Zhouyi came to besiege Zhu Wen after receiving Li Maozhen's call for help, but was also defeated by him.

In Fengxiang City, Han Quanhui's dissatisfaction with Li Maozhen was spread through Wang Xingyu. Li Maozhen was furious when he heard the words: "I was fighting the enemy bravely on the front line, but these eunuchs were talking behind me. He hijacked the emperor and came to Fengxiang. Yu Unrighteousness, now slandering my military exploits, which is tolerable!" Under the serious internal strife and Zhu Wen's siege, Li Maozhen finally made up his mind to kill Han Quanhui and more than 20 people, and carried them away. The head made peace with Zhu Wen. Tang Zhaozong, who was imprisoned, pushed open the palace gate and couldn't help crying like rain when he saw Zhu Wen's uniform army and the banners flying in the wind.He was well aware of his dire situation. Although Zhu Wen, Cui Yin, Liu Jishu, and Han Quanhui all coveted his imperial power, being held hostage by courtiers was better than being imprisoned by eunuchs.He took Zhu Wen's hand and said excitedly, "It's all thanks to you that I can be what I am today. The ancestral temple and society of the Tang Dynasty were all rebuilt by Qing; I and the emperor's relatives were all reborn by Qing!"

Zhu Wen hurriedly knelt down on the ground and said: "It is the duty of a subject to be loyal to the emperor, and I dare not bear such credit." Although he spoke politely, Zhu Wen did not slow down his pace at all.After being awarded the supreme honor of "returning to heaven and rebuilding a loyal and righteous hero" by Emperor Zhaozong, Zhu Wen stationed his army in Chang'an, effectively controlling the capital and the power organization, and he began to implement his plan step by step. Zhu Wen first suggested to Tang Zhaozong: "In recent years, the instability of the government has been caused by internal servants. It is a taboo in all dynasties that eunuchs control power. Although Liu Jishu and Han Quanhui are dead, their remnants are still there. Maybe what happened? From time to time, someone will jump out again and become the second Liu Jishu and Han Quanhui. For the safety of the Tang Dynasty and the emperor, I request that these rebellious parties be eliminated."

Zhaozong, who had become a puppet, obeyed Zhu Wen's words. Soon after, Zhu Wen drastically cut down the servants and dealt a fatal blow to the remaining party of Han Quanhui, killing more than 700 people. eradicate.After taking over the government in an all-round way, in order to facilitate control, Zhu Wen suggested that Emperor Zhaozong move the capital, and brought the emperor from Chang'an to Luoyang, which was within his sphere of influence. Although at this time Zhu Wen had already become a veritable emperor, and he was only one step away from the emperor's throne, but this step was something he could not bear.Because although Zhaozong lost power, Li Keyong and others still supported him, Baobuqi would use Li Keyong's troops to make a comeback one day.Simply doing nothing, Zhu Wenmi taught Jingxiang and said: "Although I have great power now, it can be said that one person is under one person and over ten thousand people, but the current emperor still cannot stay. The emperor has entrusted all the power to me. If I do it again If you kill him, you will not be able to ascend to the throne of God in a legitimate way, so you must use someone's hand to kill him."

It happened that Yang Chongben raised troops in the Hezhong area, so Zhu Wen led his troops to leave Luoyang on the grounds of pacifying Yang Chongben.After Zhu Wen nodded, Jing Xiang found Zhu Yougong, Zhu Wen's adoptive son, and said to him tactfully: "The emperor has become a puppet, and the world must belong to your adoptive father, but now there is no one to push this matter forward. If you can lead troops into the palace and kill the emperor, you will definitely become a great hero." Zhu Yougong listened to Jingxiang's suggestion, but he hesitated at first, since it was a crime of regicide after all.But through Jingxiang's further hints, he understood that this was exactly what Zhu Wen wanted.When Zhu Yougong heard this, Jiang Xuanhui and others from the United Ministry killed Zhaozong while Zhu Wen was not in Luoyang.After Zhu Wen returned to Beijing, everything was a foregone conclusion. He cried and fell in front of Emperor Zhaozong's spirit. After a sincere repentance, Zhu Yougong and Jiang Xuanhui were executed on charges of treason and regicide.Although all the ministers recommended him to succeed the throne, Zhu Wen still "frankly" rejected this request, and instead asked Empress Zhaozong to make the thirteen-year-old Li Zhen the new emperor.

Zhu Wen deeply understands a truth: the more you want to get something, the more you have to slow down and not be too anxious.After Li Wei succeeded to the throne, Zhu Wen first killed the other nine sons of Zhaozong, and then threw more than 30 courtiers including Pei Shu and Dugushang into the river.With the step-by-step implementation of these plans, no one in the court would dare to oppose him.At the same time, he conspired with Prime Minister Liu Can, and was first appointed Prime Minister, and later crowned King of Wei, paving the way for officially proclaiming himself emperor. In April 907 AD, under the "persuasion" of hundreds of officials, Zhu Wen finally proclaimed himself emperor officially, taking Daliang as his country name.Zhu Wen's proclaiming the emperor marked the true end of the Tang Dynasty's rule, and replaced the once glorious Datang Empire with a new dynasty. At the end of the Tang Dynasty, the monopoly of eunuchs and the separatist rule of feudal towns led to the fall of the imperial power. Zhu Wen followed the trend and quickly developed his own power. While controlling a large area of ​​territory, he also controlled the state apparatus.Using Zhu Wen to quell the civil strife was a helpless choice under the circumstances at the time.Therefore, the rise of Zhu Wen is inevitable, even if it is someone else who enters King Jingqin, it will have the same result.Tang's demise was inevitable, but history assigned Zhu Wen the role of successor due to accidental factors.In order to obtain such an opportunity, Zhu Wen devoted decades of development and accumulation. When the huge waves of history pushed him to this position, he was able to seize the opportunity, follow the trend, and finally realized his dream of being an emperor. .