Chapter 198 Chapter 197 Ruizong Li Dan

Tang Ruizong Li Dan was the son of Tang Gaozong Li Zhi and Wu Zetian.Like his elder brother Zhongzong Li Xian, Li Dan proclaimed himself emperor twice, but his first enthronement was controlled by his mother, who was imprisoned in the palace and was not allowed to predict political affairs; Among political forces, they cannot display their political ambitions.Therefore, he took the Zen position only two years after he took the throne. In the first year of Tang Zhongzong's Sisheng (684 AD), 22-year-old Li Dan was made the fifth emperor of the Tang Empire by his mother Wu Zetian to replace his older brother Zhongzong Li Xian.What happened to his elder brother and the domineering mother made the always cowardly Li Dan shudder.After Li Dan came to the throne, his mother, Empress Wu Zetian, changed the year name to Wenming, and canonized his concubine Liu as the queen, and his eldest son Li Chengqi as the crown prince.After these ceremonies were over, Li Dan was placed under house arrest in the palace together with his queen. After that, Li Dan began the life of a puppet emperor.Empress Wu Zetian ruled in court and ruled on all political affairs.Without the mother's decree, Li Dan could not enter and leave the palace at will, and he could not even move freely in the palace.Only Empress Liu and a few court ladies and eunuchs accompanied him all day.

Li Dan was the puppet emperor for 6 years from the beginning of his ascension to his relegation to the emperor's heir, living a life of fear all day long.In 690 A.D., Wu Zetian changed Tang to Zhou, proclaimed himself the Holy Emperor, demoted Li Dan to the heir of the emperor, gave her the surname Wu, and moved to the East Palace.Make her nephew Wu Chengsi the king of Wei.But Wu Chengsi was unwilling to be the king of Wei. He wanted to get rid of the emperor's heir Li Dan and become the crown prince himself so that he could inherit the throne from his aunt Wu Zetian in the future.In order to achieve this goal, Wu Chengsi moved everywhere, asking Wu Zetian to abolish his son Li Dan and make himself the crown prince.Wu Zetian was still undecided about the issue of abolishing the emperor's heir. Later, after discussing with the ministers, he realized the interests of establishing a son and nephew, and ignored Wu Chengsi's request.Wu Chengsi then conspired to harm Li Dan. He secretly instigated Wu Zetian's servant group to falsely accuse Li Dan's empress Liu and concubine Dou, saying that they cursed the empress to the sky every night.Wu Zetian believed it was true, and immediately issued an imperial edict to execute Liu and Dou Ling Chi.

Afterwards, Wu Zetian issued an edict to forbid public officials and officials from visiting the emperor's heir Li Dan, and anyone who violated it would be executed.Wu Chengsi also falsely accused Li Dan of treason.Taichang Legong An Jinzang cut his stomach to prove that the emperor's heir was not rebellious. Wu Zetian was deeply moved and no longer doubted Li Dan, which made Wu Chengsi's attempt to murder Li Dan unsuccessful. After this blow, Li Dan was discouraged and determined to give up his position as emperor's heir to avoid disaster.In the first year of the holy calendar (AD 698), under the repeated advice of ministers, Wu Zetian called Zhongzong Li Xian back to Chang'an, made him the heir of the emperor, changed Li Dan to the title of Xiang Wang, and added the title of Prince Youwei.

Li Dan's first ascension to the throne, though in name only, freed him up for other things.He became interested in calligraphy, and then became obsessed with text exegesis, and diverted all his energy to this aspect.His cursive script and official script can even be compared with the works of some famous calligraphers at that time.Li Dan did not give up this hobby until his second ascension to the throne. In the first year of Emperor Ruizong's Jingyun (710 A.D.), Li Xian, Emperor Zhongzong of Tang Dynasty, was poisoned to death by empress Webster and her daughter Princess Anle.Later, Empress Wei conspired with Princess Anle to support Zhongzong's youngest son, King Wen Li Chongmao, as the crown prince, and Empress Wei would rule in the court and handle all state affairs.At the same time, Webster also sent his cronies to control the army, and conspired to harm Li Dan and Li Dan's sister, Princess Taiping.Li Dan's third son, Li Longji, conspired with his aunt, Princess Taiping, to seek rebellion. Li Longji mobilized the Habayashi Army to enter the palace and wiped out Empress Wei, Princess Anle, and the cronies of the Webster Group. On the throne of the emperor.

After Ruizong came to the throne, the first big problem he encountered was who should be the crown prince.According to the tradition of establishing a descendant to be the eldest son, the eldest son Song Wang Li Chengqi should be established as the crown prince, but in terms of merit, Chengqi is not as good as the third son Li Longji.So it can't be decided for a long time.Li Chengqi expressed his willingness to let the virtuous, and the ministers also advocated the establishment of Li Longji. Finally, Ruizong finally decided to appoint the third son Li Longji as the prince, and at the same time ordered the eldest son Chengqi to be the shepherd of Yongzhou and the prince and grand teacher, which properly handled the issue of the succession to the throne.

In the first year of Ruizong's accession to the throne, according to the suggestion of Prince Li Longji, he appointed Yao Chong and Song Jing as prime ministers, and made them responsible for the two important departments of the Ministry of War and the Ministry of Officials respectively.Both Yao and Song were famous ministers at the time. With their assistance, Ruizong rectified the rules and regulations, brought order out of chaos, and revitalized the government. Restoring the electoral system.At the beginning of the Tang Dynasty, it was stipulated that all officials were selected by the Ministry of Ministers, civil officials were selected by the Ministry of Officials, and military officials were selected by the Ministry of War.After Tang Zhongzong came to the throne, due to the monopoly of Empress Wei, this system of selecting officials was destroyed.After Ruizong came to power, he immediately issued an edict to restore this official selection system, and appointed Yao Chong and Song Jing to concurrently serve as Ministers of the Ministry of War and Ministry of Officials, respectively, to be responsible for the selection of civil and military officials.

Cut redundant officials.During the reign of Emperor Zhongzong, Empress Wei and Princess Anle monopolized the government and publicly sold their officials and nobles.By the late Zhongzong period, there were as many as several thousand officials who came up by spending money.After Emperor Ruizong came to the throne, he issued an edict to dismiss all Xiefeng officials, and dismissed the officials of the princesses. Zhaoxue injustice case.After Ruizong came to the throne, he rehabilitated and exonerated some unjust cases during Zhongzong's reign, such as recovering the five kings including Zhang Jianzhi, King of Hanyang, and Yuan Shuji, King of Nanyang, who were killed by Wu Sansi, a member of the Webster Group, and their son-in-law. The official rank of Wei Wang Tongjiao and others.Some other people who were unjustly killed by the Webster Group were also restored or given posthumous titles.

However, the early prosperity of Ruizong did not last long. In the second year of Li Dan's accession to the throne, he lost his enterprising spirit when he first took the throne, and did some stupid things, which led to corruption and chaos in the government.He began to reuse treacherous officials and appointed Dou Huaizhen, Xiao Zhizhong, Cen Xi, and Cui Shi as prime ministers. Dou Huaizhen has no talent, no virtue, no merit.During Zhongzong's reign, he served as the doctor of imperial history, and won the favor of Zhongzong and Empress Wei by flattery.After the Webster Group was wiped out, he took refuge in his new master, Princess Taiping, and became prime minister.

Xiao Zhizhong was originally a relatively decent person with relatively high prestige.However, in order to get promoted and make a fortune, he also sold himself to Princess Taiping. Cen Xi has a very close relationship with the Webster Group.The Webster Group poisoned Zhongzong to death, and when Empress Wei came to the imperial court, he immediately appointed him as prime minister.In the early years of Ruizong's accession to the throne, he was dismissed as prime minister, and he took refuge in Princess Taiping and was able to resume his post as prime minister. Cui Shi was originally just a small official of a meritorious examiner named Wailang. Because of his affair with Shangguan Wan'er, Shangguan Wan'er talked about it. Zhongzong appointed him as prime minister, but he was dismissed shortly after accepting bribes for selecting officials.After Empress Wei came to the court as regent, he was restored to his original post.In the early days of Ruizong's accession to the throne, he was dismissed again.But because he was favored by Princess Taiping, Princess Taiping asked Ruizong to appoint him as prime minister.

In February of the second year of Jingyun, at the suggestion of Princess Taiping and others, Li Dan issued an edict to restore all Xiefeng officials who had been dismissed in the past.In May of the second year of Jingyun, Li Dan's two daughters, Xicheng and Princess Longchang, became monks and became Taoist priests.Li Dan refused to listen to dissuasion, and issued an edict to recruit tens of thousands of migrant workers, demolished many houses, and spent more than 1 million yuan to build two Taoist temples, Jinxian and Yuzhen. The same Ruizong, the reason why they are different from each other is the key to employing people.In the first year of Ruizong's accession to the throne, he mainly listened to the words of the prince Li Longji, and appointed famous ministers Yao Chong, Song Jing and others as prime ministers, thus revitalizing the government.In the second year, he mainly listened to Princess Taiping's words and appointed treacherous ministers Dou Huaizhen, Xiao Zhizhong, Cen Xi and others as prime ministers, which resulted in corruption and chaos in the government.

Ruizong himself is a person who doesn't like to be in power, and only wants to be quiet and inactive.The thrilling court struggle had made him feel disheartened about the emperor's supremacy.After ascending the throne for the second time, he was caught between the two major political forces, his son Li Longji and his sister Princess Taiping. Therefore, he always tried to strike a political balance between Li Longji and Princess Taiping.In the beginning, Ruizong was more inclined to Li Longji, so in the first year Ruizong came to power, the prince faction had the upper hand. In this regard, Princess Taiping refused to give up.She used her status and Ruizong's trust and respect for her to expand her power.She always dreamed of being a female emperor like her mother Wu Zetian, so she opposed the appointment of the shrewd and capable Li Longji as the prince, and advocated the appointment of the meek Li Chengqi as the prince so that she could control the emperor in the future.In order to seize power, she spread rumors on the one hand, saying that "the prince is not the eldest son, it is not suitable to be a prince", on the other hand, she actively expanded her political influence and formed a powerful sectarian group.Since Li Longji was established as the prince, the two sides have launched a fierce struggle.After a year of fighting, Princess Taiping won: Li Longji resigned from political affairs; his right-hand men Yao Chong and Song Jing were dismissed as prime ministers; Most of them are attached to Princess Taiping.In this way, in the second year of Ruizong's reign, the princess faction gained the upper hand in the court. Ruizong was not interested in being an emperor, nor could he reconcile the conflict between the prince and the princess, so he wanted to take the throne as soon as possible and be a comfortable and peaceful overlord.In February of the second year of Jingyun, Li Dan ordered Crown Prince Li Longji to supervise the country.In April, Li Dan summoned the ministers of the third rank and above and announced that he wanted to pass the throne to the prince. Deal with it. Discuss the appointment and removal of military affairs, death penalty, and officials above the fifth rank with the prince first, and then report to me." This made Princess Taiping hate Li Longji even more, and she wanted to get rid of him quickly.In July of the first year of Xiantian (712 A.D.), a comet appeared in the sky. Princess Taiping took the opportunity to ask the warlock to tell Ruizong, "The crown prince wants to be emperor." She wanted to arouse Ruizong's hatred of the prince.Unexpectedly, this made Ruizong make up his mind to pass the throne to Li Longji.Princess Taiping was self-defeating, and dissuading her failed, so she had to choose the next best thing. Although Ruizong was advised to pass on the throne, he had to control the power by himself.Ruizong had no choice but to agree. In August of the first year of Xiantian, Li Dan passed the throne to Prince Li Longji. He called himself the Supreme Emperor and "Zhen".Prince Li Longji called himself "Yu", and the edict issued was called "Zhi" or "Chi", and dealt with political affairs in Wude Hall every day.The appointment and removal of officials above the third rank and major political affairs were handled by the Supreme Emperor Li Dan himself, and Li Longji handled the rest. Although Li Longji officially became the emperor, Princess Taiping still has great power in the central government.Among the seven prime ministers at that time, four were her party members, and most of the civil and military officials were members of the princess' party. These people were obsessed with Li Longji.In June of the second year of Xiantian, the struggle between Li Longji and Princess Taiping became fierce, and both sides were gathering strength to prepare for a coup d'état.In the end, Li Longji preemptively sent troops to suppress Princess Taiping's party, and killed Dou Huaizhen and others. Princess Taiping died at home, quickly wiped out the power of the Princess Party, and completely controlled the central government.Ruizong issued an edict to announce the official Zen position, only to be the leisurely and quiet Supreme Emperor, and moved to Baifu Hall to live up to his old age. Ruizong proclaimed himself emperor twice, but the real reign time was only two years. After the Zen throne, he was the Supreme Emperor for about 4 years. Xuanzong died in the fourth year of Kaiyuan (716 AD) at the age of 55.The temple name is "Ruizong" and the posthumous title is "Xuanzhen Great Sage Daxing Emperor". He was buried in Qiaoling (now Fengshan, Pucheng County, Shaanxi).