Chapter 208 Chapter 207 Jingzong Li Zhan

Tang Jingzong Li Zhan, the eldest son of Tang Muzong.He succeeded to the throne at the age of 15 in the fourth year of Changqing (824 AD).He reigned for more than 3 years and died at the age of 18. Tang Jingzong's three-year emperor's career was basically spent in a state of ignorance, eating, drinking and having fun, drunkenly, dreaming and dying.Its political characteristics are that the power is left behind and the eunuchs are favored. In the middle and late Tang Dynasty, the situation of separatism in feudal vassals lasted for a long time and was quite serious, so the "tradition" of hereditary separatism naturally formed. The 15-year-old Jingzong can only "inherit" the inheritance left by his predecessors

Outside the feudal town, Jingzong, an important official in the court, was powerless against them, and in fact he was unwilling to do anything.Therefore, most of these people rely on power and self-respect, and are domineering.For example, Li Fengji, the prime minister at the time, was at the mercy of life and death, and had power for a while.Li Fengji trusted 8 people most, and 8 people were his vassals; anyone who wanted to ask Li Fengji had to go through these 16 people first, so they were called "Eight Passes" and "Sixteen Sons".They not only squeezed out ordinary officials, but even Li Cheng, the deputy prime minister at the time, was also pushed out of the court due to political conflicts; .Although Jingzong was called the emperor.The power has always been in the hands of Li Fengji's party.

Emperors who have the power of courtiers or their own incompetence generally favor eunuchs, and the same is true of Jingzong.When Jingzong was emperor, the chief eunuch was Wang Shoucheng.Although there were fierce factional disputes at the time, no matter which political force wanted to win, it had to get the support of Wang Shoucheng.The Niu Li (Niu Sengru, Li Deyu) party struggle lasted for 40 years, and eunuchs have always been a pivotal force.Almost all the abolition and establishment of emperors in the middle and late Tang Dynasty were manipulated by them.The big eunuch controls the government, and the little eunuch is also lawless.

Once, Cui Fa, the magistrate of Yujia (now Huxian County, Shaanxi Province), heard that some people were beating ordinary people, so he arrested them.Because it was dark and I couldn't see clearly, after some questioning, I found out that it was the eunuch in the palace.When Jingzong heard that the eunuchs had been tied up and interrogated, he ordered Cui Fa and his colleagues to be imprisoned.While waiting for his punishment, more than 50 eunuchs in the palace took the opportunity to beat Cui Fa with sticks, until he passed out for a long time before regaining consciousness, and then threw him into prison.Later, all the ministers wrote to appeal for grievances, but Jingzong still refused to listen.When Cui was released from prison, he was asked to apologize to the eunuchs.

The court is like this, and the place is even more cost-effective.Many local officials used power for personal gain, cleverly set up names, and exploited the common people.The 9th day of the sixth month in the lunar calendar is Jingzong's birthday. Xu Si's observation envoy Wang Zhixing suggested setting up an altar in Sizhou half a year in advance, recruiting monks and nuns to wish the emperor good luck and longevity.A large number of people competed to be ordained and become monks in order to avoid taxes and servitude.Each ordained person pays two coins and receives a monk certificate, which can exempt them from the burden of corvee. Wang Zhixing takes this opportunity to make a fortune.In fact, Wang Zhixing just used the emperor's birthday to stuff the financial revenue that should belong to the country into his own pocket.Li Deyu, who was then the Observation Envoy of Western Zhejiang, estimated that if the shaving continued until the emperor's birthday, 600,000 people would become monks in the two Zhejiang and Fujian regions alone; and the country would lose 600,000 people's tax revenue.

When Jingzong became emperor, he was at the age of studying.He didn't even bother to ask about military and state affairs, and of course he didn't want to just sit and listen.Cui Yan, a scholar in attendance, was in charge of explaining Confucian classics to the emperor. More than half a year had passed, but he had never had the chance to read to the emperor once, and Jingzong himself could not ask any questions.When leaving office, Cui Yan felt ashamed of Shengen and hoped to serve the emperor once, but Jingzong said: "When I have free time, I will definitely ask you for advice." Still not reconciled, Cui Yan went back to compile a book called It was dedicated to Jingzong for "Zhujing Compilation Essentials", hoping to provide some useful principles for the emperor to govern the country, but Jingzong naturally put it on the shelf.

Jingzong was a small man, but he was very greedy for bed affairs, so that "every day the king does not go to court early".From the beginning of his reign as emperor, Jingzong refused to get up in the morning. After five letters from the ministers, Jingzong met all the officials in the court, but usually only two or three times a month.Even for such a rare court meeting, Jingzong was unwilling to get up from the bed happily, and often the sun was high, and the ministers were still waiting outside the palace gate.Zuo Shiyi Liu Qichu gave a generous speech, criticizing the emperor for being lustful and sleepy with the principle of the rise and fall of the country, and suggested that the emperor should go to court early, and after he finished speaking, he would lie on the ground and kowtow, bleeding profusely, and it was heard outside the palace.Jingzong was also quite moved at that time. He was promoted to the official position of Liu Qichu and rewarded with property.However, the situation in the early court did not change in any way.

Jingzong is very playful, whether it is the traditional jousting, dragon boat racing, or the new polo, he is very enthusiastic, whether watching games or visiting, you can see him wherever there is excitement.Once, Jingzong specially organized a large-scale sports event, the competition was very fierce, and there were many casualties and accidents, but the emperor was very excited watching it from the palace.There is also a special theater troupe in the palace, and watching theater is also his regular activity.Jingzong also took people out to catch foxes at night, which was called "fighting foxes at night" in the palace at that time.There was really no activity, so he asked more than a thousand people to fish in the pond and put the big fish into the newly dug pond.

Although Jingzong was young, he was already pursuing the art of immortality.There are often monks or Taoist priests in and out of his palace.Taoist Zhao Guizhen told him that there is indeed the art of cultivating immortals in the world, so Jingzong sent him to visit strangers all over the world to seek the magic of immortality; And gave him the official title of Guanglu Shaoqing, and later gave him 20,000 guan of money to build Xingtang Temple.Some people said that there was a fairy Li Longqian temple on Niutou Mountain, which was very effective, so Jingzong sent someone to check it. The messenger came back and said that the mountain range had been dug up by Wu Zetian, and Jingzong ordered it to be repaired immediately.At that time, it was the freezing season, and tens of thousands of servants had to brave the biting cold wind to work on the cliffs.

Although the eunuchs were relied on by Jingzong, they were sometimes punished quite severely.Generally, he is particularly tolerant of state affairs and government affairs; he is very caressing about his personal fun.If he didn't really work hard to satisfy his playfulness, he would be outcast, or at least severely beaten.Therefore, many eunuchs were dissatisfied with him.On the eighth day of December in the second year of Baoli (826 A.D.), after Jingzong returned from hunting at night, he had a drink with 28 eunuchs including Liu Keming, Tian Wucheng, Xu Wenduan, and general Su Zuoming, who specialized in playing ball.Suddenly, all the lights in the wine shop were extinguished, and Jingzong was killed by this group of premeditated people in the dark.Jingzong was under 18 years old when he died, and he had only been emperor for three years and one month.His posthumous title is "Emperor Ruiwu Zhaomin and Filial Piety", and his tomb is called "Zhuangling".