Chapter 82 173 The Manna Incident

Since Tang Muzong, the emperors of the Tang Dynasty were all supported by eunuchs.In this way, the power of the eunuchs will be even greater, and even the fate of the emperor is in their hands. Who else would dare to fight against them? In the second year of Tang Wenzong Li Ang (Mu Zong's son) ascended the throne, candidates recommended by various places went to Kyoto to take the exam.There was a man named Liu Fen (sound fen), who openly opposed eunuchs in power in the test paper, arguing that in order to stabilize the country, eunuchs should be rejected, the power should be handed over to the prime minister, and the military power to the generals.

This examination paper fell into the hands of several examiners, and the examiners passed it around to read it, and they were full of praise, thinking that it was not only good in writing, but also incisive in reasoning. It was a rare and good article.But when it came time to decide to admit, no one dared to express their attitude, because if they admitted Liu Fan and offended the eunuchs, they would lose their seats. As a result, all the twenty-two people who took the exam together with Liu Fan were selected, but Liu Fan was not selected.Liu Fan is recognized by everyone as an outstanding talent. This time, because he said some honest words, he was not selected, and everyone felt that he was wronged.The candidate who was elected said: "Liu Fan lost the election, but we made the list. It's so embarrassing."

Tang Wenzong lived under the control of the eunuch, and he was very angry. He wholeheartedly wanted to get rid of the eunuch.Once, Tang Wenzong fell ill and was in a hurry to find a doctor.It just happened that Li Shoucheng, the head of the eunuch, had an official named Zheng Zhu who was proficient in medicine.Wang Shoucheng recommended him to Tang Wenzong for treatment.Wenzong took his medicine, and he got better day by day.Tang Wenzong was very happy. He summoned Zheng Zhu and found that Zheng Zhu was eloquent and seemed to be a talented person, so he promoted him to be the censor. Zheng Zhu had a friend, Li Xun, who was a very frustrated official. Hearing that Zheng Zhu was being reused by the court, he brought some gifts to ask Zheng Zhu to see him.Zheng Zhu just wanted to find a helper, so he asked Wang Shoucheng to recommend Li Xun to Wenzong.Li Xun also gained Wenzong's trust, and was later promoted to prime minister.

Li Xun and Zheng Zhu gained the trust of Tang Wenzong, and Wenzong told them about his desire to get rid of the eunuch.They discussed secretly with Wenzong, trying to weaken Wang Shoucheng's power.They found out that there was an eunuch Qiu Shiliang under Wang Shoucheng who had conflicts with Wang Shoucheng, so they asked Wenzong to make Qiu Shiliang the lieutenant of Zuo Shence and lead a part of the imperial guards. Then, Li Xun lifted Wang Shoucheng's military power.Wang Shoucheng lost his military power, so it was easy to manipulate.Finally, Tang Wenzong gave Wang Shoucheng a cup of poisoned wine and killed him.

After going to Wang Shoucheng, the next step is to get rid of Qiu Shiliang.After some planning, Li Xun contacted Han Yue, General of the Imperial Guard, and decided to do it.One day in 835 A.D., when Tang Wenzong went to court, Han Yue went to the hall to play, saying that on a pomegranate tree in the backyard of the Imperial Guard Hall, nectar fell last night. It turns out that feudal dynasties were the most superstitious, and nectar from heaven was considered a good omen.Li Xun immediately led civil and military officials to congratulate Wenzong, and invited Tang Wenzong to watch the nectar in the backyard in person.

Tang Wenzong ordered Prime Minister Li Xun to inspect it first.Li Xun pretended to go to the yard for a while and came back and said: "I went to see it, I'm afraid it's not real nectar, please send someone to review it." Tang Wenzong ordered Qiu Shiliang to lead the eunuchs to watch.Qiu Shiliang asked Han Yue to go with him.Han Yue walked to the door with a nervous expression and his face turned pale.Qiu Shiliang found this situation strange and asked Han Yue, "General Han, what's the matter with you?" Just as he was talking, a gust of wind blew and shook the curtain hanging by the door.Qiu Shiliang discovered that many soldiers with bright weapons were ambushing in the curtain.

Qiu Shiliang was taken aback, and quickly withdrew and ran back to Tang Wenzong.Seeing Qiu Shiliang fleeing, Li Xun immediately ordered the guards in ambush to catch up.Unexpectedly, Qiu Shiliang and the eunuchs had already grabbed Wenzong, pulled him into the soft sedan chair, lifted him up and left. Li Xun rushed up and held on to Wenzong's sedan chair. An eunuch took a step forward and punched Li Xun in the chest, knocking him to the ground.Qiu Shiliang took the opportunity to support Wenzong's soft sedan chair and went into the inner palace. Li Xun's premeditated plan failed, so he had to beg a plainclothes from the little official and escape in disguise.Qiu Shiliang immediately sent troops out of the palace, arrested some officials who participated in the premeditated plan on a large scale, and killed them all.Li Xun fled east and west, had nowhere to go, and was killed on the road.Zheng Zhuzheng was leading troops into Beijing from Fengxiang, and when he got the news, he wanted to return to Fengxiang, but was also killed by the eunuch who supervised the army.

The plot to kill eunuchs planned by Tang Wenzong, Li Xun, and Zheng Zhu failed completely. After this incident, more than 1,000 people were imprisoned and killed.In history, this event was called "the change of nectar". After this incident, the eunuchs closely monitored Tang Wenzong, and Tang Wenzong's life was even more difficult.After five years, he fell ill and died.Qiu Shiliang Li Wenzong's brother Li Yan came to the throne, this is Tang Wuzong.