Chapter 83 174 Quarrel among cronies

In the days when the eunuchs were monopolizing power, most of the court officials who opposed the eunuchs were excluded and attacked.Some court officials attached to eunuchs were divided into two factions.Officials of the two factions fought each other and quarreled endlessly for forty years. This kind of quarrel was called "clique dispute" in history. This quarrel started when Tang Xianzong was in power.One year, Chang'an held an examination to select talents who could speak out and speak out.Among those who took the exam, there were two lower-level officials, one named Li Zongmin and the other named Niu Sengru.Two people criticized the government in the examination paper.The examiner read the papers and thought that these two people met the selection requirements, so he recommended them to Tang Xianzong.

This matter let Prime Minister Li Jifu know.Li Jifu was an official from a gentry family. He had always looked down on officials from imperial examinations. Now Li Zongmin and Niu Sengru, who came from humble backgrounds, dared to criticize the government and exposed his shortcomings, which made him even more angry.He said in front of Tang Xianzong that the two people were recommended because of their personal relationship with the examiner.Tang Xianzong listened to Li Jifu's words and demoted several examiners. Li Zongmin and Niu Sengru were not promoted either. After Li Jifu's death, his son Li Deyu relied on his father's status and became a Hanlin scholar.At that time, Li Zongmin was also an official in the court.Li Deyu still holds a grudge against Li Zongmin's criticism of his father.

After Tang Muzong came to the throne, he held a Jinshi examination.Two ministers took the exam because of acquaintances, and privately entrusted the examiner, but the examiner Qian Hui did not sell their face.It happened that Li Zongmin had a relative who took the exam and was selected.These ministers reported Qian Hui's favoritism and fraud to Tang Muzong.Emperor Muzong of the Tang Dynasty asked Hanlin scholars, and Li Deyu said that such a thing really happened.Tang Muzong demoted Qian Hui, and Li Zongmin was also implicated and relegated to other places. Li Zongmin thought that Li Deyu deliberately excluded him, and hated Li Deyu to the core.Of course Niu Sengru sympathized with Li Zongmin.After this, Li Zongmin and Niu Sengru formed a faction with some officials from the imperial examinations, and Li Deyu also formed a faction with officials from the gentry, and the two fought fiercely.

After Tang Wenzong came to the throne, Li Zongmin went through the eunuch's career and became prime minister.Li Zongmin recommended Niu Sengru to Wenzong, and also made him prime minister.As soon as the two came to power, they joined forces to attack Li Deyu, and transferred Li Deyu out of the capital to serve as the governor of Xichuan (where the government is located in today's Chengdu, Sichuan). At that time, a Tubo general near Xichuan surrendered.Li Deyu took the opportunity to regain an important town, Weizhou (where the government is located in Li County, Sichuan).This was originally Li Deyu's contribution.But the prime minister, Niu Sengru, told Tang Wenzong: "It's nothing to take back a Weizhou; it's nothing to spoil the relationship with Tubo." He asked Tang Wenzong to order Li Deyu to return Weizhou to Tubo, so that Li Deyu mad as hell.

Later, someone told Tang Wenzong that it was a mistake to withdraw from Weizhou City, and that this incident was Niu Sengru's way to exclude Li Deyu.Tang Wenzong was very remorseful and alienated Niu Sengru. Tang Wenzong himself was also controlled by eunuchs, so he didn't have a certain opinion.Use Li Deyu for a while, and Niu Sengru for a while.When one faction takes power, the other faction has a hard time.The two factions are moving around like a revolving lantern, making the government very chaotic.Tang Wenzong couldn't tell who was right, and sighed when he thought of this incident, and said: "It's easy to pacify Hebei, but it's really difficult to get rid of the cronies of the imperial court!"

In order to fight for power and profit, the Niu and Li factions both please the eunuch.When Li Deyu was the governor of Huainan, Yang Qinyi, the eunuch who supervised the army, was recalled to the capital. It was rumored that Yang Qinyi would definitely take power when he returned.Before leaving, Li Deyu invited Yang Qinyi to a banquet and gave him a generous gift.After Yang Qinyi went back, he tried his best to recommend Li Deyu in front of Tang Wuzong. When Tang Wuzong came to the throne, Li Deyu really became the prime minister.He tried his best to exclude Niu Sengru and Li Zongmin, and relegated them all to the south.

Li Deyu won the trust of Wuzong and served as prime minister for several years. Because of his arbitrary handling of affairs, he was resented by many courtiers.In 846 AD, Tang Wuzong died of illness, and the eunuchs established Wuzong's uncle Li Chen as Tang Xuanzong.Tang Xuanzong rejected all the ministers in Wuzong's period, and on the first day of his accession to the throne, he removed Li Deyu from the post of prime minister.A year later, Li Deyu was relegated to Yazhou (now Hainan Island, Guangdong). Forty years of crony disputes have finally come to an end, but the chaotic Tang Dynasty has become even more difficult to deal with.