Chapter 19 Xianzong's death

In the first month of the fifteenth year of Yuanhe (820 A.D.), even though it was the beginning of spring, the chilly spring still shrouded the city of Chang'an, making the people shivering and depressing their bodies and minds.And for the eunuchs and palace people in the Daming Palace, this bleak and cold spring made them feel more miserable than any previous cold spring.Because at this moment, what attacked them was not only the external chill, but also another even more terrifying chill. This chill is everywhere, like a shadow.Like the cold breath of death, blowing on your ears and face all the time, making you unable to resist and escape.

Yes, it's death chill.It comes from the heart of Daming Palace, the most supreme place in the empire - Zhonghe Hall. That's where the emperor Li Chun lived. Since the late winter of last year, in the eyes of all the eunuchs and palace people, this graceful and magnificent emperor's bedroom has become a ghastly hell—every day, people walk in alive, and then they are carried out as stiff corpses. All the people who were killed were innocent, and the cruel murderer was their emperor - Li Chun. Li Chun took pills every day, and the poison of lead and mercury contained in the pills flowed into his blood vessels day after day, penetrated into his bone marrow, and finally ignited a violent and crazy flame in his body.If the eunuchs and maids who served him were careless, they would be mercilessly swallowed by the flames.Everyone in the world says that being with you is like being with a tiger, but at this time Li Chun is obviously no longer a tiger, but a crazy butcher and a bloodthirsty demon.

For this reason, the eunuchs and palace people in the Hall of Zhonghe were in constant panic. They see the sword of death hanging over their heads, but they don't know when it will fall. The eunuch Chen Hongzhi, like everyone else, lived in fear and despair day and night.Every time it was his turn to be on duty, as soon as he stepped into the gate of the Hall of Zhonghe, Chen Hongzhi would tremble all over his body and his hands and feet would be cold.And every time the shift ends, the joy of living an extra day just rises in his heart, and the next round of fear has seized him again.

It has been said that the horror of death is far more terrifying than death itself. Chen Hongzhi feels this way now. This kind of day that is worse than death, which day is the head?Apart from becoming the next unjust dead ghost helplessly, don't you have any other options? You can't just wait to die like this.Chen Hongzhi thought, he must find a way out of the desperate situation. But where is the solution? As the most favored eunuch in power of Emperor Li Chun, Lieutenant Tu Tu Chengcui of Zuo Shence is also living very uneasy these days. What he was worried about was not that his head would be cut off for no reason like those eunuchs, but that once the emperor died, his power and wealth would disappear with it.

The reason why Tutu Chengcui was able to enjoy the honor and favor in the first dynasty of Xianzong was due to the fact that he was by Xianzong's side for the longest time - as early as when Li Chun was still the prince in the East Palace, Tutu Chengcui was his most caring minions.Therefore, after Li Chun ascended the throne, Tutu Chengcui became the most powerful eunuch.Even though he was later demoted twice due to defeat and bribery, he still rose up again and again, and his holy family never faded, and he was firmly in charge of the Imperial Army from beginning to end. In this sense, whether Tutu Chengcui can continue to work in the court after the death of Xianzong, and do well, depends entirely on his relationship with the current prince.

But here lies the fatal problem. The relationship between Tutu Chengcui and the present prince Li Heng is not bad, but quite bad. The matter started with the dispute over the establishment of the reserve eight years ago. In fact, as early as the fourth year of Yuanhe, Emperor Xianzong had already registered his eldest son Li Ning as the prince.But no one expected that Li Ning's fortune was too low, and he died after only two years as the prince.There are two candidates to succeed the prince, one is the second son Li Kuan (later renamed Li Yun), and the other is the third son Sui Wang Li You (later renamed Li Heng).

According to the usual practice, Li Kuan, the king of Li, ranks first, and should be the best candidate for the crown prince, but although he is the "eldest", he is not a "concubine" (his mother is just an ordinary court lady), and Li You, the king of Sui, who ranks at the bottom, is the real son. (His mother, Concubine Guo Gui, was the concubine of Emperor Xianzong), so the ministers all believed that Sui Wang Li You should be named. At this time, Tutu Chengcui came on stage, urging Xianzong to establish Li Wang Li Kuan. The reason why Tutu Chengcui supported King Li was very simple. King Li was a concubine and was in an absolute disadvantage in this battle for the throne. The ministers were all on the side of King Sui. Tutu Chengcui supported King Sui at this critical moment. King Li, once he really enters the East Palace, he will definitely be grateful to Tutu Chengcui; and Tutu Chengcui has made a decisive contribution, and he will have endless glory and wealth in the future.

However, Tutu Chengcui's wishful thinking fell through.Although Emperor Xianzong favored him, he still had to adopt the opinions of the ministers on the matter of establishing the crown prince, so he immediately rejected Tutu Chengcui's proposal and decided to appoint King Sui. Perhaps in order to make both sides of the dispute look better and to make the final result look more convincing, Emperor Xianzong specially asked Cui Qun, who was then a member of Zhongshushe, to draw up a copy for King Li before establishing King Sui. Giving up the watch means that he himself took the initiative to give up the virtuous.Unexpectedly, Cui Qun said disapprovingly: "Giving what belongs to oneself to others is called giving up. King Sui is the son of the eldest son, and the position of crown prince is his. Why should King Li give up?"

When Xianzong heard this, he was speechless and had to give up. In July of the seventh year of Yuanhe, Sui Wang Liyou was officially registered as the prince, and at the same time changed his name to Li Heng. That's how Tutu Chengcui and Li Heng's Liang Zi got married.He was extremely disappointed, but also deeply worried about the future. Now, with Xianzong's health deteriorating day by day, it is clear that time is numbered.Tutu Chengcui knew very well that if he just sit back and watch Prince Li Heng succeed to the throne, he will definitely not have good fruit for him in the future.Therefore, Tutu Chengcui decided to put all his eggs in one basket, and before Xianzong died, he abolished the prince Li Heng and replaced him with Li Wang Li Yun.

Tutu Chengcui launched the abolition campaign intensively, frequently summoning his generals and eunuchs from other key departments to conspire day and night. However, there is no impenetrable wall in the world.As soon as Tu Tu Cheng Cui made a move, Prince Li Heng got the news immediately. Li Hengda was terrified, and hurriedly sent someone to ask his uncle, Sinongqing Guo Zhao, for advice.Unexpectedly, Guo Zhao replied to him and said: "Your Highness only needs to be filial and respectful to wait for the destiny, and there is no need to worry about other things." Of course Guo Zhao is right, but the problem is that it is nonsense.At the moment when the power official Tu Tu Cheng Cui was about to move and plot to abolish the establishment, and when the East Palace was in danger, Guo Zhao told Li Heng to "be filial and respectful, and wait for the destiny", basically telling him to sit and wait for death.

Li Heng was as anxious as an ant on a hot pot, but he had no solution. At this critical moment, a group of people stood up to support him. They were another group of eunuchs, led by Liang Shouqian and Wang Shoucheng. Liang Shouqian was the lieutenant of You Shence at the time, and he controlled the other half of the imperial army.Although the Tang Dynasty was on the left side, Liang Shouqian's rank and status were lower than Tutu Chengcui's, but at such an extraordinary moment when the world is about to change, rank and status are no longer important, and only force is important.In this sense, Liang Shouqian is enough to draw with Tutu Chengcui.As for the outcome of the final outcome, it depends on who's shot is more ruthless and moves faster. Wang Shoucheng was a regular servant at that time, and like Chen Hongzhi, he was one of the main eunuchs who served around Xianzong.On weekdays, eunuchs like Wang Shoucheng and Chen Hongzhi would definitely not dare to challenge Tu Tu Cheng Cui, but at this special moment, Wang Shoucheng and Chen Hong Zhi obviously had a much greater advantage than Tu Tu Cheng Cui.Because the emperor was seriously ill, he had not been in court for many days, and the foreign ministers knew almost nothing about the situation in the palace at this time.Don't talk about Tutu Chengcui, even the prime minister may find it difficult to get the news of Ouchi.As far as this is concerned, characters like Wang Shoucheng and Chen Hongzhi, who are close to the water and gain the moon, can easily control the situation in the palace.To some extent, they can even influence the development direction of the entire empire's political situation. The reason why Liang Shouqian, Wang Shoucheng and others stood up to support the prince at this critical juncture was actually the same as that of Tutu Chengcui-it was nothing more than wanting to grab a contribution to make a decision so as to preserve the existing rank and wealth, and in the new year. The emperor's court enjoys more power and honor. So far, both sides of the game have selected their respective camps and bet on their respective chips.In the end, who will win the deer depends on the attitude of the emperor Li Chun at the last moment. At this moment, in Tutu Chengcui's view, his chances of winning are much greater than his opponent's, because he is the most favored person of the emperor, and of course he is most likely to influence the emperor's decision.Although Li Heng has been the crown prince for eight years, as long as the emperor Li Chun is urged to issue an edict, Li Heng has to obediently get out of the East Palace and give up the crown prince's throne to King Li. Is it difficult for an imperial edict? not difficult. Tutu Chengcui thought confidently. However, Tutu Chengcui underestimated the power of the servant eunuch too much. Under normal circumstances, to influence the emperor's decision-making, he certainly has more say than Wang Shoucheng and Chen Hongzhi, but sometimes, what the latter can do is absolutely beyond their reach, and they don't even dare to think about it of. whats the matter? regicide. Yes, it's that simple.If Li Chun was a living person, it would be really difficult to influence him, but if he turned into a dead person, Wang Shoucheng, Chen Hongzhi and others could make various decisions on his behalf.In other words, as long as Li Chun died, the eunuchs could issue a will in the name of the Daxing Emperor, thus stealing the power of the emperor without anyone noticing. This is something that Tutu Chengcui never expected. The twenty-seventh day of the first month of the fifteenth year of Yuanhe.late at night.The Hall of Harmony in the Daming Palace. Three or two golden dragon candlesticks hold up a few clusters of faint yellow light in the darkness.The erratic wind meanders in through the long half-covered carved windows, faintly blowing the transparent curtains around the dragon bed.The middle-aged man with a sallow complexion and a swollen face on the bed turned over in a daze, and made several low, muffled noises from his throat.Half of his face flickered under the flickering candlelight, while the other half was hidden in the thick ink-like darkness. A black shadow approached the dragon bed soundlessly.Suddenly, a night owl's wailing sounded outside the hall.Sombra paused and shuddered.When the surroundings fell into dead silence again, a ghostly black shadow suddenly floated in front of the dragon bed. The middle-aged man was still in a deep sleep, unaware of the approaching murderous intent.His eyelids were twitching slightly and rapidly, as if he had encountered something horrifying and terrifying in his dream.He may very much want to escape from that involuntary dream and return to the reality where he dominates everything; he may still give orders in the dream habitually, but everything in the dream can no longer be shifted by his will.In the end, the man who once looked down on the world and pointed out the country did not wake up after all. When that ghostly black figure made a move without hesitation, Li Chun could only stay in his dream forever. In fact, it is not necessarily a bad thing that Li Chun did not wake up.At least, he doesn't have to face the shame of being killed by a domestic slave.At least, he doesn't need to feel the grief and indignation of death.At least, he didn't have to discover it suddenly at the last moment of his life-reality is sometimes far scarier than nightmares. That night, a strong wind suddenly rose above Daming Palace, like a sobbing ghost crying.Several long windows of the Hall of Central Harmony were blown open by the ferocious night wind, and the flames of all the dragon candlesticks around the dragon bed were suddenly extinguished at the same moment. The black shadow in the hall swayed and rushed out of the gloomy hall with chaotic steps. A crescent moon hangs sadly on a corner cornice of the Daming Palace. The moonlight was pale, illuminating a face. It was Chen Hongzhi's equally pale face. "Gengzi, (Xianzong) collapsed violently in the Hall of Zhonghe. At that time, everyone said that Chen Hongzhi, a regular servant, killed the rebellion. His party members taboo...but outsiders can't understand it." (Volume 24 1) This is the final outcome of Tang Xianzong Li Chun, and it is also the last imprint he left in the annals of history. The master of a generation of ZTE bid farewell to the world, his empire and his subjects in such a way, which is really astonishing and even more embarrassing. In the nearly 300-year history of the Tang Dynasty, Emperor Xianzong Li Chun was the first emperor to be killed by eunuchs. Behind him, this scene will continue to repeat itself. The death of Emperor Xianzong was called "Yuanhe Palace Change" in history.Later generations generally believe that the murderer of Li Chun was the servant Chen Hongzhi, and the behind-the-scenes masterminds were Liang Shouqian, Wang Shoucheng and others.Some people even suspected that Prince Li Heng and his biological mother Guo Guifei were also indirectly involved in this regicide conspiracy. Of course, no one has conclusive evidence to push the mother and son into the dock of history. People can only guess from Li Heng's series of behaviors and performances afterwards that he probably knew about the eunuchs' conspiracy in advance.Even if he did not participate in the matter, at least he took a stance of standing by, acquiescing to the crime of murdering the eunuchs, and gave ironic rewards and awards afterwards. For this alone, Prince Li Heng cannot escape the blame. However, history is written by the victors, and the rules of the game of power have never had a place for conscience and justice.In other words, the world has always only valued the result, and the process is usually ignored; as long as the goal is achieved, the means are often negligible. Therefore, as long as the emperor Li Chun, Prince Li Heng and his supporters are removed, they can do whatever they want in a grand manner. On the night when Emperor Xianzong was murdered, the eunuchs headed by Wang Shoucheng announced the news of the death of the emperor, and also explained the cause of death of the emperor-drug poisoning. At the same time as the news was released, Liang Shouqian, who had already been ready, led the soldiers of the Shence Youjun in full gear into Tutu Chengcui's mansion, hacked and killed him without any explanation, and then rushed into Li Wang's mansion, killing Li Yun. Tutu Chengcui may not have figured out where he lost, and why he died so ugly. After getting rid of all the opponents, Li Heng, as the prince of the empire, rewarded Liang Shouqian and Wang Shoucheng for their meritorious service, and gave fifty coins to each of the left and right officers and soldiers of Shence. On the third day of the first lunar month in the fifteenth year of Yuanhe, that is, just a few days after the sudden collapse of Emperor Xianzong, the 26-year-old prince Li Heng ascended the throne of the emperor surrounded by eunuchs. He was Tang Muzong. The next day after Li Heng ascended the throne, he expelled the Prime Minister Huangfu Po from the capital and demoted him to be the governor of Yazhou (now Qiongshan City, Hainan). Exile in Lingnan. Xianzong Li Chun and his Yuanhe era have just become history. Of course, the ruling and opposition parties would feel sorry for his untimely death, but at most people would blame the death of Xianzong on superstitious alchemists and mistaken consumption of elixirs, and no one would think of the real cause of the emperor's death.Therefore, Chang'an scholars and people all applauded the new king Li Heng's move to demote the traitor and exile the alchemists.People have every reason to think that this is the wise and wise performance of the new emperor. Since the imperial court publicly announced that the cause of Xianzong's death was drug poisoning, the culprit Huangfu Bo and others should of course be punished as they should. This is an explanation to Xianzong's spirit in heaven, and an explanation to the people of the world. Who would doubt Li Heng's motives? In fact, Li Heng's motives are really doubtful. It is true that the notorious Huangfu Po and the swindlers he recommended should have been cleaned up long ago, and they deserve what they are doing now.But if we regard the new monarch Li Heng as a wise master, it is obviously taking things too superficially.Objectively speaking, although Li Heng did a good thing that pleases people's hearts, subjectively, didn't he want Huangfu Po and those alchemists to take the blame for Xianzong's death? To put it bluntly, only by pushing Huangfu Po and others to the dock for sentencing can Li Heng hide behind the scenes of history and quietly wipe away the blood of patricide and regicide. Perhaps, this was Li Heng's real motive.