Chapter 43 The Reign of the Great and the Middle: The Last Remnant of Glory

During Xuanzong's reign, the crony disputes that had been raging at first gradually subsided, and the flags and flags died down. The reason for this was that apart from the passing away of the leaders of the two parties, the most important point was that Xuanzong Li Chen possessed superb skills in controlling ministers. Regarding Xuanzong's scheming and skill in controlling all the officials, we have to start with the encounter of a prime minister in the early years of Dazhong. This prime minister was called Ma Zhi, who became prime minister in May of the second year of Dazhong. He did a good job, but in April of the fourth year of Dazhong, he was suddenly demoted from the imperial court and sent out as the governor of Tianping.There was no warning before this relegation, which puzzled the civil and military officials of the Manchu Dynasty.

It was only later that people realized that it was a belt that caused the trouble. To be precise, it is a precious jade belt. This belt is an imperial item, and the emperor rewarded it to Ma Yuanzhi, the lieutenant of the left army not long ago.As we all know, Ma Yuanzhi is one of the main heroes who supported Xuanzong's ascension to the throne. Therefore, no matter how the emperor thinks of this powerful eunuch in his heart, anyway, on the surface, the emperor treats him with the utmost grace and courtesy. Since he became the throne, he has been rewarded continuously, and this belt is just one of the many gifts.

But one day, at the court meeting, Xuanzong Li Chen suddenly discovered that this belt was tied around the waist of Prime Minister Ma Zhi. This discovery is not trivial.The emperor immediately had great suspicion and vigilance.He asked Ma Zhi on the spot if this belt was given by Ma Yuanzhi.Ma Zhi already realized that he had caused a catastrophe, so he didn't dare to hide it, so he had to tell the truth.The next day, Xuanzong Li Chen mercilessly dismissed him from his position as minister and demoted him from the court. Removing a chancellor because of a belt seems absurd at first glance.But in Xuanzong Li Chen's view, this matter is not absurd at all.

The reason is very simple. First of all, Ma Zhi and Ma Yuanzhi belonged to the same clan, and one is the prime minister of the dynasty, and the other is a powerful eunuch. Two people with such a relationship and status should take the initiative to avoid suspicion and not get too close .But now, Ma Yuanzhi actually transferred the emperor's gift to Ma Zhi. What does this mean?Is there any reason to think that they have a deep personal relationship and are even suspected of forming a party?The vigorous Niu Li party struggle has just passed, and everyone still remembers it, and behind every life-and-death party struggle before, there is always the figure of the eunuch without exception.Now, how could Xuanzong Li Chen let the scene of collusion between the prime minister and eunuchs repeat in front of him?

Taking a step back, even if Ma Zhi and Ma Yuanzhi did not form a party or engage in party disputes, the mere fact of "prohibiting secret communication between China and the foreign court" itself is enough to pose a potential threat to the emperor who has not been on the throne for a long time up.Xuanzong Li Chen would never allow himself to be subject to the powerful eunuch Qiu Shiliang like Wenzong, nor could he obey the powerful prime minister Li Deyu in everything like Wuzong.Because Li Chen was determined to become a strong emperor from the moment he ascended the throne. Based on the above reasons, Li Chen must nip all possible dangers in his infancy.

In the early years of Dazhong, from the ups and downs of the prime minister Ma Zhi, it is not difficult for people to understand one point-it is almost impossible to form a party in the court of the emperor Li Chen; It is also quite difficult. Among the six or seven prime ministers in Xuanzong's first dynasty, the one who has been in power for the longest time is named Linghuzhen. From October of the fourth year of Dazhong (AD 850) to December of the thirteenth year of Dazhong (AD 859) when Emperor Xuanzong passed away, Linghu Chen lived for nearly ten years, almost the same as Xuanzong's first dynasty. .And the only secret of Linghuzhen's stable status is neither because of his particularly outstanding political achievements, nor because of the merits he has established, but simply because——he consciously and actively surrendered his position as prime minister Gave it to the Son of Heaven.

This is his cleverness. It is also his helplessness. In order to be a stable prime minister in the court of the powerful emperor Li Chen, Linghu Chen had no choice but to choose this way of survival. However, even if Linghuzhen has been a man with his tail between his legs for ten years, it is inevitable that there will be occasional moments of glory.But just one or two occasional appearances are enough to cause Xuanzong's doubts, anger and accusations. We have seen more than once before that Xuanzong attached great importance to the character and ability of local officials, and always checked himself as much as possible.For this reason, he specially issued an edict stipulating that once the governors of various places want to be transferred to serve in other states, they must first go to the capital to report to him in person, and they can only be transferred to other states after passing the interview with the emperor.

Once, Linghuzhen transferred a governor to a neighboring state. Since this person was an old acquaintance with him, and considering that he was only transferred between two neighboring states, he was not asked to detour to the capital to report on his duties, but went directly to the post.Later, Xuanzong saw the thank you form presented by this person after he took office, and found that this person had not passed his interview, so he immediately questioned Linghuzhen. Linghuzhen hurriedly explained: "There is no other reason, it's just because the distance between the two places is relatively close, and I want to save the red tape of welcoming and sending off."

Xuanzong's face darkened suddenly, and he said: "Nowadays, most of the local governors are incompetent and often harm the people. That's why I have to interview them one by one, examine their administrative ability, and decide to go according to their ability. This edict has been issued for a long time. But now it has been abandoned, which shows that today's prime minister is quite powerful!" At that moment, Linghu Chen couldn't say a word.Although it was the twelfth lunar month of winter, the cold sweat that broke out all over his body had already soaked through his thick fur coat.

In the more than ten years of the Dazhong era, Xuanzong controlled the prime minister and officials with such pervasive shrewdness and incredible strength. Of course, if he always behaved shrewdly and toughly, then Xuanzong's leadership art would not be so superb.In fact, many times, he will appear generous and easy-going.Just like a skilled animal trainer, he always holds the whip gracefully and calmly grasps the rhythm, sometimes harsh and fierce, and sometimes laughing and gentle. However, in the eyes of the prime minister and all the officials, the emperor Li Chen is definitely more terrifying when he is smiling and gentle than when he is harsh and harsh.

For example, once in the early court, when Xuanzong went to the palace, he still had a pleasant expression on his face, and he was very polite with all the officials, making everyone feel like a spring breeze.But when the prime minister and all the officials started to play, Xuanzong immediately changed his expression, looked majestic, and sat upright.When the performance was over, he smiled at all the officials and said, "Everyone can gossip." Then he asked the officials about some anecdotes in the streets and alleys, or took the initiative to talk about some trivial and interesting things in the palace. At this moment, Baiguan's highly tense nerves finally relaxed, and they began to chat and laugh in the court hall.But when they were talking in full swing and completely forgetting themselves, the emperor suddenly put on a serious face and said without thinking: "My dear friends, please do your own thing. I don't know why, sometimes I often have an inexplicable worry, worry You will fail me, so that you will not be able to see each other with the courtesy of monarchs and ministers in the future!" After speaking, he immediately got up and drove back to the palace. Hearing this, all the officials were terrified. The hall was suddenly silent. Until the emperor's luanjia went away, a wordless fear still solidified on their faces. Linghuzhen, who has been acquaintance for ten years, feels the deepest about this.He said to his cronies more than once: "I have been in power for ten years, and I am the most grateful; but every time Yanying plays something, it is not a sweat!" (Volume 249) Since Xuanzong Li Chen was able to make the civil and military affairs of the Manchu Dynasty submissive, he certainly didn't want to let go of those domineering eunuchs.For this reason, he secretly summoned Wei Ao, a scholar of the Imperial Academy, many times under the pretext of discussing poetry, and retreated from the left and right to discuss with him the strategy of dealing with eunuchs alone. One day, Emperor Xuanzong secretly summoned Wei Ao again and asked, "Recently, what do the outer courts think about the eunuch's power?" Comparable!" When Xuanzong heard this, he closed his eyes in disappointment and said, "It's totally wrong! In fact, I'm still afraid of them. What do you think should I do?" Wei Ao looked distressed, and said cautiously: "If you discuss with the foreign court, I'm afraid you will repeat the mistakes of the Taihe period. I think it's better to choose eunuchs who have both ability and virtue, and discuss with them." The meaning is to fight poison with poison, and use backward eunuchs to deal with eunuchs in power. Xuanzong sighed and said: "This is the worst policy! It's not that I haven't tried it. From the promotion of those backward eunuchs to yellow clothes (ninth rank official uniform), to green clothes (sixth and seventh ranks), red clothes (fourth and fifth ranks) , they all know how to appreciate the emperor's kindness, but once they put on the purple clothes (third grade), they will immediately hug those eunuchs in power!" Knowing that Wei Ao would not be able to take on such a big responsibility, Xuanzong had no choice but to turn his attention to Prime Minister Linghu Chen.He hoped that Linghuzhen would come up with a plan to get rid of the eunuchs, but to his great disappointment - Linghuzhen's reaction was exactly the same as Wei Ao's. Linghu Chen presented the secret memorial, saying: "As long as eunuchs don't pardon their crimes and don't make up for them when there are vacancies, they will naturally be eliminated after a long time, and will eventually be eliminated." When Xuanzong got the memorial, his only reaction was to smile wryly. Is not this nonsensical?If doing so can make the eunuchs "fend and die on their own", then why did the emperors and prime ministers of the previous dynasties let the eunuchs play with them? However, Xuanzong also knew that the "Nectar Change" in the last years of Taihe had already frightened the civil and military officials of the Manchu Dynasty into frightened birds.Nowadays, not only the civil and military forces of the Manchu Dynasty, but even looking at the whole world, I am afraid that there is no one who dares to compete with the eunuch. The plan to cut off the eunuch was shelved.In the end of Xuanzong's reign, Li Chen never found a brave and resourceful minister to help him fulfill his wish. However, although Xuanzong had no chance to deal with eunuchs, on the other hand, eunuchs were actually quite afraid of the powerful deterrence of Xuanzong and Li Chen. During the thirteen years of the Dazhong era, the eunuch group has been relatively restrained. , Never dared to make waves, neither the courage nor the opportunity to intervene in the government. During Xuanzong's reign, in addition to eliminating party disputes with a strong hand and curbing the arrogance of eunuchs to a certain extent, there is also a huge historical achievement that must be mentioned. That is the recovery of Hehuang. Since the "Anshi Rebellion", the Hehuang area (Gansu and eastern Qinghai) has been occupied by the Tubo for nearly a hundred years.Although the emperors of Li and Tang after Xuanzong had the ambition to regain Hehuang, they still had more than enough heart but not enough power.Because the turmoil in the feudal towns continued for years, the court had to use troops repeatedly, and the government was tainted by party disputes and eunuchs, which made it impossible for the Li and Tang Dynasty to take care of themselves, let alone regain lost ground. During the reign of Wuzong Huichang, the situation began to reverse—a large-scale civil war broke out in Tubo, the domestic political situation was chaotic, and people's hearts were scattered. When Tubo began to decline, it was the eve of Xuanzong Li Chen's arrival on the stage of history. It seems that God is destined to give him the historical achievement of recovering Hehuang. In February of the third year of Dazhong after Li Chen ascended the throne, Qinzhou (now northwest of Qin’an County, Gansu), Yuanzhou (now Ningxia Guxian), Anlezhou (now Ningxia Zhongning Northeast), and Shimen and Yizang, which were originally controlled by Tubo, , Zhisheng, Shixia, Mujing, Muxia, and Liupan, the "three states and seven gates", suddenly all surrendered to Datang overnight.Xuanzong immediately ordered the troops stationed in Jingyuan, Lingwu, Fengxiang, Binning, Zhenwu and other places to send troops to respond.By the end of July of this year, all the troops of the Tang Dynasty were stationed, and the three prefectures and seven passes were officially recovered.In August, more than 1,000 people from the three prefectures came to Chang'an to meet the emperor.Emperor Xuanzong Li Chen Dengyan Ximen received.The elders of Sanzhou cheered and immediately took off their Hu clothes and put on Tang suits.The soldiers and civilians cheered thunderously. Originally, the recovery of the three prefectures and seven passes was enough to surprise the subjects of the Tang Dynasty, but they never dared to imagine that in just two years, all the lost land in Hehuang would be recovered one by one by a man named Zhang Yichao, and All returned to the embrace of the Tang Empire. Zhang Yichao was originally a commoner in Shazhou (now Dunhuang City, Gansu), but he had the passion and blood to serve the country.As early as when the civil strife broke out in Tubo, he made friends with a group of heroes and righteous men, and had been secretly planning an uprising.Soon, the Tubo defenders in Shazhou were really demoralized due to civil strife. Zhang Yichao felt that the time was right, so he launched an uprising.The Han people in the city responded one after another, and the Tubo defender abandoned the city and fled.Shazhou was restored. In February of the fifth year of Dazhong (851 A.D.), envoys sent by Zhang Yichao went through hardships and sent the news of Shazhou's recovery to the Tiande army station in the Tang Dynasty (now northeast of Urad Front Banner, Inner Mongolia).On the 19th of the same month, the victory report was delivered to Chang'an.Xuanzong Li Chen was overjoyed, and issued an edict today, appointing Zhang Yichao as the defense envoy of Shazhou. Subsequently, Zhang Yichao began to recruit troops, train soldiers, and took the initiative to attack Tubo. In less than a year, Zhang Yichao regained Guazhou (now Anxi County, Gansu), Yizhou (now Hami City, Xinjiang), Xizhou (now east of Tupan City, Xinjiang), and Ganzhou with invincible momentum. (now Zhangye City, Gansu), Suzhou (now Jiuquan City, Gansu), Lanzhou (now Lanzhou City, Gansu), Shanzhou (now Ledu County, Qinghai), Hezhou (now Linxia City, Gansu), Minzhou (now Minxian County, Gansu) ), Kuozhou (now Hualong County, Qinghai).At the end of October in the fifth year of Dazhong, Zhang Yichao asked his elder brother Zhang Yize to present maps and records of eleven states (including Shazhou) to the audience. In November, Emperor Xuanzong issued an edict to set up the Guiyi Army in Shazhou, and appointed Zhang Yichao as the Jiedu envoy of Guiyi and the observation envoy of the eleven states. At this point, the lost land of Hehuang, which had been occupied for a hundred years, was finally recovered and returned to the territory of the Tang Dynasty. It is undeniable that the recovery of the century-old land was not Xuanzong's martial arts, but a moment of luck.If it is true that eliminating party disputes, curbing eunuchs, and rectifying official administration were all due to Xuanzong's personal efforts, then "recovering Hehuang" was undoubtedly an unexpected gift from heaven to him. But in any case, the Tang Empire, which has been struggling for a hundred years in the gloomy history of internal and external troubles, still shone with glory in the hands of Xuanzong Li Chen. Even the domineering vassals and towns, which had always been the confidant of the empire, seemed relatively calm during Xuanzong's reign, and did not cause too many waves.The objective factor is of course the foundation laid by Wu Zong's powerful pacification of the vassals, while the subjective reason is that Xuanzong adopted a flexible and pragmatic policy in the affairs of the vassals and towns. The situation determines the strategy to deal with it, so large-scale wars and turmoil like the previous dynasties were avoided. Regarding the powerful and long-separated Hebei feudal towns, Xuanzong basically let them maintain the status quo, acquiescing to the privileges they have enjoyed for this century.For example, in the first month of the ninth year of Dazhong (855 A.D.), Wang Yuankui, the envoy of Chengde Jiedu, died, and the army supported his son and deputy envoy of Jiedu, Wang Shaoding, as the queen. Xuanzong did not intervene, but recognized him, and almost A month later, he was appointed as Jiedushi.In August of the eleventh year of Dazhong (AD 857), Wang Shaoding, who was addicted to wine and sex, died suddenly. The army once again supported his younger brother Wang Shaoyi, and Xuanzong also recognized him as usual. However, for those feudal towns that had been under the effective control of the imperial court, Xuanzong was relentless.Whenever a mutiny broke out in a feudal town, or the Jiedu envoy was incompetent, Xuanzong's response was quite quick and his methods were very tough. In July of the ninth year of Dazhong (855 A.D.), the army in eastern Zhejiang mutinied and expelled Li Na, the observer envoy.In September, Xuanzong sent Shen Xun, the Minister of Rites, to succeed him as an observer, and quickly stabilized the situation in eastern Zhejiang.In July of the same year, a famine broke out in Huainan, and the people were displaced. However, the Jiedu envoy Du Ji still indulged in banquets and tours, and did not fulfill his responsibility for disaster relief and compensation.After Xuanzong heard the news, a few days later, he sent Prime Minister Cui Xuan to take over the post of Huainan Jiedu envoy, and demoted Du Wei to the crown prince and Taifu, who was divided into Dongdu. In May of the twelfth year of Dazhong (858 A.D.), the Hunan mutiny, general Shi Zaishun and others expelled the observer Han Ji and killed the general Wang Guizhi; in June, the Jiangxi mutiny, the general Mao He expelled the observer Zheng Xian; July , Xuanshe (where the government is located in today's Xuanzhou City, Anhui Province) mutinied, and General Kang Quantai expelled Zheng Xun, the observer.In August, Xuanzong appointed Cui Xuan, the Jiedu envoy of Huainan, to serve as the observer envoy of Xuanshe, and sent troops to fight against the Xuanshe rebellion; he ordered Xu Shang, the Jiedu envoy of Shannan Dongdao, to fight against the Hunan rebellion; rebellion. Just a few months later, the three groups of troops sent by Xuanzong did not disgrace their mission, and successfully quelled the rebellion—in October, Cui Xuan beheaded Kang Quantai and more than 400 members of his party, and put down Xuanshe; Xu Shang beheaded Shi Zaishun, Hunan was pacified; in December, Wei Zhou beheaded Maohe and more than 500 party members, and pacified Jiangxi. In the Dazhong era, although the Tang Empire could not be called a peaceful and prosperous age, it was at least a relatively stable and well-off situation. This is truly commendable in the chaotic history of the middle and late Tang Dynasty. However, although the "Government of the Great and Middle Kingdom" stopped the decline of the Tang Dynasty to a certain extent, it could not fundamentally reverse its historical fate of collapse. In other words, this era known as "Little Zhenguan" by later generations can only be regarded as a flashback of the old empire at best, and it is the last glimmer of glory in the setting sun of the last days. "The setting sun is infinitely beautiful, but it's only near dusk!" (Li Shangyin's "Deng Le You Yuan") The poet's sigh of infinite melancholy is nothing more than an accurate prediction of the fate of the empire.