History of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms

Chapter 32 He is still a child
[He is still a child]

After Emperor Yizong of Tang died, the 12-year-old Emperor Xizong of Tang succeeded to the throne. He would shoulder the heavy responsibility of reviving the empire. But he was still a child! He was under pressure that he shouldn't have to bear at this age.

When analyzing Nanzhao earlier, we have already said that behind the ascension of a young ruler was often a game between powerful groups such as eunuchs, relatives of the emperor’s wife, and powerful ministers.

Sometimes, the same power group would be divided into different interest factions, such as the struggle between the two Empress Dowagers for the throne; sometimes, different forces would cooperate, such as the collusion between the Empress Dowager and the eunuchs, or even the collusion between the external relatives and the local vassal states.

The most typical and well-known story is, of course, the story of Dong Zhuo entering the capital in Romance of the Three Kingdoms. The harem, relatives and eunuchs fought against each other, and finally seduced the general Dong Zhuo to enter the capital. The opening chapter vividly depicts the darkness and corruption of the late Eastern Han Dynasty. The ascension of the little brat Emperor Xian of Han to the throne is the inevitable result of this series of political struggles.

The 12-year-old Tang Xizong was supported by the eunuch group, and the eunuchs' power began to rise. The "Southern Court and Northern Court Dispute" that had been dormant for a while was revived.

The Southern Yamen is where the bureaucratic institutions are located, and refers to the group of literati and scholars; the Northern Yamen refers to the group of eunuchs.

During the Tang Dynasty, two major groups engaged in a long-term struggle for power. The two most influential events were the "Two Kings and Eight Simas Incident" (805) and the "Ganlu Incident" (835).

The "Two Kings and Eight Sima Incident" was an attempt by Emperor Shunzong to change the situation of eunuchs' monopoly of power by relying on some court officials, but it ended in failure.
The "Ganlu Incident" was a conspiracy by Emperor Wenzong to kill the eunuchs, but the secret was leaked and betrayed, and all the court officials who participated in the incident were exterminated.

After these two battles, the eunuchs' position became unshakable until the end of the Tang Dynasty.

It is also worth mentioning that the correct reading of "二王八司马" should be "二王，八司马" instead of "两王八，司马". Among the eight people who were demoted to "司马", there are two old friends we are familiar with: Liu Zongyuan and Liu Yuxi.

Emperor Yizong of Tang was also supported by eunuchs through forged imperial edicts, but he was already in his twenties when he ascended the throne, no longer a child. Moreover, the prime ministers he appointed were rats and weasels, each one worse than the other, such as the "Baoyan Party", whose notoriety was so great that it overshadowed the ugliness of the eunuch group.

The next emperor, Emperor Xizong of Tang, was a 12-year-old child who was still ignorant and easy to control. The dormant eunuch group ushered in spring.

They eliminated the powerful Wei Baoheng without making a fuss, which shows how powerful the eunuch group was.

During the reign of Emperor Xizong, the most favored eunuch was Tian Lingzi.

Tian Lingzi was originally just a horse breeder in the Puwang Palace. He held a low position and status, but Tian Lingzi had read a lot of books, was very scheming, and was very good at making Puwang Li Yan happy. The relationship between the master and the servant was very good. How good was it? Little Li Yan recognized Tian Lingzi as his "godfather" (father).

After Emperor Xizong of the Tang Dynasty, Li Yan, ascended the throne, he handed over all the military and political affairs of the country to Tian Lingzi. Tian Lingzi began to monopolize power and cause chaos. The appointment of officials and the award of titles were all done by Tian Lingzi alone, without the emperor's approval. It was no longer "behead first and report later", but "behead without reporting".

Tian Lingzi is a natural at coaxing children. Every time he meets little Li Yan, he prepares candies and snacks in advance, and gives him delicious food to make him happy. Then he takes advantage of the playfulness of children to actively cultivate their interests and hobbies, and acts as an old driver in the game, taking him to play games, showing off, and flying.

Under Tian Lingzi's careful teaching, little Li Yan quickly developed many interests and hobbies such as goose fighting, Go, polo, singing and dancing, and became deeply addicted to them.

You need to spend money to play games. Can you become stronger without spending money?
Little Li Yan knew nothing about financial management. He spent money lavishly, giving tips to singers and musicians, and dancing celebrities, and often used "ten thousand" as the unit of measurement. His crazy spending of money was almost as crazy as that of his father, Emperor Yizong.

What to do when the treasury is empty and the money is tight? Tian Lingzi came up with a clever plan: let the merchants and travelers in the east and west cities of the capital Chang'an register all their jewelry and goods, and then transfer them to the palace as "voluntary donations" to the emperor.

The emperor himself was robbing people on the road!
Someone complained to the judicial authorities, but he was beaten to death.

It has been rare since ancient times that an emperor could be so absurd!
Emperor Xizong of Tang ascended the throne at the age of 12 and died at the age of 27, leaving us prematurely.

We have more sympathy for Emperor Xian of Han and Emperor Chongzhen of Ming. They were not the kings who lost their country, but they deserved the fate of losing their country. As for Emperor Yizong and Emperor Xizong of Tang, although they were not the kings who lost their country, they worked hard to get the fate of losing their country. Emperor Yizong's reign lasted 14 years, and Emperor Xizong's reign lasted 15 years. The father and son professionally ruined the country for years. On the road to destroying the Tang Empire, they spared no effort.

Thirty years later, when Emperor Zhaozong of Tang took over the mess, it was already too late to save the country, and he became a sympathetic and tragic emperor.

Now, let us turn back the time to the time when Emperor Xizong of Tang ascended the throne and see how this 12-year-old child destroyed the Tang Dynasty.

【Civil uprising】

In feudal dynasties, "civil unrest" has always been a byproduct of the times. We usually refer to the people's resistance to the court as "uprisings", which is actually not very accurate, because the definition of "uprising" is "open armed action of progressive revolution". Only revolutions with progressive significance can be called "uprisings".

However, "rebellion" and "rebellion" have strong derogatory connotations.

The term "civil uprising" used in this book does not carry any subjective emotional coloring, and no arbitrary comments are made on it. It is just an objective description of a local group incident; similarly, "military mutiny" is used to describe the rebellion of the lower ranks in the army.

The demands of civil unrest are often very simple, and their motives are also very intuitive, so-called officials forcing the people to rebel. But their "rebellion" is not a real rebellion, and it does not necessarily have to overthrow the current court. Most of the time, their "rebellion" is more like an armed rights protection or violent resistance to the law.

The general procedure was this: a local official was tyrannical and greedy, and because of some incident that became the fuse, he was expelled or killed by the people. Then the court sent a new official to take office, pacify the people, and then beheaded the person who started the riot, "only the main culprit was executed, and the rest were not questioned."

Moreover, civil uprisings are not always so bloody; sometimes they can even be quite funny.

For example, in June of the tenth year of Xiantong (869), a drought hit the Shan-Guo Road. Farmers complained to the inspector Cui Luo. Cui pointed to a large tree in the yard and said, "Look at the leaves. How green they are! Where did this drought come from?" Then he dragged the complaining farmers away and beat them with sticks. The angry farmers fought back and drove him away.

Master Cui was thirsty during his escape, so he went to a farmer's house to ask for water. The farmer recognized him, and it was a severe drought, so the landlord had no extra water! So everyone actively raised funds, and soon, they raised a full cup of fresh urine, and then enthusiastically gave Master Cui a drink. Drinking this cup is a small token of gratitude.

The common people were still very simple and honest. They vented their grievances and at most asked the court to replace them with more honest officials. The scale of the protests was usually limited to a township. If it could affect a county or even a state, it would be considered a large scale.

Therefore, the court's attitude towards this kind of civil unrest was relatively tolerant.

In comparison, the "mutiny" was a bigger deal.

The demands of a military mutiny are usually relatively simple, but the price they ask for is higher. In a nutshell, it is nothing more than asking for money and power, which is simple and crude; its scale and social harm are also much greater than those of a civil uprising.

The general procedure is this: a deputy or subordinate stirs up discontent among soldiers and replaces the military chief with force; or the eunuch who supervises the army is executed, causing the entire army to mutiny and establish its own regime.

When the armed forces involved in the mutiny are strong enough, their asking price will also rise sharply. How high will it rise to? Answer: There is no upper limit.

For example, a certain military governor led his army to war, but mutinied halfway and turned back to the capital, pushed the emperor aside, put on the yellow robe himself, and ascended the throne.

At the end of the Tang Dynasty, there were numerous civil and military rebellions in various places. Some of them were big and some were small, such as the "Qiu Fu Rebellion" and "Pang Xun Rebellion" mentioned above, and some were small, such as the people of Shan Guodao who fed officials urine.

When Emperor Xizong first ascended the throne, he encountered the largest civil uprising in the late Tang Dynasty - the "Wang Xianzhi and Huang Chao Rebellion."

(End of this chapter)