Diqin Designer

Chapter 400 The End of the Tang Dynasty (History of the Tang Dynasty)
"Han Quanhui and others were unwilling to do so, so they forged an imperial edict to order Zhu Wen to return to the capital. After Zhu Wen had been tossing and turning in Guanzhong, he actually returned. However, he did not sincerely obey the forged imperial edict, but because he heard that Li Keyong had sent troops to attack Cizhou and Xizhou."

"For Zhu Wen, Li Ye being abducted to Fengxiang by Han Quanhui and others is a great opportunity for him. As long as he can defeat Li Maozhen and capture Fengxiang, he can reasonably control the emperor."

"After all, he did not lead his troops directly to the palace to kidnap the emperor, but he rescued the emperor from the hands of the thieves. Although the result is the same, the legal principle is different."

"Li Maozhen, the Prince of Qi, was also a top figure in the late Tang Dynasty. His original name was Song Wentong. He also made contributions during the Huang Chao Rebellion. In the second year of the Guangqi reign, he was appointed as the Jiedushi of Wuding by Emperor Xizong of the Tang Dynasty and was given the name 'Li Maozhen'."

"This man is similar to Li Keyong. He has conflicts with the Tang court, but he does not want to destroy the Tang Dynasty. He is still loyal to the Tang Dynasty, but not to the Tang court. Especially after Li Ye ascended the throne, he had many conflicts with the Tang court and was conquered by the Tang court several times, but they were all resolved by Li Maozhen. Li Ye fled Chang'an several times, all of which were related to Li Maozhen."

Speaking of this, Li Nian said: "There is a saying in the history of the Tang Dynasty that 'the capital was captured six times and the emperor fled nine times', and Li Ye, the Emperor Zhao of Tang, contributed several times."

Wang Wan said: "This is the scene of an emperor at the end of his dynasty. Although Li Ye is the emperor of the Tang Dynasty, he has no control over the affairs. Moreover, the Tang Dynasty was already in decline when he ascended the throne, so the blame should not be borne by him alone."

Li Nian nodded and said, "What Prime Minister Wang said is very true. Although the Ming Dynasty fell during the reign of Chongzhen, the roots of its fall had been planted before that, and it was only during the reign of Chongzhen that it completely collapsed. We cannot assume that the Ming Dynasty fell during the reign of Chongzhen and put all the blame on Chongzhen."

"The same is true for Emperor Zhao of Tang, Li Ye. The fact that he became a runaway emperor was the result of the accumulation of his ancestors' mistakes generation after generation. The one who should be held accountable is Emperor Xuanzong. He was the first to fall and the first to escape in the Tang Dynasty's "six falls of the capital and nine escapes of the emperor."

Hearing Li Nian's words, Meng Tian said: "If Xuanzong had not committed atrocities in the second half of his life, leaving many troubles for the Tang Dynasty, the Tang Dynasty might have lasted a little longer. However, even though Xuanzong caused the Tang Dynasty to decline, the Tang Dynasty was still able to hold on for so many years, which shows how strong the Tang Dynasty was!"

After the An-Shi Rebellion broke out, the Tang Dynasty managed to hold on for more than 140 years. During its decline, it often fought with neighboring countries, such as Tubo and Nanzhao...

These countries have all perished, but the Tang Dynasty is still holding on. For example, Nanzhao was destroyed by Zheng Maisi, a descendant of Zheng Hui of the Tang Dynasty, in the second year of Tianfu, which was the year when Zhu Wen and Li Maozhen fought in Fengxiang.

Li Nian said: "In the second year of Tianfu, Zhu Wen led his troops back again and continued to demand that Li Maozhen, Han Quanhui and others return Li Ye. Li Maozhen and others were of course unwilling to do so, and the two sides fought a fierce battle in Fengxiang."

"Zhu Wen was disloyal, unkind, and unjust, with no sense of propriety, righteousness, or shame, but his ability to command troops was second to none in the late Tang Dynasty. Li Keyong and Li Maozhen were both defeated by him. If Li Keyong was Huang Chao's nemesis, then Zhu Wen was the nemesis of Li Keyong and Li Maozhen."

"Zhu Wen led his army to besiege Fengxiang and defeated Li Maozhen several times. Li Zhouyi, the governor of Fufang, who came to rescue Li Maozhen, had to surrender because his relatives were captured by Zhu Wen. Li Keyong was also defeated by Zhu Wen at that time and his vitality had not yet recovered. There was no one in the world who could save Li Maozhen."

"Once the city was surrounded, people would have problems with food and clothing after a long period of time. People needed food and warmth to survive. The history records: 'At that time, the Qi army was repeatedly defeated, and the siege was long. The food in the city was gone, and everyone from the emperor to the harem was freezing and starving.' Even Li Ye, the emperor of the Tang Dynasty, was hungry and had insufficient food. You can see the miserable scene in the city."

"Under such circumstances, Fengxiang could no longer hold on. In the first month of the third year of Tianfu, Li Maozhen killed Han Quanhui and twenty others, negotiated peace with Zhu Wen, and gave Li Ye to Zhu Wen."

Feng Quji said: "If Li Ye falls into Zhu Wen's hands, it will be like the Han Emperor falling into the hands of Dong Zhuo and Cao Cao. His life and death will not be in his own hands."

Li Nian said: "Li Ye's fate was even worse than that of Emperor Xian of Han. Although Cao Cao had no regard for the emperor, he did not take Emperor Xian's life, but Zhu Wen was different."

"When Li Ye was sent to Zhu Wen by Li Maozhen, he also understood his situation. He was afraid that he would be controlled by Zhu Wen as a puppet, so he said to Zhu Wen: 'You have rebuilt the ancestral temple and the country, and you have reborn me and my relatives.' He obeyed Zhu Wen's orders."

"Soon after receiving Li Ye, Zhu Wen killed more than 700 eunuchs including Diwu Kefan. This was a good thing Zhu Wen did, as it dealt a thorough blow to the eunuchs who had been monopolizing power and causing trouble since the middle of the Tang Dynasty. Zhu Wen was also appointed as the Guardian General, the Minister of the Central Secretariat, the Military Governor of Xuanwu and other armies, the Deputy Marshal of the Armies of Various Provinces, and was promoted to the title of King of Liang. He was also given the title of 'Loyal and Upright Meritorious Official Who Restored the Country and Created the Future'."

"Zhu Wen's surname 'Liang' also comes from this. In fact, Li Ye wanted to give Zhu Wen the surname 'Li' according to the tradition of the Li family, but Zhu Wen didn't want it and refused."

At this time, Meng Tian asked: "Where is Cui Yin, who forged the imperial edict to allow Zhu Wen to lead his troops into the pass? Did he end up like Yuan Shikai?"

Meng Tian wanted to know what happened to Cui Yin, who forged an imperial edict to allow Zhu Wen to lead troops into the pass. His actions were similar to those of Yuan Shao. Would his ending be the same?
Li Nian smiled and said, "Of course Cui Yin is still here. After Zhu Wen forced Li Maozhen to hand over Li Ye, Zhu Wen teased Cui Yin and deliberately had someone tell Cui Yin, 'I don't know the emperor yet, and I'm afraid he's not right. Come and explain it to me.' Cui Yin also returned to Chang'an with Li Ye."

"But even if Zhu Wen and Cui Yin were friends, that friendship was not worth mentioning in the power struggle. Cui Yin was a good minister. He had clashed with Li Ye over power a few years ago. Everything he did was to increase his power, including forging an imperial edict to allow Zhu Wen to enter the pass."

Hearing this, Meng Tian understood: "After Zhu Wen controlled Li Ye, he and Cui Yin changed from allies to opponents. Zhu Wen's power increased, which meant Cui Yin's power decreased. Cui Yin was greedy for power and profit, so he would not be willing to accept this and would clash with Zhu Wen."

"That's right. Cui Yin is greedy for power. The Han Dynasty had already seen Dong Zhuo enter the capital, and it happened again in the Tang Dynasty. Seeing that Zhu Wen's power was increasing after he controlled Li Ye, but he didn't give him any, Cui Yin secretly planned with Li Ye to recruit new soldiers without Zhu Wen's knowledge, and escorted Li Ye to Jingxiang to get rid of Zhu Wen's control."

Meng Tian shook his head and laughed, "This is a way to seek death. How could their plan not be discovered by Zhu Wen? Cui Yin must have regretted before his death why he sent Zhu Wen to the pass by forging an imperial edict. This Cui Yin is indeed very similar to Yuan Shi, even the way he died is similar!"

They all called in foreign aid, then found that the foreign aid was out of their control, and were eventually sent away by the foreign aid they called in.

Li Nian said: "In the first year of Tianyou, before Cui Yin's plan was implemented, Zhu Wen demoted and imprisoned Cui Yin on the grounds of disorderly government, and finally executed him. Zhu Wen executed Cui Yin, the main reason was not that Cui Yin was secretly plotting with Li Ye, but Zhu Wen wanted to move Li Ye to Luoyang, and was worried about opposition from his ministers, so he borrowed the heads of Cui Yin and others for use."

"Besides, as the prime minister, Cui Yin has conflicts with Zhu Wen over power. Although the two were once allies and relied on each other, Zhu Wen no longer needs Cui Yin. Cui Yin has even become a stumbling block on Zhu Wen's path forward, so he must be kicked out."

"After killing Cui Yin and a group of other ministers, Zhu Wen submitted a petition to Li Ye, requesting that Li Ye go east to Luoyang. Li Ye had no choice but to obey and follow Zhu Wen to Luoyang. Some people also count this departure from Chang'an as one of the 'Nine Escapes of the Son of Heaven', but this was not actually an escape, but a kidnapping."

An emperor of this stature has no dignity or prestige at all, and it is almost impossible for him to resolve the situation on his own, because his every move is controlled by others. Any slight change will be known to others. How can he plan anything?
"In order to better control Li Ye, Zhu Wen replaced all the guards and palace servants around Li Ye with his own people. Li Ye originally had more than 200 eunuchs, ball players, and inner garden children around him, but Zhu Wen ordered his men to get them drunk and then kill them all, and replaced them with 200 people of similar age and height."

Li Ye had no solution to this situation. Except for his concubines and children, everyone else around him was sent by Zhu Wen. Not only Li Ye had no solution, but even the First Emperor and the Emperor Taizong would have no solution, unless they could find an opportunity to kill Zhu Wen alone and then intimidate Zhu Wen's subordinates in the name of the emperor. Otherwise, even if they killed Zhu Wen alone, they would be killed by Zhu Wen's subordinates!
Li Nian said: "After Zhu Wen moved Li Ye to Luoyang, his intentions were already known to everyone."

After listening to Li Nian's talk about how the Sima family replaced Cao Wei, Qin Shi Huang and others naturally understood the meaning of this allegorical saying. From this, we can also see that people in later generations had a bad impression of the Sima family.

"So, Hedong Li Keyong, Fengxiang Li Maozhen, Xichuan Wang Jian, Xiangyang Zhao Kuangning and others formed an alliance, and in the name of restoring the Tang Dynasty, they advocated that the whole country should jointly attack Zhu Wen."

"Zhu Wen was certainly not afraid of these defeated generals, so he decided to lead his army westward to fight. However, he was worried that Li Ye would make some small moves while he was on the expedition, so he came up with a bold idea..."

The First Emperor said in a strange tone: "He decided to kill Li Ye and establish a new king?"

This idea is indeed bold, and the method is one way. After killing the king and establishing a new one, the new emperor will lack prestige. Even if he wants to cause trouble, not many people will be willing to follow him.

But Li Ye was different. Even though his prestige had been greatly damaged, he had been the emperor for several years after all. His status as an emperor was deeply rooted in the hearts of the people. If he caused trouble, maybe there would really be people who would follow him.

But the flaw of this method is that it will lead to the reputation of regicide. Although killing the emperor has become less rare after Cheng Ji killed the emperor in the street, once the reputation of regicide is borne, it is difficult to wash it off.

Li Nian smiled and said, "Zhu Wen had exactly the same idea. In August of the first year of Tianyou, under his instruction, the Left Dragon Army Commander Zhu Yougong, the Right Dragon Army Commander Shi Shucong, the Dragon Army Yaguan Shi Tai and Jiang Xuanhui and others knocked on the palace gate at night, claiming to have urgent military information, and wanted to meet with Li Ye."

"It was already night, and Li Ye was in Queen He's Jiaolan Palace. Lady Hedong Pei Zhenyi saw Jiang Xuanhui and others leading troops into the inner palace outside the Jiaolan Palace. She knew what these people were doing, but she was not afraid. Instead, she asked, 'Why are you sending troops in such a hurry?'"

"But the answer she waited for was Shi Tai's weapons. After killing Pei Zhenyi, Jiang Xuanhui asked: 'Where is the Supreme Lord?' Li Ye's Zhaoyi Li Jianrong came to the pavilion and shouted: 'It is better to kill us than to hurt everyone!'"

"Li Ye was drunk and sleeping soundly at the time. Hearing the noise outside the palace, he quickly got up, wearing only a single piece of clothing, and walked around the pillar..."

When hearing Li Nian talk about "walking around the pillar", Qin Shihuang's expression changed subtly, because he had also walked around the pillar before, but he was luckier than Li Ye.

"Shi Tai chased him and killed him. Zhaoyi Li Jianrong fell on Li Ye to protect him from Shi Tai's sword, but was also killed by Shi Tai!"

Wang Ben sighed, "In the face of danger, they did not abandon Li Ye for survival, but instead sacrificed themselves to protect Li Ye. The two women are as loyal as men. It's a pity that Li Ye, the emperor of the Tang Dynasty, was killed in this way. The Tang Dynasty did not decline because of Li Ye, but he was the last emperor."

Li Nian said: "After Li Ye's death, in order to facilitate his control, Zhu Wen established Li Ye's second son Li Zuo as the heir, and changed his name to 'Li Yu'. Li Zuo was only thirteen years old, and was frightened by Zhu Wen's cruelty. He didn't even dare to establish a reign title, and continued to use Li Ye's reign title 'Tianyou'. But God no longer blesses the Tang Dynasty!"

"After establishing Li Yu as emperor, Zhu Wen, in order to ensure the stability of his power and to enable himself to advance further in the future, ordered Jiang Xuanhui to kill Li Ye's nine sons and create the 'White Horse Posthouse Disaster'."

"The 'Baimayi disaster' was because Zhu Wen believed that there were still many people in the court who were loyal to Li Tang. If he established a new dynasty, these people would become obstacles and must be eliminated. His adviser Li Zhen had failed the imperial examinations many times in his early years. Like Huang Chao, he hated these nobles very much, so he strongly encouraged Zhu Wen to kill them."

Yet another Tang Dynasty imperial examination failure raised his butcher knife against the well-dressed nobles and aristocratic families.

"Zhu Wen had this idea in mind, and was encouraged by others to massacre more than 30 court officials headed by Pei Shu at Baima Posthouse in Huazhou. Through these means, Zhu Wen not only consolidated his power and position, but also eliminated obstacles and completely eliminated the possibility of Li Yu's comeback."

"At this point, Zhu Wen was only one step away from the throne. He already had the power of an emperor, but he had not yet been crowned emperor in name. Generally speaking, one must go through the following procedures: entering the court without bowing, wearing a sword and shoes, praising and bowing without using a name, receiving the Nine Gifts, and declining and refusing three times before one can be crowned emperor."

"But Zhu Wen felt that this process was too long. Although he had the real power of the emperor, he would not be a real emperor until he was crowned emperor. He could not wait."

"In April of the fourth year of Tianyou, Prime Minister Zhang Wenwei led hundreds of officials to persuade Li Yu to abdicate, and Zhu Wen officially ascended the throne. He changed his name to Zhu Huang, changed the era name to Kaiping, and the country's name to Daliang. He promoted Bianzhou to Kaifeng Prefecture and built it as the Eastern Capital, and made Luoyang, the Eastern Capital of the Tang Dynasty, the Western Capital."

"After abdicating, Li Yu was imprisoned in Jiyin, Caozhou, by Zhu Wen and was killed in February of the following year. The Tang Dynasty was swept into history by Zhu Wen, and the tragic chaos of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms began!"

Although not many words were spoken by Li Nian, a dynasty came to an end. This was the Tang Dynasty that had produced the Heavenly Khan, the Tang Dynasty where "grape wine is in the luminous cup, and the pipa music urges me to drink." This was the Tang Dynasty where "in the heyday of Kaiyuan, even a small town could still house tens of thousands of families." This was the Tang Dynasty that conquered all the countries and made all the barbarians come to pay homage.

There were once the greatest emperors, famous ministers and generals who left their names in history, peerless beauties, poets who were both drunk and talented, poets who were concerned about their country and their people, loyal ministers, and rebels who "burned the inner treasury to ashes and trampled the bones of officials and ministers on the streets"...

Li Nian looked at Wang Ben and said with a smile, "General, are you satisfied with this gift?"

Wang Ben bowed to Li Nian and said, "I am very satisfied. Thank you very much, sir!"

Although the Tang Dynasty will probably never appear again in the history of their world, the powerful dynasty named "Tang" has been imprinted in their hearts.

The First Emperor said: "Han and Tang were indeed strong. No wonder people in later generations like them so much. Tang was more heroic than Han. However, my Great Qin will not be inferior to them. No, it will be better than them!"

(End of this chapter)