Dynasties of ChinaTang dynastyTang dynasty lineage
Kaiyuan · Tianbao · Reign 712—756
Xuanzong's early reforms helped create the prosperity of the Kaiyuan era. In his later years, neglected governance and reliance on favored advisers contributed to the crisis of the An Lushan Rebellion, a turning point in Tang history.
Li Longji is the third son of Ruizong. His biological mother Dou Defei was secretly executed by his grandmother Wu Zetian when he was young. He was brave and courageous. In 710, he teamed up with his aunt Tai Pinggongzhu to launch the Tang Long coup to kill Queen Wei. The following year, he launched a Xiantian coup to eradicate Tai Pinggongzhu's influence, truly took control of the power, and changed the Yuan Dynasty to Kaiyuan.
During the Kaiyuan period, he successively appointed Yao Chong, Song Jing, Zhang Shuo, Zhang Jiuling and other virtuous ministers to rectify the administration of officials, eliminate redundant personnel, seize fugitive households, and transform government soldiers into recruiting soldiers. Household registration and wealth increased greatly, and literature and art flourished unprecedentedly. It is known in history as "Prosperity of the Kaiyuan era". However, as he reigned for a long time, he gradually developed arrogance and laziness. After deposing Zhang Jiuling in 736, Li Linfu took over the power and took full advantage of himself. He was followed by Yang Guozhong, and his politics became increasingly corrupt. The Jiedushi of Bianzhen became more and more powerful, and the internal situation became more important than the external.
During the Tianbao period, he favored Yang Guifei and neglected political affairs. In 755, An Lushan, who was also the military governor of three towns, rebelled. The following year, Tongguan fell, and Xuanzong fled to Sichuan in panic. He was forced to kill Yang Guifei in Maweiyi. Crown Prince Li Heng ascended the throne in Lingwu and respected him as the Retired Emperor. He returned to Chang'an in 757. In his later years, he was forced to move to the west by the eunuch Li Fuguo. He was depressed and unhappy. He died of illness in 762 and was buried in Tailing.
Xuanzong of Tang Dynasty was a monarch who was bright at first and secret at second. During the Kaiyuan period, he appointed talented people to advise, organized the administration, and developed the economy. Tang dynasty's national strength, culture, and foreign exchanges all reached their peak, and the prosperity of the Tang Dynasty was deeply rooted in the hearts of the people. After Tianbao, he indulged in pleasure, favored Li Linfu and Yang Guozhong, and allowed his generals to become powerful. This eventually led to An Lushan Rebellion, which turned Tang dynasty from prosperity to decline. His rise and fall and the story with Yang Guifei became the subject of repeated chants in later generations of literature.
PoliticsTang Long's coup
After the collapse of Zhongzong, Linzi King Li Longji, together with Tai Pinggongzhu, led thousands of cavalry soldiers into the palace at night, killed Queen Wei, An Legongzhu and their party members, and supported his father Ruizong's restoration. He was made the Crown Prince for his first contribution.
Politicsaccession following abdication
In August, Ruizong passed the throne, Li Longji became the emperor, and changed the Yuan Dynasty to Xiantian. However, the Retired Emperor still controls the appointment and dismissal of officials above the third rank, and Tai Pinggongzhu's followers account for the majority of the chief ministers. The new emperor's situation is not stable.
PoliticsCongenital coup
In July, Xuanzong learned that Tai Pinggongzhu planned to abolish Li, and took the lead in killing his party members, including Gao Lishi and Wang Maozhong. Tai Pinggongzhu was sentenced to death. In December, the Yuan Dynasty was changed to Kaiyuan to show the reform of the old and the new.
PoliticsTen things about Yao Chong
According to the "New Book of Tang", Yao Chong put forward ten policy guidelines before becoming prime minister, including putting benevolence and righteousness first in governance, not seeking side merit, eunuchs not allowed to interfere in politics, putting an end to the exclusive power of noble relatives, and broadening the scope of speech, etc. Xuanzong agreed to all of them. He and later Song Jing were collectively known as "Yao Song".
PoliticsRectify the administration of officials
The Xiefeng officials since Zhongzong were dismissed, redundant staff were cut, more than 12,000 pseudo-monks and nuns were ordered to return to secular life, and new Buddhist temples were prohibited. It also stipulated that capital officials and local officials should be transferred to each other, and new county magistrates were personally assessed.
CultureEstablish a Liyuan
Xuanzong was proficient in music and set up left and right workshops to manage folk music. He also selected 300 musicians to personally teach music in the palace opera garden, and he was called the "Emperor's Liyuan Disciples". It is said that "The Song of Colorful Feather Clothes" was adapted by him.
Lasting legacyLater generations called the opera troupe "Liyuan" and the actors "Liyuan disciples". In the old days, the opera world regarded Emperor Ming of the Tang Dynasty as its founder.
DiplomacyAbe Nakamaro came to Tang Dynasty
The Japanese mission to the Tang Dynasty brought foreign students such as Abe Nakamaro, Kibi Masabi and the monk Xuan Fang. Abe Zhongmalu, whose Han name was Chao Heng, served as an official in the Tang Dynasty for more than fifty years and socialized with poets such as Li Bai and Wang Wei. He died in Chang'an.
Lasting legacyThere is a monument to Abe Nakamaro in Xi'an Xingqing Palace Park. On the monument are engraved his poems about homesickness and Li Bai's "Crying Chao Qingheng" in memory of him.
EconomyYu Wen Rong Kuo Hu
A large number of farmers left their household registration in order to avoid taxes and servitude. Yu Wenrong, the supervisory censor, was ordered to inspect the fugitive households and their non-registered fields, and allowed the fugitive households to attach local registration and reduce taxes and servitude. A total of more than 800,000 households were identified, and the national fiscal revenue increased significantly.
MilitaryRecruitment
The government army system gradually deteriorated with the relaxation of the land equalization system. Chief Minister Zhang Shuo asked to recruit strong men to serve as guards in the capital, and they were soon called "Weiqi". Later, border towns also recruited athletes who had served for a long time, and the recruitment system gradually replaced the government army system.
Science & technologymeasured meridian
Yi Xing presided over the astronomical geodetic survey, and Nangong Shuo and others measured the height of the North Pole and the length of the sun's shadow along the line of Huaxian, Kaifeng, Fugou, and Shangcai in present-day Henan. They found that the distance between N and S was 351 miles and 80 steps, and the height of the North Pole differed by one degree. This was the first time in China that the length of the meridian was actually measured by one degree.
Lasting legacyNangong said that the stone table of the Zhougong Observatory established in Yangcheng (now Gaocheng Town, Dengfeng, Henan) has been preserved to this day. In 2010, it was listed as a World Heritage Site as part of the "Heaven and Earth" historical building complex.
PoliticsTaishan Fengchan
In November, Xuanzong led hundreds of officials, envoys from various countries, and leaders of Turkic and other ethnic groups to the east of Mount Tai, and personally wrote the "Inscription of Mount Tai" and engraved it on the top of Daiding, marking the peak of the Prosperity of the Kaiyuan era.
Lasting legacyThe cliff carvings of "Inscriptions on Mount Tai" are still preserved on the Daguan Peak at the top of Mount Tai; Mount Tai was listed as a world cultural and natural heritage in 1987.
Science & technologyThe "Dayan Calendar" is promulgated
The "Dayan Calendar" compiled by Yi Xing during his lifetime was compiled and published by Zhang Shuo and others. It correctly reflects the unevenness of the sun's apparent motion, which is faster before and after the winter solstice and slower before and after the summer solstice. It pioneered the unequal-spaced secondary interpolation method and has a rigorous structure. It became a model for later generations to compile calendars.
PeopleZhang Jiuling resigns as prime minister
Zhang Jiuling was known for his outspokenness and daring to remonstrate, and opposed the re-employment of Niu Xianke, who was unlearned and unskilled. In his early years, he even requested An Lushan to be executed because he had rebelled against him. In November, he was squeezed out and dismissed as prime minister by Li Linfu, and Kaiyuan politics turned from clear and bright to dim.
CultureLi Bai dedicated to Hanlin
In the first year of Tianbao, Li Baijing recommended him to Beijing according to the imperial edict. Xuanzong gave him food on the Qibao bed and ordered him to serve the Imperial Academy. He relied on his talents and let go. According to legend, he once ordered Gao Lishi to take off his boots. In 744, he was "given gold and released".
Lasting legacyThe "Complete Poems of the Tang Dynasty" compiled in the Qing Dynasty contains nearly a thousand poems. "Thoughts on a Quiet Night" and "Wang Lushan Waterfall" are still included in primary school Chinese textbooks.
PeopleLi Du meets
Li Bai, who was released, met Du Fu in Luoyang, and the two traveled to the Liang and Song Dynasties with Gao Shi, drinking and discussing poetry. Wen Yiduo said that in the four thousand years of history, apart from Confucius meeting Laozi, there was no more important meeting than the meeting between these two people.
PeopleCanonization of Yang Guifei
Xuanzong first converted Yang Yuhuan, who was originally Princess Shou, into a female Taoist priest named Taizhen, and was registered as a noble concubine in 745. Yang Guozhong was a prominent member of the Yang family, and his brother Yang Guozhong later became chief minister. Bai Juyi's "Song of Everlasting Sorrow" describes it as "from now on the king will not go to court early".
MilitaryBattle of Talas
Anxi Jiedu envoy Gao Xianzhi fought with the Arab Abbasid army in Talas and was defeated because of the defection of the Geluolu tribe. The captured Du Huan later wrote "Jingxing Ji" to record his experiences in West Asia. It is said that papermaking technology was also spread westward through the Tang army prisoners in this battle.
DiplomacyJian Zhendongdu
Yangzhou eminent monk Jian Zhen was invited by Japanese monks Rongrui and Puzhao to travel eastward to preach the ordination. However, he failed the first five times and became blind in the process. In 753, he successfully went to sea for the sixth time with the Tang Dynasty envoy. The following year, he arrived in Nara and set up an altar at Todaiji Temple to confer ordination.
Lasting legacyThe Toshodai Temple built under the leadership of Jian Zhen is still preserved and was listed as a World Heritage Site in 1998 as part of the "Historic Sites of Ancient Nara".
EconomyVery prosperous household registration
In Tianbao's 13th year, there were approximately 9.06 million registered households and 52.88 million people in the country, which was the highest record in household registration statistics in the Tang Dynasty. Du Fu recalled that at that time, "the rice was dripping with fat and the corn was white, and both the public and private warehouses were plentiful."
MilitaryAn Lushan Rebellion breaks out
In the eleventh lunar month, An Lushan, military governor of Pinglu, Fanyang and Hedong, rose at Fanyang with an army said to number 150,000 under the pretext of attacking Yang Guozhong. Many Hebei prefectures and counties fell quickly; by the twelfth month, the rebels had taken Luoyang, the eastern capital.
PoliticsMaweiyi Incident
When Tongguan fell in June, Xuanzong, Yang Guifei and others fled westward in a hurry. When they arrived at Maweiyi, the imperial army mutinied and killed Yang Guozhong, and forced Xuanzong to hang Yang Guifei. Crown Prince Li Heng went north to Lingwu and ascended the throne. After Xuanzong entered Shu, he was revered as the Retired Emperor.
PoliticsDesolation in old age
In the winter of 757, Xuanzong returned to Chang'an and lived in Xingqing Palace. In 760, the eunuch Li Fuguo used Suzong's orders to forcibly move him to Xinei Taiji Palace, and Gao Lishi and other close associates were exiled. In April 762, he died of illness in the Dragon Palace and was buried in Tailing.
He served in the Empress Wu, Ruizong, and Xuanzong dynasties. At the beginning of the Kaiyuan Dynasty, he paid homage to the prime minister, vigorously carried out reforms, and overcame all objections to preside over locust hunting and disaster relief. He was known as the "chief minister of disaster relief."
Following Yao Chong as the prime minister, he was upright and law-abiding, restricted petitions, and prohibited the circulation of bad money. Together with Yao Chong, he was called "Yao Song".
A native of Qujiang, Shaozhou, he was famous for his literature and outspokenness. He was the last famous prime minister in the Kaiyuan period. The poem "The bright moon rises on the sea, and we share this moment with the ends of the world" has been recited to this day.
During his 19th year as prime minister, he had "honey in his mouth and a sword in his belly". He rejected dissenters and blocked all avenues of speech. He also suggested using more Tibetan generals as frontier commanders, which boosted An Lushan's power.
Named Yuhuan, she was originally Princess Shou and was registered as a noble concubine in 745. She was proficient in music, singing and dancing, and was deeply favored by Xuanzong. Maweiyi was hanged to death during the mutiny, and his story has been passed down through the ages through Bai Juyi's "Song of Everlasting Sorrow".
Brother of the Yang Guifei clan, he succeeded Li Linfu as prime minister in 752. He monopolized power and ruined the country. He had an enmity with An Lushan and was killed by rebels during the Maweiyi Rebellion.
Xuanzong's most trusted eunuch participated in the pacification of Empress Wei and Tai Pinggongzhu. He was extremely powerful and cautious in everything he did. He was exiled by Li Fuguo after 760. In 762, he was pardoned and returned to the north. On the way, he heard the news of Xuanzong's death and vomited blood and died.
Yingzhou is a miscellaneous Hu who is good at ingratiating himself with others. He worships Yang Guifei as his adoptive mother and serves as the military governor of the three towns. In 755, he launched an army to rebel, and the following year he was proclaimed Emperor of Dayan. In 757, he was killed by his son An Qingxu.
His common name was Zhang Sui. He presided over the actual measurement of the meridian and compiled the "Dayan Calendar". He also collaborated with Liang Lingzhan to create the zodiac and the armillary sphere.
Tianbao was initially enshrined in Hanlin, but was soon given gold and returned. The poetic style is bold and elegant, and he is also known as "Li Du" together with Du Fu.