However, the heyday of the late Tang Dynasty only lasted for a short time, which was related to Li Cunxu's fondness for eunuchs and actors and his suspicion of important officials. However, after all, Li Cunxu enjoys a great reputation, and its rule can barely be maintained.
But at this time, Empress Liu of Li Cunxu contributed to Zhuang Zong's failure. Her selfish personality made her make many decisions that were very unfavorable to the development of the later Tang Dynasty, which made Zhuang Zong's rule quickly lose people's hearts, triggered a large-scale rebellion and killed Zhuang Zong.
Liu was originally a folk girl, but later she was captured by the generals and taken to Li Keyong, the king of Jin. Later, Li Cunxu discovered it and took it as his own palace. Although Empress Liu won Li Cunxu's favor, she could only be a concubine after the establishment of the later Tang Dynasty because there was a wife in Li Cunxu, which made Empress Liu very dissatisfied.
in order to win the back position. Liu had to find a powerful ally. Because of his humble background, he could not win the support of the courtiers, so he turned his target to the eunuchs and actors in the palace. Because Li Cunxu himself loved drama performance very much, during the period of Zhuang Zong, the status of the actor was very respected, and he could even hold important positions such as secretariat. Li Cunxu claimed to be the heir of the Li and Tang Dynasties, so he used a large number of eunuchs at the end of the Tang Dynasty to restore the weather in the Tang Dynasty, so the status of eunuchs was also restored.
Liu colluded with eunuchs and actors in the palace, and often performed plays for Li Cunxu in the harem, while Liu often stayed with Li Cunxu, which made Li Cunxu more fond of him. The eunuchs around Li Cunxu often put in a good word for Li Cunxu, which made Li Cunxu have the plan to replace the queen.
At this time, because the actors and eunuchs have a very high position in the court, some courtiers hope to curry favor with them to seek promotion, while others hope to curry favor with them to save themselves. Therefore, Guo Chongtao and others have advised Li Cunxu to make Liu the queen. Because Liu gave birth to Li Cunxu's eldest son, Wang Wei Li Jiji, it was also justified to be made the queen. In addition, Li Cunxu liked Liu more, so this proposal was passed, and Liu was promoted to the lower position.
Liu was able to get together with eunuchs and actresses because she had a strong desire for money like these people. When Liu was a concubine, he often let the imperial secretary take the palace fruits and vegetables and other items to sell in the market. Because most of these foods are of good quality and have the name of the palace, they can often be sold at high prices, so Liu has earned a lot of income and will give some of them to the imperial secretary around her, which is also an important reason for her support from eunuchs.
and after becoming a queen, her selfish desires are even more inflated. In the post-Tang Dynasty, Li Cunxu would put the money and property donated by local generals into the treasury for his own enjoyment. And half of this property will be distributed to Queen Liu. Empress Liu showed her frugality after she ascended the throne. She will only use the money for Buddhism and will not give it to anyone, so there are many treasures in her treasury. In the first year of Tiancheng in the late Tang Dynasty, due to natural disasters in the country and constant disasters in various places, the foreign treasury of the government in the late Tang Dynasty was empty, and even the soldiers' salaries became unsustainable. At this time, the vassal and the prime minister proposed that Li Cunxu take out the money in the treasury and distribute it to the soldiers to boost the morale of the troops. Originally, Li Cunxu had planned to accept their proposal, but Empress Liu opposed it, and took out her own toiletries, three silver basins and three young princes from the harem, claiming that this was all her savings, and asked the Prime Minister to support the army. When the Prime Minister saw that this was the end of the story, he had to step down, and the soldiers who were hungry and cold lost confidence in Li Cunxu:
However, when the rebels entered Miyagi, Queen Liu escaped from the imperial city with a lot of treasures, which shows that her previous words were lies, and her meanness is also evident. It was her greed for money that made Li Cunxu lose the last chance to save people's hearts and eventually ruined her life.
Friends who are familiar with the history of the later Tang Dynasty must know that the fuse of the collapse of Zhuang Zong's rule was his killing of hero Guo Chongtao, and Empress Liu also participated in this incident.
At that time, Guo Chongtao and Zhuang Zong's eldest son, Wang Wei Li Jiji, were in Sichuan to deal with the aftermath. Among them, Li Jiji was the nominal commander in chief, but Guo Chongtao held the power of the army. After they entered Shu, people in Shu courted Guo Chongtao and his son in succession, but they were quite indifferent to Li Jijian, which made them very dissatisfied. And Guo Chongtao always disliked eunuchs, and their relationship was not harmonious. Therefore, eunuchs also framed Guo Chongtao for independence according to Shu in front of Li Cunxu for many times. Li Cunxu was very suspicious of this, so he sent Meng Zhixiang to Shu to investigate.
These eunuchs also informed Queen Liu of this matter, claiming that Guo Chongtao had plans to murder Wang Wei, which made Queen Liu very worried. Knowing that Li Cunxu didn't want to kill Guo Chongtao directly, he wrote a fatwa in his own hand, and asked Li Jiji to kill Guo Chongtao directly. Although Li Jiji hesitated a little when he got the imperial edict, he finally designed and killed Guo Chongtao.
As a lean man in the Five Dynasties, Li Cunxu, a member of the late Tang Dynasty, lost his country at an unexpected speed, which also led Ouyang Xiu to leave a famous saying in his "Introduction to the History of the New Five Dynasties" that "fatigue can rejuvenate the country, and leisure can lead to death". However, apart from Li Cunxu's own mistakes, the actions of his queen Liu also accelerated its decline.
First of all, Liu colluded with eunuchs and actresses, amassed huge amounts of money, and mastered considerable income in the inner government. In the face of the economic crisis in the later Tang Dynasty, the selfish Queen Liu not only kept herself penniless, but also stopped Li Cunxu from giving money to reward soldiers, which made Li Cunxu's Guards lose their morale and laid the groundwork for the subsequent downfall and rebellion.
At the same time, out of love for his son Li Jiji, he regarded Guo Chongtao as a great danger, and ordered Li Jiji to kill Guo Chongtao without Li Cunxu's consent, which indirectly helped Li Jiji make up his mind. However, after Guo Chongtao's death, the old ministers who had followed Li Cunxu were uneasy and eventually rebelled, finally letting the once invincible hero die in the palace, and then the history of the Tang Dynasty entered the next stage.
References:
1 The History of Tong Jian Chronicle The Change of Yedu
2 Zi Zhi Tong Jian
3 The History of the Old Five Dynasties and the Biography of Empresses in the Tang Dynasty
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