Although Wang Changling lived a free and secluded life in Zhiyang Village, Bashang, because it was very close to Chang'an, the capital of the Tang Dynasty, major events that occurred in the court would soon reach Wang Changling's ears. When Wang Changling was twenty-two years old, Li Longji, a great hero in the history of the Tang Dynasty, ascended the throne of the Emperor's Dragon Court.
Li Longji was born in the second year of civilization of Emperor Ruizong of Tang Dynasty. Emperor Ruizong of Tang Dynasty ceded his throne to Li Longji in the first year of Yanhe's reign.
Li Longji was born when Empress Wu was in charge and preparing to be the queen, so he experienced complicated palace changes as a child, which may have contributed to his strong-willed character. He was very ambitious when he was a child, and he called himself "Aha" in the palace. Although he was not valued by the Wu clan people who were in power, he was still very independent in everything he said and did.
When he was seven years old, a sacrificial ceremony was held in the court. The then Jinwu General Wu Yizong loudly reprimanded the attendants and guards. Li Longji immediately glared and shouted: "This is the court of my Li family. What are you doing? How dare you do that?" You reprimand my knight guard like this!" Wu Yizong was dumbfounded when he looked at this child. After Wu Zetian learned about it, not only did she not blame Li Longji, but she also liked this little grandson who was young and ambitious. In the second year, Li Longji was named the Prince of Linzi County.
After the death of his grandmother Wu Zetian, Zhongzong was cowardly and incompetent. As a result, the power of the government fell into the hands of Queen Wei and Princess Anle. Prime Minister Zhang Jianzhi, who originally initiated the coup to restore the Tang Dynasty, was demoted and expelled by them, and Prince Li Chongjun was killed.
Empress Wei followed Wu Zetian's original approach and let her brother Wei Wen take the power. She did not stop her daughter Princess Anle from illegally selling her official position and conniving at the title. Zhongzong finally died at the hands of Queen Wei and Princess Anle, who conspired to poison him. Then, Queen Wei wanted to imitate her mother-in-law Wu Zetian and become the second queen.
Before Queen Wei could take action, Li Longji and his aunt Princess Taiping, who had been watching the changes, launched a mutiny first and led more than 10,000 imperial guardsmen to capture the palace and eliminate all Queen Wei's faction. Then, Ruizhong Li Dan ascended the throne again, and Li Longji was also established as the prince due to his meritorious service.
But his father, Li Dan, was a weak emperor like Zhongzong. He was unwilling to have a direct conflict with Princess Taiping and always tolerated her. Princess Taiping believed that she had given him the opportunity to become emperor, and she had made great contributions, so she took control of the government. As her power grew stronger, Princess Taiping's ambition also grew. She wanted to be a queen like her mother.
Princess Taiping's main opponent is Prince Li Longji. At first she did not take him seriously, thinking that he was still young, but later after learning about Li Longji's bravery and decisiveness, she began to guard against him. She created public opinion that Li Longji was not the eldest son and was not qualified to be the prince, let alone inherit the throne. Princess Taiping's purpose was to abolish Li Longji's status as prince and pave the way for herself to become the empress in the future.
Ruizong was afraid that if things continued like this, Li Tang would be in chaos again, so he resolutely gave up the throne to his son Li Longji. But he still has the power to appoint and remove officials of the third rank and above in the imperial court and to decide on major military and political affairs. Ruizong's abdication intensified the conflict between Li Longji and Princess Taiping. Both sides are gathering strength and preparing to get rid of the other side.
On July 3rd of the second year after Li Longji ascended the throne, he decisively took action first and personally led his troops to kill Princess Taiping and dozens of her subordinates. All officials who favored Princess Taiping were dismissed from office. . Tang Xuanzong finally grasped the power that the emperor should have. At that time, Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty changed the reign name to Kaiyuan, showing his determination to work hard and create great achievements in the Tang Dynasty again.
Although Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty completely consolidated imperial power after eliminating Princess Taiping, the situation at that time was not optimistic: the mutiny greatly damaged the vitality of the court, and the chaos and corruption in officialdom needed to be dealt with urgently. Therefore, Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty expressed his intention to appoint officials according to their talents and promote talented people as prime ministers. In this regard, Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty still had a bright eye. He appointed Yao Chong as prime minister and entrusted talented people such as Song Jing and Zhang Jiuling with important responsibilities. Yao Chong acted decisively. He was valued and made prime minister because he put forward ten suggestions to Emperor Xuanzong of Tang Dynasty. The ten suggestions include not taking advantage of others, opening up the public, rewarding upright ministers, not allowing the royal family to have exclusive power, not giving eunuchs exclusive power, etc. Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty basically implemented all of Yao Chong's suggestions.
Yao Chong also did not take care of the royal relatives. At that time, Wang Xiantong, the uncle of King Xue Li Ye, oppressed the people and did evil. Yao Chong punished Wang Xiantong after asking Xuanzong for approval.
Yao Chong also presided over the control of the locust plague in the early years of Kaiyuan. At that time, severe locust plagues occurred in the north and south areas of the Yellow River. The locusts flew up and blocked the sky, causing extremely serious damage to crops. Yao Chong knew that if the locusts could not be eradicated in time, it would not only cause heavy economic losses and disaster for the people, but would also be crucial to the stability of the country. He personally took command and ordered all counties and counties to go all out to eliminate locusts and reward those with meritorious service. With his vigorous promotion, the locust plague did not continue to spread and was quickly stopped.
Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty also attached great importance to the selection and appointment of talents. Although he controlled the power of the government, he would never bend the law for personal gain. On the contrary, he had stricter requirements for his relatives. Once, when his distant uncle Song Yuanchao was participating in the selection of the civil service department, he told the examiner about his special relationship with Song Jing, hoping to take care of him and become a good official. After Song Jing found out, instead of interceding with him, he specifically asked the officials not to give him an official position.
Zhang Jiuling is from Lingnan, which is not yet a developed area. People who commit crimes are often exiled there as punishment. So in people's eyes, it is a desolate and difficult place. Since there were very few people born in Guangdong who served as officials in the court in the past dynasties, it was difficult for people from there to become high-ranking officials in the court. But Zhang Jiuling was chosen by Xuanzong with his outstanding talent. In December of the first year of Xiantian's reign when Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty had just become emperor, Xuanzong held a ceremony for Bachelor of Arts in the East Palace. Jiuling ranked among the best and was awarded Zuo Shiyi.
Zhang Jiuling, like Xuanzong, also valued people's moral character and talents rather than their background. When the Ministry of Personnel participated in the selection of officials, he always advocated fair selection of talents and the use of talents according to their talents. At the same time, he promptly pointed out Xuanzong's faults and advised them, and did not conceal the truth just because Xuanzong was a favor to him.
Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty not only had a keen eye for recognizing worthy ministers, but also rectified the administration of officials to improve the efficiency of the bureaucracy. He took many effective measures. First, he streamlined the organization and eliminated redundant officials. He eliminated many useless officials since Wu Zetian, which not only improved efficiency but also saved government expenditures. Second, establish a strict assessment system and strengthen the management of local officials. In October of each year, inspectors are sent to various places to inspect the public situation, correct officials who violate the law, and punish them severely. Third, restore the system of admonishers and historians participating in prime minister meetings. This was originally a system during the Taizong period of the Tang Dynasty, which allowed admonishers and historians to participate in discussing national affairs and supervising government affairs. After Wu Zetian came to power, he promoted Xu Jingzong, Li Yifu and others to be prime ministers, but did not dare to make certain things public anymore, so this system was abolished. Fourth, pay attention to the appointment and removal of county magistrates. Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty believed that county officials were at the forefront of national governance, dealing directly with the people and representing the image of the country. Therefore, Xuanzong often asked county officials to test them personally to know exactly whether these county officials were truly qualified for their posts. If you do well in the exam, you can be promoted immediately; if you are not worthy of your reputation, you will be dismissed immediately.
Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty not only effectively managed internal affairs, but also effectively managed the border areas, regaining the previously lost territory.
Long before Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty came to the throne, the northern border was already in danger. In the early years of Wu Zetian's reign as emperor, in the first year of Long Live Tongtian, Khitan's Li Jinzhong took advantage of the ethnic conflicts at the time to incite his subordinates to rebel against the Tang Dynasty and captured Yingzhou. Wu Zetian sent troops to counterattack, but failed. Afterwards, the town of Suiye in the Anxi region was also captured by the Turks, resulting in the final severance of the Silk Road and seriously affecting the reputation and foreign trade economy of the Tang Dynasty.
The northern territories were unified in the early Tang Dynasty, and the Shanyu and Anbei Protectorate were set up to govern the vast area from inside and outside the Great Wall to Lake Baikal respectively. During Wu Zetian's reign and as emperor, the Turks often harassed the borders and captured Yuzhou and Dingzhou, forcing the Tang Dynasty to move the Anbei Protectorate to the south.
In order to reunify the north, Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty took many measures to prepare for the recovery of the northern territory. This is mainly a reform of the military system. Due to the destruction of the land equalization system in the original government army system, farmers fled, which affected the army's manpower resources. During the periods of Emperor Gaozong and Wu Zetian, they paid little attention to the military. When Emperor Xuanzong became emperor, the phenomenon of soldiers deserting was extremely serious, and the army's combat effectiveness was also very low, unable to compete with the powerful Turkic army.
Tang Xuanzong accepted Prime Minister Zhang Shuo's reform proposals and established mercenaries. 120,000 soldiers were recruited from within the pass to serve as guards. These were the "Chang Cong Su Guards", also known as the "Athletes of the Long March." This reform is a change from the government army system to the mercenary system. After more than ten years of hard work, Xuanzong promoted this system to the whole country. This system eliminates the original practice of government soldiers taking turns to guard the border, and relieves people from all over the country from having to guard the border. At the same time, this kind of mercenaries also provides guarantee for centralized training and improvement of combat effectiveness.
In addition to reforming the military system, Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty also took many other measures to reorganize the army, such as promulgating the "Military Training Edict", ordering military towns in the northwest to expand their troops and strengthen training. At the same time, Wang Maozhong, the imperial servant, was appointed as the internal and external stable envoy and was fully responsible for the supply of military horses. This enabled the shortage of horses to be replenished in a timely manner and improved combat effectiveness. In addition, in order to completely solve the problem of military food, Xuanzong ordered the expansion of the scope of farming, vigorously developed farming in the northwest and north of the Yellow River, and increased grain production.
After making full preparations, the Tang Dynasty gradually recovered Yingzhou and other places. The Uighurs and other ethnic groups north of the Great Wall also automatically canceled their title of independent separatist regime and returned to the Tang Dynasty. The Anbei Protectorate was also restored, and the Tang Dynasty resumed its jurisdiction over the land north of the Great Wall.
The restoration of political power in the Western Region went through two stages. The first stage was the recovery of Suiye Town, and the second stage was the restoration of the Silk Road. The prestige of the Tang Dynasty was re-established in the Western Regions.
In order to increase the country's revenue and crack down on powerful people who seized land and concealed it without reporting it, Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty launched a campaign to inspect land and enclose households. After the powerful powerful people at that time occupied the farmers' land, they called it "the land of foreigners". They also turned the fleeing farmers into their own "private properties" to evade state taxes on both land and population.
Tang Xuanzong's campaign to inspect fields and close households had achieved effective results. He appointed Yu Wenrong as the country's agricultural envoy, and he established ten agricultural envoys and agricultural judges, who were assigned to various places to inspect the hidden land and the farmers who were sheltered. Then all the inspected land will be confiscated and distributed to farmers for farming. Farmers who have concealed their information will also be registered. In this way, the increase in customer money per year is as high as several million.
In the second year of Kaiyuan, Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty ordered to reduce the number of monks and nuns in the country, and finally the number of monks and nuns returning to secular life in the country reached 12,000. Then, Xuanzong issued an order prohibiting the construction of new temples, the casting of Buddha statues, and the copying of Buddhist scriptures. The interactions between officials and monks and nuns were also prohibited, which caused a great blow to Buddhism during the Xuanzong period.
A series of effective measures taken by Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty brought new development to the politics, economy, and culture of the Tang Dynasty, surpassing that of his ancestor, Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty.
Through careful analysis of the above situation, Wang Changling had a premonition that a prosperous and prosperous era in Chinese history was about to come.
