Daming Palace Harem Zhang Baotong 2017.11.30

However, due to the long-term residence in the deep palace, loneliness and loneliness, coupled with the lack of physical exercise, most of them are weak and can't help it, and some are even sick for a long time. They have been accompanied by pills and decoctions for many years. Therefore, in order to pursue youth and longevity, and pray for auspiciousness, concubines have come up with various health care methods. As a special group that accompanied the emperor, the concubines lived a parasitic life of pampering and fine clothes. However, through the observation and understanding of the concubines and palace maids in the courtyard of the deep palace, it can be felt that in the depths of their hearts, there are many subtle mentalities such as melancholy, sentimentality, lamentation, melancholy and resentment.

Daming Palace has existed for more than 270 years, but I don't know how long the concubines in the palace can have peace and luxury. The pear blossoms have been chanting in the deep palace, and these ancient Chinese beauties are also in turmoil with the rise and fall of the Daming Palace. But compared with the Han Dynasty's system of killing concubines and accompanying concubines at will, and compared with the strict harem palace ban system after the Song Dynasty, the concubines in the harem of Daming Palace are relatively lucky.

But the emperor of the Tang Dynasty could not avoid the curse of "prosperity and decline" of the feudal dynasty. In the late reign of Kaiyuan, after a long period of peace, the country had nothing to do, and Tang Xuanzong lost the spirit of seeking upward governance, indulged in pleasure, and favored Yang Guifei. An Lushan worshiped Yang Guifei as his mother for self-protection and promotion. The imperial court also changed from advocating thrift to spending money, and once gave Li Linfu a year's tribute from all over the country. Tang Xuanzong also handed over the state affairs to Li Linfu and Yang Guozhong. Li Linfu is the prime minister of the honey-bellied sword, and he relied on the trust of Xuanzong to do things for 19 years during his tenure, putting an end to words and rejecting loyalty. Yang Guozhong succeeded Li Linfu as prime minister because Yang Guifei was favored, but he only knew how to loot the people's wealth, so that the group was in charge, the state affairs were in trouble, and the government was corrupt, so that An Lushan had a chance. An Lushan and the three major military towns are in charge of the army, of which the elite Tang Dynasty regular army has reached 150,000, supporting the border, and its subordinates are brave and good at fighting, and they are very favored by Xuanzong, attracting the jealousy of Prime Minister Yang Guozhong. As a result, the two became enemies, and Tang Xuanzong did not interfere in this. An Lushan had long harbored different ambitions, coupled with heavy troops, intending to raise troops to rebel against the Tang Dynasty in the name of begging, and openly rebelled in November 755 AD, leading his troops to conquer Luoyang and approaching Tongguan.

Tang Xuanzong was in turmoil after learning that Tongguan was lost. On the first day of the first day, there were only one or two people in the upper court among the hundred officials. At dawn on the day of Yiwei, the emperor fled with his concubine sisters, prince, grandson, princess, concubine, Yang Guozhong and close attendants from Yanqiumen. Later, when they went to Maweipo, the soldiers of the Sixth Army finally couldn't bear it anymore, launched a mutiny to kill Yang Guozhong and others, Gao Lishi and others hanged Yang Guifei, and then the crown prince Li Heng ascended the throne in Lingwu in Ningxia and respected Li Longji as the emperor. Li Longji was quite helpless after learning all this.

When the emperor fled, he led his men and horses to pass by the Zuozang Daying Treasury, and Yang Guozhong requested that the treasury be burned to prevent a large number of stocks of cloth and silk from being obtained by the rebels. Tang Xuanzong said, "No, the rebels have no money when they come, and they will definitely collect it from the people, so it is better to leave it to them to alleviate the suffering of the people." When he arrived at the bridge, Yang Guozhong ordered people to set fire to the bridge and burn it down to block the pursuit of the rebels. When Tang Xuanzong found out, he felt that it was inappropriate, and said, "The officials and the people are all taking refuge to survive, why should they cut off their way of life?" So he sent Gao Lishi to lead people to extinguish the fire, and kept the bridge for the people behind to escape.

After the emperor ran away, Chang'an City was leaderless, and An Lushan quickly captured Tongguan, the last dangerous pass to defend Chang'an, and sent Sun Xiaozhe to lead troops into Chang'an City. The few defenders who remained in the city were defenseless. When the rebels captured Chang'an City, they began to burn and loot, almost turning the entire Chang'an City into ruins, and Daming Palace was naturally in ruins.

Later, there was a split within the rebels, and An Lushan was killed by his son An Qingxu. The Tang army, together with the Hui (the ancestors of the Uyghurs) reinforcements, took the opportunity to counterattack and regained Chang'an and Luoyang. Soon An Lushan killed An Qingming and recaptured Luoyang, proclaimed himself Emperor Dayan, and was later killed by his son Shi Chaoyi. So the Tang Dynasty borrowed back the soldiers of Su to recover Luoyang, Shi Chaoyi committed suicide, and the "Anshi Rebellion" that lasted for eight years came to an end.

The war has brought about an unprecedented catastrophe in society. "The palace is burned, there is not one in ten, a hundred cao is deserted, and there are no rafters. In the middle of the country, less than a thousand households, Jingyi Yingjing, jackals. There is a lack of military reserves and fresh manpower. East to Zheng, Bian, up to Xufang, north from Qin, Huaijing in Xiangtu, cut off for people, thousands of miles of depression", including almost the entire middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River, a desolate.

The Anshi Rebellion was a turning point in the Tang Dynasty from prosperity to decline, after which the feudal towns were divided, the eunuchs were dictatorial, and the emperor wanted to govern but could not govern, which can be seen from events such as the Manna Change. The result of the boiling public resentment was a rebellion, and finally, the Yellow Nest rose up. In 875 A.D., the Shandong people Huangchao rebelled, and hundreds of thousands of peasant armies began to gallop back and forth on the land of the Tang Dynasty. This uprising was not a simple peasant uprising, but also absorbed other forces. In 880, he broke through Tongguan and directly entered Chang'an City, full of golden armor. As Huang Chao's rebel army advanced toward Chang'an, Tang Xizong was presiding over a sensational gamble in which four high-ranking officials would decide where to serve by playing polo, with the winner having the right to choose the richest place. This is the infamous "batting and betting on Sanchuan" incident in history. Tang Xizong was forced to embark on the road of escape, becoming the fourth emperor to flee the capital since the founding of the Tang Dynasty. On December 13, Huang Chao proclaimed himself emperor in Hanyuan Hall and established himself as the emperor of Great Qi. It's just that this golden armor brought not hope to Chang'an City, but an incomparably huge disaster. Huangchao occupied Chang'an City for two and a half years, and when Chang'an City was breached, the war would inevitably reach the Daming Palace, and Chang'an City was in chaos, and the soldiers and people rushed to break into the royal treasury to steal the gold silk. Daming Palace once again fell into a bloody storm. The peasant army looted and sacked the richest city in the world. In April 883, when Huangchao withdrew from Chang'an, the officers and troops poured into the city, "fighting for goods, setting fire to each other, burning the palace room, burning six or seven out of ten." "It's just that this time the damage is not as severe as the front and back.

However, Huang Chao's subordinate general Zhu Wen held a lot of military power, and when he saw that the regular army of the Tang Dynasty counterattacked and gradually formed an encirclement of Chang'an, he surrendered to the Tang Dynasty and was reused by the Tang Dynasty. After driving the Huangchao rebels out of Chang'an City, Zhu Wen became a senior official of the Tang Dynasty and was crowned the king of the county. But at that time, the world was already in turmoil, and a situation of division between the princes was formed. In 904, in order to coerce Tang Zhaozong to move the capital to Luoyang, Zhu Wen burned down the entire city of Chang'an, including the magnificent palace of the Daming Palace. After Zhaozong killed Zhu Wen, he changed to a puppet, and later forced the emperor to make the emperor Chan Rang, and he called the emperor in Kaifeng, changed the country name to Liang, known as Houliang in history, and called Houliang Taizu in history.

In this way, the Daming Palace, the "Palace of a Thousand Palaces" in Chinese history, disappeared forever, and the prosperity and glory of that time can no longer be replicated. Although the ruins of the Daming Palace have now been built into a park, it is only a relic park, not a palace, let alone the Tang Dynasty palace that flourished in Chinese history. If you want to relive the old dream of history and visit the ruins of Daming Palace, it is just north of Xi'an Railway Station, just enter from Danfeng Gate, but at best you can only see the vague back of that palace, and the luxurious and glamorous harem around the Taiye Pool can only be seen clearly if you put on that pair of historical glasses.

2017.12.5