Tang Wenzong, Li Xun, Zheng Zhu and others launched the Manna Rebellion and failed in a plot to kill the eunuchs. Pen Fun Pavilion wWw. ｂiquge。 After the Manna Change, the eunuchs were united, and the ministers could only use the forces of the feudal towns to oppose the power of the eunuchs, sowing the seeds of direct conflict between the feudal towns and the eunuchs in the late Tang Dynasty.

Eunuchs are the attendants in the palace who are responsible for the clothing, food, and living of the emperor and the harem, and the palace guards. The eunuchs of the Tang Dynasty, from the later years of Tang Xuanzong, came to the fore step by step, becoming an important role in controlling the political situation, and by the end of the Tang Dynasty, the situation of eunuch dictatorship was opened.

Cui Yin, the prime minister of the late Tang Dynasty, once said a passage that reflected the situation of the eunuch dictatorship in the Tang Dynasty. He said: "At the beginning of the founding of the People's Republic of China, the society was stable, the four seas were peaceful, and there was no situation in which eunuchs held political power and military power. Since the reign of Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty, the power of eunuchs has become more and more rampant, and in the last year of Dezong Zhenyuan, the eunuchs began to lead the Shence army. Since then, eunuchs have been in charge of secrets, deprived of the rights of hundreds of officials, colluded with feudal towns, plotted against others, sold official positions, and did all kinds of illegal things, which became a major disaster for the country. It can be seen that the eunuch dictatorship in the late Tang Dynasty was prosperous, the power was great, and the harm was widespread.

The power of eunuchs in the Tang Dynasty began to grow during the reign of Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty, and in the early Tang Dynasty, Taizong stipulated that the highest rank of eunuchs was a fourth-rank official; eunuchs were not allowed to participate in political affairs, but were only responsible for guarding, cleaning, and eating and drinking in the harem. By the time of Xuanzong, the eunuchs began to command the army and were allowed to hold official positions above the third rank. For example, Yang Sigong worships the general, Gao Lishi also worships the general with grace, and they are all first-class officials, in addition, Xuanzong also appointed eunuchs as military supervisors to manage the army, but at this time there has not been a situation of eunuch dictatorship.

The real rampant power of eunuchs was after the Anshi Rebellion, Li Fuguo of Suzong and Daizong Dynasty, because of his meritorious service, was given great power by the emperor, held the forbidden army, and was respected as the father of Daizong, and added Sikong and Zhongshu Order, all major matters in the court must be discussed with him, he once arrogantly said to Daizong: "The emperor only sits in the palace, and the outside affairs are handed over to the old slave to deal with me." ”

Although Li Fuguo was later executed by Daizong, another eunuch, Cheng Yuanzhen, was reused by the emperor for his meritorious service in killing Li Fuguo, and he still held great power. By the time of Dezong, the eunuchs were in charge of the central forbidden army of Emperor Suwei, and it became a system. In the Xianzong Dynasty, the privy envoy was formally established, which was filled by eunuchs and participated in the political affairs of the country. Later emperors increased the power of eunuchs, so that eunuch dictatorship became synonymous with dark rule in the late Tang Dynasty.

In the late Tang Dynasty, eunuchs manipulated state affairs, specialized in confidential information, advanced and retreated courtiers, and even the emperor had to be deposed by them. Xianzong and Jingzong died at the hands of eunuchs, and Muzong, Wenzong, Wuzong, Yizong, Xizong, and Zhaozong were all supported by eunuchs. The power of eunuchs was so rampant that it caused dissatisfaction among the emperor and ministers.

The institution headed by the prime minister was called the Nanya, and the various institutions controlled by the eunuchs were called the North Division, and a large-scale struggle against the eunuchs broke out in the later period, among which the two kings and eight Sima incidents and the Manna Incident were the most representative.

The two kings and eight Sima incidents refer to the bureaucrats and scholars who advocated cracking down on the power of eunuchs and reforming during the Tang Shunzong period, the two kings refer to Wang Ling and Wang Shuwen, and the eight Sima refer to Wei Zhiyi, Han Tai, Chen Ji, Liu Zongyuan, Liu Yuxi, Han Ye, Ling Zhun, and Cheng Yi, who were all demoted to state Sima after the failure of the reform, so they were called the Eight Simas.

The reform of the two kings and eight Sima took place in the reign of Shunzong, and because the name of Shunzong's era was Yongzhen, this reform was also called Yongzhen Reform. Yongzhen's reform was supported by Shunzong, who appointed Wei Zhiyi, a reformist, as prime minister at the beginning of his accession to the throne, and the reformist figure was in charge of key departments, controlling the finances of the imperial court and part of the military power, and wanted to seize the military power of the eunuchs.

The reformers also issued a series of decrees to reward and punish strictly, stop harsh administration, remove corrupt officials, and promote virtuous officials. The reform achieved certain positive results, and the reaction of the society at that time was that the people were happy and the city cheered. However, this time the reform hit too much and touched too wide of interests, so it was opposed by many old and important ministers and local envoys, and was even resisted by the eunuch clique.

The eunuchs Ju Wenzhen and Liu Guangqi united with Wei Gao, the envoy of the Xichuan Jiedu in Jiannan, Pei Jun in the Jingnan Jiedu, and Yan Shou in the Hedong Jiedu to oppose Wang Shuwen's reform group, and they calculated a move to force Shunzong, the backing of the reformers, to give way to the crown prince Li Chun, and the crown prince ascended the throne, which was Tang Xianzong. Xianzong did not support the reformers, so the reformers quickly lost power, Wang Shuwen, Wang Ling and others were degraded and killed, and the reform aimed at cracking down on the power of eunuchs was declared a failure.

After the defeat of the anti-eunuch struggle during the Yongzhen period, many ministers, including the emperor, summed up their experience. Some people believe that the eunuchs cannot be seized peacefully, and that the eunuchs should be eliminated by force, and then the eunuch party forces should be eliminated, which led to another struggle against the eunuchs in the Wenzong period - the Manna Change.

Tang Wenzong is the emperor supported by eunuchs, so since he ascended the throne, he has been under the control of eunuchs, and the military affairs are in the hands of eunuchs. For this reason, he reused Li Xun and Zheng Zhu, who were recommended by the eunuchs, because using the two of them to carry out the plan to eliminate the eunuchs was not easy to be suspected by the eunuchs.

Soon Li Xun was appointed prime minister, and Zheng Zhu was appointed as the envoy of Fengxiang Longyoujie, and began to gradually implement the predetermined plan. Wenzong and the civil and military officials came to the Zichen Hall to discuss the matter, and the Jinwu general Han Yue Qixuan said: "There was manna falling on the pomegranate tree of the Zuojinwu Courtyard last night. ”

The nectar falling at night was considered by the ancients to be an auspicious omen, so Li Xun led hundreds of civil and military officials to congratulate him and invited Wenzong to watch. Wenzong also pretended to be very happy, and sent Li Xun and others to check first.

Li Xun and the others went for a long time and came back to report: "Those nectar don't seem to be real, and it is not appropriate to announce it to the public." ”

Wenzong turned around at this time and ordered the eunuchs Qiu Shiliang and Yu Zhihong to check again, and the two obeyed the order. At this point, there were no accidents, but when Qiu Shiliang and the others walked on the way, they found a problem. Han Yue, who led the way, was so nervous that he was sweating profusely, and with a breeze blowing, the armor soldiers hidden behind the curtain flickered, which made Qiu Shiliang and the others immediately realize that it was not good for them, and quickly returned to the main hall, and carried Wenzong into the Xuanzheng Gate, closing the gate tightly.

After that, Qiu Shiliang ordered 500 forbidden troops to go to the palace to beg for thieves, and killed people when they saw them, and more than 600 ministers of civil and military affairs died under the eunuch's knife. Then the eunuch sent cavalry to search for the fugitives throughout the city, so that Chang'an City was full of blood, and many ministers who participated in the plan to kill the eunuchs were beheaded, and more than 1,000 people were implicated and died, which is the so-called Manna Change.

In the struggle between the eunuchs and the bureaucrats and doctors, the spirit of the scholars and doctors who were not afraid of hardships and dangers is worthy of recognition. However, their strength was far from that of the eunuchs, so their attempts to defeat the eunuchs and restore imperial power failed. What is even more serious is that this kind of struggle has greatly consumed internal strength, the normal rule of the state has been seriously affected, the local separatist forces have become even more emboldened, and the Tang government is already in a state of turmoil.

After the death of Tang Wenzong, Tang Wuzong succeeded to the throne, changed the Yuan Huichang, and succeeded to the throne after factional struggles under the support of the eunuch Qiu Shiliang. Tang Wuzong reused Li Deyu, the leader of the Li Party, to reduce Qiu Shiliang's power, and during Li Deyu's reign, the functions and roles of Zhongshu Province played a better role, so the power of the eunuchs was weakened. Tang Wuzong, who also had a lot of dissatisfaction with the eunuchs, did not take extreme measures to solve it like Tang Wenzong. Instead, he learned the lesson of Tang Wenzong's failure and changed to Yang as a means of respect, but in fact it gradually became cold.

The eunuch Qiu Shiliang saw that Wuzong was becoming more and more affectionate to Li Deyu, and was afraid that the eunuch would lose power, so he spread rumors, saying that the prime minister had agreed with Duzhi to reduce the cost of clothing, food, and horse fodder for the forbidden army, hoping to provoke the forbidden army to make trouble. After Li Deyu heard the news, he immediately reported the matter to Tang Wuzong, Tang Wuzong was very indignant, Tang Wuzong took out the monarch's actions, and sent the envoys to the left and right armies of Shence to announce the imperial decree: "This matter is purely a rumor, everything is my arrangement, and it has nothing to do with the prime minister's affairs. The soldiers were stunned.

After Qiu Shiliang's conspiracy was exposed, he had no choice but to apologize to Tang Wuzong in fear. After Qiu Shiliang's conspiracy was foiled, Tang Wuzong did not take further action against him, but promoted him to the rank of envoy of the Guanjun to lead the left and right armies. Nominally promoted, but in reality deprived of control of the forbidden army. Qiu Shiliang understood Tang Wuzong's attitude towards him, knew that his situation was not good, and took retreat as advance, and submitted his resignation on the grounds that he was physically ill. Tang Wuzong pushed the boat down the river, agreed to his resignation, and reappointed him as the inner chamberlain.

The inner prison did not work for long, and based on the fact that the general trend had gone and there was no hope of a comeback, Qiu Shiliang was forced to resign. Tang Wuzong defeated the Uighur Usuke Khan and his subordinates externally, put down the rebellion of Zelu Town internally, and surrendered the feudal town during his reign. Tang Wuzong's series of achievements in revitalizing the imperial court are known as Huichang Zhongxing in history. Tang Wuzong attached great importance to Taoism and forbade Buddhism and Nestorian Buddhism other than Taoism, so in the history of Buddhism, it was listed as one of the monarchs with the title of Wuzi in the three martial arts to destroy the Buddha, also known as the Huichang Buddha.

Tang Wuzong was the sixteenth emperor of the Tang Dynasty, and during his twenty-six years of reign, one of his most important political achievements was the attack on Buddhist monasteries. He ordered that all the remaining monasteries be demolished, except for a few Buddhist temples such as Chang'an and Luoyang, which had retained the regulations.

This move destroyed 4,600 large and medium-sized monasteries and 40,000 small monasteries; more than 260,000 monks and nuns were forced to return to the laity; 150,000 slaves and maidservants attached to monasteries were liberated, and tens of millions of hectares of religious land were confiscated.

In the late Tang Dynasty, due to the fact that the land of Buddhist monasteries was not taxed, and the monks were exempted from servitude, the economy of Buddhist monasteries was excessively expanded, which damaged the revenue of the national treasury and there were contradictions with ordinary landlords, so Tang Wuzong decided to destroy Buddhism to solve financial difficulties.

In the Tang Dynasty, from Taizong, Wu Zetian, Ruizong to Xuanzong, Suzong, Daizong, Dezong, Shunzong, Xianzong, almost every dynasty had anti-Buddhist people, sometimes the opinions were very radical, Han Yu even put forward the idea of destroying his people, Lu Qiju, and burning his book, but the destruction of Buddha did not happen.

Li Chen was the fourth son of Tang Xianzong and gave up the throne to his nephew Wenzong. After Wenzong's death, Wuzong suspected that he had other plans, so he secretly ordered the four people in the middle to capture Xuanzong Yu Yongcang and confined him for a few days. With the assistance of the eunuch Qiu Gongwu, Li Chen escaped from the palace gate and hid in the Buddhist gate.

In order to investigate and kill Li Chen, Wuzong made the decision to destroy Buddhism, and after Li Chen ascended the throne, he immediately flourished Buddhism, and the reason may also be this, Buddhism once collected him when he was in danger, and paid a heavy price for it.