Chapter 764: Niu Li Party Fight

Tang Wenzong listened diligently to the government and lived a frugal life, and he was very disgusted with eunuchs, and wanted to unite with foreign ministers to overthrow eunuchs at any time.

In 831, he failed to conspire with the prime minister Song Shenxi, and Song Shenxi was killed. Later, Tang Wenzong and the ministers Li Xun and Zheng Zhu jointly launched a coup d'état.

They were all recommended by Wang Shoucheng, so the eunuchs were not taboo. Li Zheng and the others first suggested that Tang Wenzong promote Qiu Shiliang, who was at odds with the king, and kill Yuan and Chen Hongzhi, the rebel leader, and demote a number of eunuchs in power.

In 835, Tang Wenzong took Li Xun as the prime minister and Zheng Zhu as the envoy of the Fengxiang Festival, echoing inside and outside. Then the secret faction poisoned Wang Shoucheng, so far Yuan and the rebel party were killed.

Li Xun expanded his power and military power, and he could still fight with the eunuchs who only controlled the Shence Army. In 835, Li Xun launched the Manna Rebellion, intending to snatch the emperor from the eunuchs, but the eunuch Qiu Shiliang took back the emperor first, and defeated his political opponents with the Shence army and killed the minister.

After the Manna Change, the eunuchs united with the outside world and firmly grasped the military and political power, and the emperor and the ministers were only decorated with ornaments, even the later commanders Tang Wuzong and Tang Xuanzong could not eliminate the power of the eunuchs.

And the minister could only use the feudal town to confront the eunuch power, burying the shadow of the late Tang feudal town entering the customs and seizing power. In 840, the depressed Tang Wenzong died, and his younger brother succeeded to the throne under the support of the eunuch Qiu Shiliang, that is, Tang Wuzong.

Due to the many factions in the imperial court at that time, Qiu Shiliang had no choice but to let Tang Wuzong personally handle the affairs of the court. Tang Wuzong reused Li Deyu to reduce Qiu Shiliang's power, and also proposed a series of political achievements to revitalize the imperial court, known as Huichang Zhongxing in history.

He vigorously promoted the destruction of Buddha, known as Huichang to destroy Buddha. Tang Wuzong promoted Taoism, hoping for immortality, and finally died because of taking gold medicine.

During the period from Tang Xianzong to Tang Xuanzong, there was a long party dispute, which was called the Niu Li party dispute. These two factions are divided into the Li Party, which is orthodox in scripture and mostly of the Kwantung clan, mainly Li Jifu, Li Deyu, and Zheng Qin; The Niu Dang, who was born in the Jinshi Branch since the Empress Gaozong Wu, mainly includes Li Zongmin, Niu Monk and so on.

Behind the two factions of scholars and doctors are eunuchs as backstage, and eunuchs have the ultimate power. The two factions are fighting very fiercely in the open and in the dark, and they are consuming national strength in vain.

In terms of political views, the Li Party advocated the use of troops against the feudal towns and Tibet, while the Niu Party advocated peace. The Li Party strongly supported the imperial examination system, and the Niu Party strongly demanded reform.

Li Dang suggested streamlining state institutions, and Niu Dang did the opposite. The party struggle began in 808 with the imperial examinations, when Prime Minister Li Jifu advocated the use of troops against the feudal towns, and Li Zongmin, Niu Shengyu, and Huangfu criticized the impropriety of the government in the examination papers.

When Li Jifu learned of this, he suppressed these people, which caused an uproar in the government and the opposition, and Li Jifu finally lost power, and the ministers of the DPRK and China gradually formed two parties to fight each other.

However, at that time, the eunuch Tutu Chengxuan of the main battle faction held power, so the Li Party still gained power. During the Tang Muzong period, Qian Hui, a figure of the Niu Party, presided over the Jinshi examination, but was accused of favoritism.

Under the confirmation of Li Deyu, who was a bachelor of Hanlin at the time, Qian Hui was demoted, and Li Zongmin was also implicated and demoted to other places.

Since then, the two parties of Niu and Li have made friends and turned to each other. The Li Party has Li Deyu, Pei Du, Li Shen, etc., and the Niu Party has Li Zongmin, Niu Shengyu and Li Fengji.

However, the eunuch Wang Shoucheng of the Lord and faction rose, the Li Party lost power, and the Niu Monk and Ru, who were the prime minister at the time, joined forces with Li Zongmin and Li Fengji, and the Niu Party was powerful, and Li Deyu was deposed and released.

The advantage of the Niu Party was until 823, when Niu Shengyu was dismissed because he was dissatisfied with Tang Wenzong, and Li Deyu of the Li Party came to power the following year, which was obviously related to Wang Shoucheng's abandonment of the Niu Party.

After that, Wang Shoucheng supported Li Xun and Zheng Zhu, and tried his best to suppress the Niu and Li parties. After the Manna Change, Li Zheng's power collapsed, and the eunuchs were taken by Qiu Shiliang.

Tang Wuzong appointed Li Deyu as the prime minister and tried his best to exclude the Niu Party.