Literati may seem weak on the surface, but if you are an official in the imperial court, you must not provoke them easily. Some literati have excellent oral talents, superb argumentation skills, can speak well when encountering problems, and are persuasive, but they want to do it but can't find the opportunity, and as a result, they have to be resented for a long time. In the Tang Dynasty, someone once said: "Military generals are like impatient wine, once released, it is difficult to restrain them." Unlike the literati, it is difficult for them to calm down the resentment in their hearts, although they seem to be peaceful on the surface, but they still hold resentment in their hearts, how can I not be worried?These words were uttered by a prime minister, and to what extent was he jealous of the literati?He even sent his own son to a monastery, which turned out to be an unexpectedly good thing. This prime minister is Li Sheng, who was a famous general in the middle of the Tang Dynasty, and was also the prime minister of the Tang Dynasty and the king of Xiping County.
Li Sheng was born into a military family in 727 A.D. and began his military career at the age of 18. In his early years, he followed the Hexi Jiedu envoy Wang Zhonghei to conquer Tibet. Li Sheng is burly and good at riding and shooting. In a battle against Tibet, he shot and killed a fierce general in Tibet with an arrow, winning the praise and reward of Wang Zhonghei, and praised him as "the enemy of ten thousand". He was loyal to the Tang Dynasty and had a great deal of military success.
However, in 783, Li Sheng and his generals fell into the Qing Yuan, became ill, and were forced to retreat to Baoding Prefecture. Because of Li Sheng's brilliant record, Zhu Tao did not dare to attack easily even if he learned that he was seriously ill. However, the late Tang Dynasty was chaotic, and in October 783, the Jingyuan soldiers had a disagreement with each other with the intention of making Zhu Zhu emperor. Chang'an fell, and Tang Dezong fled to Mukden. Subsequently, the rebels pursued Mukden and besieged the emperor. After Li Sheng recovered from his illness, he originally planned to go to reinforcements, but found that Chang'an had fallen and had to return, but his troops were insufficient, so he had to cooperate with Li Huaiguang to recover Chang'an. However, Emperor Dezong did not always trust him, although Li Sheng was the prime minister and the actual ruler was Zhang Yansheng. Zhang Yansheng was originally from the Zhang family in Hedong and was good at civil official work, and he had conflicts with Li Sheng since before he recovered Chang'an. In 785, Zhang Yansheng could have become prime minister, but he failed to do so due to Li Sheng's obstruction. The contradiction between the two deepened, and Tubo sowed discord in the middle, which deteriorated the relationship between Li Sheng and the imperial court. When Li Sheng heard this, he lamented all day long, with tears in his eyes. After some time, Emperor Dezong summoned Li Sheng, perhaps considering that his son might be implicated, Li Sheng had 15 sons, and only 10 remained, so he decided to send all his sons to Chang'an to become a monk, just in case. The emperor may have realized Li Sheng's absolute loyalty, and this move was also a kind of protection for Li Sheng and his family. However, before the emperor could react, Li Sheng himself wrote to request his resignation from his post as Jiedu envoy, saying that he was suffering from a foot disease and was no longer suitable to lead the army to fight. The emperor did not agree, because of the loss of Li Sheng, once Chang'an fell again, no one could recover it. The emperor may also realize that this situation is unfavorable, so he ordered Han Yun to mediate the conflict between the two. Han Yun invited the two to dinner, which made the two become sworn brothers. On the surface, it seems to be reconciled, but in fact, Li Sheng knows that Zhang Yansheng has not really turned hostility into friendship. Rather than be reconciled for the sake of subsections, Li Sheng would rather unravel the contradictions. Although he is also a little resourceful, he is a military general after all. A small grievance is nothing to him, but Zhang Yansheng is a literati, and although he is reconciled on the surface, he may not be resolved in his heart. At the instigation of Zhang Yansheng, Han Rong died soon after, and Dezong removed Li Sheng from military power. In 793, at the age of 69, Li Sheng died, and the emperor granted him a lavish funeral.