Pei Du, the prime minister of the late Tang Dynasty
As a well-known and important figure in the Tang Dynasty, Pei Du is actually a political wizard who is rare in a century. Although he did not make any outstanding military achievements, this did not affect his contribution to the country in the slightest. You must know that he has spent almost his whole life dealing with ambitious eunuchs and ministers, but he has never been dazzled by the so-called power, let alone caught in the whirlpool of imperial power struggles.
And what is quite rare is that Pei Du has witnessed seven regime changes in the Tang Dynasty, and almost every emperor has greatly valued Pei Du. Of course, as a veteran of the Seven Dynasties, he did not live up to the emperor's trust. It can be seen from Pei Du's many political deeds that he has always put the interests of the country first, and for his country, even in the last stage of his life, Pei Du still has not changed his original intention. It can be said that a virtuous minister with such a big heart was an important savior in the middle and late Tang Dynasty.
In this issue, let's talk about what extraordinary skills this virtuous minister who helped the Tang Dynasty emperor realize the prosperity of the Yuan and Zhongxing eras. It is undeniable that Pei Du's choice of the path of politics is inseparable from his family and upbringing. Because of his scholarly background in the Pei family, Pei Du began to contact literary books at a young age, and inherited the strong literary talent of his father's generation.
At the age of twenty-five, Pei Du was successfully admitted to the Jinshi, and then began to climb up from the grassroots level. By about 814 AD, Pei Du had relied on his outstanding personal ability to sit in the high position of Zhongcheng in the imperial history, and later he was even more successful in worshiping the prime minister. Of course, it is not surprising that Pei Du can sit in this high position. After all, according to relevant historical records, more than 50 prime ministers and monks have come out of the Pei family, as well as many famous generals. Therefore, as a descendant of the Pei family, Pei Du can naturally reach the same height.
Throughout Pei Du's long political career, one of his greatest achievements was to help Tang Xianzong pacify the secession of the feudal towns. To know the situation in the middle and late Tang Dynasty, it is really bad. During this period, the imperial court not only had to guard against the Turkic, Khitan and other ambitious nomads who could invade at any time, but also had to make greater efforts to deal with the scourge of the feudal towns.
It can be said that although the entire dynasty is still under the control of the emperor on the surface, in fact the emperor himself is already powerless. Many eunuchs and local feudal forces were even more arrogant than the other. It is also in the context of this era that Pei Du took the initiative to ask for orders to go to Huaixi to take command, and after arriving at the front line, Pei Du knew how to make good use of people, promoted a group of national generals who were both civil and military, and did not forget to reward all the soldiers.
After this series of improvement measures were implemented, it did not take long for the morale-boosting soldiers to win the battle. And because Pei Du fought for the local people to be exempted from taxes for a whole year, his reputation among the people was once higher than that of the generals who went into battle to kill the enemy. So far, the Huaixi region has been completely pacified.
However, Pei Du's footsteps did not stop there, and soon the news of the Huaixi rebellion spread all over the country, and the separatist forces in Shandong, Hebei and other places felt a chill down their spines. At this time, Pei Du tried his best to persuade the emperor to send troops to fight, and in this way, the whole country was truly unified. This is a scene that has never appeared since Tang Suzong took office, and the biggest hero behind it is naturally Pei Du.
Under the advice of Pei Du, the prime minister, the Tang Dynasty finally entered the Yuan and Zhongxing era. I have to say that Pei Du is indeed worthy of the patriarch of the Seven Dynasties. You might as well simply imagine that if there was no such talented figure as Pei Du in the middle of the Tang Dynasty, how long would the Tang Dynasty be able to forcibly hold out in this world after the highlight moment faded in the middle and late Tang Dynasty?
Looking at the entire Tang Dynasty with several ups and downs, it actually corresponds to that sentence: those who win the hearts of the people will win the world, and those who lose the hearts of the people will naturally lose the world. As a politician, Pei Du naturally understands this truth, so many of his political behaviors have benefited the common people a lot in the end.
But in fact, Pei Du has not always been able to be proud in the officialdom, Tang Xianzong knows how to make good use of people and trusts Pei Du quite a lot, and after entering a new historical period, the dynasty wants to use him less and less, which is also a historical trend that is difficult to change.
Author: Wang Gongjian.