Top 10 historical events during the Tang Dynasty

Mondo History Updated on 2024-02-23

The Tang Dynasty was the most glorious period of China's various historical dynasties, and it was also one of the most powerful countries in the world at that time. So today, we will bring you the top ten historical events during the Tang Dynasty, let's learn about it together!

10. The Difficulty of Fengtian, also known as the "Rebellion of the Two Emperors and Four Kings", including the Rebellion of the Four Towns and the Jingyuan Mutiny. It was a rebellion caused by the cutting of the feudal domain during the Tang Dezong period, and Tang Dezong was forced to flee to Fengtian (now Qianxian County, Shaanxi). The difficulty of Fengtian is one of the symbolic events in the middle and late Tang Dynasty and the challenge of the authority of the Tang Dynasty.

Background of the event: In the process of pacifying the Anshi Rebellion, in order to obtain temporary peace, the Tang Dynasty Zongcuo misappropriated, "carved up Hebei and paid the rebel generals", so that the Anshi generals were transformed into a festival appointed by the **, and a considerable centrifugal force was preserved. In the process of countering the rebellion, the imperial court also added the title of envoy to the assassin Shi who held the military power in the interior, resulting in a serious situation in which "Fangzhen looked at each other in the interior, the big one was more than ten prefectures, and the small one was still three or four".

Result: The difficulty of Fengtian not only became a landmark event in the decline of the late Tang Dynasty, but also a turning point for Li Shi's laissez-faire. In the later period of Li Shi's reign, he appointed traitorous ministers as ministers, and began to appoint eunuchs to important official positions. Nationwide, miscellaneous taxes have been raised, causing people to complain.

9. The Huangchao Rebellion refers to the popular uprising led by Huangchao from the fifth year of Qianfu (878) to the fourth year of Zhonghe (884), which was the follow-up to Wang Xianzhi's uprising. It was also the peasant uprising that lasted the longest, spread the most, and had the most far-reaching impact in the late Tang Dynasty. The Huangchao Rebellion turned to nearly half of the Tang Dynasty, leading to a great decline in national power at the end of the Tang Dynasty.

At the end of 874 AD, Wang Xianzhi raised the banner of a peasant uprising in Changyuan, and within a few days, thousands of people responded. Huang Chao was pleasantly surprised when he heard the news. He immediately led the smuggler and his brother and nephew Huang Kuo and Huang Enye to raise troops in Yiju (now southwest of Heze City, Shandong) to respond to Wang Xianzhi, which opened the vigorous Huangchao Uprising at the end of the Tang Dynasty.

The Huangchao Uprising, which adopted the method of mobile warfare, avoided the real and attacked the weak, traveled all over the vast areas of today's Shandong, Henan, Anhui, Zhejiang, Jiangxi, Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, Hunan, Hubei, Shaanxi and other provinces, and shook the rule of the Tang Dynasty. However, due to the long-term mobile warfare, the lack of a stable rear, and the lack of economic security and mass base, it was difficult to sustain itself, and the rebel army was finally defeated.

8. Introduction to the Shenlong Coup: The Empress Wu Zetian ** period appeared in ancient Chinese history, but in the end, because of a certificate, the empress's son Li regained the throne. This coup d'état is also known as the Shenlong Coup. What is the Shenlong coup d'état, its specific occurrence and outcome have specific historical backgrounds and conditions.

Wu Zetian, as the empress of the Li Tang Dynasty, already held heavy power and became the actual controller of the power of the Li Tang family. In the end, Wu Zetian directly proclaimed himself emperor, abolished the throne of her son Li Xian, and established the Wu Zhou world. However, in his later years, Wu Zetian's physical condition deteriorated, and he lost his wise judgment on the situation in the DPRK and China. In his later years, Wu Zetian began to favor Zhang Yizhi and Zhang Changzong's brothers, promoted them many times, and rewarded them with knighthoods. There was already a lot of opposition to the establishment of Wu Zhou, and as Wu Zetian grew old, the issue of the heir to the throne needed to be solved more and more. Thoughts emerged in the DPRK to support the restoration of the Lee family. After the Zhang brothers were favored, they were domineering, sowing discord and forcing Wu Zetian's son Li Xian's daughter and son-in-law to death, which caused Li Xian's hatred. When the issue of heirs was discussed among the ministers, Wu Zetian agreed to recall Li Xian. After Li Xian returned to the court, when Wu Zetian was ill, he took the opportunity to launch a mutiny with the generals. Li Xian, along with other Li family forces who supported the coup, broke into Wu Zetian's palace and killed the Zhang brothers, forcing Wu Zetian to abdicate. What happened to the Shenlong coup, this is how the Shenlong coup happened.

Wu Zetian had no choice but to agree to let me Yu Li Xian. This coup d'état is therefore also known as the Shenlong Coup. After this coup d'état, Li Tang was fully revived, and the subsequent reign of Li Longji ushered in another prosperous era of the Tang Dynasty.

7. The Anshi Rebellion was a war launched by Tang Dynasty generals An Lushan and Shi Siming after betraying the Tang Dynasty from the end of Xuanzong to the early years of Emperor Daizong (December 16, 755 to February 17, 763). This civil war caused a large loss of population and a sharp decline in the national strength of the Tang Dynasty. Because the commanders who launched the anti-Tang rebellion were mainly An Lushan and Shi Siming, the incident was named An Shi. And because it broke out in the Tianbao period of Tang Xuanzong, it is also known as the Tianbao Rebellion.

The Tang Dynasty began to decline from prosperity to decline from the Anshi Rebellion, and finally went to extinction, which shows the great impact of the Anshi Rebellion on the development of the Tang Dynasty. So who put down the Anshi Rebellion? In addition to Tang Suzong, who stabilized the morale of the army, that is Guo Ziyi and Li Guangbi, two generals.

1, Guo Ziyi: If you want to say who pacified the Anshi Rebellion, then Guo Ziyi must be the first to take the lead. Guo Ziyi was a famous general in the Tang Dynasty, after the outbreak of the Anshi Rebellion, the crown prince Li Heng ascended the throne in Lingwu and canonized Guo Ziyi as the envoy of Fang Jie Du (Lingwu, in present-day Lingwu West, Ningxia), and ordered him to crusade against An Lushan. Guo Ziyi led the army to recover Luoyang and Chang'an successively, ranking first in quelling the rebellion, and was promoted to the Zhongshu Order and the king of Fenyang County.

Guo Ziyi's role in the Anshi Rebellion is huge, some people say that because of Guo Ziyi's existence, the Tang Dynasty can achieve peace for more than 20 years. The meaning of this sentence is that Guo Ziyi has great power, but the court does not suspect that he will rebel, Guo Ziyi is highly meritorious, but the emperor will not suspect him. It can be seen that the history books have a high evaluation of Guo Ziyi.

2, Li Guangbi: Li Guangbi and Guo Ziyi are very good friends, after the outbreak of the Anshi Rebellion, Guo Ziyi suggested that Tang Suzong (Tang Xuanzong's son Li Xiang) promote Li Guangbi as a general to pacify the Anshi Rebellion together. In terms of military exploits and military talents, Li Guangbi must be better than Guo Ziyi. Li Guangbi was the commander in charge of quelling the Anshi Rebellion, and when asked who pacified the Anshi Rebellion, of course, we can't forget him, he was the first hero to "rebuild the Tang Dynasty." It should be noted that Li Guangbi is not Han but Khitan. But as long as it is a brief introduction to the Anshi Rebellion, the names of the two of them will inevitably be mentioned.

Sixth, the prosperous era of Kaiyuan.

After Tang Xuanzong Li Longji ascended the throne, the way of governing the country was to promote culture and education with the Taoist Qingjing Wuwei thought, appointing virtuous Yao Chong, Song Jing, etc., reforming official positions, rectifying the rule of officials, and after the hard work of Tang Xuanzong in the Kaiyuan period, the national strength of the Tang Dynasty reached its peak, forming a prosperous situation of "three years and one plan, and all countries tend to Heluo".

Due to the series of positive measures taken by Tang Xuanzong Li Longji and the hard work of the broad masses of the people, the Tang Dynasty was able to rule the world and develop rapidly. During this period, the Tang Dynasty reached a very high level in all aspects, the national strength was unprecedentedly strong, the social economy was unprecedentedly prosperous, and the population also increased substantially, the population of the Tang Dynasty reached 80 million during the Tianbao period, and the state financial revenue was stable.

Commerce is very developed, the domestic traffic extends in all directions, the city is more prosperous, the foreign world is growing, Persia, big food merchants come one after another, Chang'an, Luoyang, Guangzhou and other metropolises businessmen gather, all kinds of colors, different languages of businessmen wear different clothes to come and go, very lively. The Tang Dynasty entered its heyday, and Chinese feudal society reached its peak stage. Because the era name was "Kaiyuan" at that time, it was known as "Kaiyuan Prosperous Era", which was also the most glorious period in the history of the Tang Dynasty.

Fifth, the Wu Zhou Dynasty Tang.

After the middle of Tang Gaozong, the real power of the imperial court was gradually held by Wu Zetian. Wu Zetian was originally a talented person of Taizong of the Tang Dynasty, and after Taizong's death, he was summoned to the palace by Gaozong, won the power struggle, and was made the queen. In 660 AD, Li Zhi asked her to deal with the government due to physical reasons, so she was called the "two sages" together with Tang Gaozong. In 683, Tang Gaozong died in the Zhenguan Hall of Ziwei Palace, and the crown prince Li Xian ascended the throne for Tang Zhongzong. In 684, Wu Zetian deposed him as the king of Luling because of Li Xian's disagreement with him, and set up his fourth son Li Dan as the emperor, which was Tang Ruizong; At the same time, the Yuanguang Mansion was changed, and the eastern capital Luoyang (Luoyang Palace was built when Taizong of the Tang Dynasty, and Gaozong changed it to the eastern capital) as the capital of the gods.

Wu Zhou Dynasty Tang, also known as the "Wu Zhou Revolution". In the autumn and July of the first year (690), Xue Huaiyi and other Buddhist monks wrote the "Great Cloud Sutra", saying that Wu Zetian was the Maitreya Buddha and should be the king of Tang. So Wu Zetian ordered the states to set up the Dayun Temple to promote.

On September 3, the first year of Zaichu (690), Fu Youyi led more than 900 people in Guanzhong to come to the Shendu to ask Wu Zetian to change the name of the country to Zhou, and give the emperor the surname Wu, but Wu Zetian did not allow it; So there are more than 60,000 civil and military officials, imperial relatives, people from near and far, Siyi kings, and Shamen Taoist priests, all of whom are on the table, and Tang Ruizong also asked for the surname Wu.

On September 5, Wuyin, the ministers said: "A phoenix flew into Shangyang Palace from Mingtang and landed on the sycamore tree of Suzheng Terrace. "Wu Zetian went to **; After a long time, the phoenix flew to the southeast, and it happened that Wu Zetian arrived, and at this time, tens of thousands of Vermilion Birds gathered in the court and refused to leave. Seeing this scene, a minister immediately knelt on the ground and explained to Wu Zetian: "The phoenix symbolizes you, the God Emperor, it flew to the Suzheng Terrace and left after seeing you, which is to imply that you ascended the throne and changed the name of the country to Zhou; If you still don't ascend the throne, it will be against the will of heaven, and the Suzaku will not leave, and we will not be able to kneel for a long time! ”

On September 7, Wu Zetian approved the invitation of Tang Ruizong and his ministers. On September 9th, Wu Zetian Yuze Tianmen, amnesty the world, changed Tang to Zhou, changed Yuan Tianzhu, and set the capital of Shendu (Luoyang). On September 11, the Emperor was called the Holy Spirit Emperor, and the emperor was demoted to the emperor's heir, and the surname Wu was given; The next day, the seven temples of the Wu clan were established in the divine capital.

In 690, Wu Zetian pacified Xu Jingye to rebel, abolished Tang Ruizong, and changed the country name to Zhou (known as Wu Zhou in history), and reduced Li Dan to the emperor's heir, becoming the only female emperor in Chinese history. During Wu Zetian's reign in power and proclamation as emperor, the imperial examination system was further improved; She pioneered the palace examination and martial arts, cracked down on the Guanlong group, and vigorously promoted the ** from the imperial examination, known as the "North Gate Bachelor", many scholars from the Central Plains, Kanto and Jiangnan were promoted, such as Di Renjie, Zhang Cambodia, Zhang Renyuan, Yao Chong and other famous ministers. During the reign of Wu Zetian as emperor, the social culture and art also made progress, when Buddhism flourished, Buddhist temples were built frequently during this period, and the expansion of the Longmen Grottoes was its representative. The history is called "the concept of inheritance of chastity, the beginning of the new century" or "the opening of the political system, the concept of governance of the grand and chaste".

Fourth, the Weishui Alliance, also known as the Benqiao Alliance, refers to the alliance between Li Shimin, Taizong of the Tang Dynasty after the Xuanwumen Change, and the two Khans of the invading Eastern Turks, Jieli and Turki.

In 626 AD, the Turks attacked Jingyang (now Jingyang County, Shaanxi), which was only 40 miles away from Chang'an, and the Beijing division was shaken. At this time, the number of troops in Chang'an was only tens of thousands, and Li Shimin, Taizong of the Tang Dynasty, set up a suspicious plan, and personally led Gao Shilian, Fang Xuanling and other 6 people to talk to Jieli Khan across the Weishui River, and angrily reprimanded Jieli and Tuli Khan for breaking the contract. "Zizhi Tongjian" records that Tang Taizong killed the white horse and concluded the "Weishui Alliance" with the Turkic Khan, and the Turkic soldiers retreated.

Although the Weishui Alliance made Li Shimin very humiliated, it also preserved the nascent Tang Dynasty, stabilized the foundation of the Tang Dynasty, and gave Li Shimin enough time to recover his national strength.

3. The rule of Zhenguan is the governance of Qingming politics, economic recovery, and cultural prosperity that appeared during the reign of Tang Taizong in the early years of the Tang Dynasty, which was a stage of vigorous development in the history of the Tang Dynasty. Tang Taizong inherited the national policy of respecting ancestors and respecting Taoism formulated by Tang Gaozu, and further carried it forward, used Taoist thought to govern the country and level the world, and made great efforts to govern the world, and gradually formed a situation of governing the world.

Tang Taizong Li Shimin is a generation of heroes in Chinese history, and his achievements have been praised by later generations. After Tang Taizong ascended the throne, because he witnessed the rise and fall of the Great Sui, he often used Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty as a negative teaching material to warn himself and his subordinates. Like Xunzi, he compared the relationship between the people and the monarch to water and boats, realizing that "water can carry boats and can also overturn boats".

Therefore, pay attention to the rule of officials, select talents and appoint talents, and follow the advice. Because Tang Taizong was able to appoint people incorruptibly, know how to make good use of people, and reuse Wei Zheng and other ministers; It also adopted some policies such as agriculture-oriented, strict economy, recuperation, cultural and educational rejuvenation, and improvement of the imperial examination system, which led to a stable situation in society; At that time, he vigorously pacified the external troubles, respected the customs of the border tribes, and stabilized the frontier.

At that time, the era name was "Zhenguan" (627 649), so the history is called "Zhenguan Zhizhi". This was the first reign of the Tang Dynasty, and at the same time laid a solid foundation for the later reign of Kaiyuan. During this period, the national prestige of the Tang Dynasty spread far and wide. Taizong was revered as the "Heavenly Khan" by the Northwest States and became the leader of the international alliance in the East at that time.

2. The Xuanwu Gate Incident was a coup d'état launched by Li Shimin, the second son of Tang Gaozu Li Yuan, near the north palace gate of the Taiji Palace in Chang'an City (now Xi'an, Shaanxi Province), the capital of the Tang Dynasty.

In the process of raising troops against the Sui, the Li brothers still cooperated tacitly until the establishment of the Tang Dynasty. The crown prince knew that his military exploits and prestige were inferior to those of the people, and he was jealous, so he united with his younger brother Li Yuanji, the king of Qi, to squeeze out and frame Li Shimin together; Following Wei Zheng's guidance, he subdued Liu Heimin, who was heavily damaged by Li Shimin, and tried to regain military power, and Li Yuan also tried to appoint Pei Lian, which eventually led to a big defeat and had to use Li Shimin to lead the troops again.

The meritorious group headed by Li Shimin, in order to protect themselves, launched a mutiny in Xuanwumen, Li Shimin personally shot the prince Li Jiancheng, and afterwards Li Yuan established Li Shimin as the prince, and two months later Chan gave up the throne, which was for Tang Taizong, the year name Zhenguan, and opened the 23-year "rule of Zhenguan".

By: On July 2, 626 AD, Li Shimin led the eldest grandson Wuji, Yu Chigong, Hou Junji, Zhang Gongjin, Liu Shili, Gongsun Wuda, Dugu Yanyun, Du Junxuan, Zheng Rentai, Li Mengwei (one said to be the eldest grandson Wuji, Yu Chigong, Fang Xuanling, Du Ruhui, Yu Wenshiji, Gao Shilian, Hou Junji, Cheng Zhijie, Qin Qiong, Duan Zhixuan, Qu Tutong, Zhang Shigui) and others into the court, and laid an ambush at Xuanwu Gate. Li Jiancheng and Li Yuanji didn't know the details, so they also entered the court together and rode to the Xuanwu Gate. At this time, Gao Zu had already summoned Pei Lian, Xiao Yu, Chen Shuda, Feng Deyi, Pei Ju and others to prepare to inspect this matter.

Li Jiancheng and Li Yuanji came to the Linhu Palace, noticed the change, and immediately turned their horses' heads, preparing to return to the East Palace and the Qi Palace. Li Shimin followed behind and called them, Li Yuanji was weak-hearted, and first opened his bow and shot an arrow at Li Shimin, but because he was in a hurry, he didn't pull the bow full two or three times in a row, and the arrow was not shot. Li Shimin shot Li Jiancheng with a bow and killed him with an arrow.

Wei Chigong led seventy cavalry men to arrive one after another, and the soldiers around him shot Li Yuanji with arrows, and Li Yuanji fell off his horse. But at this moment, Li Shimin's mount was frightened, and he ran into the woods next to the Xuanwu Gate with Li Shimin, and Li Shimin was caught by the branches in the forest, fell off his horse, fell to the ground, and couldn't get up for a while. Li Yuanji quickly arrived, grabbed the bow, and was about to strangle Li Shimin, but at this moment, Wei Chi Gong jumped on his horse and rushed to stop him loudly. Li Yuanji knew that he was not an opponent, so he hurriedly let go of Li Shimin and wanted to run into the Wude Hall to seek protection from his father, but Wei Chigong quickly caught up with him and shot him to death with an arrow.

Feng Li, a subordinate of Prince Li Jiancheng and the general of the Yiwei Che Cavalry, learned that Jiancheng had died, and sighed: "Can you receive favors during the prince's lifetime, and the prince will escape the disaster as soon as he dies!" So, he and the deputy protector Xue Wanche and Qu Zhifu left chariot Xie Shufang led 2,000 elite soldiers and horses from the East Palace and the Qi Palace, and galloped to Xuanwu Gate, preparing to avenge the crown prince and the King of Qi.

Zhang Gong was so strong that he closed the gate alone, blocking Feng Li and the others, and Feng Li and the others could not enter. Yunlu general Jing Junhong was in charge of the Su Guard Army and was stationed at Xuanwu Gate. He stood up and prepared to go into battle, but those close to him stopped him and said, "The matter is not clear, so let's observe the development of the situation slowly, and wait until the forces are gathered and form an array before going to war." ”

Jing Junhong did not listen, so he and Zhonglang General Lu Shiheng shouted loudly and rushed towards the enemy formation, but they were all killed. The soldiers guarding the Xuanwu Gate fought hard with Xue Wanche and others, which lasted for a long time, Xue Wanche beat drums and shouted, preparing to attack the Qin Palace, and the soldiers were greatly frightened. At this time, Wei Chi Gong carried the heads of Jiancheng and Yuanji to Xue Wanche and others on the city tower, and the people of the East Palace and the Qi Palace's Mansion lost their fighting spirit and quickly dispersed, while Xue Wanche and dozens of cavalry fled into Zhongnan Mountain. After Feng Li killed Jing Junhong, he said to his subordinates: "This can also repay His Royal Highness the Crown Prince a little." So he threw away his weapon and fled. At this point, the coup ended with the victory of Li Shimin, the king of Qin.

The impact of the Xuanwumen Change: The positive impact was that Li Shimin moved away from the stumbling block of his eldest brother Li Jiancheng, ascended to the emperor's throne as he wished, and began a series of peaceful and prosperous times in the Tang Dynasty.

The negative impact was to challenge the primogeniture inheritance system, and later Li Shimin's 9 sons dared to compete for the throne precisely because of Li Shimin's learning tablet, and the result was that Li Shimin's sons did not end well except for Tang Gaozong.

First, the Tang Dynasty unification war, is the Tang Dynasty after the establishment of the Tang Dynasty, the Sui Dynasty in the last years of the establishment of the secession regime in various parts of China to carry out the unification war, after three military and political activities, the Tang Dynasty not only consolidated the Guanzhong base area, but also expanded the territory, the power has been developed, can concentrate on the Central Plains and Jiangnan, to achieve the goal of unification, in addition to Shuofang's Liang Emperor Liang Shidu, the Tang Dynasty has established its own rule in the whole country, and finally the Tang Dynasty was able to sweep away the heroes, reunify the world, Li Shimin played a huge role in this unification war.

Background: The Sui Dynasty was torn apart by the onslaught of peasant uprisings and wars, and the aristocracy, officials, and powerful landlords supported the army and divided the territory. Sui Taiyuan stayed behind Li Yuan to take the opportunity to raise troops, seize the capital Chang'an, and proclaimed himself emperor in the 14th year of Sui Daye (the first year of Tang Wude, 618), established the Tang Dynasty, and changed the Yuan Wude. However, at this time, the Tang Dynasty only occupied a corner of the relevant central (present-day Shaanxi) and Hedong (present-day Shanxi), and there were still several large and small local rebel armies or separatist forces in the country. At that time, the main separatist forces were: Xue Ju, Li Rail, Liu Wuzhou, Liang Shidu, Wang Shichong, Xiao Miao, Lin Shihong, Dou Jiande, Du Fuwei, etc. In order to unify China, Li Yuan adopted the strategy of first consolidating Guanzhong, attacking the Central Plains in the east, and then pacifying the south of the Yangtze River. Thus, the Tang Dynasty began a war to unify the whole country.

History: The unification war of the Tang Dynasty mainly included the war led by Li Shimin, the king of Qin, to pacify Xue Ju, Xue Rengao and his son, Liu Wuzhou, Song Jingang, Wang Shichong, Dou Jiande, and Liu Heimin, the war with Li Xiaogong, the king of Zhaojun, and Li Jing, the war to pacify Xiao Mill and Fu Gongyi, the war of Du Fuwei, the king of Wu, to pacify Li Zitong and Lin Shihong, and the war of the crown prince Li Jiancheng to pacify Liu Heimin.

Evaluation: Li Yuan, Li Shimin, father and son, took advantage of the power of the peasant uprising to eliminate the main force of the Sui army and weaken the separatist forces, relying on their own background and political and military experience, to complete the grand cause of unifying the whole country, and avoid the recurrence of the historical period. A unified Tang Dynasty that emerged in Chinese history and stood in the East of the world.

The Tang Dynasty, when the country was rich and the people were strong, although the political leaders changed frequently, gave future generations the impression of stability and prosperity and the joy of the people. But even so, such a prosperous and wealthy Tang Dynasty experienced nearly 100 wars.

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