Emperor Xuanzong of Tang

• 1. Introduction

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  Emperor Xuanzong of Tang, whose personal name was Li Longji, held the throne of the Tang dynasty for 44 years - the longest reign of any Tang emperor. He was born on the 8th of September 685 at Luoyang, the dynasty's eastern capital, into a court where his grandmother Wu Zetian, not his father, held actual power. That tension between inherited privilege and real authority would shadow his entire life. By the time he died on the 3rd of May 762, he had watched his empire go from its greatest height to near collapse. He had presided over what later historians called a golden age, and then presided over its destruction. How does a ruler who began his reign by purging corrupt factions and appointing brilliant chancellors end it fleeing his own capital, forced to order the death of the woman he loved? The answers lie in a life shaped by two palace coups, a web of dangerous relationships, and a slow drift toward pleasure over governance.

• 2. Born into the Shadow Court

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  Luoyang in 685 was a court within a court. Li Longji's father, Emperor Ruizong, held the title of emperor but not the power. His grandmother Wu Zetian ruled as empress dowager and regent, and in 690 she went further, forcing Ruizong to yield the throne to her entirely as she proclaimed a new Zhou dynasty. She imposed her own surname Wu on Ruizong and his children. Li Longji, created the Prince of Chu in 687, grew up watching power stripped away from his family one step at a time. In 693, the blow became personal. His mother, Consort Dou, and Ruizong's wife Crown Princess Liu were killed inside the palace after a lady-in-waiting falsely accused them of using witchcraft against Wu Zetian. Not even their bodies were recovered. Li Longji and his brothers had their titles reduced and were confined inside the palace, barred from contact with the outside world until 699. These early years taught him something that would define his reign: that survival in the Tang court required alliances built before the crisis came.

• 3. Two Coups, One Throne

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  On the 21st of July 710, Li Longji moved first. Emperor Zhongzong had died suddenly that summer - traditional historians believed he was poisoned by his own wife, Empress Wei, so she could seize power as Wu Zetian had. Li Longji had spent his time in Chang'an quietly cultivating the commanders of the imperial guards, sensing the danger. When the official Cui Riyong leaked Empress Wei's plans to eliminate his father Li Dan and Princess Taiping, Li Longji acted. He conspired with Princess Taiping, several low-level officials, and three guard officers - Ge Fushun, Chen Xuanli, and Li Xianfu - whose men had been alienated by Empress Wei's harsh nephews. They struck on that July night without first informing Li Dan, killing Wei Bo and Gao Song and then storming the palace. Empress Wei fled to an imperial guard camp where a guard beheaded her. Li Guo'er the Princess Anle, and Wu Yanxiu were killed as well. Empress Wei's body was displayed in the street. Li Dan was persuaded back onto the throne as Emperor Ruizong. Two years later, Li Longji faced a second fight - this time against Princess Taiping herself. By summer 713 she had five of the seven chancellors as her associates and was reportedly plotting to poison the aphrodisiac gastrodia elata that Li Longji routinely consumed. On the 29th of July 713, he struck again: 300 soldiers beheaded the generals Chang Yuankai and Li Ci at the imperial guard camp. Chancellors Jia Yingfu, Li You, Xiao Zhizhong, and Cen Xi were arrested and executed. Princess Taiping fled to a mountain temple and appeared three days later. Emperor Ruizong asked for her pardon; Li Longji refused. He ordered her to commit suicide at home, and her assets - so vast, it reportedly took more than thirty years to finish accounting for them - were confiscated.

• 4. The Kaiyuan Golden Age

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  Emperor Xuanzong took the throne on the 8th of September 712 - his birthday - and within a year had consolidated power completely. What followed, the Kaiyuan era stretching from 713 to 741, became regarded as one of the golden ages in Chinese history: political stability, economic prosperity, and advances in education, literature, music, painting, sculpture, and religion. He reduced the chancellorship from a sprawling group to two or sometimes three at a time, a structural change that made governance sharper. His first pair - Yao Chong and Lu Huaishen - were regarded as exemplary. Yao emphasized flexibility, and the administration under his hand was described as highly efficient. When a massive locust infestation struck central China around 716, Yao persuaded Xuanzong to mount an aggressive extermination campaign that reportedly kept a major famine at bay. In winter 725, at Zhang Yue's urging, Xuanzong carried out a grand sacrificial ceremony at Mount Tai. The historian Sima Guang later catalogued the chancellors of the Kaiyuan era with admiration: Yao Chong emphasized flexibility, Song Jing emphasized rule of law, Zhang Jiazhen emphasized administrative skill, Zhang Shuo emphasized literary talent, and Han Xiu and Zhang Jiuling emphasized honesty. Xuanzong also began reorganizing border defense, establishing the office of jiedushi - military governor - beginning with the Longyou Circuit headquartered in what is now Haidong, Qinghai. The jiedushi system would gradually extend to nine circuits and multiple special districts, concentrating military power at the frontiers. By 749 the empire was said to be so wealthy that Xuanzong regarded treasures as expendable and distributed them without limit.

• 5. Frontiers and Frictions

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  The Tang empire under Xuanzong pressed against the known world on every side, and the friction was constant. To the west, the Tibetan Empire, the Umayyad Caliphate, and Tang were locked in a three-way contest for the Xiyu region - roughly modern Xinjiang and Central Asia. In 715, Tang forces commanded by the general Zhang Xiaosong restored a deposed king in Bahanna after a rival backed by Tibet and the Umayyad took power. On the 15th of August 717, Arab, Tibetan, and Turgesh forces attacked both Uch Turfan and Aksu simultaneously. Qarluqs serving under Chinese command defeated the assault; the Arab commander Al-Yashkuri fled to Tashkent. On the northern steppe, the death of Qapaghan Qaghan of the Gokturks in 716 - killed in battle against the Bayegu - reduced the Gokturk threat, though they remained capable of serious damage. In 720 the Gokturk general Tonyukuk defeated the Tang garrison at Liang Prefecture. To the northeast, the Khitan general Ketugan seized power among his people around 730 after killing the Tang-backed king Li Shaogu, forcing the Xi king to flee to Tang. By 732, a Tang force under Li Hui dealt Ketugan a serious defeat, though he was not captured; Ketugan died in an internal power struggle around the new year of 735. On the southern front, the loss of the Battle of Talas in 751 against the Abbasid Caliphate cost Tang its westward expansion. That same year, a major offensive against the Nanzhao kingdom in what is now Yunnan failed, eventually contributing to a total of some 200,000 casualties among Tang troops. The borders that had seemed manageable were quietly becoming the instrument of the empire's unraveling.

• 6. The Long Slide

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  By 736, sources describe Xuanzong as tired of important affairs of state and growing wasteful and exuberant. The chancellor who noticed - Zhang Jiuling - found himself losing influence, while Li Linfu, who had allied with Consort Wu and later with Yang Guifei's family, tightened his grip on the government. Historians called Li Linfu's ascendancy the turning point. He discouraged criticism, ended the relative freedom officials had to propose measures to the emperor, and used secret police to manufacture evidence against rivals. In 737, with no Zhang Jiuling to protect him, the crown prince Li Ying was deposed and forced to commit suicide. In 747, Li Linfu staged a talent examination that produced no successful candidates; he then congratulated Xuanzong that no talent had been overlooked by the administration. Meanwhile Xuanzong became infatuated with Yang Yuhuan, the wife of his own son, Prince of Shou Li Mao. He arranged for her to become a Taoist nun, found Li Mao a new wife, and then secretly brought Yang into the palace, where she became Yang Guifei - Noble Consort Yang. It was said that her cousins Yang Guozhong, Yang Xian, and Yang Qi, along with her three sisters created Ladies of Han, Guo, and Qin, accumulated wealth that topped all households in Chang'an by 748. When Li Linfu died in winter 752, Yang Guozhong succeeded him - and almost immediately accused the dead Li Linfu of complicity in rebellion, ensuring Li Linfu was posthumously disgraced and his family exiled. Yang Guozhong then began provoking An Lushan, the general who commanded the most elite troops in the empire.

• 7. Rebellion and Flight

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  An Lushan had built his position through flattery and military results. He had vassalized the Khitan, commanded three circuits - Fanyang, Pinglu, and Hedong - and become so trusted that when Yang Guozhong repeatedly warned Xuanzong that An was plotting rebellion, Xuanzong dismissed the warnings. In 754, Xuanzong tested An by summoning him to the capital; An arrived immediately, and Xuanzong took that as proof of his loyalty. In 755, Yang Guozhong pushed harder, surrounding An's mansion in Chang'an and arresting and executing his staff members. An, in fear and anger, rebelled from Fanyang in winter 755. He quickly captured Luoyang after defeating the undersupplied army of general Feng Changqing. Xuanzong, convinced by the eunuch Bian Lingcheng that Feng was cowardly and that Gao Xianzhi was corrupt, executed both generals - a decision that destroyed two of his most experienced commanders. The defense of Tong Pass fell to Geshu Han, whose warnings against attacking were overruled at Yang Guozhong's urging. Geshu was defeated by An's forward commander Cui Qianyou, and the pass fell. On the 14th of July 756, Xuanzong abandoned Chang'an and fled south toward Jiannan Circuit. The next day, on the 15th of July, the imperial guards accompanying him rose against Yang Guozhong and killed him, then forced Xuanzong to order Yang Guifei's death as well. On the 10th of September, word reached Xuanzong in Chengdu that his son Li Heng had already been declared Emperor Suzong on the 12th of August. Xuanzong sent the chancellors he had retained in Chengdu to formally invest Li Heng with imperial power.

• 8. The Retired Emperor

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  On the 17th of January 758, Xuanzong returned to Chang'an, which Emperor Suzong had recaptured from the rebel state of Yan with aid from the Huige. At a grand ceremony, Suzong offered the throne back; Xuanzong formally declined and personally placed the yellow imperial robe on his son, saying he had been Son of Heaven for fifty years without considering it a great honor, and was now truly honored to be the father of the Son of Heaven. He took up residence at Xingqing Palace, rebuilt from the mansion he and his brothers had shared as young princes. He fell into a routine attended by the eunuch Gao Lishi, his daughter Li Chiying the Princess Yuzhen, the lady-in-waiting Ru Xianyuan, and court musicians who played for him while he climbed Changqing Tower to receive well wishes from the people below. But the powerful eunuch Li Fuguo, who had served Suzong throughout the campaign against Yan, grew threatened by Xuanzong's attendants and began convincing Suzong that the former emperor was plotting to reclaim power. In 760, Li Fuguo intercepted Xuanzong while he was out riding and forced him back to the main palace. He expelled Chen Xuanli, exiled Gao Lishi along with Wang Cheng'en, Wei Yue, and Ru Xianyuan, and sent Li Chiying back to her Taoist temple. Stripped of his companions, Xuanzong became depressed, rarely ate meat, and grew ill. He died on the 3rd of May 762. He had time, during his years at Xingqing Palace, to remember the one piece of advice he had ignored: late in that period he sent messengers to the tomb of the chancellor Zhang Jiuling, who had long before warned him about An Lushan, to offer sacrifices there.