Middle Zhenyuan Era
It was said that after Lu Zhi's removal, Emperor Dezong became increasingly distrusting of chancellors. He therefore personally selected all of the officials, but as he could not have actually known all of the candidates for official positions himself, he trusted the recommendations of Pei Yanling (who died in 796) and such other officials that he trusted, including Li Qiyun (李齊運), Wang Shao (王紹), Li Shi (李實), Wei Zhiyi, and Wei Qumou (韋渠牟). It was described that these people's recommendations could ruin chancellors, and that those who wanted to be promoted flattered them.
Emperor Dezong also increasingly open to tributes from regional governors, and the regional governors often submitted large amounts of tributes in order to protect their positions and gain favor from the emperor.
Also around this time, powerful eunuchs (starting with Dou Wenchang (竇文場) and Huo Xianming (霍仙鳴)) became the commanders of the Shence Army, and it was said that, as the military governors frequently were Shence Army soldiers initially, the power and authorities of the eunuchs became increasingly important.
In 799, for reasons lost to history, Wu Shaocheng, still governing Zhangyi Circuit (formerly Huaixi Circuit) at that time, began to pillage the circuits around his. Emperor Dezong ordered the military governors around Zhangyi — including Yu Di the military governor of Shannan East Circuit, Han Hong (Liu Xuanzuo's nephew) the military governor of Xuanwu Circuit, Yi Shen (伊慎) the military governor of Anhuang Circuit (安黃, headquartered in modern Xiaogan, Hubei), and Shangguan Shui (上官涗) the military governor of Chenxu Circuit (陳許, headquartered in modern Xuchang, Henan) — to attack Wu. These generals had initial successes, but without an unified command, they could not coordinate their actions, and around the new year 800, they suddenly collapsed and fled, allowing Wu to capture much of their supplies. Emperor Dezong put Han Quanyi (韓全義) the military governor of Xiasui Circuit (夏綏, headquartered in modern Yulin, Shaanxi) in command of the operations, but Han Quanyi was repeatedly defeated by Wu. At the suggestion of Wei Gao the military governor of Xichuan Circuit and the chancellor Jia Dan, Emperor Dezong pardoned Wu in late 800, ending the campaign.
Read more about this topic: Emperor Dezong Of Tang
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