Tutu Chengcui - During Emperor Xianzong's Reign

During Emperor Xianzong's Reign

In 805, Emperor Dezong died, and Li Song became emperor (as Emperor Shunzong), but as Emperor Shunzong was himself severely ill at that point, he yielded the throne to Li Chun later in the year (as Emperor Xianzong). Emperor Xianzong made Tutu Chengcui Neichangshi (內常侍) — the secretary general of the eunuch bureau, serving as the acting head of the eunuch bureau. In 806, Tutu was also made the commander (中尉, Zhongwei) of the Left Shence Army (左神策軍), as well as the director of religious affairs (功德使, Gongdeshi).

In 809, one of the key military governors (Jiedushi) who had been ruling their circuits in a de facto independent manner — Wang Shizhen the military governor of Chengde Circuit (成德, headquartered in modern Shijiazhuang, Hebei) — died. Wang Shizhen's son Wang Chengzong declared himself acting military governor. In the past, these successions were routinely approved by the imperial government, but Emperor Xianzong, wanting to reassert imperial authority, hesitated in doing so and considered taking the control of Chengde back by force. The chancellor Pei Ji opposed military action, but Tutu volunteered to command an army against Wang Chengzong. Meanwhile, Lu Congshi (盧從史) the military governor of Zhaoyi Circuit (昭義, headquartered in modern Changzhi, Shanxi) wanted imperial favor, and offered, through Tutu, to attack Wang as well, causing Emperor Xianzong to consider military action further.

Meanwhile, around the same time, there was an incident where Tutu, in his role as director of religious affairs, remodeled Anguo Temple (安國寺) and, in the process, built a magnificent stele and asked for Emperor Xianzong to designate an official to author the text of the stele, to praise Emperor Xianzong. Emperor Xianzong asked the imperial scholar Li Jiang to do so, but Li Jiang pointed out that of the great rulers of antiquity, none erected monuments to praise himself, and the poorly-regarded Qin Shi Huang did. Emperor Xianzong thus ordered Tutu to destroy the stele.

To resolve the standoff, Wang Chengzong offered to surrender two of Chengde's six prefectures — De (德州, in modern Dezhou, Shandong) and Di (棣州, in modern Binzhou, Shandong) — to imperial control as a new Baoxin Circuit. Emperor Xianzong was set to accept the offer and make Wang military governor, but Wang soon retracted the offer and arrested Xue Changchao (薛昌朝), whom Emperor Xianzong was set to commission as the military governor of Baoxin. In winter 809, Emperor Xianzong stripped Wang of his titles and commissioned Tutu as the commander of the forces against Chengde. Many officials, including Bai Juyi, Li Yuansu (李元素), Li Yong, Xu Mengrong (許孟容), Li Yijian, Meng Jian (孟簡), Lü Yuanying (呂元膺), Mu Zhi (穆質), and Dugu Yu (獨孤郁), opposed the commission, arguing that generals would feel ashamed serving under a eunuch. Emperor Xianzong reduced Tutu's title slightly but kept him in command.

In spring 810, Tutu arrived at the northern front against Chengde, but it was said that he lacked the respect of the generals, and the military actions were therefore less than successful. In particular, after one key imperial general, Li Dingjin (酈定進) was killed in battle, the morale took a major blow. Meanwhile, Tutu and Emperor Xianzong became aware that while Lu Congshi had initially encouraged military action against Chengde, he was actually secretly in communications with Chengde and interfering with the military action. Tutu thus befriended Lu by giving Lu various treasures as gifts. Once Lu's guard was down, on one occasion when Lu was at Tutu's headquarters, Tutu had him arrested and had Lu's subordinate Wu Chongyin take control of the Zhaoyi army. Tutu subsequently recommended Wu to succeed Lu, but at the suggestion of Li Jiang, Emperor Xianzong made Wu the military governor of Heyang Circuit (河陽, headquartered in modern Luoyang, Henan) and made Meng Yuanyang (孟元陽) the military governor of Heyang Circuit the new military governor of Zhaoyi. After Lu's arrest, Wang submitted a petition offering to submit and accusing Lu of having alienated him from the imperial government. As imperial forces were having no success against Wang by that point, Emperor Xianzong recalled Tutu's army and exonerated Wang and his soldiers, making Wang the military governor of Chengde.

After Tutu returned to the capital Chang'an, Emperor Xianzong initially had him resume the command of the Left Shence Army. However, Pei, Duan Pingzhong (段平仲), Lü, and Li Jiang all advocated that, because Tutu was unable to defeat Wang as he promised, he should be punished. Emperor Xianzong, in response, demoted Tutu to be the director of armory supplies (軍器使, Junqishi). It was said that people celebrated Tutu's demotion.

In 811, Tutu's subordinate Liu Xiguang (劉希光) was found to have received bribes from the general Sun Rui (孫瑞) to help make Sun a military governor. Liu was forced to commit suicide, and during the investigation, Tutu was implicated. Emperor Xianzong thus demoted Tutu out of the capital to serve as the monitoring eunuch at Huainan Circuit (淮南, headquartered in modern Yangzhou, Jiangsu).

While Tutu was at Huainan, Li Yong served as military governor. It was said that while Li Yong was strict and stern, he and Tutu respected each other and did not interfere with each other. Meanwhile, in 814, with Li Jiang, who was then chancellor, repeatedly offering to resign due to a foot illness, Emperor Xianzong removed Li Jiang from his chancellor position and made him the minister of rites, with an eye toward recalling Tutu after that. He soon did so, and Tutu was again made the director of armory supplies as well as the commander of the Left Shence Army. Appreciative of the mutual respect that he had with Li Yong, in 817, he recommended Li Yong to be chancellor, and Emperor Xianzong thus recalled Li Yong to be chancellor. However, Li Yong found it shameful to be recommended by a eunuch, and upon arrival in Chang'an, he offered to resign and refused to meet his subordinates as chancellor or to carry out the duties of chancellor. Emperor Xianzong made Li Yijian chancellor instead. Meanwhile, in 818, also at Tutu's recommendation, Emperor Xianzong made Huangfu Bo a chancellor as well.