Emperor Jingzong of Tang - Reign

Reign

Emperor Jingzong honored his grandmother Empress Dowager Guo as Grand Empress Dowager, while honoring his mother Consort Wang as Empress Dowager.

Right from the start of his reign, Emperor Jingzong became known for wastefulness and a lack of diligence. His immediate acts included:

• Between the third and fifth days of his enthronement Emperor Jingzong awarded a large number of eunuchs official uniforms, colored silks, and treasures, including multiple awards.
• Spending a great amount of time on polo, feasting, games, and music (and giving lavish rewards to musicians).
• Often being very late for imperial meetings, causing officials to wait him for hours. However, when the advisory officials Li Bo (李渤) and Liu Qichu (劉栖楚) petitioned him to stop this behavior, he rewarded them and later promoted Liu, although it was unclear whether he took their advice to heart.
• When Yuchi Rui (尉遲銳), the prefect of Long Prefecture (龍州, in modern Mianyang, Sichuan) submitted a petition stating that Niuxin Mountain (牛心山) was mystically connected to the Tang Dynasty's divine protection, and that the mountain's structure should be repaired, Emperor Jingzong agreed, conscripting tens of thousands of men to work on the construction, which was difficult and dangerous. It was said that Dongchuan Circuit (東川, headquartered in modern Mianyang and which included Long Prefecture) had its strengths drained as a result.

There was a most unusual disturbance occurring at the capital Chang'an, three months after Emperor Jingzong ascended the throne. The fortune teller Su Xuanming (蘇玄明) and the imperial textile servant Zhang Shao (張韶) were friendly with each other, and Su informed Zhang that he saw, in Zhang's future, that he would sit on the imperial throne and dine with Su. Su pointed out to Zhang that because Emperor Jingzong spent his days hunting and playing games the palace would often lack security. Zhang gathered his fellow servants and street hoodlums and on a day when Emperor Jingzong was playing polo at Qingsi Hall (清思殿), Zhang and Su launched their attack on the palace. Emperor Jingzong, in panic, fled the palace to the camps of the Left Shence Army (左神策軍), commanded by the eunuch Ma Cunliang (馬存亮). Ma protected Emperor Jingzong and sent his officer Kang Yiquan (康藝全) with an army to the palace to secure it. Cavalry soldiers were also dispatched to escort Grand Empress Dowager Guo and Empress Wang to the Left Shence Army camps. Meanwhile, Zhang sat on the imperial throne and dined with Su — fulfilling Su's prophecy — but then realized what disaster he had brought on himself. He tried to flee, but by that time, Kang and the Right Shence Army (右神策軍) officer Shang Guozhong (尚國忠) had arrived at the palace. They attacked and killed Zhang, Su, and most of their followers; the surviving followers hid in the imperial gardens, but were found the next day. Emperor Jingzong did not return to the palace until the following day, and it was said that the officials and the public were all shocked and, for some time, unaware where the emperor was.

Meanwhile, Emperor Jingzong appeared to appreciate various advice for him to change his behavior, often rewarding those who offered such advice (including the future chancellors Wei Chuhou and Li Deyu), but did not seem to change his behavior. He also was often spending time with eunuchs and servants, not attending to the affairs of state. The chancellor Niu Sengru, feeling that he could do nothing in this political climate, resigned and went out of the capital to serve as a military governor (Jiedushi). Emperor Jingzong's association with the eunuchs was so close that, in 825, when Cui Fa (崔發) the magistrate of Hu County (鄠縣, in modern Xi'an, Shaanxi), on report of a disturbance, arrested some of the people involved in the disturbance — who turned out to be eunuchs — Emperor Jingzong took the arrest personally, had Cui arrested, and refused to have Cui released even after a general pardon had been declared; he further either ordered or permitted the eunuchs to batter Cui so severely that he almost died. Only after the chancellor Li Fengji pled for Cui — pointing out that Cui's mother, a sister to the former chancellor Wei Guanzhi, was old and ill — did Emperor Jingzong release Cui.

One of the few major debates as to policy during Emperor Jingzong's reign occurred in 825, when Liu Wu the military governor of Zhaoyi Circuit (昭義, headquartered in modern Changzhi, Shanxi), died, and in his will requested that his son Liu Congjian be allowed to inherit the circuit. The former chancellor Li Jiang advocated that Emperor Jingzong not allow Liu Congjian to do so and take the circuit back under imperial control. However, Li Fengji and the powerful eunuch Wang Shoucheng disagreed, and eventually, Emperor Jingzong allowed Liu Congjian to inherit the circuit.

Meanwhile, Emperor Jingzong continued to, in addition to games, have a desire to tour the realm, despite the pleas from advisory officials not to do so. For example, in 825, despite many pleas not to, he visited Mount Li (驪山). He also continued to prepare for a visit to the eastern capital Luoyang, even though such visits required great expenses — since the eastern capital, long damaged by campaigns ever since the Anshi Rebellion, required extensive repairs to its palace if it were to receive the emperor. Only after that explanation by the chancellor Pei Du in 826, as well as semi-mocking offers by the warlords Zhu Kerong and Wang Tingcou to assist the repairs, did Emperor Jingzong abandon the idea of visiting Luoyang.