Emperor Shunzong of Tang

Emperor Shunzong of Tang (February to March 761 – February 11, 806 In 779, after the death of Li Yu (who was then emperor, as Emperor Daizong) and Li Kuo's ascension (as Emperor Dezong), Li Song was created the Prince of Xuan. In 780, he was created Crown Prince.

In 783, when a mutiny by soldiers from Jingyuan Circuit (涇原, headquartered in Pingliang, Gansu) forced Emperor Dezong to abandon Chang'an and flee to Fengtian (奉天, in modern Xianyang, Shaanxi), Li Song accompanied Emperor Dezong to Fengtian, and was said to have personally protected Emperor Dezong during the journey to Fengtian, along with his younger brother Li Yi the Prince of Pu. After the Jingyuan soldiers supported the general Zhu Ci as their emperor (of a new state of Qin), Zhu put Fengtian under siege, and Li Song was said to have personally participated in the defense of Fengtian, including personally encouraging soldiers and attending to the wounded.

After the rebellion was put down and Emperor Dezong and his family returned to Chang'an, Li Song's position was endangered over an incident involving his grandaunt/mother-in-law Princess Gao. As of 787, the chancellor Zhang Yanshang had discovered that the imperial guard officer Li Sheng was secretly visiting Princess Gao, and he came to suspect that Li Sheng, whose father Li Shuming was a political enemy of Zhang's, was having an affair with Princess Gao. Initially, at the advice of another chancellor, Li Mi—who feared that an investigation would taint Li Song—Emperor Dezong took no actions against anyone other than to transfer Li Sheng out of the imperial guards to avoid contact with Princess Gao. However, by fall 787, the incident had flared up in public, as accusations were made that Princess Gao, who often visited Li Song's palace, was having affairs not only with Li Sheng, but also with other officials Xiao Ding , Li Wan , and Wei Ke ; worse, she was also accused of secretly using witchcraft to curse Emperor Dezong. Emperor Dezong, in anger, imprisoned Princess Gao and became angry at Li Song. Li Song, fearing the taint, divorced Crown Princess Xiao, but Emperor Dezong's anger did not recede, and he considered replacing Li Song as crown prince with Li Yi. At Li Mi's earnest opposition, Emperor Dezong ultimately decided not to do so. The former crown princess was later killed on Emperor Dezong's orders, during a time when Li Song was ill.

In 795, after the former chancellor Lu Zhi and several of his associates was exiled due to false accusations by Emperor Dezong's favorite Pei Yanling, the imperial scholar Yang Cheng led a group of junior officials in petitioning Emperor Dezong in protesting Lu's innocence, drawing Emperor Dezong's anger toward them. Emperor Dezong were initially set to punish Yang and the other junior officials, but after Li Song spoke on their behalf, Emperor Dezong did not do so. It was also said that it was Li Song's urging that Pei and another favorite of Emperor Dezong's, Wei Qumou , who were poorly regarded by the people, were not made chancellors.

In winter 804, Li Song had a stroke that left him partially paralyzed and unable to speak. When subsequently, Emperor Dezong became ill as well, members of the imperial family attended to him, but Li Song was unable to do so. This saddened Emperor Dezong greatly and caused his own conditions to grow worse, and he died on February 25, 805. Initially, the palace eunuchs expressed the opinion that perhaps Li Song should not succeed to the throne, but after the imperial scholar Wei Cigong spoke firmly in Li Song's favor, and Li Song, despite his illness, appeared to show that he was not completely incapacitated, he was able to succeed to the throne (as Emperor Shunzong). the edict was promulgated, and Li Chun was officially installed as crown prince.

Meanwhile, Wang Shuwen tried to seize the control of the Shence Army from the powerful eunuchs by putting the senior general Fan Xichao in command of the Shence Army units on the western border, with Han Tai as Fan's deputy. However, the eunuchs realized this and ordered the Shence Army soldiers not to obey Fan's orders; when Fan arrived at his command, the officers would not even welcome him, and he and Han Tai were forced to return to Chang'an. The eunuchs also reacted by having Wang Shuwen technically promoted—to be the deputy minister of census—but stripped of his status as imperial scholar (which both he and Wang Pi had been made) to make it difficult for him to handle the affairs of state. Wang Shuwen also offended the regional warlords by trying to execute Yang Shi'e and Liu Pi, two subordinate officials sent to Chang'an to make demands on the central government on behalf of their superiors (the executions were not carried out due to Wei Zhiyi's opposition). Liu Pi's superior Wei Gao, the military governor (Jiedushi) of Xichuan Circuit (西川, headquartered in modern Chengdu, Sichuan), subsequently submitted a harshly worded petition accusing Wang Shuwen and his associates of crimes, and also wrote a letter to Li Chun urging him to take over as regent. Wei Gao's petition was subsequently echoed by other military governors Pei Jun and Yan Shou , causing much alarm for Wang Shuwen and his associates. Emperor Shunzong issued an edict making Li Chun regent, and on August 31, he issued another edict yielding the throne to Li Chun (as Emperor Xianzong). Emperor Shunzong himself took the title of Taishang Huang (retired emperor) while giving Li Chun's mother Consort Wang the title of Taishang Huanghou (太上皇后, "retired empress").

As retired emperor In winter 805, the hermit Luo Lingze went from Chang'an to Purun (普潤, in modern Baoji, Shaanxi) and stated to Liu Yong the prefect of Qin Prefecture (秦州, which had its seat at Purun) that he had an edict from Emperor Shunzong ordering Liu to start a rebellion to depose Emperor Xianzong and support a new emperor. Liu arrested Luo and delivered him to Chang'an, where Luo and his associates were caned to death. There is no record in history suggesting that Emperor Shunzong approved or knew of Luo's actions. He died on February 11, 806.

The Old Book of Tang included a commentary by Han Yu about Emperor Shunzong:

Chancellors during reign Du You (805) Jia Dan (805) Gao Ying (805) Zheng Xunyu (805) Wei Zhiyi (805) Du Huangchang (805) Yuan Zi (805)

Family Crown Princess Hui, of the Xiao clan of Lanling (; d. 790), first cousin once removed Empress Zhuangxian, of the Wang clan of Langya (; 763–816) Li Chun, Xianzong (; 778–820), first son Princess Hanyang (; d. 840), personal name Chang , first daughter Married Guo Cong of Huayin, Duke Taiyuan (; d. 822) Princess Lianggongjing (; d. 850), personal name Zixu , second daughter Married Zheng He of Xingyang (; 780–824) Li Wan, Prince of Fu (; d. 861), 15th son Princess Yun'an Married Liu Shijing Virtuous Consort, of the Dong clan (德妃 董氏) Lady of Bright Deportment, of the Wang clan Li Jing, Prince of Tan (; d. 834), second son Lady of Bright Deportment, of the Wang clan Li Zong, Prince of Huan (; d. 808), seventh son Li Yue, Prince of Shao (; d. 806), eighth son Li Gun, Prince of Yue (; d. 828), 18th son Lady of Bright Deportment, of the Zhao clan Li Jie, Prince of Song (; d. 822), ninth son Lady of Bright Deportment, of the Cui clan Princess Xunyang , 18th daughter Lady of Bright Countenance, of the Niu clan Lady of Clear Instruction, of the Yan clan Li Xuan, Prince of Heng (; d. 826), 12th son Lady of Clear Instruction, of the Cui clan Princess Linru , 21st daughter Lady, of the Chen clan Princess Wen'an (; 793–828), 17th daughter Unknown Li Wei, Prince of Jun (; d. 837), third son Li Zong, Prince of Xu (; d. 837), fourth son Li Shu, Prince of Ju (; d. 834), fifth son Li Chou, Prince of Mi (; d. 807), sixth son Li Xiang, Prince of Ji (; d. 823) Li Qiu, Prince of Ji (; d. 835), tenth son Li Qi, Prince of He (; d. 833), 11th son Li Ji, Prince of Qin , 13th son Li Xun, Prince of Hui (; d. 810), 14th son Li Shan, Prince of Zhen , 16th son Li Hong, Prince of Fu (; d. 876), 17th son Li Shen, Prince of Yuan (; d. 860), 19th son Li Lun, Prince of Gui (; d. 814), 20th son Li Chuo, Prince of Yi (; d. 862), 21st son Li Ji, Prince of Qi (; d. 867), 22nd son Princess Dongyang Married Cui Qi of Boling (/) Princess Xihe Married Shen Hui of Wuxing , and had issue (one son) Married Guo Xian of Huayin (; 786–822) Princess Xiangyang Married Zhang Keli , and had issue (one son) Princess Guo Married Wang Chengxi , the third son of Wang Shizhen, in 805 Princess Puyang Princess Ping'en , 22nd daughter Princess Shaoyang , 23rd daughter