Emperor Xianzong of Tang

Emperor Xianzong of Tang (4 March to 1 April 778

Emperor Xianzong's reign briefly stabilized Tang from the destructive forces of the military governors, but saw the rise of the power of eunuchs. Emperor Xianzong himself was allegedly murdered by the eunuch Chen Hongzhi in 820. (There were nagging suspicions, never proven, that Xianzong's wife Consort Guo and her son Li Heng (the later Emperor Muzong) were involved.)

Background Li Chun was born in 778, during the reign of his great-grandfather Emperor Daizong, at the Eastern Palace (i.e., the palace of his grandfather, then-Crown Prince Li Kuo). His father Li Song was Li Kuo's oldest son, and he himself was Li Song's oldest son. His mother was Li Song's concubine Consort Wang. When Li Chun was five or six, by which time Li Kuo was emperor (as Emperor Dezong), there was an occasion when Emperor Dezong held Li Chun on his lap and asked, "Who are you, such that you are in my lap?" His response of, "I am the third Son of Heaven" surprised Emperor Dezong, who thereafter showed him much favor.

In 804, Li Song (Shunzong) suffered a stroke and became unable to speak. When Emperor Dezong fell gravely ill in spring 805, Li Song was unable to visit him, and Emperor Dezong, distressed over this, died soon thereafter. After Emperor Dezong's death, the eunuchs in the palace initially considered supporting another person as emperor, but due to the objections of the imperial scholars Wei Cigong and Zheng Yin, Li Song was able to assume the throne (as Emperor Shunzong), although during Wei and Zheng's discussion with the eunuchs, the possibility of having Li Chun take the throne directly was mentioned.

Meanwhile, Wei Gao died late in 805, and his deputy Liu Pi seized power of Xichuan Circuit (西川, headquartered in modern Chengdu, Sichuan), which Wei had governed, rejecting the replacement that Emperor Xianzong sent, Yuan Zi. Emperor Xianzong, believing himself to lack the power to attack Liu at this point, initially made Liu the acting military governor. At a special imperial examinations where Emperor Xianzong ordered that low-level officials submit honest opinions about the government, several of the examinees—Niu Sengru, Li Zongmin, and Huangfu Shi stated, without using any veiled language, the issues they saw with the governance at the time. The officials that Emperor Xianzong put in charge of the examinations, Yang Yuling and Wei Guanzhi ranked them high. However, the chancellor Li Jifu saw these as severe criticisms of himself, and, weeping, accused the reviewing officials, the imperial scholars Pei Ji and Wang Ya, of conflict of interest—as Huangfu was a nephew of Wang's. As a result of Li Jifu's accusations, Wang, Pei, Yang, and Wei were all demoted, and it was said that while no harm came to Niu, Li Zongmin, and Huangfu at that time, they were effectively stuck at the positions they previously served without promotion. As a result, they all sought positions as staff members of military governors.

In 809, after much urging by the imperial scholars (翰林學士, Hanlin Xueshi), led by Li Jiang, that he needed to have a crown prince, Emperor Xianzong created his oldest son Li Ning, born of his concubine Consort Ji, crown prince. (As a result of this campaign's launch, when another warlord, Wu Shaocheng the military governor of Zhangyi Circuit (彰義, headquartered in modern Zhumadian, Henan) subsequently died, he was unable to act against Wu Shaocheng's subordinate Wu Shaoyang, who seized control of the circuit, and was forced to commission Wu Shaoyang, much to the lament of his imperial scholar advisors, who viewed Zhangyi as a far easier target than Chengde.) The campaign against Chengde stalled, however, with one of its original major proponents, Lu Congshi the military governor of Zhaoyi Circuit (昭義, headquartered in modern Changzhi, Shanxi), secretly communicating with Chengde and interfering with the campaign. In summer 810, after Tutu arrested Lu at a feast and allowed the imperial general Meng Yuanyang to take control of Zhaoyi, Wang agreed to formally submit to Emperor Xianzong, claiming that it was Lu who interfered in his relationship with the imperial government. Emperor Xianzong, seeing that the campaign was making no advances, ended it and made Wang the military governor of Chengde. offered to yield the circuit to imperial control, and Emperor Xianzong agreed, sending the official Ren Dijian to replace Zhang Maozhao. (After Zhang's departure from Yiwu, however, the Yiwu soldiers mutinied against Ren and put him under house arrest, although eventually another group of soldiers then countered their mutiny and restored Ren, allowing Yiwu to be in imperial hands from this point on.) Also in the aftermaths of the Chengde campaign, Tutu Chengcui was demoted and, later, after he was involved in a corruption scandal, sent out of the capital to serve as the eunuch monitor for Huainan Circuit (淮南, headquartered in modern Yangzhou, Jiangsu).

Later in 812, the warlord Tian Ji'an the military governor of Weibo Circuit died. With Tian Ji'an's son and designated successor Tian Huaijian being young, soon thereafter, the soldiers mutinied and supported Tian Ji'an's relative Tian Xing.

After Wu Yuanji's execution, Li Shidao and Wang Chengzong both became fearful. In 818, Wang offered to surrender two prefectures to imperial control and send his two sons to Chang'an to serve as hostages. He also sought intercession from Tian Hongzheng. With Tian also requesting that Emperor Xianzong accept his offer, Emperor Xianzong did so, merging the two prefectures that Wang surrendered into neighboring Henghai Circuit (橫海, headquartered in modern Cangzhou, Hebei), which had been obedient to the imperial government. Li Shidao also offered to surrender three of his 12 prefectures to imperial control and send his son as a hostage—but soon reneged on the offer. Emperor Xianzong thus declared a general campaign against his Pinglu Circuit, and soon, the imperial forces were repeatedly dealing defeats to Pinglu troops.

Chancellors during reign Du You (805–812) Jia Dan (805) Wei Zhiyi (805) Du Huangchang (805–807) Yuan Zi (805) Zheng Yuqing (805–806) Zheng Yin (805–809) Wu Yuanheng (807, 813–815) Li Jifu (807–808, 811–814) Yu Di (808–813) Pei Ji (808–810) Li Fan (809–811) Quan Deyu (810–813) Li Jiang (811–814) Zhang Hongjing (814–816) Wei Guanzhi (814–816) Pei Du (815–819) Li Fengji (816–817) Wang Ya (816–818) Cui Qun (817–819) Li Yong (817–818) Li Yijian (818) Huangfu Bo (818–820) Cheng Yi (818–819) Linghu Chu (819–820) Han Hong (819–820)

Family Empress Yi'an, of the Guo clan of Huayin (; d. 851), first cousin once removed, personal name Nianyun Li Heng, Muzong (; 795–824), third son Princess Qiyang Zhuangshu (; d. 837), 11th daughter Married Du Cong of Jingzhao, Duke Bin (; 794–873) in 814, and had issue (two sons, two daughters) Li Wu, Prince Jiang (絳王 李悟/绛王 李悟; 797–827), sixth son Empress Xiaoming, of the Zheng clan (; d. 865) Li Chen, Xuanzong (; 810–859), 13th son Princess Anping Married Liu Yi Able Consort, of the Wang clan (王贤妃) Taiyi, of the Xu clan Princess Nankang Married Shen Fen Taiyi, of the Yang clan Li Yue, Prince Qiong (; d. 840), ninth son Meiren, of the Ji clan Li Ning, Crown Prince Huizhao (; 793–812), first son Lady, of the Du clan Li Xun, Prince Mian (; 808–844), tenth son Lady, of the Zhao clan Li Yin, Prince Mao (; 809–853), 12th son Lady, of Zheng clan Princess Zhengwenyi Married Wei Rang in 816, and had issue (four sons, three daughters) Unknown Li Yun, Prince Li (; d. 820), second son Li Cong, Prince Shen , fourth son Li Xin, Prince Yang (; 801–828), fifth son Li Ke, Prince Jian (; 805–821), seventh son Li Jing, Prince Fu (; d. 839), eighth son Li Yi, Prince Wu , 11th son Li Xie, Prince Zi (; d. 836), 14th son Li Dan, Prince Heng , 15th son Li Chong, Prince Chan , 16th son Li Zhui, Prince Di , 17th son Li Ti, Prince Peng , 18th son Li Tan, Prince Xin (; d. 867), 19th son Li Ce, Prince Rong (; 815–880), 20th son Princess Lianghuikang , first daughter Married Yu Jiyou of Henan , the fourth son of Yu Di, in 807 Princess Yongjia Princess Hengyang Princess Xuancheng , sixth daughter Married Shen Chai Princess Chenliu Married Pei Sun of Hedong Princess Zhenning , second daughter Married Xue Hong of Hedong in 806 Princess Linzhen Married Wei Zhu Princess Pukang Princess Zhenyuan Married Du Zhongli Princess Yongshun Married Liu Hongjing Princess Yong'an , ninth daughter Princess Yining Princess Ding'an/Princess Taihe (/太和公主), tenth daughter Married Chongde Qaghan (; d. 824) of the Uyghur Khaganate in 821 Princess Gui