Tutu Chengcui

Tutu Chengcui (; died 820), courtesy name Renzhen (仁貞), was a powerful eunuch of the Chinese Tang dynasty, during the reign of Emperor Xianzong.

Background It is not known when Tutu Chengcui was born—or whether he was originally surnamed Tutu, although, as it is known that he was from the Min region (閩, roughly modern Fujian), it would appear doubtful, as Tutu was largely a Xianbei surname. Early in his career as an eunuch, he served at the eastern palace (i.e., the crown prince's palace) and later served as a supervising eunuch at the textile agency (掖庭局, Yiting Ju) within the eunuch bureau (內侍省, Neishi Sheng). It was said that he was dextrous, intelligent, and capable.

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 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 Jiaozuo, 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. 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.

In spring 820, Emperor Xianzong died suddenly—and historians generally believed that it was the eunuch Chen Hongzhi (陳弘志) who murdered him. The eunuchs Liang Shouqian (梁守謙), Ma Jintan (馬進潭), Liu Chengjie (劉承偕), Wei Yuansu (韋元素), and Wang Shoucheng, had Tutu and Li Yun killed, and they supported Li Heng to succeed to the throne (as Emperor Muzong). During the reign of Emperor Muzong's son Emperor Jingzong, the eunuch Ma Cunliang (馬存亮) submitted a petition listing the accomplishments of Tutu, and Emperor Jingzong allowed Tutu's adopted son Tutu Shiye (吐突士曄) to have Tutu Chengcui reburied properly. During the subsequent reign of another of son of Emperor Xianzong's, Emperor Xuānzong, Tutu Shiye was further promoted to be commander of the Right Shence Army (右神策軍).

Notes and references

Old Book of Tang, vol. 184. New Book of Tang, vol. 207. Zizhi Tongjian, vols. 237, 238, 239, 240, 241.