The idiom ‘honey on the lips but a sword on the belly’ is used to describe Li Linfu. In history, the real Li Linfu was not a good person, but one of the key figures who led the Tang Dynasty from prosperity to decline. He was a treacherous minister. Below, the history encyclopedia editor brings relevant content to share with you.
During his nineteen year reign, Li Linfu did many things to exclude dissidents and suppress political enemies. And these events indirectly triggered the later An Lushan Rebellion. It can even be said that a large part of the responsibility for the An Lushan Rebellion lies with Li Linfu.
To clarify this matter, we have to start from the beginning.
Li Linfu’s surname is Li, and his Li is indeed the Li from the Li family of the imperial family. Li Linfu’s great grandfather, Li Shuliang, was the cousin of Tang Gaozu Li Yuan, and they were one grandfather. Li Yuan’s father is Lao San, while Li Shuliang’s father is Lao Liu. After the founding of the Tang Dynasty, Li Shuliang was granted the title of Prince of Changping County.
However, just four years after being appointed as the Prince of Changping County, Li Shuliang died at the hands of the Turks while stationed in the north. After the Tang Dynasty unified the country, the line of Changping County Kings, although not declining, did not produce any outstanding figures, and could only be considered a relatively ordinary line among the royal family.
After three generations, it was the generation of Li Linfu.
The year Li Linfu was born happened to coincide with the death of Emperor Gaozong of Tang, Li Zhi. After Li Zhi’s death, Empress Dowager Wu Zetian took control of the great power. First, Li Xian was proclaimed emperor, then Li Xian was deposed and Li Dan was appointed emperor. After Li Dan ascended to the throne, he was completely a puppet emperor. Later, Empress Wu Zetian simply deposed Li Dan and ascended the throne herself, becoming the empress of a generation.
During the years when Wu Zetian was in power, she spared no effort in suppressing the Li family’s royal family. Fortunately, Li Linfu was just a branch of the imperial family, and their lineage had little power, so Wu Zetian was too lazy to deal with them. This actually allowed Li Linfu and his family to survive.
In short, during Li Linfu’s youth, the political situation in the Tang Dynasty was chaotic. Although Li Linfu was a member of the royal family, it seemed unlikely that there would be significant development at that time.
However, when Li Linfu was 23 years old, the situation began to take a turn for the better.
In that year, a divine dragon coup completely deprived Wu Zetian of her power and left her in the hands of Crown Prince Li Xian. Li Xian ascended the throne for the second time, and the throne returned to the hands of the Li family once again. This is obviously great news for Li Linfu. Because during the reign of Empress Wu Zetian, the Wu family was the true imperial family, and Li Linfu, a distant branch of the Li family, was no longer an imperial family. After Li Xian ascended the throne again, Li Linfu became a member of the imperial family.
This opportunity allowed Li Linfu to smoothly enter the government and become an official in the Qianniuwei.
After working in Qianniuwei for several years, Li Linfu welcomed his second important opportunity. This opportunity is the famous congenital coup in history.
Simply put, after Li Xian ascended the throne for the second time, his character remained timid, and all power was held by Li Xian’s queen, Lady Wei. After Wei Shi seized power, she also wanted to become another female emperor like Wu Zetian, so she later poisoned and killed Li Xian in order to support a puppet emperor named Li Chongmao as emperor. Shortly after Li Chongmao ascended to the throne, Li Dan’s third son Li Longji secretly colluded with the imperial guards to launch a coup, entered the palace and executed Wei Shi, and then proclaimed his father Li Dan as emperor.
When the Xiantian coup occurred, Li Linfu did not participate. However, his uncle Jiang Jiao participated and was also one of the main participants in the innate coup. So, after the innate coup, Jiang Jiao was naturally trusted by Li Longji. After Li Longji ascended the throne, Jiang Jiao naturally became Li Longji’s favorite minister and held great power in the court for a while.
After Jiang Jiao took office, he naturally gave strong support to his beloved nephew Li Linfu. So, in the following years, Li Linfu quickly rose through the ranks and rose all the way to the position of Deputy Minister of Education, equivalent to today’s Deputy Minister of Education.
However, in the tenth year of Kaiyuan, there was a small problem. In that year, Li Linfu’s uncle Jiang Jiao was demoted and exiled for committing a crime. But Rat, at this time Li Linfu was also a senior official of the Tang Dynasty, and his wings were hard enough. Even without the protection of my uncle, I can still live well.
Starting from the tenth year of Kaiyuan, Li Linfu had to rely solely on himself for his future path. Because at his height, apart from the emperor himself, neither his status as a member of the royal family nor his exiled uncle could provide him with any further assistance.
However, Li Linfu still has the ability. In the following years, relying solely on one’s own abilities, one will still thrive like a fish in water. Li Linfu was well aware of his limited background, so he actively flattered Emperor Xuanzong’s harem. Later on, he even climbed onto the line of Empress Wu Huifei, whom Emperor Xuanzong favored the most, and gained her support.
With the support of Empress Wu Huifei, Li Linfu later served successively as the Imperial Censor, Deputy Minister of Justice, and Deputy Minister of Rites. During this process, Li Linfu also seduced Gao Lishi through his lover. With the support of Empress Wu Huifei and Gao Lishi, Li Linfu finally defeated all his competitors with his own skills and was appointed as the Yellow Gate Attendant.
Two years later, Li Linfu was appointed as the Minister of Rites and a third rank official in the same department. From then on, Li Linfu finally became the prime minister of the Tang Dynasty, standing shoulder to shoulder with Pei Yaoqing and Zhang Jiuling as the three most powerful figures in the Tang officialdom.
This year, it was the 23rd year of the Kaiyuan era. Li Linfu was 53 years old and Li Longji was 51 years old.
In fact, during the process of Li Linfu becoming the prime minister, it is not difficult to see that he was actually a typical villain. Strive to curry favor with high-ranking officials, establish good relationships with the harem and eunuchs, and do everything in order to ascend to power. But there are actually many, many people like this in history, and they are not really anything. Moreover, Li Linfu had been in power for many years and had actually implemented some good policies, contributing his own strength to the prosperity of the Tang Dynasty.
Why did Li Linfu become a despised villain in later history?
The answer lies in the series of things he did to consolidate his power after becoming prime minister.
Although Li Linfu became the prime minister, Zhang Jiuling and Pei Yaoqing were also on par with him as prime ministers at that time. And these two people are older in qualifications and have greater power in the court than him. With Li Linfu’s personality, it is natural to suppress these two people and compete for power with them.
At this very moment, something happened in the harem.
In fact, there hasn’t been any major incident in the harem. Simply put, Empress Wu Hui wanted to become the empress and then wanted Emperor Xuanzong of Tang to appoint her son as the crown prince. But the problem is that at that time, Emperor Xuanzong of Tang had already established a crown prince, and the reputation was very good. However, under the powerful pillow wind attack of Empress Wu Huifei, Emperor Xuanzong of Tang still relaxed his grip and decided to test the eloquence of his ministers first.
When Emperor Xuanzong of Tang revealed this idea, Zhang Jiuling, who was also a prime minister, firmly opposed it.
The enemy of the enemy is a friend. In addition, Empress Wu Huifei was originally a supporter of Li Linfu in the palace, so after this struggle began, Li Linfu directly stood in line with Empress Wu Huifei to help her seize the throne.
In the end, after some planning, Li Linfu and Empress Wu Huifei led Emperor Xuanzong of Tang to mistakenly believe that Zhang Jiuling and Pei Yaoqing had formed a party. The phenomenon of ministers forming alliances has been the most feared by emperors throughout history. So, when Emperor Xuanzong of Tang had this idea, he quickly dismissed the two individuals. After these two were dismissed, Li Linfu became the only prime minister.
At the same time, Li Linfu was actively cooperating with Empress Wu Huifei. Empress Wu Huifei then set up another plan, pretending that there were thieves entering the palace, and asked Crown Prince Li Ying, as well as Prince E Li Yao and Prince Guang Li Ju, who were also against her, to lead troops into the palace to rescue them. After the three of them led troops into the palace, Empress Wu Hui denied seeking help from them and insisted that they had led troops into the palace to kill her.
Tang Xuanzong couldn’t bear it anymore.
Although he is a son, bringing troops into the palace is already a taboo. In addition, Empress Wu Huifei and Li Linfu slandered them from the side, and Emperor Xuanzong of Tang immediately became furious. He directly demoted the three of them to commoners and later executed them directly.
One day, kill three kings.
The whole world is amazed.
During this process, Li Linfu clearly put in a great deal of effort. And in the end, he also gained the power he wanted and became the only prime minister. But as a price, all three outstanding princes were framed and killed by him.
From later history, this incident actually had a significant impact. Because these three princes are relatively outstanding. After the death of these three people, especially the Crown Prince who was executed, it caused great damage to the political ecology of the Tang Dynasty at that time. And later on, Emperor Xuanzong of Tang did not appoint the son of Empress Wu Huifei as the crown prince, but instead appointed another son, Li Heng, as the crown prince. Afterwards, Li Heng served as a cowardly crown prince for decades until he ascended to the throne as emperor after the An Lushan Rebellion.
Killing three kings in one day was considered the first bad thing Li Linfu did.
The second bad thing is to suppress colleagues and favor domain generals.
The Tang Dynasty was a relatively military oriented era, so it placed great emphasis on ‘appointing generals and ministers’. The so-called appointment as a general or prime minister refers to the opportunity to be transferred to the central government to serve as a prime minister if one excels in fighting outside and has outstanding military achievements.
Leaving is the general, entering is the phase.
But for Li Linfu, this is obviously not a good thing. Because if he is really a top talent who can fight in the border areas and return to the capital as prime minister, he will definitely compete for power with him. And such a person, with their own strong talents, can also pose a great threat to them.
So, Li Linfu finally came up with a bad trick.
Appoint people from border ethnic groups as generals.
Because in the cultural environment of that time, border ethnic groups were generally considered to lack culture. This view is not necessarily wrong, after all, during the Tang Dynasty, nine-year compulsory education was not implemented, and many people from border ethnic groups may have never even read a book. It is possible for such a person to win a war, but it is not realistic to have them serve as prime ministers and manage the government. At that time, Li Linfu took advantage of this loophole by appointing a large number of feudal lords. In this way, no matter how outstanding the military achievements of the clan, it is impossible for them to enter the central government as prime ministers and threaten their position.
From Li Linfu’s own perspective, this move is really effective. On the side of the generals, they are all domain generals and cannot enter the court as ministers. On the other hand, in the civil service system, he is the boss and can arbitrarily suppress the rising stars below. Even if he has to promote a prime minister, he can choose someone with a weak personality who cannot compete with him for power.
But from the overall situation of the Tang Dynasty, this move was too deadly.
Because after Tang Xuanzong ascended to power, he had already carried out military reforms, greatly enhancing the power of border generals. Not only did they have the power to lead troops for a long time, but they also implemented the management system of military governors, giving border generals financial power and political power. In border areas, local generals are already equivalent to feudal lords. In this situation, Li Linfu began to extensively appoint feudal lords. In this way, the result can naturally be imagined.
Under these conditions, An Lushan appeared. Moreover, in addition to An Lushan, figures such as Gao Xianzhi and Ge Shuhan have also made appearances.
Many people in later generations have been curious why during the reign of Emperor Xuanzong of Tang, more than half of the generals were from ethnic minorities. The root of the problem actually lies here. Of course, this issue cannot be entirely blamed on Li Linfu, as it is also related to the culture of the Tang Dynasty at that time. Because the Tang Dynasty was too strong at that time, many Central Plains people were unwilling to go to the border to fight, so they could only use border ethnic groups. Anyway, in the later period of Emperor Xuanzong’s reign, Li Linfu was mainly responsible for the situation where the feudal lords held widespread power.
Li Linfu’s move, while maintaining his own power, also laid the groundwork for the later An Lushan Rebellion.
In addition, in order to maintain his own power, Li Linfu also vigorously suppressed talents within the civil service group and promoted a group of mediocre talents to higher positions. Especially after killing the three kings, Emperor Xuanzong of Tang did not appoint the son of Empress Wu Huifei as the crown prince, but instead appointed Li Heng as the crown prince. Li Linfu, who had previously opposed Li Heng becoming the crown prince, was afraid that Li Heng would suppress him after he ascended the throne, so he resolutely fought against the crown prince’s party. All officials who support the Crown Prince are within his scope of suppression.
After being messed up by him, the political environment during the Qingming period of the Kaiyuan era was completely ruined. After the Tianbao era, the official system of the Tang Dynasty was already quite corrupt, and a lot of problems emerged. After An Lushan rose up, his ability to quickly capture cities and territories was actually related to the corruption of the government at that time.
It is precisely because of these actions that Li Linfu was criticized by later generations as a traitor and became a despised existence. However, Li Linfu did indeed suffer retribution later on. In his later years as prime minister, he was falsely accused by Yang Guozhong of plotting rebellion. Although Emperor Xuanzong of Tang did not punish him for this, he gradually distanced himself from Li Linfu. In this depression of alienation and suppression, Li Linfu passed away. After his death, Yang Guozhong still did not let him go and set up a plot to confirm Li Linfu’s rebellion.
At the time of the incident, Li Linfu had already passed away, but had not yet been buried. Emperor Xuanzong of Tang immediately ordered the deprivation of all his honors and the exile of all his family members and descendants to Lingnan. Even Li Linfu himself was ordered by Emperor Xuanzong of Tang to have his coffin chopped, his court uniform stripped off, and buried again with the etiquette of a commoner.
This is probably what we call a bad death.
The ending of Li Linfu, although it can also be considered a retribution, the calamity he left for the Tang Dynasty did not dissipate with his death. After Li Linfu’s death, only two years later, the An Lushan Rebellion broke out. Since then, the Tang Dynasty has gone from prosperity to decline, causing countless people to lose their lives and wander aimlessly.
Li Linfu, with his eternal reputation, is truly not at all unjust.
