What kind of emperor was Tang Dezong Li Shi, who vigorously reduced his fiefdoms

Li Shi, also known as Tang Dezong, was the ninth emperor of the Tang Dynasty. At the age of fourteen, the An Lushan Rebellion broke out. Although Li Shi was not very old, he saw the fall of Chang’an and Tang Xuanzong fled hastily with the crown prince and others. It can be said that at a young age, he experienced the baptism and test of the Tang Dynasty’s war. Below, the history encyclopedia editor will bring you a detailed introduction. Let’s take a look together.
Li Shi’s grandfather was Li Heng, the Tang Emperor Suzong who declared himself emperor after the Ma Wei Rebellion.
We know that the An Lushan Rebellion lasted for nearly eight years, which means it was finally quelled during the reign of his father Emperor Tang. At that time, Li Shi was the commander-in-chief of the army and horses in the world, but of course, this position was just a temporary one, and he could not personally lead the troops. To be honest, he did not have this talent.
However, the Tang Dynasty has this tradition, and both his father and grandfather have held this position before.
After Tang Dezong ascended to the throne, he did indeed do some good deeds. For example, he strictly prohibited eunuchs from interfering in politics and appointed Yang Yan as prime minister. Someone said, isn’t this normal? Not being a eunuch does not mean being a good emperor.
But it should be noted that the Tang Dynasty was deeply affected by eunuchs, and his father became emperor through eunuchs. This is enough to illustrate that the influence of eunuchs in the Tang Dynasty at that time was very significant.
So being able to prohibit eunuchs from interfering in politics is already a remarkable thing. At the same time, in order to increase tax revenue and eliminate the drawbacks of taxation, the “Two Tax Laws” were implemented.
For a time, the Tang Dynasty had a revival atmosphere. In order to strengthen centralization, Emperor Dezong of Tang began to reduce fiefdoms. At the same time, they also sent troops to the southwest and repelled the invasions of Tubo and Nanzhao.
If we look at it this way, Emperor Dezong of Tang still hoped to make a difference and did some good things that were beneficial to the Tang Dynasty to the best of his ability.
So why is he still being called a tyrant even though that’s the case?
The truth is actually quite simple. The actions of Emperor Dezong and above cannot be called wise rulers, but at least they are not confused. However, the subsequent development took a sharp turn for the worse.
Tang Dezong’s reduction of fiefdoms was not smooth, especially during the Anti Rebellion War, when the Tang emperor was forced to leave Chang’an again, which can be said to be a humiliation. Surprisingly, there were four people who declared themselves kings and two who declared themselves emperors, which was a huge blow to Emperor Dezong of Tang.
Afterwards, Emperor Dezong of Tang no longer used military force to suppress the feudal lords, but instead tolerated them, and the fragmentation of the feudal lords intensified once again. During Tang Dezong’s escape, he realized the importance of eunuchs and changed his attitude towards them.
Not to mention, after returning to the capital, he surprisingly gave the leadership of the most crucial forbidden army, the Divine Strategy Army, to eunuchs, and from then on, let one eunuch control the last reliance of the Tang Dynasty.
Not only eunuchs, but also Emperor Dezong of Tang began to favor treacherous officials, which over time inevitably led to a boiling of public opinion.
And it was also due to that escape that Tang Dezong underwent a transformation, which was that he realized the importance of money. So he began to amass wealth and actively demanded local tribute, even allowing eunuchs to openly demand money from various yamen offices and localities.
This is not common among ancient emperors. As an emperor, one should value money so much. After all that has been said, it is not difficult to find that Tang Dezong and Ming Jun cannot be linked.