Emperor Muzong of Tang (July 26, 795 – February 25, 824), personal name Li Heng, né Li You () (name changed 812), was an emperor of the Tang dynasty of China. He reigned from 820 to 824. Emperor Muzong was the son of Emperor Xianzong. He was created crown prince in 812 during the reign of Emperor Xianzong and, after Emperor Xianzong was allegedly assassinated by a eunuch, Li Heng was proclaimed emperor in 820.
After succeeding to the throne, Muzong spent his time feasting and heavily drinking, thereby neglecting his duties as emperor. Meanwhile, the temporarily subdued regional military governors (jiedushi) began to challenge the central Tang government, leading to the new de facto independence of three circuits north of the Yellow River, which Emperor Xianzong had subdued. Internally, corruption was rife.
Emperor Muzong's brief reign came to an end in 824, and was viewed as the start of the downward spiral of the Tang dynasty.
Background Li You was born in 795, during the reign of his great-grandfather Emperor Dezong. At that time, his father Li Chun was the Prince of Guangling, and his grandfather Li Song was Emperor Dezong's crown prince.Old Book of Tang, vol. 14. Li You's mother Princess Guo was Li Chun's wife and a granddaughter of the prominent general Guo Ziyi—her parents were Guo Ziyi's son Guo Ai () and Princess Shenping, a sister to Emperor Dezong.Old Book of Tang, vol. 52. Li You was Li Chun's third son. At some point, Li You was created the Prince of Jian'an.New Book of Tang, vol. 8.
In 806, by which time Li Chun was emperor (as Emperor Xianzong), Li You was created the Prince of Sui. His mother Princess Guo, however, despite her having been Li Chun's wife, was not created empress, but only an imperial consort, albeit with the high rank of Guifei ().Zizhi Tongjian, vol. 237. (During the remainder of his reign, Emperor Xianzong would repeatedly resisted calls by imperial officials to have Consort Guo made empress, using one excuse after another, fearing that if she, with her honored heritage, were made empress, she would so dominate the palace that no other imperial consort would dare approach him.)Zizhi Tongjian, vol. 239. Further, although Li You, as the son of Consort Guo, was considered by the imperial officials as the proper heir,Zizhi Tongjian, vol. 238. when the imperial scholars, led by Li Jiang, requested that Emperor Xianzong create a crown prince in 809, Emperor Xianzong did not create Li You crown prince, and instead created Li You's older brother Li Ning (by Consort Ji) crown prince. Li Ning died in 811, and in 812, Emperor Xianzong created Li You crown prince and changed his name to Li Heng. (When Emperor Xianzong ordered the imperial scholar Cui Qun to draft a petition in the name of Li You's older brother Li Kuan the Prince of Li offering to yield the position, Cui declined, pointing out that Li Heng, as the son of a wife, should have had priority over Li Kuan in any event, and Emperor Xianzong agreed.)
As crown prince Not much was recorded about Li Heng's life as crown prince, although it is known that in 817, the imperial consultant Wei Shou (), who was an attendant to Li Heng in his studies, drew disfavor from Emperor Xianzong for providing Li Heng with expensive food and pleasing him with humor. Emperor Xianzong removed Wei from his post as attendant, and soon sent him out of the capital Chang'an to serve as the prefect of Qian Prefecture (虔州, in modern Ganzhou, Jiangxi).Zizhi Tongjian, vol. 240. Meanwhile, the powerful eunuch Tutu Chengcui had often urged Emperor Xianzong to replace Li Heng with Li Kuan (whose name had been changed to Li Yun by this point). Tutu, however, did not relent in his hopes to have Li Yun made crown prince, even by 820, when Emperor Xianzong had become seriously ill. Li Heng, worried about what would happen next, requested advice from his uncle (Consort Guo's brother) Guo Zhao (), who advised him to simply serve his father with filial piety and not worry about the rest.Zizhi Tongjian, vol. 241.
By this point, Emperor Xianzong, whose illness was said to be due to alchemists' pills that were designed to achieve immortality. Xianzong's temper and rage had become uncontrolled, causing widespread fear among the eunuchs. In spring 820, he died suddenly—and it was believed that he was assassinated by the eunuch Chen Hongzhi (), but the eunuch suppressed an investigation into the matter, announcing that Emperor Xianzong had died from the pills' complications. In the aftermaths, the eunuchs Liang Shouqian (), Ma Jintan (), Liu Chengjie (), Wei Yuansu (), and Wang Shoucheng, who supported Li Heng, killed Tutu and Li Yun, allowing Li Heng to take the throne (as Emperor Muzong). (There were suspicions by some, including by Li Heng's younger brother Li Yi, who would later become Emperor Xuānzong, that Li Heng and his mother Consort Guo were involved in Emperor Xianzong's assassination.)Zizhi Tongjian, vol. 248.
Reign
Loss of Chengde, Lulong, and Weibo Circuits As soon as Emperor Muzong took the throne, he put to death the alchemists who had been supplying Emperor Xianzong with the immortality pills. He further quickly exiled the chancellors Huangfu Bo and Linghu Chu, replacing them with new chancellors. He also honored his mother Consort Guo as empress dowager and was extravagant in supplies to her. He himself was spending much time in games and hunts, against the advice of those officials who found such activities inappropriate, but was said to be tolerant toward those giving such advice.
At the time that Emperor Muzong took the throne, he inherited a state that had just recently been, during his father's reign (which was known as the Yuanhe Restoration (), due to Emperor Xianzong's era name's being Yuanhe), restored to unity under the imperial government after various circuits, the most defiant of which were Pinglu (平盧, headquartered in modern Tai'an, Shandong), Weibo (魏博, headquartered in modern Handan, Hebei), Chengde (成德, headquartered in modern Shijiazhuang, Hebei), and Lulong (盧龍, headquartered in modern Beijing), had been effectively independent from the imperial government.Bo Yang, Outlines of the History of the Chinese (中國人史綱), vol. 2, pp. 561–563. As of 819, when Emperor Xianzong's forces crushed those of Li Shidao, the military governor of Pinglu, in effect, these circuits that had broken away from the imperial government since the end of the Anshi Rebellion had resubmitted to the imperial government.
In winter 820, major events that tested Emperor Muzong's abilities to keep these circuits under control came. Wang Chengzong the military governor of Chengde, whose family had controlled Chengde since his grandfather Wang Wujun and whose forces Emperor Xianzong was unable to defeat (although Wang Chengzong himself eventually became apprehensive of Emperor Xianzong's might and submitted anyway), died. With Wang Chengzong having sent his sons Wang Zhigan () and Wang Zhixin () to Chang'an to serve as hostages in order to show his submission to the imperial government, his subordinates, who wanted to keep Chengde independent from the imperial government, supported Wang Chengzong's brother Wang Chengyuan to succeed him. Wang Chengyuan pretended to accept their support, but declared his loyalty to the imperial government and secretly petitioned Emperor Muzong to replace him.
Emperor Muzong reacted by, against the advice of the general Yang Yuanqing (),Zizhi Tongjian, vol. 242. moving Tian Hongzheng the military governor of Weibo—whose submission to the imperial government in 812 had been a crucial step in the Yuanhe Restoration and who had been a major participant in the subsequent campaigns against Chengde and Pinglu—to Chengde, Wang Chengyuan to Yicheng Circuit (義成, headquartered in modern Anyang, Henan), Liu Wu from Yicheng to Zhaoyi Circuit (昭義, headquartered in modern Changzhi, Shanxi), Li Su from Wuning Circuit (武寧, headquartered in modern Xuzhou, Jiangsu) to Weibo, and made Tian Hongzheng's son Tian Bu the military governor of Heyang Circuit (河陽, headquartered in modern Jiaozuo, Henan). Wang Chengyuan, despite the opposition of his soldiers, departed Chengde and turned control of the circuit over to Tian Hongzheng. Tian Hongzheng, however, was apprehensive that the soldiers under him—whom he had fought on the battlefield for years and many of whom bore hatred for him—would mutiny, and thus brought 2,000 Weibo soldiers to Chengde to serve as his personal guard. When he requested that the imperial government supply the salaries of these Weibo soldiers, however, the acting director of finances, Cui Ling (), a relative of the chancellor Cui Zhi, not understanding the seriousness of the situation, believed that it was the Chengde soldiers' responsibility to protect their military governor, refused. Tian was forced to return the Weibo soldiers to Weibo.
Meanwhile, in spring 821, Liu Zong the military governor of Lulong, who had taken power initially by killing his father Liu Ji and brother Liu Gun (), had grown fearful of his father's and brother's spirits, and wished to resign and become a Buddhist monk. He also requested an award to the soldiers, while ordering a number of officers that he felt were difficult to control, including Zhu Kerong (the grandson of a former military governor, Zhu Tao) to report to Chang'an, hoping that the imperial government would give them proper discipline and rewards such that they would become faithful to the imperial government. He further recommended that Lulong be divided into three circuits and recommended Zhang Hongjing, Xue Ping, and Lu Shimei () to take over the three circuits. Specifically, his division plan called for the circuit capital, You Prefecture (), along with Zhuo Prefecture (涿州, in modern Baoding, Hebei), be given to Zhang; Ji (薊州, in modern Tianjin), Gui (媯州, in modern Zhangjiakou, Hebei), and Tan (檀州, in modern Beijing) Prefectures be given to Xue; and Ying () and Mo (莫州, both in modern Cangzhou, Hebei) Prefectures be given to Lu. (Liu had made these recommendations on the bases that when Zhang ruled Hedong, which neighbored Lulong, Liu had often heard good opinions of Zhang's governance; that Xue was the son of Xue Song and familiar with the region; and that Lu was a relative of Liu's wife's.)
Emperor Muzong accepted Liu's submission, but did not fully implement Liu's partition plan; Ying and Mo were given to Lu Shimei, but the remaining prefectures were all given to Zhang, under the suggestion of the chancellors Cui Zhi and Du Yuanying, who did not understand the rationale of Liu's plan. Further, Zhu and the other officers that Liu sent to Chang'an were not given offices or salaries, and it was said that as they lacked income, they fell into financial desperation, even requiring loans for their food and clothing, despite their frequent submission of requests for offices to Cui and Du. When Zhang arrived at Lulong, he ordered Zhu and the others to return to Lulong, further angering them. Meanwhile, Zhang further drew the anger of the people and soldiers of Lulong over a number of actions:
In contrast to the past military governors' willingness to bear the difficulties with the people, including the weather conditions, when Zhang was arriving at You Prefecture, he was in a litter borne by eight men, shocking the people of You Prefecture. Zhang Hongjing was solemn and arrogant, not willing to speak with the people, and he rarely accepted advice from guests and the army officers. He gave much authority to his assistants Wei Yong () and Zhang Zonghou (), and these assistants were disrespectful of soldiers and extravagant in their living—such that, shocking to the people of You Prefecture, they were often feasting deep into the night and going home after midnight, with their guards loudly escorting them.