Emperor Tang Yizong

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Emperor Tang Yizong (唐懿宗李漼 November 14, 833–873), born Li Cui, was the 17th emperor of the Tang dynasty of China. He reigned from 859 to 873. Yizong was the eldest son of emperor Xuānzong.

After the death of emperor Xuanzong in 859, Yizong was placed on the throne by powerful corrupt eunuchs and officials. Yizong was a lazy emperor and did not pay much attention to governmental affairs but instead chose to live in opulence, became an alcoholic and surrounded himself with women while his government levied heavy taxes on its citizens.

Yizong have been labelled one of the most strangely behaved emperors. Deeply religious, even more so than his father, he would order lavish Buddhist ceremonies throughout the year as well as ordering frequent musical performances in the palace. If the entertainment was to his liking, Yizing would not only reward them greatly but also bestow governmental ranks on a whim rather than on merit. Yizong has also been known to make spontaneous unnecessary trips across the empire with his entourages sometimes numbering in the tens of thousand of servants which caused a heavy burden on the empire's coffer. These reckless behaviour were met with fierce opposition from loyal ministers but Yizong would ignore them altogether. As time went by, the hopeless ministers would also cease their petitions as well. Yizong eventually exhausted the empire's treasury that had accumulated during his father's administration. Faced with insurmountable hardship, with stories of cannibalism due to starvation and famines, rebellions broke out throughout the country in 859 that would ravage China for the next 25 years. Although a successive series of rebellions broke out throughout the country, Emperor Yizong never did anything to remedy the situation. His reign marked the beginning of the end of the Tang dynasty.

In 869 a rebellion on the northern border by Pang Xun of Xu Prefecture was successfully defeated by the imperial general Kang Chengxun. One of the subordinate generals rewarded for his help in suppressing the rebellion was Zhuye Chixin, leader of the Shatou, a Turkish people who had been granted asylum inside the empire in 808. The Tang court conferred upon Chixin the new name of Li Guochang and the post of governor of the Zhenwu command. However over the next years the initial gratitude turned to worry as Li Guochang behaved increasingly independent.

In 872 the court decided to reassign Li Guochang as prefect of Yunzhou and defence commissioner of Datong, but Guochang refused the appointment, claiming illness. Soon after Guochang’s son , Li Keyong, killed the current defence commissioner of Datong, Duan Wenchu, and installed himself at Yunzhou. The Tang court gave Lu Jianfang, the Zhenwu governor, the task of suppressing the rebellion, but he was defeated at Lanzhou leaving the Shatou problem unsolved at Yizong’s death.

Yizong died in 873 after reigning for 14 years. He was succeeded by his son.