Dezong has had it up to here with his mumbling, bumbling, stumbling courtiers and their inability to solve the empire’s problems. So he’s going to give them 3 last shots to prove the worth of the bureaucracy, and when they strike out, he’ll turn toward his private inner count to make the Tang Empire great again.

Time Period:

786-795 CE

Major Historical Figures:

Emperor Dezong of Tang [r. 779-805]

Chancellor Cui Zao (term of office: 785-787, exiled and d. 787)

Chancellor Li Mi [term: 787-789, d. 789]

Chancellor Dou Can [term: 789-792, d. 793 by forced suicide]

Chancellor Lu Zhi [term: 792-794, exiled]

Director of Finances Pei Yanling [792-796, d. 796]

Major Works Cited:

Dalby, Michael T. "Court Politics in Late Tang Times" in The Cambridge History of China, vol. 3.

Sima, Guang. Zizhi Tongjian, vol. 234, 235

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