Guo Yuanzhen (656-713), known as Zhen, the character Yuanzhen, with the word line, was a native of Guixiang, Weizhou (now Daming County, Handan City, Hebei Province), a famous general and prime minister of the Tang Dynasty. In the first year of Kaiyuan (713), Guo Yuanzhen visited the prime minister again, and assisted Tang Xuanzong to kill Princess Taiping, concurrently served as the imperial historian, and entered the title of the prince of the country. Soon, Tang Xuanzong Lishan lectured on martial arts, Guo Yuanzhen was exiled to Xinzhou for the crime of untidy military appearance, and later died of depression on the way to Raozhou Sima.
In the fourth year of Xianheng (673), a young man named Guo Yuanzhen, who was only eighteen years old, was so talented that he was appointed as the county governor of Tongquan County (present-day Shehong, Sichuan) after winning the imperial examination. However, during his tenure, he often violated the law and discipline, and even minted coins and trafficked people without permission, making the people miserable.
Before the second year of longevity (693), Guo Yuanzhen remained in Tongquan County. However, his actions eventually became known to Wu Zetian, and the wise Emperor Wu Zhou decided to summon him into the capital and punish him. However, after talking with Guo Yuanzhen, Wu Zetian discovered that this young man was actually quick and talented. Guo Yuanzhen presented his article "Sword Chapter", which Wu Zetian greatly appreciated and let the bachelor Li Qiao and others circulate it. She highly recognized Guo Yuanzhen's talent, and appointed him to join the army as the right military guard Cao, and later entered the Fengchen prison. In the first year of Long Live Tongtian (696), Tibet asked for peace talks. Wu Zetian sent Guo Yuanzhen as an envoy to Tibet. The Tibetan general Lun Qinling demanded that Wu Zhou withdraw the defenders of the four towns of Anxi and demanded the acquisition of the land of the ten Turks. Guo Yuan replied solemnly: "The four towns of Anxi, the ten Turks and the Tibetans are different ethnic groups, how can they withdraw the imperial court defenders?"Isn't there a plan for a merger?On the Qinling Tomb, he said: "If Tubo is greedy for land and wants to become a border disaster in the Central Plains, it will invade Ganzhou (now Zhangye, Gansu) and Liangzhou (now Wuwei, Gansu) in the east, how can it seek benefits thousands of miles away!"Therefore, on the Qinling sent an envoy to follow Guo Yuanzhen into the court to make the above request. At that time, the imperial court was hesitant on this issue, and Guo Yuanzhen said: "On Qinling's request to strike the army and cut the land, it is the key to the stakes, and a decision should not be made lightly. If you reject him directly, you will definitely incur deep side trouble. The interests of the four towns are far away from us, but the victims of Ganzhou and Liangzhou are very close to us, so we must consider them carefully. It would be nice to delay the time with a stratagem so that the hope of his reconciliation is not broken. The four towns and ten surnames, Tubo is very desirable, and Qinghai and Tuyuhun are also important places of the country. We might as well reply: 'The land of four towns and ten surnames was originally of no use to the Central Plains, and the reason why we sent troops to defend it was to stabilize and appease the Western Regions and disperse the military strength of Tibet, so that Tibet could not invade the east with all its might. If Tibet has no intention of invading the east, it should return the Tuyuhun tribes and the homeland of Qinghai, and the Western Turkic tribes should also return to Tibet." This was enough to stop the mouth of the Qin Ling, and it did not cut off relations with him. If there is a slight violation of Qinling, it is that he is unreasonable first. Moreover, the four towns and the ten surnames have been sincerely attached to them for a long time, and if we do not examine their backs and the interests of the matter, we will abandon them far away, I am afraid that it will make the countries sad, and it is not a good strategy to control the four towns. After listening to this, Wu Zetian agreed to his suggestion.
Guo Yuanzhen said again: "The people of Tubo have suffered from conscription and military service, and they have long been willing to reconcile with us;Only on the selfish interests of the commander of the Qinling Tu army, I don't want to be attached. If we send envoys to express reconciliation every year, and the people of Tibet often do not obey their orders, the resentment of the Tibetan people against the Qinling will deepen day by day, and the hope of receiving the favor of the state will become more and more day by day, and it will certainly be difficult for him to mobilize his people on a large scale. It is also a method of gradual discord, which can make them suspicious from top to bottom, and chaos can arise from within. Wu Zetian agreed.
In the second year of the Holy Calendar (699), there was civil strife in Tibet, and the stubborn stone of the Qinling Tomb was finally eradicated. His younger brother Zanpo led his troops to return to the Great Zhou, which was like a reassuring pill for the tranquility of the border. After Wu Zetian heard the news, she immediately ordered Guo Yuanzhen and Fu Menglingqing, the ambassador of the Heyuan Army, to lead the cavalry to meet her. The joy of this year has not yet dissipated, and the first year of Jiushi (700) has brought new jubilation. Like an angry lion, the Tibetan general Lu Mangbuzhi entered Kouliang Prefecture and wanted to make some waves on the border. However, they ignored the majesty of the Great Zhou and the might of Tang Xiujing, a general. The iron cavalry of the Lu Mangbu branch swept in like a violent wind, but under Tang Xiujing's persistence, they seemed to have hit a hard rock, unable to go further. And Guo Yuanzhen was also named the main guest because he participated in this military plane, like a shining star rising in the night sky. His talent and courage were duly rewarded. In 701 A.D., in the dawn of the first year of Dazu, the iron cavalry of Tubo and the Later Turks was mighty, and the smoke and dust were rolling all the way, approaching the city of Liangzhou. This news was like a thunderbolt from the sky, and it instantly shook the entire Chang'an City. At the banquet under the Luocheng Gate, Emperor Wu Zetian immediately stopped the music of the silk and bamboo orchestra after hearing the news, appointed Guo Yuanzhen as the governor of Liangzhou and the ambassador of the military states of Longyou, and urgently dispatched 50,000 generals in Qinzhong, known as 200,000, to rush to Hexi. Guo Yuanzhen, a famous general, went down the mountain like a tiger and quickly rushed to Liangzhou. He knew that Liangzhou reached Tibet in the west, and there were post-Turks in the north, and he showed his weakness for a long time, and did not raise the prestige of heaven, so he requisitioned 1.2 million soldiers and horses from Longyou, known as 2 million gathered in Huangzhou, and marched in ten ways, crossed Qinghai, and went directly to the tooth tent of Tubo Zampu (Luo Xue Cheng Potala Palace). In front of Guo Yuanzhen's prestige, Tubo Zampu couldn't help but be afraid, and finally bent his knees to ask for peace, offering 3,000 war horses, 30,000 catties** and countless cattle and sheep. Guo Yuanzhen accepted their surrender and showed the majesty of **, and the class returned to the dynasty. His return made the people of Liangzhou City happy, and more than ten places in Longyou, Hexi, built ancestral halls for him and erected monuments to praise virtue. Since then, the tranquility of the Liangzhou border has been restored, and neither the Turkic nor the Tibetan soldiers and horses can no longer intrude on the state city. Guo Yuanzhen's prestige shocked Beidi, and the Turks offered 2,000 horses and put the captured Liangzhou people back to the border fortress. Since then, the feudal town has been purged, and the country of Fan has been in awe and admiration, and the order has been forbidden, and the road has not been forgotten. His approach to governing the border became a model for the region and was emulated by later generations. Under Guo Yuanzhen's governance, Liangzhou was prosperous and stable inside and outside, and the people lived and worked in peace and contentment. He not only built Herong City (now Gulang, Gansu) at Kipkou on the southern border, but also set up the Baiting Army (now northeast of Minqin, Gansu) in the desert on the northern border, controlled the transportation arteries of Liangzhou, and expanded the Liangzhou border by 1,500 li. From then on, neither the Turkic nor the Tibetan soldiers and horses could get close to the city of Liangzhou. Guo Yuanzhen proposed to Li Hantong, the assassin of Ganzhou, to implement the policy of tuntian, so that the local rivers and land could give full play to their advantages in agricultural production. Prior to this, the millet in the Liangzhou area was very expensive, as high as thousands of dollars per hundred, but after the implementation of the Tuntian policy, a fine silk horse could be exchanged for dozens of grains, and the accumulated military rations were enough for decades. Guo Yuanzhen is good at pacifying and ruling the people, in the five years of his tenure in Liangzhou, he won the admiration of the local people of all ethnic groups, and he has strict laws and regulations, strict military discipline, so that the cattle and sheep under his rule are all over the field, and the road is not left behind. Later, as the tribe of the Turgish leader Uzile grew stronger, he expressed his willingness to make peace with the Tang Dynasty, and Guo Yuanzhen went to the tent of the Turgish to discuss military matters. At that time, the sky was snowing heavily, and Guo Yuanzhen stood outside the tent and held talks with Wu Zhile. As the snow became thicker and thicker, Guo Yuanzhen always stood still, while Wu Zhile was frozen to death after the meeting because of his old age and frailty, unable to tolerate severe cold. Wuzhile's son Suo Ge believed that his father was killed by Guo Yuanzhen's design, and planned to lead his troops to attack the Tang army. After hearing the news, the deputy envoy Yu Shi Zhong Cheng Xie Wan persuaded Guo Yuanzhen to flee overnight. Guo Yuanzhen said: "I treat them with sincerity, what can I doubt and fear!."Besides, we are all within their sphere of influence, even if we want to escape, can we escape to **?The next day, Guo Yuanzhen went to mourn in plain clothes, and met Suo Ge's soldiers halfway. The enemy did not expect Guo Yuanzhen to come in person, and they did not dare to act rashly, and hurriedly said that they were here to meet him. Guo Yuanzhen walked into the camp tent, gave a condolence gift, cried extremely sadly, and stayed to help deal with the funeral. Moved by Guo Yuanzhen's sincerity, Suo Ge sent envoys to the Tang Dynasty to offer 5,000 good horses, 200 camels, and more than 100,000 cattle and sheep. Soon, the imperial court appointed Guo Yuanzhen as the chief of the Jinshan Road march. In the second year of Jinglong (708), Suo Ge had a discord with Ashina Que Sizhong Festival, and there were many conflicts. Due to the meager number of troops, Que Si Zhongjie gradually lost the enemy. Guo Yuanzhen then asked for Que Sizhong to be summoned to the Jingshi Suwei and moved his tribe to the areas of Guazhou (present-day Suoyang City in the southeast of Anxi, Gansu) and Shazhou (present-day Dunhuangxi, Gansu). Que Sizhong led his troops to retreat eastward, and met Zhou Yiyi, the Tang Dynasty's envoy to the Western Regions and the general of the Right Weiwei, at Boxian City (now southwest of Xinjiang and Momo). Zhou Yiyi persuaded him not to enter the court, bribed the prime ministers Zong Chuke and Ji Xianne, united the Anxi army and the Tubo army to fight Suoge, and asked for the canonization of Ashina as the khan, in order to appease the ten Turkic surnames, so that he could not only avenge the revenge of the deception, but also maintain control of the tribe, which was better than entering the dynasty and being controlled by others. Que Si Zhongjie thought so, so he led the army to capture Khotankan City, and sent a generous bribe to Zong Chuke and Ji Zhine. After Guo Yuanzhen heard the news, he immediately went to the top and tried his best to dissuade him, and carefully analyzed the current situation, pointing out that if Tubo was introduced into the Western Regions, it would trigger a crisis in the four towns of Anxi. However, the imperial court did not accept his suggestion. Soon after, the imperial court sent the guests of Cheng Feng in the imperial history to appease Que Sizhong Festival with the Fu Festival, and served the imperial Shi Lu Shousu to deal with the affairs of the four towns, and appointed Niu Shi Award as the deputy capital protector of Anxi, commanding the soldiers and horses of Ganzhou and Liangzhou, and jointly attacking Suoge with Tubo. At this time, Suo Ge's envoy Suo La was in Chang'an, and immediately rushed back after hearing the news to inform Suo Ge. Suo Ge was furious and mobilized four troops and horses to attack Anxi, Pachang (now Aksu, Xinjiang), Yanqi, and Shule. Due to the great strength of the Suog army, Guo Yuanzhen set up a fence at the mouth of the Shule Chihe River (now the Kizil River), and did not dare to attack. When Suo Ge took advantage of the Que Si Zhong Festival to welcome Feng Guest, he sent troops to sneak attack, capture Que Si Zhong Festival, and kill Feng Guest. Soon, Lu Shousu and Niu Shiyu were killed one after another. Suo Ge took advantage of the victory to capture Anxi and cut off the road to the four towns. Guo Yuanzhen presented Suo Ge's letter to Tang Zhongzong. Zong Chuke was furious, and said that Guo Yuanzhen had a heart of disobedience, recruited him into the court, and prepared to punish the crime. Guo Yuanzhen sent his son Guo Hong to take a small road to explain the actual situation to Tang Zhongzong one by one, asking him to stay in the Western Regions to stabilize the situation, and did not dare to return to the court. Soon after, Zhou Yiyi was exiled to Baizhou (present-day Bobai, Guangxi), and Tang Zhongzong reappointed Guo Yuanzhen as the protector of Anxi, issued an edict to pardon Suo Ge's crimes, and canonized him as the fourteenth surnamed Khan, and sent troops to Yanqi to crusade against Suoge. Suo Ge wrote to Guo Yuanzhen: "I have no contradiction with the Han people, but I have an enmity with Que Sizhongjie. But Zong Shangshu accepted the bribe of Que Si Zhongjie and wanted to send troops to attack my tribe for no reason, and Feng Zhongcheng and Niu Duhu led the army one after another, how could I sit still and wait for death!I have heard that Ashina Xian will also be here, and his arrival will only increase the conflict between the four towns of Anxi, and I am afraid that it will be difficult to have a peaceful life in the future. Let's see how it can be solved. Guo Yuanzhen presented Suo Ge's letter to Tang Zhongzong. Soon after, Zhou Yiyi was exiled to Baizhou (present-day Bobai, Guangxi), and Tang Zhongzong reappointed Guo Yuanzhen as the protector of Anxi, ordered a pardon for Suo Ge's crimes, and canonized him as the fourteenth Khan. In the first year of Jingyun (710), Zong Chuke and others were killed by a coup d'état, Tang Ruizong succeeded to the throne, and Guo Yuanzhen was conscripted as a servant and was crowned as a doctor of Yinqing Guanglu. When Guo Yuanzhen left office, some of the chiefs of the various tribes in Anxi even cut their faces and cried bitterly. Just arrived at Yumen Pass, eight hundred miles away from Liangzhou, the people of Liangzhou were already ready to welcome the pot pulp. In the second year of Jingyun (711), Guo Yuanzhen was appointed as the third rank of Tongzhongshu and succeeded Song Jing as the secretary of the ministry. Soon, Guo Yuanzhen was reappointed as the secretary of the Ministry of War, and he was named a man in Tao County. In the winter of the same year, Guo Yuanzhen, Wei Anshi, and Zhang Shuo were removed from their positions. In the first year of Xiantian (712), Tang Ruizong abdicated, Tang Xuanzong succeeded to the throne, Guo Yuanzhen served as the general manager of the Shuofang army, and built Feng'an (now Ningxia Zhongwei West) and Dingyuan City (now Ningxia Pingluonan), so that the garrison army could have a place to station. In the second year of Xiantian (713), Guo Yuanzhen once again served as the third product under the door of Tongzhongshu as the secretary of the military department. In July of the same year, Tang Xuanzong killed Princess Taiping, Guo Yuanzhen personally led troops to "protect" the emperor Tang Ruizong, and stayed in Zhongshu Province for 14 nights. Subsequently, Guo Yuanzhen left the imperial court and went to serve as the chief of the Shuofang Army, shouldering the heavy responsibility of defending against the Turks. However, in a military performance in October of the second year of Kaiyuan (713), Tang Xuanzong personally beat the drum and commanded Xi. Guo Yuanzhen suddenly came out of the queue and reported the military situation, disrupting the entire Xi. Tang Xuanzong was furious when he saw that the army was not in order, and ordered Guo Yuanzhen to be beheaded immediately. Thanks to the advice of Liu Youqiu and Zhang Shuo, Tang Xuanzong pardoned Guo Yuanzhen for his capital crime and exiled him to Xinzhou (present-day Xinxing, Guangdong). Soon after, Tang Xuanzong remembered Guo Yuanzhen's past exploits, and pardoned Guo Yuanzhen on November 28 when he was honored and reinstated him as Sima of Raozhou (present-day Poyang, Jiangxi). However, Guo Yuanzhen suffered this setback, was depressed, and died of illness on the way to his post at the age of 58. In the tenth year of Kaiyuan (722), Guo Yuanzhen was posthumously awarded the crown prince Shaobao.