Ge Shuhan's garrison at Tongguan has blocked the rebels, why did Tang Xuanzong force him to fight?
In December 755, An Lushan conquered the Lujiang River and became emperor. Tang Xuanzong beheaded Changqing and Gao Xianzhi, and appointed Ge Shuhan as deputy marshal. In June of the following year, Tang Xuanzong forced Ge Shuhan to withdraw his troops, but Ge Shuhan was ambushed, and Tongguan was quickly breached. Chang'an was destroyed. But why did Tang Xuanzong force Ge Shuhan to take the initiative?
Plot: An Lushan seized the Lujiang River and became the emperor; Tang Xuanzong changed the yuan, and civil strife resumed.
In November of the 14th year of Tianbao (755), An Lushan, who also served as the envoy of Fanyang, Pinglu and Hedong Jiedu"Secret edict against Yang Guozhong"In the name of a rebellion, they soon occupied the Hebei region. In order to defend Luoyang, Tang Xuanzong appointed Changqing, the governor of Anxi, as the envoy of Fanyang and Pinglu Jiedu, and his sixth son, Li Wang, the king of Rong, as the generalissimo of soldiers and horses, and Gao Xianzhi, the right general of Jingwu, as the deputy marshal.
At that time, because the elite border army in the palace had not yet returned, Gao Xianzhi and Feng Changqing could only temporarily recruit troops in Chang'an and Luoyang, not only the troops were insufficient, but also the combat effectiveness was very limited"Unlawful separation"The sin will put Feng Changqing and Gao Xianzhi to death. Tang Xuanzong listened to the offensive remarks of the eunuchs who controlled the army"Illegal loss of points"The sin will behead Feng Changqing and Gao Xianzhi.
On the first day of the first month of the fifteenth year of Tianbao (756), An Lushan proclaimed himself emperor in Luoyang and changed his name to Shengwu. Tang Xuanzong appointed Ge Shuhan, who was recuperating at home, as the deputy marshal and ordered him to lead an army of 200,000 to guard Tongguan. Although he can fight well, he is already a veteran at the age of 50, and he has suffered health problems due to alcoholism, and he suffered a stroke a year ago.
After Ge Shuhan took office, he falsely accused An Sishun (An Lushan's brother) of having an old grudge against him. An Lushan was acquitted of false accusations against An Sishun, and An Sishun and his brother An Yuanzhen were killed, and An Yuanzhen's family went into exile. This move directly aroused Yang Guozhong's jealousy, and Ge Shuhan's people persuaded him to kill Yang Guozhong, which directly deepened the contradiction between the two sides.
In addition, due to physical reasons, Ge Shuhan had to let Tian Liangqiu, the secretary of the military department, take charge of the overall situation, and Tian Liangqiu could not convince the public because of his low qualifications, so he handed over the leadership of the cavalry to Wang Sili and the leadership of the infantry to Li Chengguang. In this way, Wang Sili was dissatisfied, and Li Chengguang was disrespectful, resulting in inconsistent military orders. In addition, Goshuhan"Strict but not compassionate"The rule led to low morale of the Tang army and a lack of fighting spirit among the people.
Ge Shuhan also thought that he had recognized the enemy's situation, but he was only in retreat, and never took the initiative to attack, An Lushan attacked many times, but was repulsed, and the rebels were tightly sealed east of Tongguan for several months. At the same time, Guo Ziyi and Li Guangbi, who attacked Shi Siming in Hebei, also believed that the Tang army could only hold on and could not leave lightly.
Why did Tang Xuanzong force Ge Shuhan to send troops? In fact, this is the result of a combination of several factors.
From the fifteenth day of May in the fifteenth year of Tianbao (756), Tang Xuanzong began to encourage Ge Shuhan to participate in the war, and for a time the envoys"Invincible", which caused a lot of pressure on Geshuhan. On the fourth day of the first month of June, Ge Shuhan had no choice but to go out of the customs and was caught up by the rebels. The Tang army suffered heavy losses, Geshuhan was captured for his mutiny, and Tongguan was subsequently breached.
As for why Tang Xuanzong forced Ge Shuhan to fight, I personally think that there are mainly the following reasons:
1.The Tang army urgently needed a victory, and An Lushan showed weakness to the enemy. It can be said that since the An Lushan uprising, the Tang Dynasty has been defeated repeatedly, if the loss of Hebei is the reason for An Lushan's long-term hegemony, then the loss of the eastern capital Luoyang is a fatal blow to the Tang Dynasty, this blow is not only a blow to the morale of the army, it is not only the embodiment of An Lushan's claim to be the emperor of Luoyang, but also the embodiment of the orthodox rule of the Tang Dynasty's contempt, that is to say, the Tang army at this moment, even if it is impossible to completely quell the rebels, at least with a big victory to restore morale and restore the prestige of the army leadership. At this moment, the Don army, if not the complete pacification of the rebels, at least restored the morale and prestige of the army leadership with a big victory. After the failure of the attack on Tongguan, An Lushan immediately ordered Cui Ganyou to leave the old and weak soldiers to garrison Shan County, making the enemy appear weak and weak, and at the same time hiding the elite troops and deliberately luring Geshuhan, this plan gave up the risk of war, even if Geshuhan was breached, the imperial court was unaware. In May of the same year, Tang Xuanzong learned of the rebels"There were less than 4,000 soldiers, all of whom were weak and had no chance of winning"before misjudging to"The thief is unprepared"For this reason, he forced Geshuhan to fight.
2. Luoyang is a strategic location, and Tang Xuanzong urgently needs to repair it. For the Tang Dynasty, Luoyang was not only the eastern capital, but also an extremely important strategic location. New Tang Dynasty Book - Food and Goods Chronicles" contains:"Tang Chang'an and Guanzhong are known for their fertile land, but their land is narrow and not enough to bring capital to prepare for drought, so they often return to the southeast of the millet. "In the Tang Dynasty, the output of Guanzhong has long been unable to support the consumption of Chang'an's Jingshi, and has become an important grain tax in the Tang Dynasty, after the continuous development of the Three Kingdoms, the Jiangnan region developed from the Three Kingdoms period has become an important grain tax in the Tang Dynasty, and this Caoyun Grand Canal is the Sui and Tang Grand Canal, and its important hub is Luoyang. If Luoyang is controlled by the rebels for a long time, the Sui-Tang Grand Canal will be cut off, and the ** of the capital Chang'an will also be cut off. At the same time, although the garrison of Tongguan was enough to resist the rebels, it was equivalent to the Tang Dynasty blockading the west of Tongguan, cutting off the connection with the eastern half of the country, building the capital Luoyang, plus An Lushan, as a model of the two emperors of the east and west, Tang Xuanzong could not resist, and he must get out of Luoyang as soon as possible.
3.The battle for generals escalated, and Yang Guozhong continued to slander. As mentioned above, after Ge Shuhan was recruited, he soon had an argument with Yang Guozhong. At that time, Ge Shuhan's subordinate Wang Sili persuaded Ge Shuhan to quell the Seven Kingdoms Rebellion according to the strategy of Emperor Jing of Han"Leave 30,000 soldiers to guard the pass, and the elite will be loyal to the country"("Rebellion of the Seven Kingdoms.")"Kill the mistake, net the king's address"("Rebellion of the Seven Kingdoms", when the rebels were in order.)"Kill Chao wrong, clear the king's side", Emperor Jing of Han killed Chao Cuo and made him leave the army incognito), although it was not accepted by Gao Shunhan, but it reached Yang Guozhong's ears. In order to protect himself, Yang Guozhong gathered an army of 3,000 people trained by his cronies day and night, and an army of 10,000 led by his cronies Du Ganyun, and stationed them in Ba Shang, called self-defense rebellion, which was actually to guard against Ge Shuhan. Geshuhan wrote a letter asking for unified command of the troops stationed in Pakistan, and in the name of discussing military affairs, he dragged Du Ganyun until his death and attached the army to him. After this incident, the rift between Yang Guozhong and Ge Shuhan became insurmountable, and it was precisely because of Yang Guozhong's continuous fanning of the flames that Tang Xuanzong forced Ge Shuhan to participate in the war. As a favorite minister of Tang Xuanzong, Yang Guozhong's words still carry a lot of weight.
In addition to the above reasons, and the fact that Geshuhan was a general in charge of the foreign army, that is, a foreigner from Geshuhan's Turghut tribe, he might be susceptible to the suspicion of the imperial court, and it is conceivable that the imperial court would not dare to force him to resist the orders of reason.
Moreover, judging from the development of the situation at that time, Geshuhan's control over his subordinates was very limited. Although he saw An Lushan showing weakness to the enemy, his subordinates not only did not see it, but even thought that the success of the war was inevitable, which led to the loss of the main force in the battle. Therefore, the strong desire of his subordinates to fight is probably also an important reason why Ge Shuhan has to fight.
Refer to the New Tang Dynasty Book. Xuanzong Benji", "Old Tang Book", "Ge Shuhan Biography", "New Tang Dynasty Book". The Biography of Ge Shuhan", "New Tang Dynasty Book. The Biography of Ge Shuhan", "New Tang Dynasty Book", "Food and Goods Journal", "Zizhi Tongjian", etc.