In the era of Bai Juyi, not far from the Anshi Rebellion, in his immortal poem "Song of Long Hatred", through "Yu Yang Mo came agitatedly, and broke the song of neon clothes and feathers." The nine-fold city is full of smoke and dust, and thousands of rides are traveling southwest", which has clearly revealed such a tendency: linking the outbreak of the Anshi Rebellion to the luxurious palace life of the emperor and Yang Guifei.
Yang Guifei and Tang Xuanzong. ** Movie "Yang Guifei".
However, An Lushan's rebellion has its deep logic, which is far from being as simple as the emperor being mediocre and pampering his concubines, loving his house and appointing traitorous relatives, and not being aware of careerists.
Yang Guozhong or Yang Guifei, who is more important to Tang Xuanzong?
Tang Xuanzong, who came to power in a coup d'état, was ruthless and once executed three of his sons in one day. As an eloquent emperor, Tang Xuanzong was keen to expand his territory and control the civil and military affairs of the Manchu Dynasty. How could such an emperor be so happy and angry that he was busy falling in love with Yang Guifei every day? What's more, the blood relationship between Yang Guozhong and Yang Guifei is not close, Yang Guozhong is Yang Guifei's brother. To put it more carefully, the great-grandfather of both of them is the same person, and the relationship is already very distant. Yang Guifei's father was an official in Sichuan, but Yang Guifei grew up in ** when she was a child, but there are many sayings, Sichuan, Shaanxi, Gansu, and Henan. In addition, Yang Guifei's father died early, she was fostered in Luoyang's uncle's house after she was ten years old, and she became a princess in Beijing when she grew up. Yang Guozhong's father was an official in Anhui, and Yang Guozhong spent his youth in Shanxi and Anhui, and went to Sichuan to join the army at the age of thirty. Judging from the respective life trajectories of Yang Guozhong and Yang Guifei, the two don't know each other at all. Yang Guozhong is just a distant relative of Yang Guifei, if Xuanzong can make Yang Guozhong the prime minister of the dynasty with his love for Yang Guifei alone, then will Yang Guifei's own brother and brother have to tear the soil and become the king? But in reality? Yang Guifei's brothers and brothers, there is no record in the history books that they were big officials. 
Yang Guozhong's film and television image. ** Screenshot of the TV series "Emperor Tang Ming" The real one who was promoted to become rich because Yang Guifei was stained with light is Yang Guifei's uncle Yang Xuanqi. Yang Xuanqi is about the uncle who raised Yang Guifei in Luoyang, so his family and Yang Guifei can be described as father and daughter. After Yang Guifei made her career, Yang Xuanqi became Guangluqing, Yang Xuanqi's two sons, Yang Quan, became Hongluqing, and Yang Qi became the imperial history. Although Guangluqing and Hongluqing are not of low grade, it is difficult for them to have the opportunity to participate in high-level political decision-making. Li Mi, a former generation of heroes, defected to Li Yuan and was named Guangluqing, so angry that he abandoned his official position and fled. Although the Imperial Servant has a certain amount of real power and future, it is only the smallest rank among the six rank officials. Before Yang Guifei ascended to the sky, Yang Guozhong had been working at the grassroots level for many years. He started in the army, did a very good job in tuntian, and with his own ability, he became a county lieutenant in the local area. He had political ambitions, and after being recommended to the capital to pay tribute, he visited Yang Guifei, a distant relative, and barely got the position of the lowest Jinwu soldier Cao in the army, but he was actually responsible for managing the stables. Compared with the county lieutenant of Zhengjiupin, Yang Guozhong tossed for half a day after entering Beijing, and it only increased by half a level. At this point, it was probably because Yang Guifei saw that this person was a relative and helped him settle in the capital. However, Yang Guozhong used the opportunity to manage the stables and displayed a shocking talent for economic management, which impressed his boss and then Prime Minister Li Linfu, and finally brought the emperor to his attention. Yang Guozhong was promoted to supervise the imperial history across the ranks, and then he was quickly promoted, shining in the economic field, through the degree of branch member Wailang, Du Zhi Langzhong, to the matter, and the imperial history of Zhongcheng, within three or four years Yang Guozhong became an important minister in the economic field of the Tang Empire. In the process of Yang Guozhong's promotion, the history books only focus on recording some personnel power struggles, focusing on how Yang Guozhong relied on his leadership to rise to power. Compared with the status of Yang Guifei's brothers and adoptive fathers and sons in the officialdom, I am afraid that this is more due to the deliberate ugliness of later records after the fall of Yang Guozhong. The fundamental reason why Yang Guozhong was able to gain the extreme appreciation of Li Linfu and later emperors was that at that time, the old economic system of the Tang Empire was facing a complete collapse, the government and military system also tended to collapse, and the imperial economic field was forced to reform. In the 300-year history of the Tang Empire, there were only a few people who led the reform in the economic field and could finally achieve certain results, and Yang Guozhong was undoubtedly level. 
Li Linfu's film and television image. ** Screenshot of the TV series "Emperor Tang Ming" Like Li Linfu, in addition to being in charge of the economic field, Yang Guozhong's other very important role is that of a thug, the person the emperor wants to rectify. The real power faction in the empire, including An Lushan, and even the crown prince Li Heng, has not been rectified by Yang Guozhong. So later, from An Lushan to Geshuhan to the forbidden army, all the time he opened and closed his mouth to be on the side of the emperor Qingjun and to kill the traitor Yang Guozhong. But when in history did it under the banner of "Qing Jun's side" not target the emperor himself? An Lushan in an awkward situation.
Many people think that Tang Xuanzong trusted An Lushan too much, and it was more of a cheap afterthought. With Tang Xuanzong's character, would he really trust anyone? Even Yang Guozhong, who is both the chief executive of the empire and a thug, and can be called the emperor's absolute confidant, is just a useful tool in the eyes of the emperor, who can be thrown out at any time to calm people's hearts when needed. When Yang Guozhong's predecessor Li Linfu was at his most powerful, his son was so frightened every day that he cried to his father, our current position is a bit too high, and the height is unbearable. All the powerful people in the Tang Dynasty except for the emperor are almost all your enemies, and I am afraid that our father and son will not be able to die well in the future. Li Linfu replied sullenly, the matter has come to this, what can I do?
Looking at the relationship between An Lushan and Tang Xuanzong, it is a relationship related to each other's net worth and even the lives of thousands of people, and the two of them are cautious and cautious to the extreme. When An Lushan entered Beijing, Xuanzong deliberately arranged a banquet for An Lushan to see the prince, but An Lushan did not dare to bow down when he saw the prince. The emperor said: "This is the prince, after I live for a thousand years, he will be your new king", An Lushan left that classic reply: "I am very stupid, I have always known that there is only His Majesty alone, and I have never known that there is a prince." ”
An Lushan film and television image. ** Screenshot of the TV series "Glory of the Tang Dynasty".
Commentators often think that An Lushan is flattering Tang Xuanzong, which is too simplistic. An Lushan is not simply patting Tang Xuanzong's sycophants, but accepting a huge political vote, and making an extremely serious political statement, which involves the most sensitive issue in Tang Xuanzong's heart: the issue of heirs. In the twenty-fifth year of Kaiyuan (737 AD), the then crown prince Li Ying and other three princes brought people into the palace in armor, saying that there were thieves in the palace, and were finally arrested and executed by Tang Xuanzong. It is now common to blame this on Concubine Wu Hui's provocation, which is about the official tone set by Li Heng of Tang Suzong, who had the same illness as Li Ying, after succeeding to the throne. For Li Longji, who started with a palace coup, these familiar paths are too terrifying. Even, when we look back at the succession to the throne of the Tang Dynasty before Li Longji, it is not difficult to find that coups d'état personally initiated by the crown prince or a powerful prince or used as a banner are almost the norm. The first emperor Li Yuan, after the powerful prince Li Shimin initiated the Xuanwumen Revolution to kill his brother, was forced to give in. The second-generation emperor Li Shimin was almost re-enacted by the crown prince Li Chengqian. The first few princes of the third emperor, Li Zhi, either died early or were attacked first by the emperor and the empress. Wu Zetian was also forced to abdicate by courtiers under the banner of the crown prince in his later years. After Tang Zhongzong succeeded to the throne, his crown prince Li Chongjun staged an armed coup d'état and was defeated and died. After the violent death of Tang Zhongzong, Li Chongmao, who succeeded to the throne, first became a puppet of Empress Wei, and then was overthrown by Li Longji and Princess Taiping, and died violently soon after. Li Longji, a coup expert who relied on two coups to gain power, naturally knows the history of their ancestors for generations. If the crown prince is too strong, he will threaten himself, but if the prince is too weak, he may be overthrown by others like Li Jiancheng and Li Chongmao. Therefore, after abolishing Li Ying, Li Longji not only had to cultivate the power of the prince to ensure that he could, but also limited his power to prevent him from wanting to advance **. 
Tang Xuanzong's film and television image. ** Screenshot of the TV series "Emperor Tang Ming" In this case, how to keep a suitable distance between the powerful faction of the imperial court and the crown prince is a university question. Many generals in the northwest towns such as Shuofang, Longyou, and Hexi have been attacked because of their relationship with the prince. An Lushan of the three towns of Jiedu clearly remembered that the king of Jiedu, who had greater merit than himself and had stronger military power than himself, died of depression not long ago after being deposed because he was too close to the prince. Even this result was a leniency after Wang Zhonghe's successor, Ge Shuhan, repeatedly pleaded: if it weren't for Ge Shuhan's intercession, Xuanzong would have executed Wang Zhonghe. Another old friend of the prince, Huangfu Weiming, was not so lucky, in the action of the imperial thug Li Linfu to suppress the prince, Huangfu Weiming, who had served as the envoy of the right section of Hexi Long, was given death. In addition to instructing Li Linfu and Yang Guozhong to suppress some powerful factions in the northwest border towns that were too prestigious and too close to the prince, letting An Lushan concurrently serve as the envoy of the three major military towns of Fanyang, Lulong, and Hedong located on the northeastern border of the empire was also a balance and constraint on the prince's power. Of course, Tang Xuanzong was not defenseless against An Lushan. An Lushan can really control only one military town in Fanyang, and the two military towns of Lulong and Hedong are only controlled by An Lushan, and when he rebels, except for Datong, all other places are loyal to the Tang Empire. Of course, An Lushan also knew the emperor's intentions, so when he faced the emperor asking him to express his position in public, he had an allusion not to worship the prince. An Lushan, who was trembling and walking on thin ice, must have felt uncomfortable and frightened in his heart when he handed in this letter of nomination, because Xuanzong was almost 70 years old at that time, and under ancient medical conditions, this was the standard "ancient rare", and no one knew how long he would live. But in order to survive, An Lushan faced the emperor's temptation at this moment, and he could only pretend to be crazy and stupid, and it would be a moment later. 
Tang Xuanzong's film and television image. ** Screenshot of the TV series "Emperor Tang Ming" An Lushan drew a line with the prince in such an exaggerated way in public, and when the prince ascended the throne a few years later, how should he deal with himself? An Lushan's confidence to take risks.
The worry of liquidating himself after the crown prince succeeded to the throne, Yang Guozhong's beating and rectification of himself under the instruction of Tang Xuanzong, the adventurous spirit in his nature and the desire and thirst for greater power will make An Lushan flash the idea of fighting countless times. But it's one thing to have a thought, but it's much harder to really take a risk and rebel. An Lushan repeatedly calculated that there were three towns under his name, and once he pulled the flag and rebelled, he could really control only one town in Fanyang. So, does An Lushan have any other strength to rely on? That's a lot!
Because the Anshi Rebellion brought endless wars and disasters to the people, and the end ended in failure, people always tend to work backwards from the results, thinking that it was a rebellion launched by a small group of careerists leading some arrogant soldiers against the will of the majority of the people. But at least in Hebei, where An Lushan raised troops, even long after the end of the rebellion, rebellions such as An Lushan and Shi Siming turned out to be positive images, so much so that some people built temples for them. Professor Qiu Luming once pointed out in his discussion of the Anshi Rebellion: "Historians have noticed very early on that traitors such as An Lushan and Shi Siming, who were rebellious in the eyes of the Tang court, were deeply respected in Hebei, and were 'commonly known as Lushan and Siming as the two saints', so the so-called Anshi Rebellion did not start at the end of Qingping, but was supported by a deep social foundation behind it." "Although An Lushan's rebellion failed, there were many sympathizers in Hebei, why is this? 
An Lushan film and television image. ** Screenshot of the TV series "Tang Ming Emperor" Starting from the Eastern Han Dynasty, Hebei's economy and population have surpassed Guanzhong. By the end of the Northern and Southern Dynasties, the Guanlong aristocratic group rose in Guanzhong and relied on an effective military and political system to defeat the Northern Qi regime that ruled Hebei, Shandong and other Kwantung regions. This is the standard for small to big: in 581 AD, when Emperor Wen of Sui usurped the throne, a census was conducted, and the official number of households was about 4.6 million, totaling 29 million people. Among them, the registered population in the former Northern Qi Dynasty, which experienced the war of annihilation, was about 20 million, and the population of the territory in the former Northern Zhou Dynasty, including Sichuan, Shu, Hedong and parts of Henan, was about 9 million. This presents a question, under the Guanzhong standard, how can we firmly rule Hebei, Shandong and other places with far more populous people than Guanzhong? Emperor Wen of Sui deliberately destroyed Yecheng, an important town in Hebei, and Emperor Yang of Sui did not care about the people's power when digging the Grand Canal and the expedition to Goguryeo, and all had the intention of weakening the people's power in Kwantung, especially Hebei. When Tang Taizong, who had a deep relationship with the Kanto region, ascended to the throne, he gradually began to bring the upper echelons of the Guandong clan into his own regime, but the Guanlong family still dominated the regime. For the Hanmen Shu people, the low-level Han people or the Hu people, who account for the vast majority of Hebei's population, this kind of ** means little to them, they are just leeks of the Guanlong aristocratic group. For example, before the Anshi Rebellion, Hebei and Shandong provided two-thirds of the silk silk for the Tang Dynasty, and the grain reserves in Hebei and Henan accounted for half of the Tang Dynasty's grain reserves. 
Before the Anshi Rebellion, the area of Hebei and Shandong in the Tang map (741 AD). * Tan Qixiang's edition of Historical Atlas of China
The prosperity of Kaiyuan seems to have nothing to do with them. They will not have any sense of identity with the Tang Dynasty emperor, the general representative of Guan Long's standard. In their opinion, in addition to the endless demands of the distant Chang'an court, there is only the rotten gossip of the old emperor and Yang Guifei. On the contrary, whether it was Dou Jiande, the leader of the Hebei uprising at the end of the Sui Dynasty, who led them to rebel against the Sui Dynasty, or An Lushan Shi Siming, who took them to Chang'an to rob the big eaters and let them see the hope of turning over, they can be regarded as their leaders. After the Anshi Rebellion, in addition to calling An Lushan and Shi Siming the "two saints", he also widely worshipped Dou Jiande, the former leader of Hebei. This detachment was reflected in An Lushan's staff group. Yan Zhuang and Shangshang, the two aides of An Lushan's henchmen, were both Shu scholars from Hebei, and they persuaded An Lushan to rebel all day long, so that An Lushan later scolded them when he was frustrated, saying: "It's all because you call me to rebel all day long!" When An Lushan had not yet made up his mind, the most ferocious person who persuaded him to rebel was not the generals under his command, but the Hebei Shu clan in his staff group. The general centrifugation of the Han Shu people, the Han people at the bottom and the Hu people in Hebei was already a dangerous sign for the Tang Dynasty. What's even more terrifying is that in addition to the Fanyang Town army in his hands and some Lu Long and Datong soldiers, An Lushan also had two ready-made high-quality soldiers when he raised his troops**. One is the border tribes represented by the Khitan and Xi. The Khitan and Xi tribes attached to it were basically incorporated into their own army by An Lushan. The Khitan and Xi people, who had not yet been attached, also had a large number of members join the rebels in the early days. Fan Yang Town was originally to prevent them from going south to rob, but now that they are taking the lead in rebelling south, they are naturally happy to join. In addition, there is another important ** of the rebel backbone, which is often overlooked. Ten years before the outbreak of the Anshi Rebellion, the overlord of the Mongolian plateau collapsed the post-Turkic khanate. Along with the collapse of the post-Turkic Khanate, there was a great upheaval throughout the Mongolian plateau, and many tribes were forced to migrate and join the An Lushan camp. After the collapse of the Turkic Khanate, in the reorganization of the various steppe tribes, a large number of tribes were ready-made soldiers when An Lushan planned the rebellion. Li Guiren's forces, who joined An Lushan Group, formed the most elite cavalry "Tuoluohe", and Li Guiren was named "King of Beiping" by An Lushan early. Judging from his prominent status and An Lushan's importance to him, Li Quurren was likely to be the leader of a large tribe on the Mongolian plateau, with great influence, and after the collapse of the Turkic Khanate, he migrated with his subordinates to find a way out, and finally joined the An Lushan group. 
Before the Anshi Rebellion, the Turks in the Tang map (741 AD). * Tan Qixiang's edition of "Historical Atlas of China" In short, Tang Xuanzong and his henchman Yang Guozhong's rectification and beating, the fear of liquidating himself after the crown prince succeeded to the throne, and his personal ambition were all important reasons for An Lushan's rebellion. But long before this, most of the ordinary people in Hebei had always had a lot of dissatisfaction with the Tang Dynasty, and those henchmen around An Lushan, because of their background in the Hebei Shu tribe, could not see the future, and they repeatedly persuaded him to raise troops early on. The joining of the Khitans and Xi, as well as the tribal migration caused by the collapse of the Later Turkic Khanate, greatly increased An Lushan's power and potential allies, and finally made An Lushan determined. "Yu Yangmo came agitatedly, breaking the song of neon clothes and feathers", an unprecedented nightmare since the founding of the Tang Dynasty is about to envelop the land of China.