Nineteen years before the outbreak of the Anshi Rebellion, in the twenty-fourth year of Kaiyuan (736), Tang Xuanzong had a disagreement with the ministers of the court on how to deal with a guilty border general.
In March of that year, An Lushan, a subordinate of Zhang Shouqi, the envoy of Fanyang Jiedu (Youzhou, now Beijing), was defeated when he fought against the Khitan and Xi people in the frontier.
Zhang Shouqi was going to behead him by military law, but An Lushan shouted for mercy: "Aren't you going to destroy the Khitan and Xi people?" Why kill me! Zhang Shouqi cherished his talents, so he changed his mind and escorted him to the capital, waiting for his fate.
Prime Minister Zhang Jiuling read the report and thought that the military order was like a mountain, and An Lushan must be executed. He told two stories to Tang Xuanzong.
The rise of the Fan general An Lushan: The identity of the Hu people helped him Many brave generals emerged on the frontier battlefields during the Tang Xuanzong period, but why was An Lushan able to stand out and stand on the cusp?
One of the key factors is his Hu identity. At that time, in order to prevent the border marshal from entering the court, Li Linfu, the minister of power, suggested to Tang Xuanzong that the Hu generals should be reused in the border defense, believing that they were strong by nature, brave and good at fighting, and if they were appeased, they would definitely swear allegiance to the death and would not compete with themselves for the phase.
Tang Xuanzong agreed to this suggestion and promoted Gao Xianzhi, Ge Shuhan and other generals who were powerful at the border pass. However, this also laid a hidden danger for the outbreak of the Anshi Rebellion. An Lushan was originally a Yingzhou Zahu, his mother was a Turkic witch, and his father's identity was unknown.
After he changed his name to An Lushan, he followed his mother's surname and remarried, and once worked as a Yalang of Zhufan Hushi, proficient in nine Hu languages, and good at communicating. The outbreak of war provided the Hu man with an opportunity to show his talents on the battlefield.
Yao Runeng, a person who recorded the deeds of An Lushan, An Lushan is good at being familiar with the situation and customs of the mountains and rivers, he is fluent in business, so he changed his career and invested in the account of Zhang Shouqi, the envoy of Fanyang Jiedu, and became a "life general".
This position is specifically responsible for capturing prisoners, and An Lushan's performance in this position is impressive, often taking three or five horsemen out, he can capture dozens of Khitans and be promoted with military merits.
Zhang Shouqi praised him and adopted him as his adopted son. During this period, An Lushan got acquainted with Shi Siming, the characteristics of these two characters are quite similar, except for their different weights, they are the same age, they are both Yingzhou Zahu, they have both been mutual market langs, and they are equally insidious and cunning.
Shi Siming fled in debt in his early years and was captured by the Xi people, but he was not afraid of danger and pretended to be a peace envoy of the Tang Dynasty, and successfully persuaded the Xi people to send him to the court. Shi Siming's move made Xi Ren believe it was true, and sent hundreds of people to follow him into the court.
Shi Siming had a poisonous plan to welcome these hundreds of people into the pavilion, and then killed them. After Fan Yang Jiedu made Zhang Shouqi learn of this, he also regarded Shi Siming as a talent and promoted him to a general.
An Lushan and Shi Siming began to become colleagues for many years, they attacked the Khitan together, the road encountered heavy rain, almost all the army was wiped out, An Lushan escaped with 20 horses, the saddle was arrowed, and the shoes were lost.
An Lushan blamed two of his subordinates and beheaded them. Shi Siming hid at this time, he was worried that An Lushan would blame him, and fled into the valley for 20 days, collecting 700 scattered soldiers.
When An Lushan was in a predicament, Shi Siming took this army to see An Lushan. At this time, An Lushan was grateful, he held Shi Siming's hand and said, "With you, what else is there to worry about?" ”
After An Lushan walked away, Shi Siming said to others: "If I come back a few days earlier, I'm afraid I will be killed." ”
An Lushan's promotion In the film and television drama "An Lushan and Shi Siming", we can see that An Lushan, like his old friend Shi Siming, is extremely good at observing words and feelings, and will do whatever it takes to increase the rank of official.
Every time the DPRK sent envoys to the borderlands, An Lushan bribed them and asked them to say a few kind words in front of Xuanzong to brush up their sense of existence. This method really worked, and after being touted by others, Tang Xuanzong also heard about An Lushan, a "loyal and good general", and promoted him many times.
In the first year of Tianbao (742), An Lushan was appointed as the envoy of Pinglu (Zhiying Prefecture, now Chaoyang, Liaoning). This Zajuan Lushan, who was adrift in the early years, finally has a piece of land of his own.
In order to get close to Tang Xuanzong, An Lushan constantly created a good reputation for himself, and even falsified his military exploits by deception. He caused trouble on the border, provoked war, and forced Xi and Khitan to rebel against the Tang Dynasty after killing the Tang Dynasty and the daughter of the clan who had married him.
An Lushan sent troops to fight, and also invited merit to Tang Xuanzong, and said that he dreamed of the famous generals Li Jing and Li Tao begging for food from him on the way to the march, so he built a temple for them, and the Ganoderma lucidum grass appeared on the temple during the memorial service, which was a good omen.
In addition, An Lushan tricked the Khitan into meeting with the Xi nobles several times, and then drunk them with poisoned wine, took the head of his chief and sent it to Chang'an to repay the merits, and killed the rest of the captives.
After the Khitan and Xi people on the border were captured, some were sent to Chang'an by An Lushan, and some were used as his prisoners of war. These innocent people have become his tools to satisfy Xuanzong's arrogance.
This is the way An Lushan was promoted, which makes people sigh at his wit and cruelty.
The epitome of the rise and fall of the imperial dynasty: the battle between the Tang court and the Northwest soldiers vs. the Northeast soldiers"In the eleventh year of Tianbao in 752 A.D., An Lushan, who was also the envoy of the three towns of Pinglu, Fanyang and Hedong, and Ge Shuhan, the envoy of Longyou Jiedu, entered the pilgrimage at the same time.
Although the two were generals, their backgrounds were completely different, An Lushan's mother was Turkic, and Geshuhan was Turkic. Although An Lushan tried to get closer to Geshuhan by using a trick, Geshuhan refused with his profound wisdom and compared An Lushan to an ungrateful fox.
This hostility gradually deepened between them, and behind this contradiction actually reflected Tang Xuanzong's strategy towards the eastern and western feudal towns. Tang Xuanzong has"Swallow the ambition of the four yi"Under his rule, Xi and Khitan in the east and Turkic and Tibetan in the west became threatened.
Prior to the rise of An Lushan, Tang Xuanzong's frontier strategy was mainly focused on the west, and wars broke out almost every year on the western border. However, in the fifth year of Tianbao, Wang Zhonghe, who was only 40 years old, served as the envoy of Hexi and Longyoujie, and became the general with the greatest military power since the founding of the Tang Dynasty.
The strength of the western feudal towns reached its peak at this time, and it was significantly stronger than the eastern feudal towns. However, the enlargement of the western feudal towns aroused the vigilance of Tang Xuanzong, especially the towns in the northwest were inextricably linked with the crown prince Li Heng, and Wang Zhongsi himself was a close friend of the prince.
In order to weaken the crown prince, Li Linfu falsely accused Tang Xuanzong that Wang Zhongji had repeatedly claimed that he and the prince were good friends who trusted each other, intending to honor the prince as the emperor.
Tang Xuanzong had always had a strong desire for power, and he did not allow the expansion of the prince's power, so he deposed Wang Zhonghei in a fit of rage, and deliberately supported the eastern feudal towns to form a check on the western feudal towns.
An Lushan seized this opportunity at this time, rose to prominence, and grasped the leadership of the Eastern Domain Group. In the tenth year of Tianbao, the Hedong Jiedu envoy, who occupied the important military town, was assigned to the eastern feudal town by Tang Xuanzong, and An Lushan had an additional 55,000 troops.
At the same time, after Wang Zhonghe's death was demoted, the western feudal towns became two major groups - An Sishun (Shuofang) and Ge Shuhan (Hexi, Longyou), and these two have always been at odds, and then gradually drifted apart.
In the Anshi Rebellion, the imperial court mainly relied on the Northwest Army to quell the rebellion, including the armies of Shuofang, Helong, Anxi, and Beiting. This war was essentially a struggle between the eastern and western feudal towns.
Under the rule of Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty, the contradictions and struggles between the eastern and western feudal towns never stopped, which made the rise and fall of the Tang Dynasty a microcosm of history.
The Ming Emperor Xingshu depicts Tang Xuanzong in An Lushan's performance, being bewildered by his honesty and loyalty, while ignoring his ambition and danger. An Lushan used his acting skills to make Tang Xuanzong trust and favor him even more, and even let him worship Yang Guifei, who was 16 years younger than him, as his mother.
However, all this was a means for An Lushan to win the trust of Xuanzong, and his real intention was to establish his own power base and thus control the entire Tang Dynasty. Tang Xuanzong's negligence and Yang Guifei's amusement allowed An Lushan to realize his ambitions, which eventually led to the Anshi Rebellion.
This article tells the story of the Anshi Rebellion during the Tang Xuanzong period, which involved the power struggle of Yang Guifei's brother Yang Guozhong, the minister of power Yang Guozhong, and An Lushan and others.
An Lushan repeatedly reported Yang Guozhong's conspiracy to Tang Xuanzong, but Tang Xuanzong did not believe it. In the end, Tang Xuanzong appointed An Lushan as prime minister, but was prevented by Yang Guozhong. An Lushan felt a crisis and eventually launched the Anshi Rebellion, which had a significant impact on the Tang Dynasty.
Profiting the country is also specialized. "The horse's hooves went south, and the wolf smoke rose, leaving behind the discussion of the old and weak, women and children. The old man had never seen the catastrophe of the Tang Dynasty, and every time the Anshi rebels broke a city, they would plunder everything in the city, killing men, old people, and children.
Soon, An Lushan captured Luoyang and established his own state. Then, he captured Chang'an and destroyed the prosperity of the Tang Dynasty. However, An Lushan's drunken dream and death cost him his life, and he was assassinated by the advisors, his son, and his cronies and eunuchs.
However, the Anshi Rebellion lasted for eight years and had a profound impact on the history of the Tang Dynasty and even the entire ancient Chinese history. An Lushan, an important figure in the history of the Tang Dynasty, will always be remembered.
The prosperity of the Tang Dynasty was shattered by the Anshi Rebellion, which dealt a severe blow to the northern economy. During the war, prices skyrocketed and people had a hard time. After the end of the war, the people were still living in poverty, and they did not even have the conditions to survive.
After the Anshi Rebellion, the defense of the northwest frontier was greatly weakened, and the Tibetans took the opportunity to invade. During the Middle Tang Dynasty, the Tibetan power developed as far as the central and western parts of Guanzhong, and the connection between the Tang Dynasty and the Western Regions was also cut off.
An Lushan, Shi Siming and others fought an eight-year war with the Tang army, and finally they surrendered to the Tang Dynasty. However, the old Anshi tribe controlled the localities in Hebei, northern Henan, and northwestern Shanxi, and married each other, disobeying the orders of the imperial court.
In addition, some generals who rose up in the process of counterinsurgency also formed a situation of feudal separatism. During the Anshi Rebellion, the power of eunuchs Li Fuguo, Yu Chaoen and others gradually expanded, opening the prelude to the eunuchs' seizure of power.
Under their control, the imperial power of the Tang Dynasty weakened day by day, and the government became increasingly chaotic. It can be said that An Lushan and his rebellion completely changed the Tang Dynasty. Therefore, we should be more vigilant against the existence of An Lushan.