Chapter 24 3. Recovering the two capitals
In February of the second year of Zhide (757), Suzong moved from Pengyuan (now Ning County, Gansu Province) to Fengxiang (more than 300 miles west of Chang'an), making a big step towards Chang'an, and summoned all kinds of troops to regain Chang'an. .When the people of Chang'an heard that Emperor Suzong had arrived in Fengxiang, they all fled from the city and surrendered to the Tang army.
At that time, Li Mi, who assisted Suzong in commanding the overall situation, advocated sending Anxi and Western Region soldiers to the northeast first, and attacking Fanyang from Guizhou (now Huailai, Hebei) and Tanzhou (now Beijing Miyun) to the south, first to capture the rebels' lair, and let the rebels The head and tail can't look at each other, and they are exhausted. In this way, Tang Jun can wait for work with ease.Suzong was eager to win, and said: "Now that the army has assembled and Jianghuaiyong has arrived, we should use strong troops to directly attack the heart of the rebel army. If you send troops thousands of miles to the northeast and attack Fanyang first, you will look far away." Li Mi said : "If we recover the two capitals with all our troops now, although we can take them, the rebels will definitely make a comeback, and our army will be in a critical situation. Now our elite soldiers are mainly the troops of the Northwest Frontier Town and the Western Regions. They are cold-resistant As for the fear of heat, if you use its morale to attack the exhausted division of the rebel army, you will be able to conquer it. Now that it is spring in the two capitals, the rebels have collected their remnants and fled back to Fan Yang's lair. Northwest. At this time, the rebels will rest their troops, and they will make a comeback. Then they will fight endlessly. It is better to use the soldiers from the northwest to attack the rebel lair first. Their retreat is cut off, and then they will be completely wiped out." But Suzong was eager to regain Chang'an In the two capitals of Luoyang and Luoyang, they did not wait patiently and did not follow Li Mi's suggestion.
However, before Suzong officially began to dispatch the two capitals, he experienced a shock first.At that time, Wang Sili, the military envoy of the Tang Army, was stationed in Wugong, Guo Yingyi, the soldier and horse envoy, was stationed in the east of Wugong, and Wang Rare was stationed in Xiyuan.On February 19th, the rebel general An Shouzhong suddenly led an army to attack Wugong, and Guo Yingyi's army faced it. Unexpectedly, the Tang army was defeated. Guo Yingyi himself was shot by an arrow and fled in embarrassment.However, it was rare for the king to see death without saving him, so he led his army to retreat.Wang Sili could not fight alone, so he led his army back to Fufeng area.The rebel cavalry once rushed to Daheguan (now south of Qishan Mountain, Shaanxi), only 50 miles away from Fengxiang. Suzong was shocked and ordered Fengxiang to be martial law.
Fortunately the rebels only feinted.In fact, there were many internal contradictions in the rebel army at this time.Ever since An Lushan occupied Luoyang, he enjoyed himself wantonly. He was extremely obese, so that he suffered from eye diseases and was almost blind in both eyes.He also had gangrenous sores, and the pain was often unbearable.His temperament, which was already very violent, became extraordinarily cruel. When he was slightly dissatisfied with things, he would scold and abuse at the slightest, flogged him at worst, and even killed him, which made everyone around him feel insecure.Li Zhuer, the eunuch next to An Lushan, was beaten the most, and resentment arose from this.After An Lushan proclaimed himself emperor, he lived in the forbidden area, and the general rarely saw him. All major events were conveyed by Yan Zhuang (the person who encouraged An Lushan to raise troops).Even a confidant minister like Yan Zhuang was often whipped by An Lushan.An Lushan usually dotes on his concubine, Duan's. Seeing An Lushan's condition, Duan's life is not long, so she wants to make a plan for herself and let her own son An Qingen replace An Qingxu's "Prince".An Lushan also had this intention, which caused An Qingxu's self-danger and intensified the conflict between father and son.For his own benefit, Yan Zhuang took the opportunity to instigate An Qingxu and An Lushan's personal eunuch Li Zhuer to kill An Lushan in order to protect himself, so Yan Zhuang and An Qingxu stood outside the room late at night with troops, and Li Zhuer entered with a knife. room, and slashed at An Lushan's big belly in his sleep.A few times in a row, blood flowed profusely, and even the intestines flowed out.An Lushan woke up from his sleep, and hurriedly touched the protective saber next to the pillow, but the saber had already been hidden by Li Zhuer.An Lushan shook the tent pole and said, "The house thief must have killed me." In the end, he died in pain due to excessive blood loss.
After An Lushan passed away, An Qingxu and Yan Zhuang entered the room, wrapped the body in a felt blanket, and buried it under the bed.Yan Zhuang declared to the outside world that An Lushan had a sudden illness, and made An Qingxu, king of Jin, the crown prince.So Qingxu became the emperor, and An Lushan was respected as the Supreme Emperor.An Qingxu was weak and cowardly, and his speech was disorderly. Yan Zhuang was afraid that everyone would not accept him, so he refused to let An Qingxu see others.An Qingxu also took pleasure in drinking day and night, and called Yan Zhuang his brother, and everything depended on Yan Zhuang, no matter how big or small.
After An Qingxu killed his father and became self-reliant, he appointed Shi Siming as Fanyang Jiedu envoy, concurrently led the Hengyang (now Zhengding, Hebei) military, and named him King Guichuan.However, after An Lushan captured the two capitals, he transported a large amount of plundered treasures to Fanyang, his old nest. Therefore, when An Lushan died, these properties fell into the hands of Shi Siming. The soldiers respected themselves and did not obey An Qingxu's orders.An Qingxu's reputation was not as good as his father's, so there was nothing he could do about it.
In April of the second year of Zhide (757), Suzong, who couldn't wait, appointed Guo Ziyi as Sikong and deputy marshal of the world's soldiers and horses, and called him to lead the army to Fengxiang, preparing to launch a general offensive to conquer Chang'an in one fell swoop.Li Guiren, the general of the rebel army, heard the news and led 5,000 cavalry to Sanyuan (now northeast of Sanyuan, Shaanxi). Guo Ziyi sent servants Gu Huai'en (a member of Tiele tribe), Wang Zhongsheng, Hun Shizhi, and Li Ruoyou to ambush at Liulian Bridge in Baiqu in advance. As a result, the rebel army was ambushed and the whole army was wiped out. Li Guiren jumped into the Baiqu water and escaped with his life.
After Guo Ziyi won the first battle, he joined forces with Wang Sili, the Jiedu envoy of Guannei, and marched towards Chang'an.The rebel generals An Shouzhong and Li Guiren led an army to resist the Tang army in Xiqingqu, the capital. The two sides held a stalemate for 7 days, and the Tang army could not move forward.An Shouzhong pretended to retreat, and Guo Ziyi immediately ordered the whole army to pursue him.The rebels sent 9,000 brave cavalry to form a long snake formation. When the Tang army stepped forward to attack, the head and tail of the long snake formation suddenly changed into two wings, attacking the Tang army, and the Tang army was defeated.Han Ye, the judge of the Tang Dynasty, and Sun Zhigu, the supervisor of the army, were both captured by the rebels, and all the military equipment was discarded.Guo Ziyi had to withdraw from the army and wrote to Emperor Suzong, asking for self-demotion.
Seeing that the Tang army was defeated again and again, Suzong believed that the rebels were elite and difficult to defeat, so he was always worried.Guo Ziyi believed that the Huihe cavalry was elite and could rival the rebels, so he persuaded Suzong to ask Huihe to send reinforcements.Suzong and Huairen Khan of Huihe made an agreement: "On the day when the capital is recovered, the land and people will return to Tang, and all the gold, silk and children will return to Huihe." On ordinary people.
Huairen Khan readily agreed, and immediately sent his son Ye Hu and general Di De to lead 4,000 elite cavalry to Fengxiang to help the Tang army.Suzong was very happy, and rewarded Ye Hu with a feast, as he wished.The food of the Uighur army was also better than that of the Tang army, supplying 200 sheep, 20 cattle, and 40 dendrobium rice every day.Suzong's son, Guangping Wang Li Chu (later renamed Li Yu, later became Tang Daizong) also swore an alliance with Ye Hu to be brothers. Ye Hu was overjoyed and took the initiative to call Li Chu his elder brother.
On August 23, the second year of Zhide (757), Suzong rewarded the three armies and prepared to launch a general attack on Chang'an and recover the capital.Guo Ziyi still served as the deputy marshal of the army and horses of the world (Guangping Wang Li Chu was named the marshal of the soldiers and horses of the world), and was in charge of the general command.Suzong said to Guo Ziyi: "The success or failure of the matter depends on one action." Guo Ziyi replied: "If Chang'an cannot be regained in this battle, I will repay it with death."
On August 27, Cui Guangyuan, the doctor of imperial history (that is, the capricious Jing Zhaoyin in front of him), first went to battle and defeated the rebels in Luogu (today's Zhouzhi southwest of Shaanxi).Later, Tang general Guangyuan marched Sima Wang Bolun and judge Li Chun led 2,000 troops to attack Zhongwei Bridge (now northeast of Xianyang, Shaanxi), killing more than 1,000 rebel defenders, and took advantage of the victory to attack Chang'an Yuanmen. favorable.At that time, the rebels stationed in Wugong heard that the Wei Bridge was lost, and worried about being attacked by the enemy, they hurriedly abandoned the ground and fled back to Chang'an. Just in time, the Tang army attacked the Yuanmen Gate of Chang'an, so they attacked the Tang army with the rebels defending the city. The main general, Wang Bolun, died in battle, and the other general, Li Chun, was captured by the rebels.
On September 12th, Li Chu, Marshal of the Army and Horses of the World, led by Li Chu, the Tang army from all the Daoist states in Shuofang, Huihe, and the Western Regions came to aid with a total of 150,000 troops, claiming to be 200,000, and set off from Fengxiang.When the Huihe army arrived in Fufeng, Guo Ziyi specially hosted a banquet for Ye Hu and warmly entertained him.To everyone's surprise, Ye Hu said generously: "The country is in trouble, so I led my troops from all over the world to help. The country's crisis is not over, so why eat!" As soon as the banquet was over, he immediately led the army to set off.
On September 27, Tang's army arrived in the west of Chang'an City, and formed a formation north of Xiangji Temple (located in the south of Chang'an, Shaanxi Province) east of Fengshui. Li Siye was the front army, Guo Ziyi was the middle army, and Wang Sili was the rear army. The Huihe soldiers and horses were led by Ye Hu as a mobile force. The Tang army stretched across 30 miles and wanted to fight the rebels to the death.100,000 rebels lined up in the north. The rebel general Li Guiren was the first to go out to challenge. The front team of the Tang army fought and approached the front of the rebel army. The rebel army suddenly started a big counterattack.At the most critical moment, Li Siye said: "If you don't use your body to bait the enemy today, the army will definitely be defeated." So he took off his armor, shirtless, swung his long knife, shouted loudly, and rushed to the enemy's formation.Li Siye slashed and killed bravely, invincible, and killed dozens of people. The rebels were frightened for a while, but were shocked by his bravery.Seeing that the main general took the lead, the Tang army's morale was greatly boosted, and the formation was stabilized.
At that time, the rebel army first ambushed elite soldiers in the east, trying to attack the back of the Tang army.After the Tang army learned about it, they sent Pugu Huai'en, a soldier from the left wing of Shuofang, to lead the Huihe soldiers to fight back. The Huihe soldiers were unstoppable.Li Siye and the Huihe soldiers attacked from the back of the rebel formation, and flanked the Tang army on both sides, killing more than 60,000 rebels, and countless people died in the ditch.This bloody battle lasted from noon to You, until night fell. The rebel army was defeated and had to pack up the remnants and retreat into the city of Chang'an.
At this time, Pu Gu Huai'en said to Li Chu, the king of Guangping: "The rebels will definitely flee Chang'an. Please let me lead two hundred cavalry to pursue them. This will surely capture the rebel generals An Shouzhong, Li Guiren and others." But Chu disagreed, saying: "The general is tired from the battle, let's rest for now, and we will talk about it tomorrow." Pugu Huai'en said: "Li Guiren, An Shouzhong and others are all brave generals in the rebel army. They were suddenly defeated by us today. This is a good opportunity given to us by God, why should we let it run away! If it makes a comeback, it will be a disaster for us, and it will be too late to regret it by then! Soldiers are precious, why wait until tomorrow!" Guang Ping Wang Li Chu insisted not to let the pursuit, let Pugu Huai'en go back.Pugu Huai'en expected that the rebels would not keep their will and would abandon the city and flee, so he went to Li Chu to ask, back and forth, several times a night, but Li Chu never agreed.
Sure enough, as Pu Gu Huai'en expected, in the middle of the night, the rebel generals Li Guiren, An Shouzhong, Zhang Tongru, and Tian Ganzhen all abandoned the city and fled.It was not until dawn the next day that Tang Jun learned the news, but it was too late to pursue.On September 28, Tang Dajun entered Chang'an, and Chang'an was recovered from it.
When Li Chu led his army into Chang'an, the people in the city, supporting the old and the young, lined the road to greet each other.However, they didn't know that the deal between Suzong and Huihe almost caused them to be wiped out.After Chang'an was recovered, Huihe Yehu had to fulfill the previous agreement, preparing to plunder Chang'an and looting the gold, silk and women in the city.Li Chu, the king of Guangping, saw that the people were overjoyed. His joy was unspeakable. He couldn't bear it. He bowed in front of Ye Huma and persuaded him: "Now that Xijing (Chang'an) has just been recovered, if there is a large amount of plunder, everyone in Tokyo (Luoyang) will die." It will be difficult for the rebels to defend, and it will be difficult to conquer, and I hope to keep the promise after recovering Tokyo." Ye Hu was very surprised to see Li Chu bowing down to him, and hurriedly jumped off his horse to pay respects, knelt down and held Li Chu's feet and said: "I will immediately lead The soldiers recovered Tokyo for Your Royal Highness." Then he and Pugu Huai'en led Huihe and Western Region soldiers to circle the south of the city and set up camp to the east of Chanshui.
After the people in Chang'an learned the truth, they cried to Li Chu and said: "King Guangping is really the lord of Huayi!" Li Chu won a great reputation for this.Later Suzong heard about this and said with emotion: "I can't do it!"
After the recovery of Chang'an, the morale of the rebel army was shaken. The rebel general Zhang Tongru and others escaped from Chang'an and went east, leading the remnant soldiers to retreat to Shan County.Li Chu and Guo Ziyi led an army to attack Luoyang again.An Qingxu gathered all the elites, under the command of Yan Zhuang, the official censor, joined forces with Zhang Tongru, with a total of 150,000 infantry and cavalry, to resist the Tang army.
On October 15th, Li Chu, king of Guangping, led his army to Quwo (now east of Lingbao, Henan).General Bishi Tupa Pei Luo, a member of Huihe Yehu Sect, led his army to set up an ambush on Nanshan Mountain. Guo Ziyi and others led his army to fight the rebels in Xindian (now west of Shanxian County, Henan Province). The rebels took advantage of the victory and went down the mountain to pursue them.The Huihe soldiers who had been ambushing in Nanshan in advance rushed out suddenly and attacked the rear of the rebels.The rebels had always been afraid of the Huihe soldiers. Before the Huihe soldiers could catch up, they shot more than a dozen arrows in the billowing dust. When the rebels saw that they were arrows from the Huihe soldiers, they exclaimed: "The Huihe soldiers are coming!" The army had no fighting spirit. It collapsed because of this.The Tang army took the opportunity to kill a returning carbine, and flanked the Huihe soldiers on both sides. The rebels were defeated and there were many casualties.
Seeing that the situation was over, An Qingxu led the remnant soldiers and fled to Hebei in a hurry.Before leaving Luoyang, An Qingxu killed more than 30 captured Tang generals Ge Shuhan and Cheng Qianli.
On October 18, Guangping Wang Li Chu led his army into Luoyang.So far, the two capitals have been recovered, and the counter-insurgency war has achieved a major victory.The people of Luoyang suffered untold hardships again. The crowds welcoming the Tang army had not dispersed yet, and the Huihe soldiers could no longer restrain themselves. They went straight to the treasury to collect money and silk, and looted the market and villages in Luoyang for three days. No scruples.Li Chu, the king of Guangping, could not stop his plagiarism.Out of helplessness, the people of Luoyang took the initiative to raise ten thousand horses of Luo Jin to donate to Huihe, and Huihe stopped looting.In order to appease Huihe, Emperor Suzong appointed Ye Hu as Sikong, granted him the title of King Zhongyi, and stipulated that 20,000 pieces of Huihe silk should be donated every year to be received from the Shuofang army.
On October 23rd, Emperor Suzong returned to Chang'an, and the people in the city went out to greet him for 20 miles, dancing and shouting long live, overjoyed.After that, Suzong amnesty the world, only those who were against An Lushan and the descendants of Li Linfu, Wang Yu, and Yang Guozhong were not pardoned.Li Chu, the king of Guangping, was established as the king of Chu, and soon he was named the crown prince. He added Guo Ziyi Situ, Li Guangbi Sikong, and the rest of the meritorious generals such as Li Siye, Wang Sili, Pugu Huai'en (a member of the Tie Le tribe), Lu Jiong, and Zhang Hao. The advanced level grants the title, and the addition of food varies.Li Wei, Lu Yi, Yan Gaoqing, Yuan Lvqian, Xu Yuan, Zhang Xun, Zhang Jieran, Jiang Qing, Pang Jian, etc., all of the dead scholars gave gifts, and made their descendants official.The home of the war dead will be exempted from tax and labor for two years, and the county will be exempted from one-third of the rent next year.Only Li Mi, Suzong's most important adviser, returned to Hengshan.
At that time, many ministers surrendered to the rebels. For example, in Tokyo, there were more than 300 rebel officials, including Chen Xilie and Wang Wei. All of them were arrested and sentenced to prison.Suzong also specially appointed Lu Yu, Minister of the Ministry of Rites and Minister of the Ministry of War, as the emissary for detailed reasoning, and jointly tried Chen Xilie and others for the crime of surrendering the rebels with Cui Qi, the imperial historian.Lu Yan and Cui Qi believed that all the officials of the rebel army who were trapped had betrayed the country and obeyed the puppet, and should be executed according to the law.Suzong also thought so, to kill one as an example to others.But Li Xian said: "The rebels captured the two capitals, the emperor went to Baoshu, and the people fled for their own lives. These officials who trapped the rebels are all relatives of His Majesty or old descendants of Xun. Now they are all sentenced to death for treason. Dao. And the rebellion has not been finally put down, Hebei has not yet fallen, and many of the officials are still trapped in the rebel army. If they are dealt with leniently, it will open their way to reform, if they are all punished, they will strengthen their rebellious hearts. "Shangshu" There is a saying: Annihilating Jue Qukui, threatening to ignore it. Lu Yan and Cui Qi are just sticking to the laws and don't understand the general principles. I hope your majesty will give it more consideration."
The two sides disagreed and argued for days.In the end, Suzong followed Li Xian's suggestion and divided the thieves into six categories of convictions. Those who were more serious were sentenced to the city, the second was given to commit suicide, the second was a hundred sticks, and the third was demoted.Da Xixun and other 18 people were beheaded under the willow tree in the southwest of the city, Chen Xilie and other 7 people were given to commit suicide in Dali Temple, and those who should receive sticks were all stuck at the gate of Jingzhao Mansion.Only Henan Yin Zhang Wanqing appointed by An Lushan was exonerated because he protected the people in the rebel army, and the great poet Wang Wei was also exempted because he wrote poems expressing his nostalgia for the Tang court when he was in Luoyang.
And those celebrities who refused to surrender were commended.There was a hermit named Zhen Ji in Qingyan Mountain in Ji County (now Ji County, Henan Province), who was famous for his noble conduct.Before An Lushan rebelled, he hired Zhen Ji as the interview envoy and secretary.Zhen Ji felt that An Lushan had a rebellious heart, so he pretended to have a stroke, resigned and went home.After An Lushan proclaimed himself emperor, he never forgot Zhen Ji, so he sent his confidant Cai Xide and two swordsmen to summon Zhen Ji. If Zhen Ji resisted, he would be executed on the spot.As a result, Zhen Ji stretched his neck, waiting for the execution.Cai Xide couldn't bear it, so he didn't kill him, but went back and told An Lushan that Zhen Ji was seriously ill.But even so, after An Qingxu ascended the throne, he sent people to forcibly carry Zhen Ji to Luoyang.Fortunately, more than a month later, Li Chu, the king of Guangping, led his army to recover Luoyang.Suzong appointed Zhen Ji as Secretary Lang, let him live in the Sansi building, and made those ministers who were honored by the rebel army worship him, so as to make those people feel ashamed.
After the recovery of the two capitals, the Anshi Rebellion entered another stage, and Shi Siming, who stayed behind in Fanyang, gradually replaced An Qingxu as another protagonist.After An Qingxu escaped from Luoyang, he was in panic all day long and ran all the way to Ye County (now Anyang, Henan Province) before he settled down.However, its most powerful general, Li Guiren, led elite troops to drag Luohe and tens of thousands of Hu soldiers from Tongluo and Liuzhou to Fanyang.Shi Siming, who stayed behind in Fanyang, was terrified by this. He first ambushed elite soldiers, and then sent people to recruit Li Guiren's troops. Both Yiluohe and Liuzhou Hu soldiers surrendered to Shi Siming. Only Tong Luo soldiers refused to obey, and Shi Siming Defeated, the property was taken away by Shi Siming, and the remaining Tongluo soldiers fled back to their country. Shi Siming's strength increased greatly for a while.Fearing Shi Siming's power, An Qingxu sent his generals Ashina Chengqing and An Shouzhong to Fanyang to dispatch Shi Siming's army.Shi Siming felt dissatisfied, and Geng Renzhi, the judge of Fan Yang Jiedu, took the opportunity to say to Shi Siming: "You are in a high position now, and others dare not speak up. I am willing to risk my life to speak out. You fought with all your might for An's father and son. Its fierce power. Now that the Tang Dynasty is revived, the emperor is benevolent and holy. If you can lead your troops to submit to the court, you will turn misfortune into blessing." Wu Chengjun, the general who helped him, also said: "Now that the Tang Dynasty is revived, the Anqingxu Dynasty is in danger. Why should you do it for him? Die with your life! If you submit to the imperial court, you can atone for your past crimes, and it will be easy to turn your back." Therefore, Shi Siming decided to submit to the Tang Dynasty.Emperor Suzong was overjoyed when he heard the news, and made Shi Siming the king of Guiyi, and continued to serve as Fan Yang Jiedu envoy. His seven sons were all made high-ranking officials.
After Shi Siming surrendered to the Tang Dynasty, all counties and counties in Hebei, except Anqingxu's Xiangzhou, were re-owned by the Tang Dynasty.However, Shi Siming was only out of interest considerations and did not want to be controlled by An Qingxu. Surrendering to the Tang Dynasty was just a stopgap measure.Half a year later, Shi Siming rebelled again and echoed An Qingxu in Yecheng.The army of the Tang Dynasty surrounded Yecheng. In order to save his life, An Qingxu had to ask Shi Siming for help in exchange for surrendering the throne.Shi Siming took advantage of the weakness of the Tang army's inconsistency to break the siege of Yecheng, but the rebels broke out again. Shi Siming killed An Qingxu and left his son Shi Chaoyi to stay in Yecheng. , and re-captured Luoyang half a year later.The Tang Dynasty once again fell into a passive situation.At this time, the rebels broke out again. Shi Chaoyi killed his father Shi Siming and became self-reliant in his father's place.At this time, the Tang Empire was already in power under Daizong. Seeing that the rebel forces were still strong, they borrowed troops from Huihe again.
In October of the first year of Baoying (762), the coalition forces of Tang and Huihe began to attack.Shi Chaoyi discussed the countermeasures with his subordinates. The general Ashina Chengqing said: "If only the Tang army comes, we should fight with all our strength. If we come with the Huihe soldiers, the soldiers will be irresistible. We should retreat to Heyang to avoid them. It can be seen that the elite Huihe soldiers did deter the rebels to a certain extent, but Shi Chaoyi did not obey.After the Tang army arrived in the northern suburbs of Luoyang, they lined up in Hengshui. The rebels responded with tens of thousands of horses and stood up to defend themselves.General Pu Gu Huai'en of the Tang Dynasty set up a formation in Xiyuan, and sent brave cavalry together with Huihe soldiers to go out from Nanshan to the northeast, attack inside and outside, and defeated the rebels.After Shi Chaoyi heard about it, he personally led 100,000 elite soldiers to raid the formation.The rebel army was in a tight formation, and the Tang army charged and killed several times, but they all stood still.Tang Jiang Zhenxi Jiedu envoy said: "The matter is critical." He even rushed into the enemy line single-handedly, grabbed two shields from the rebels, and charged left and right.The rebel army began to loosen, and the Tang army took the opportunity to attack. The rebel army was defeated.Shi Chaoyi fled to Fanyang to the north, but was rejected by the defenders. He was desperate and hanged himself to death.The Anshi Rebellion, which lasted seven years and three months, finally subsided.
It is a pity that after the Tang army recovered Luoyang, Huihe soldiers burned, killed and looted the city wantonly. Tens of thousands of people died, and the fire did not go out for dozens of days.On the other hand, Shuofang and Shence Army of the Tang Army also believed that Tokyo, Zhengzhou, Bianzhou, and Ruzhou were all places where the rebels were based, and they also plundered wantonly, which lasted for 3 months.These states and counties were wiped out, and the people had to use paper as clothing.
The Anshi Rebellion is undoubtedly the most important event in the history of the Tang Dynasty, and it is also considered to be the turning point from the prosperity to the decline of the Tang Dynasty—a centralized empire that was originally rich, stable and vast, after the Anshi Rebellion, evolved into a struggling, insecure and divided country.The Anshi Rebellion is even considered a major turning point in the entire history of China. It not only caused huge damage to society and economy, but also acted as a strong catalyst, producing serious and far-reaching consequences.In this protracted war, the people of the Central Plains suffered unprecedented catastrophe, especially the northern economy was greatly damaged. "Luoyang is surrounded by hundreds of miles of prefectures and counties, all of which are Qiuxu." There was a tragic scene of depression and depopulation for thousands of miles.In particular, Suzong and Daizong actively encouraged the rebels to surrender voluntarily in order to put down the rebellion as soon as possible, and allowed them to serve as officials in their original places and continue to serve the Tang Dynasty.The price of this kind of compromise is high, the power of the central government has been severely weakened, and the situation of Fangzhen's separatism has initially taken shape.In the areas under the jurisdiction of Jiedushi, the Tang court could neither appoint or remove officials, collect taxes, nor mobilize troops.The position of Jiedushi is either inherited from father to son, or from subordinates to generals.They held heavy troops and attacked each other, posing a serious threat to the centralization of the Tang Dynasty.Since then, the Tang Empire has been in a state of chaos, eventful and divided. The royal family declined sharply and never revived.In feudal society, the fate of the royal family was inseparable from the fate of the country, and the decline of the royal family was the decline of the country.A glorious era has finally come to an end.
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