Chapter 12 Chapter 12 The Anshi Rebellion Could Have Been Avoided

When it comes to the Anshi Rebellion that took place in 755 AD and raged for 8 years, the feelings of all those who like the civilization of the prosperous Tang Dynasty can only be described by the name of a movie: a sigh. Can you not sigh?Before the Anshi Rebellion, the Tang Dynasty was the most powerful dynasty in the world at that time. Its martial arts ruled the world with a smile.The Tang Dynasty before the Anshi Rebellion had a prosperous economy. Du Fu once said in his poems that "the rice is fat and the corn is white", which can be said to be the most prosperous in the world.The military strength is also strong. The Tang Dynasty fought many wars against the Hexi Corridor, the Western Regions, and the Southwest, displaying the great military power of the Tang Dynasty. Although there were defeats in conquering Nanzhao, the national power was still in a period of rising.However, due to the Anshi Rebellion, everything came to naught. The affluent Central Plains fell into 8 years of war, the economy was severely damaged, countless people were killed and injured, and the Tang Dynasty was forced to move its capital.After the Anshi Rebellion, the Tang Dynasty, which was hit hard, was no longer the prosperity of the past, and began to gradually decline. The land of the Western Regions, which originally connected the civilizations of the East and the West, was invaded by Tubo, and the Hexi Corridor was seized by Tubo. The bullying of Tubo, Uyghur and other foreign tribes has repeatedly lost power and humiliated the country.However, within the Tang Dynasty, the power of the central government was severely weakened, the central land was divided into feudal vassals, wars continued, and the orders of the central government were not obeyed. The huge China became a world full of warlords.The turning point of all this was the Anshi Rebellion that took place in 755 AD.

Although countless people in modern times have argued that the Tang Dynasty was already in crisis before the Anshi Rebellion, but history is always full of accidents and inevitability, and the Anshi Rebellion was actually avoidable for a time.Regrettably, from the rise of Anlu Mountain to the outbreak of the final rebellion, the Tang Dynasty dug holes for itself time and time again until the entire prosperous Tang Dynasty was buried in it. Speaking of the cause of the Anshi Rebellion, what modern historians generally criticize is the Jiedushi system that was implemented on a large scale in the era of Tang Xuanzong Li Longji.

The Jiedushi system began in the Zhenguan period of the Tang Dynasty. It was originally a temporary position in charge of local military affairs, but it became a permanent position during the Tang Gaozong period.The establishment of Jiedushi on a large scale in the Tang Dynasty began during the reign of Emperor Xuanzong Li Longji.During Li Longji's reign of Kaiyuan and Tianbao, a total of 10 Jiedu envoys were established in Pinglu, Fanyang, Hedong, Shuofang, Longyou, Hexi, Anxi, Beiting, Jiannan, and Lingnan, and the military government under the Fubing system Compared with the chief officer, the biggest feature of Jiedushi is "dictatorship". The scepter is granted by the central government, and the local military, civil administration, and financial powers are integrated into one body, almost becoming a local prince.During the Tianbao period of the Tang Dynasty before the Anshi Rebellion broke out, the Tang Dynasty had a total of 650,000 troops, of which 590,000 were under the control of the 10 major Jiedushi. The pattern has laid a hidden danger for the rebellion of the feudal town.

However, it is not realistic to place the responsibility for the Anshi Rebellion entirely on Li Longji.There were difficulties in establishing such a system during his reign.The government military system that swept the world during the Zhenguan period of the Tang Dynasty was based on the land equalization system. Since the central government controlled the land, it could naturally control the soldiers. No matter who was in command, it was impossible to specialize the soldiers.But in Li Longji's period, the government military system had existed in name only, and the border situation of the Tang Dynasty became more and more serious during this period.In such a situation, the Tang Dynasty must adopt direct and effective military policies to ease the increasingly tense border pressure, so the recruitment system was implemented.Especially in the early days of Kaiyuan, when Zhang Shuo was in charge of the northern border affairs, the policy of recruiting inland farmers for reclamation, better troops and simpler administration laid the groundwork for the abolition of the Fubing system.However, as a military strategist with outstanding vision, Zhang Shuo has long realized that after the abolition of the government military system, the country will inevitably face a situation where the frontiers and towns cannot be lost. Therefore, in his report to Li Longji, he suggested that the country continue to use the method of recruiting and reclamation Expand the source of soldiers, and at the same time firmly grasp the economic base of soldiers—farming the land—in the hands of the state. Even if the recruitment system is implemented, the funds for recruiting soldiers and the supply of materials for the frontier army must be firmly in the hands of the central household department.This is a policy with excellent vision, but at this time in the Tang Dynasty, especially in the border areas, the pressure on border defense was very heavy. There were wars in the Hexi Corridor and the Anxi Protectorate. and local personnel power are all decentralized.Because of this, the Jiedushi system came into being.

However, the dictatorship of Jiedushi itself is not easy to form a situation of dominance by one family, because there were 10 Jiedushi in the Tang Dynasty. With the military strength of one family, at most they can rule one side, and it is difficult to form a threat to the central government.Another failure of the Tang Dynasty in the Jiedushi system was to delegate the power of most border towns to a single border commander. Dushi, half of the military power in the world is in his hands. Later, An Lushan, who rebelled, also served as the Jiedushi of the four northern towns. They almost controlled most of the elite soldiers in the world, and even the central government could not compete with them.What is the reason for this result?

Speaking of this reason, we must talk about the "partial belief" of Tang Xuanzong Li Longji.In the early days when Wang Zhongsi was favored and trusted, he handed over all the power of the border town to Wang Zhongsi. After Wang Zhongsi was killed, he turned to trust Anlu Mountain. When trusting every frontier general, he trusted him with all his heart, and when he abolished it, he was merciless. .Such an emperor naturally gave an opportunity to ambitious people like An Lushan.After the Anshi Rebellion broke out, when Li Longji was fleeing, some people along the road said to Li Longji, "Everyone in the world knows that Anlu Mountain is going to rebel, but Your Majesty doesn't investigate", which made Li Longji ashamed.

Why did Li Longji make such a decision on the issue of Jiedushi?It's not so much that he favors treacherous people and listens to villains, it's better to say that it's his own vanity.As a promising emperor, what Li Longji pursued was not only a prosperous literary rule, but also illustrious martial arts.As early as the beginning of his accession to the throne, that is, in 712 AD, Tubo invaded the Hexi Corridor. The Tang army first lost Lingzhou, and then successfully drove away Tubo under the command of the marching chief Xue Na. At that time, Li Longji wanted to The Tang army took advantage of the victory to pursue and even entered the territory of Tubo in Qinghai, but was stopped by Yao Chong, the prime minister at the time.The prime ministers who assisted Li Longji in the Kaiyuan era, such as Yao Chong, Song Jing, and Zhang Shuo, all advocated strict prevention of militarism and active defense first.But Li Longji himself pursued martial arts that could sweep the world. During his reign, he rejected Tubo's marriage proposals many times and launched a resolute war against Tubo.The famous Wang Zhongsi made his fortune by defeating Tubo. However, when Wang Zhongsi operated the Hexi Corridor, he also chose active defense tactics. In order to avoid unnecessary casualties, he even refused to attack the Shibao City at the border between the Tang Dynasty and Tubo. Later, Wang Zhongsi was demoted, not so much because he was involved in the prince's clique case, but because he offended Li Longji about Shibaocheng.In the Li Longji era, Bian Gong was always regarded as an important criterion for evaluating generals.After entering the Tianbao period, because the ministers who opposed the militarism, such as Yao Chong and Song Jing, had resigned successively, Zhang Jiuling was even demoted, and Li Linfu and Yang Guozhong only knew how to flatter.Therefore, during the Tianbao period, although the world was peaceful internally, externally, it was the period when the Tang Dynasty fought the most foreign wars.In the early days of Tianbao, there was Wang Zhongsi who pacified the Turks, and then fought against Tubo's Jishi Mountain, killing and injuring a large number of Tubo's vital forces.Even on the southwestern front, the Tang Dynasty was looking for trouble, and turned against Nanzhao, who had always been friendly to the Tang Dynasty. He wanted to conquer Nanzhao in one fell swoop, but was defeated by Nanzhao.On the western front, the Tang Dynasty crossed the Congling Ridge and marched westward. General Anxi Gao Xianzhi led an army of 30,000 in a bloody battle against 200,000 Arab troops in Talas, but was finally repelled by the Arab army, and the westward advance was temporarily stopped.These battles were all initiated by the Tang Dynasty, but most of the elite troops of the Tang Dynasty were concentrated in the border areas because of this, and the central government faced an unprecedented emptiness.But Li Longji was unaware of all this. Even a year before the outbreak of the Anshi Rebellion, the Tang Dynasty was led by Ge Shuhan and launched a battle against the Tubo Yellow River.This battle captured the important junction between the Tang Dynasty and Tubo, the Yellow River Jiuqu. The Tang Dynasty took the initiative in the battle against Tubo in Hexi, but this was only the last glory of the Tang Dynasty. After that, there was a series of defeats in the Anshi Rebellion .

Speaking of the Anshi Rebellion should not have happened, in addition to the Jiedushi system, but also because of the protagonist of the Anshi Rebellion - An Lushan. When it comes to Anlu Mountain today, almost everyone gnashes their teeth. In fact, he has grown from a small man in a border tribe to a hero who shakes the world, but he has also responded to the saying "If you survive a catastrophe, you will have a good fortune".Before the Anshi Rebellion, An Lushan was also a person who died many times. Of course, he did not die. An Lushan, whose original surname was Kang, had a Turkic mother whose ancestral home was Chaoyang, Liaoning. Because his mother later remarried to a general named An, he was surnamed An from then on. Before the age of 30, he was just a Hu businessman running business on the border of Hebei.Once, he was beaten by border residents for stealing sheep, and happened to be bumped into by Zhang Shougui, an envoy of Fan Yang Jiedu who was passing by.After An Lushan joined the army, first, he was very good at fighting, and second, he was very good at fighting. He tried his best to flatter Zhang Shougui and was adopted by Zhang Shougui as his adopted son.But the good times didn't last long. An Lushan was defeated in a battle, and he should be executed according to military law.An Lushan begged bitterly, and the murderous Zhang Shougui felt compassionate for the first time, so he simply sent him to Chang'an and handed him over to the court for disposal.After An Lushan arrived in Chang'an, Zhang Jiuling, who was the prime minister at the time, saw him only once, and asserted: "The one who will disrupt our Tang Dynasty in the future must be this person." But in front of Li Longji, An Lushan will also come However, Li Longji felt that he was straightforward and cute.But all emperors are always suspicious of military generals with outstanding military exploits, and instead like those generals who look careless and rude. From then on, Anlu Mountain was not only brave in fighting, but also able to send off. He tried his best to bribe various officials sent by the central government to investigate, and soon became prosperous.By 742 A.D., he was already the Pinglu Jiedu envoy who held military power in one side, and became one of the top ten Jiedu envoys in the Tang Dynasty.

Just when An Lushan was fledgling, his first opponent appeared——Wang Zhongsi. Today people are fond of talking about the number of ethnic minorities in the military generals of the prosperous Tang Dynasty. In fact, in terms of military exploits in the prosperous Tang Dynasty, the most outstanding one was the Han general Wang Zhongsi.Wang Zhongsi was the son of Wang Haibin, a famous general in the Tang Dynasty. His father died in the battle of Lingzhou in the early years of Li Longji's ascension to the throne. Later, as a descendant of a martyr, Wang Zhongsi accompanied Prince Li Heng to study since he was a child, and became a good friend of Prince Li Heng. From 18 He has shown extraordinary military talent since he was young. At the age of 18, Wang Zhongsi led only 800 elites to break through the Tubo camp and captured more than 2,000 prisoners. This achievement comparable to that of Huo Qubing in the Han Dynasty made Li Longji see his ability. He has repeatedly made military exploits.He first commanded troops to defeat the rebellious Turkic forces, joined forces with the Uighurs to destroy the Turks, and then severely damaged the Khitans in the battle against the Khitans. Tens of thousands of Khitans were beheaded in the battle of Sangganhe, and the Khitan Khan fled alone. The Khitan, which was once powerful, temporarily declined because of this, and it was not until the end of the Tang Dynasty that it regained its strength.Later, he guarded Hexi, and launched the Battle of Jishi Mountain, which severely damaged the Tubo army who coveted the land of Hexi.In the Tang Dynasty during the Kaiyuan and Tianbao eras, he was an invincible figure in the world at that time. Later, Ge Shuhan, who was praised by Li Bai for making the Tubo people "dare not pass Lintao", was his loyal subordinate.

Such a strong man is naturally feared by An Lushan.In 746 A.D., Wang Zhongsi alone had served as the Jiedushi of the four towns of Hexi, Longyou, Shuofang, and Hedong, and became a neighbor of Anlushan, who was the Jiedushi of Pinglu at that time.What An Lushan did, naturally, could not be hidden from the eyes of Wang Zhongsi, an old military strategist. He once gave Li Longji a detailed memorial, and concluded that in time, An Lushan would turn against him.Wang Zhongsi's reason was that An Lushan continued to find excuses to attack the tribes of Khitan in the north, and took a large number of minority troops for his own use. Moreover, when Anlushan attacked Khitan, Wang Zhongsi was ordered to help in the war. He found that, The usual training subjects of Anlu Mountain's army are mostly city attack drills. As we all know, the northern nomads rarely build cities. The so-called city attack is of course aimed at the cities in the interior.Before that, although Zhang Jiuling and other ministers also asserted that An Lushan had the intention of rebellion, Li Longji didn't care, and he had to pay attention to Wang Zhongsi's report, after all, this was a general he trusted very much.At the critical moment, Li Linfu, then prime minister, rescued An Lushan.Li Linfu told Li Longji that this was just a way for the generals to be jealous of each other and compete for merit.In a word, Li Longji put Wang Zhongsi's words behind him, and An Lushan escaped.Soon after, Wang Zhongsi clashed with Li Longji because of the Battle of Shibao City, and was framed by Li Linfu for colluding with the prince, and finally ended up being demoted and depressed. His talent is enough to pacify Anlu Mountain in the early stage of the rebellion.

An Lushan's rapid growth cannot be separated from the support of one person: Li Linfu.The reason why Li Linfu supported An Lushan was very simple. He was Li Longji's Concubine Wu Hui, and he wanted to make Concubine Hui's son Shou Wang into a prince, and Wang Zhongsi, who had a good relationship with the prince, was a thorn in his side.An Lushan, who had no foundation in the imperial court, was naturally his most powerful foreign aid. The two hit it off, and it was with Li Linfu's cooperation that An Lushan continued to make meritorious service and was promoted continuously.After Wang Zhongsi was dismissed, An Lushan took over Fan Yang, where Wang Zhongsi had been stationed, and got the elite soldiers carefully trained by Wang Zhongsi. At this time, he held two township envoys and three township envoys. Rebellion was just a matter of time question. After Li Linfu fell from power, Concubine Yang's elder brother Yang Guozhong took power.Yang Guozhong, who was at odds with An Lushan, of course tried his best to blow the wind in front of Li Longji.In fact, it is not true that Li Longji was not aware of An Lushan's rebellion at all. For example, he arranged for Guo Ziyi to serve as Shuofang Jiedu's right soldier and horse envoy, just to restrain An Lushan. This is what he did before An Lushan's rebellion. What little remedy there was, it was not enough, but it worked at last. In 755 A.D., the Anshi Rebellion officially broke out. The Tang Dynasty tasted the evil results of keeping the outside and the inside for many years. The Central Plains was vulnerable and suffered repeated defeats. Li Longji's only correct arrangement quickly showed its effect. Guo Ziyi really lived up to his expectations. Shortly after the Anlushan rebellion, he launched a counterattack in Hebei, successively seizing Anlushan's territory, and Yan Gaoqing's in Jingxingguan. The desperate resistance delayed the entry time of the An Lushan army.Therefore, when the An Lushan army entered Henan, the backyard caught fire soon. At this time, Ge Shuhan, an outstanding veteran of the Tang Dynasty, was guarding Tongguan. The Anlushan rebellion, which was in turmoil, is likely to collapse without a fight. However, history was humorous again at this moment. Because he was worried about Ge Shuhan's great achievements, Prime Minister Yang Guozhong kept blowing the wind, so that Li Longji forced Ge Shuhan, who was guarding Tongguan, to take the initiative to fight.As a result, Tang Jun was defeated by the rebels in Tongguan while grasping the excellent situation, and the situation was immediately irreversible.Tongguan fell, Chang'an fell, Li Longji and the civil and military officials of the Manchu Dynasty fled in a hurry, took refuge in Sichuan, and fled from the emperor to become the "Supreme Emperor". blame.And the prosperity and glory of the prosperous Tang Dynasty, after ruthlessly missing historical opportunities time and time again, was mercilessly blown away by rain and wind.