On the 14th day of November (Tuesday, December 16, 755), An Lushan, who was also the governor of Fanyang, Pinglu, and Hedong, mobilized soldiers from the governor and Tongluo, Xi, Khitan, Shiwei, Turkic and other ethnic groups to form a total of 150,000 soldiers, claimed to be 200,000, to raise troops in Fanyang. In the 15th year of Tianbao, he occupied Chang 'an and Luoyang and entered the peak of the Anshi Rebellion.

after

(1) Fan Yang's rebellion-Yang Guozhong and An Lushan were at odds. An Lushan was afraid that Yang Guozhong would harm him, so he used the excuse of attacking Yang Guozhong to defect in Fan Yang. An Lushan went south all the way. In less than two months, he had captured Luoyang and established himself as Emperor Yan, with the country's name Yan.

(2) Suzong ascended the throne-An Lushan broke Tongguan, captured the garrison general Geshuhan alive, and drove straight to Chang 'an. Xuanzong entered Shu in panic and arrived at Ma Yi Posthouse. The soldiers mutiny, Concubine Yang was forced to hang herself, and Prince Li Heng ascended the throne in Lingwu for Suzong.

(3) Lushan was killed-Soon after, An Lushan was killed by his eldest son, An Qingxu. Guo Ziyi received the help of Huihe to recover Chang 'an and Luoyang.

(4) Siming's rebellion-Shi Siming surrendered to the Tang Dynasty and was granted the title of Fanyang Jiedushi. The Tang Dynasty was afraid that Shi Siming would rebel again and wanted to destroy him. When the news leaked out, Shi Siming rebelled.

(5) Siming declared himself emperor-Guo Ziyi and Li Guangbi attacked Anqingxu and surrounded Yejun. Shi Siming led troops to assist Anqingxu, merged his troops, and returned to Fanyang, calling himself Emperor of Great Yan.

(6) Calm down the chaos-Shi Siming and Li Guangbi held a stalemate for more than a year and was killed by his adopted son Shi Chaoyi. Li Guangbi once again borrowed the Huihe army to defeat Shi Chaoyi. Shi Chaoyi's subordinates Tian Chengsi and Li Huaixian surrendered to the Tang Dynasty. Shi Mingyi was killed, and the Anshi Rebellion was put down.

Guo Ziyi who put down the Anshi Rebellion

impact

The consequences of the Anshi Rebellion were extremely serious, and its impact can be roughly divided into the following points

First, the war caused a catastrophe to society. "The Biography of Guo Ziyi in the Old Tang Dynasty" records: "The palace was burned, but not one in ten remained, and the grass was abandoned, and there were once no foot rafters. In the middle of the capital, there are less than a thousand households, and Jingyi is called Jingjing. There is a shortage of military reserves and manpower. In the east, Zheng and Bian reach Xufang, and in the north, Qin and Huai Jing reach Xiangtu. It is cut off by people and thousands of miles of depression."Almost the entire middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River are desolate. Du Fu has a poem that says: "After the Lonely Tianbao, the gardens and cottages are only Artemisia, and there are more than a hundred houses in our village. The world is in chaos." This shows that after the war, the majority of the people are homeless.

Second, the Anshi Rebellion caused the Tang Dynasty to prosper and decline. After that, in fact, the unified Central Dynasty was no longer able to control the local areas. The Anshi Party formed a separate division of military towns in the north, and their own affairs were independent. Later, this situation spread throughout the country. The Anshi rebellion broke out and the Tang Dynasty fell apart. There was no power to suppress the rebellion, so they had to turn to the Huihe and generals from ethnic minorities for help. When Shi Siming's son, Shi Chaoyi, retreated from Yecheng, the Tang Dynasty sent Pugu Huaien, a general of the Tiele tribe, to pursue him. Pugu had conflicts with the Tang Dynasty. In order to form a private faction, he deliberately preserved the power of the old Anshi troops and allowed them to continue to control the Hebei area. Tian Chengsi, an old general of An Shi, occupied Wei Bo (now southern Hebei, northern Henan), Zhang Zhongzhi (later renamed Li Baochen) occupied Chengde (imitating central Hebei), and Li Huaixian occupied Youzhou (now northern Hebei), all of whom were appointed as military governors. This is the so-called "Three Towns in Hebei". The three towns gradually "civil and military officials were appointed without authorization, and the taxes were not allowed to be transferred to the court." They integrated local military, political, and economic powers into one body."Although they are called vassals, they are not royal officials." Later, other areas, such as Li Zhengyi in Ziqing (now Zichuan and Yidu areas in Shandong Province), Li Lingyao in Xuanwu (now Kaifeng and Shangqiu areas in Henan Province), and Li Xilie in Huaixi, all separated themselves from each other and refused to accept the management of the court. These square towns either "replenished their own officials but did not pay the king's taxes", or "contributed not to the court." They even arrogantly claimed to be kings and emperors, competing with the Tang Dynasty until the fall of the Tang Dynasty. This phenomenon did not end.

Third, class oppression and oppression by the ruling class are even more severe. As a result, the contradiction between farmers and local classes became increasingly acute, and finally forced farmers to raise their troops and uprising, forming the climax of the peasant uprising in the middle of the Tang Dynasty. After the An-Shi Rebellion, the number of household registration held by the state decreased significantly. Between Tongguan and Hulao Pass, within a few hundred miles, there are only "more than a thousand households." In Fangcheng County in Dengzhou, the number of households dropped sharply from more than 10,000 during the Tianbao period to less than 200 households. However, the government has imposed a burden on farmers who are still registered. As the saying goes,"Every household and every farmer are used for their own grain, without clothes or brown, but also with their mediocrity." During the Yuanhe period of Emperor Xianzong of the Tang Dynasty, 1.4 million farmers in eight villages in Jiangnan had to bear all the grain and pay of the 830,000 troops of the Tang Dynasty. Therefore,"two households were used to support one soldier, and other losses caused by floods and droughts were collected recklessly and were in addition to regular service." The people under Fangzhen's rule also suffered from "violent punishments and heavy taxes." For example, Tian Chengsi's "heavy increase in tax rates" in Weibo Town, Li Zhi's "loss of material resources" in Bianzhou, and so on. The arbitrary taxes and taxes by the Tang government and various military prefectures finally aroused the continuous armed uprisings of the peasants. During the Dai Zong Dynasty,"a group of thieves and bees came together and captured counties." Among them, the larger ones included the Yuan Chao Uprising in eastern Zhejiang in the first year of Baoying (762 AD), the Fanqing Uprising in western Zhejiang in the same year, and the Zhang Du Uprising in Suchang, the Yang Zhao Uprising in Shuzhou, and the Muzhou Uprising in Yongtai Period (765 AD). Although these uprisings were quickly suppressed, they further weakened the Tang Dynasty.

Fourth, after the Anshi Rebellion, the Tang Dynasty also lost control of ethnic minorities in surrounding areas. Together with the rebels in Anlushan, the Tang Dynasty dispatched heavy troops from Longyou, Hexi, and Shuofang to the interior, resulting in an empty border defense. Tubo in the west took advantage of the opportunity to enter, seizing the Longyou and Hexi Corridor, and all the four towns of Anxi were lost. After that, Tubo deepened further, and the Tang regime could not even maintain Chang 'an City. From then on, the Tang Dynasty was troubled at home and abroad, and it was unstable and even more dangerous.

Comment: The turning point of the Tang Dynasty from prosperity to decline