An Anshi Rebellion made the Li Tang Dynasty fall from prosperity to decline, and the emperors of successive dynasties were powerless to change the fact of the division of feudal towns.
When it comes to this period of history, most people regret the decline of the Tang Dynasty, but few people pay attention to the other protagonist in history - the Anshi rebels.
When the emperor of the Tang Dynasty obviously still had a certain amount of popularity and was still popular with the people of the world, how could the Anshi rebels fight with the Tang Dynasty for eight years?
When the national strength of the Tang Dynasty had not yet declined significantly, how could the Anshi rebels be able to occupy the two capitals in a row, and even after Guo Ziyi occupied the two capitals for the first time, they could occupy Luoyang again?
Why did the Anshi rebels, whose force value was obviously not low, only fight for a while, and failed to replace Li Tang Jiangshan at this node when even the emperor abandoned the capital and fled?
1. Armed forces: The rebels have strong combat effectiveness
Because of the preference of Tang Xuanzong for many years, An Lushan had a large number of troops in his hands at the beginning of the rebellion.
He is also the envoy of the festival of three places: Fanyang (Youzhou), Pinglu, and Hedong, all three of which are among the "Ten Festival Envoys of Tianbao". In other words, An Lushan is no longer an ordinary feudal official, and his "Xinjiang" has three others.
The Hedong Jiedu envoy was set up to contain the Turks;
The duty of the Fan Yang Jiedu envoy is to suppress the Khitan, Xi and other tribes;
The Pinglu Jiedu envoy was to suppress the Murwei, the Yan and so on.
But here's the thing - An Lushan himself is a Hu person. The guarantee for the success of the Hu policy is that An Lushan himself has no intention of rebellion.
When he has a rebellious heart, his status as a Hu person allows him to unite the surrounding Hu tribes to the greatest extent possible and suppress them within his area of responsibility.
In addition, An Lushan, as an envoy of the festival, was able to mobilize a huge amount of standing army of the imperial court, and the military strength in his hands had reached a level that should not be underestimated.
What's more, compared with the central army in non-border towns, the combat effectiveness of these minority soldiers and the standing army of the feudal towns is so high that I don't know where it is.
This is not to say how good the Hu tribe is to war, but the standing army of the feudal town and the Hu tribe are in the midst of perennial war.
Those who survive here are veterans with the ability to survive on the battlefield.
In Mr. Chen Yinge's research, Hebei in the Tang Dynasty was one of the places with the most abundant "martial virtues", and the folk customs were very strong, and even women and children could bend bows and shoot arrows.
On the other hand, the Central Army of the Tang Dynasty has not fought for many years, has not practiced real swords and guns on the battlefield, has not experienced the baptism of blood and swords, and it is difficult to fight over the battle-hardened veterans.
Another reason for the strong fighting power is the will of the people. Since Li Shimin, the Tang court has been very jealous of Hebei: "The people who built Hebei are known for their heroism and strength, and they are actually the most feared by the Li Tang royal family of the Guanlong Group."
By the time of Wu Zetian, Hebei had reached the level of "breaking the family road, or fleeing, removing houses and selling fields, people not for sale, taking care of their livelihoods, and the walls were empty".
This is still what Di Renjie said in his report to Wu Zetian when he was Hebei's pacification ambassador.
What is described is not the displacement of people due to natural disasters, but the wanton outpouring of local officials against the people of Hebei because of the need for troops.
By the time of Xuanzong, Prime Minister Zhang said that he had a relatively sober attitude towards the situation in Hebei. He believes that "only one out of ten cities in Yannan remains", that is to say, in Hebei, it would be good to have 10% of the people loyal to the Tang Dynasty.
The Tang Dynasty treated Hebei like this, and when An Lushan rebelled, it is not difficult to guess who the Hebei people chose to help in the first place, and it is not difficult to understand.
In the later period of the Anshi Rebellion, especially after several civil strife among the rebel leading groups, it was still possible to start a meat grinder-like battle with the Tang Dynasty, such as the Battle of "Xiangji Temple", which must be supported by a large number of troops and logistical personnel.
Its own extraordinary combat power, coupled with the Tang court's fear of Hebei and exploitation for many years, led to the loss of people's support, which created the extraordinary combat effectiveness of the Anshi rebels.
2. Know people and be good at their duties: An Lushan has the ability to know people
The Anshi Rebellion occurred just after the military reform of Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty and the collapse of the military system at the time of the establishment of the Tang Dynasty, and the conscription system gradually became the main form of military recruitment of soldiers.
The change from the government military system to the conscription system actually made it easier for the local tyrants to assemble a contingent loyal to them, while the central government's ability to control the army became weaker and weaker.
Due to the collapse of the government military system, they lost their status as "government soldiers", and at the same time, a group of landless peasants were forced to become homeless people, and because of the existence of the conscription system, they became local private soldiers.
Among these people emerged a number of talented people with excellent military and political talents.
And under the command of An Lushan, there are a large number of generals and staff members who are not from high backgrounds and can even be said to be poor.
It can be said that An Lushan has the grace of knowing these people.
When the court is becoming increasingly corrupt and "nepotism" has become the tacit unspoken rule of officials in various places, An Lushan has rarely realized "meritocracy" to a certain extent.
In the "Deeds of An Lushan" written by the Tang people, it is recorded: "At that time, An Lushan was the interview envoy of Hebei, although the inner bud was fierce, and the external award was honest and peaceful, and the talented officials were selected."
This makes An Lushan to a certain extent, the "umbrella" and "spokesperson" of the local middle and lower class people in Hebei. Many people who are not from a high background and are interested in change regard An Lushan as the key to change.
Even after the rebellion, An Lushan maintained his image of "making good use of good materials" and "knowing people and being good at their duties" for a period of time.
For example, Chen Xilie, who was once the prime minister of Tang Xuanzong, was famous for a while. But because of his defeat in the political struggle with Li Linfu and Yang Guozhong, he lost confidence in the Tang court.
An Lushan did not kill him after occupying Chang'an, but actively appeased him, so that the former prime minister of the Tang Dynasty switched to "Dayan" and began to give advice to the rebels.
Although Tang Xuanzong was mediocre in his later years, and the power of traitorous ministers such as Yang Guozhong, Li Linfu, and Gao Lishi also "helped" a lot, An Lushan dared to promote the image of the bottom and was good at appointing capable people, and it also maintained it for a long time.
3. Nature is difficult to change: the habit of grassland plundering determines the outcome
When the Anshi rebels attacked the city all the way, they had strong "grassroots" and "grassland" characteristics - after occupying a place, they did not rule well, but plundered resources as much as they could.
According to the "Zizhi Tongjian", "Every time a thief breaks a city, the clothes, bribes, and women of the city are plundered. The strong man shall bear the burden, and the sick, the old and the young, shall be slain with the sword and mallet."
The clothes were robbed, all the women were taken captive and prostituted, the men were escorted to coolies, and the old and weak were picked up and killed with knives and guns.
Shi Siming was known for his brutality, and his men were the most inhuman during the march. Not only did they loot property everywhere and molested women, but they also "killed people for fun".
Although An Lushan can be called a "good leader" in his hometown of Fanyang, when he goes out of the city to fight, he is no different from the ordinary Hu tribe.
In the Anshi Rebellion, the plundering characteristics of the rebels were not the characteristics of the Central Plains Dynasty or the agricultural civilization, but the characteristics of the grassland tribes.
Taking the Hui tribe, which was also extremely powerful at that time, as an example, the condition for the Tang people to invite the Hui to send troops was to plunder the capital again.
If it were an agrarian civilization, it would certainly not agree to such conditions. It is more useful to have "land" than to have a large amount of possessions. The condition for the agrarian civilization to send troops to help each other is generally "ceding", not plundering.
The logic of Meng Yuan's behavior during the heyday of his army was also consistent with the logic of the behavior of the Anshi rebels at this time. Mongolia once hit West Asia, and the "whip of God" shook Eurasia.
But Mongolia did not have effective control over the places where it had fought. By the time the Yuan Dynasty was founded, many of the lands that had been attacked and semi-occupied were divided in the form of "khanates".
Another characteristic of the grassland peoples is that "the strong take all", or "strongman politics".
Because they are not united by culture, everyone is convinced that they are stronger than themselves, and the leader needs to have strong military and political ability to command others.
An Lushan is undoubtedly a man with relatively good military and political ability, which is why he was able to launch such a large rebellion.
But there is always a twilight in people. An Lushan was too obese, and after a year of rebellion, he suffered from constant illness, blindness, poisonous sores, etc., which made his temper irritable, and lost most of his personal charm as a ruler.
If it weren't for this, An Qingxu would not dare to be instigated to kill An Lushan and set himself up as king.
The most courageous thing An Qingxu did in his life was to kill his father. But he himself is not very politically competent, and his character is a little cowardly.
After killing An Lushan, he handed over all his affairs to Yan Zhuang, who was planning together.
This is completely inconsistent with the logic of "the strong is king" in the grassland, and Yan Zhuang gave each general a fief, which is equivalent to giving a large amount of capital to those who have a heart.
As a result, it didn't take long for history to reincarnate - An Lushan rebelled against the Tang Dynasty, and Shi Siming rebelled against An Qingxu.
Interestingly, soon there was another small reincarnation - An Qingxu killed An Lushan, and Shi Chaoyi killed Shi Siming.
The "Great Swallow" has not been established for long, and the ruling class has become so chaotic.
Or compare it with the Great Yuan - the Yuan Dynasty, which is far more powerful than the Anshi rebels, because it has never changed the captivity habits of the grassland tribes, but it has also fallen apart in a hundred years.
In the final analysis, the core of agricultural civilization is stability, and the core of grassland civilization is migration. This determines that even if An Lushan proclaims himself emperor and has a relatively strong army, he does not have a set of "techniques" suitable for dominating the world.
Among the rebel ranks of all dynasties, the rebel polemic power of the Anshi Rebellion is undoubtedly the first echelon.
The Tang Dynasty fought against the three towns with the strength of the whole country, but it was still a stalemate for eight years, and many of them lost.
The victory eight years later was more because the Tang Dynasty won because of its profound heritage and "consumption". And even if he won, the Tang court no longer formed a strong rule over the three towns of Heshuo.
If it weren't for the ruling class of the Anshi Rebellion, which still retained a strong habit of captivity and plundering by the grassland civilization, if they could learn the strategy of "ruling the world" of the agricultural civilization. It's really hard to say whether this country will change the dynasty.