There are many strange events on the battlefield, but a strange incident that occurred in the "Anshi Rebellion" is confusing.
In August of the first year of Emperor Suzong of Tang (758), Guo Ziyi, Li Guangbi, and others besieged An Qingxu in nine festivals of the Tang Dynasty. First, he defeated An Qingxu at Yuejia and beheaded 4,000 people. Then in Weizhou, Guo Ziyi and others defeated An Qingxu and beheaded 40,000 people. At the same time, he also obtained 100,000 armor from the rebels and killed An Qingxu's younger brother An Qinghe. Then, An Qingxu packed up the remnants of the army and fought against the Tang army, and the Tang army beheaded An Qingxu 30,000 people.
(An Qingxu stills)
In February of the second year of Emperor Suzong of Tang (759), An Qingxu had to flee into the city of Xiangzhou (also known historically as Yecheng). An Qingxu ran out of ammunition and food, and the phenomenon of cannibalism appeared. Then, Guo Ziyi diverted water to irrigate Xiangzhou, which was in danger and was about to destroy the city.
At this time, Shi Siming led the army to the rescue. At that time, Shi Siming's number was still quite large, with 300,000 troops. However, the Tang Army was a nine-way emissary and had a larger number. In the course of the battle, the Tang army and Shi Siming's army initially fought more stiffly, but with the passage of time, Shi Siming's army gradually fell behind. If this fight continues, Shi Siming will definitely be defeated. Even if it will not be completely destroyed, the plan to save the state will be frustrated. An Qingxu must have died too. Once An Qingxu died, the Nine Roads Festival made Shi Siming besiege, and he would not last long.
However, at this time, a strong wind suddenly blew, and for a while it was dark, and I couldn't see my five fingers. As a result, the Tang army had to retreat, and Shi Siming also fled. But Shi Siming's escape can actually be called a reversal of defeat and victory. The most important thing is that the siege of Xiangzhou was lifted, and An Qingxu came to life. In this way, the "Anshi Rebellion" continued to move forward, continuing for another 5 years, a total of eight years before ending.
For this incident, it is recorded in the Zizhi Tongjian as follows: "Before the cloth chen, the wind suddenly rose, the sand and wood were blown, and the heavens and the earth were obscure, and there was no distance between them." The two armies were horrified, and the officers and men collapsed to the south, and the thieves collapsed to the north. In addition, the New Book of Tang and the Old Book of Tang also made similar records.
(Shi Siming stills)
So why did something so weird happen at the time?
Of course, we do not deny that there may have been a strong wind at that time, but it is indeed a strange thing that a strong wind blows away a war.
Therefore, it is likely that this is not caused by natural phenomena, but by human beings. Why is it caused by personnel?
Tang Suzong ascended the throne in Lingwu and honored Tang Xuanzong as emperor, so he became the co-lord of the world, shouldering the heavy responsibility of leading the world's soldiers and horses to quell the "Anshi Rebellion".
However, after all, Tang Suzong's ability was limited, and he was not a military commander, so it was impossible to mobilize the world's soldiers and horses to command the battle. At that time, the tang dynasty's quelling of chaos was actually carried out spontaneously by various knots and brought their own people and horses. Although this is a kind of appearance of all the people being soldiers, it is also a bit scattered because of the lack of unified command.
Tang Suzong's best practice at that time was to establish a great marshal of the terracotta army under the heavens, and this great marshal of the terracotta army would command and dispatch it in a unified way. The whole country has formed a game of chess, so that we can do a good job of coordination and cooperation and coordinate operations. However, at that time, Tang Suzong did not establish a grand marshal of the Terracotta Army on the grounds that Guo Ziyi and Li Guangbi had great merits and were not good choices.
In fact, this was not Tang Suzong's real idea. The reason why Tang Suzong was reluctant to establish a Terracotta Grand Marshal was because he was worried that after establishing such a Grand Marshal, this person would become the second An Lushan. In this way, even if the "Anshi Rebellion" is put down, a new "Anshi Rebellion" may appear.
(Tang Suzong stills)
However, in this way, the phenomenon that the various armies cannot coordinate and cooperate has also been formed. In order to solve this problem, Tang Suzong asked his close eunuch Yu Zhao'en to coordinate. What does Yu Chao'en know, how can he command a war? At the same time, the generals did not obey him and did not want to listen to his commands.
Therefore, there may have been a strong wind at that time, but it was not as strong as recorded, but the emissaries were not willing to fight blindly in the wind. In order to preserve their strength, they eventually hurriedly ordered their troops to retreat. Therefore, a good encirclement and annihilation war was "blown away" by a wind.
The emissaries all returned to their own towns with their troops, and Shi Siming breathed a sigh of relief, and An Qingxu lived a life.
After the siege and annihilation battle was blown away by the wind, Yu Chao'en put the responsibility on Guo Ziyi, believing that Guo Ziyi's troops were not in place in time. In fact, Guo Ziyi is the one who has contributed the most in this battle. But Yu Chao'en slandered him in this way in order to strike him. Tang Suzong seized the opportunity to seize Guo Ziyi's military power. Until later, the "Anshi Rebellion" could not be calmed, and Tang Suzong had to let Guo Ziyi out of the mountain again.
At the same time, the situation of eunuchs interfering in government and dividing the feudal towns gradually took shape in the process of quelling the "Anshi Rebellion". In the end, the "Anshi Rebellion" was settled, but the contradictions that appeared in the Tang Dynasty were more numerous and even more difficult to resolve.
(References: Zizhi Tongjian, Old Book of Tang, New Book of Tang)