"How the Four Ages are the Sons of Heaven, not as good as the Lu family." This is the helpless lament of the love between Tang Xuanzong and Yang Guifei in the poem "Ma Song" by Li Shangyin, a famous poet of the Tang Dynasty. When it comes to the beauty of ancient China, Yang Guifei can definitely occupy a place in people's minds, and her love with Tang Xuanzong has also been talked about by later generations, whether it is Xuanzong robbing her daughter-in-law, or Yang Guifei wants to eat lychees to make "a red dust concubine laugh, no one knows that it is a lychee coming", these allusions are well-known.
However, in the later period of his reign, Tang Xuanzong indulged in the loving life with Yang Guifei, which led to the abandonment of the imperial government, and the An Lushan he trusted and reused took the opportunity to erupt into a mutiny, known in history as the "Anshi Rebellion", under this turmoil, Tang Xuanzong fled with Yang Guifei in a hurry, and encountered a mutiny in the middle of the road, and finally had to give Yang Guifei to death, but at this time, the Tang Dynasty also began to decline from prosperity to decline and fell. As with many other controversial events in history, there are many different theories about the place where Yang Guifei died, so where did Yang Guifei die?
In the fourteenth year of Tianbao (755), with the slogan of "Qing Jun's Side" of An Lushan, the Anshi Rebellion officially broke out, and the following year, Tang Xuanzong fled to the southwest and prepared to take refuge in Chengdu, which had the advantage of natural dangers, but when they came to Ma Songpo, which was located in the area of present-day Xingping City in Shaanxi Province, the change occurred suddenly.
According to the Old Book of Tang:
"And Tong Pass was lost, from Lucky to Ma Song, the Forbidden Army General Chen Xuanli Secret Qi Crown Prince, Xue Guozhong father and son. Since the four armies were not dispersed, Emperor Xuanzong sent a soldier to ask, "The thief is still there", and Gai refers to the noble concubine. Lux resumed, the emperor did not get it, and the concubine edict, Sui Han died in the Buddhist chamber. Shi Chinese New Year's Eve eight, on the side of the west road of the station. ”
When Tang Xuanzong and his party came to Ma Songpo, Chen Xuanli, who was in charge of the forbidden army, killed one of the culprits who led to the outbreak of the Anshi Rebellion, the traitor yang Guozhong's father and son. This move was actually normal, and it was also within the scope of Tang Xuanzong's acceptance, so he did not express his attitude, however, Chen Xuanli did not let the army return to its original place, but displayed it in front of Tang Xuanzong. Emperor Xuanzong asked Gao Lishi to inquire, but he received an answer that the thief had not yet been eliminated.
Tang Xuanzong was a wise man, otherwise he would not have created the "Kaiyuan Shengshi", he soon realized that Chen Xuanli and the soldiers wanted to kill his beloved Yang Guifei, in order to quell the unrest, Xuanzong had to endure the pain of hanging Yang Guifei in the Buddhist hall and buried her next to the west side of the station. In addition, in another official revision history book, the Zizhi Tongjian, there are also
"Shang Nai Ming Lu Led the Noble Concubine to the Buddhist Hall and Hanged Her"
It can be seen that Yang Guifei was most likely hanged in a Buddhist hall next to Ma Songpo.
However, in modern times, an interesting theory has been widely circulated, saying that Yang Guifei did not die, but fled to Japan. Scholars in both China and Japan believe that Yang Guifei escaped during the Ma Songpo Incident, first to Yangzhou, and then to Japan with the Tang Envoys, where she was loved. In the area of present-day Yamaguchi Prefecture in Japan, there are also tombs that are said to be the burial places of Yang Guifei.
The possibility of Yang Guifei fleeing to Japan and dying in another country is of course almost zero, but this also reflects that she is widely loved at home and abroad. As for the place where Yang Guifei died, Ma Songpo is an answer that has been widely recognized by various historical sources. In addition, people also started from the cause of Yang Guifei's death, and put forward theories such as hanging death, swallowing gold and dying, and being killed by the rebel army.