The outbreak of the Anshi Rebellion and Tang Xuanzong's personal reasons were very large, but the responsibility could not be put entirely on Tang Xuanzong, and the implementation of the conscription system and the unlimited expansion of the power of the Fanzhen Festival eventually led to the outbreak of the Anshi Rebellion.
Tang Xuanzong was first bright and then dark
After round after round of infighting among the imperial family, Tang Xuanzong became the final victor and seized the throne in one fell swoop.
After ascending the throne, Tang Xuanzong exerted all his energy into promoting the development of the country, and successfully created the Kaiyuan prosperous era, and the Tang Dynasty became the richest and most prosperous country in the world at that time.
With the growth of the ruling period, Tang Xuanzong gradually developed a slack psychology, he was lost in the glory of the past, became content with pleasure, blind self-confidence, the Tang Dynasty gradually weakened under his leadership, and various social contradictions intensified.
The rise of conscription
The military system first implemented by the Tang Dynasty was the prefectural military system, which was a military service system in which soldiers and farmers were integrated, serving as soldiers in wartime and serving the people in peacetime. The soldiers had their own arable land, and while cultivating it, they participated in military training, and they needed to go to war before they were assembled.
However, as the Tang Dynasty continued to wage wars with the outside world, the fu soldiers could not be rotated, the cultivated land was left unattended, a large amount of land was annexed, and the fu soldiers lost their living space, resulting in the complete decline of the fu military system.
In view of this, Tang Taizong began to implement the conscription system, that is, began to recruit professional soldiers, they formed a stable group, specializing in combat training, and the state uniformly paid military salaries.
Although the change from the prefectural military system to the conscription system has effectively improved the combat capability of the army, it has also enabled soldiers and generals to form a close connection and advance and retreat together.
Temperance makes the strength strong
In order to strengthen the national defense force, Tang Xuanzong set up emissaries in the border areas, and each envoy had its own defensive zone, and In order to ensure the combat effectiveness of the emissaries, Tang Taizong allowed them to recruit soldiers in the local area, give them the right to appoint and dismiss officers, and have the financial right to settle military salaries.
In the case of An Lushan, the initiator of the An Shi Rebellion, he was also the emissary of the three towns of Fanyang, Pinglu and Hedong, and he had nearly 200,000 troops in his hands.
At that time, Tang Xuanzong's foreign policy formed a situation in which the military was heavy on the outside and light on the inside, the main force of the national army was basically in the border areas, and the number of troops in the country was very small, and it lacked combat effectiveness, and it was not at all the opponent of the border army that had been in the battlefield for a long time.