The Anshi Rebellion was the most influential and destructive rebellion in China. In 755, An Lushan attacked Fanyang, and 200,000 iron horses swept through Erdu, causing great damage and losses to the Tang Dynasty. And this rebellion also marked that the peak of China's feudal dynasty had passed. The dynasty of later generations will no longer regain the courage of the Tang Dynasty.
Scholars disagree on why An Lushan rebelled. In terms of strength comparison, although An Lushan was strong and strong, his number was still inferior to that of the Tang Dynasty. With the strength of the three towns in Hebei, although it can be won for a while, it cannot resist the alliance of the central Tang Dynasty and the envoys of Hedong and Northwest Jiedu for a long time. Obviously, An Lushan's rebellion was an act of gambling on his life, and the gamble was that the Tang Dynasty side would make mistakes.
So why would An Lushan brazenly rebel in the face of a huge disparity in strength between the two sides? This has to start from the relationship between An Lushan and the prince.
In terms of ability, Tang Xuanzong was one of the few heroes in Chinese history who was an all-rounder of literature and martial arts. But as a father, he is a beast that does not miss his family and is cruel and devours children. Originally, Tang Xuanzong's crown prince was Li Ying. However, in 733, Concubine Wu set up a ruse in the name of thieves in the palace and introduced three princes, Li Ying, Li Yao, and Li Ju, into the palace. After the three kings entered the palace, Concubine Wu Huifei entered the palace under the pretext of the three people wearing armor and falsely accused them of rebellion.
For such an obvious slander, Tang Xuanzong went so far as to indiscriminately sentence all three princes to death in one day. And this incident is the "killing three kings in one day" incident that shocked the world.
After Li Ying was killed, Li Heng the Prince of Zhong succeeded to the throne as crown prince. With the lessons of his brother' past, Li Heng was naturally careful and respectful in everything. However, even so, Li Heng was still threatened by Tang Xuanzong, repeatedly beaten, and almost deposed several times. The chancellor Li Linfu soon understood Tang Xuanzong's thoughts, so he repeatedly destroyed the crown prince in the emperor, wanting to abolish it quickly.
But as the crown prince, Li Heng would naturally participate in the country's major politics and make friends with some border generals and courtiers. Among them, Li Heng and Tang Xuanzong's false son, Wang Zhongsi, studied together since childhood, and their relationship was very good. At the same time, Wang Zhongsi was an invincible military god of the Tang Dynasty at that time, and the official envoy to the four towns of Hexi, Longyou, Shuofang, and Hedong. It can be said that the entire northwest of the Tang Dynasty and even the Hedong Military Region were supporters of the prince.
It is the so-called "prince who is strong only by soldiers and strong horses." The crown prince had the support of the Northwest Military Region, which naturally made Tang Xuanzong and Li Linfu feel like needles. So they set their sights on the Hebei Military Region, and raised An Lushan, who was originally a miscellaneous Hu, into a powerful envoy who commanded three military towns and had an army of 200,000 troops.
In this way, Tang Xuanzong, An Lushan, and Li Linfu formed an unshakable alliance of the three giants. For An Lushan, Tang Xuanzong can be said to be extremely favored, not only repeatedly adding official positions, but even making him the king of Dongping County, opening a precedent for a different surname to make him a king.
In addition to the official jue, Tang Xuanzong also started from various details to show his love for An Lushan. In the Zizhi Tongjian,
"On the feast and the government building, the hundred officials sat downstairs, and lushan set up a golden rooster barrier in the east of the throne, and placed a bed in front of it, and still ordered the curtains to be rolled to show honor and favor."
In order to "repay" Tang Xuanzong's favor, An Lushan also used all kinds of solutions to prove his loyalty to the emperor. To this end, he even did not hesitate to recognize Yang Guifei, who was 16 years younger than himself, as his mother. There was a lot of ugly rumors between An Lushan and Yang Guifei, but Tang Xuanzong didn't think anything of it.
With the support of An Lushan's gun, Tang Xuanzong could confidently and boldly knock the prince and the leaders of the Northwest Army behind him. In 749, Wang Zhongsi was convicted and eventually died of anxiety. The prince lost his biggest patron, and An Lushan also eliminated one of his biggest rivals. After all, with Wang Zhongsi present, An Lushan could not mutiny at all.
In addition, An Lushan also made a scene to cooperate with Tang Xuanzong in insulting the crown prince. The Old Book of Tang and the Biography of An Lushan records:
When An Lushan was in the dynasty, Emperor Xuanzong ordered him to see the crown prince, "Lushan does not worship. Left and right, Lushan Gongli said: "Subjects and Hu people, do not practice court etiquette, do not know what kind of official the prince is?" Shang: "This prince also!" Long live the thousand autumns, and the generation of the Emperor Ru is also. Lu Shan said: "The subject is foolish, but he knows that there is his majesty, but he does not know that there is a prince." 'Last resort, then bye.' Believe it, love it."
The simple translation is that Tang Xuanzong ordered An Lushan to bow down to the prince, but An deliberately pretended to be stupid and said that he was a Hu person, did not know what kind of official the prince was, and could not kneel. After that, he even patted his chest and declared: "I only have Your Majesty's person in my heart, what kind of ghost is the Crown Prince?" ”
Not worshipping the prince can not only show his loyalty to the emperor alone, but also show that he has nothing to do with the prince. Although he offended the crown prince, he was able to please the emperor, and the deal was still worth it for the time being.
The reason why An Lushan was so fearless was because he had established an alliance with Tang Xuanzong and Li Linfu, and he seemed to think that Li Linfu would definitely be able to overthrow the crown prince and establish a new crown prince in order to maintain his wealth and life. However, after Li Linfu's death, the political enemy Yang Guozhong succeeded to the throne, and the position of crown prince always stood firm.
Tang Xuanzong was over 70 years old, there were princes and political enemies in the imperial court, and there were hostile northwestern feudal towns outside the imperial court, and An Lushan was already riding a tiger. An Lushan's ability to maintain his superiority over these forces was entirely due to Xuanzong's favor for him, and once Xuanzong died, what awaited An Lushan was bound to be destroyed by attack.
As Emperor Xuanzong grew older, the threat posed to him by other forces became greater and greater, and An Lushan knew this very well, so he would "think that he did not worship the prince when he was in the past, and he was quite afraid when he saw the spring and autumn high." This was also an external reason for An Lushan's rebellion. Therefore, some scholars say that the An Lushan rebellion was caused by Tang Xuanzong. In his opinion, An Lushan was just a pawn that he could discard. Don't say it's An Lushan, but if it's you, maybe you will rebel