Outside the sword, he overheard the harvest of Thistle North, and the first smell of tears filled his clothes.
--Du Fu
After experiencing the Anshi Rebellion, Shisheng DuFu first heard the news that the official army had retaken Jibei, and his tears and snot flowed with joy. From this, we can see the impact of the Anshi Rebellion on the Tang Dynasty, and the two main characters who caused the Anshi Rebellion, An Lushan and Shi Siming, were not only friends and brothers with good relations, but even died in the same way, they were all killed by their own sons. But people generally know An Lushan, but they don't know Shi Siming, why is this?
An Lushan was a sheep stealer in his early years, and He and Shi Siming have known each other since childhood. After continuous efforts, he finally became the envoy of the Three Towns Festival of the Tang Dynasty, and was deeply loved by Tang Xuanzong. In order to please Tang Xuanzong, An Lushan did everything to the extreme, and the Old Book of Tang recorded that An Lushan: "The abdomen is hanging over the knees, weighing three hundred and thirty pounds, and each line is lifted left and right by the shoulders to move." "An Lushan weighs 330 pounds, and his big belly can hang down beyond his knees, and he has to lift his shoulders around him each time to walk.
However, this was not the case when facing Tang Xuanzong, the Old Book of Tang: "Before Emperor Xuanzong's court, do a whirling dance, and be as fast as the wind." In front of Tang Xuanzong, he could not only walk on his own, but also dance the rather difficult Hu Whirling Dance, and the speed of the circle was as fast as the wind, flowing like a fly. In addition to being good at pleasing Tang Xuanzong, he was also very good at currying favor with Yang Guifei, recognizing Yang Guifei, who was more than ten years younger than himself, as a dry lady, and every time he first met Yang Guifei and then met Tang Xuanzong.
But the hungry wolf is a wolf after all, and even if it is fed full, it will show its claws and teeth. In 755, An Lushan launched the An Shi Rebellion, and after two years of poisoning the Central Plains, the elderly An Lushan not only had inconvenient legs and feet, but also suffered from a variety of diseases, which made An Lushan, who was originally interested in cruelty, more cruel and murderous. In the end, he was killed by the joint efforts of his close attendant and his son An Qingxu.
After An Lushan's death, the An Shi Rebellion became Shi Siming's home field. In 756, Shi Siming was ordered by An Lushan to burn and loot everywhere through Hebei, which greatly boosted the morale of the rebels. Subsequently, Emperor Suzong of Tang succeeded to the throne at Lingwu and began to retake Hebei. After An Lushan's death, An Qingxu was very jealous of Shi Siming and sent two generals to take over his troops, intending to kill Shi Siming.
However, Shi Siming not only captured the two generals, but also used this as a token of surrender and surrendered to the Tang Dynasty. Tang Suzong knew that Shi Siming was not sincerely surrendering, so he pretended to accept it and actually thought of assassinating Shi Siming. In 758, An Qingxu had already been suppressed and could not turn over any big waves, and Tang Suzong set his sights on Shi Siming. He sent a killer to assassinate Shi Siming, but he did not expect to be learned by Shi Siming, so he rebelled against the Tang Dynasty.
In 759, An Qingxu was defeated by Guo Ziyi's army and came with three hundred people to defect to Shi Siming, but he did not expect to be killed by Shi Siming. Subsequently, Shi Siming established himself as emperor and became the third emperor of Great Yan after An Lushan and An Qingxu's father and son. History is always similar, and like his good brother An Lushan, Shi Siming remained brutal when he became emperor, even to his own son. Shi Siming once said to his son Shi Chaoyi: "Chaoyi is cowardly, and it cannot be my business..... Facing down to Shaanxi, Xi Beheading is a thief (Shi Chaoyi)". The New Book of Tang records that Shi Siming was very dissatisfied with his son, but because he could not inherit himself, he also said that he had captured Shaanzhou in the morning and beheaded Shi Chaoyi in the afternoon.
In the end, Shi Siming also died at the hands of his own son, and the reason why he was not well known may be the following points: An Lushan was the initiator and main planner of the An Shi Rebellion. Secondly, the status of An Lushan is above Shi Siming, and the image of An Lushan is very distinctive, while Shi Siming's history books record that "ordinary and unremarkable", and there is no brilliant appearance. In fact, on the theory of talent Shi Siming is not lost to An Lushan, Wang Shizhen commented on him: "Shi Siming is also fierce, Hu Ye, and his talent is far beyond Lushan Mountain. ”