After the Anshi Rebellion, because the rebels had been planning for a long time, the rebels were in the upper hand for a while, and the Tang government soon organized a counterattack with troops, and at the same time, Tubo, Huiyi, and even the Western Regions sent envoys to request help the imperial court to attack An Lushan, but there were many reasons why only Hui hui soldiers entered the Tang to participate in the war the most, the highest military achievements, and the greatest influence.
First, Tang had a precedent of recruiting the armies of surrounding nationalities to fight. First of all, in the early Tang Dynasty, the national strength was strong and strong, which was supported by the surrounding ethnic groups, and the troops of the surrounding ethnic groups were often recruited. For example, in the Old Book of Tang, it is recorded that "in the second year of Yonghui, He Lu broke the Northern Court, and the Zhao generals Liang Jianfang and Qi Xin He Li led 20,000 troops, retrieved 50,000 horses, broke Helu, and recovered the Northern Garden." In the first year of Xianqing, Helu made another mistake. "Zhao Cheng Zhijie, Su Dingfang, Ren Yaxiang, Xiao Siye led the army and returned to the Great Break of Helu in the Yin Mountains, and then on the Golden Tooth Mountain, and did everything they could to collect the land, and went west to the Yeluo River.... In the sixth year of Yonghui, the Uighurs sent troops to accompany Xiao Siye to conquest Goryeo. ”
In the second year of Emperor Taizong of Tang's Yonghui, the Western Turk Khaganate general Ashina Helu attacked the Northern Garden, and the Tang Dynasty sent the generals Liang Jianfang and Qi Xin He Li to lead 20,000 troops, borrowed 50,000 cavalry to retake the Northern Garden, and in the first year of Xianqing, Ashina Helu invaded again, the Tang Dynasty sent large troops and Hui troops to defeat the Turks at Yin Mountain and take its land, and in the sixth year of Yonghui, the Uighurs sent troops to accompany Xiao Siye to conquer Goryeo. The New Book of Tang also records that "during the time of The Empress Wu, the Turks took Fang Qiang and took the homeland of Tiele, so Hui Hui and Qibi, Sijie, and Hun were three parts of the moraine, migrating to Gan, liangjian, and Ran Tang often took his strong horse to ride the Chishui army cloud." ”
In the Anshi Rebellion, in addition to Hui, other surrounding tribes were also recruited to join the army, and it is recorded in the Zizhi Tongjian that "although shang used the people of Shuofang, he wanted to borrow troops from Waiyi to zhang junfeng, to make Chengdong, the son of Shouli the King of Feng, the king of Dunhuang, and the servant Gu Huai'en to make Yu Huiyi to ask for troops." He also sent out Khan's soldiers, and sent a message to the city of Guo Zhuguo, promising a generous reward to help the soldiers from Anxi, "Although Emperor Suzong relied on the strength of Shuofang Town to quell the rebellion, he still wanted to borrow the strength of the foreign yi to increase his power, so he made Li Cheng, the son of King Li Shouli, the king of Dunhuang, and went with his servant Gu Huai'en to Hui to borrow troops." He also recruited the soldiers of Bahanna, and asked him to tell the countries of the Western Regions, promising them a heavy reward, and asking them to join the Anxi soldiers in reinforcements.
At that time, the Uighur Khanate was still in the area of the Desert North Plateau, and The Bahanna was located in the area of the Fergana Basin of present-day Kyrgyzstan, that is, the Great Wan State of the Western Han Dynasty. The New Book of Tang records that "Wang Jiao of Guangping Commandery was the Marshal of the Terracotta Army, and Guo Ziyi's deputy was Shuofang, Anxi, Huiyi, Nanman, and Dashi to beg For Qingxu." It can be seen that the Tang Dynasty requisitioned Hui Hui, but in accordance with its routine, the Tang Dynasty recruited four Fanbang soldiers and horses to help it fight against the rebels, and even included some large eaters and southern barbarians.
Moreover, during the Anshi Rebellion, the Tang army fought fiercely for many years, and the losses of military horses were huge. In the battle of Xiangzhou alone, "only 3,000 horses remained, and 100,000 armor were abandoned, while Tubo fell to Helong, and Longyou's horses fell into the hands of the enemy, and the cavalry in the army was bound to be insufficient." Hui hui had a close relationship with the Tang dynasty since the beginning of the Tang Dynasty, and coupled with the courage and good fighting of the Hui cavalry, it naturally became the object of key conscription in the Tang Dynasty.
Second, Emperor Suzong of Tang was anxious to regain liangjing in order to consolidate his rule. Although Emperor Suzong was the crown prince of Xuanzong, he came to power in the chaos of the ma songpo change. After coming to Lingwu, he first inherited the throne with the support of his courtiers, and then received the approval of Emperor Xuanzong, which was not a regular legal procedure. Moreover, at that time, the order of the kings of the Tang royal family to divide and control was a huge obstacle to Emperor Suzong's consolidation of the throne. Only by recovering the two capitals and making immortal contributions can we gain the approval of the world to consolidate the throne.
Wang Fuzhi commented in the "Reading Through the Commentary", "Emperor Suzong was anxious to use Hui Qi to reap the benefits of Chang'an, and he could not stay for a while in order to hold the position of meritorious service, and when the emperor was in Shu, the people's hearts were still wearing the old king, the kings were divided into orders of moderation, Xuanzong and had no solid aspirations, and Yongwang Phosphorus already had the ambition of Lang evil and eastern crossing." If Emperor Suzong did not have the disease to restore the Great Xun of Xijing, isolated in the western corner, separated from Tianxia County, Haidai, Jianghuai, Jingchu, and Sanba stood up separately, and the high material was quick, first to collect the merits of the thief, and the name of the district was not enough to suppress the world. Therefore, lest the merits not be reaped quickly, and the sunset will go backwards, bending back to the qi and indulging in its trampling, but making it work for the dynasty, let him be compassionate? The decision to send the King of Huanghuang as a hostage and be humiliated by the tent was also the same. ”
It can be seen that Tang Suzong's conscription of Hui hui troops to aid was to speed up the process of counterinsurgency war, make meritorious contributions, consolidate the imperial throne, and even harm the interests of the people. In order to quickly obtain the capital division, Emperor Suzong made a pact with Hui Hui, and on the day of conquering the two capitals, the land and shishu were returned to Tang, and the jin and children were returned to Hui. Although the Hui soldiers were not necessary for counterinsurgency, after all, Xiao Yong was good at war, which was undoubtedly beneficial to the rapid defeat of the rebels.
Third, borrowing troops to return to The Tang Dynasty can also defuse the huge pressure of the Hui dynasty on the Tang Dynasty. During the Tianbao period, the Hui destroyed the Turks and opened up territory, from Murongwei in the east, to Jinshan in the west, to the desert in the south, and to the land of the ancient Xiongnu. After the death of Peiluo Khan, Mo yanshi succeeded to the throne, known as Gele Khan, who was fierce and good at using soldiers, and sent emissaries into the dynasty every year. In the early Tang Dynasty, the national strength was strong, and Hui Hui did not dare to wantonly go south and interact peacefully with the Tang Dynasty. During the Anshi Rebellion, the Tang Dynasty dispatched troops to quell the rebellion, causing a shortage of border defense and facilitating the attack of the surrounding ethnic groups. At the beginning of the war, Hui Hui's internal situation toward the Tang Dynasty was still unclear, and Gu did not dare to move lightly. With several battles in the Tang Dynasty, he understood the weakness of the Tang Dynasty, and finally seduced Nan Kou under the deception of Shi Chaoyi.
Shi Zai "Than the messenger arrived, Hui Hui has become a place of righteousness, that is: Tang Recommended has a funeral, the country has no owner, and chaos, please return to the people to collect the treasury, its wealth is not worth it." The Khan led the army to the south, and baoying was also one by one in August of the first year, and there were more than three cities in Huiyi, seeing hazelnut in the prefecture and county, there was no obstacle to defend, and there was a light Tang color. Nai sent the envoys to the north to collect orders from the soldiers and warehouses of the government, and the number of words Ling Jin Qingtan." It can be said that in the case of the Tang Dynasty and the rebel sandpiper clams, it was difficult for the Hui to fall, and it was inevitable to go south to make profits. From the discussion of the march route between Yaozi Ang and Hui Qi Khan, the so-called "states and counties are weak and difficult to prepare, afraid that the Khan will be disappointed", it can be seen that if they do not obtain considerable economic benefits, Hui Hui will not take the initiative to cooperate.
So, in the face of Hui's aggressiveness, how will the Tang Dynasty respond? At this time, the main force of the Tang army was confronting the An Shi rebels in shaanzhou and Heyang, while the elite of the northwestern border defense had already returned to the east to fight the chaos, the barrier was empty, and it was really powerless to compete with Hui. Moreover, because the Tang Dynasty withdrew its elite army from the northwest to the enemy Heshuo, Tubo took advantage of the void and occupied the land of Long right in hexi, which was already a stone's throw away from Chang'an. The Tang Dynasty trapped the rebels in the east and the unfavorable situation in tibet in the west. Fortunately, Tubo and the rebels were far apart and could not be echoed.
However, Hui hui is different, it is bordered by Tang, Tubo and rebels at the same time, and the Hui hui attitude affects the overall situation to a certain extent. If Hui Qi assists Tang, the rebels will not be enough to level, and Hui Hui will help the rebels, then the war will be protracted and unpredictable. In this eventful autumn, with internal and external troubles, the Tang Dynasty naturally would not make strong enemies on its own. Finally, as long as it can meet the needs of its interests, it is completely possible to turn enemies into friends and turn harm into profit. The Tang Dynasty was able to borrow troops to help suppress it, and to a certain extent, it was able to control the behavior of huiyi, and replaced huiyi's spontaneous plunder with government rewards. Although the atrocities of the Hui were not completely terminated by the Tang Dynasty's generous rewards, at least they won the Hui Hui politically and did not allow such a powerful nomadic state to go to the opposite side of the Tang Dynasty.
From this point of view, the lesser of two evils, the Tang Dynasty's decision-making is correct and helpless. In the late Tang Dynasty, the situation of internal and external troubles in the Anshi Rebellion was continued, so the policy of generous knots was also forced to be retained. As long as the Tang policy toward Hui is considered in the context of the overall situation of the game with Tibet and domestic rebel towns, it is not difficult to come to the conclusion that it is necessary to unite hui, which is the same as the Tang Dynasty's forced borrowing of troops in the Anshi Rebellion, which is a last resort. This was the factor for the Tang Dynasty to passively accept hui hui's "borrowing of troops".
In the early tang dynasty, the territory was expanded, the prestige spread far and wide, the surrounding ethnic groups respected the Tang emperor as the "Heavenly Khan", the Hui submitted to the Tang, and the Tang Dynasty occupied the initiative. In the later period, the Tang Dynasty was forced by the internal and external situation, and the Hui hui were arrogant and arrogant, and the Tang Dynasty gradually became in a passive position. The whole process of the relationship between the Tang Dynasty and the Hui Hui was a change from active to passive, and this big change was achieved through small changes in the Anshi Rebellion. Initially, Tang Suzong hoped to quickly end the war and establish his legitimate status by borrowing the Hui forces, but Hui Hui also understood the tang dynasty's falsehood and wanted to take advantage of the danger of the Tang dynasty and go south to invade, and the Tang Dynasty had to continue to borrow troops to restrain it.
This process of transformation is the pivot and epitome of the great changes in the relationship between the Tang Dynasty and the Hui Dynasty. If we examine the change in the Tang Dynasty's attitude toward borrowing soldiers in the overall relationship between The Tang and Hui, we can gain a clearer and deeper understanding. For Hui, economic benefits can also be obtained by helping soldiers to suppress rebellion. Of course, the Hui soldiers were not the main force of the Tang Dynasty to suppress the rebellion, but the Tang Dynasty borrowed the Hui soldiers to quell the rebellion, which played a positive role in stabilizing the military's morale and promoting the process of counterinsurgency, and the Hui soldiers burned and plundered and also brought deep disasters to the people of North China.
Refer to the Old Book of Tang, the New Book of Tang, and the Zizhi Tongjian