In ancient China, there were many years of war and chaos, but there were also many prosperous times. Among them, the most brilliant is the Kaiyuan shengshi. Of course, this is the most, mainly horizontal comparison, national strength, military, population, economy, all occupied a dominant position in the world at that time. Xiao Jue believes that the vertical comparison of the prosperous world of history does not have much significance, and the economic culture of hundreds of thousands of years ago and the later cannot be compared.
At that time, in the Tang Dynasty, merchants from all over the world, such as Persia and Dashi, came and went; the Envoys sent to the Tang Dynasty were even more endless, proud to see Emperor Xuanzong's dragon face. This era is the most glorious era of the Tang Dynasty and ancient China, and many Chinese hope that the years will stop at this moment forever.
This glorious moment lasted less than thirty years, how could a prosperous world be ruined? Some explain it from an economic point of view, some from a military point of view, some from a political point of view, and even some use fatalism to explain it. This article is not an academic paper, nor is it a conclusion, but just a discussion of your own views.
The end of the Kaiyuan dynasty and the beginning of the Anshi Rebellion are inseparable, and this situation is caused by two prime ministers with ghostly thoughts and a faint old emperor. Of course, this old emperor refers to Li Longji, the Emperor of Tang Ming, just like the opinions of many friends, that is, he was dazed and incompetent in his later years, did not want to make progress, and lay in the prosperous world all day to sleep with Yang Guifei, so he buried the prosperous world he personally created.
But since he carries the biggest pot and is the main person responsible, I will not talk about him today, but the two prime ministers who assisted him. This is Li Linfu and Yang Guozhong.
First of all, Li Linfu, this gentleman has been scolded for more than a thousand years. Do you want to say that this person has no ability? He was the longest-serving prime minister during Tang Xuanzong's reign, a total of nineteen years, much longer than the famous Yao Chong and Zhang Jiuling. To say that I am incapable of being in power for so long, I do not believe it. Moreover, in the Kaiyuan dynasty, the first assistant minister who ruled for the longest time did not have credit? I don't believe it either.
Although because the New Book of Tang beat Li Linfu into the biography of a traitor and nailed to the pillar of historical shame, many achievements have also been buried. In the limited historical data, we also see that he implemented a series of financial measures, including institutional reform, tax rebate, tugong reform, as well as military reform, legal reform, election of officials and imperial examination reform, etc., to ensure the economic stability of the late Xuanzong period.
Administratively, he presided over the completion of the "Six Classics of Tang", which stipulated all the details of the official system, allowed hundreds of officials to clarify their duties, and established a model for the Tang Dynasty and subsequent generations. Militarily, he handled border affairs generally well, and had several major victories over Tubo, Khitan and Bolu. We should not simply look at a person, this is definitely not a person who does not learn anything but knows flattery.
So he is not responsible for the Anshi rebellion? No, he had a crucial proposal that laid the groundwork. At that time, in the Tang Dynasty, there were already signs of moderateness and enlargement, and the chancellor put forward a proposition to Tang Xuanzong: "As a general, it is better to use the Han and The People of The Han Dynasty." The Han people are brave and good at war, while the Han have no party support in the DPRK. That is to say, in order to prevent the Han people from having military power and not managing it well, he actually advocated the use of Hu people as mercenaries.
Using Hu people to fight the edge was not an invention of Li Linfu, it was done before him, and there were mercenaries like Duoyan Sanwei after him. But to give all the most important festivals to the Hu people with great fanfare was indeed the beginning of the troubles.
This mistake was made by the Arab Empire and the Roman Empire, and the Tang Empire also followed this old road, for very complicated reasons. But the result was obvious, that is, a large number of Hu people controlled the empire's army, including An Lushan, who was heavier than Li Linfu. For Li Linfu, he only knew that he should guard against the military generals sitting on the throne, but he did not know that "if they are not of our race, their hearts will be different." The Hu people have the power to create a rebellion, but they have too little scruples than the Central Plains people.
To tell the truth, there were only two people who Were worried about An Lushan at the beginning. One was Li Linfu, who was still afraid of the first assistant of the administration for more than ten years. The other person was Li Longji, for An Lushan, Li Longji's fainting and ordinary in his later years was not enough to be afraid, he just received Emperor Tang Ming's favor too much and was a bit unbearable, hoping to rebel after Tang Xuanzong died.
At this time, another assister came to power, which was Yang Guozhong. His ability was much more mediocre than Li Linfu's, but his fierce heart was still enough. First, he liquidated Li Linfu and framed him for rebellion before he was buried, which was conspired with An Lushan, and later began to target An Lushan.
To say that Yang Guozhong, loyalty is nothing to say, and he is not stupid. After discovering An Lushan's unusual movements, he reported to Li Longji that An Lushan had a reaction in the three days. Li Longji was no longer like what he looked like when he was young, no matter what Yang Guozhong said, he turned a deaf ear, and he didn't know whether he was a peaceful person or really old and confused, anyway, the more he said that An Lushan wanted to oppose, the more he gave money and grain and weapons, afraid that An Lushan would have no strength.
Yang Guozhong sang white-faced, shouting all day to kill An Lushan, Li Longji sang red face, and gave gifts to An Lushan all day. An Lushan was exhausted, originally wanted to wait for the old man to die and then rebel, Yang Guozhong called it so, afraid that people would not know, a moment of irritation, it was really reversed, sheng Tang also ended.