In the fourteenth year of Tianbao of the Tang Dynasty (755), on the ninth day of November, An Lushan and Shi Siming raised an army to rebel, which was known as the An Shi Rebellion. This rebellion lasted for eight years, profoundly affected the national fortunes of the Tang Dynasty, and changed the fate of many people, including the great poet Li Bai. During the Anshi Rebellion, Li Bai was once arrested and imprisoned by the Tang court for "rebellion" and was even nearly killed. Although Li Bai did not meet Huai Cai, he always wanted to serve the imperial court, so why did he join the rebel army?
In fact, the rebel army that Li Bai participated in was not the army of An Lushan and Shi Siming, but the army of Li Xuan, the Yong King. In the second year of De (757), Li Bai came to the yongwang Li Xuan, and he also wrote a group of poems called "Yongwang East Tour Song". However, it did not take long for King Yong's army to be crushed by the Tang army, and he himself and his advisers were almost all killed. Li Bai was arrested on the way to escape and sent to Xunyang Prison, "everyone in the world wants to kill."
Imprisoned, Li Bai hurriedly wrote letters to his relatives and friends, including the chancellor Cui Zhuo, the imperial chancellor Song Ruosi, and the Huainan Jiedu envoy Gao Shi. What made Li Bai cold was that his friend Gao Shi actually ignored him, but thanks to the help of Cui Zhuo and Song Ruosi, he was not killed, and Song Ruosi also summoned Li Bai into his own shogunate. After this, Li Bai wrote to the imperial court several times, hoping that he could be appointed, but he was sentenced to exile for the crime of rebellion.
Serving the imperial court and serving the country loyally was Li Bai's dream all along, so how could he join the rebel army in a vacuum and write poems to praise the leader of the rebel army? In fact, Li Bai did not "follow the rebellion" at all, but only because his political IQ was too low, or he did not see through the situation at that time, he was involved in the political struggle of the Tang Dynasty royal family, which caused his own life tragedy. So, what is the yongwang's rebellion?
Li Xuan, the Yong King, was the sixteenth son of Emperor Xuanzong of Tang, and his mother was Consort Guo. King Yong lost his mother at an early age, and because he was too young, Emperor Xuanzong let Li Heng, who was still the King of Zhong, take care of him. Li Heng was very kind to Li Xuan, the half-brother, and "slept by himself at night". After Li Xuan grew up, his relationship with Li Heng was also very good, but the Anshi Rebellion changed the fate of the two people and also affected their relationship. After the rebels occupied Tongguan, Tang Xuanzong fled to Shuzhong with his princes, while the crown prince Li Heng went to Lingwu.
After arriving at Lingwu, Li Heng did not obtain The consent of Emperor Xuanzong of Tang and chose to directly claim the title of emperor. Due to the long distance, Tang Xuanzong did not know about this, and in order to suppress the rebellion, he also issued a series of wills, "Zhao Yixuan as an envoy to Shannan East Road and Lingnan Qianzhong Jiangnan West Road Four Roads Festival Interview, Jiangling County Governor, Yu Rugu." Therefore, Li Xuan was ordered to leave Chengdu and arrived in Jiangling three months later and began to recruit troops.
After taking the throne, Tang Suzong was very nervous when he learned of this matter, because Jianghuai was the source of taxes for the Tang Dynasty, and if he wanted to quell the Anshi rebellion, he relied on Jianghuai financially. If the Eternal King were to divide one side here, wouldn't his rule be dangerous? Therefore, Emperor Suzong of Tang hurriedly issued a decree to let King Yong return to Shu and meet Tang Xuanzong, in other words, to cut off King Yong's military power. However, Li Xuan refused to obey the order, and he felt that he was following the orders of his father Emperor Xuanzong of Tang, so he refused the order of his brother.
To refuse the emperor's order is to rebel! Therefore, Li Heng dispatched troops to pacify Li Xuan, the Yong King. At that time, Li Bai was invited by King Yong to serve as an official in his shogunate as the governor of Jianghuai. Later, Yongwang Xuan was defeated and killed, and "his party Xue Wei and others were all ambushed." In fact, Li Xuan, the Yong King, did not rebel, this was just a power struggle within the Tang Dynasty. After The death of Emperor Suzong of Tang, his son Emperor Tang ascended the throne, and after a month on the throne, he rehabilitated Li Xuanzhao, the Prince of Yong.
Resources:
1. Old Book of Tang; 2. New Book of Tang