In the fourteenth year of Tianbao (755), An Lushan rebelled in Fanyang, and since then, an eight-year-long rebellion that affected the Tang Dynasty and even the history of China began, and even in the end, the Tang Dynasty was unable to suppress it all, and could only use the method of Zhao'an to make it nominally subordinate to the central government. Like every time there was an army, An Lushan's army was also like a bamboo at the beginning, driving straight into no man's land, and the defenders throughout the Tang Dynasty were overwhelmed and did not dare to touch their front. Why did An Lushan have such a strong arrogance in the early days of the rebellion? In fact, this was mainly the result of Tang Xuanzong's three mistakes.
Mistake 1, the policy of "strong branches and weak cadres" led to the tang Dynasty's border defense army being fierce in combat, and the defense of the interior and the central government was useless.
As we all know, after the bankruptcy of the military system in the government, Tang Xuanzong came up with a conscription system in order to resist external troubles. In order to better strengthen the conscription system, he also developed the "Tianbao Ten Festivals".
At that time, the ten major festivals made the soldiers have the right to have money, and the degree of moderation made the recruiting combat effectiveness under their command stronger than the inland garrisons that had not experienced the baptism of war. However, Tang Xuanzong was still afraid that the power of the emissaries was not big enough, and he could not solve external troubles in the frontier, so he desperately sent troops from the interior to the emissaries. It's all about adding fuel to the fire and getting home confused.
There is a history of poetic evidence for this.
Gao shi
The Tang Dynasty border poet Gao Shi once wrote a five-character poem "Three Songs to Make the Qing Yi Army Enter Juyong", which clearly described Tang Xuanzong's policy of strong branches and weak cadres: "The horse is about to be long, and the journey will be difficult." I don't know where to go, only the guest's clothing list. The sound of the cold spring of the stream is bitter, and the leaves of the mountain are dry. Mo Yan is extremely closed, and the clouds and snow are still long. ”
Gao served as a lieutenant of Fengqiu County at the time of his reign, and Fengqiu was in Henan. One of the tasks Gao received at the time was to escort the peasants of his county to serve in the Qingyi Army (a unit under An Lushan). Frontier moderation enabled people who already had money and power and could recruit their own troops, and Tang Xuanzong also sent young and middle-aged people from the interior to the frontier to strengthen the border defense army. Once the border guards rebel, how can the old, weak, sick and disabled garrisons in the interior be able to fight such an obvious policy of strong branches and weak branches and weak cadres?
Mistake two, An Lushan was also the envoy of the three towns, holding one-third of the Tang Dynasty's troops.
The conditions for rebellion were ripe for the jiedushi, and Tang Xuanzong was not defenseless against this, for example, Wang Zhongsi, who once controlled the four major feudal towns, was executed by Tang Xuanzong because he was friendly with the crown prince Li Heng. However, since Wang Zhongsi's death, Tang Xuanzong had an inexplicable sense of trust in An Lushan, allowing him to be the envoy of the Three Towns Festival.
An Lu Shan
What is the concept of three towns and festivals? Simply put, An Lushan rebelled, and no one of the emissaries was his opponent.
At that time, although An Lushan's troops only accounted for one-third of the total strength of the Tang army, and the strength of the troops was not absolutely superior, his commanding troops were the largest. For example, the Hexi Army, with a total strength of about 220,000 people, added up to more than An Lushan, but these troops were handed over to the three Jiedu envoys. Singled out, none of the knots were An Lushan's opponents.
If Tang Xuanzong only let An Lushan manage one fan town, and the other two clan towns were handed over to the other two people, it was to borrow ten leopard galls, and An Lushan did not dare to rebel. Because even if An Lushan dared to rebel, his generals did not dare to rebel. After all, the reason is there: if one clan town rebels, the surrounding two clan towns will inevitably send troops to counter the rebellion. When the Central Army arrived, An Lushan was finished.
Unfortunately, however, because Tang Xuanzong gave An Lushan a capital sufficient for rebellion, he mastered the soldiers and horses of Hebei, Liaodong and Shanxi.
As mentioned earlier, the defense of the interior was already useless, and coupled with the fact that the An Lu Mountain was large enough and the strength was strong enough, after the An Lu Mountain rebellion, no one east of Tongguan could restrain him, and in less than a month, the north of the Yellow River completely fell.
Mistake Three: Tang Xuanzong's wrong move helped An Lushan.
What were Tang Xuanzong's improper measures? Count carefully.
Lee Long-ki
After An Lushan rebelled, Tang Xuanzong's first reaction was not to believe it, suspecting that someone had maliciously spread rumors. And Tang Xuanzong repeatedly stressed that An Lushan was his dry son, and it was impossible for him to rebel. It was Tang Xuanzong's hesitation that made the Tang army miss the best time to rectify the counterattack of the troops. In particular, the most elite Hexi army was dispatched to the east.
After the An Shi rebels killed the Yellow River, Emperor Xuanzong of Tang urgently appointed Feng Changqing and Gao Xianzhi, who were returning to the imperial duty, to Luoyang to quell the rebellion.
Feng and Gao were both famous generals of the Sheng Tang Dynasty, and Tang Xuanzong sent them to suppress the rebellion, which was very reasonable in theory. But the problem was that Xuanzong had missed the best time to dispatch troops earlier, so Feng Changqing and Gao Xianzhi were actually light rod commanders, and the counterinsurgency soldiers were all recruited, basically without combat effectiveness.
At this time, it was inevitable that Feng Changqing and Gao Xianzhi would lose the battle. Tang Xuanzong had to give them trust. However, Tang Xuanzong did not do so. After the fall of Luoyang, he killed Feng Changqing and Gao Xianzhi, which caused the Tang army to lose the general before the battle, and the morale collapsed first.
Seal Changqing
After Feng and Gao were killed, An Lushan was of course very happy in Luoyang. This kind of trick that the relatives and enemies can do quickly, and Tang Xuanzong is indeed old and confused. In order to boost morale, An Lushan proclaimed himself Emperor of Great Yan in Luoyang, fighting against the Tang Dynasty.
The day An Lushan became emperor was the first day of the first lunar month of the fifteenth year of Tianbao (756), and only more than 40 days had passed since november of the fourteenth year of Tianbao (755), when he rebelled.
Hearing that An Lushan had actually claimed the title of emperor, Tang Xuanzong was furious and said that he wanted to personally march and personally slaughter an An Lushan's hu seed. But Xuanzong was just talking, and didn't dare to really go. Therefore, people secretly invited Ge Shuhan, who was idle in Chang'an at that time and did not have good legs and feet, to the front line. And Brother Han didn't want to go at all, he was repeatedly urged and accused by Yang Guozhong, and his face couldn't hang on, so he reluctantly agreed.
Goshuhan
Before going, Goshuhan made a request, saying that he had the final say on the front line and that the imperial court could not interfere. Emperor Xuanzong wanted Ge Shuhan to go out as soon as possible, and he agreed at that time. However, after Ge Shuhan went, Tang Xuanzong repented, he was the left one holy will, the right one holy will, repeatedly urging The already lacking confidence of Ge Shuhan to fight. Later, the Tang army suffered a crushing defeat at Lingbao, although Ge Shuhan was mainly responsible. But Tang Xuanzong's pot could only be carried by himself.
: Abandoning Chang'an and leaving, it encouraged the arrogance of the rebels, and secretly helped the prestige of the Anshi rebels to reach its peak. However, judging from the fact that Tang Suzong later commanded the elite of Heshuo Fan town and the Hui army to counterattack, the combat effectiveness of the An Shi rebels was not as exaggerated as imagined, and it was not invincible.
Therefore, it is precisely because Tang Xuanzong's several blind commands led to several inexplicable fiascoes of the Tang army in the early stages, which gave people the impression that the Anshi rebels were very fierce. In fact, the rebels were not as strong as they thought they were.