The orthodox history books describe the Ma Songpo incident as follows: In the fourteenth year of Emperor Xuanzong of Tang's Tianbao, Jiedu made An Lushan gather 150,000 horses and horses to launch a rebellion at Fanyang in the name of killing Yang Guozhong. An Lushan's army was overwhelming and soon approached Tongguan. When Emperor Xuanzong of Tang fled in a hurry, passing through Ma Songyi in the northwest of Chang'an, the generals of the Forbidden Army, including the general of the Forbidden Army, Chen Xuanli, were deeply dissatisfied with Yang Guozhong. The Forbidden Army took the opportunity to make trouble, killed Yang Guozhong, and forced Tang Xuanzong to execute Yang Guifei. Mrs. Korea and Mrs. Yu guo also died in the rebellion. Subsequently, the crown prince Li Heng and Xuanzong parted ways and went north to fight. Emperor Xuanzong continued to flee south to Chengdu. Li Heng, who was heading north, soon established himself as emperor.
Ma Song mutiny
But who was the mastermind of the Ma Song Mutiny? There have always been four theories about the historical truth of the mutiny:
First, the eunuch Colliers was the mastermind behind this mutiny
The basis for this claim is mainly based on one point: Colliers had a motive to stage a mutiny.
Gao Lishi was a powerful eunuch during the Tang Xuanzong period and had a great influence on politics. After the Tang Dynasty's eldest son Wuji and Chu Suiliang were executed by Emperor Gaozong, the foreign chancellor was unable to encroach on the inner court regime, and his power was generally limited to day-to-day government affairs. Li Linfu and Yang Guozhong not only controlled the government of the dynasty, but also wanted to point fingers at the affairs of the inner court, which aroused the resentment of Gao Lishi.
Colliers
In addition, Li Linfu, An Lushan and others were originally quoted by Gao Lishi and were appreciated by the emperor and climbed to high positions. Gao Lishi was a close confidant of Tang Xuanzong, who ruled the central government as a eunuch, and "every four-sided literary table must first be presented as a lux, and then enter the imperial palace, and small things will be decided", which is actually equivalent to the so-called "internal minister" in later generations. Colliers was dissatisfied with Yang Guozhong's monopoly of power, and the two fell in love with each other.
Mr. Huang Yongnian, a scholar of Tang history, proposed that in the nineteenth year of the new century, the leaders of the Forbidden Army, Wang Maozhong and Ge Fushun, who disagreed with Gao Lishi, were expelled, and Chen Xuanli, the leader of the Forbidden Army, joined the camp of Gao Lishi. In the thirteenth year of Tianbao, Colliers' action against Yang Guozhong was unsuccessful. Therefore, Gao Lishi took the opportunity of An Lushan's rebellion to instruct Chen Xuanli to use the forbidden army to kill Yang Guozhong.
Yang Guozhong
Does this claim hold water? Xiaobian believes that it cannot be, for three reasons:
First, from the perspective of the beneficiaries after the engagement, Colliers did not benefit from this. According to historical records, after the mutiny, Gao Litu still followed Tang Xuanzong to Shudi, not only did not gain any practical political benefits, but was in an increasingly difficult situation.
Second, Colliers had the motivation to launch a mutiny, but the motivation was obviously insufficient. The contradiction between Gao Lishi and Yang Guozhong is not prominent, but only "dissatisfaction" and "resentment", which are far from reaching the point where soldiers meet each other. Moreover, gaolishi, as the shadow of Tang Xuanzong, was not Yang Guozhong's main political enemy, and the crown prince Li Heng had a greater goal than GaoLishi at that time.
Third, Colliers' power was not enough to stage a coup d'état. In peacetime, Gao Lishi was the minister of the interior, and his power was not small, but it was not enough to compete with Yang Guozhong, the prime minister. Not to mention that when the monarch flees in a hurry, his power will be greatly limited. Regardless of Chen Xuanli's loyalty to Xuanzong, even if Gao Lishi could instruct Chen Xuanli to launch a mutiny, Chen Xuanli would not be able to complete this matter independently.
Therefore, Colliers may have participated in or been happy to see Yang Guozhong killed, but Colliers lacked the motivation and strength to be the mastermind of the mutiny.
Second, Chen Xuanli, the commander of the Forbidden Army, was the mastermind of the mutiny
This argument is obviously untenable, as a great general of Longwu and the commander of the Forbidden Army, Chen Xuanli is undoubtedly a person trusted by Xuanzong, and he has no interest in Yang Guozhong, killing Yang Guozhong will not benefit Chen Xuanli himself, unless it is really a soldier mutiny, Chen Xuanli can not be suppressed at all, and he is coerced into participating in the mutiny. In any case, Chen Xuanli alone had no ability to become the mastermind of this mutiny.
Chen Xuanli
Among them, there is also a saying that Tang Xuanzong instructed Chen Xuanli to kill Yang Guozhong, so as not to reach Yang Guozhong's territory, Shudi, and the prime minister was even more difficult to control, so Tang Xuanzong eliminated the hidden danger in advance.
Incredibly, there was a certain market for this statement, which was a complete disregard for the actual situation at that time.
At that time, because Tang Xuanzong favored An Lushan and An Lushan plotted rebellion; he favored Yang Guozhong, Yang Guozhong made people angry; he did not trust Ge Shuhan, resulting in the defeat and capture of Ge Shuhan's troops, and Tang Xuanzong had lost all his prestige. There is no need to hide it at all, and it is completely possible to write a heavy stroke in the history books!
Therefore, Tang Xuanzong instructed Chen Xuanli to kill Yang Guozhong at all!
Tang Xuanzong
Third, the officers and men of the Forbidden Army act spontaneously, and there is no mastermind behind the scenes
Other scholars believe that this was a mutiny without premeditation and that there was no mastermind behind it. The generals marched through the night, hungry, and launched a mutiny under the leadership of Chen Xuanli in order to save themselves.
This claim clearly lacks credibility. In ancient times, the imperial authority was not to the point of being unable to survive, no one could ignore the imperial power, at that time, Ma Songpo was only more than a hundred miles away from Chang'an, and it could be reached on foot for a day or so, and the forbidden army could not be hungry enough to launch a mutiny. Moreover, the generals of the Forbidden Army were all innocent, loyal, and one of the hundred people in the capital, and they wanted them to challenge the imperial power spontaneously, and if there was no leader, it was basically impossible.
Fourth, Prince Li Heng was the mastermind behind the mutiny.
This is also the most marketable one. There are three reasons for this:
Lee Heng
First, Li Heng had a motive to kill Yang Guozhong.
The contradiction between Li Heng and Yang Guozhong has always been very sharp, and he has more motivation to launch a mutiny than Gao Lishi. In the last year of Emperor Xuanzong's reign, the crown prince Li Ying was deposed, and both the chancellor Li Linfu and his henchman Yang Guozhong strongly supported Li Mao the Prince of Shou, but Emperor Xuanzong eventually made Li Xiang crown prince. Li Linfu was afraid that the crown prince would take the knife after he ascended the throne, so he wanted to plot to overthrow Li Heng, and Yang Guozhong also tried every means to frame Li Heng, even though Yang and Li later parted ways, but in opposing Li Heng as the crown prince, Yang Guozhong never changed his original intention.
After the fall of Tongguan, Yang Guozhong suggested that Emperor Xuanzong take refuge in Shudi, which was Yang Guozhong's sphere of influence. After Li Heng entered Shu, he could only be controlled by others, and even his life was difficult to guarantee. In this situation, Li Heng only had to get rid of Yang Guozhong.
Li Linfu
Second, Li Heng has the ability to launch a mutiny
As the crown prince, Li Heng had a strong influence on the Forbidden Army. In the Tang Dynasty, it was customary for princes and horses not to be in charge of the forbidden army. This prohibition was enforced during the reign of Emperor Xuanzong, but when Emperor Xuanzong fled to Shu, he made an exception by granting Li Xiang's two sons, King Jianning and King Guangping, the power to command the mobilization of the forbidden army. Therefore, Li Heng could mobilize the forbidden army through his two sons and thus launch a mutiny.
Third, Li Heng was one of the biggest beneficiaries of this mutiny
After the mutiny, Li Heng divided his troops and went north, completely escaping his father's control and establishing himself as emperor. The other two protagonists of the mutiny, Gao Litu and Chen Xuanli, still followed Tang Xuanzong to Shudi and did not gain much practical benefit. Li Heng's political benefits from this mutiny far exceeded those of Gao Lishi and Chen Xuanli.
Therefore, li heng is the mastermind behind the Ma Song mutiny.
But there was another man who benefited more from the mutiny than Li Heng. He was the "fifth father" of the Suzong (Li Heng) dynasty and the "shang father" of the Daizong (Li Yu) dynasty, the eunuch Li Fuguo.
Li Fuguo
Although Li Heng's transformation from prince to emperor can be said to have gained greatly, it may only be a matter of time before Li Heng's position as emperor, but Li Fuguo has gone from a nameless eunuch to the first person under the emperor, and his gain is even greater.
According to historical records, after Li Heng was proclaimed emperor, he appointed Li Fuguo as "Sima Shi of the Marching Army of the Marshal's Office" (equivalent to the chief of the military general staff), and "the four sides played the affairs, and the imperial front was sealed with military trumpets, and one was entrusted." Later, he was constantly sealed to the "Jia Kai Fu Yi Tong Three Divisions" and the Duke of Guoguo, and Li Fuguo was also in charge of the forbidden army, responsible for the security of the imperial family, in charge of the "Inspection Hall", and inspected hundreds of officials.
Li Fuguo's great power is in his hands, his power is tilted to the opposition, his actual power has long surpassed that of the prime minister, and almost all the major affairs in the world are determined by Li Fuguo, and even the local emissaries are also entrusted by Li Fuguo. Li Fuguo even had the ability to depose the emperor.
Li Fuguo's ability to gain such power is closely related to his role in the mutiny, which shows that he is li heng's "mastermind" even if he is not the mastermind.
Let's see what kind of role Li Fuguo played in the Ma Song Mutiny?
Li Fuguo was originally a small eunuch under Li Heng, but he was a close relative of Li Heng, and his first appearance in historical footage was in the Ma Song Mutiny.
At that time, the fleeing team was divided into two parts, the front team was Xuanzong, the noble concubine, the prime minister, as well as the palace women, the clan room, and the forbidden army. The rear team is led by the prince, responsible for the rear, and the army is the Flying Dragon Army. The crown prince's entourage includes Li Fuguo, the crown prince's eldest son Li Yu, and the second son, Li Qian.
Li Fuguo's role in the open is to act as a "correspondent" between the two teams, at that time neither Li Heng nor Li Yu had a good excuse to travel between the two teams, and Li Fuguo was a eunuch, and when the crown princess Zhang Liangdi was eight months pregnant at this time, it was very reasonable for Li Xiang to keep sending Li Fuguo to visit her. So Li Fuguo was busy running back and forth, but apparently his real task was to act as a correspondent between the prince and Chen Xuanli.
The history books record that "Chen Xuanli and others cursed Yang Guozhong, and assisted The State of Yu". The so-called Yumou is not just a microphone, but also participates in opinions and planning. This is close to the truth. Judging from Li Fuguo's boldness and carefulness, he did have the ability in this regard.
After Ma Songpo killed Yang Guozhong, Li Heng still had an uncertain future, because Shudi was a territory that Yang Guozhong had been operating for a long time, and after he died, he would still go there, would his party members have a rebellious heart? So there were two paths in front of him, one was to continue to follow Chengdu and continue to tremble in the shadows; the other was to openly split and establish another central government.
Breaking up is imperative. The remaining question is what is better?
At this time, it was Li Fuguo who stood up again. After Xuanzong's front team set off, the prince's rear team was slow to move. Emperor Xuanzong sent someone to visit Li Yu, Li Qi, and Li Fuguo, who were originally the two sons of the crown prince, and pulled on the reins of the crown prince Li Heng's horse and gave him bitter advice. He said: Now is the autumn of survival, the prince must shoulder the heavy responsibility, to quell the rebellious thieves, restore the community, and cannot go south.
When Tang Xuanzong heard the reward, he already had a number in his heart. Yang Tian sighed, "This is Providence! Afterwards, the rear team was left to the prince and encouraged.
Yang Guifei in the Ma Song Mutiny
In the description of this scene, in the description of the "Zizhi Tongjian", there are also "extras": all the fathers and elders of Ma Songpo are "covering the road and asking to stay", and there are thousands of people between the beards. Fathers and elders share the princely horse, and they are not allowed to do it. It shows that the prince stays and has a strong public opinion base. But there is no doubt that Li Fuguo, Li Yu, Li Qian and others are the real leading actors.
Judging from the above scenario, Li Fuguo's role in it is irreplaceable, and even Li Heng's idea may come from Li Fuguo, Li Heng, as the crown prince, may not want to take risks, while Li Fuguo is not, a barefoot is not afraid to make the shoes more broken!