In China's feudal society, since ancient times, the highest honor of the civil servant is "Wenzheng", the highest honor of the military general is "Zhongwu", it can be said that "Zhongwu" is the highest title pursued by the military general in his life, and it is also the greatest praise for the military general. In the nearly 300 years of the Tang Dynasty, there were only two people who received the highest honor of this military general, that is, Wei Chigong and Guo Ziyi.
Wei Chigong, as one of the "Twenty-Four Heroes of LingYange", saved Li Shimin three times in his life, and the word "Zhongwu" can be said to be deserved, while the other Guo Ziyi has a more legendary life experience. Guo Ziyi is the only Wu Zhuangyuan in Chinese history who has made meritorious achievements, and has experienced the seven dynasties of Wu Zetian, Tang Zhongzong, Tang Ruizong, Tang Xuanzong, Tang Suzong, Tang Dynasty Zong, and Tang Dezong in his lifetime. As a ZTE general, the name of "Zhongwu" Guo Ziyi deserved it.
Portrait of Guo Ziyi
During the reign of Wu Zetian, in order to eliminate dissidents, the army was purged and all replaced with cronies. However, wu Zetian's loyalists were uneven in good and short in ability, which led to repeated defeats in foreign wars of the Tang Empire and a serious decline in the combat effectiveness of the army. Under such circumstances, Wu Zetian added a martial arts examination on the basis of the examination system to select qualified personnel, enrich the army, and stabilize border defense. Guo Ziyi came to prominence in the martial arts examination and won the first place, thus starting his career as a horseman.
After Guo Ziyi became a Wu Zhuangyuan, he held the position of Zuo Wei Changshi in the Shan Yu Capital Protectorate, and later after years of conquest and tempering, he made a lot of military achievements, and was promoted to the position of Tiande Army Envoy and Jiuyuan Taishou. In 754, he was appointed as an envoy of the Tiande Army (present-day Inner Mongolia), as well as an envoy of Taishou (太守) of Jiuyuan (present-day Baotou North, Inner Mongolia) and Shuofang (present-day northern Shaanxi). In November 755, An Lushan rebelled at Fanyang (present-day Zhuozhou, Hebei), and Emperor Xuanzong of Tang appointed Guo Ziyi as Wei Weiqing (衛尉卿), and concurrently served as the Taishou of the Lingwu Army (present-day Lingwunan, Ningxia), and served as an envoy of Fang Jiedushi, and commanded his headquarters Ma Dong to attack the Anshi rebels, and soon recovered more than 10 counties, including Yunzhong, Mayi (present-day Shuozhou, Shanxi), and Dongxin (present-day Dai County, Shanxi), and Guo Ziyi was also awarded the title of Yushi Dafu for his merits.
In June 756, the rebels attacked Tongguan, which was guarded by Ge Shuhan, and the news reached the capital, and the ministers were in disarray and escorted Tang Xuanzong to flee to Sichuan. In July, Emperor Suzong of Tang ascended the throne at Lingwu, and at that time, due to the limitations of the situation, there were not even many generals in the capital, only temporary troops were mobilized to form a garrison, and morale was also very low, and it was difficult to command. At this moment, the rebel army occupying the two capitals (Chang'an and Luoyang) was imposing and huge, and Tang Suzong, in a hurry, urgently ordered Guo Ziyi and Li Guangbi to lead the army to serve the king, and Guo Ziyi's Shuofang army marched west into Lingwu, which greatly enhanced the morale of the Tang army at that time. Since then, the Shuofang army led by Guo Ziyi has become the backbone of the Tang Dynasty's restoration of the two capitals.
In March of the second year of De (757), Guo Ziyi led his generals to conquer Puzhou, retake Yongfeng, and completely drive An Shi's rebels out of Tongguan Shaanxi. In October, Guo Ziyi defeated An Qingxu's army west of Shaanzhou (陕州, in present-day Sanmenxia, Henan) and escorted Li Yu (later Emperor Daizong) of Guangping Commandery into Luoyang, where many people cheered wang shi's return and gave great encouragement to the morale of the people. Subsequently, Emperor Suzong of Tang added Zi Yi to the title of Situ and was made the Duke of Guo. According to historical records, Tang Suzong once personally said to Guo Ziyi: "Although my home country is really rebuilt by Qing. ”
In 765, the deputy marshal of Hebei, Gu Huai'en, felt that his merits were great but not valued, so he united with Hui and Tubo to oppose the Tang. In early October, this rebel army attacked Jingyang north of Chang'an, and the whole government and the opposition were shocked, and some people persuaded Emperor Tang to flee quickly, but some people insisted that he stay, so they argued endlessly before putting the matter of resistance on the agenda. At this time, everyone agreed that if you want to calm the war, you can only rely on one person at the moment, that is, the general Guo Ziyi.
At this time, Guo Ziyi was already over the age of ancient and was sent by the imperial court to guard Jingyang. Because of the small number of soldiers in Jingyang, he ordered his subordinates to strictly defend and not to fight without authorization. Later, Guo Ziyi received the news that the servant Gu Huai'en had contracted a serious illness on the way to the army and had died. At this time, Hui And Tubo were also centrifugal and wanted to achieve the first success in the war, so no one paid any attention to anyone, and the two armies were also stationed in separate battalions, and Hui hui soldiers were stationed in the west of the city.
Receiving this good news, Guo Ziyi sent people to Hui's military camp to persuade Hui hui to join him in fighting against Tubo. However, the Hui general said: "At that time, the servant Gu Huai'en told us to hold firm, Daizong was already dead, and Guo Gong was already sick and dead, if all this was false, please ask Guo Gong to meet with us." After receiving the other party's request, Guo Ziyi said: "At present, the strength of Hui Hui is strong, our troops are really too small, and we absolutely cannot win by force, so it is better for me to talk to them, maybe we can still make peace without a fight." ”
In this way, Guo Ziyi disregarded his personal safety, turned over on his horse, and came to the Huiyi camp. Entering the door, Guo Ziyi took off his helmet, took off his battle robe, threw away the spear in his hand, and walked alone towards the Hui Army. The old generals of Huiyi knew Guo Ziyi, and they jumped off their horses to pray to the old man, and Guo Ziyi also jumped off his horse and shook hands with the Hui general Yao Geluo.
After some greetings between the two sides, Guo Ziyi said straight to the point: "You Hui Hui helped Datang to quell the Anshi rebellion, and we in Datang also treated you not thinly, so why did you abandon such fruitful deeds as before just listening to the words of servant Gu Huai'en, and must form a grudge with my Datang?" The servant Gu Huai'en is just a villain, betraying Datang and ignoring his mother, this kind of behavior is also intolerable in your return, right? Today you want to see me, and I will come, and I will kill you, but my men will definitely fight you to the death. ”
Yao Ge Luo hurriedly said that it was a misunderstanding, and that he had been deceived by the servant Gu Huai'en, so he was confused about the current action. Now that the emperor was in Chang'an and Guo Gong was safe and sound, how could Hui Hui meet with the Tang Dynasty soldiers?
Guo Ziyi felt that the time was ripe, so he took advantage of the hot iron and asked Hui To join forces with him to attack Tubo, and promised to return all the cattle, sheep and jewelry captured to Hui Hui. Yao Ge Luo was very happy to hear this, so he said to Guo Ziyi: "We were deceived by the servant Gu Huai'en, and we are really sorry for Datang and failed the old Linggong in this matter." Now we must contribute to the attack on Tubo, and the only requirement is that the son of The Servant Gu Huai'en is our brother-in-law of the Huiqi Khan, and we should not hurt him if we share the same hatred and hatred with the Tang Dynasty. Subsequently, the two sides ordered wine and swore an oath and made a covenant with each other. When Tubo heard the news of the Tang army's alliance with Hui, he was greatly shaken, and withdrew his troops that night and fled.
Guo Ziyi can be said to have spent his whole life on the battlefield, and his life was full of meritorious achievements, and he was praised by the history books for "rebuilding the royal family and honoring the high generation" and "being a person in danger in the world for twenty years", and so on. In the war to quell the "Anshi Rebellion", Guo Ziyi also made great achievements. He first commanded or participated in the command of major battles such as the battle to conquer the counties of Hebei, the battle to recover Liangjing, and the battle of Yicheng, and so on, and all the way was unstoppable; after the "Anshi Rebellion", he successively solved Tubo and Huilu and other places, and finally pacified Hedong. Guo Ziyi was proficient in strategy, maintained a heavy weight with troops, promised the country with his own body, and was not afraid of danger, and played a vital role in the continuation of the Tang Dynasty in the four dynasties of Tang Xuanzong, Tang Suzong, Tang Dynasty, and Tang Dezong. In addition, as one of the famous generals who put down the "Anshi Rebellion", Guo Ziyi reached an unprecedented height both in terms of the experience accumulated in the war and his level of military theory. His art of war and achievements not only reflect his military talent, but also reflect the brilliance of his "soldier who yields without fighting".
In Sheng Tang Dynasty, there were quite a few people who were committed to serving the country, and in their view, choosing to join the military and obtaining meritorious names was the same way. Guo Ziyi is a natural talent of generals, he is not only great, but also good at observing, thinking, and handling problems from a political point of view, and Guo Ziyi is evaluated in the Taiping Guangji as "the power of the world and the dynasty is not jealous, the merit of the generation is not doubted, the luxury of the poor and the gentleman is not guilty." Rich and noble life examination, reproduction and antai, the prosperity of the human beings from the beginning is flawless." You know, in the past era, it was almost impossible for a person to have power over the world and not be jealous of the dynasty, and to cover the crowd and the monarch was not suspicious. Guo Ziyi, on the other hand, was both literate and martial, loyal and wise, so he was able to make an immortal contribution on the chaotic battlefield at that time, and retire in the sinister official field.
In 779, Tang Dezong succeeded to the throne, when Guo Ziyi was old, the emperor honored him as shang father, and added the title of Taiwei and Zhongshu Ling, and the annual fenglu was 1500 stones of grain, 200 horses of hay, and 2000 households. According to records, Guo Ziyi's eight sons and seven sons-in-law were all dignitaries of the imperial court, and there were as many as dozens of grandchildren in each room, and some of them even did not know him, so he had to nod his head.
When Guo Ziyi was 85 years old, he was very ill, and when the emperor sent someone to visit, Guo Ziyi could no longer move, but could only nod his head and thank him, and died soon after. The emperor was so distraught that he stopped going to the court for five days, ordered his courtiers to go to Guo Mansion to mourn, and announced that Guo Ziyi would be buried at the expense of the state treasury. Guo Ziyi's tomb was also arranged next to the tomb of Emperor Suzong of Tang, and when he was buried, the emperor wept bitterly with the Wenwu hundred officials and gave him the nickname "Zhongwu".
It can be said that Guo Ziyi has been rich and prosperous all his life, and as a courtier, he has achieved the ultimate.
——Source "Know a Little Bit about Chinese History"