How terrible were the Anshi Chaos in Chinese history? Why can't even the mighty Tang Empire be overwhelmed? The Anshi Rebellion was a war waged by Emperor Xuanzong Li Longji of Tang Dynasty in his later years to the rebellion of An Lushan and Shi Siming in the early years of Emperor Li Yu of Tang Dynasty, and it was a civil war for rule. So why did these two people have the ability to rebel against the Tang Dynasty?
The first is political corruption, although Tang Xuanzong inherited the national strength of the former dynasty Wu Zetian and created the Kaiyuan prosperous era, but in the later period of his reign, he was absurd and spoiled Yang Guifei. Later, they handed over state affairs to Li Linfu and Yang Guozhong, who were originally mediocre talents, who used their powers to plunder the people's wealth and ostracize Zhongliang; during Li Linfu's rise to power, An Lushan had not yet risen, but after Li Linfu's death, the imperial court talent was not in favor of the people, and corruption became a common practice, so he let Yang Guozhong, who only knew how to collect wealth, come to power, and Yang Guozhong, who only knew how to collect wealth, came to power, and Yang Guozhong did not have Li Linfu's political acumen, nor could he use power to control An Lushan like Li Linfu, and could only suppress and exclude, causing the arrogance of An Lushan to begin to rise in the back.
Yang Guozhong
To what extent is Yang Guozhong brainless? In order to confirm The accusation of An Lushan's rebellion, he actually took the initiative to create conditions for An Lushan's rebellion, so the contradictions within the class began to intensify, which led to the tragedy of the An Shi Rebellion. Tang Xuanzong did not realize it at all, indulged in Yang Guifei's gentle township all day, and constantly launched wars with the outside world, when many generals began to cause trouble in important border towns, which greatly deepened the national contradictions, and it was in the context of such internal and external troubles that the vigorous Anshi Rebellion broke out.
Anshi Rebellion
The second is the power structure of the Tang Dynasty at that time, the early Tang Dynasty implemented the prefectural military system, but with the growth of population, Tang Xuanzong changed the prefectural military system to the conscription system, and the biggest drawback of the conscription system was that the local government could recruit soldiers by itself, which was equivalent to the moderation of private soldiers, which also caused the situation of the division of the feudal towns in the late Tang Dynasty. At that time, An Lushan's troops were as high as 150,000, and they fought bravely, and the quality of the troops was much higher than that of the central army, which led to the invincibility of An Lushan's army.
The last and most essential reason is the problem of people's livelihood, in the early tang Xuanzong implementation of the equalization system, that is, the army's land after cultivating to a certain number of years will belong to it, but this system is not suitable for the late population surge of the Tang Dynasty, the late Tang Dynasty population soared, with the development of the economy, land annexation unprecedented prevalence, Tang Xuanzong began to levy tyranny on the people, resulting in the people to bear serious taxes, and eventually the people did not have a good life, Tang Xuanzong also lost the people's hearts, which is the fundamental reason why the Anshi chaos can make waves.
Tang Xuanzong
The Tang Dynasty before the Anshi Rebellion can be described as the Kaiyuan Prosperous Era, and it is also called "Giant Tang" by many netizens in today's network. At that time, it was not an exaggeration to say that the Tang Dynasty was the most powerful country in the world, but the outbreak of the Anshi Rebellion caused great damage to the social economy and culture, although it was only 8 years, but it lost the economic culture accumulated by the Tang Dynasty over the past hundred years.
Before the Anshi Rebellion, the Expansion territory of the Tang Dynasty was defeated by the Arab coalition forces, but such a defeat was insignificant for the Tang Dynasty, because it could still make a comeback after the defeat, but four years later, that is, in December 755 AD, the Anshi Rebellion broke out, and the prosperity of the Tang Dynasty also became history, the population plummeted by more than 60%, and the Anshi Rebellion also lost the overland Silk Road, the foreign trade was completely cut off, and a large number of buildings and cultural heritage were destroyed. The economic center gradually shifted to the south, and Hebei also broke away from the control of the Tang Dynasty and began to huize, and this land did not return to the Hands of the Han until 600 years later, when Zhu Yuanzhang overthrew the Yuan Dynasty and returned to the Hands of the Han People after the success of the Northern Expedition.
When it comes to the harm of the Anshi Rebellion, many people feel that the influence is not so great, and the basis for judging is that the Tang Dynasty did not perish after the Anshi Rebellion, but continued to exist for 150 years, but it should be known that the Tang Dynasty was divided into towns and towns in the past 150 years, and the eunuchs were in turmoil, it can be said that the people did not have a good life, and the Tang Dynasty fell into a tug-of-war for up to 8 years, and the impact on the economy, military and politics directly put the Tang Dynasty on a road of no return. Faced with political instability and economic depression, the rulers of the late Tang Dynasty had to devote a lot of energy to resolving various contradictions in the country, they had to deal with both land annexation and people's uprising, as well as the rebellion of the feudal towns, and at the same time, they had to always beware of the threat of eunuchs, coupled with various party disputes, these 150 years were also the most difficult years for the Tang Dynasty to look back on.
We can imagine that the Tang Dynasty has been crumbling since the Anshi Rebellion, and if the Arab Dynasty in the west joins forces with the surrounding kingdoms to take advantage of the void, can the Central Plains Dynasty still exist? Thinking about it makes people feel cold behind their backs, because these countries have been suppressed by the Tang Dynasty before the Anshi Rebellion, let alone for hundreds of years, but they have always dared to be angry and dare not speak, fortunately, after the Anshi Rebellion, these countries have not had a good life, and there has also been serious civil unrest. Although in the 150 years of the late Tang Dynasty, there was an occasional climax in foreign exchanges, but it lasted for a short time, which can only be said to be short-lived.
Once the world came to make the spectacular scene no longer exist, coupled with the Tubo Uighurs often harassed the border, the Silk Road was forced to be interrupted, making the Tang Dynasty difficult in foreign exchange activities, the most profound impact was to make the late Tang Dynasty and even the rulers of the Song, Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties no longer actively explore foreign exchanges.
For example, the Ming Dynasty's sea ban, the Qing Dynasty's closed country, but also let the late China in the development far behind the Western countries, and eventually degenerated into a semi-feudal and semi-colonial country, this strategic model has been affecting the Republic of China period, all kinds of data can be seen that after the Anshi Rebellion, the late Tang Dynasty 150 years have been hovering in the trough.
The tang dynasty is only a microcosm of history, and the chaos of anshi has also given us a lesson; if a country wants to be in a leading position, it must vigorously develop productive forces, have a solid material foundation, and if it wants to stand in an invincible position, it must be bold and open, take its essence, remove its dross, and keep up with the trend of the development of the times in order to keep pace with the times, so that it can gain a foothold in the world pattern of today's great changes that have not occurred in a hundred years.