introduction
If ancient Chinese history is compared to a river, then from the Tang Dynasty to the Song Dynasty, this long river turned a big bend of almost 180 degrees - from openness to closure and conservatism, from advocating literature and martial arts to emphasizing civilization and suppressing martial arts, from pioneering and enterprising to shrinking, and even the style of the literary world has changed from the grandeur of Tang poetry to the petty bourgeois of Song poetry...
The reason why such a big change will occur, the key turning point is in the middle and late Tang.
So, what really happened during this time?
Maybe many people don't know much about this.
Because, compared with the radiant early Tang or Sheng Tang, the history of the Middle and Late Tang Dynasty is inevitably sad - the Anshi Rebellion, the division of clans and towns, the dictatorship of eunuchs, the change of manna, the Ox and Lee Party dispute, the Huangchao Uprising, the chaos in the world, and falling apart...
Therefore, the attention paid to it is relatively much less.
However, just as the brilliance at sunset is often no less than the sunrise, the excitement of the middle and late Tang is actually no less than that of the early Tang.
If you use two words to describe it, the early Tang is heroic, the Sheng Tang is majestic, and the middle and late Tang is tragic.
In fact, countless singing and crying figures still emerged in the land of China in the middle and late Tang Dynasties.
Famous ministers include Li Yu, Lu Xian, Pei Du, Li Deyu, Liu Yan...;
Famous generals include Guo Ziyi, Li Guangbi, Li Sheng, Li Huo, Ma Xiao, Hun Xuan...;
The heroes include Yan Qingqing, Yan Zhenqing, Zhang Xun, Xu Yuan, Duan Xiushi ...;
Talented women include Xue Tao, Yu Xuanji, Li Ye...;
As for the literati, there are more handsome guys than the Beijing Film Academy: Li Bai, Du Fu, Wang Wei (the three of them lived in the Sheng Tang and Middle Tang dynasties), Bai Juyi, Liu Yuxi, Liu Zongyuan, Han Yu, Yuan Shu, Li He, Li Shen, Du Mu, Li Shangyin, Wen Tingjun...
However, despite the countless efforts of countless benevolent people, they still have no strength to recover, and they still cannot save the once incomparably brilliant Tang Dynasty, and can only watch it continue to decline until it completely falls into the abyss.
It's as if the computer has a serious virus, and the windows of all sizes open one after another, even if you have three heads and six arms, you don't have time to close, you can only watch the system gradually collapse...
So, why is this? What virus did the Tang Dynasty hit?
All this must start with a person named An Lushan.
NO.1 Stealing sheep changes fate
An Lushan is a mongrel.
This is not that I am scolding him, he is indeed a real mongrel - it is clearly recorded in the Old Book of Tang: An Lushan, Yingzhou Liucheng (present-day Chaoyang, Liaoning) hybrid Hu Renye.
According to modern historians, An Lushan's mother was a Turkic witch Ashde, and his father was a Hu surnamed Kang, and according to modern historians, it should be a Sogdian from the Western Regions.
The Sogdians originally lived in Central Asia centered on Samarkand (present-day Uzbekistan), where they established a number of small city-states, among which the larger regimes were Kang, An, Cao, Shi, Mi, He, Shi, Huoxun, and Pengdi, so Chinese historical texts also called them Zhaowu Jiu.
Because these countries were at the crossroads of the Silk Road and had unique trade advantages, most of the Sogdians took business as their profession and frequently traveled to and from all parts of Eurasia to do various businesses, and there were also traces of them in the northern border cities of the Tang Dynasty.
An Lushan's biological father, Mr. Kang from Kang Guo, one of the nine surnames of Zhaowu, is one of the many Sogdian "Tang Drift" tribes.
In Yingzhou, he met the Turkic girl Ashde.
After that, something normal happened between two normal adult men and women, and there was An Lushan.
Of course, this is just what I conceived based on modern medical knowledge, and there is another magical statement in some history books.
According to the "New Book of Tang" and the "Deeds of An Lushan" written by the Tang dynasty Yao Runeng, An Lushan's father was actually a father, and this child had nothing to do with him as if AIDS and smoking: (Ashde) prayed to Mount Luò, and God was born - Ashdeshi prayed to Mount Luò, and was induced by God to become pregnant.
Note that Mount Ginko is not a mountain, but the name of the legendary Turkic god of war.
In addition, there were many anomalies in the history of An Lushan when it was born.
According to legend, when Ashide gave birth, the sky was full of red light, wild beasts roared in unison, and a huge demon star fell on the tent where Ashide lived.
After seeing this, the local government knew that this Hu child would be unusual in the future, so they immediately sent people to the local area to hunt him down.
Fortunately, Ashde's foresight hid the baby in advance with his professional sensitivity and foresight, and the child avoided the doom of premature death.
Is this stuff believable?
Of course not credible.
But I think it's understandable too.
After all, the street girl still has to dress up carefully, not to mention that An Lushan later served as the so-called Dayan Emperor for a year, how can he not whitewash his origin?
However, this claim in the history books does not seem to be completely unfounded.
Because the name that Ashide gave to the child was called Mount Ginko.
However, a good name does not necessarily mean fate.
When he was very young, his biological father died, and Ashide remarried another Hu person, An Yanyan, after which he took "An" as his surname, and his name was changed to "Lushan" according to the homonym of "Ginxuan".
Probably because of the experience of dragging oil bottles under the fence since he was a child, An Lushan grew up very good at detecting words, extremely high emotional intelligence, excellent eloquence, every time with others, he either patted the horse fart sweet words, or patted the chest to talk boldly, always inappropriate, all inappropriate, always can make people feel as refreshing as drinking cold beer in midsummer.
In addition, he also had a special talent for languages, and history records that he "spoke the six languages" - proficient in various Hu languages.
Perhaps because of this linguistic advantage, An Lushan's first job as an adult was as an intermediary between Hu people and mutual trade.
However, at that time, the agents seemed to be far less good than the real estate agents now, and An Lushan did not make any money over the years.
By 732 AD, he was almost 30 years old, still accomplishing nothing, destitute, destitute, and unable to afford a meal of meat.
If you are poor, you will change.
So An Lushan did something.
It was this event that changed his fate.
What's going on?
Army?
You think too much - he probably didn't think about it then.
Read Chen Anzhi's inspirational book?
You think too much - he doesn't read a single word.
So what is it?
Speaking of which, you may never dream of stealing sheep!