When it comes to the heroes of the rebellion and the Anshi Rebellion, the first thing that comes to people's minds must be Guo Ziyi and Li Guangbi, two generals. The Tang Dynasty was in a period of criticism, and the role of military generals was prominent, but the strategy of the strategists behind it was more important, and it was the key to success or failure.
How great is his credit? To sum it up in four words, it is not an exaggeration at all, that is, "rebuilding the community."
01 The first retirement of the prodigy
Li Mi was born in a scholarly family, and his ancestors were officials in the Northern Wei Dynasty. But Li Mi's father, Li Chengxiu, was a famous bibliophile in the Tang Dynasty, and Li Mi was talented and intelligent, and he was a famous prodigy all over the country at the age of six.
And because of his intelligence, he was fortunate enough to participate in a palace banquet, and made a poem with the title of "Fang Yuan Movement" at the banquet, which was shocked as soon as the poem came out, leaving a deep impression on Tang Xuanzong Li Longji, and even Zhang Jiuling, who prided himself on his talent, also had a great impression of him, and the two became friends after that.
"If you do righteousness, if you use wisdom, if you move like hiring materials, if you are quiet. ”
Later, the important ministers around Xuanzong, such as He Zhizhang and Zhang Shuo, all taught Li Mi various talents. Although Li Mi became famous early, he did not get fluttered because of this, but studied hard under the guidance of his father Li Chengxiu, and often traveled around when he grew up to observe the people's feelings.
Because the case was prepared at Tang Xuanzong early, it was only a matter of time before he entered the official career. Li Longji arranged him by the side of the crown prince Li Heng and made him serve as Li Heng's attendant.
It was from this time that Li Mi and Li Heng began to establish a good personal relationship.
Before the outbreak of the Anshi Rebellion, he was in a state of seclusion, why is this? This matter is also related to Wang Zhonghe.
Wang Zhongsi was raised in the palace by Xuanzong at the age of nine, and when he grew up, he was able to fight well, and he was deeply valued by Xuanzong, and when he was a noble, he was also a member of Shuofang, Hedong, Hexi, and Longyou, which shows Xuanzong's love and trust in him.
It is precisely because of his great power, so An Lushan also values him very much, trying to lure him to join the rebels, but he was refused, after which Wang Zhonghei wrote to expose his conspiracy, but not only no one believed it, but was framed by Li Linfu and An Lushan, saying that he was rebellious, and said in his early years that he was willing to obey the words of the prince.
Why does the royal family have no father-son relationship? Just because the imperial power is unique and cannot be shared, this uniqueness has created the ruthlessness of the emperor. Therefore, after Tang Xuanzong learned about it, he was furious, and Wang Zhongsi barely left a life under the plea of everyone, and was demoted to Hanyang Taishou, and died violently soon after.
After this incident, the status of the crown prince Li Heng was in jeopardy, and Li Mi, as Li Heng's henchman, became the target of public criticism, and at this time, Li Mi was young and vigorous, and from time to time he went to the book to criticize the times, and as a result, Prime Minister Yang Guozhong grabbed the handle and said that the "Sentimental Poem" he wrote slandered the court, which can be described as a naked literary prison.
Due to the previous Wang Zhonghei case, Li Longji was dissatisfied with the crown prince, and Yang Guozhong's actions pushed Li Mi to the forefront, and then he was demoted to Qizhou, Hubei.
After encountering setbacks, Li Yu chose to forbear and retired in time, and from then until the An Lushan rebellion, he did not participate in political affairs anymore, and even had no contact with Li Heng.
So what is he doing? He's immersed in the study of Taoism.
There are many legends about him in Taoism, and there are many records in history books. It is said that there were colorful clouds on his 15th birthday, so some Taoist priests asserted that he would be a god in the future.
It is said that he also saw the gods with his own eyes when he traveled in Hengshan, and it is also said that he has a difficult kung fu - Bigu, that is, he does not eat or drink for a long time, but he can still maintain his demeanor.
These accounts are not very credible today, but at least one thing worth scrutinizing is that Li Mi's mentality is at least very good, as can be seen in his later years in power.
He has experienced five turbulences in his life, and after the first time he entered the WTO and retired, he appeared by Li Heng's side in time during the Anshi Rebellion, so how did he turn the tide?
02 Two judgments turn the tide
After the outbreak of the Anshi Rebellion, Chang'an City fell, Tang Xuanzong Li Longji fled into Sichuan in panic, the crown prince Li Heng proclaimed himself emperor in Lingwu, and Chang became Tang Suzong.
Not long after Li Heng became emperor, Li Mi returned to his side, and after his return, Li Mi officially started his national salvation mode.
Although Li Heng was proclaimed emperor, the situation he faced was a mess.
An Lushan's rebels captured Chang'an, the entire Central Plains was in their hands, and half of the rivers and mountains in the south of the Yangtze River were about to be lost. And Lingwu is small, and the number of troops is impossible to talk about, only thousands of remnants.
After the fall of Tongguan, Guo Ziyi's troops in Hebei were also struggling, and they could only hold on to their existing territory, and they were unable to fight back at all.
What's even worse is that the Central Plains was shattered by the rebels, and the Tang army had long lost contact with the imperial court, and even didn't know about such a big thing as Li Heng being called emperor.
There are few soldiers, few generals, low morale, and a bleak situation, how to reverse this situation, Li Mi gave two judgments after judging the situation and sizing up the situation:
First, he believed that the rebels would not have the support of the people of the Central Plains.
The reason is very simple, because the rebels in An Lushan are a pair of miscellaneous armies, mainly composed of Turks and Khitans in border towns, and there are very few Han people, such an army is indeed powerful, but it is difficult to be recognized by the people of the Central Plains.
Second, the rebels will not last long.
Because every time a city is captured, it will be looted, and then the property will be looted back to the old nest Fan Yang. This behavior of the rebels is enough to show that, at least ideologically, they have not thought about taking the world, or they are not ready to take it.
As soon as the two judgments came out, Li Mi formulated a counterinsurgency strategy, and he ordered Li Guangbi and Guo Ziyi, two generals, one out of the pass and the other out of Hedong, to suppress the rebels from the back.
Li Mi concluded that the rebels' cavalry could not cross the Yangtze River, so attacking the rebels' Hebei nest from the north would be tantamount to turning the 800-mile Qinchuan River, where the rebels had just arrived, into a dead place to contain them.
Regarding the hidden danger of the division of the Tang Dynasty's feudal towns, Li Mi proposed to use this counterinsurgency battle to completely eliminate the rebels, collect local forces into the imperial court, and re-implement the government military system. Therefore, he pointed out that this war should not be rushed, and it is necessary to be prepared for a protracted war.
The strategic policy proposed by Li Mi is very forward-looking, but the actual implementation will be discounted.
Guo Ziyi and Li Guangbi's counteroffensive went well, and with the help of the Uighur cavalry, the tide of battle quickly turned favorable for the Tang Dynasty.
However, in 757 AD, as Tang Suzong was eager to recapture the capital and concentrate his forces to recover Chang'an and Luoyang, Li Guangbi, who was already approaching the rebels' lair at that time, had to get involved.
At the same time, the Uighurs also took the opportunity to ask for exorbitant prices and plundered the city of Chang'an. As a result, the Tang army paid a huge price and recovered two empty cities, while hundreds of thousands of rebels fled back to their hometown in Hebei unharmed, and the threat of the Tang Dynasty still existed.
But in any case, the recovery of Chang'an was an important turning point in the Anshi Rebellion, after which the offensive and defensive forces changed positions, the Tang army began to seize the initiative, and the Tang Dynasty survived the most difficult moment.
In these difficult years, Li Mi was undoubtedly Tang Suzong's greatest spiritual backing. After helping Li Heng through the difficulties, he chose to retire again.
Due to the lessons of the Anshi Rebellion, eunuchs began to be reused, and later became a prison army, and Li Fuguo was Li Heng's most trusted eunuch at that time.
Li Mi is so highly regarded by Tang Suzong that he has already become a thorn in Li Fuguo's side, and Li Mi, who knows the sinister officialdom, did not accept any official position, but chose to accept it when he saw it.
At the end of 757 AD, Li Yu retired to Yanxia Peak in Nanyue, which was also his second retreat.
03 Three returns, a glorious curtain call
After Li Miyin's job was to continue his practice, he built a "Duanju Room", which was used not only for reading, but also for collecting books and lecturing, and this academy is also the earliest historical academy in China.
When he returned to the court for the third time, it was twelve years later, and the emperor was replaced by Li Heng's son, Li Yu. At that time, Li Yugang had just killed the authoritarian Li Fuguo, the Anshi Rebellion had not yet been suppressed, the eastern feudal towns were still in trouble, and the Uighurs and Tibetans in the northwest took the opportunity to cause rebellion, causing internal and external troubles, and the situation in the country was still worrisome.
In this situation, Li Yu invited back the person who had helped his father Li Heng in times of crisis, Li Mi. He awarded Li Mi Hanlin Shilang, and Li Mi did not fail in his mission, and after returning to Chang'an, he proposed fifteen measures to strengthen the defense of the border.
However, unfortunately, his talent aroused the jealousy of the then prime minister Yuan Zai, and in the name of emphasizing talents, Li Miwai was transferred to assassin history.
Li Mi understood his intentions, so he stayed away from the court for the third time.
Later, after Yuan Zai was executed, Li Mi returned to Beijing again, but was squeezed out by another prime minister, Chang Gon, and then stayed away from the capital with many rights and wrongs, and made a history of assassination in Hangzhou.
By the time he returned to Beijing for the fifth time, he had already reached the time of Tang Dezong.
During the reign of Dezong, there was a Jingyuan mutiny, Chang'an was occupied, Dezong fled, at the critical moment Li Yu went out of the mountain again, he recommended the famous general Li Sheng to Tang Dezong, and put forward the strategy of first north and then south, first smashed the rebel nest Jingyuan, and then recovered Chang'an.
This time, Dejong listened to his advice, and the rebellion was finally put down.
In 787 A.D., Li Mi served as the minister of Zhongshu Province, that is, the prime minister who held the power of the state.
Two years later, Li Mi died at the age of sixty-eight.
Throughout Li Mi's life, he always appeared at the most critical moment of the Tang Dynasty, and each time he retired. There have been such heroes and such feats in all dynasties, which are called "rebuilding Sheji" by historians, and Li Mi is such a minister of rebuilding Sheji.