There was such a person in history, he was cut off by An Lushan's tongue and his hands, which was not enough, An Lushan still wanted to eat his flesh.
"What is the matter with the Shepherd of The State of Ruying, stealing the grace of the Lotus, and the Son of Heaven is responsible for Ru, but is the opposite?"
- New Book of Tang, Vol. 192, Liechuan 117
The person mentioned above is Yan Gaoqing.
Fei County, Linyi City - Tang Zhongjie Gongyan Gaoqing statue
On December 16, 755, An Lushan rebelled at Fanyang. As the envoy of Fanyang, Pinglu, and Hedong, he quickly gathered 150,000 people and began to attack the city and plunder the land.
Since ancient times, rebellions have to be named after a head, and An Lushan is no exception, he attacked the Tang Dynasty army, the so-called official army, on the grounds of "worrying about the danger of the country" and following secret edicts to attack Yang Guozhong.
At this time in the Tang Dynasty, under the prosperity brought by the prosperous era of the Kaiyuan Dynasty, the officers and soldiers had long been accustomed to the life of letting go of The South Mountain and singing and dancing, who would have thought that there would be such a thing as a war. The officers and soldiers were not mentally prepared from top to bottom.
Schematic diagram of the Anshi Rebellion
An Lushan rebelled, and the first thing on the side of the officers and soldiers was Hebei. Yan Gaoqing was originally a subordinate of An Lushan, responsible for guarding Changshan. After An Lushan raised an army, he did not want to be with the rebels, stuck to the city, and refused to surrender.
Responsible for attacking Changshan was the rebel Shi Simingbu, who could not capture Changshan for a long time, and by chance captured Yan Gaoqing's son Yan Jiming, threatening his son's life and causing him to surrender.
As the saying goes, his son Yan Jiming is also a character who can sing and cry.
Part of the Manuscript of the Sacrifice of the Nephew
After the Outbreak of the Anshi Rebellion, Yan Jiming had been wandering between Changshan and Taiyuan, passing on information to the officers and soldiers. However, unexpectedly, it fell into the hands of Shi Siming and became a weight to threaten Yan Gaoqing. However, Yan Gaoqing, who preferred to die unyieldingly, preferred to give up his son's life and be loyal to the Tang Dynasty. In the end, both father and son were martyred.
Yan Gaoqing had a younger brother, the famous calligrapher Yan Zhenqing, and Yan Jiming was Yan Zhenqing's nephew. After Yan Jiming's death, Yan Zhenqing wrote a manuscript in honor of his nephew, which is the famous post "Sacrifice nephew manuscript" that has been handed down to this day.
Map of the Tang Dynasty territory before the Anshi Rebellion
It was originally used to commemorate his nephew. However, if you are not careful, it has become the second classic in the history of Chinese calligraphy in addition to the Orchid Pavilion Sequence.
Then again. Hebei is already under fire, but Chang'an is still singing and dancing. Unfortunately, after An Lushan rebelled, the news reached Chang'an, and Tang Xuanzong thought it was a joke.
Most of the Hebei officers and troops were vulnerable and soon fell. After taking Hebei, An Lushan's next target was Luoyang, which made the people of Chang'an begin to fear. However, within the officers and soldiers, not everyone was afraid of the rebels, and after Yan Gaoqing's death, Yan Zhenqing did not lose his fighting spirit and continued to fight against the rebels.
Anrokuyama Images
Yan Zhenqing, 46, led 200,000 soldiers and horses to fight against An Lushan and other rebels. Coupled with the efforts of other officers and soldiers, the Anshi Rebellion was quelled in 763.
However, no one expected that 28 years later, the 74-year-old Yan Zhenqing accepted a task from the imperial court.
After the Anshi Rebellion was put down, some of the meritorious men supported themselves. By quelling the rebellion of An Lushan, they took the opportunity to expand their power and gradually grew into new warlords.
Li Xilie (c. 750 –786)
Among these new warlords, Li Xilie of Xuchang, Henan, was the most powerful. He cooperated with another warlord and prepared to claim the throne. At this time, after experiencing the Anshi Rebellion, the Tang Dynasty had been seriously injured and had no strength to suppress it by force.
The imperial court has no strength, and it can't fight, so let's talk, talk is OK, then who will talk about it? Finally, the emperor thought of Yan Zhenqing.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="23" > so why is it the 74-year-old Yan Zhenqing? </h1>
Yan Zhenqing (709 – 23 August 784)
First, Yan Zhenqing has done a great job
The reason why Li Xilie was so arrogant was because he felt that he had made a contribution to putting down the rebellion against An Lushan. However, in terms of military merit, Yan Zhenqing's military merit in suppressing the rebellion against An Shi was above Li Xilie's, and he was fully qualified to criticize him.
Second, Yan Zhenqing is famous
Yan Zhenqing is 74 years old and is a cultural celebrity respected by the whole country. Out of fame, Li Xilie could not treat him like that.
Those who support Yan Zhenqing probably think the same way, but there are also voices of opposition, and there are also 2 reasons.
First of all, Chang'an to Xuchang, the road is long, Yan Zhenqing, Gao Lin is afraid, he can't afford toss; secondly, if Li Xilie kills Yan Zhenqing, it will be a big loss for the imperial court. In this way, the emperor, as the decision-maker, hesitated.
However, Yan Zhenqing himself felt that as an official of the imperial court, he should be obliged, and he still went to the tiger's den.
All the way to Xuchang Yan Zhenqing naturally persuaded Li Xilie to give up the rebellion. To Yan Zhenqing, Li Xilie first intimidated, followed by inducement. He brazenly said to Yan Zhenqing, don't you leave, I became the emperor, you came to be my prime minister.
Yan Zhenqing naturally did not agree. An enraged Li Xilie ordered him to burn to death, and Yan Zhenqing was awe-struck and jumped into the fire himself, but was pulled out by Li Xilie's men.
Yan Zhenqing's calligraphy "Self-written Confession"
Later, Li Xilie had no way to lock Yan Zhenqing in a broken temple, which was considered to be detained. This level is two years.
In these two years, yan Zhenqing would continue to persuade Li Xilie to give up the rebellion as long as he had the opportunity. But Li Xilie was still very patient with Yan Zhenqing, you said yours, I will continue to mine. Yan Zhenqing had not been touched in two years. But in the end something went wrong.
After Yan Zhenqing was detained, the imperial court felt that persuasion had little effect and launched a military crackdown. Once, during a battle with the rebels, the officers killed Li Xilie's younger brother, and Li Xilie became angry and killed Yan Zhenqing in order to avenge his brother's personal anger.
He was 76 years old.
Yan Zhenqing
Since ancient times, the literati have hard bones, integrity, and patriotic hearts. Yan Zhenqing was a man of letters, but he shouldered the heavy responsibility of defending his family and defending the country, and his family paid for more than thirty lives.
Historically, one of the literati, Lu You and One Yan Zhenqing, had both talent and patriotic heart of Ma Ge's shrouded corpse, and in any era, we can't help but admire these people in our hearts, and patriots always love them.