China knows everything for 5000 years

Chapter 37

Since then, the two have become more affectionate and loving.One year, on the seventh day of July, this day is the day when Cowherd and Weaver Girl meet.In the evening, Li Longji and Yang Yuhuan came to the Hall of Eternal Life to enjoy the meeting of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl together.It was late at night, and the two of them looked at the bright galaxy in the night sky and the constellations of Cowherd and Vega gradually approaching on both sides of the Milky Way. They both knelt down on the ground unknowingly, and made an oath to the sky: "In the sky, I wish to be lovebirds, and in the earth May it be Lian Lizhi." This Qixi Festival oath is described emotionally in the poet Bai Juyi's "Song of Everlasting Sorrow".

In 755 AD, the Anshi Rebellion broke out.In the second year, Tongguan fell, and Li Longji fled to Sichuan.When fleeing to Maweipo, the troops mutinied and Yang Yuhuan was strangled to death.The love story between Li Longji and Yang Yuhuan has come to an end prematurely, and their lingering love after life and death has aroused endless imagination and reverie of literati and poets in the past dynasties.

●Li Linfu's mouth is sweet and his belly is sword
After Li Longji worked hard to govern, after being the Taiping Emperor for more than 20 years, he gradually developed a sense of pride and laziness, and began to pursue a life of pleasure.Seeing this situation, Prime Minister Zhang Jiuling was very anxious and often gave Li Longji advice.Li Longji respected Zhang Jiuling very much at first, but later, he couldn't listen to Zhang Jiuling's opinions.

Minister Li Linfu is ignorant and has learned a set of flattery and flattery skills.He colluded with the eunuchs and concubines in the palace to spy on the movement in the palace.He first found out what Li Longji said and thought in the palace.When Li Longji asked him to discuss something, he answered fluently.Li Longji felt that Li Linfu was capable and obedient, much better than Zhang Jiuling, so he made him prime minister.

After Li Linfu became prime minister, he tried every means to squeeze out all the ministers who were more capable than him.he
To exclude someone, treat each other with a smile on the surface, but stab someone in the back behind the scenes.Once, Li Longji looked through the curtain from the Qinzheng Building, and Lu Xuan, the Minister of the Ministry of War, rode downstairs on horseback.Li Longji saw Lu Xuan's good demeanor, so he casually praised him.The next day, Li Linfu demoted Lu Xuan to governor of Huazhou.

There was an official, Yan Tingzhi, who was squeezed out by Li Linfu to be the governor in other places.Later, Li Longji thought of him and said to Li Linfu, "Is Yan Tingzhi still there? This man is very talented and can be used." Li Linfu said, "Since Your Majesty misses him, I'll go and find out." After leaving the court, Li Linfu found Yan Tingzhi's younger brother and said, "Your brother really wants to go back to the capital to meet the emperor. I have a solution." Yan Tingzhi's younger brother was very grateful to see Li Linfu caring about his brother so much, and asked for advice on what to do. .Li Linfu said: "Ask your brother to present a memorial, saying that he is ill and asks to return to Beijing to see a doctor." Yan Tingzhi received a letter from his younger brother, and actually wrote a memorial, requesting to return to Beijing to see a doctor.Li Linfu went to see Li Longji with the memorial and said, "It's a pity that Yan Tingzhi is seriously ill now and can't do big things." Li Longji sighed regretfully, and let it go.

There are quite a few people who have been deceived like Yan Tingzhi.However, although Li Linfu dressed up very skillfully, his conspiracy was finally seen through by people.People say that Li Linfu has a "sweet mouth with a sword hidden in his belly", which is the origin of "honey mouth and sword".

Li Linfu served as prime minister for 19 years. All talented and upright ministers were rejected, and a large number of villains who were good at making money and flattering horses were promoted. The Tang Dynasty gradually turned from prosperity to decline.

●"Tea Saint" wrote "The Classic of Tea"

Lu Yu was born in the first year of Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty and was known as the "Tea Saint" or "Tea Immortal".Lu Yu's life was full of legends. He was originally an abandoned orphan. When he was 3 years old, he was picked up by the Zen master Zhiji, the abbot of Longgai Temple in Jingling, Fuzhou, on the bank of the local West Lake. He was named Lu Yu later.Lu Yu grew up in a monastery, so he had the opportunity to study Buddhist scriptures since he was a child, but he preferred Confucius and Mencius.Lu Yu is ugly, has a stutter but is very argumentative.Because he is eager to learn and his knowledge is becoming more and more profound, coupled with his humor and temperament, many high-ranking officials and scholars are willing to associate with him.

Since the beginning of the Tang Dynasty, tea drinking has become more and more popular in various places, but not all tea drinkers can appreciate the gist and fun of tea drinking.Therefore, Lu Yu decided to sum up his tea drinking practice and knowledge of tea science and write a monograph on tea science.In order to devote himself to research and writing, Lu Yu ended his wandering life for many years.After more than a year of hard work, he wrote the first monograph on tea science and the first draft of "The Classic of Tea" in the world. Lu Yu was 1 years old this year.Lu Yu talked a lot about the water used for making tea in "The Classic of Tea". Whether it is the source of water or the temperature and usage of water, it is regarded as the criterion for making tea by later generations.He chose water based on the criteria of "above the mountains and rivers, below the rivers, and below the wells".The tea culture in the Tang Dynasty also reached a new height, and the emperors, scholar-bureaucrats and literati all took tea drinking as a fashion.His "The Classic of Tea" is regarded as a classic of Chinese tea culture.With the development and dissemination of tea culture, Lu Yu's contribution is increasingly recognized by China and the world.

##No.18 after the bustling
An Lushan shamelessly pays homage to his mother

An Lushan is a descendant of the Turkic people in the Tang Dynasty. When he was young, he went to Youzhou Jiedushi Zhang Shougui as a soldier.In order to climb up, he resorted to rogue and desperate efforts, often riding a horse, together with a few companions, went to the Khitan, Xi and other ethnic minority tribes in the north, and used various deceitful methods to capture some people to repay his merits. Please reward.Sure enough, he was appreciated by Zhang Shougui, and he was awarded the title of "Catching Life".After An Lushan was promoted, he felt a little elated.Even in a battle, he did not obey the general's order and acted on his own, and he lost the battle.The border guards escorted him to the capital and handed him over to the court for punishment.At that time, it was the upright and promising Zhang Jiuling who was the prime minister. Zhang Jiuling enforced the law impartially and sentenced An Lushan to death.Li Longji heard that An Lushan was quite capable, so he ordered him to be released.Zhang Jiuling persuaded Li Longji, saying: "An Lushan violated the military order and lost troops and generals. According to the military law, he must be killed. Moreover, according to my observation, An Lushan is not a kind person. If he doesn't kill him, he may suffer endless troubles." But Li Longji did not listen to Zhang Jiuling's advice. , or pardoned An Lushan.From then on, An Lushan was promoted step by step, and became a military envoy of Pinglu a few years later.

An Lushan was very flattering and courteous to the ministers sent by the imperial court to inspect, and bribed them with a lot of gold, silver and jewels.After those ministers returned to the court, they all praised An Lushan in front of Li Longji.

Once, Li Longji summoned An Lushan, and the imperial concubine Yang Yuhuan and Yang Yuhuan's sisters Mrs. Han, Mrs. Guo, and Mrs. Qin were also present.An Lushan looks very fat, with a protruding belly and short stature.He pretended to be stupid, and Li Longji pointed at his belly and joked, "What's in such a big belly?" An Lushan replied without hesitation: "There is nothing else, only a sincere heart." Heart." Li Longji felt that An Lushan was really loyal to him, and he was even happier, so he gave him a big reward.Knowing that Li Longji loved Yang Yuhuan, An Lushan took the opportunity to ask Yang Yuhuan to be his godmother.Yang Yuhuan was a little embarrassed, he was not yet 30 years old, and An Lushan was already in his 40s, so how could he be called mother and son?But Li Longji felt that it was very fresh, and laughed and said: "Okay, the couplet will fulfill your wish, and you will worship the imperial concubine as your mother." The sisters of the Yang family also thought that An Lushan was cute and funny, so they cheered for fun.Yang Yuhuan saw that it was Li Longji's idea and that he was an elder, so he agreed.An Lushan was so flattered that he knelt down in front of Yang Yuhuan and said: "My minister An Lushan wishes my mother and concubine a long life and good health丨" and bowed three times.Sitting together with Yang Yuhuan, Li Longji said with a smile: "Lu Shan, you are out of manners. You should worship your father before you worship your mother." It is the custom of people to worship their mother first and then their father." Li Longji was very happy with what he said, so he recognized An Lushan as his godson, and immediately named him Fan Yang Jiedushi.Later, Li Longji asked An Lushan to serve as the Jiedu envoy of Pinglu and Hedong successively.Since then, An Lushan's power has been poured into the government and the people, and his desire has gradually expanded, which laid the root of the disaster for the subsequent Anshi Rebellion.

●An Lushan rebellion
After An Lushan shamelessly worshiped Yang Yuhuan as his godmother, Li Longji felt more and more that An Lushan was honest and cute, and An Lushan's thoughts were not in vain.In 750 A.D., Li Longji named An Lushan the king of Dongping County.This is the highest title granted to a Huren since the Tang Dynasty.Li Longji also ordered the construction of an extremely luxurious mansion in the capital for An Lushan. All the furnishing utensils were made of precious materials, and even the cooking utensils in the kitchen were made and decorated with gold and silver.

Li Longji used and trusted An Lushan so much that he even allowed An Lushan to come in and out of the inner palace at will, making him as affectionate as a family.An Lushan, on the other hand, had a clear understanding of the political corruption and military weakness of the Tang Dynasty through his appointments and various contacts in the court. His ambition to climb up gradually evolved into a sinister plan to raise troops to destroy the Tang Dynasty.

Therefore, An Lushan secretly began to make various preparations for the rebellion.He continued to expand his troops, and selected 8000 soldiers from various ethnic groups on the border, and gave them special training to form a "battalion of strong men" as the backbone of the rebellion.He promoted a group of generals such as Shi Siming and Cai Xide, and appointed Han scholars Gao Shang and Yan Zhuang as advisers, and asked them to work for him and give advice.He raised tens of thousands of war horses, collected and built a large number of weapons, bows and arrows, and replaced the Han generals who refused to accept his command with 32 confidants.All kinds of rebellion preparations are being carried out quietly, and as soon as Li Longji dies, he will rebel.

At this time, Li Linfu, the traitor, died.Yang Guozhong took over as prime minister. Yang Guozhong had no ability, and he only became prime minister because of Yang Yuhuan's favor.Therefore, An Lushan looked down on Yang Guozhong very much and did not buy his account.Yang Guozhong also couldn't understand An Lushan, and from time to time he spoke ill of him in front of Li Longji, and even said many times that An Lushan was going to join forces to rebel.However, Li Longji trusted An Lushan very much, he didn't believe Yang Guozhong's words at all, and even criticized Yang Guozhong.

In 755 AD, after 10 years of careful preparation, An Lushan decided to launch a rebellion.He forged a copy of Li Longji's imperial edict, and then summoned the soldiers and announced: "I received the emperor's secret order, asking me to immediately lead troops into Beijing to fight against Yang Guozhong." How dare you disobey!

The next day, An Lushan led Qiaowan's rebel army and set off from Fanyang.Since the Tianbao period, the rule of the Tang Dynasty has been rotten. The army has no combat preparations and lacks combat capabilities. In addition, that area is originally under the direct jurisdiction of Anlu Mountain. The imposing manner, the civil servants and generals along the road were all frightened and panicked. Some opened the city to meet the rebels, some abandoned the city and fled, and some sat and waited to be killed by the rebels.The rebels easily occupied a large area of ​​land in 24 counties north of the Yellow River with little resistance.

When news of the An Lushan rebellion reached Chang'an, Li Longji didn't believe it at first, thinking it was a rumor.Soon, the alarms of the rebels falling into the city were sent to him one after another, so he had to believe it.Li Longji summoned all the officials and ministers to discuss countermeasures. All civil and military officials in the court panicked and were too frightened to say anything. Only Yang Guozhong said complacently: "Well, I said that An Lushan was going to rebel. That's right. But, it doesn't matter, the emperor doesn't have to worry, An Lushan's soldiers will not go with him. I promise, within ten days, Anlushan's head will be beheaded and sent here." Li Seeing Yang Guozhong's words were so sure, Long Ji felt a little calmer.However, the rebels continued to march forward, and soon crossed the Yellow River and captured Luoyang.

An Lushan entered Luoyang City, and couldn't wait to proclaim himself "Emperor of Yan", with the reign title of Shengwu.At this time, it was only 3 months since Fan Yang raised his army.

●Maweiyi soldiers mutiny
After Tongguan was breached by Anlu Mountain, Chang'an lost its barrier, and the people panicked, packed their clothes and went out to flee.Li Longji was also afraid and anxious, so he quickly called the ministers to discuss countermeasures.Yang Guozhong put forward the idea of ​​"fleeing to Sichuan", and personally went to his three cousins ​​and asked them to enter the palace to persuade the emperor with his concubine Yang Yuhuan.Li Longquan finally couldn't stand their pestering, and agreed to flee to Sichuan.Yang Guozhong secretly summoned General Chen Xuanli to lead his army of 2500 people to escort him.Yang Guozhong rewarded the soldiers with a lot of property, and waited until dawn to quietly open the west gate of the palace.Apart from the noble concubine, South Korea, Maung Guo, Mrs. Qin Guo and Yang Guozhong and his wife, Li Longji was accompanied by only some princes, princesses, grandsons, concubines and trusted ministers.

On the third day, Li Longji and his party arrived at a place called Maweiyi in the evening.The post station officials and common people here also fled without a trace.Li Longji and others lived in the post house, and the accompanying officers and soldiers slept outside.The soldiers walked for a day, hungry and tired, and complained one by one. Even the general Chen Xuanli scolded Yang Guozhong as the culprit.At that time, several Tubo envoys were coming to Beijing on business. They met Yang Guozhong passing by here, and they talked outside the post house.A sergeant shouted deliberately: "Yang Guozhong is colluding with Tubo and intends to rebel!" The soldiers shouted in unison, and someone shot an arrow at Yang Guozhong.Several soldiers chased after him, hacked him to death with a knife, picked his head with the point of their guns, and walked out. The sergeants shouted hello.Some people went to kill Yang Guozhong's son and Mrs. Han and Mrs. Qin.The censor Wei Fangjin heard the commotion and walked out of the post house to stop it.The soldiers were so red-eyed that they chopped it down with their knives, and Wei Fangjin immediately fell into a pool of blood.

The soldiers were still angry, they surrounded the post house and shouted.Li Longji walked out with a cane and asked what happened.Chen Xuanli came over and said: "Yang Guozhong wanted to rebel, and the soldiers killed him. The noble concubine should not stay with you anymore, please bear the pain and cut off your love, and put her to death." Li Longji said: "The noble concubine lives in the harem, how does she know that Yang Guozhong Rebellion?" Gao Lishi said from the side: "Of course the noble concubine is not guilty. But now that Yang Guozhong is dead, but the noble concubine is still at His Majesty's side, can the soldiers rest assured? Your Majesty should think about it carefully." He quietly attached Said in Li Longji's ear: "Currently, only by quieting the soldiers can His Majesty be safe."

Amidst the shouts of the soldiers, Li Longji leaned against the door frame and thought: Is the imperial concubine really not at fault?As the emperor himself, isn't he responsible for what happened today?Only then did he know that people's grievances against the brothers and sisters of the Yang family are too deep. Today, although he is still an emperor, he is powerless... Li Longji no longer hesitated. It's up to you to do it! Just don't use a sword." Gao Lishi said: "This, the servant knows!" The noble concubine Yang Yuhuan was strangled to death in Mawei post by Gao Lishi with a ribbon, and died at the age of 38.

At this time, Yang Guozhong's wife, son, and Yang Yuhuan's other sister, Mrs. Prison, had already fled secretly.They fled to Chencang County, where they were arrested by the county magistrate and killed.

In this way, the mutiny in Maweiyi subsided.Li Longji reorganized his team and continued to flee to the southwest.Prince Li Heng led his entourage and fled to the northwest to Shuofang, where he took charge of the military.Later, when Li Heng came to the throne, he was Tang Suzong. He changed the year name to Zhide and respected Li Longji as the Supreme Emperor.

●Guo Ziyi put down the rebellion
After the outbreak of the Anshi Rebellion, Li Longji promoted Guo Ziyi to Wei Weiqing, who was also the prefect of Lingwu County, and served as Shuofang Jiedushi, ordering him to lead his army to fight against rebellion.In 756 A.D., Shuofang's military banner was successfully opened, and the important town of Yunzhong (now Datong, Shanxi) was regained in one fell swoop. The rebel Xue Zhongyi was defeated and 2000 cavalry were cheated.Then, Guo Ziyi sent his general Gongsun Qiongyan to attack Mayi (in today's Shanxi) with 2000 cavalry, and won a complete victory.The recovery of Mayi allowed Dongxing Pass to be reopened, which opened up the connection between the Shuofang Army and the Taiyuan Army, and prevented the military operations in Taiyuan, Renyongji, and Jiatiaoguan under Anlu Mountain, and thus Yan won the strategic initiative. .

The news of the success spread to Chang'an, the capital city, and the imperial court immediately ordered Guo Ziyi to return to Shuofang to replenish troops, and then attacked the rebels from the frontal battlefield in an attempt to recover Luoyang.Guo Ziyi believed that it was necessary to seize the counties in Hebei, cut off the connection between Luoyang and Fan Yang, the old nest of Anlu Mountain, and cut off the supply line in the rear, in order to effectively attack the vital forces of the rebel front.According to this strategy, Guo Ziyi assigned 1 soldiers to Li Guangbi, the Jiedu envoy of Hedong. Li Guangbi went out of Jingxingkou from Taiyuan, recovered 7 counties in a row, and went straight to Changshan (now Zhengding, Hebei).Upon hearing the news, Shi Siming led an army of 5 to surround Li Guangbi in Changshan from the west, and the two sides fought fiercely, which lasted for more than 40 days.Li Guangbi wasted a lot, outnumbered and forced to defend.Guo Ziyi hurriedly led his army eastward, rushed to help Changshan, joined Li Guangbi, and fought Shi Siming with 10 officers and soldiers in the south of Jiumen City (northwest of Gaocheng, Hebei today), and won a complete victory.

After that, Guo Ziyi took advantage of Shi Siming's eagerness to win, adopted the strategy of fighting first after exhaustion, and used 500 elite cavalry to cover each other, leading Shi Siming's rebels to march northward quickly.When Shi Siming was exhausted, Guo Ziyi took advantage of his exhaustion to return to the army to cover up the killing, defeated Shi Siming, and annihilated his 5 horses.

When An Lushan heard the news of the defeat, he was frightened and terrified, and hurriedly dispatched 2 troops from Luoyang to the north for reinforcements.He also dispatched more than 5 elite soldiers from Fan Yang's lair, and ordered Niu Tingjue to go south to help in the battle, and gathered [-] rebels to prepare for a comeback.Guo Ziyi was stationed in Hengyang (now Quyang, Hebei Province) at this time. He saw that the rebel soldiers were very sharp and their strength increased greatly. He wanted to fight a decisive battle, but he still implemented the tactics of exhausting the enemy. Said: "The bandit army is powerful. Our army should guard when the bandit comes, and pursue the bandit when it goes away. Only by raising the army in the daytime and attacking the curtain at night can we win."

(End of this chapter)