In 755, the Tang Dynasty's Jiedu made An Lushan and Shi Siming raise troops to attack Chang'an, and Tang Xuanzong fled to Sichuan overnight with Yang Guifei and officials of all sizes, which was the famous Anshi Rebellion. We all know that the Anshi Rebellion marked the end of the Tang Dynasty, so there are many people who believe that the Anshi Rebellion was the direct cause of the end of the Tang Dynasty, is this really the case?
Anshi Rebellion
In fact, before the Anshi Rebellion, the prosperity of the Tang Dynasty was no longer good, and the most typical manifestation was that Tang Xuanzong himself, as well as the court of the Tang Dynasty, had completely lost control of the situation of the grassroots people. According to the record of "Zizhi Tongjian", in the autumn of the thirteenth year of Tianbao, there was a large-scale rainstorm in the Guanzhong Plain, "Chang'an rained for more than 60 days, the farmland was flooded and the houses were destroyed, and it was a great hunger in Guanzhong"
At this time, there was no internal strife in Datang, there were no external enemies, and the government and the opposition were peaceful. If the government wants to provide disaster relief, it will quickly solve the problem, but Yang Guozhong, the prime minister at that time, not only concealed the disaster, but also did not know where to get a large and beautiful ear of wheat to present to Tang Xuanzong. He also told Tang Xuanzong that although the rain fell heavily, it did not harm the people and farming
This ear of wheat is proof that Tang Xuanzong continued to play music and dance as soon as he heard it. A few days later, the Taishou of Fufu County reported to the imperial court and pointed out the local disaster. But before this report reached the hands of Tang Xuanzong, it was pressed by Yang Guozhong, and from this time on, no one in the entire Tang Dynasty mentioned the flood to the court and the emperor
Yang Guifei and Tang Xuanzong in film and television dramas
Imagination of the Tang Dynasty
Don't say this or that, Tang Xuanzong thought that the prosperity was still going on, and it was not until the outbreak of the Anshi Rebellion in the second year that the true situation of society was presented to Tang Xuanzong. And this flood is a manifestation after the end of the Tang Dynasty. As for the reason for the end of the prosperous era, it has to start from when Tang Xuanzong had just ascended the throne
At that time, he personally inspected the ministers at the county level across the country, with the aim of firmly grasping the local situation and then solving the problem according to the actual situation. This kind of uninterrupted information exchange between the top and bottom is the foundation for the creation of the prosperous era of Kaiyuan. Because the Tang Empire was a typical centralized state, all the operation of the state was based on the steady operation of the bureaucratic system
Under the emperor's autocracy, whether all this can run normally depends on whether the emperor himself can be diligent and energetic. Tang Xuanzong worked hard in the early days of his succession, so in the early days of his reign, the Tang Dynasty was able to reach its peak, but with the gradual aging of Tang Xuanzong himself, both energy and enterprising consciousness were declining
Territory of the Tang Dynasty
In the film and television drama, Xuanzong escaped from Chang'an in the Anshi Rebellion
When Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty lost his awareness of grassroots management, the entire imperial court was seriously detached from the grassroots level, and the bureaucratic system of the Tang Dynasty became a tool for the elite class headed by Yang Guozhong to maintain power. In the end, in the rebellion initiated by An Lushan and Shi Siming, the coat of Shengshi was shattered, and Datang fell into the abyss