At this time, Gaozu Li Yuan was leisurely rowing a boat by the sea pool. Wei Chi Jingde was wearing armor and holding Changyu in his hand, and suddenly appeared in front of Li Yuan. The Zizhi Tongjian records Li Yuan's reaction in this way. "He was shocked and asked, 'Who is the evil one of today's troublemakers?' Why are you here? Wei Chi Jingde replied: "The king of Qin rebelled with the crown prince and the king of Qi, raised troops to punish him, fearing that he would alarm His Majesty and send his ministers to guard. ”

Only when the other party is in turmoil can the legitimacy of one's actions be proved.

Princess Taiping is likely to have been "rebelled". Princess Taiping often summoned Dou Huaizhen, Xiao Zhizhong, Cen Xi, Cui Xiang, Lu Xiangxian and others to discuss the government. During the conversation, Princess Taiping couldn't help but express her dissatisfaction with Xuanzong, and Lu Xiangxian, who was deeply influenced by Confucianism, naturally thought that it was inappropriate to discuss the government in vain, so he angered Princess Taiping. The two drifted apart because of political differences. These discontented remarks are likely to be portrayed by later generations as a conspiracy to depose the emperor.

"Information Governance? Two hundred and ten volumes? Tang Ji Twenty-six" recorded: "At that time, (the prime minister) was the party of the princess of Taiping, Liu Youqiu and the right Yulin general Zhang Mou punished him with Yulin soldiers, so that the secret words were on the top and said: 'Dou Huaizhen, Cui Xiang, and Cen Xi are all because of the princess, and it is not easy to plan day and night.

If you don't plan early, once the incident starts, how can the emperor be safe! Please punish him quickly. The minister has made a plan with You, but it is His Majesty's order. ’

Shang (i.e., Tang Xuanzong) thought so. Leaking his plot to serve the imperial Shi Deng Guangbin, he was terrified, and he was listed in his state. ”

It can be seen that Tang Xuanzong had already had a plan to eradicate Princess Taiping's party, but he was forced to terminate it because of the leakage of the matter. Regardless of whether Princess Taiping rebelled or not, Tang Xuanzong would always eradicate her.

Most of the prime ministers of the dynasty are the same party of Princess Taiping, so as long as Princess Taiping is there. Then Tang Xuanzong will be greatly constrained when he governs, and he will always feel uneasy and panicked.

Tang Xuanzong's special summons to Cui Xiang was to get him to confess to participating in the rebellion planned by Princess Taiping. If Cui Xiang agrees. The informant recorded in the history books will not be Wei Zhigu, but Cui Xiang. Given the special relationship between Cui Xiang and Princess Taiping, this shocking lie made up by Tang Xuanzong will become seamless. And Cui Xiang apparently refused.

Of the five prime ministers from Princess Taiping, three of them were in different places, and the two surviving were demoted or exiled. Lu Xiang was first demoted to the governor of Yizhou. Cui Xiang was exiled to Lingnan. Cui Xiang and Lu Zangyong, the right of the original Shangshu, traveled together to the distant Lingnan.

After investigation by the judicial department, Gongren Yuan confessed that Princess Taiping and her party instructed her to poison the gastrodia powder that she gave to Emperor Xuanzong, and Cui Xiang was also involved. Whether Cui Xiang was involved in poisoning is full of doubts. "New Tang Dynasty Book" and "Zizhi Tongjian" have a positive attitude towards Cui Xiang's participation in the planning of poisoning. The "Old Tang Book" recorded: "At the beginning, there was a gap between Xiang and Zhang, and when (Zhang) said it, it was a Zhongshu order, and the speaker thought that (Zhang) said that it was framed. "It may not be Zhang Shuo who really needs Cui Xiang to die, but Tang Xuanzong, because Cui Xiang knows too much!

On the way to exile. Cui Xiang said to Lu Zangyong: "My brother is thanks to Emperor Long'en, and maybe he can be forgiven in the future." "The brother Cui Xiang refers to is Cui Cheng. Cui Cheng's original name was Cui Di. Cui Cheng's name was given to him by Tang Xuanzong Li Longji. Cui Cheng is smart, witty, humorous, and good at debating. When Li Longji was the king, Cui Cheng's home was close to his mansion, so the two were very close. When Li Longji served as the assassin of Luzhou, the guests who served him were all sent to the gate of Chang'an and stopped, but Cui Cheng was the only one who sent him to Huazhou, which shows the deep friendship between the two.

During his exile, Cui Xiang has been slow to move. For he eagerly awaited the edict of pardon. This undoubtedly confirms from the side that Cui Xiang did not participate in the rebellion, otherwise how could a rebellious person who narrowly escaped death have the luxury of being pardoned?

Cui Xiang had a strange dream when he traveled to Jingzhou. He dreamed that he was looking in a mirror in the lecture hall and said to the mirror: "I should see the image of the mirror, and let it be seen by the Lord of men." Cui Xiang told the dream teller Zhang You about this dream. Zhang You said with a sad face: "The lecture hall is a place to receive the law. And the mirror word is 'Immediate Jin'. This is not a good sign! On the same day, an envoy sent by the imperial court arrived. What Cui Xiang was waiting for was not an edict of pardon, but an edict of death. Cui Xiang, who was only forty-three years old, hanged himself in the post station.

The death of Princess Taiping, a generation of strongmen, marked the end of the "red makeup era" of the Tang Dynasty. Tang Xuanzong made the Tang Dynasty get out of the strange circle of "women in politics". It reversed the turbulent political situation since the Taizong Dynasty and created a period of grand events.

Princess Taiping became a sacrifice for Tang Xuanzong's path to power. History is brutal. History is always written by the winners, because the losers have no voice. The historical image of Princess Taiping can only be depicted by the victor Tang Xuanzong. History is unforgiving. For thousands of years. Countless people with lofty ideals are eager to leave a name in history, but the vast majority of them come in obscurity, go quietly, wave their sleeves, and leave no words. After a lifetime of struggle and unremitting pursuit, a very small number of lucky people have only left a few strokes in the history books. Princess Taiping, a generation of political strongmen, did not even leave her own name.

History, history, "leads countless heroes to bend their waists", leads countless people with lofty ideals to hurt their heads, and leads countless people to lament. History books have always been written by the victors. Princess Taiping, who was given death, naturally lost her right to speak.

Through the above table, we can find that there is a huge difference in the per capita clothing value of the major military regions. Although there are slight differences in the implementation standards of military spending in various parts of the empire, there is a relatively unified standard, that is, "subject to the long-term purpose" repeatedly mentioned in the history books, but the per capita clothing value of Fanyang is significantly lower than that of other military regions.

This illustrates a little-known but extremely important issue, that is, Fanyang Town's self-raised military spending accounts for a large proportion of the entire military expenditure, and its dependence on central funding is limited. The self-raised military expenditure mainly came from the income from the camp and land rent, and An Lushan had complete freedom to dispose of this huge income, so Fan Yang's troops could still survive without the financial support of the central government.

This is closely related to the level of local economic development. During the Tianbao period, the number of households in Hebei Province accounted for 16.57% of the total number of households in the country, and the population accounted for 20.09% of the total population of the country, ranking first among the fifteen provinces of the entire empire.

Although the Tang Dynasty did not yet have GDP statistics, the level of local economic development was generally measured by population in ancient times, because labor-intensive industries occupied an absolute dominant position in the imperial economic system. The total economic volume of Hebei Province must be among the best in the entire Tang Empire!

An Lushan obviously has the strength to start a rebellion, but will he really take a risk?

Fueled by the two Han people, An Lushan finally went to the point of no return for rebellion. One is the noble secretary. Responsible for "Pawn Notes", the duties are equivalent to those of a confidential secretary. One is that Confucius is solemn. Responsible for the "bookkeeper", the duties are equivalent to the office director.

The term of office of the festival is generally four years. Moreover, many festivals are transferred before the expiration of the term. The "immediate" did not give him enough time to cultivate a military force loyal to his own people. In the later period of Li Longji's administration, due to the needs of military struggle, there was a situation in which the temperance and degree were not changed for a long time. An Lushan served as the envoy of the Pinglu Festival for 14 years.

Single-mindedness and non-integration made it impossible for the Jiedu to cultivate a military force to confront the imperial court. In order to facilitate coordinated operations, Li Longji broke the principle of non-conjugation. Wang Zhongsi even once concurrently commanded the four festivals of Longyou, Hexi, Shuofang, and Hedong. Despite this, the number of Jiedu envoys who merge two towns and above accounts for only one-ninth of the total number of Jiedu envoys, and the time for merger is generally less than three years. Only An Lushan concurrently served as the envoy of the two towns of Pinglu and Fanyang for 12 years, and concurrently served as the envoy of the three towns of Pinglu and Fanyang for four years.

The reason why Li Longji broke the long-formed principle of employing people for An Lushan was because he was deceived by An Lushan's false loyalty.

The long-term understanding of "Fanshang" has been influenced by the New Tang Dynasty Book. The influence of "Bingzhi": "The one who is above is just a guard of the Beijing Division." "A group of remnants unearthed from the tomb of Munar No. 102 in Turpan clearly recorded: "On the first day of this month, it is matched with the west gate of the city"

In fact, the military duty tasks included in the regular plan of the Ministry of War can be called "Fanshang", and not all government soldiers go to the capital to serve regardless of distance or distance. Only the soldiers from the vicinity of Chang'an went to the capital and obeyed the dispatch of the 12 guards of the central military organ.

In its heyday, there were 633 (634) Zhichong Prefectures in the Tang Dynasty, and there were 288 in Guannei Province, where the capital was located. It accounts for 43.9% of the total number of military governments in the country.

Military service is compulsory for men of appropriate age. Military service is not only a time and physical effort, but also an economic burden. When government soldiers travel from their hometowns to their places of service, they not only have to bring their own basic weapons, but they also do not have travel allowances and generally do not reimburse travel expenses.

With the intensification of land annexation, the land in the hands of the peasants was gradually concentrated in the hands of powerful landlords. Families who could no longer afford the heavy military service fled. The soldiers of Zhichong Mansion are gradually depleted, so the once glorious Twelve Guards of Nanya are no longer glorious.

While the military system was gradually declining, the military struggle in the frontier was becoming increasingly fierce. In order to stabilize the situation in the border areas, professional conscription gradually replaced government soldiers as the main body of the border guards. However, the capital and the interior did not quickly fill the military vacuum left by the decline of the government's army.

The vast number of inland counties and counties have regular troops stationed only in important areas, while many more counties do not have regular troops stationed in them, and only have a certain number of county soldiers, mainly regimental training. Similar to today's reserve forces.

The military pattern of the Tang Empire gradually changed from "heavy on the inside and light on the outside" to "heavy on the outside and light on the inside". The most elite troops of the empire were basically concentrated in the hands of the frontier jiedu envoys.

In An Lushan's eyes, in addition to participating in the coup, the Beiya Forbidden Army, which has no actual combat experience, is just a few people who show off their legs; The declining Nanya Forbidden Army is no longer what it used to be; Those regimental soldiers who could only defend the city were even more of a rabble.

The most important reason why An Lushan took the risk of rebellion was because he thought about his future livelihood and even survival.

Although his words of "I only know that there is an emperor but I don't know that there is a prince", he won Li Longji's trust and Li Linfu's appreciation. But he deeply offended the prince.

Once the elderly Li Longji dies, he is likely to become a political victim of power change.

Although An Lushan's heart hides the idea of rebellion. However, An Lushan, who had a clear conscience, originally wanted to launch a rebellion after Li Longji's death.

It is difficult to tell exactly when An Lushan began to rebel, but one of his actions is enough to prove that his already restless heart began to be restless. That is, he let his henchman Liu Luogu stay in Beijing for a long time to spy on all kinds of information of the imperial court.

If An Lushan only had restless thoughts at this time, still entangled in the difficult choice of betrayal and loyalty, but the next series of events made him go further and further on the road of rebellion, until he could not turn back.

The ten years of Tianbao are undoubtedly the most critical year in An Lushan's life. From this year onwards, rebellion ceased to be an idea for him, but began to be put into action in a low-key manner. The reason why he is low-key is because the person he fears the most, Li Linfu, is still alive!

In February of the tenth year of Tianbao (751 AD), An Lushan's request to serve as the envoy of Hedong Jiedu was finally approved by Li Longji, and from then on, nearly 200,000 elite soldiers in the three towns of Pinglu, Fanyang and Hedong were all under the control of An Lushan.

An Lushan, who is also the envoy of the Three Towns, could not stay in Hedong for a long time, so he needed someone to help him control the power of Hedong Town, and finally chose Jiwen.

Ji Wen is a master of political speculation who is good at seeing the wind and steering the rudder, so he has been wandering between the three forces of Li Linfu, Yang Guozhong, and An Lushan.

Ji Wen once adhered to Li Linfu's will to brutally suppress the crown prince, and also hinted that it was time for Yang Guozhong to seize power from Li Linfu.

Although he was already a mid-level official in the Empire, he still felt that he was too slow to rise through the ranks, so he had to find someone who could help him quickly achieve his political ideals. This person has finally been found, then what he has to do is to get this person's favor.

The relationship between Ji Wen, who is good at leading the alliance, and An Lushan quickly warmed up, and finally became brothers, so Ji Wen finally said the words hidden in his heart.

"Although Li Youcheng is relatively good to Brother An, he will definitely not recommend you to be the prime minister. I can help you fulfill this unfulfilled wish. If Brother An recommends me to the Holy One, once I have the opportunity to speak in front of the Holy One. I will definitely spare no effort to play Brother An in front of the Holy One, and I am worthy of a great responsibility. Let's join forces to exclude Li Linfu from the ranks of prime ministers, and the position of prime minister is none other than Brother An! ”

Since this conversation, Jiwen has begun to put all his political weight on An Lushan.

Under the recommendation of An Lushan, Ji Wen served as the deputy envoy of Hedong Jiedu and the governor of the post, and Zhang Tongru served as the judge of the retainer.

Giwin couldn't help but be overjoyed when he received the letter of appointment, because a golden strip had been paved under his feet, but he was too soon to be happy!

There is a detail in the edict appointing An Lushan as the envoy of the Hedong Jiedu that has not been noticed. We can vaguely see Li Longji's political wisdom from this detail. (To be continued......)