At this time, An Lushan didn't have time to think about this, because he knew that the promotion of the Hu generals was destined to be bumpy.

In the early Tang Dynasty, even Hu generals with outstanding achievements like Ashina Sheer and Qibi He Li were still restrained by important Han ministers.

From the beginning of the Wu Zetian period, the Jiedu envoy with outstanding political achievements was often promoted to the prime minister, called "going out and entering the prime minister". Zhang Jiazhen, Zhang Shuo, Xiao Hao, Du Xian and others all made this springboard the prime minister through the guò festival.

Despite this, most of the Jiedu envoys who were able to have the opportunity to serve as prime ministers were airborne cadres with experience working in the central government. The festival of being really promoted from the grassroots level makes the chances of becoming prime minister very small.

The "Exit and Exit" inspired many central officials to work in the difficult conditions of the empire's frontiers. This effectively solves the situation of relative shortage of talents in the border areas. After returning to Beijing, these officials with experience in the frontier will be more in line with the actual situation in the frontier when formulating policies and making decisions on government affairs. The rational movement of officials between the central and local governments allowed the empire to better cope with the increasingly complex political and military formations of the frontier.

Any policy is a double-edged sword. "Out of phase" also inevitably has a negative effect.

Many of the imperial court's airborne envoys were originally civil officials, who did not understand the form of military struggles in the frontier and lacked military command skills. "A layman commanding a layman" will definitely affect the combat capability of the troops. Many central officials went to the frontier to serve only for the purpose of "gilding the gold," and they had no intention of making meritorious contributions in the frontier at all.

Since important official positions were held by officials "airborne" in the imperial court, the promotion path of the majority of middle- and lower-level officers, especially the Hu generals from humble backgrounds, was blocked by Yan zhòng!

A proposal by one person made the promotion of the Hu generals suddenly clear. This person is Li Linfu!

Li Linfu, who knew that power was not easy to come by, felt that the strict system of "going out and entering the prime minister" threatened his political status.

Maybe one day a certain talented Jiedu envoy will be appreciated by Li Longji and become the prime minister, and then take his place.

In order to eliminate the potential threat invisible, Li Linfu boldly promoted the Hu generals to the Han generals to Li Longji.

There are two main reasons for this. One is a nomadic Hu general, who is more brave and good at fighting. The second is that most of the Hu generals are from humble backgrounds, which is convenient for the imperial court to control.

Li Linfu's true thought in his heart was that the chances of these Hu generals becoming prime ministers were very small. On the one hand, it is because of the Han monarch's instinctive contempt and rejection of the Hu people, and on the other hand, because the general level of education of the Hu generals is not high and they do not have the ability to govern.

This policy proposed by Li Linfu was approved by Li Longji. The once popular "general and phase" suddenly disappeared during the Tianbao years.

Due to the sharp shrinkage of the number of central airborne cadres, a large number of Hu generals were able to stand out and usher in a golden period that was once in a lifetime.

So much so that on the eve of the outbreak of the Anshi Rebellion, among the ten major military regions of the empire, six of them were commanded by Hu generals, and the most elite troops of the empire were basically subordinate to these six military regions.

Just when An Lushan was looking forward to his bright future, his benefactor and old leader Zhang Shouqi suddenly had an accident!

Zhang Shouqi has made an indelible contribution to stabilizing the situation in the northeastern borderlands. The Tang Empire gradually shifted from defensive to offensive in the military struggle against the Khitan and Xi people, but the ensuing military victories made the generals under Zhang Shouqi increasingly arrogant.

Many generals forgot their own mission and responsibilities and spent their days thinking about how to reap the benefits of the war. War is no longer a means to achieve peace, but has become a weight for generals to increase their ranks.

In the twenty-sixth year of Kaiyuan (738 AD), Zhang Shouqi defeated the rest of the Khitan in Lushan. Once the feelings of victory spread among the Tang army, many people were doomed to pay a heavy price for it.

Zhang Shouqi's subordinate general Bai Zhendra falsely passed on Zhang Shouqi's orders and forced the Pinglu army to lead Wu Zhiyi to lead his elite cavalry across the Huangshui (present-day Xilamulun River in Inner Mongolia) to attack the Xi tribe.

Wu Zhiyi, who was sober-minded, felt that the teacher was unknown, so he excused himself.

Bai Zhendra still did not give up, and pretended to use the emperor's edict to coerce Wu Zhiyi to send troops, and the military order of the Jiedu envoy could be resigned, but the emperor's edict was difficult to disobey.

Wu Zhiyi had no choice but to attack. The Xi were easily defeated by Wu Zhiyi because they were unprepared, but the fierce Xi soldiers quickly organized an effective counterattack and turned defeat into victory.

After the war, Zhang Shouqi deliberately concealed the fact of defeat, and instead reported the victory to the imperial court, but this incident quickly aroused Li Longji's suspicions, so he sent his cronies and eunuch Niu Xiantong to investigate.

Zhang Shouqi launched a money offensive against Niu Xiantong. Eunuchs generally came from poor backgrounds, so the vast majority of eunuchs had an unusual greed for money. They will take advantage of the rare opportunity to accumulate wealth for the rest of their lives.

Zhang Shouqi forced Bai Zhendra to commit suicide and put all the blame on Bai Zhendra.

After Niu Xiantong returned to Beijing, he tried his best to cover up for Zhang Shouqi, so Li Longji no longer pursued the matter.

Just when this matter was gradually forgotten, Niu Xiantong's bribery crime was exposed.

Annoyed and angry, Li Longji handed over Niu Xiantong to the eunuch Yang Siqiao for punishment. Yang Siqiao and Gao Lishi are Li Longji's most trusted eunuchs. Yang Siqiao can be called the "first fierce general" among the eunuchs. Yang Siqiao did not serve by Li Longji's side most of the time, but led the troops to fight outside all the year round, so he also made great achievements.

Where there is a rebellion, there is Yang Siqiao!

Yang Sixuan's coldness and cruelty were outrageous, because of the mutilation of his body, Yan Zòng distorted his mind.

Whenever the captives were captured, Yang would peel off their faces, smash their skulls until their brains burst, and then show their hairy faces to his soldiers with great interest. The soldiers were all too frightened to look at them.

Yang Siqiao tied Niu Xiantong to a shelf, beat him with a rod until his skin was open, and he couldn't bear to gamble, and then dug out his heart and liver, cut off his hands and feet, and cut off the flesh on his body one by one.

Yang Siqiao actually cruelly ate the meat on his body, the history books do not record the specific way to eat, if it is eaten on grill, it is the barbecue of the Tang Dynasty; If it is boiled and eaten, it is boiled meat in the Tang Dynasty; If it is eaten raw, it is sushi from the Tang Dynasty.

Thinking of his previous exploits, Li Longji only dismissed Zhang Shouqi from his post as the envoy of the Youzhou Festival and demoted him to the assassin of Kuozhou (now Lishui, Zhejiang).

Depressed to the extreme, Zhang Shouqi went to the distant and desolate state of Kuzhou to take up his post. Soon after his arrival, a generation of famous generals Zhang Shouqi died of depression.

After Zhang Shouqi, who had been guarding Youzhou for seven years, resigned, Li Shizhi, Wang Husi, and Pei Kuan seemed to be appointed as envoys of Youzhou.

The fledgling An Lushan can still fly freely without the care of his father-in-law Zhang Shouqi. He then created the myth of the promotion of generals in peacetime, and staged an enviable "An Lushan Promotion Story"

The new favorite of the rising government

In the twenty-eighth year of Kaiyuan (740 AD), An Lushan, who had come from scratch, was promoted to the rank of Pinglu soldier and horse envoy after four years of hard work, and once again entered the ranks of senior generals of the empire.

In order to better understand the new position held by An Lushan, it is necessary to have some understanding of the difference between the town and the army.

The defense area of the Jiedu envoy is called "town". The town roughly corresponded to today's Grand Military District. The town has jurisdiction over two types of military units, one is the combat unit, the large one is called the "army", and the small one is called the "guard". One is the garrison unit such as the Andong Metropolitan Protectorate, similar to today's garrison or garrison area.

At this time, "Pinglu" was not a large military region alongside the Youzhou Military Region, but the Pinglu Army of the Ten Armies under the jurisdiction of the Youzhou Military Region.

There are soldiers and horses in the army, and there are also soldiers and horses in the town. An Lushan's soldier and horse envoy of the Pinglu Army is the soldier and horse envoy in the army, second only to the Pinglu military envoy and deputy envoy (not permanent), similar to the chief of staff of the group army.

If the distinction between a town and an army is confused, the chief of staff of the group army will be confused with the chief of staff of the large military district.

On the ninth day of March of the second year, An Lushan was awarded special advancement.

The official system of the Tang Dynasty was quite complex, divided into ministerial officials, civil and military officials, and military officials, in addition to hereditary titles.

A ministry officer is a job that is awarded according to merit, such as Minister of Defence, Secretary for Taxation, etc.

The clerk is an administrative level, such as the ministerial level, the deputy ministerial level, etc.

A military officer is a military rank, such as general, lieutenant general, major general, etc. Civil and military officers are awarded according to their qualifications.

Honorary titles are similar to honorary titles and are awarded according to merit.

Tejin is a literary officer of the second grade. Although the loose officials do not have real power, they represent the grade.

An Lushan, who was born from a humble background, has since stepped into the ranks of second-grade officials, but An Lushan has not stopped moving forward.

People with well-developed limbs tend to be simple-minded, while An Lushan has well-developed limbs and a more developed mind.

An Lushan knows that he must not only bow his head to pull the car, but also look up at the road, and be good at shouting.

Human capabilities are limited, but the power of hype is endless.

An Lushan wanted Li Longji, who was far away in the capital, to know that he had to have someone say good things for him in front of him.

Zhang Lizhen, the middle of the imperial history, was ordered to inspect Hebei Province. An Lushan racked his brains to flatter and slap horses, and did not hesitate to bribe Zhang Lizhen's entourage.

After Zhang Lizhen returned to the court, he naturally praised An Lushan in front of Li Longji.

In Li Longji's heart, An Lushan was fixed as a heroic general who fought bravely to kill the enemy.

In the last year of the Kaiyuan period, An Lushan, the soldier and horse envoy of the Pinglu army, was promoted to the governor of Yingzhou, the military envoy of Pinglu, and the assassin of Hue Prefecture.

An Lushan, who tasted the sweetness, spared no effort to use money to buy people who could speak by Li Longji's side.

It was in the increasingly dark political environment that An Lushan walked step by step to the commanding heights of power.

In the first month of 742 AD, Li Longji decided to abandon the "Kaiyuan" era name, which had been used for 29 years, and replaced it with the era name "Tianbao".

Historians are always accustomed to associate Kaiyuan with prosperity and Tianbao with crisis. In fact, the Tianbao crisis was rooted in the prosperity of the last years of the Kaiyuan Dynasty.

The complacent Li Longji decided to use change to show a new atmosphere.

Li Longji changed the state of the world to a county, and the history of the assassin was changed to Taishou. In this wave of name change, Youzhou was changed to Fanyang County, and Youzhou Jiedu was naturally renamed Fanyang Jiedu. Yingzhou was changed to Liucheng County, and Yingzhou Thorn History was renamed Liucheng Taishou.

Before the Sui Dynasty, the prefecture was the superior administrative division of the county. Emperor Wen of Sui abolished the county and changed the three-level system of state, county and county to the two-level system of state and county. Emperor Wen of Sui's son, Emperor Yang Guang, ascended the throne and changed the state to a county. Just twelve years later, the Sui Empire was in ruins.

The Tang Dynasty still followed the state and county system. For some reason, Li Longji also ingeniously changed the state to a county. Perhaps it was just a coincidence that the prosperous Tang Empire was also pushed to the brink of life and death fourteen years after this restructuring.

It was in this year that Li Longji made a decision that had a profound impact on An Lushan's career. He decided to separate the Pinglu Army (stationed in Liucheng County, now Chaoyang City, Liaoning), the Lulong Army (stationed in Beiping County, now Lulong County, Hebei), the Yuguan Guard, and the Andong Protectorate, which were originally subordinate to the Fanyang Jiedu Envoy, and set up the Pinglu Jiedu Envoy separately.

An Lushan became the first envoy of Pinglu Jiedu and the Taishou of Liucheng as he wished, and the envoy of the four prefectures of Liangbo, Bohai and Heishui was envoys, and the number of troops under his command reached 37,500 people.

An Lushan, who had just been confused, had already become one of the commanders of the ten major military regions of the empire.

Li Longji set up a total of eight jiedu envoys in the northern border of the empire, from east to west, Pinglu, Fanyang, Hedong, Shuofang, Longyou and Hexi, in addition, the two towns of Beiting and Anxi in the Western Regions were roughly divided by the Tianshan Mountains; In the southwest region, the Jiannan section was set up; In the southern border, the Lingnan Five Prefectures were set up to make strategic envoys.

The state of the military region reflects the military pattern of the Tang Empire, which was "more important in the north than in the south", because the most dangerous enemies of the empire mainly came from the north.

With a hint of apprehension and excitement, An Lushan went to the capital Chang'an to meet Tang Li Longji and thank him. This was his first meeting with Li Longji.

It is better to be able to do things than to be able to do things, and to do a good job is not as good as the emperor's impression. An Lushan, who is well versed in this, has brought into full play the fine tradition of officialdom of "being superior, keeping in close contact with leaders, and combining praise with self-praise".

"In July last year, there was a rare locust plague in Nagada, Yingzhou. Locusts that obscure the sky and the sun eat the seedlings mercilessly. ”

Most local officials report good news but not bad news, and there are not many people like An Lushan who take the initiative to tell about the disaster. In fact, this is just An Lushan's political means of "wanting to promote and suppress first".

Li Longji looked at An Lushan intently, because the locust plague has always been a hidden worry in Li Longji's heart. Li Longji once launched a nationwide patriotic campaign to exterminate locusts.

An Lushan continued to say matter-of-factly, seeing that the people had no harvest, Weichen burned incense and prayed to the sky, if Weichen's heart was not right, he was loyal, and he was willing to gnaw at the minister's heart with the raging locusts; If the minister does not live up to the heavens, ask the heavens to disperse the locusts quickly!

And guess what! A swarm of red-headed blackbirds devoured the locusts in an instant.

This absurd story was told vividly by An Lushan, but Li Longji was convinced of it, because I don't know how many officials had reported to him all kinds of strange and auspicious events. (To be continued.) )