How miserable was Tang Xuanzong’s escape during the An Lushan Rebellion

Follow the History Encyclopedia editor to explore the true Tang Xuanzong in history.
Yang Guifei, a generation of beautiful women, possessed the beauty of national beauty and heavenly fragrance, but was forced to die at the foot of Mawei Slope. In a daze, the prosperity of the Tang Dynasty and her favor were still vividly remembered, but in the blink of an eye, everything had changed.
At that time, Li Longji should have enjoyed family happiness at that age, but unfortunately faced the tragic situation of national and family destruction. In the An Lushan Rebellion, how miserable was Tang Xuanzong’s escape journey? Did he only lose the beautiful Yang Guifei?
Tongguan can be called the eastern gateway of Chang’an. As long as Tongguan is held, Chang’an will face a crisis, but it is not too dangerous. After all, the Tang army still has generals such as Guo Ziyi. As long as they hold on to Tongguan and resist to the end, victory will definitely belong to them.
However, Li Longji believed the rumors of the treacherous minister Yang Guozhong and ordered the governor of Tongguan, Ge Shuhan, to go out of the city to fight. Ge Shuhan used his emotions and reasoning to explain to Emperor Xuanzong the reasons why he could not fight. But Li Longji couldn’t listen to his words at all and insisted that he confront him.
The military orders were like mountains, and Ge Shuhan could only obey them. Although there were 200000 Tang garrison troops in Tongguan, these troops were not regular troops at all. Most of them were temporarily assembled and defeated soldiers. Not to mention the lack of coordination, the lack of training and low morale made the chances of winning very slim.
In this situation, Ge Shuhan was ordered to fight, and the 200000 Tang army was completely annihilated. Ge Shuhan was captured, and the throat stronghold of Tongguan also fell into the hands of the enemy, all because Yang Guozhong and Ge Shuhan had a personal grudge.
In order to avenge his own personal grievances, Yang Guozhong openly avenged them by giving eye drops to Ge Shuhan in Li Longji’s ear, using the interests of the country to exchange for his life. The news of defeat came, and Li Longji was full of fear, feeling helpless. Yang Guozhong once again advised him to seek refuge in Shu.
At this point, Tongguan had already been taken by the rebels, and there were not many troops in the palace to resist. It was also a matter of time before they invaded Chang’an. In the extremely critical situation, Li Longji also agreed to Yang Guozhong’s suggestion, so he gathered the imperial guards at night and left with a small number of concubines, princes, princesses, and confidants.
The crowd ran southwest all the way, and on the way to escape, when they passed by the Left Treasury, Yang Guozhong wanted to burn it down. At this time, Li Longji still had a trace of conscience in his heart. He believed that if the Left Treasury was burned down, the rebels would be unable to do anything and would seize the dawn people. As an emperor, he could not defend the country’s borders for the people. The only thing he could do was to let the rebels obtain these resources and plunder fewer people.
So, after ordering Gao Lishi to put out the fire, he followed the team. When they arrived at the Wangxian Palace in Xianyang, the officials inside had heard the news and had already fled early. In addition, Li Longji had a last-minute plan to escape, and he didn’t bring much food or provisions. Most people were hungry. By noon, Li Longji was still hungry, so Yang Guozhong paid for a few Hu cakes to satisfy his hunger.
The emperor is full, but what about the soldiers under his command? Throughout the journey, the emperors fled with their wives, children, and elderly relatives. These soldiers were not only unable to carry them, but also suffered from hunger and starvation along the way, unable to even have a full meal. The soldiers’ resentment grew stronger and stronger.
At this point, the resentful soldiers must have an outlet to vent their grievances. Although Li Longji was the initiator of the An Lushan Rebellion, he could not point the finger at the emperor. Therefore, Chen Xuanli’s target was directed towards the red man Yang Guozhong in front of the emperor.
He devised a small scheme, and just as Yang Guozhong was about to eat with a few Tubo people, he claimed that Yang Guozhong was going to rebel and led a team of people to charge towards him. Yang Guozhong was killed. At this moment, the Grand Censor Wei Fangjin boldly stepped forward to rebuke the soldiers for killing Yang Guozhong. The remaining angry soldiers did not listen and beheaded him.
At this point, even the soldiers who had killed two officials had no obstacles in their hearts. They directly approached Li Longji and demanded to kill Yang Guifei. The emperor of a country is forced to lose his dignity. Yang Guifei was a beloved of Li Longji, and he wanted to protect his beloved. However, these soldiers knew that I had killed Yang Guifei’s family, and once this crisis passed, none of them could survive.
So they insisted on forcing Li Longji to kill Yang Guifei. When the soldiers saw that Guifei had been killed, they knelt down and apologized, and the matter was satisfactorily resolved.
It is true that Yang Guozhong was a treacherous minister, and his death is not to be regretted. However, it is unfair to say that Yang Guifei was a red faced troublemaker, and it was her presence that caused Li Longji to be listless. She did not excessively participate in power struggles, and only excelled in graceful dance moves.
Long ago, many officials reported to the court that An Lushan was about to rebel, but Li Longji completely ignored it. It was not until An Lushan really rebelled that he regretted it too late.
After the An Lushan Rebellion, not only did he lose his lover, but even the powerful Tang Dynasty began to weaken. He was ultimately a country and a beauty, but he did not hold onto any of them.