Is Li Linfu the main culprit of the An Lushan Rebellion

Is Li Linfu the main culprit of the An Lushan Rebellion? The history encyclopedia editor brings relevant content to everyone. Interested friends, come and take a look!
In the late Tang Dynasty, there was a minister named Cui Qun who once commented: “It is said that Lushan rebelled and divided the time to control the chaos. I said that Zhang Jiuling was dismissed and Lin Fu was appointed as the prime minister, so the control of the chaos was already divided.” He believed that the watershed of the Tang Dynasty’s control of the chaos was not the “An Lushan Rebellion” that most people thought, but the time when Li Linfu expelled Zhang Jiuling and monopolized power. Obviously, this is to attribute the blame solely to Li Linfu.
During the Kaiyuan period, a series of prime ministers such as Zhang Jiazhen, Wang Fan, Zhang Shuo, and Xiao Song all advanced from the position of Jiedushi. The so-called ‘serving as a general and becoming a prime minister’ was a tradition of the Tang Dynasty. However, Li Linfu did not want these distinguished military figures to pose a threat to himself, as the prestige and qualifications established by military achievements were difficult to conceal, especially in the martial arts era of the Tang Dynasty, where military achievements were unmatched by civil service achievements. From a certain perspective, if Bian Jiang were to enter the prime minister, Li Linfu would be unable to contain him.
According to this logic, An Lushan’s success and subsequent rebellion were all due to Li Linfu’s selfishness. So Li Linfu is responsible for the outbreak of the An Lushan Rebellion.
This viewpoint is somewhat ambiguous. A simple fact is that in the first year of Tianbao (742), An Lushan began to serve as the military governor, in the third year of Tianbao (744) he concurrently served as the military governor of Fanyang, and in the tenth year of Tianbao (751) he concurrently served as three military governors. However, Li Linfu’s suggestion was made in the eleventh year of Tianbao (752), when he declined his title of Shuofang Jiedushi and recommended An Sishun. Sima Guang put Li Linfu’s suggestion in the sixth year of Tianbao (747), and confidently said that Emperor Xuanzong was very pleased and began to appoint An Lushan from then on. Hehe, this is completely untrue. Sima Guang was too eager to prove Li Linfu’s heinous crimes. You see, a person with a bad reputation has to bear various charges, and no one has overturned the verdict yet.
If we only take the case of An Lushan as an example, Li Linfu may still have some credit. Because in the Tang Dynasty, only he could make An Lushan afraid, and only he could control An Lushan. Because he is more cunning and wicked than An Lushan.
Li Linfu firmly suppressed An Lushan through personal means. An Lushan is a bold and ambitious person. It is said that even when he met the Crown Prince, he dared not pay tribute and was definitely a rebellious person. In fact, he doesn’t take Xuanzong seriously. But Li Linfu became his nemesis because he was a master of psychology.
It is said that when An Caoshan first met Li Linfu, his attitude was quite disrespectful and he did not take him seriously. However, Li Linfu remained calm and made an excuse to call Wang Gong for questioning. Wang Gong was Li Linfu’s most loyal henchman and confidant. At that time, he had already held more than twenty positions, which could be described as extremely favored, with absolute power and authority. He was on par with Yang Guozhong and was truly a “resounding” figure.
Every time Li Linfu spoke to An Lushan, he could guess An Lushan’s true thoughts, and gradually, An Lushan developed an unavoidable fear of Li Linfu. Although he made Emperor Xuanzong smile and show arrogance and rudeness towards the civil and military officials of the Manchu dynasty, even in the cold weather, he couldn’t help but sweat profusely in front of Li Linfu. Li Linfu asked An Lushan anything, and An Lushan dared not conceal anything, treating Li Linfu as if he were a god. Li Linfu completely overwhelmed An Lushan psychologically.
Later generations were also surprised by the fear of Li Linfu towards the fierce bandit An Lushan. So much so that some people made up stories about gods and ghosts to explain, saying that An Lushan was planning a rebellion, so they recruited many people who knew Taoism. Once he said to the sorcerer, “I have no fear of the emperor, but whenever I see Li Xiang, I feel nervous and trembling. Why is that?” The sorcerer replied, “You have five hundred Yin soldiers, all with copper heads and iron foreheads, always around. Why are you so afraid of Li Xianggong?
I see, there are even stronger players in the middle.
Later, when An Lushan returned to Fanyang, whenever an envoy came back from Chang’an, he would always ask, “What is Shilang like?” Shilang was An Lushan’s name for Li Linfu. If Li Linfu speaks well, An Lushan will be delighted. If Li Linfu says:; Tell Lord An to be more self disciplined. “An Lushan was terrified and turned his hand to the bed, saying,” Hey hey, I’m going to die! “It is said that this scene was once performed by Li Guinian in front of Emperor Xuanzong. The result that Tang Xuanzong saw was a burst of laughter. Alas! Li Longji is truly heartless.
It can be said that the situation at that time was already very dangerous. Many knowledgeable people have seen the existence of the crisis. But Emperor Xuanzong has always been appeasing An Lushan and overly trusting him. An Lushan must have had ambitions long ago, but whether he will definitely rebel depends on how the situation changes and how the court responds. But one thing to believe is that as long as Li Linfu is here, An Lushan will definitely not oppose. To some extent, Li Linfu was the stabilizing force of the Tang Dynasty, as he single handedly suppressed the demon An Lushan. Assuming that An Lushan died unexpectedly before Li Linfu, the An Lushan Rebellion is unlikely to occur. In this sense, it is not an exaggeration to say that Li Linfu was associated with the safety of the Tang Dynasty.
Is Li Linfu considered meritorious or guilty? There will definitely be various opinions. But at the very least, we should no longer blindly follow traditional views and attribute all the responsibility for the An Lushan Rebellion to Li Linfu.