What was the cause of Tianbao War?

When it comes to the demise of the Tang Dynasty, I believe everyone will think of the Anshi Rebellion, but do you know that there was a war that led to the decline of the Tang Dynasty as early as the Anshi Rebellion? It was the Tianbao War, which was triggered by a corrupt official demanding bribes in the Tang Dynasty, resulting in hundreds of thousands of deaths.

Tianbao war

The Tang Dynasty supported Nanzhao, hoping to use it to contain Tubo. After Nanzhao became powerful, the Tang Dynasty tried to control it. The death of Pirog, the conflict between the two sides on the issue of succession to the throne, and the arrogance and greed of border officials eventually led to Nanzhao's rebellion against the Tang Dynasty. After the two sides turned against each other, the Tang Dynasty launched three large-scale wars in an attempt to destroy Nanzhao in one fell swoop. Nanzhao joined forces with Tibetan troops to resist. Tang Jun, commanded by He Luguang, returned after winning Nanzhao, and then he was defeated in Zhongtong and Mina Lee's fresh Tang Jun in Nanzhao. Because they all happened during the Tianbao period of the Tang Dynasty (742-756), it was called "Tianbao Battle" in history, also known as "Tianbao Battle of the Tang Dynasty". After the war, Nanzhao surrendered to Tubo.

Because the course

In the second year of Tianbao, Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty married Yang Yuhuan. From then on, he began to ignore politics, security and enjoyment. Li and Yang successively controlled the state affairs, which led to increasingly corrupt politics. At this time, the Nanzhao regime, which was originally a vassal of the Tang Dynasty, clashed with some parts of the Tang Dynasty, thus opening the prelude to a bloody war! Nanzhao regime in the southwest has a very close relationship with the Tang Dynasty. Li Longji, Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty, made Piluoge, the king of Nanzhao, the second-class official rank, the king of Taideng County, and later the king of Yunnan. Nanzhao, with the support of the Tang Dynasty, expelled the Tubo forces from Yunnan. After the death of Pirog, his son Luo Feng succeeded to the throne. When he visited Zhang Qiantuo, the magistrate of Yunnan in the Tang Dynasty, he was insulted by officials in the Tang Dynasty.

According to historical records, Zhang Qiantuo demanded bribes from Ge Luofeng. After being rejected, "Qian Tuo sent someone to scold him and secretly played his crime". Ge Luofeng was furious when he heard the news. "Send troops to attack Qian Tuo, kill it, and take Yaozhou and Xiaoyi 32." If the Tang court at this time could distinguish between right and wrong, there would be no large-scale war, while the prime minister Yang at this time "wanted to make contributions to the frontier" and wanted to establish prestige through war.

In the tenth year of Tianbao, Xian Yutong, the envoy of the Tang Dynasty, led 80,000 troops to conquer Nanzhao. Ge Luofeng didn't want to go to war with the Tang Dynasty. He "sent an envoy to apologize and was willing to return what he had won, turn over a new leaf and seize Yaozhou". However, the sage and fool were unmoved and said, "Prisoner emissary, enter Bo Baicheng". As a result, Tang Jun was defeated in the First World War in Xi 'er River, and 80,000 troops were almost wiped out. The coach survived only when he was fresh. After the failure of the first conquest, Yang was ashamed that Yunnan was useless, and lied to the emperor about his military situation to cover up his defeat and victory.

Since then, Yang personally served as our ambassador. He dispatched troops, actively recruited soldiers and organized an army of more than 100 thousand people. Three years later, in the thirteenth year of Tianbao, Mina Lee, an imperial envoy, led more than 100,000 troops to conquer Nanzhao again. This time Nanzhao adopted the strategy of strengthening the wall and clearing the wild, guarding the city according to the risks and avoiding the war. It was June, the weather was hot, and Tang Jun was mostly from the north. He was not acclimatized and "the dead returned home". In addition, Tang Jun has a large population, so it is very difficult to supply. Although Mina Lee managed to bring the army to Yamato at the gates, Tang Jun was already a spent force. A war was waged in Xi River, Nanzhao and Tang Jun. "Mi was defeated in the north of Dahe City, and there were 189 dead people." Tang Jun was almost wiped out, and Mina Lee threw himself into the river.

So it was the Tianbao period, so later generations called the war between the Tang Dynasty and Nanzhao the "Tianbao War". In the "Tianbao Battle", the Tang Dynasty lost more than 200,000 troops, which was the worst loss in the foreign war of the Tang Dynasty.

Prelude to "An Shi Rebellion"

As a result of the battle of Tianbao, the military losses in the Tang Dynasty were nearly 200,000, all of which "abandoned their lives and returned"; Economically, "within a few years, due to the gradual reduction of consumption", the national treasury is empty and the national strength is greatly damaged. A once powerful Tang Dynasty was defeated by the frontier regime, which completely discredited the Tang Dynasty politically.

It was in this situation that in the second year of the Second Tianbao War, namely the 14th year of Tianbao (755), An Lushan, our Fanyang, Hedong and Pinglu, in the name of Guo Zhong, rebelled in Fanyang (now Beijing), defeated Tang Jun, captured Luoyang, proclaimed themselves emperor and invaded Chang 'an the following year. At the same time, Shi Siming occupied thirteen counties in Hebei. The Anshi Rebellion ended the prosperous period of the Tang Dynasty and began to decline. Therefore, the Battle of Tianbao was a prelude to the Anshi Rebellion.