How was the Tianbao War caused?

When it comes to the demise of the Tang Dynasty, people always think of the Anshi Rebellion, but before the Anshi Rebellion, there was a war that led to the decline of the Tang Dynasty, that is, the Tianbao War, which was triggered by a corrupt official in the Tang Dynasty asking for bribes, resulting in hundreds of thousands of deaths.

I. Introduction to Tianbao War

The Tang Dynasty supported Nanzhao in order to contain Tubo. After Nanzhao became powerful, the Tang Dynasty tried to control it, and the death of Pelog led to a conflict between the two sides on the issue of succession to the throne. Coupled with the arrogance and extravagance of border officials, Nanzhao eventually turned 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 was resisted by the Tibetan army. Tang Jun, commanded by He Luguang, returned after winning Nanzhao, and Tang Jun, commanded by Zhongtong and Mina Lee, was defeated in Nanzhao, because both of them happened in Tianbao (742-756) in the Tang Dynasty, which was called "Tianbao Battle" in history, also known as "Tang Dynasty".

Second, the cause of Tianbao War

In the second year of Tianbao, Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty married Yang Yuhuan. Since then, he began to ignore politics, peace and enjoyment, and political affairs were dominated by Li and Yang, which led to increasingly corrupt politics. At this time, the Nanzhao regime, once a vassal of the Tang Dynasty, clashed with the local Tang Dynasty, thus opening the prelude to a bloody war.

Nanzhao regime, located in the southwest of China, had a very close relationship with the Tang Dynasty. Li Longji, Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty, named Piluoge, the king of Nanzhao, the king of Taideng County, and then the king of Dian. Nanzhao, with the support of the Tang Dynasty, expelled the Tubo forces from Yunnan. After Pirog's death, his son luo feng inherited his father. When he visited Zhang Qiantuo, the magistrate of Yunnan in the Tang Dynasty, he was right by Tang officials.

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 led 80,000 troops to conquer Nanzhao. Ge Luofeng did not want to go to war with the Tang Dynasty. He "sent envoys to apologize, willing to return what he had taken, start a new stove and return Yaozhou City", but Xian Yutong was unmoved and "imprisoned the emissary and entered Bo Baicheng". As a result, Tang Jun was defeated in the First World War of Xi Erhai Lake.

After the failure of the first conquest, Yang was ashamed of "Yunnan's reactive power" and lied to the emperor about his military situation, covering up the defeat and lying about his victory. Since then, Yang personally served as our ambassador. He dispatched troops, actively recruited soldiers and organized more than 100,000 troops. Three years later, in the thirteenth year of Tianbao, Mina Lee led more than 100,000 troops to conquer Nanzhao again.

This time Nanzhao adopted the strategy of clearing the field, guarding the city according to risks and avoiding war. It was June and it was very hot. Tang Jun is mostly from the north, which is unacceptable. "The dead return home." In addition, Tang Jun has a large population, so it is very difficult to supply. Although Mina Lee reluctantly came to Yamato with his army at the gates, Tang Jun was already a spent force at this time.

On the Xi River, Nanzhao and Tang Jun waged a great war. "Rice was defeated in the north of Dahe City, and the deceased was eighteen ninety-nine." Tang Jun was almost completely annihilated, and Mina Lee threw himself into the river, so it was the Tianbao period. Therefore, the war between Tang Dynasty and Nanzhao was called "Tianbao War" by later generations. 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.

Third, the 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 very powerful Tang Dynasty was defeated by the frontier regime, which made the Tang Dynasty completely discredited 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, the Ministry of Shi Siming occupied thirteen counties in Hebei.

The Anshi Rebellion ended the prosperous period of the Tang Dynasty and went downhill from then on. Therefore, the Battle of Tianbao was a prelude to the Anshi Rebellion.