Yang Guozhong

Yang Guozhong

Yang Guozhong? Yang Zhao was born in Yongle County, Hezhong prefecture (now Yongji City, Shanxi Province). In Tang Dynasty, he was the grandson of Yang Zhen, the grandson of Zhang Yi and the elder brother of Yang Guifei.

Yang Guozhong was born in Hongnong, Yang's River Zhongfang. He joined the army in Xichuan, engaged in the work of tuntian, with excellent results, and was awarded the Xindu County lieutenant. Attached to the great master of Shu, Xianyu Zhongtong moved to Fufeng County. After Yang Yuhuan was favored, she made a great success. She served as Cao Canjun, censor of Jin wubing, wailang, member of Du Zhiyuan, censor of Du Zhiyuan, Minister of Taifu. After his death, Li Linfu served as the right Prime Minister of the school and the Ministry of education. He holds more than 40 positions. During his term as prime minister, he attacked Nanzhao at the expense of his troops. Dictatorship is harmful to the country and corrupt the imperial platform. He was worried that Bian Jiang would enter the court, and there was a contradiction with Anlushan, which led to an Shi rebellion.

In the 15th year of Tianbao (756), he fled to Shu county with Emperor Xuanzong of Tang Dynasty. In the mutiny of Mawei post, he was killed by random soldiers.

Life of the characters

Early experience

When he was young, Yang Guozhong was dissolute, addicted to alcohol and gambling, and despised by his relatives. At the age of 30, he went to Xichuan to join the army. He was engaged in the work of tuntian with excellent results and was awarded the title of Xindu County lieutenant. At the end of his term of office, Yang Guozhong was even poorer, so he had to rely on the Shu magnate Xian Yu Zhongtong, and later served as Fufeng County captain.

In the fourth year of Tianbao (745), Yang Guozhong's younger sister, Yang Yuhuan, was named the imperial concubine, and her three elder sisters were increasingly favored. Jiannan Jiedu envoy Zhang Qiu Jianqiong and Prime Minister Li Linfu did not get along well, so he asked Xianyu Zhongtong to go to Chang'an to make friends with the Yang family. Xianyu Zhongtong recommends Yang Guozhong. Seeing that Yang Guozhong was tall, Zhang Qiu Jianqiong recruited him as a Tui Guan, sent him to Chang'an to pay tribute, and presented millions of Sichuan goods.

After arriving in Chang'an, Yang Zhao gave the local products to Yang's sisters one by one, saying that they were given by Zhang Qiu and Qiong. As a result, the Yang sisters often spoke for Yang Zhao and Zhang Qiu Jianqiong in front of Xuanzong, and introduced Yang Zhao to Xuanzong, who appointed him as the right Jinwu guard Cao to join the army. From then on, Yang Zhao was able to enter and leave the forbidden area with the worshiping officials.

Won the emperor's favor

After his establishment in Chang'an, Yang Zhao, relying on the favor of his concubine and Yang's sisters, served Xuanzong with great care and fell in love with him. In the imperial court, he tried every means to curry favor with the powerful officials.

Soon, Yang Zhao took the post of censor, and soon became a member of Duzhi, wailang, who also served as censor. In less than a year, he held more than 15 posts and became an important official of the imperial court.

In the seventh year of Tianbao (748), Emperor Xuanzong gave Yang Zhao a purple goldfish bag and also a minister of Taifu. Because of his imperial concubine, he was more and more favored by Emperor Xuanzong of Tang Dynasty.

In October of the ninth year of Tianbao (750), Yang Zhao asked to change his name because there was the word "golden sword" in his divination, in order to show his loyalty. With the advancement of his position, Yang Guozhong has become extravagant and corrupt in his life. Every time I accompany Xuanzong and his concubine to Huaqing Palace, the sisters of Yang always gather at Yang Guozhong's home first and compete to decorate the chariots and horses. They decorate them with gold and jade, and decorate them with pearls and beautiful jade. During the trip, Yang Guozhong also held the banner of Jiannan Jiedushi (the power symbol granted by the emperor to the special envoy) in front of him.

Take over the prime minister

In the relationship between Yang Guozhong and Prime Minister Li Linfu, at first, they sang together. Yang Guozhong tried his best to please Li Linfu in order to climb up. Li Linfu also tried his best to win over Yang Guozhong because he was a relative of the emperor. When Li Linfu framed Prince Li Heng, Yang Guozhong and others acted as Party members and actively participated in his activities. They set up another Tui yuan in the capital, and established many big prisons, which involved hundreds of followers of the prince. Because Yang Guozhong is a big fan, he is always the first to make trouble every time. The contradiction between Yang Guozhong and Li Heng became more and more serious.

Later, the conflict between Li Linfu and Yang Guozhong resulted from the struggle for power and profit between the old and the new aristocrats, which was mainly manifested in the treatment of Wang Wei. Because Wang's favor was too deep, it was the object of common envy of Li Linfu and Yang Guozhong. However, in order to contain Yang Guozhong, Li Linfu tried his best to promote Wang; when Yang Guozhong framed Wang, Li Linfu tried his best to exonerate him. Because of Yang Guozhong's manipulation, Tang Xuanzong began to alienate Li Linfu.

The reason why Tang Xuanzong trusted Yang Guozhong so much was that he not only pleased Yang Guifei, but also restrained the dictatorship of Li Linfu. At the same time, he is ready to replace the aging Li Linfu. Finally, in November of the 11th year of Tianbao (752), after the death of Li Linfu, the Xuanzong school ordered Yang Guozhong to be the right prime minister and Minister of the Ministry of education, and ordered him to remain as before. Yang Guozhong waited for the censor to be promoted to prime minister, holding more than 40 posts.

Calamity and disorder

During the period of Yang nanzhong's incompetence, the generals failed to use the imperial edict.

In 751, Xianyu Zhongtong led his army to attack Nanzhao, but failed. Nanzhao took refuge in Tubo. History writers exaggerate the loss of the Tang Dynasty because they dislike Yang Guozhong. Xianyu only used Jiannan's army when Zhongtong conquered Nanzhao, but did not transfer troops from foreign enemies. According to the records of Zizhitongjian and new Tangshu, there were only 30000 troops in Jiannan in Tang Dynasty before the Nanzhao expedition. And we need to keep our troops. The number of troops rarely used by Zhongtong is far less than 30000, and the loss is far less than 30000. But it was exaggerated by the history writers as a loss of 60000 people.

After the failure of Xianyu Zhongtong, Yang Guozhong ordered to recruit troops from Liangjing and the north of Henan to enlist Nanzhao. People have heard that Yunnan is full of miasma. Before the war, eight or nine out of ten people would die because of miasma, so no one would like to recruit. Yang Guozhong sent the censor to arrest people and sent them to the military station. As early as before the Nanzhao expedition, the elite troops and generals of the Tang Dynasty had been concentrated in Anxi, Beiting, Hexi, Longyou and Shuofang in the northwest. However, there were no elite troops of the Tang Dynasty in Jiannan, and there were no armed forces in Liangjing and North Henan. After the failure of Xianyu Zhongtong, Yang Guozhong recruited some civilians from Liangjing and North Henan to form an army, led by Li Mi, to fight for Nanzhao.

Li mi led the Tang army to Nanzhao and arrived outside Taihe, the capital of Nanzhao. Nanzhao closed the wall and did not fight. Li Mi's army ran out of food, and his soldiers were not acclimatized. Seven or eight out of ten soldiers died of malaria and hunger. On the way back, Li mi was chased by Nanzhao, and the army led by Li mi was destroyed. The loss of the Tang Dynasty was also greatly exaggerated. Li Mi had only one expedition to Nanzhao. According to Gao Shi's "Li Yun Nan's poems of conquering the barbarians", Li mi returned to Chang'an after conquering Nanzhao and "returned to Chang'an Road to summon Ganquan Palace". However, the historians exaggerate the loss of the Tang Dynasty because they dislike Yang Guozhong. They describe Li Mi as dead in Nanzhao, and exaggerate the number of people lost in the Tang Dynasty to 70000, 100000 and so on. The loss of Xianyu Zhongtong and Li Mi is even exaggerated to nearly 200000 people, but the actual loss of Tang Dynasty is far less than this number.

Yang Guozhong's autocratic power led to the loss of his country, his great success, and his belligerence in the border minority areas, which not only made thousands of innocent soldiers dead in the border areas, but also caused disaster to the minority areas. The Tang army went deep into Nanzhao and caused great damage to Nanzhao. The dongcuan residence under ziqu and Jingzhou in Yunnan was destroyed by the Tang soldiers.

In order to win the hearts of the people and develop his own power, Yang Guozhong let the people's Republic of China choose officials, whether they are virtuous or not, and those who have more than one year stay and take over according to their qualifications. According to the Convention, the prime minister, who is also the Minister of the Ministry of war and the Ministry of official affairs, should hand over the selection of officials to the officials below the minister. The procedure is very strict. It must be repeated from spring to summer. Yang Guozhong, however, showed his own ingenuity. He first called the petty officials to his home and made a list in advance. Then he called the left Prime Minister Chen xilie and the officials of geishizhong and other departments to shangshudutang. After reading one name, he decided one name, and one day was over. When it was all over, Yang Guozhong said in front of everyone: "Zuo Xianghe is present in the event, even if he passes through the door." Thus, Yang Guozhong monopolized the power of selecting officials. From then on, the provincial government no longer reexamined the selection of officials, but the minister was only responsible for the trial judgment, resulting in the decline of the quality of the selection of officials.

However, on the other hand, Yang Guozhong has been well-known for catering to and satisfying some people's desire for power. For this reason, Yang Guozhong's cronies Jing Zhaoyin Xianyu Zhongtong, Zhongshu Sheren Dou Hua, and Shi Yushi Zheng ang asked Xuanzong to set up a monument at the provincial gate for Yang Guozhong to praise his "merit" in selecting officials. Xuanzong asked Xianyu Zhongtong to draft the inscription and modify several words in person. In order to flatter Yang Guozhong, Xianyu Zhongtong filled these words with gold.

Yang Guozhong is indifferent to the sufferings of the people. In the 12th year of Tianbao (753), floods and severe famine occurred in Guanzhong area. Xuanzong worried that it would hurt the crops, so Yang Guozhong asked people to take the crops to Xuanzong and said, "although there is a lot of rain, it doesn't hurt the crops." After Xuanzong believed it, Fangguan, the prefect of Fufeng, reported the local flood. Yang Guozhong asked the censor to interrogate him. From then on, no one dared to report the truth.

An Shi rebellion

In the 14th year of Tianbao (755), an Shi rebellion broke out. The reason why an Lushan launched the rebellion was to attack Yang Guozhong. Both Yang Guozhong and an Lushan were newly rich in Tianbao period, and they were also favored by Xuanzong. However, Yang Guozhong's rise is much later than that of Anlushan. When Yang Guozhong was not yet a high-ranking official, an Lushan was promoted to Pinglu Jiedushi as early as the first month of the first year of Tianbao (742). Later, he served as Fan Yang Jiedushi, Hebei interview envoy, Yushi doctor, and later Hedong Jiedushi. Tianbao jiuzai (750 years) was granted the title of Dongping Prefecture. Although Yang Guozhong had relatives, he moved to Shizhong as late as the seventh year of Tianbao (748) and served as Zhongcheng.

In the court, an Lushan was still afraid of the wily Li Linfu, but not of Yang Guozhong

Chinese PinYin : Yang Guo Zhong