An Lushan Rebellion

During the reign of Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty, to strengthen the defense of the border, ten military towns (also called clan towns) were established in important border areas, and the governors of the military towns were called sectional ambassadors. The governors of the military towns were called jiu envoys, who led the army and were also in charge of administration and finance, and were very powerful and important. According to the custom of the time, if the envoy made a success, he might be transferred to the court as a prime minister.

After Li Linfu came to power, he not only ostracized the civil officials of the court but also became suspicious of the border envoys. Wang Zhong, who served as the envoy of Shuofang and four other towns, had made a lot of war achievements. Li Linfu was afraid that Wang Zhongsi would be transferred back to the capital to become the prime minister by Emperor Xuanzong, so he sent his men to Emperor Xuanzong to falsely accuse Wang Zhongsi of trying to support the prince and plotting against him. Later, it was Goshu Han's painstaking efforts to redress Wang Zhongsi's grievances in front of Emperor Xuanzong of Tang, and only then did Emperor Xuanzong absolve Wang Zhongsi of his death sentence and demote him to a lower rank. Wang Zhong could not stand the injustice and die of illness.

At that time, there were some Hu people among the border generals. Li Linfu thought that the Hu people had low culture and would not be transferred to the court as a prime minister, so he argued hard in front of Tang Emperor Xuanzong to reuse the Hu people, reasoning that the Hu people were good at fighting and had no connection with the court officials and could be relied on. The Tang emperor was afraid that the generals at the border would plot against him, so he listened to Li Linfu and promoted some Hu people to be envoys.

Among these Hu ambassadors, Emperor Tang Xuanzong and Li Linfu especially liked An Lushan, the ambassador of Pinglu (the capital is in Chaoyang, Liaoning).

A Lushan was a general in the Pinglu army when he was young, but he lost a battle because he did not obey military orders. The border guards sent him to Chang'an and asked the court to punish him. Zhang Jiuling, the chancellor at that time, sentenced An Lushan to death to take military discipline seriously. Hearing that An Lushan was quite capable, Emperor Xuanzong of Tang ordered his release.

Zhang Jiuling told Tang Xuanzong, "An Lushan violated the military order and lost troops, so he cannot be killed according to the military law; moreover, according to my observation, An Lushan is not a kind person, so I am afraid that there will be endless problems if he is not killed."

Emperor Xuanzong did not listen to Zhang Jiuling's advice and pardoned An Lushan anyway. Later, Zhang Jiuling was removed from his post. A Lushan, however, relied on his flattering tactics and rose in rank step by step to become the envoy of Pingu. Within three years, he was appointed as the governor of Fangyang (in present-day Beijing).

After An Lushan became the envoy, he tried to collect exotic animals and pearls and often sent them to court to please Emperor Xuanzong. He knew that Emperor Xuanzong liked to report the war successes of border generals, so he adopted a conspiracy to lure the leaders and generals of ethnic minorities near Pinglu to attend the banquet. At the banquet, he got them drunk with medicinal wine, killed the soldiers, cut off the heads of their leaders, and offered them to the court to report their merits.

Emperor Xuanzong of Tang often summoned An Lushan to Chang'an for a pilgrimage. A Lushan seized this opportunity and used his cunning tricks to try to please Emperor Xuanzong. A Lushan was particularly obese, with a convex stomach and short height, and pretended to be a fool. Tang Xuanzong was happy to see him.

Once, Emperor Tang Xuanzong pointed to his belly and joked, "Such a big belly, what's in it?"

Without thinking, An Lushan replied, "Nothing else, only a sincere heart."