During the 30 years of the Kaiyuan Period under the reign (712-756) of the Tang Emperor Xuanzong, the social economy was unprecedentedly prosperous. But in the late Kaiyuan Period, the Emperor Xuanzong seemed to become another person, beginning to neglect state affairs and indulge himself in luxury and debauchery. At the age of 61, he fell in love with Yang Yuhuan and appointed her as a high-ranked imperial concubine. Later, he became further distracted and wouldn’t listen to the counsel of his virtuous officials. He dismissed the excellent Prime Minister Zhang Jiuling and depended on the treacherous official Li Linfu. He also gave great power to a cousin of Concubine Yang, Yang Guozhong.
Li Linfu made show of serving the emperor but was a law onto himself in private, creating lots of trouble for the country. After he died, Yang Guozhong succeeded him as prime minister. After assuming the reins of government, this idiot blackballed dissidents, embezzled money and took bribes, making the court increasingly corrupt. Society fell into chaos.
In the 11th lunar month of 755, the Northern Defending General An Lushan in collusion with his subordinate Shi Siming launched a rebellion under the pretext of killing Yang Guozhong. This was the famous “An-Shi Rebellion” in history.
An Lushan was originally a Turki, one of the ethnic minorities in the north. He tried to ingratiate himself with Emperor Xuanzong in as many ways as possible, even calling himself the adopted son of Xuanzong’s favorite Concubine Yang. The emperor never dreamed that he would be the one to launch a rebellion.
The army of An Lushan quickly approached Chang’an. In great panic the emperor fled with Concubine Yang, Yang Guozhong and his sons and grandsons to Sichuan.
The refugees had a cold reception from local officials. Eventually they arrived at a post house called Mawei.
The officers and soldiers accompanying the emperor were tired and hungry and full of complaints. They thought the turmoil had been caused by Yang Guozhong, so they killed Yang and his son as well as the three elder sisters of Concubine Yang. Then, they surrounded the residence of the emperor and asked him to execute Concubine Yang.
The emperor couldn’t bear to kill his favorite concubine, but to save his own life, he had to surrender the concubine and ask her to hang herself.
After they heard the concubine was dead, they gave up and stopped besieging the residence of the emperor.
The death of Concubine Yang affected the emperor greatly. Later, he decided to give up his throne to the crown prince. Then, the prince and Emperor Xuanzong departed the post house. Emperor Xuanzong went to Sichuan to avoid the turmoil and the prince went northward to salvage what he could from the remnants of the defeated army.
In 756, Prince Li Xiang succeeded to the throne and honored Emperor Xuanzong as Emperor father.
In 757, An Lushan was killed by his son An Qingxu in Luoyang.
In 759, Shi Siming killed An Qingxu. Two years later, Shi Siming was also beheaded by his son Shi Chaoyi.
In 763, Shi Chaoyi was at a dead end and committed suicide while being besieged by various crusading armies. Hence, the rebellion was suppressed.
The rebellion lasted seven years, and seriously shook the political stability of the Tang Dynasty, destroying the social and economic development of the dynasty. The rule of the Tang Dynasty began to decline from then on. The country began to be riven by warlordism, with individual warlords each dominating their own region.
