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[A little historical knowledge about the miserable worker who was badly betrayed by his boss: Emperor Xuanzong of Tang]

He was a famous general of the Tang Dynasty who achieved success late in life and was feared in the northwest. His words "Until now, the Trojan Horse dares not pass Lintao" made him known as the Flying General of Dragon City of the Tang Dynasty.

However, he was also a traitor who was extremely unlucky and lost his integrity in his later years. He was disabled at an old age and was forced by his superiors to work overtime. He eventually fell into disgrace and had a tragic end. He was the scapegoat for the An-Shi Rebellion - Geshu Han.

It is said that Geshu Han is a descendant of the "Geshu" tribe. According to the rules of their tribe, the name of the tribe is directly used as the surname, so he has a cool double surname "Geshu".

His father, Geshu Daoyuan, was not only the leader of the Geshu tribe, but also held an important position in the Anxi Protectorate of the Tang Dynasty. Geshu Han grew up in Anxi (near the present-day Xinjiang KC County) in a wealthy and powerful family, a typical second-generation rich and powerful.

When he was young, Geshu Han was extremely unrestrained. He led a group of younger brothers to drink and gamble all day long. He was a real gambler and drunkard. Even his uncle labeled him as "a rich man from the Han family, drunk on grape wine."

As the saying goes, "At 30, one is established; at 40, one is free from doubts." However, for Geshu Han, before he was 40, he was both the son of an official and a second-generation rich man. Of course, he did not need to establish a career, let alone be free from doubts. When he was 40, his father passed away, and he drifted to the capital, becoming a "Beijing drifter."

After three years in Chang'an, he lived off his savings and did not change his rich son's ways, just idling away his time until he met Chang'an Wei (the director of the then Chang'an Public Security Bureau).

The director despised Geshu Han so much that he was deeply irritated, so he decided to turn over a new leaf. Chang'an Wei was like a nobleman to Geshu Han, who gave him a wake-up call and enlightened him.

After learning from his mistakes, Geshu Han decided not to live in a muddle anymore. So, in the first year of Tianbao, he resolutely set out for Hexi with his sword, determined to make achievements and bring honor to his family.

The Hexi region is now the Gansu area. After Geshu Han arrived in Hexi, he officially started his counterattack. He first followed Wang Jue, the governor of Hexi, and later won the appreciation of Wang Zhongsi, a big shot in the military.

Earlier, Wang Jue, the governor of Hexi, gave the management of the garrison in Xincheng to Geshu Han. Unexpectedly, Geshu Han was a natural commander, and he managed all the major and minor affairs of the army in an orderly manner.

He used his own strength to intimidate the three armies, and the soldiers were convinced and called him "God of Geshu". Geshu Han was both civil and military, not to mention his martial arts. He also liked to read by lamplight at night, and he never put down the "Zuo Zhuan" and "Han Shu".

In addition, he has a generous personality and is willing to help others, making him a warm man and the god of wealth in the hearts of the soldiers, and he is very popular.

In the blink of an eye, it was the sixth year of Tianbao, and the new leader Wang Zhongsi took office. He had a sharp eye and directly promoted Geshu Han from a nobody to the general.

Then, Geshu Han took the throne of the Zuo Yulin Army, and his promotion speed was like a rocket. Since the leader valued him so much, Geshu Han naturally had to show his real ability to repay him.

At that time, the Tibetan army often harassed the border, and Geshu Han decided to show them some strength. In the Battle of Kubahai, he defeated three Tibetan armies in a row and won the battle, which made him famous.

After that, Geshu Han was promoted continuously, especially when he was appointed as the governor of Anxi, he won another great victory.

Every autumn harvest season, the Tubo army would send a large number of troops to a place called Jishijun to harvest wheat.

Because the enemy had a large number of troops and appeared and disappeared unpredictably, the Tang army defenders were unable to defend themselves. The Tibetan soldiers were like a team in an empty land and became the masters of the local wheat fields, which were called "Tibetan Wheat Farm".

After Geshu Han took office, he was determined to teach the Tibetan bandits a lesson. He secretly set up an ambush in Jishijun, waiting for the Tibetans to fall into his trap.

One day, Tubo sent 5000 cavalrymen to rob food. When they were preparing to harvest wheat without any preparation, Geshu Han led the brave and combative cavalrymen to attack at lightning speed, and attacked from the front and back with ambushes, and the shouts of killing shook the sky.

In this battle, 5000 Tibetan cavalry were killed without a single piece of armor left, and they never dared to come to rob wheat again. After this battle, Geshu Han's reputation rose rapidly.

In November of the sixth year of Tianbao, Emperor Xuanzong summoned Geshu Han to Huaqing Palace, and the two had a pleasant conversation. Soon, Geshu Han was promoted to several important positions, the most powerful of which was the governor of Hexi, a position he took over from Wang Zhongsi.

Wang Zhongsi was very kind to Geshu Han, so why did the former subordinate become his superior? This has to do with Emperor Xuanzong's ambition. In July of the sixth year of Tianbao, Emperor Xuanzong ordered Wang Zhongsi, then the governor of Shuofang, to attack Shibao City, a strategic location of Tubo.

Shibao City was built on a mountain with a very dangerous terrain. There was only one mountain road leading to the city, which made it easy to defend but difficult to attack. Since the 17th year of Kaiyuan, the Tang army had attacked the city many times in the past 20 years, but all failed.

Wang Zhongsi believed that rushing to capture the city would inevitably result in huge losses, so it would be better to wait and see and take things slowly. However, Emperor Xuanzong was eager to achieve success, and on the one hand, his subordinates advocated keeping the troops in place, while on the other hand, Wang Zhongsi was unwilling to go against the leader's intention, which made Emperor Xuanzong very unhappy.

In addition, the then Prime Minister Li Linfu was jealous of Wang Zhongsi's outstanding achievements, so he falsely accused Wang Zhongsi and the crown prince of treason in front of Emperor Xuanzong. Upon hearing the news, Emperor Xuanzong was furious and sentenced Wang Zhongsi to death.

After Geshu Han learned about this, in order to save his old leader, he went to the court alone, met Xuanzong, and directly asked to atone for Wang Zhongsi's sins with his own official title. Xuanzong ignored him, but Geshu Han followed him all the way, kowtowed, and spoke passionately and with tears in his eyes.

Xuanzong was moved by his loyalty and righteousness, and finally changed Wang Zhongsi's sentence to Hanyang prefect. A year later, Wang Zhongsi died of depression, which was a pity. After this incident, the court praised Geshu Han endlessly, and he also won an excellent reputation.

However, even if the leader's opinion was wrong, it could not be changed, and Shibao City had to be attacked. Shibao City was surrounded by mountains on three sides, with cliffs everywhere, and there was only one mountain road to launch the attack.

In the end, Geshu Han captured Shibao City at the huge cost of tens of thousands of casualties among the Tang army. As Wang Zhongsi had expected, after the Battle of Shibao, Geshu Han became famous all over the world and became one of the most dazzling generals in the Xuanzong era.

In May of the 12th year of Tianbao, Geshu Han led his troops to recapture Hongji City and Damumen City in one fell swoop, and at the same time recaptured the entire Yellow River Jiuqu area. From then on, Geshu Han became the Great Wall of the Tang Dynasty guarding the northwest.

Later, Emperor Dezong of Tang once said to Geshu Han's son Geshu Yao that when Geshu Han was in power in Kaiyuan, the court had no worries about the west. The famous folk song "Geshu Song" that was popular in Hexi region at that time was also born in this period:

The Big Dipper is high in the sky; Geshu carries a sword at night.

Until now, I have watched the herding horses, but I dare not go to Lintao.

At that time, the prosperous Tang Dynasty and its great general Geshu Han were both glorious and glorious. However, under the glory, misfortune was quietly approaching.

After the Tang Dynasty entered its unprecedented heyday, the government became increasingly corrupt in the later years of Emperor Xuanzong's reign. In order to favor Yang Guifei, Xuanzong handed over all military and state affairs to Prime Minister Li Linfu and Yang Guozhong, and at the same time favored Hu generals such as An Lushan and Geshu Han.

After watching too many palace fighting dramas, we always think that the beauties in the harem will scheme all day long to win the emperor's favor, but in fact, men are the same. Li Linfu and An Lushan, the leader of the Northeast Army, are in the same group. They both look down on Yang Guozhong, while Yang Guozhong wins over Ge Shuhan, the leader of the Northwest Army, to form a team.

The two groups fought and quarreled all day long. Later, Yang Guozhong, relying on the fact that he was the cousin of the imperial concubine, successfully excluded Li Linfu. From then on, the two groups were even more hostile to each other. Even when Emperor Xuanzong of Tang personally hosted a banquet to mediate, the two sides were still on the verge of a fight.

At the banquet, Geshu Han, as a Hu, mocked An Lushan for being ungrateful. An Lushan was furious when he heard this, and he jumped up and down at the banquet and cursed: "How dare the Turks do this!" In the end, the two sides parted unhappily.

At this time, Geshu Han had a strong backer, and Yang Guozhong was not afraid of falling out with An Lushan. With Yang Guozhong's strong recommendation, Geshu Han's career was prosperous during the Tianbao period.

In the past two years, he had lived a comfortable life. He had two major hobbies in his life: one was fine wine, and the other was beautiful women, and at this time, they were inseparable. However, after all, he was over 50 years old, and age was not forgiving. Geshu Han was drunk every day and soon his body was hollowed out.

In February of the fourteenth year of Tianbao, Geshu Han suddenly suffered a stroke while taking a bath and fell into a coma. It took him a long time to wake up, and his body was unable to move. Later, he stayed at home to recuperate.

To be honest, if Geshu Han had died from the fall, he would have preserved his reputation for the rest of his life.

However, he eventually survived with a sickly body, lived until the Tang Dynasty was in chaos, and was captured by his enemy An Lushan, and died a miserable death. It is really fate that makes people sigh.

In November of the 15th year of Tianbao, An Lushan led an army of and marched south in the name of "attacking Yang Guozhong and clearing the court of evil officials."

The local officers and soldiers had long forgotten how to fight, so An Lushan's rebels easily occupied the vast area north of the Yellow River, and soon captured the eastern capital Luoyang.

Facing the attack of the rebels, Geshu Han's generals Feng Changqing and Gao Xianzhi decided to retreat to Tongguan. However, to make matters worse, Emperor Xuanzong sent a eunuch named Bian Lingcheng to supervise the army.

This guy was greedy and failed to ask Gao Xianzhi for a bribe, so he turned around and reported to Emperor Xuanzong, saying that Feng Changqing and Gao Xianzhi neglected their duties and embezzled military pay. Upon hearing this, Emperor Xuanzong was furious and directly issued a cinnabar-painted edict, and the loyal minister left unjustly.

After Feng Changqing and Gao Xianzhi both died, Emperor Xuanzong of Tang thought of Geshu Han who was ill at home. But Geshu Han was no longer the mighty general who dominated the battlefield. His old and sick body was no longer suitable for going to war.

However, the country was in trouble and the emperor issued an edict, so he had to obey. Therefore, Geshu Han was appointed as the pioneer marshal of the crown prince and led an army of 20 to the front line of Tongguan.

Soon after arriving at Tongguan, Geshu Han's subordinates advised him that An Lushan was rebelling under the pretext of "clearing the imperial court and killing Yang Guozhong".

If we leave 3 men to guard Tongguan, and then lead the army back to kill Yang Guozhong and directly clarify the military strategy, then An Lushan's rebellion will have no justification.

This was actually the precedent of Emperor Jing of Han's killing of Chao Cuo. Geshu Han actually had this intention, but considering that Yang Guozhong was the brother of the imperial concubine, he hesitated. He thought: If I do this, then the one who rebelled would not be An Lushan, but my brother Shu Han.

However, there is no such thing as a wall that is impenetrable, and soon the news reached Yang Guozhong. Yang Guozhong was so frightened that he could not sleep or eat, because after all, the enemy had hundreds of thousands of soldiers and horses, and if they suddenly turned their guns on him, he would surely die.

The frightened Yang Guozhong quickly took two precautionary measures: one was to quickly recruit 3000 elite soldiers and train them day and night in the vicinity of the capital to prevent any unexpected events; the other was to recruit 1 troops to station at Bashang, nominally to resist the rebels, but in fact to guard against Geshu Han.

Geshu Han was no fool. He was also afraid that Yang Guozhong was plotting against him behind his back, so he took the initiative and summoned Yang Guozhong's confidant Li Fude to Tongguan on the pretext of discussing military intelligence. He then beheaded Li Fude and successfully annexed the Bashang army.

After this annexation, the two men who had once been on the same front completely fell out. At this time, Yang Guozhong became even more afraid and often said to his son: "I will die without a burial place."

Who knew that just when Yang Guozhong was in a state of panic, a turning point in his life suddenly came. The rebels burned, killed, looted and did everything they could, which aroused great anger among the people.

Soon, Pingyuan prefect Yan Zhenqing and Changshan prefect Yan Gaoqing personally led the army and civilians to fight against the rebels, and 17 counties in Hebei responded.

Hedong Jiedushi Li Guangbi and Guo Ziyi cut off the traffic lines between the rebel front and their base in Fanyang from north to south. The rebels' route to the east and south was also blocked by Zhang Xun, Lu Jing and others in Yongqiu and Nanyang.

As a result, not only was An Lushan blocked by Tongguan and unable to advance, but his old nest was also seriously threatened. The war situation began to turn in favor of the Tang army.

At this moment, Emperor Xuanzong of Tang, who was dazzled by the local victory, became arrogant. He ordered Geshu Han to go out of Tongguan and recover the lost land of Shanzhou in one fell swoop.

Geshu Han was shocked when he heard the news, and immediately wrote to Emperor Xuanzong, saying, "Since ancient times, it has been better to defend a city than to go out to fight. If we go out to fight, if we fail, the people inside the city will be shaken."

Geshu Han's intention was actually the same as that of Gao Xianzhi and Feng Changqing, who advocated defending Tongguan first, and then leading the Shuofang Army north to take Fanyang, causing the rebels to collapse. Even Guo Ziyi and Li Guangbi, who were thousands of miles away, wrote letters to dissuade them from going out to fight.

However, Yang Guozhong, who had always been worried that Geshu Han would harm him, kept urging Xuanzong: "The bandit king is unprepared, and the Han army's exit is an opportunity."

Emperor Xuanzong of Tang, who knew nothing about military affairs, was easily bewitched by Yang Guozhong. He kept sending messengers to Tongguan, urging Geshu Han to go out of the pass to fight as soon as possible.

Under pressure from Emperor Xuanzong and with the precedent of the executions of Gao Xianzhi and Feng Changqing in mind, Geshu Han was forced to lead his troops out of the country on June 4, the 15th year of Tianbao.

He was ambushed and defeated by the famous rebel general Cui Qianyou in Lingbao. In the battle of Lingbao, the Tang army was defeated, and in the end only 20 of the nearly 8000 troops escaped back to Tongguan.

Later, Geshu Han returned to Tongguan alive with only a few hundred cavalrymen, escaping death by chance. After returning to Tongguan, Geshu Han gathered the remaining soldiers and generals, ready to wait for an opportunity to fight again and avenge his previous defeat.

Who would have thought that when the overwhelming war broke out, Emperor Xuanzong of Tang had already fled to Sichuan and the Tang army was doomed.