A live-streamed Chinese language lesson under the sky—the ancients were taken aback.

The scene shifts from the wilderness to a map, which marks the main battle lines during the eight years of the An Lushan Rebellion.

The red arrow starts from Fanyang, heads south straight to Luoyang and Chang'an, then turns back, and heads south again, back and forth, like a tangled mess of thread.

"Many people think that the An Lushan Rebellion was a series of defeats for the imperial court, with the rebels advancing all the way and the court then launching a counterattack and fighting back step by step. This is a misconception."

The fact is, from 755 to 763, the two sides fought a protracted and arduous struggle, with countless cities being gained and lost repeatedly.

"Chang'an fell, but was recovered."

Luoyang fell, was recovered, fell again, was recovered again.

Ye City was besieged by an army of 600,000, but it was not captured.

Shi Siming surrendered and then rebelled again, only to be killed by his own son, just like his predecessor An Lushan.

"The An Lushan Rebellion lasted for eight years not because it was an evenly matched war, but on the contrary, the rebels and the imperial court were like two weaklings pecking at each other."

"Let's talk about the rebels first. What are their fatal weaknesses?"

The image shows three non-Han generals: An Lushan, An Qingxu, and Shi Siming.

"The biggest problem with the rebels is their extremely unstable internal structure."

"An Lushan himself was a Hu person, and his core generals were also Hu people. Most of their elite troops were cavalrymen from nomadic tribes such as the Khitan, Xi, and Tongluo."

This army is extremely powerful, almost unstoppable in field charges, but they have a fundamental flaw: they possess only military capabilities, lacking the ability to coordinate politically.

"When An Lushan raised his army, he used the banner of 'By order of secret decree, we will punish Yang Guozhong.' Yang Guozhong was a treacherous minister, and the banner of punishing the treacherous minister had a certain appeal in the early stages of the uprising. However, once Luoyang fell, An Lushan declared himself emperor and proclaimed himself Emperor of the Great Yan."

He paused for a second, seemingly wanting to say something but unable to.

"This exposes his true political intentions: you're not after treacherous officials, you just want to be emperor."

Those Hebei gentry and local officials who had initially been hesitant immediately sided with the court once they saw him declare himself emperor.

The rebels lost their political legitimacy from the very beginning.

"What's even more deadly is the internal power structure. After An Lushan became emperor, he was tyrannical and suspicious, and he would beat and kill his subordinates at the drop of a hat. Even his most trusted advisor, Yan Zhuang, was whipped."

He was blind, covered in sores, and had such a violent temper that even his son, An Qingxu, was afraid he would be killed one day.

In the first month of the second year of the Zhide era, An Qingxu, together with Yan Zhuang and a eunuch named Li Zhuer, killed An Lushan.

"Then An Qingxu ascended the throne, but he could not control Shi Siming. Shi Siming held a large army in his old stronghold of Fanyang and did not listen to An Qingxu's orders at all."

The rebel army was essentially divided. Shi Siming later killed An Qingxu and became the emperor of the Great Yan, only to be killed by his own son, Shi Chaoyi.

The scene flashes by quickly: An Lushan dies → An Qingxu stands up → Shi Siming kills An Qingxu → Shi Chaoyi kills Shi Siming.

"During the eight-year An Lushan Rebellion, the rebels changed leaders four times, and each change was a bloody coup."

This internal strife prevented the rebels from launching a sustained strategic advance.

"Then why can't the imperial court defeat such a rebel army?"

He suppressed his anger, trying to remain calm.

The scene shifts to Chang'an, but the atmosphere in the imperial palace is not much better than in the rebel camp.

"The problems on the imperial court's side are more complicated than those of the rebels."

"First, two emperors."

"Emperor Xuanzong fled to Sichuan, and Emperor Suzong ascended the throne in Lingwu on his own."

Emperor Xuanzong of Tang was forced to admit it afterward, but the distrust between father and son persisted throughout the war.

Emperor Suzong of Tang had to fight the rebels while also guarding against the restoration of the throne by the retired emperor's faction.

The primary criterion for the people he employed was not whether they could fight, but whether they were his own people and whether they would side with the retired emperor.

The appointment of frontline generals and the allocation of troops were all hijacked by court politics.

"Second, the conflict between the central army and the border army."

"After An Lushan raised his army, the main force used by the imperial court to quell the rebellion was not the central imperial guards, because the central imperial guards were basically useless."

They used border troops transferred back from the Northwest. Guo Ziyi and Li Guangbi were both border garrison commanders transferred from Shuofang.

They brought their elite troops from the Northwest to fight in the Central Plains, leaving the Northwest border defenses empty.

Taking advantage of the situation, the Tibetan Empire gradually encroached upon Longyou and Hexi, foreshadowing their later invasion of Chang'an.

"But more importantly, there was a lack of trust between the border troops and the imperial court."

Famous generals like Guo Ziyi and Li Guangbi were repeatedly hampered by the imperial court on the battlefield.

The Battle of Yecheng, which we mentioned earlier, was the most devastating consequence. The nine military governors led an army of 600,000 men, but the imperial court did not appoint a commander-in-chief, instead sending only a eunuch named Yu Chaoen as the supervising officer.

The 600,000 men lacked unified command and were ultimately routed by Shi Siming's 50,000 cavalry.

They robbed Peter to pay Paul, and then the West Wall collapsed.

[Tibet: Is there really such a good thing?]

Before An Lushan's campaign was over, the Tibetan Empire arrived.

Even if you caught 600,000 pigs, you couldn't catch them all in three days.

Who came up with the idea of ​​a eunuch commanding nine military governors?

……

"Third, the logic of the regional military governors had already taken shape."

The tone of his voice, as if he wanted to say something more, became more pronounced.

Why did the An Lushan Rebellion end? It wasn't because the rebels were completely wiped out.

Shi Chaoyi was eventually forced to commit suicide, but his generals Tian Chengsi, Li Huaixian, Li Baochen, and others were not eliminated.

How did the imperial court deal with them? They appointed them as military governors.

"You heard right, they started the rebellion. The court couldn't win, so they eventually surrendered to them and allowed them to continue serving as military governors."

The three towns of Lulong, Chengde, and Weibo in Hebei became semi-independent from then on, beyond the control of the imperial court.

The An Lushan Rebellion ended, but the separatist rule of regional warlords began.

This is only temporary peace; the price is that the empire will never be whole again.

Two lines of contrasting text slowly appeared on the sky.

Rebels: Capable of winning battles, but incapable of establishing a regime. Militarily strong, politically weak. Internal strife leads to self-destruction.

The imperial court was hampered by insufficient war-fighting capabilities and severe internal power struggles. Generals were constrained, and military decisions were politically dictated. The way to end the war was not through complete victory, but through compromise.

Neither side has the ability to knock the other down with a single punch.

An Lushan conquered Chang'an, but he couldn't conquer the entire Tang Dynasty.

The imperial court could mobilize 600,000 men, but it couldn't capture Ye City.

So the two sides were like two boxers, exchanging punches to see who would bleed out first.

"This is eight years."

He wanted to say something but couldn't, so he let out a long sigh.

"In these eight years, the battlefield has been a back-and-forth struggle. The ones who have suffered the most are not the rebels, nor the imperial court, but the ordinary people caught in the middle."

Inside the Taiji Hall, Li Shimin trembled all over, his lips quivering, and finally uttered two words, "...absurd."

He turned around and looked at the assembled officials in the hall: Fang Xuanling, Du Ruhui, Wei Zheng, and Li Jing were all there.

Li Shimin pointed to the sky, his voice trembling.

"The two emperors distrusted each other, one in Lingwu and the other in Sichuan. Father and son were constantly on guard against each other. What did they consider the lives of the soldiers on the front lines? Did they use them as bargaining chips in their internal power struggle?"

His eyes reddened. "...My people, my kingdom, the kingdom I left to them, have been ravaged like this."

Six hundred thousand men were defeated by fifty thousand cavalry?

Liu Che frowned. Send a eunuch to supervise the army? The art of war lies in focus.

Without unified command, even a large army is just a scattered mess.

What does that eunuch named Yu Chaoen know? Has he ever been to the battlefield? Does he know how to command nine armies? What makes him think he can lead a decisive battle of 600,000 men?

Upon hearing this, Ying Zheng looked up from his tedious political affairs and gazed at the sky. He shook his head, thinking they were all useless, and then buried himself in reviewing the memorials again.