Famous general of the Tang Dynasty: General Lai Yao’s son, how did he die in the end?

Follow me to explore the real Lai Ai in history.

During the Anlushan Rebellion, there were three very famous generals on the southern battlefield. These three people achieved roughly equal achievements at the time.

One is Zhang Xun who fought hard in Yongqiu and Suiyang;

The other is Lu Jiong who fought hard in Nanyang and Xiangyang;

The other is in Yingchuan , Lai Yi who fought hard in Nanyang.

When history books talk about Zhang Xun’s achievements, they all say that without Zhang Xun, the rebels would have penetrated deep into the south of the Yangtze River; when talking about the achievements of Lu Jiong and Lai Yi, it is actually the same Like this.

The reason why Zhang Xun is more famous than Lu Jiong and Lai Yi is mainly because he died when the Tang Empire regained Chang'an and Luoyang.

If Zhang Xun had lived a few more years, no one would know what would have happened later.

At first, Lai Yi's performance could be said to be extremely loyal, but what happened later? Faced with the emperor's transfer order, he actually tried every means to refuse.

At first, Li Guangbi's performance could be said to be extremely loyal. But what happened later? Faced with the fall of the imperial capital and the emperor in danger, Li Guangbi actually stood still.

At first, Pugu Huaien's performance could be said to be extremely loyal. But what happened later? He went further than Li Guangbi because he openly rebelled.

If Zhang Xun survives that hurdle, he can almost become a military governor. What will happen next? Will he still obediently obey the emperor's orders? It is really difficult to say.

To put it in a high-sounding sense, the foolish king keeps letting the eunuchs do whatever they want, and the military governors who hold military power are all masters who cannot stand being wronged, and no one will find any way to resist.

Regardless of whether the emperor was motivated by checks and balances, after a military boss gained military power, his deep-rooted loyalty to the emperor would probably gradually fade away.

On the eve of the pacification of the Shi Siming Rebellion, when the central government mobilized Lai Ai, Lai Ai began to obey the emperor's orders and disobey them secretly.

Lai Ai's attitude is very simple. I am very happy to accept the transfer of the central government. However, the soldiers below have said that Xiangyang cannot live without the commander-in-chief for a day. Seeing the Xiangyang soldiers shouting and screaming, the emperor finally did not dare to mobilize Lai Ai.

Next year, the imperial edict was returned to Xiang and Han, and the scholars were also suitable for their political affairs. Because they satirized the public and kept themselves, they showed their actions. When Deng arrived, the imperial edict was repeated and he returned to the town.

Later, Li Guangbi led his army south. Due to the military pressure caused by Li Guangbi, Lai Ai decided to report to the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China.

Before Guangbi arrived in Henan, Tian Shengong defeated Liu Zhan and stayed in Yangfu. Shang Heng and Yin Zhongqing attacked Yan and Yun. Laigui Brigade refused to attack Xiangyang, and Guangbi Qingqi arrived in Xuzhou. , Shi Chaoyi retreated, and Tian Shengong suddenly returned to Henan. Shang Heng, Yin Zhongqing, and Lai Yi were all afraid of his reputation and went to Que one after another.

After Li Guangbi went south, Lai Ai actually had three strategies to choose from: upper, middle and lower.

The best way to be radical is to continue to stay in your own military region and be ready to use force against the central government at any time; in short, I have the final say on my territory. Later, the Hebei feudal towns mostly had this attitude towards the central government.

The middle strategy is to go to the Central Military Commission to report in person, but before leaving your own military region, let your cronies firmly control the relevant troops.

All in all, after I arrived at the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, the emperor was easy to talk to and discuss, and he could say anything. If the emperor dares to use violence against me, you can do it as you please!

The next best thing is to be conservative. That is to report to the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China unconditionally and show your tame side as much as possible. Once the emperor sees that you are completely subdued, he may let you go.

Which choice is better?

The best option may look good, but it is actually a poison that kills people without paying for it.

Not to mention whether Lai Ai can withstand Li Guangbi's military pressure, even if it can withstand this round of pressure, how many times can Lai Ai withstand the overwhelming strength of the central government? /p>

The next step may seem dangerous, but in fact it is not that dangerous.

To put it bluntly, Lai Ai had a lot of troops. Although he repeatedly played tricks on the Central Government, he still reported to the Central Government at the critical moment.

If the emperor takes the opportunity to kill him, who will dare to report to the central government easily as long as he has some trouble with the central government?

But when people are hesitating between the upper, middle and lower strategies, they usually choose the middle strategy. Because from an optimistic point of view, the middle policy can absorb the advantages of the upper and lower policies and downplay the disadvantages of the upper and lower policies.

However, the middle strategy will also absorb the shortcomings of the upper and middle strategies, and will dilute the advantages of the upper and lower strategies.

When Lai Yi went to the Central Military Commission to report, he chose the middle strategy, but this choice soon put him in a dilemma.

Although Lai Yi allowed his cronies to control Xiangyang, since he himself had arrived at the Central Government, the emperor could only think of how to deal with him.

The fact that Lai Yi made such an arrangement based on Zhongce made the emperor feel that he had not truly surrendered to him, and that staying here might be a disaster. Therefore, the emperor would inevitably want to get rid of him.

Of course, because Lai Ai's cronies controlled Xiangyang, the emperor must have been full of hesitation when he moved Lai Ai. So when Lai Ai reported to the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, the emperor always treated him favorably.

However, as the Anshi Rebellion is coming to an end, the emperor will inevitably adjust his policies. Against this background, Lai Ai's future looks a bit shaky. So, after some maneuvers, the emperor forced Lai Yi to be killed.

Of course, traitors usually take the blame for the emperor's negative behavior. The emperor's responsibility for killing Lai was left to the eunuch Cheng Yuanzhen.

At the beginning, when Lai Gui was in Xiangyang, Cheng Yuanzhen asked for help, but he refused. When he became the prime minister, Yuan Zhenzhen was disobedient. Wang Zhongsheng was among the thieves, and he won everything by surrendering, and the thieves returned home peacefully. He and Yuan Zhenshan conspired with the thieves, causing Zhongsheng to fall into the trap of the thieves. In Renyin's reign, he cut off his officials and titles, spread his influence across the state, and granted him death on the road.

The death of Lai Yi marked the beginning of the central government's increasingly rapid pace of cutting down the vassal state.

Generally speaking, although Lai Ai has warlord tendencies, it is only a tendency. In an era where centralized power was highly developed, what Lai Yi did was naturally a death sentence.

But in the Tang Empire before and after the Anshi Rebellion, if this was a mortal sin, even if Lai Yi personally went to the Central Government to report, there must be many bosses who were full of crisis.

More importantly, the military boss who was forced to death by the emperor at that time was not only Xiangyang Jiedushi Laigui, but Tonghua Jiedushi was so frightened when faced with the emperor's coercion. committed suicide.

Li Huairang, the military governor of Tonghua, was ridiculed by Cheng Yuanzhen. He was frightened and committed suicide.

Of course, the emperor cannot take the blame for similar things, so when officials talk about these things, it is all the fault of the eunuch Cheng Yuanzhen.

In this context, the major military regions realized a certain tacit understanding intentionally or unintentionally, so the emperor's mobilization of the major military regions suddenly failed.

As a result, all the feudal vassals and towns were at war with Yuan Zhen.

If things continue like this, the supervisors of the major military regions will probably be full of a sense of crisis: since the emperor can kill Xiangyang Jiedushi and Tonghua Jiedushi so easily, other Jiedushi may also be killed at any time. kill.

The first problem that arose was that Xiangyang, where Lai Ai was once in charge, immediately lost control. Liang Chongyi, Lai Ai's crony, made a slogan of killing Lai Ai, and received the response of many people.

Faced with Liang Chong's lawless behavior, the emperor could only accept the fact that Liang Chong became the military governor of Xiangyang.

One wave was too late, and another wave came. At this time, the Anshi Rebellion was not completely over.

In the early days, Liang Chongyi, a native of Chang'an, came to Xiangyang from Laigui Town with Yulin Shesheng, and moved to the right as a military envoy. ... Chongyi sought to kill Zhaoji and Nanyang. After hearing about his condition, he could not be punished by the superiors. On the third day of March, Chongyi was appointed as the governor of Xiangzhou, and he was appointed as the governor of Shannan East Road. Chongyi memorial changed the burial place to Gui and built a shrine for him. He did not live in Gui to attend events and attend the main hall.

Of course, this is just the tip of the iceberg. In fact, all military districts were on the verge of losing control at that time.

At this time, Tubo suddenly invaded on a large scale. After such a setback, the Emperor of the Tang Dynasty had no choice but to run away.

Because the Shuofang Army represented by Pugu Huai'en has now gone astray, it is estimated that it cannot be counted on; and Pugu Huai'en is stationed in Shanxi and looks like he wants to capture Shanxi. The garrison probably can't be counted on either.

Li Guangbi, who is in charge of the Central Plains, now also looks like he is afraid of being killed by traitorous officials; Liang Chong in Xiangyang looks like he is complaining about his injustice, and he probably can't count on it.

These people cannot count on them, let alone the military strength of places like Hebei.

In this situation, the emperor thought about it again and again, and finally discovered that if he fought against the Tibetan army in Chang'an City, he might become a prisoner. So of the thirty-six strategies, walking is the best strategy.

In this context, Chang'an, the capital of the Tang Empire, once again fell inexplicably.

Last time, in the face of Anlushan's invasion, after the fall of Tongguan, Chang'an City also fell without any fighting.

This time, facing the Tubo attack, Chang'an still fell quickly without any fighting.

Faced with the emperor's magical operation, many people thought: This is really unreasonably stupid. But what will happen if the emperor really sticks to the imperial capital?

Seeing the emperor fleeing, the military bosses need to stand up again.

At this moment, are you going to show your loyalty to the emperor? Or are you taking the opportunity to make trouble for the emperor? Or are you watching the emperor’s jokes from the sidelines?

This is a big question. .

It’s like the stock market is fluctuating violently. Some people say it will rise sharply, and some say it will fall sharply. You now have a large amount of money in the stock market, what should you do?

Li Guangbi believed that the situation was unclear, so he kept waiting with money; Pugu Huaien believed that the stock market would fall, so he began to sell his stocks; Guo Ziyi believed that the stock market would rise sharply, so he sold his house and land to use the money to buy stocks.

What was the result? Li Guangbi and Pugu Huaien were willing to climb to the rooftop to apologize; but Guo Ziyi suddenly made a lot of money and became the richest man in the country.