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The An Lushan Rebellion was the most influential and destructive rebellion in China. In 755 AD, An Lushan launched an uprising in Fanyang, and 200,000 cavalrymen swept through the two capitals, causing great damage and losses to the Tang Dynasty. This rebellion also marked that the peak of China's feudal dynasty had passed. The dynasties of later generations were no longer as brave as the prosperous Tang Dynasty.

Scholars have different opinions on why An Lushan rebelled. In terms of strength, although An Lushan had a strong army, he still did not have the numbers of the Tang Dynasty. Although the three towns in Hebei could win temporarily, they could not resist the alliance of the central government of the Tang Dynasty and the Jiedushi of Hedong and Northwest in the long run. Obviously, An Lushan's rebellion was a gamble, betting that the Tang Dynasty would make a mistake.

So why did An Lushan rebel despite the huge disparity in power between the two sides? This has to do with the relationship between An Lushan and the prince.

In terms of ability, Emperor Xuanzong of Tang was a rare ruler in Chinese history who was both a civil and military leader. But as a father, he was a beast who had no regard for family affection and was cruel to his children. Originally, Emperor Xuanzong's crown prince was Li Ying. But in 733 AD, Concubine Wu Hui set up a trick under the pretext that there were thieves in the palace and brought three princes, Li Ying, Li Yao, and Li Ju, into the palace. After the three princes entered the palace, Concubine Wu Hui used the excuse that the three entered the palace in armor and falsely accused them of treason.

In response to such an obvious slander, Emperor Xuanzong of Tang Dynasty sentenced all three princes to death in one day without any distinction. This incident was known as the "Three Princes Killed in One Day" incident that shocked the world.

After Li Ying was killed, Prince Zhong Li Heng inherited the position of Crown Prince. With the experience of his elder brother, Li Heng was naturally cautious and respectful in everything. However, even so, Li Heng was still threatened by Emperor Xuanzong of Tang, and was repeatedly beaten and almost deposed several times. Prime Minister Li Linfu quickly understood Emperor Xuanzong's thoughts, so he repeatedly slandered the Crown Prince in front of the emperor, hoping to depose him as soon as possible.

But as the crown prince, Li Heng would naturally participate in state affairs and befriend some border generals and court officials. Among them, Li Heng and Tang Xuanzong's adopted son, Wang Zhongsi, studied together since childhood and had a very good relationship. At the same time, Wang Zhongsi was an invincible military god in the Tang Dynasty at that time, and served as the governor of the four towns of Hexi, Longyou, Shuofang, and Hedong. It can be said that the entire northwest of the Tang Dynasty and even the Hedong Military Region were supporters of the crown prince.

As the saying goes, "The crown prince can only be chosen by those with strong troops and horses." The crown prince had the support of the Northwest Military Region, which naturally made Emperor Xuanzong of Tang and Li Linfu feel uneasy. So they turned their attention to the Hebei Military Region and supported An Lushan, who was originally a mixed Hu, to become a powerful governor who commanded three military towns and had an army of 200,000.

In this way, Tang Xuanzong, An Lushan and Li Linfu formed an unshakable alliance of three giants. Tang Xuanzong favored An Lushan to the extreme, not only repeatedly conferred official titles on him, but also conferred him the title of Prince of Dongping, setting a precedent for conferring the title of prince on a military governor of a different surname.

In addition to official titles, Emperor Xuanzong of Tang also showed his favor for An Lushan through various details.

"The emperor once held a banquet in the Qinzheng Tower, and all the officials sat in a row downstairs. Only for An Lushan did he set up a golden rooster screen in the east room of the throne, and placed a couch in front of him for him to sit on. He also ordered the curtains to be rolled up to show his honor and favor."

In order to "repay" Emperor Xuanzong's favor, An Lushan also tried every possible means to prove his loyalty to the emperor. For this reason, he even recognized Yang Guifei, who was 16 years younger than him, as his mother. An Lushan and Yang Guifei were so close that many ugly rumors even appeared, but Emperor Xuanzong did not care at all.

With the support of An Lushan, Emperor Xuanzong of Tang could boldly attack the crown prince and the northwestern military leaders behind him. In 749 AD, Wang Zhongsi was convicted and eventually died of worry. The crown prince lost his biggest backer, and An Lushan also lost his biggest opponent. After all, with Wang Zhongsi around, An Lushan could not rebel at all.

In addition, An Lushan also cooperated with Emperor Xuanzong to insult the crown prince. The Old Book of Tang, Biography of An Lushan, records:

When An Lushan was in the court, Xuanzong ordered him to see the crown prince. "An Lushan refused to bow. His attendants urged him to do so. An Lushan stood up and said, 'I am a Hu man, unaccustomed to the court etiquette, and I don't know what the crown prince's position is.' The emperor said, 'This is the crown prince! After I live forever, he will rule over you in my place.' An Lushan said, 'I am stupid. I only knew that there was Your Majesty, but I didn't know there was another crown prince.' He had no choice but to bow. The emperor believed him and loved him even more."

Simply translated, Emperor Xuanzong ordered An Lushan to bow down to the crown prince, but An pretended to be stupid and said that he was a Hu person and didn't know what position the crown prince held, so he couldn't kneel down. After that, he patted his chest and declared: "I only have your majesty in my heart, what the hell is the crown prince?"

Not paying respect to the crown prince not only showed his loyalty to the emperor, but also showed that he had nothing to do with the crown prince. Although he offended the crown prince, he could please the emperor, so this deal was still a good deal for the time being.

An Lushan was so confident because he had formed an alliance with Emperor Xuanzong and Li Linfu. He seemed to be confident that Li Linfu would overthrow the crown prince and establish a new heir, so as to maintain his wealth and life. However, after Li Linfu's death, his political enemy Yang Guozhong inherited the position of prime minister, while the crown prince's position remained intact.

Emperor Xuanzong was already over 70 years old. There were the crown prince and political enemies in the court, and hostile northwestern vassal states outside the court. An Lushan was already in a difficult situation. The reason why An Lushan could maintain his advantage over these forces was entirely due to Emperor Xuanzong's favor for him. Once Emperor Xuanzong died, An Lushan would inevitably be attacked and eliminated.

As Xuanzong got older, the threat from other forces to him became greater and greater. An Lushan knew this very well, so he "felt that he had not worshipped the crown prince before, and he was quite afraid when he saw that the emperor was old". This was also an external reason for An Lushan to launch a rebellion. Therefore, some scholars say that An Lushan's rebellion was caused by Emperor Xuanzong of Tang. In his view, An Lushan was just a chess piece that he could discard. Let alone An Lushan, if it were you, you might also rebel.