(Interest Level 5)
Think of the Roman Empire, what comes to mind? For me, its Christianity and Ceaser, and no I dont mean the salad. The Romans had this beleife that if under attack, they should give full authority to one of the generals and once the attackers had been defeated, the general would step down and give the power back. It worked a couple of times, but unfortunatly the last man they gave power to refused to give it back. That man was Julius Ceasar. He crossed the Rubicon river, this was a sighn of attack on Rome, with his army and swiftly took over the city. In away, you could compare to An Lushan, a Chinese general in the late Tang dynasty, because he basically did the same thing. It was the emperor's mistake, he decided to show his love to a conqubine and in the end lost it all. He offered this conqubine, Yang Guifang, the chance to give her family and friends positions in government. She decides to give max power to General Lushan... bad move. Lushan gets 100,000 experienced fighters and decides to take over the Louyang, crushing all who get in his way. The emperor decides to flee, but his gaurds won't leave until his "lovely" conqubine is killed. He was devistated and dethrones himself. Lushan takes over the capital, but is forced out by Turks. Im not saying either of the two rebellions are bad, because in Rome, Ceaser's made great changes in the government and public of a dying city that was originaly run by corrupt politians who did not care for the people. Oh sure he got assinated by his senators and this lead Rome into a civil war, but all rebellions have their down sides, also not to mension if you think about the bad consequences you're not very optimistic. Anyways, the Lushan rebellion did have its down turns, for isntance Tang had lost money because they had to pay of the Turks to not raid them, they lost control of the economy, destroyed Tang soeciety, and basically did not control Central Asia anymore. On the bright side, however, this lead to advances economically and since the government did not control the economy, towns could make open markets and independent trade expanded. Since the merchants were no longer tied down by the government, they could let their bussiness flourish and they created bills to solve the copper coin problem. Ceaser and Lushan like one another, because they both did not hesitate and took the oppertunity when they saw it. Although their stories are different, they both still changed their nations and created many reforms economically, politically, and even socially. Moral of the story for Emperor Xuanzong, dont do anything just to get laid.
Think of the Roman Empire, what comes to mind? For me, its Christianity and Ceaser, and no I dont mean the salad. The Romans had this beleife that if under attack, they should give full authority to one of the generals and once the attackers had been defeated, the general would step down and give the power back. It worked a couple of times, but unfortunatly the last man they gave power to refused to give it back. That man was Julius Ceasar. He crossed the Rubicon river, this was a sighn of attack on Rome, with his army and swiftly took over the city. In away, you could compare to An Lushan, a Chinese general in the late Tang dynasty, because he basically did the same thing. It was the emperor's mistake, he decided to show his love to a conqubine and in the end lost it all. He offered this conqubine, Yang Guifang, the chance to give her family and friends positions in government. She decides to give max power to General Lushan... bad move. Lushan gets 100,000 experienced fighters and decides to take over the Louyang, crushing all who get in his way. The emperor decides to flee, but his gaurds won't leave until his "lovely" conqubine is killed. He was devistated and dethrones himself. Lushan takes over the capital, but is forced out by Turks. Im not saying either of the two rebellions are bad, because in Rome, Ceaser's made great changes in the government and public of a dying city that was originaly run by corrupt politians who did not care for the people. Oh sure he got assinated by his senators and this lead Rome into a civil war, but all rebellions have their down sides, also not to mension if you think about the bad consequences you're not very optimistic. Anyways, the Lushan rebellion did have its down turns, for isntance Tang had lost money because they had to pay of the Turks to not raid them, they lost control of the economy, destroyed Tang soeciety, and basically did not control Central Asia anymore. On the bright side, however, this lead to advances economically and since the government did not control the economy, towns could make open markets and independent trade expanded. Since the merchants were no longer tied down by the government, they could let their bussiness flourish and they created bills to solve the copper coin problem. Ceaser and Lushan like one another, because they both did not hesitate and took the oppertunity when they saw it. Although their stories are different, they both still changed their nations and created many reforms economically, politically, and even socially. Moral of the story for Emperor Xuanzong, dont do anything just to get laid.
Julius Ceaser 
An Lushan
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