After An Lushan entered Xijing, he immediately proclaimed himself emperor, named his country Dayan, and rewarded his subordinates and generals.
However, apart from ascending the throne in the Daming Palace, An Lushan did not live in the Daming Palace. Instead, he camped outside the Daming Palace and lived in a military camp.
The empty Daming Palace is grand and magnificent during the day, but at night it is really gloomy. I don’t know how many innocent souls and bones have been buried in this frightened Daming Palace.
An Lushan's mother once worked as a wizard. After An Lushan's divination, he determined that living in the Daming Palace would hinder him, so he refused to enter the Daming Palace.
In fact, An Lushan refused to live in the Daming Palace, especially because the empty palace could not give him a sense of security.
So An Lushan demolished the private houses next to the Daming Palace, and then built a gorgeous military camp on top of these houses.
The large tent where An Lushan lived was not a simple military tent, but a gorgeous palace built with thousands of mink furs and tens of thousands of pieces of silk.
Outside the big tent, An Lushan's personal bodyguards took turns guarding day and night. Even An Lushan's own son was not allowed to enter without a pass.
Since starting the army, An Lushan has developed malignant sores on his back, his eyesight has gradually become blurry, and his temper has become increasingly irritable.
"Your Majesty, spare your life! Your Majesty, spare your life!" The tent was filled with candles. An Lushan, who was already blind, was holding a horsewhip and whipping a thin civil servant.
An Lushan was fat, but now his hair was disheveled and his face was ferocious, shouting like a crazy beast.
The pain all over his body was unbearable. An Lushan vented his anger by beating his subordinates. Finally he felt a little better. After drinking away his subordinates, An Lushan fell asleep deeply with his riding whip in his arms.
"Mr. Yan!" As soon as the civil servant covered with whip marks walked out of the tent, he bumped into a young general who looked like An Lushan.
An Qingxu, the second son of An Lushan, followed An Lushan in fighting in Hebei since he was a child.
"Your Highness." Yan Zhuang saluted with his hands raised.
Yan Zhuang was An Lushan's closest civil servant. He often planned government affairs around An Lushan and was also very familiar with An Qingxu.
Looking at this "Prince of Dayan" who looked like An Lushan, Yan Zhuang didn't show much respect.
An Lushan loved his eldest son An Qingzong the most, but when he launched an army, his eldest son was taken hostage in Xijing.
When he learned that An Lushan had raised troops, the angry Emperor Li Longji immediately beheaded An Qingzong.
Although An Qingxu served An Lushan front and back, he was always dominated by his elder brother.
But when An Qingzong was there, An Qingxu didn't have any ideas.
An Qingzong has always been the heir in An Lushan's eyes. This legitimate son is also outstanding in ability. This is his biological brother. An Qingxu has never had any intention of replacing his brother.
But Anqingzong is dead!
An Qingxu saw an opportunity now. Now Hebei's army occupied the two capitals, and his father had already proclaimed himself Emperor of Yan. Will this great foundation soon come into his hands?
But An Qingxu's wishful thinking was very clear. After the death of his eldest son, An Lushan gave birth to another son with his concubine Duan!
The superstitious An Lushan actually believed that this was the reincarnation of his eldest son, and he was obsessed with his concubine Duan, so it gradually spread that An Lushan wanted to give birth to a younger son.
An Lushan became increasingly impatient with his second son, An Qingxu, and even beat and scolded An Qingxu in public.
An Qingxu saw the injuries on Yan Zhuang and asked:
"What did Master Yan say again that angered my father?"
Yan Zhuang sighed and said: "I advised your Majesty to conquer the Jianghuai River in person to cut off Li Tang's money and food hinterland, but your Majesty is unwilling to leave Xijing, saying that he wants to rely on the strong walls of Xijing to resist the Tang army."
An Qingxu smiled and said: "My father is in poor health, so naturally he is unwilling to go to war. Why don't Lord Yan advise me and let the lonely king go to war in my father's place?"
While the two were talking, they heard the sound of whips waving again from An Lushan's tent.
After a while, a eunuch who was beaten and bruised limped out.
An Qingxu took a look and saw that this was Li Zhu'er, his father's personal eunuch.
Li Zhuer was originally called An Zhuer, who was given to the eunuch An Lushan by Li Longji during the Kaiyuan period.
Because of his good service, he became An Lushan's closest attendant.
After An Lushan raised troops, An Zhuer was renamed Li Zhuer.
"Why did the inner order offend the emperor?" An Qingxu, who was familiar with Li Zhuer, asked directly.
Li Zhuer sighed and said, "I went in to cover His Majesty with a quilt. I stepped too hard and woke up His Majesty, so I was whipped."
The three of them looked at each other. An Qingxu had an old wound on his face and had just been whipped a few days ago.
Yan Zhuang and Li Zhuer had just been beaten.
Li Zhuer said with a tearful voice: "If things continue like this, I'm afraid I won't be able to survive."
All three of them lowered their heads. After An Lushan fell ill, his temper became more and more violent.
Last month, three of his personal servants were beaten to death by him.
An Qingxu looked at Yan Zhuang and then at Li Zhuer, and suddenly a terrible thought came to his mind.
Yan Zhuang was An Lushan's adviser. An Lushan was illiterate, and almost all of his letters and orders were written by Yan Zhuang.
Li Zhuer was An Lushan's personal chamberlain, and he kept An Lushan's seals.
After this idea came up, An Qingxu opened the devil's box and couldn't help but continue to think about it.
My father’s new concubine, Duan, and my concubine Duan, my father and brother are both generals under my father’s command.
Now that his father has expressed his intention to raise a child, the Duan family's relatives have become a force of their own. They are afraid that if their father dies, they will be killed by the Duan family.
If I kill my father now and let Yan Zhuang make the edict and Li Zhuer stamp the seal, then...
Thinking of this, An Qingxu was heartbroken. He pulled Li Zhuer into Anlu Mountain's tent and said, "Father has summoned the lonely king. Could you please Li Daban to accompany the lonely king in again?"
Yan Zhuang was about to return home, but he heard An Qingxu pull him back and said, "Master Yan, the lonely king has something to ask you for advice. Let's go back together after paying homage to our father and queen."
Yan Zhuang's heart moved. He looked at An Qingxu's face swaying in the firelight, and felt great fear in his heart.
But his feet seemed to be filled with lead and he couldn't walk.
I don't know how long it took, but Yan Zhuang saw An Qingxu hiding blood in his robe, and walked out of the tent with Li Zhuer, who looked frightened.
Li Zhuer trembled and said: "Master Yan, Your Majesty invites you in."
Yan Zhuang closed his eyes. Being familiar with history books, he naturally understood what had just happened in the tent.
Yan Zhuang opened his eyes and finally made up his mind.
He first bowed to An Qingxu: "His Royal Highness."
An Qingxu was overjoyed and quickly helped Yan Zhuang up and said: "Master Yan, my father said that you are my great minister of Dayan and should be the prime minister!"
The two looked at each other and left quickly. An Qingxu took the lead and led Yan Zhuang into An Lushan's tent.
In the first month of the second year of Zhide, An Lushan died in a tent outside the Daming Palace.
The next day, Yan Zhuang announced the edict of An Lushan, and his second son An Qingxu succeeded to the throne of Emperor Yan.
In the inner court of Anlu Mountain, Li Zhuer took an edict, followed by more than a dozen strong women, and rushed towards the military tent where Concubine Duan lived.
The gagged Concubine Duan was buried in accordance with An Lushan's "edict". An Qingxu personally put on armor and killed Concubine Duan's father and brother.
Li Yan stood on the wall of Guazhou City, feeling the spring breeze blowing on his face, and secretly sighed: "The wind is blowing."