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Guo Ziyi
Tang general who recovered both capitals from the An Lushan rebels as commander of the Shuofang army and later turned back Tibetan and Uyghur invasions
Mural of the event “An Lushan Rebellion”, which this person took part in.
By the late Tianbao era, the Tang court had concentrated extensive northern frontier commands in a small number of military governors while central military and fiscal coordination weakened. Holding three commands, An Lushan acquired the forces with which he rebelled at Fanyang in 755.
Also known as Fenyang Junwang · Zhong Wu
Guo Ziyi of Zheng county in Huazhou entered service through the military examinations, and when An Lushan rebelled in 755 he became military governor of Shuofang and led his army east. In 757, with Uyghur auxiliaries, he retook Chang'an and Luoyang, and Emperor Suzong told him the dynasty owed its rebirth to him. After nine armies broke before Xiangzhou in 759 the eunuch Yu Chao'en slandered him and he lost his command, but a mutiny at Hezhong brought him back the next year, and he was made Prince of Fenyang. When Tibetan troops took Chang'an in 763 he rallied scattered men and recovered the city; in 765, when Pugu Huai'en brought Tibetans and Uyghurs against the capital, he rode into the Uyghur camp, won its leaders over and drove the Tibetans back. Emperor Dezong honoured him as Shangfu, and he died in 781 aged eighty-five, named Zhongwu. The Old Tang History notes that more than sixty of his staff later became generals or ministers.
Life and times
Dates 697 CE–781 CE
- 755An Lushan RebellionTook partage 58
- c. 755An Lushan Captures the Two Capitalsage 58
- 759Nine Commanders Routed at Yeage 62