Death
Meanwhile, it was said that An Lushan, the Yan Emperor, was having eye problems and had become blind, and was also suffering from ulcers on his body. As a result, he became ill-tempered, and would whip, cane or even sometimes execute his servants, if they had caused him any displeasure. Yan Zhuang and a favorite eunuch of An's, Li Zhu'er (李豬兒), were also said to be hit frequently. Once he declared imperial title, he spent most of his time inside the Luoyang palace, and his generals rarely saw him, with most important matters going through Yan Zhuang.
Meanwhile, An favored his son An Qing'en (安慶恩), the son of his second wife Lady Duan (who might have carried the title of empress by this point). An considered letting An Qing'en be his crown prince, instead of An Qingxu, who was otherwise considered in order to receive that honor. An Qingxu often feared that An Lushan would put him to death; this fear drove him to assassinate An Lushan. He, Yan, and Li Zhu'er therefore plotted the assassination. On the night of 29 January 757, with Yan and An Qingxu watching outside, Li Zhu'er took a sword into the palace and attacked An Lushan; An Lushan tried to fight back, but could not locate a sword that he put under his bed, and Li Zhu'er killed him. The next morning, Yan first announced to the Yan officials that An Lushan was seriously ill and was creating An Qingxu crown prince, and then An Qingxu took the throne, before announcing An Lushan's death. After Shi Siming killed An Qingxu in 759 and took imperial title himself, he buried An Lushan with ceremony due an imperial prince, not an emperor, and gave him the rather unflattering posthumous name of La (剌, meaning "unthinking").
| Date | Office (pinyin + English) | Mission | |
|---|---|---|---|
| pre-740 | officer of the Pinglu Army 平盧軍, translator | ||
| 741, seventh month | Governor-general of Yingzhou and Pinglu Jun Bingma Shi (兵馬使, commander of the Pinglu army) |
taking charge of the affairs of the northeastern frontier and overseeing the Khitan, Xi, Bohai, etc. | |
| 742, first month | Pinglu Jiedu Shi (Regional commander of Pinglu) |
for pacifying the Shiwei and Mohe. | |
| 744, third month | Fanyang Jiedu Shi (Regional commander of Fanyang) |
for controlling the Khitan and Xi and surrounding area. | |
| 747 | Yushi Daifu (御史大夫, chief deputy imperial censor) | honorary title | |
| 751, second month | Hedong Jiedu Shi (Regional commander of Hedong) |
for defending the Turks. | |
| 755 | Yan Huangdi (Emperor Yan, death in 757) | Try to overthrow the Tang dynasty and install his own. | |
| Sources : Xu Elina-Qian, p. 248-249 | |||
Famous quotes containing the word death:
“Human life consists in mutual service. No grief, pain, misfortune, or “broken heart,” is excuse for cutting off one’s life while any power of service remains. But when all usefulness is over, when one is assured of an unavoidable and imminent death, it is the simplest of human rights to choose a quick and easy death in place of a slow and horrible one.”
—Charlotte Perkins Gilman (1860–1935)
“My glass shall not persuade me I am old
So long as youth and thou are of one date,
But when in thee time’s furrows I behold,
Then look I death my days should expiate.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)
“I thought of all that worked dark pits
Of war, and died
Digging the rock where Death reputes
Peace lies indeed.”
—Wilfred Owen (1893–1918)