Turbulent Times in the Great Tang: Guo Ziyi

Name: Turbulent Times in the Great Tang: Guo Ziyi
Author: Interesting Plantain

大唐风云之郭子仪

by Interesting Plantain (有趣的車前子)

Status: Completed
Length: 843k Words
Genre: Historical
Subgenre: Historical & Ancient
Updated: 8mo ago
English: Request a translation

Read on Fanqie

Synopsis

Guo Ziyi’s Four-Dynasty Survival Guide

In a command tent on a snowy night, 58-year-old Guo Ziyi takes on An Lushan’s 150,000 rebels with just 30,000 battered troops. He single-handedly props up the tottering Tang Dynasty, yet survives power struggles across four reigns to become a legend: a man whose achievements could overshadow his sovereign, yet never arouse his sovereign’s suspicion!

Born into the Guo clan of Taiyuan and a top graduate of the military examinations, Guo Ziyi spends more than a decade on the frontier learning that “the court is more dangerous than the battlefield.” Wounded seven times in the bloody battle at Yecheng, he still turns the tide by sending the Uyghur cavalry in a flanking attack. Nearing seventy, he raises four thousand elderly and infirm men and uses a feint to drive off a combined force of 200,000 Tibetans and Uyghurs. He rides alone into the Uyghur camp and divides the enemy over wine, achieving the legendary feat of subduing an enemy without fighting.

Made Prince of Fenyang, with all eight of his sons holding important posts, he keeps his mansion open to all and indulges in wine and women, using his supposed lack of ambition to allay imperial suspicion. When his son Guo Ai boasts that he “would never become emperor,” Guo Ziyi immediately has him bound and begs forgiveness, then cheerfully accepts Emperor Daizong’s sarcastic remark: “If you’re not foolish or deaf, you can’t be a good father-in-law.” As four dynasties rise and fall, countless people urge him to seize the throne for himself, but he never makes a move. An Lushan dies and his clan is wiped out; Yu Chao’en and Pugu Huai’en both meet tragic ends. Only Guo Ziyi understands that “the sharpest sword must know when to return to its sheath.”

He dies peacefully at the age of 85. Emperor Dezong suspends court for five days, and the people of Chang’an accompany his funeral procession for a hundred li. The world marvels that he wielded power over the empire without provoking suspicion at court, but few know his secret to survival: never let your achievements exceed what an emperor can afford to reward. This is both the story of a general’s campaigns and an epic of a powerful minister’s survival. See how Guo Ziyi walks the blade’s edge for eighty years, preserving his family and reaching a peaceful end amid bloodshed and chaos!

Stats

155Chapters

891Reads · 30 days

22.6kReads · all time

102Shelf adds, last 14 days

6.5Score

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