Guo Ziyi

Guo Ziyi (Kuo Tzu-i; Traditional Chinese: 郭子儀, Simplified Chinese: 郭子仪, Hanyu Pinyin: Guō Zǐyí, Wade-Giles: Kuo¹ Tzu³-i²) (697 – July 9, 781), posthumously Prince Zhōngwǔ of Fényáng (汾陽忠武王), was a Chinese military general and politician who ended the An Lushan rebellion and participated in expeditions against the Uyghur Khaganate and Tibetan Empire. He was regarded as one of the most powerful Tang generals before and after the Anshi Rebellion. After his death he was deified in Chinese folk religion as the God of Wealth and Happiness (Lu Star of Fu Lu Shou). Guo Ziyi is depicted in the Wu Shuang Pu (無雙譜, Table of Peerless Heroes) by Jin Guliang.

Parents

Wife and concubines

Guo Ziyi was born into the family of a middle-class civil servant in Hua Prefecture (華州, present-day Hua County in Shaanxi), he was described as a handsome man and was over 1.9 meters tall.

Around 735 Guo Ziyi was saved from a court martial by the poet Li Bai, who intervened on his behalf with the local commander.

Unlike other members of his family, Guo Ziyi entered political life through the official military examinations instead of a literary exam (for civil servants). He passed the military examinations in 749 and became an officer in the border regions of the Tang Empire and quickly rose through the ranks to become a jiedushi (regional military governor).

Limited records exist about Guo Ziyi before the An Lushan Rebellion; it was during the rebellion that he earned his fame. When rebellion broke out in 755, Guo Ziyi was assigned to protect the Tong Pass, a strategic location on the Chinese frontier. A large force of ten thousand rebels were marching toward the pass. Guo Ziyi took advantage of the situation by luring the rebels onto the plains in front of the pass where there were only scarce settlements. The rebels saw little to loot and were discouraged, while the Tang troops were prepared to fight, motivated by the desire to protect their families in the Tong Pass and the capital of Chang'an. Guo engaged the seven thousand troops at the Battle of Qingbi and scattered the rest while suffering few casualties to his own force, winning his first victory.

By the following year of 756 the capital fell due to the ineptitude and corruption of the chancellor Yang Guozhong and his eunuchs. Emperor Xuanzong of Tang fled the city, accompanied by his personal guard and members of the Yang family, including his consort Yang Guifei. Members of the entourage, including the troops, resented Yang Guozhong, holding him responsible for the failed strategy that led to the fall of Chang'an. Yang Guozhong was denounced and executed. Following this, the emperor's own troops also forced him to execute his beloved consort Yang Guifei. The emperor then fled with the remainder of the entourage under difficult conditions to Chengdu in Jiannan.