The first episode of Barbarians at the Gate is, appropriately enough, about barbarians, and our inaugural episode looks at An Lushan: the outsider who charmed his way into the court of the Tang Dynasty in the eighth century and who almost succeeded in bringing down the empire. It’s a story made for imperial slash fic: The aging emperor, his rotund but sexy concubine, and the foreigner who came between them.
Audio: The An Lushan Rebellion