Is “An Lushan recognized Consort Yang as his adoptive mother and the bath of the infant” true?
The Old Book of Tang, Biographies of Empresses and Consorts, records that 'Lushan treated Consort Yang as his mother, and at every banquet, gifts were bestowed abundantly.' Emperor Xuanzong allowed him free access to the palace. The Sui and Tang Romance, Chapter 081, dramatizes that Consort Yang, in high spirits, had Lushan stripped and 'wrapped him entirely in brocade, like a swaddled infant,' paraded in a colorful sedan chair, with Emperor Xuanzong personally viewing and bestowing money. The novel adds fictional details of their illicit affair.
The official history records that Emperor Xuanzong indulged An Lushan's treating Consort Yang as his mother, while the novel embellishes the affair with their illicit relationship and the bath scandal.
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