Chapter 84 175 The Soaring General Huang Chao

At the end of the Tang Dynasty, after the melee in the feudal towns, the eunuch's monopoly and the crony quarrels among the court officials, the government became more and more chaotic.Tang Xuanzong was considered a relatively shrewd emperor, and he did not change this situation.After Tang Xuanzong's death, Tang Yizong Li Wei and Xizong Li Xuan (sound xuan), who successively succeeded the throne, blindly sought pleasure and pursued a life of luxury and corruption, which was even more decadent to the extreme.The royal family, bureaucrats and landlords intensified their exploitation of peasants, and the taxation became heavier and heavier. Coupled with years of natural disasters, peasants went bankrupt and fled everywhere.Some could not bear the suffering, and had no choice but to embark on the road of resistance.

In the year when Tang Yizong came to the throne, a peasant uprising led by Qiu Fu broke out in eastern Zhejiang. The uprising team grew from 100 to 30,000. They persisted in the struggle for eight months and shocked the entire Yuezhou (the seat of the government is now Shaoxing, Zhejiang). Eight years later, the 800 soldiers stationed in Guilin (mostly farmers in Xuzhou area), because the garrison period expired, the superior repeatedly postponed them to change defense.They killed the officers, promoted Pang Xun as the leader, and launched an uprising.They attacked north from Guilin and fought back to their hometown. Farmers along the road and near Xuzhou responded one after another. When they arrived in Xuzhou, the team grew to 200,000 people.

Both uprisings were suppressed by the court.However, the people's rebellious mood is getting higher and higher, and the scale of the new uprising is also larger. In the last years of the Tang Dynasty, the salt tax was particularly heavy, and profiteers raised the price of salt. The common people could not afford salt, so they had to eat lightly.Some poor peasants earn money by smuggling salt in order to evade official taxes, but smuggling salt is very dangerous, so they need some partners to do it together. After a long time, they will form a team of smuggling salt. Some leaders were killed, and some later became leaders of peasant uprisings.

In 874 A.D., the year when Tang Xizong came to the throne, there was a salt merchant leader Wang Xianzhi in Puzhou (where the government is located in Fanxian County, Henan Province), who gathered thousands of farmers and revolted in Changyuan (in today’s Henan Province).Wang Xianzhi, claiming to be the General of Tianbuping Average, issued a proclamation to expose the crimes of court officials who caused inequality between the rich and the poor.This call was quickly answered by poor peasants.Soon, Yuanju (now north of Cao County, Shandong).Huang Chao, a local salt dealer, also raised troops to respond.

Huang Chao has been educated since he was a child, and he can ride a horse and shoot arrows.He once went to Chang'an, the capital city, to take the Jinshi examination.I took the exam several times but failed.He was very angry when he saw the corruption and darkness of the Tang court in Chang'an.It is said that at that time, he wrote a poem chanting "Chrysanthemum", using chrysanthemum as a metaphor to express his determination to overthrow the Tang Dynasty.The poem says: "When autumn comes and September 8th, when my flowers bloom, the flowers will kill; the fragrance of the sky will penetrate Chang'an, and the whole city will be covered with golden armor."

After the two uprising teams, Huang Chao and Wang Xianzhi joined forces, they moved to Shandong and Henan, and captured many states and counties one after another, and their momentum became more and more powerful.The Tang Dynasty panicked and ordered generals from all over the country to suppress the rebel army.However, the feudal towns all over the country were afraid of confronting the rebels and watched each other, which made the Tang Dynasty helpless. The Tang Dynasty couldn't do it hard, so it used soft methods.When the rebel army captured Qizhou (now Qichun, Hubei, Qiyin qi), they sent eunuchs to Qizhou to meet Wang Xianzhi, and awarded him the official title of "Zuo Shence Army Guard Ya and Supervising Censor".Wang Xianzhi was fascinated when he heard that there was an official to do it, and expressed his willingness to accept the appointment.

Huang Chao was very angry when he heard the news.He brought a group of rebel soldiers to Wang Xianzhi's place, and severely reprimanded Wang Xianzhi, saying: "At the beginning, we all swore to work together to pacify the world. Now you want to become an official, where do you want our brothers to go?" Wang Xianzhi still wanted to prevaricate, so Huang Chao raised his fist and hit Wang Xianzhi head-on, until Wang Xianzhi's face was covered in blood.The uprising soldiers next to you also said a word to you, and I scolded Wang Xianzhi in a word.Wang Xianzhi knew he was wrong, so he had to admit his mistake and drive away the eunuchs sent by the Tang Dynasty.

After these twists and turns, Huang Chao decided to march in two ways with Wang Xianzhi.Wang Xianzhi faces west, Huang Chao faces east.Soon, the rebel army led by Wang Xianzhi was defeated by the Tang army in Huangmei (in present-day Hubei), and he himself was killed. After Wang Xianzhi failed, the rebel army reunited, and everyone promoted Huang Chao as king, also known as General Chongtian. At that time, the official army was relatively strong in the Central Plains. When the rebel army attacked Henan, the Tang Dynasty concentrated a large number of troops near Luoyang to prepare for the siege.Huang Chao saw the enemy's intentions and decided to choose an area where the officers and soldiers were weak and lead his troops south.They successfully crossed the Yangtze River and entered eastern Zhejiang.Along the way, the rebel army was like a broken bamboo, successively conquering Yuezhou and Quzhou (now Quxian County, Zhejiang Province); then, they split the mountain to open a road, opening up a 700-mile mountain road from Quzhou to Jianzhou (now Jianou, Fujian Province).After more than a year of the Long March, they fought all the way to Guangzhou.

After the rebel army rested in Guangzhou, a plague broke out in the Lingnan area.Huang Chao decided to lead his troops northward.The Tang Dynasty ordered Jingnan Jiedu envoy Wang Duo and Huainan Jiedu envoy Gao Pian (sound pian) to gather a large number of officers and troops to intercept along the road, but they were defeated one by one by Huang Chao's rebel army.The rebel army crossed the Yangtze River smoothly, and Gao Piantui was so frightened that he had a stroke and hid in Yangzhou City and dared not fight. The rebel army crossed the Huaihe River, and issued a message to the officers and generals, saying: "We attack the capital, and we only question the emperor, not everyone's business. You keep your own boundaries, and don't offend our edge!"

The generals from all over the country received the call, fearing the uprising army, and wanted to preserve their strength, and they were unwilling to sacrifice their lives for the Tang Dynasty.When the news reached Chang'an, Tang Xizong was so frightened that he cried at the minister. In 880 AD, Huang Chao led an army of 600,000 troops and marched into Tongguan mightily.There are mountains and fields around Tongguan, and the white flag of the rebel army is flying, which can't be seen at a glance.The officers and soldiers guarding Tongguan still wanted to resist.Huang Chao personally went to the front of the battle to supervise the battle. The soldiers cheered together when they saw it, and the voice echoed in the valley, shaking the sky and the earth.The officers and soldiers were terrified when they heard this, and they dared not resist. They burned the camps one after another and fled for their lives in all directions.

The rebel army captured Tongguan, and the Tang Dynasty panicked. Tang Xizong and the eunuch Tian Lingzi (sound zi) fled to Chengdu with their concubines. All Tang officials who had no time to escape left the city and surrendered. That afternoon, Huang Chao entered Chang'an City in a golden sedan chair surrounded by soldiers.The people of Chang'an supported the old and the young and lined the road to welcome them.Shang Rang, the general of the rebel army, announced to everyone on the spot: "King Huang raised his troops for the sake of the people. He will not abuse you like Li (referring to the emperor of the Tang Dynasty). You can live and work in peace and contentment." The poor people distributed the property they got to them. A few days later, Huang Chao ascended the throne in Daming Palace in Chang'an and proclaimed himself emperor, and his country name was Daqi. After seven years of struggle, the rebel army finally won. However, the Huangchao uprising army has been fighting mobile for a long time, and no troops are left to defend the places they have occupied.After hundreds of thousands of rebels entered Chang'an, the surrounding area was still surrounded by government forces.Not long after, the Tang Dynasty mobilized troops from all walks of life to surround Chang'an.The food supply in Chang'an City encountered serious difficulties. Huang Chao sent general Zhu Wen to garrison Tongzhou (now Dali, Shaanxi).But at the most difficult time for the rebel army, Zhu Wen surrendered to the Tang Dynasty and became a shameful traitor.The Tang Dynasty summoned Li Keyong, an aristocrat from Shatuo (the ancient northwest minority) and the envoy of Yanmen Jiedu, and led 40,000 cavalry to attack Chang'an.The 150,000 rebels faced the battle and were defeated, so they had to withdraw from Chang'an. Huang Chao led the rebel army to retreat to Henan, and was besieged by Zhu Wen and Li Keyong again.In 884 AD, after Huang Chao failed to attack Chenzhou (now Huaiyang, Henan), he was closely pursued by the government army, and finally retreated to the Wolf and Tiger Valley of Mount Tai, where he died heroically.