Chapter 25 Chapter 22 The Decline and Fall of the Tang Dynasty and the Invasion of Shatuo

From the Anshi Rebellion in 755 A.D. to Zhu Quanzhong's usurpation in 907 A.D., the Tang Dynasty had a total of 152 years to rule the world.During this period, unity was maintained on the surface, and the external prestige was not completely lost. However, generally speaking, it was finally in decline and chaos and could not be revived. The direct cause of the Anshi Rebellion was the domineering of the feudal clan.At this time in the Tang Dynasty, the army was insufficient, and Anshi was pacified with the help of Huihe.Pu Gu Huai'en, a member of Tiele's Pugu Department, made a lot of contributions in citing Huihe, and also made considerable military exploits.Wicke loves military affairs, a general who cannot be feared by anyone will inevitably become arrogant, let alone a general?He wanted to support the bandits, so Zhaoyi, Chengde, Tianxiong, and Lulong towns (Zhaoyi Army, ruled Xiangzhou, now Anyang County, Henan. Chengde Army, ruled Hengzhou, now Zhengding County, Hebei. Tianxiong Army, ruled Wei State, today's Daming County, Hebei. Lu Longjun, that is, Fan Yangjun), are all based on the relics of An and Shi. Although they surrendered to the imperial court in name, they did not obey the imperial court's orders.Some of the Jiedu envoys set up by the Tang Dynasty themselves wanted to learn from them, and some of them made mutual trust with them.The second is the revival of foreign aggression.After Xuanzong destroyed the Turks again, Huihe occupied its land.Because of his contribution to peace and history, he is extremely arrogant.And Tubo also took advantage of the emptiness of China's defense, and fell into Hexi and Longyou, and the trouble was in Gyeonggi.And Nanzhao in Yunnan (zhao is called the king of barbarian language. At that time, there were six zhao in present-day Yunnan and Xikang: Mengzhao, in Xichang County, Xikang today. Yuexizhao, also known as Moxiezhao, in today's Yunnan Lijiang County. It is called Langqiong Zhao, which is located in Eryuan County, Yunnan today. It is called Bin Sui Zhao, which is located in Dengchuan County, Yunnan. It is called Shi Lang Zhao, which is in the east of Eryuan County. It is called Mengshe Zhao, which is located in Menghua County, Yunnan The land is located in the most south, also known as Nanzhao. The other five Zhaozhao were all merged). During the Tianbao period, Yang Guozhong formed an army with him.

In 779 A.D., Dai Zong collapsed and Zi De Zong was established, thinking about cheering up.At this time, Zhaoyi had been merged by Tianxiong, Lu Long also obeyed the imperial court because of Yishuai, and Dezong sent troops to attack because of Chengde's refusal to accept his replacement.Chengde, Tianxiong, and Pinglu Company refused to order.Shannan Dongdao (governing Xiangzhou, now Xiangyang County, Hubei) also rebelled accordingly, and Emperor Dezong ordered the Huaixi Army to seek peace (the Huaixi Army governing Caizhou, now Runan County, Henan).The three towns were not conquered, but Huaixi and Lulong rebelled again, and then sent Jingyuan troops to fight in the east (Jingyuan army, governing Jingzhou, now Jingchuan County, Gansu), passed the capital, and caused chaos because of the meager rewards.Dezong went to Fengtian (Tang County, now Wugong County, Shanxi).The rebel army took Zhu Xi as the main force and attacked on a large scale.Fortunately, Hunzhen fought hard, and Li Huaiguang from Hezhong came to the aid (Hezhong Army, governing Puzhou, now Yongji County, Shanxi), and Fengtian was not defeated.However, because Li Huaiguang disagreed with Prime Minister Lu Qi, he turned against him again.Dezong fled to Liangzhou (now Nanzheng County, Shaanxi Province). After listening to Lu Zhi's words, he pardoned the crimes of the towns and only punished Zhu Xi, so that the capital was recovered.Xuan leveled the river again.However, the rest of the matter had to be ignored.Because of repeated rebellions, Dezong couldn't believe his subjects.After returning to Beijing, the eunuch led the shence army.At this time, Shence's army was well paid, and most of the generals voluntarily joined him. The number of soldiers suddenly increased to 150,000, and the eunuchs held power from then on. In 805, Dezong collapsed and Zishun was established.When Shunzong was in the East Palace, he was well aware of the disadvantages of eunuchs.After he ascended the throne, he used Wang Shuwen, the former minister of the East Palace, and others to get rid of the eunuchs.However, Shunzong had only been in power for eight months, and it was said that he was in Zixianzong. Wang Shuwen and others were all dismissed. It is self-evident that they were forced by eunuchs.Xianzong appointed Pei Du to flatten Huaixi, and the three towns in Hebei also obeyed orders in fear. This is a good opportunity for the central government to restore its prestige.However, after Xianzong's death, Mu Zong ascended the throne, the prime minister thought that there was no problem in Hebei, and failed to deal with the aftermath. The three towns in Hebei rebelled, and by the end of the Tang Dynasty, they could not be flattened.Mu Zong collapsed and Jing Zongli was murdered by the eunuch Liu Keming.The eunuch Wang Shoucheng hunted down the thieves and established Wenzong.At the beginning of Wenzong, Song Shenxi was used as the prime minister, and he tried to kill the eunuch, but it failed.Later, he used Li Xun and Zheng Zhu several times to poison Wang Shoucheng to death.Zheng Zhu came out of Zhenfengxiang (Fengxiang Army, governing Fengxiang Mansion, now Fengxiang County, Shaanxi Province), and wanted to select elite soldiers to go to Beijing to send Wang Shoucheng to be buried, so he killed all the eunuchs.For some reason, Li Xun was in the capital and falsely claimed that there was a drop of nectar somewhere, and wanted to send eunuchs to look at it, so he killed them.The matter was not secret, but was killed by the eunuch.Zheng Zhu was in Fengxiang and was also killed by the supervising army.Since then, Wenzong has been controlled by eunuchs, almost like puppets.According to legend, at this time, there was a Hanlin scholar named Cui Shenyou, who was called into the palace by Zeng Yuanye. A group of eunuchs, headed by Qiu Shiliang, lied about the Queen Mother's will and asked him to propose to abolish Wenzong's imperial edict.Cui Shenyou swore to die, but the eunuch was silent for a long time, then opened the back door and led Cui Shenyou into a small hall.Wen Zong was in the hall, and the eunuch called him face to face, but Wen Zong bowed his head and dared not speak.The eunuch said: "If it's not for the bachelor, you can no longer sit on this throne." So he let Cui Shenyou out of the palace and told him not to leak it, because if it leaked, it would harm the clan.Although Cui Shenyou didn't dare to disclose it, he secretly wrote it down and handed it to his son when he was dying.His son was Cui Yin, the prime minister at the end of Tang Dynasty.After Wenzong's death, his younger brother Wuzong relied on the power of Qiu Shiliang to kill the prince and stand on his own.Wu Zongneng appointed Li Deyu, and his politics was still called Qingming.Xuan Zongli, especially diligent in political affairs, is called Little Taizong.However, there is nothing to do with eunuchs.After Xuanzong's death, Ziyi was established. In 886, Xu and Si died in Guizhou and rebelled (Xuzhou, now Tongshan County, Jiangsu. Sizhou, now Sixian, Anhui. Guizhou, now Guilin County, Guangxi). The disaster, then almost began.

After the middle of the Tang Dynasty, the most serious foreign aggression was Huihe and Tubo, followed by Nanzhao.Nanzhao's surrender to Tubo was out of necessity, and Tubo treated it very cruelly. At the beginning of the 9th century, Wei Gao was the envoy of Xichuan Jiedu. He made peace with him and jointly attacked Tubo. , and once violated Annan, but its nature is not as serious as when it was combined with Tubo). In 840, Huihe was destroyed by Miaojiasi, and suddenly collapsed.There was also internal turmoil in Tubo. In 849, China Suike restored He and Huang, and the land of Hexi also returned.The external aggression of Sanchui was relieved by luck.Although their own discipline was weak, the Shatuo Turks were able to run rampant in China as a broken tribe.

Shatuo is another tribe of Western Turks, named Chuyue (Zhu Xie, a different translation of Chuyue).After the death of the Western Turks, they lived in Beiting Duhufu (now Dihua County, Xinjiang).There is a large moraine named Shatuo, so it is called Shatuo Turkic.Hexi and Longyou fell, and Anxi and Beiting (the capital of Anxi, governing Kucha) had no tribute roads, and they had to go back to Chang'an by false roads.Therefore, Huihe is insatiable.Shatuo suffered from it, and secretly led Tubo to fall into Beiting.For a long time, Tubo suspected that it had secretly communicated with Huihe, and wanted to move it outside the river.Sha Tuona went to China again.Tubo chased him, fought and left.Of the 30,000 tribes, only 2,000 were left to Lingzhou.Jiedu envoy Fan Xichao heard about it, and ordered him to be in Yanzhou (now north of Yanchi County, Ningxia).Later, Fan Xichao moved to the town of Hedong (to govern Taiyuan Prefecture, now Taiyuan County, Shanxi Province), and Shatuo followed him, living in the cucumber pile in the north of Shanyin County.I hope that the elite of the dynasty will be the Shatuo Army.Although Shatuo is called Turkic, its shape, according to historical records, also belongs to Caucasian people.After the chaos between Xu and Si was established, Zhu Xie Chixin, the chieftain, named him Li Guochang, and guarded Datong (governing Yunzhou, ordering Datong County, Shanxi), and he had a territory. In 873, Yizong collapsed and his son Xizong was established.When he was young, he trusted the eunuch Tian Lingzi.At that time, Shandong suffered years of drought and apology. In 875, Wang Xianzhi rebelled, and Huang Chao gathered people to respond.Later, Xianzhi was killed, and Huang Chao fled around.From the current Henan to Hubei, along the east of the Yangtze River, through eastern Zhejiang, into Fujian, and then to Guangdong.Then fight back to Henan from Hunan, Jiangxi, and Anhui, and break through Tongguan.Tian Lingzi took Emperor Xizong to Xichuan.Huang Chao then entered Chang'an in 880.When Huang Chao was rampant, the feudal towns sat idly by and refused to send troops to suppress them.After the fall of the capital, reinforcements from all walks of life refused to attack.As a last resort, I had to borrow Shatuo again.First, Li Guochang moved to Zhenwu (governing Shanyu Duhufu. Today Suiyuan and Linger County), his son Li Keyong rebelled against Datong and was defeated by Youzhou soldiers. Both father and son fled to Tatar (Juyin Mountain).At this time, Guochang was dead, and the court pardoned Li Keyong for his crimes and called him back.Defeat Huang Chao and regain Chang'an.Li Ke used to guard the east of the river, and Shatuo's base went deeper into the hinterland.

After Huang Chao was defeated, he went east to attack Caizhou.Caizhou Jiedu sent Qin Zongquan to surrender.Later, Huang Chao was chased by Li Keyong and killed by his subordinates, and the patriarchal power turned to the wind, and his brutality was even worse than Huang Chao's.The places Henan and Shandong were plundered by him are almost devoid of people.Above the imperial court, eunuchs are still domineering.A road inside the pass is also occupied by soldiers.Among them, Han Jian of Huazhou, Wang Xingyu of Binzhou (Zhen Guojun, governing Huazhou, now Huaxian, Shaanxi; Binning Army, governing Binzhou, now Binxian, Shaanxi), and Li Maozhen of Fengxiang, are particularly domineering, defying orders at every turn, Coercing the court, he gave Shatuo the opportunity to interfere.

Under such circumstances, the Han nationality has a hero who can resist Shatuo, and that is Zhu Quanzhong.Quan Zhong, whose real name is Wen, was Huang Chao's general.In the early years, the army was very weak, but Quanzhong was wise and brave. He first wiped out Qin Zongquan, and gradually merged the present-day Henan and Shandong, and took Xuzhou in the south.Beifu three towns in Hebei.In the west and the river, take Yiwu (Yiwu Army, governing Dingzhou, now Dingxian County, Hebei), and Ze, Lu (Zezhou, now Jincheng County, Shanxi. Luzhou, now Changzi County, Shanxi) and Xing, Ming, Ci Zhuzhou (Xingzhou, now Xingtai County, Hebei. Mingzhou, now Yongnian County, Hebei. Cizhou, now Cixian County, Hebei).The situation in Hedong is surrounded by it.Xizong died in 888, and his younger brother Zhaozongli was quite heroic.However, the situation at that time made it impossible to do anything.At this time, the imperial court was forced by the towns in the Guan, and most of them relied on Hedong to relieve the siege.However, Li Keyong is a man without strategy, and he never thought of coercing the emperor to make the princes.Even though Wang Xingyu was killed, the problem in the pass still cannot be solved.At the beginning, Zhu Quanzhong did not care about the affairs of the central government, but blindly expanded his own strength.By the early 10th century, Quanzhong's power had far surpassed that of Li Keyong.Cui Yin, the prime minister of the Tang Dynasty, combined him to seek eunuchs.The eunuch was in a hurry and took Emperor Zhaozong to leave Fengxiang.Quanzhong besieged Fengxiang for many years, but Li Maozhen couldn't resist, so he had to send the emperor out to make peace with Zhu Quanzhong.When Emperor Zhaozong returned to the capital, he executed all the eunuchs.The chronic disease after the middle of the Tang Dynasty was not a feudal town, but eunuchs.Because the vassals and towns of the Tang Dynasty did not dare to openly betray or attack each other, but they only ruled the land and refused to obey orders when they changed generations.And it has always been like this, but it is only the three towns in Hebei.If the imperial court can cheer up, it might as well be leveled.And the monarchs after the middle of the Tang Dynasty, such as Shunzong, Wenzong, Wuzong, Xuanzong, Zhaozong, etc., were not incapable of doing something.It has been unable to do anything, it is all because of being controlled by eunuchs.With the situation at this point, there is no other way to eradicate it by force.When a class is full of evil and is on the road to perdition, it cannot pull itself out of the mud.

The eunuch died, and the Tang Dynasty died with him.In 903 AD, Zhu Quanzhong moved the emperor to Luoyang, killed him and established his son Emperor Zhaoxuan.In 907, he abolished it and established himself as Liang Taizu.At this time, there was a separatist regime in the country: Huainan had Yang Xingmi, who was Wu.There is money in the two Zhejiang provinces, and it is for Wu Yue.There is Ma Yin in Hunan, which is Chu.There is Wang Shenzhi in Fujian, which is for Fujian.There is Liu Yan in Lingnan, which is for the Southern Han Dynasty.There is Wang Jian in Jiannan, who is the former Shu.Then entered the world of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms.