Chapter 17 Chang'an City under the Four Golden Armors

Chang'an is one of the famous ancient capitals in China. In history, eleven dynasties established their capitals here, with a history of more than 1,100 years.Since the Han Dynasty, it was officially named Chang'an.In the first year of Emperor Hui of the Han Dynasty (194 BC), the construction of Chang'an City officially began. Yang Chengyan, who was born as a military craftsman, presided over the construction and recruited tens of thousands of migrant workers. It took five years to complete.The whole city covers an area of ​​973 hectares, and the height of the city is 3 Zhang 5. There are 12 gates in total, and each gate has three openings, which can accommodate four carriages in parallel.There are eight main streets and one hundred and sixty closed workshops in the city.The palace is majestic and majestic, the houses are row upon row, the streets are wide, and the trees are lined up.As a result, Chang'an became one of the largest cities in Chinese history, comparable to the Roman city in Europe at that time.

In the Eastern Han Dynasty, Chang'an City gradually declined because it was not the official capital.Especially in the last years of the Eastern Han Dynasty, the warlords fought frequently and the wars were frequent, and Chang'an City was destroyed many times, and the original prosperous scene no longer existed.Later, although the former Zhao, later Qin, Western Wei, Northern Zhou and other dynasties all used Chang'an as their capital, they never recovered to the scale of the Han Dynasty. After the establishment of the Sui Dynasty, the old Chang'an City of the Northern Zhou Dynasty was still used as the capital at the beginning.But since the Eastern Han Dynasty, the city of Chang'an has been in disarray, the palaces are small, and the water quality in the city has changed, making it inedible.Moreover, the palaces, government offices, and residents in the city are mixed together, making it difficult to distinguish them, which is not conducive to ruling, nor suitable for the needs of social, political, economic, and cultural development.Therefore, in the second year of Kaihuang (582), Emperor Wen of the Sui Dynasty ordered the construction of the new capital, with the famous architect Yu Wenkai as the deputy supervisor of the new capital (equivalent to the chief architect of the capital construction), and built the palace city and the imperial palace in the southeast of Chang'an in the Han Dynasty. city.It was completed in the second year and named Daxing.

After the establishment of the Tang Dynasty, Daxing City was still the capital, and Daxing City was changed to Chang'an City.In the fifth year of Yonghui (654), Emperor Gaozong of Tang appointed Yan Xuande, Minister of the Ministry of Industry, to be in charge. In spring and autumn, the outer city wall of Tang City and nine city gates and towers on the east, west and south sides were successively built.At that time, the city covered an area of ​​84 square kilometers, roughly four times the size of Beijing, the capital of the Ming and Qing Dynasties.And the scale is grand and the layout is strict. There are eleven avenues running north-south and fourteen avenues running east-west. The whole city is divided into 109 squares and two cities in the east and west.As Bai Juyi described in his poem: "Hundreds and thousands of houses are like a game of Go, and twelve streets are like vegetable beds." had a direct impact.

Chang'an was not only the political, cultural, military, and religious center of the Tang Dynasty, but also a famous international metropolis in the world at that time: with a large population, well-organized buildings, numerous scenic spots, and prosperity.The entire capital city is quite majestic. The width of the main street running from north to south and from east to west is more than 100 meters. The width of Zhuque Street, which is the central axis of the city, is even 155 meters. Compared with any modern building today Metropolises are no slouch.When the national power of the Tang Dynasty was strong, envoys from all over the world went to the Daming Palace to pay homage to the Emperor of the Tang Dynasty along the Zhuque Street, which was as wide as a square. shock!Wang Wei, a poet of the prosperous Tang Dynasty, once wrote in the poem "Early Dynasty with Jia Sheren": "Nine days are closed to open the palace, and all nations are dressed and worshiped." He fully described the scene of the early dynasty in the palace city of Chang'an and the grand momentum of the emperor of the Tang Dynasty.

It can be said that the Tang Empire re-engraved the glory of Chang'an on this ancient land by virtue of its national strength.It is precisely because of Chang'an's majestic style and charm, as well as the supreme symbol of imperial power that it represents, that the young scholar Huang Chao, who came here many times to take the exam, has deep nostalgia and admiration, and even directly affects his later confrontation with the imperial court. determination.However, when he really owned the city, what he brought was an incomparably huge disaster. When Huang Chao's army entered Chang'an triumphantly, Shang Rang, the general of the peasant army, told the citizens again and again: "The king of Huang raised his troops for the common people. It's not like Li's family doesn't love Ru Cao, but Ru Cao lives in peace." He tried his best to comfort the people.The soldiers of the peasant army often gave gifts to poor citizens when they saw them.The people cheered together.

After Huang Chao entered Chang'an, he first entered Chunming Gate and was promoted to Taiji Hall.Thousands of old palace maids came to see Huang Chao, and they all called Huang Chao "Huang Wang".Huang Chao was elated when he heard this, and said, "This is really God's will." So he sent people to guard the palace so that it would not be looted.And he himself went out of the palace to live in the old house of the great eunuch Tian Lingzi.Huang Chao claimed to be a general, and declared military law to his subordinates, not to disturb the people at will. At this time, Huang Chao is still wise.He is a scholar who is familiar with history books, so he should be quite aware of the importance of maintaining military discipline to win the hearts of the people.However, many people who joined the Peasant Army had their own goals and backgrounds. Maintaining military discipline and winning the hearts of the people did not appeal to some people. What they valued was the rich spoils of war.Within a few days, the peasant army began to plunder the city wantonly, "everyone went out to plunder and burn the shops", and the disaster in Chang'an began.For several days, peasant armies ransacked the world's wealthiest city and burned markets.The people in Chang'an also suffered hell-like terror, "killing people all over the street", "every family bleeds like a spring, and the voice of injustice is everywhere."The Peasant Army especially hated the officials of the Tang Dynasty. Anyone who was caught was killed on the spot.Huang Chao couldn't completely control his subordinates, so he didn't stop these catastrophic actions.

On December 12th of the first year of Guangming (880), Huang Chao entered the Taiqing Palace. On the next day, he took the throne in the Hanyuan Hall (the main hall of Daming Palace), "beating hundreds of war drums to replace the joy of gold and stone. Deng Danfeng Lou, issued a letter of amnesty, changed the name of the country to Daqi, and changed it to Yuan and Jintong".Qi is the ancient name of Huang Chao's hometown Shandong, which shows Huang Chao's deep rural complex. Huang Chao also established his own political system: made his wife Cao the empress; Both are prime ministers; Pi Rixiu is a Hanlin scholar, Meng Kai, Gai Hong, etc. are Shangshu's left and right servants and military envoys.It can be said that Daqi is a political institution formed by a mixture of peasant army and old ministers of Tang Dynasty.However, except for Cui Jiao, the others are generals of the old peasant army.

Cui Qiu was the observation envoy of eastern Zhejiang before the Tang Dynasty, and once worked for Huang Chao as the envoy of Tianping Jiedu.Later, he was dismissed by the Tang court, and happened to be in Chang'an, but was caught by the peasant army.Huang Chao originally wanted the old prime ministers of the Tang Dynasty to serve as the prime ministers of Daqi. The old prime ministers were all highly respected and famous at that time, so Huang Chao would have more face.As a result, the old prime minister either ran away or went into hiding.Huang Chao had no choice but to temporarily force Cui Qiu to be his prime minister.

Huang Chao later arrested Wang Hui, the prime minister of the Tang Dynasty, and forced Wang Hui to become an official of Daqi.Wang Hui pretended to be deaf and dumb, and said nothing.Later, he managed to escape from Chang'an, defected to Emperor Xizong, and was appointed Minister of the Ministry of War. Huang Chao also knew that among his subordinates, those who could take on the responsibility of cultural governance were extremely limited. To make the political institutions work, they still had to rely on those officials of the Tang Dynasty.Therefore, Huang Chao issued an order: all Tang officials above the third rank will be suspended from their posts, and those below the fourth rank will be reinstated.However, he can only be reinstated after delivering his title (business card) at Prime Minister Zhao Zhang's Mansion.

However, after the peasant army entered Chang'an, they plundered wantonly and killed many people, including some ministers of the Tang Dynasty.Under such circumstances, no one was willing to believe Huang Chao's words, so most of them ignored Huang Chao's tricks, and instead of going to Zhao Zhang's mansion to deliver their titles, they hid separately. Seeing that his order was ignored, Huang Chao recalled how he had lost his name to Sun Shan when he came to Chang'an to take the exam, and suddenly became furious, and ordered to search the Tang Dynasty ministers everywhere, and kill all who were found.The prime ministers of the Tang Dynasty, Dou Luyuan, Cui Hang, Zuo Pushe Yu Cong, You Pushe Liu Ye, and the prince's junior teacher Pei Chan (son of Pei Du), were all found and executed.Yu Cong's wife was Princess Guangde. Seeing her husband being killed, she stepped forward and grabbed the murderer's blade, and said with emotion: "I am a daughter of the Tang Dynasty, and I swear to die with Yu Pushe." She was killed.Zheng Qi, the general supervisor, and Zheng Xi, a doctor in the Ministry of Treasury, refused to surrender and "suicide with their whole family".

Jinwu General Zhang Zhifang once led the troops to Bashang to meet the surrender, and surrendered to Huangchao on his own initiative, which won the trust of the peasant army.But Zhang Zhifang missed his old feelings, and took the risk of hiding many Tang ministers who had nowhere to go in his Yongningli mansion. There were hundreds of them, but Huang Chao discovered that Zhang Zhifang's whole family was killed.Therefore, some people think that Zhang Zhifang was a false descendant of Huangchao.Because of the complex environment and situation in which historical figures lived, it is difficult to fully restore them.According to the situation at the time, Zhang Zhifang was forced to surrender to Huang Chao, not necessarily willingly, but for the sake of his life and future, he had to do so. The peasant army searched for suspicious persons everywhere. In addition to Tang officials, they also searched for well-known scholars in order to force them to become officials of Daqi. Anyone who refused to comply was killed on the spot.At that time, Sikong Tu, a doctor of the Ministry of Rites, was also in Chang'an, so a very dramatic scene was staged. Sikongtu, with the word Biaosheng, was born in Yuxiang, Hezhong (now Yongji, Shanxi).It is said in history that Sikong Tu had few literary talents, and his articles were appreciated by Wang Ning, the governor of Jiangzhou.When Wang Ning returned to the court, he served as the minister of the Ministry of rites, and he was appointed as a tribute judge.Sikong Tu took the examination in the tenth year of Emperor Yizong's Xiantong (869) and was promoted to Jinshi at the age of 33.Because of Wang Ning's praise, Sikongtu's reputation grew.Not long after, Wang Ning was demoted to be the governor of Shangzhou due to some incidents. Sikongtu felt the kindness of knowing him and asked him to accompany him.In the fourth year of Qianfu (877) of Emperor Xizong of Tang Dynasty, Wang Ning served as the observer of Xuanshe and called Sikong Tu to be the shogunate.In the second year, the imperial court granted Sikong Tu the censor in the palace. Because he couldn't bear to leave Wang Ning, he delayed overdue, and was moved from the left to be the master book of Guanglu Temple, which was divided into Luoyang, the eastern capital.At that time, Lu Xie was resigned because of a quarrel with Zheng Tian, ​​and he was living in Luoyang. He loved Sikong Tu's talent and personality very much, and often traveled with each other.Once, Lu Xie passed Sikong Tu's mansion, and wrote a poem on the wall to praise him, saying: "The surname is Sikonggui, and the official class Yushi is inferior. If the old man is here, there is no need to read Tunqi." Later, Lu Xie When he returned to the court and restored his prime minister, he summoned Sikong Tu as a member of the Ministry of Rites, Wailang, and sought out a doctor. When Huang Chao entered Chang'an, Sikong Tu was living in Chongyili, Xi'an.After he heard that the Peasant Army was searching for people, he immediately prepared to transfer to Changping warehouse to hide.When he was about to go out, he was blocked by a group of peasant army soldiers on the spot.Just when Sikong Tu was in despair, one of the soldiers of the peasant army with a gun stepped forward to meet Sikong Tu.This person turned out to be Duan Zhang, Sikong Tu's former coachman.Duan Zhang enthusiastically publicized the various benefits of the Peasant Rebel Army to Si Kongtu and persuaded him to join the rebel army.Duan Zhang burst into tears as Sikongtu vowed not to disgrace, so he led Sikongtu to the road and broke up with him.Sikong Tu had the opportunity to escape from Chang'an City by night. Undoubtedly, Sikong Tu was able to escape entirely because of Duan Zhang's nostalgia.Later, Sikong Tu specially wrote a "Duan Zhang Zhuan" to commemorate his benefactor.People like Duan Zhang should represent a category of people in the peasant army.They are the most common type of people, with flesh and blood, and have their own life experiences.They joined the Peasant Army more out of voluntary, and the Peasant Army did give them something that the Tang court could not, otherwise Duan Zhang would not have enthusiastically promoted the benefits of the Peasant Army to the old master.However, they also joined in the destruction, killing, setting fire, and looting, perhaps out of wildness or involuntarily.Their lives were involved in the tide of history and washed away by the tide of history.It's like a big wave washes away the sand, like fine grains of sand, impossible to be distinguished. After killing the ministers of the Tang Dynasty who were hiding and refused to report, "Huang Chao killed all those who belonged to the Tang clan in Chang'an".The Tang clan and the nobles suffered a huge blow. "The embroidered hubs of the Huaxuan were all destroyed, and there was no half of the wealthy family in the first class";These verses of Wei Zhuang vividly reflect this historical event.In fact, this is nothing more than the purge of an old regime by a new regime.But because the Tang Dynasty never lost the hearts of the people, and Huang Chao never won the hearts of the people, this common purge in history was demonized, which greatly affected Huang Chao's image.It can be seen from the back that even when the Tang government army, which the people of Chang'an were eagerly looking forward to, returned to Chang'an, they ruthlessly plundered and massacred the civilians.In times of war, power and blood, fire and tears almost become the characteristics of the turbulent situation, and it is always the common people who suffer. Prime Minister Lu Xie, who resolutely refused to grant Huang Chao the Guangzhou Jiedushi at the beginning, was Huang Chao's number one enemy, but he had already committed suicide by drinking poison.In order to vent his anger, Huang Chao ordered the coffin to be opened, and Lu Xie's body was publicly dismembered in the Chang'an market. After massacring the clan, Huang Chao's peasant army once again showed the characteristics of "rogue bandits", obtaining military pay through looting, which undoubtedly brought huge riots and destruction to Chang'an.When Huang Chao entered Chang'an, Wei Zhuang, a young scholar, was preparing to apply in the capital, just like Huang Chao when he was young.However, unlike the prosperity of Chang'an that Huang Chao saw at that time, Wei Zhuang also witnessed the atrocities of burning, killing and looting by the peasant army, and witnessed how a prosperous city turned into ruins.Wei Zhuang himself was also separated from his younger siblings in this catastrophe. He also suffered from a serious illness and experienced a great tribulation in his life.Later, Wei Zhuang wrote this experience into the famous long poem "Qin Fu Yin".This poem centers on Chang'an, and through the "self-report" of a woman who fled from Chang'an, that is, Qin's wife, it tells the serious disaster brought by Huang Chao's peasant army to Chang'an. Chang'an under the golden armor is not a fragrant array , but a hellish nightmare.The heinous actions of the Peasant Army caused great catastrophe to the people of Chang'an.Qin Fu's narration starts from the capture of Chang'an by Huang Chao's uprising army, to Huang Chao's proclaiming the emperor and founding the country, to the repeated competition between the peasant army and the Tang army for Chang'an, and finally to the situation when the city was besieged and starved of food. "Qin Fu Yin" was very famous at that time because it truly reflected the turbulent social situation in the late Tang Dynasty.Because of this poem, Wei Zhuang was called "Qin Fu Yin Xiucai" by people at that time.However, such a poem, which was scrambled to be copied, was lost for nearly a thousand years.Because Wei Zhuang wrote in his poems such lines as "the inner treasury was burnt to splendid ashes, and the sky street was full of Gongqing's bones", which aroused the anger of Tang Gongqing and nobles.Seeing that he offended the dignitaries of the Tang court, Wei Zhuang regretted it, and immediately tried every means to collect the manuscripts.But this poem has been widely circulated, and it is written on the screens and curtains of many people.Before Wei Zhuang's death, it was stated in his will that no banners with "Qin Fu Yin" written on them should be hung at home.Later, someone compiled a collection of poems for Wei Zhuang, but this poem was not selected.Therefore, after the Song Dynasty, "Qin Fu Yin" was lost.Song Dynasty Sun Guangxian recorded this incident in "Bei Meng Suo Yan", but no one has seen the poem "Qin Fu Yin".Until the twenty-sixth year of Guangxu (1900), the British Stein and the French Pelliot discovered many ancient manuscripts and documents in Dunhuang, including the manuscript of "Qin Fu Yin".These manuscripts were later taken away by Pelliot, and the whole poem was sorted out and sent back to China. This long narrative poem, which had been lost for a thousand years, has only now been rediscovered. "Qin Fu Yin" is the longest poem among the existing Tang poems. In particular, some people think that Wei Zhuang stood in his position and made many slanderous words against the peasant army.In fact, this "Qin Fu Yin" generally describes the rape and burning of Huang Chao's army, but it is revealed from an old man in the poem that Tang Guanjun is worse than Huang Chao's army.The reason why this poem was lost later was not only because the two lines "Neiku was burned to splendid ashes, and the sky street was full of Gongqing's bones" surprised Gongqing, but also because the situation of the officers and soldiers described in the poem angered those "Eastern princes." ".It can be seen that Wei Zhuang's perspective should be quite fair.Because of its realism, the poem resonated with many people after it was completed, and it was widely copied, so that Wei Zhuang could not recycle the copy.Thanks to this, this poem has been handed down to this day. Huang Chao once had the ambition to rise to the top of the clouds, but he didn't have the talent to match it.He probably didn't want to see scenes of murder and arson appear in Chang'an, but he was powerless to stop his subordinates.Most of Huang Chao's followers are famous for plundering, and they don't have foresight.Those talented Tang ministers in Chang'an were all killed by his subordinates without hesitation.The Daqi regime established by Huang Chao only left a tyrannical reputation in history.The direct consequence of the unreasonable massacre is that no scholar is willing to take refuge in him anymore. Apart from proving the brutality, the massacre did not bring any benefits. A scholar in Chang'an resented Huang Chao and others, and wrote a poem on the gate of Shangshu Province, mocking the Daqi regime as much as possible.As a result, Shang Rang was furious.He surrounded the compound and tracked down the poet, but no one admitted it.Shang Rang ordered to kill all the officials working in Shangshu Province, gouged out their eyes, and hung their bodies upside down for public display.Even the guards of the Peasant Army guarding the gate of Shangshu Province were killed together.Still feeling puzzled, Shang Rang ordered Dasuo City to kill the old officials with poetic names in Chang'an City, and arrested a group of literate people and punished them as servants.More than 3,000 people were killed because of this poem.This is the third massacre after the Gongqing gentry and the Tang clan. At that time, there were many literati and celebrities stranded in Chang'an. If the Daqi regime could properly appoint them, these people would definitely become the pillars of Daqi.However, as the peasant army continued to kill, these people couldn't help but panic, and they all tried their best to escape from Chang'an City with makeup.Among them are Wei Zhuang, Du Xunhe, Xie Tong and others who became famous later.Du Xunhe (Du Mu's concubine) and Wei Zhuang have already mentioned it before, and Xie Tong will add a few more words here.After Xie Tong finally escaped from Chang'an, he was captured by Zhu Wen's peasant army. Zhu Wen heard that he was a scholar, so he treated him with courtesy.Xie Tong followed Zhu Wen from then on and became his famous counselor. There is no doubt that during Huang Chao's occupation of Chang'an, Chang'an was completely destroyed. It was not only the city that was destroyed, but also the political order embodied in the city.When Huang Chao swept across the city of Chang'an like the autumn wind sweeping away fallen leaves, he was happy to get his ideal city, but he didn't know that what he would change would be the social order that had been maintained for a long time.Dignity and indulgence are intertwined, pleasure and fear deviate.After that, the city never recovered.As a capital, Chang'an has since withdrawn from the stage of history.