Chapter 20 The Fall of the Three Yellow Nests

As mentioned earlier, Tang officers and soldiers once invaded Chang'an, but due to irregular military discipline and inconsistent army, Huang Chao counterattacked and defeated them.As a result, the Tang armies that encircled Chang'an withdrew, and Chang'an was relieved.What is more beneficial to Huang Chao is that after the Tang army failed in the street battle in Chang'an, the many contradictions within the feudal town began to intensify. Wuning Jiedushi (Pengcheng, Xuzhou, present-day Xuzhou, Jiangsu) Zhixiang was killed by Chen Fan, another general of his department, and Chen Fan was killed by another general, Shi Pu, who served as his heir.Later, Pu was appointed as Wuning Jiedushi.Later, it was this Shi Pu who got Huang Chao's head.

However, Li Changyan, Sima of the Fengxiang March, took advantage of the depletion of Fengxiang's warehouse and "the lack of food supply", angered the soldiers, and attacked Fucheng, expelled Zheng Tian, ​​the commander-in-chief of the Tang Army, and appointed Li Changyan as the recruitment envoy of the Fengxiang Jiedu camp.Zheng Tian's hard work in front of him was in vain for a while. When the situation was once favorable to the peasant army, Huang Chao did not seize the opportunity.Soon, Tang Guanjun made a comeback and continued to besiege Chang'an.At that time, Huang Chao's army was still strong and had won many defenses, but he was only satisfied with repelling the attack of a certain official army or regaining a certain lost ground.Huang Chao didn't take advantage of the full strength of his army to move his position and leave Chang'an. This was the biggest mistake.Generally speaking, the reason to stay in one place is to wait for reinforcements, but Huang Chao is trapped in Chang'an, and there is no help at all. For him, Chang'an is always just a useless lonely city.Obtaining Chang'an and becoming the emperor of Daqi does not mean that his throne will be secure.He did not send troops in time to expand the control area and establish a solid base, but he was still nostalgic for Chang'an, and he could only be passively beaten in the future.In addition to Huang Chao's own feelings of reluctance to Chang'an, this is obviously related to his own vision and talent.He himself has no long-term strategy, nor does he have very capable talents under his command.Under such circumstances, failure is inevitable.

To talk about Huang Chao's downfall, we must first start with Zhu Wen. In just a few years, Zhu Wen has grown into a hero under Huang Chao's subordinates, which is indeed impressive.Judging from his previous and subsequent actions, his talent is far above that of other generals in Daqi.Such a general, but suddenly defected to the Tang Dynasty, the blow to the morale of the Qi army can be imagined.The reason why Zhu Wen rebelled against Qi and voted for Tang was not only that he ungrateful for profit, Huang Chao himself also had an inescapable responsibility. When Zhu Wen was stationed in Tongzhou, he was always in danger, and the enemy was close at hand. The east bank across the river from Tongzhou was the base camp of Wang Chongrong, the governor of the river in Tang Dynasty.Wang Chongrong had surrendered to Huang Chao before, because Huang Chao only knew how to take, but did not know how to give, which made Wang Chongrong very troubled, and soon returned to the embrace of the Tang court.This was another big mistake of Huang Chao.When the Peasant Army marched into Chang'an, nine out of ten people in various towns surrendered, and the Peasant Army felt very bullish for a while.However, these feudal towns later returned to the Tang court, and in turn became the most dangerous opponents of the peasant army.Like Li Keyong analyzed earlier, most of these feudal towns are at the ends of the first mouse, not sincerely loyal to the Tang court. For quite a period of time, they have been in a wait-and-see state.Obviously, Huang Chao didn't handle the attitude and handling of the surrendered feudal towns very well, and he didn't have the ability to deal with them.Huang Chao's resourcefulness is limited to his cleverness in mobile warfare.To really maneuver between the various feudal towns and the Tang court, one must rely not on the lowest level of guerrilla warfare, but on a series of strategies and methods such as division, disintegration, win-over, and strikes.Huang Chao's limited heroic temperament was easily lost in the endless strategies and tactics in this chaotic era where heroes coexisted.

Back to the topic.Zhu Wen had confronted Wang Chongrong many times.Wang Chongrong stationed tens of thousands of troops, Zhu Wen had few troops, and was repeatedly injured.For this reason, Zhu Wen asked Huang Chao for help many times, but his letter of asking for help was only sent to Meng Kai, the left military officer of Daqi Zhizuo.Meng Kai was also a powerful general under Huang Chao's command. He was jealous of Zhu Wen's rapid rise, so he withheld all these letters of appeal for help and did not hand them over to Huang Chao.Zhu Wen at the front didn't know that it was Meng Kai who was playing tricks behind him.He repeatedly looked forward to reinforcements, but Huang Chao in Chang'an did not respond. He did not see any reinforcements, and he did not even have a word of comfort.Zhu Wen's mood can be imagined.

Just at this time, the Tang army had 30 ships transporting grain through Xiayang (now east of Heyang, Shaanxi).Considering that the peasant army was short of food, Zhu Wen sent troops to intercept the food ship on the way.Wang Chongrong immediately sent 30,000 elite soldiers to rob food.Outnumbered, Zhu Wen had no choice but to scuttle the ship to prevent the food from falling into the hands of the Tang army again.Wang Chongrong was furious, so he surrounded the city of Tongzhou with his troops.Zhu Wen failed to break through, so he had to send someone to ask for help from Huang Chao in Chang'an.However, the petition for help was still detained by Meng Kai, who was in charge, and Huang Chao knew nothing about it.

When Zhu Wen joined the Peasant Uprising Army, he did not have lofty ideals, but only out of a selfish desire to get rich and get ahead, in order to return to his hometown as an official in the future, so as to "repay" the contempt and contempt of his neighbors for him. Married to the Zhang family whom he longed for day and night.Zhu Wen was trapped in a lonely city, unable to last for a long time, and his situation became increasingly difficult, and his heart began to waver. In the first month of the second year of Zhonghe (882), Wang Duo, Prime Minister of the Tang Dynasty, was appointed as the commander of the various road camps, responsible for organizing and launching the attack on the peasant army in Huangchao.In April, Wang Duo led the Liangchuan and Xingyuan armies to station in Lingling Temple, the Jingyuan army stationed in the west of Beijing, the Yiding and Hezhong armies stationed in Weibei, the Binning and Fengxiang armies stationed in Xingping, and the Baoda and Dingnan armies stationed in Xingping. The army stationed Weiqiao, the Zhongwu army stationed martial arts, and Tang Guanjun surrounded Chang'an again.The situation is extremely unfavorable to Huang Chao.Moreover, due to years of war, the common people hid in the mountains and built fences to protect themselves. Farming was abandoned, and the price of rice in Chang'an City soared.Huang Chao had to lead the peasant army to fight hard.In May, the troops were divided to attack Xingping, and the Binning Army and Fengxiang Army stationed in Xingping retreated to Fengtian.In July, sent Shangrang to attack Yijunzhai (now Yijun, Shaanxi), just in time for the heavy snowfall, two or three out of ten of the peasant army froze to death.The peasant army has begun to show the situation of "the army is becoming more and more tense".

Zhu Wen naturally saw all this. Xie Tong, Zhu Wen's counselor, was a loser. He had fled Chang'an under Huang Chao's rule with Wei Zhuang before, but was captured by Zhu Wen's men on the way, so he took refuge in Zhu Wen.Xie Tong took the opportunity to persuade Zhu Wen to descend to the Tang Dynasty, saying: "Huang Chao started in the grass, and only took advantage of the decline of the Tang Dynasty to occupy Chang'an. Now that the Tang court has mobilized troops from all directions and surrounded Huang Chao, he will not be emperor for long, but the power of the Tang court is getting stronger and stronger. We are in a difficult situation now, and Huang Chao will not send troops to help. You have to think about yourself The way out." Zhu Wen was still hesitating.Xie Tong further persuaded: "The general fights hard outside, but the mediocrity is inside. This is why Zhang Han betrayed Qin and returned to Chu." ("New History of the Five Dynasties Volume 1 Liang Benji") Zhu Wen looked at Xie Tong's words are reasonable and fit his own mind. In order to survive and for his own future, he finally made up his mind to surrender to the Tang Dynasty.He first killed Yan Shi, the supervisor of the Huang Chao faction, and Ma Gong, the general who opposed the surrender, and surrendered to his opponent Wang Chongrong.

Wang Chongrong didn't expect that Zhu Wen would take the initiative to surrender, and he was overjoyed.Yang Fuguang, the supervisor of Tang Zhongwu Army, thought that Zhu Wenqing had to surrender and it was difficult to win the trust, so he advocated killing Zhu Wen.Wang Chongrong disagreed, saying: "Zhu Wen's surrender is very beneficial to the court. Killing him will cut off the way for Huang Chao's generals to return to the court." So he immediately appointed Zhu Wen as the governor of Tongzhou and Huazhou, and wrote After playing the table, Xie Tong was sent to Chengdu to give it to Emperor Xizong of Tang Dynasty.Xi Zong was very happy after reading the memorial table, and seemed to see the light of hope to revive his ancestral business, and said excitedly: "This is a great gift from heaven!" Envoy, and given the name Zhu Quanzhong.At this time, Emperor Xizong had no idea that Zhu Wen was not completely loyal to him later, but to the Tang Dynasty, just like he was not loyal to Huang Chao or Daqi. The country and society of the Tang Dynasty were taken away by Zhu Quanzhong.

During the critical period of the confrontation between the peasant uprising army and the Tang army, Zhu Wen's surrender to Tang severely weakened the strength of the peasant army.After the entire territory of Tongzhou he guarded was owned by the Tang court, the shield to the east of Chang'an was completely lost, and Chang'an occupied by the peasant army was seriously threatened.However, Zhu Wen’s fall to the Tang Dynasty had a far-reaching impact. Because Zhu Wen was reused by the Tang court, the morale of the peasant army was greatly shaken, and some peasant army generals were divided and affected. After that, the peasant army generals rebelled from time to time. .And Zhu Wen himself, because he was reused by the emperor of the Tang Dynasty, after being named Zhu Quanzhong, he worked hard for the Tang Dynasty.It can be said that Zhu Wen's descent to the Tang Dynasty reversed the confrontation between the two sides.

After Zhu Wen rebelled and descended to the Tang Dynasty, Li Xiang, the governor of Huazhou who was guarding Huazhou by the peasant army, also wanted to surrender to the Tang court, but was reported by the supervisory army first. Huang Chao killed Li Xiang and appointed Huang Siye (Huang Chao's younger brother) as the governor of Huazhou.But the garrisons in Huazhou were all from Li Xiang's old army, and Huang Siye was driven out by Li Xiang's old army less than two months after taking office.Li Xiang's former troops pushed Wang Yu, the guard envoy of Huayin, to take the lead, and Wang Yu surrendered Huazhou to Wang Chongrong.The morale of the peasant army was once again severely hit.

Shortly thereafter, Shatuo Li Ke arrived at the river with a large army, and faced Huangchao's peasant army across the river.Li Keyong was twenty-eight years old at the time, young and aggressive, and was called "one-eyed dragon" at the time.The generals of the Shatuo tribe all wore black clothes and were very aggressive, known as the "Crow Army". After Li Keyong arrived in the middle of the river, the situation was extremely delicate.Since Tang Guanjun was defeated in the first battle of Gao Xun, he was very afraid of the peasant army and did not dare to fight easily.Although Qin Wang's army gradually arrived from all over the country, they did not dare to confront the peasant army.However, the Shatuo army was brave and good at fighting, and its reputation spread far and wide. Even the peasant army was very afraid. They all said: "The crow army is coming, and we should avoid its front." Shatuo's army was dressed in black and was known as the "Crow's Army".As a result, Li Ke, who traveled thousands of miles south, used the Shatuo Army to be an important military force that was related to the survival of the Tang court and Huangchao in Chang'an City.Both sides wanted to win over this vital force, so they launched fierce open and secret battles.The Tang court granted Li Keyong the command of the camp in the northeast, and Huang Chao also sent envoys to give Li Keyong a lot of money and imperial edicts to win him over. Obviously, Li Keyong was not a loyal minister of the Tang Dynasty.He had already been at war with the Tang court before, and he fled north to reach Tartar because he was defeated by the Tang court and had nowhere to stay in the Central Plains.After receiving Emperor Xizong's edict, on the way south, he had a bad relationship with Zheng Congxun, the Jiedu envoy of Hedong, so that he occupied Xinzhou and Daizhou by force, and his behavior was no different from betraying the Tang Dynasty again.Li Keyong certainly had his own purpose in going south this time.He was only twenty-eight years old, and he was a young man full of energy and high spirits.He has his own ambitions and wants to fight for his own interests.Now this moment is a critical moment. He is faced with a choice. Between the Tang court and the peasant army, he must choose a side, but this side must be beneficial to maximize his own interests. At this time, for Huang Chao, it was actually a rare opportunity.If Huang Chao can win Li Keyong for the Daqi regime, it will be tantamount to adding a powerful general, like a tiger with wings, and it will be a huge blow to the Tang court.It's a pity that Huang Chao didn't seize this opportunity. Before that, Li Keyong's younger brother, Li Kerang, served as a guard in the capital and had a gift in Chang'an Qinrenfang.On the surface, it seems that this is a gift from the Tang court, but in fact Li Kerang is acting as the proton of the Shatuo tribe.In the fifth year of Qianfu (878), when the Tang court crusade against Li Keyong and his son, Wang Chucun led troops to round up Li Keyong.Li Kerang only led more than ten cavalry to break out.More than a thousand people from Wang Chucun chased him to Weiqiao.Li Kerang shot and killed more than a hundred Tang officers and soldiers, but the pursuers did not dare to approach.Li Kerang escaped calmly and returned to Yanmen.After Xizong came to the throne, he adopted a policy of appeasement towards Li Keyong, and Li Keyong entered Chang'an again.When Huang Chao entered Chang'an, Li Kerang went to Nanshan Buddhist Temple because he was hiding from the peasant army.Seeing Li Kerang and others holding weapons, the monks in the temple thought they were robbers, and sneaked into the room in the middle of the night to kill Li Kerang.Li Kerang's servant Hun Jintong escaped and surrendered to Huang Chao in Chang'an.After Huang Chao learned about this, he sent people to capture more than ten monks from Nanshan Buddhist Temple, and sent them to Li Keyong together with generous gifts. Only now did Li Keyong know that his younger brother Li Kerang was dead, and he was very sad.He killed the monks from Nanshan Buddhist Temple sent by Huang Chao, distributed gifts to his subordinates and generals, and burned Huang Chao's edict in front of the envoys to show that he was incompatible with the peasant uprising army.Then lead the army across the river from Xiayang, and set up a military camp in Tongzhou. Huang Chao's original intention was to please Li Keyong, so he sent him to kill his brother and enemy.He obviously didn't understand Li Keyong's ambition. If he had delivered half of the promise, perhaps the result would be completely different. Before Li Ke arrived with the Shatuo Army, the Peasant Army and the Tang Guan Army had been in a stalemate. Because of excessive consumption, life was very difficult for both sides, and they were short of soldiers and food.In desperation, the peasant army and the official army actually traded secretly, changing people and eating.Under such circumstances, the armies of both sides have no combat effectiveness to speak of.This is also the fundamental reason why both the Tang Dynasty and the Daqi regime tried their best to win Li Ke to use the Shatuo Army. After Li Ke joined the battle group with the Shatuo Army, he defeated the Peasant Army one after another and became a man of the hour in the Central Plains.Huang Chao saw that the peasant army was retreating steadily, and the food in Chang'an was in short supply, so he sent 30,000 troops to strangle the Lantian Road in order to prepare for the evacuation of Chang'an. In April of the third year of Emperor Xizong's Zhonghe (883), Tang Zhuzhen soldiers encircled the capital from all directions.Li Keyong took the lead in the battle.Huang Chao led a large army to fight at Weiqiao, three battles a day, losing even one battle, other Taoist soldiers also took the opportunity to attack, and the peasant army was defeated.On the eighth day of April, Li Ke used his army to attack Chang'an. Huang Chao was defeated, so he withdrew from Chang'an overnight.At this time, it has been two years and four months since he first occupied Chang'an. In two years and four months, he did not make money, did not chase the poor, and retreated into the city. Outside the city, there were enemies who were well prepared day by day. What was Huang Chao thinking? Huang Chao's mood at this time should be quite helpless.But he didn't have much nostalgia for Chang'an.The city he admired and admired when he was young, and the city he owned after the tortuous southward and northern expeditions after raising his army, is now dilapidated, full of thorns, and foxes and rabbits.The once dense population is also very small, and the few surviving people are all panicked and distraught.Even Huang Chao himself couldn't believe it, is this still that stalwart city?At this time, he felt that his ideal had gone away from him.So, before leaving, he was furious and did one last thing for the city, ordering the palace to be burned down.The torrential fire burned away the last bit of prosperity in Chang'an. To make matters worse, after the Shatuo soldiers and Tang troops entered Chang'an, they burned, killed and looted even more frantically, resulting in a tragic scene of "there are few houses and people in Chang'an".If Huang Chao saw it, he would never swear to return to this dream city... In the confrontation between Huang Chao and the Tang court, two key figures gave him a fatal blow, which directly accelerated the defeat of the peasant army. One was the aforementioned Zhu Wen.Zhu Wen's betrayal had a great impact on the peasant army.Another key figure is Shatuo Marshal Li Keyong.Regarding the origin of Shatuo and the root of the Tang Dynasty, I have already talked about it in the article "Full City with Golden Armor".It can be said that before and after Huang Chao's defeat, Zhu Wenwen and Li Keyong controlled the situation in the Central Plains to a considerable extent. Although Huang Chao was defeated in Chang'an, his peasant army still had 150,000 people, and its strength remained undiminished.In order to paralyze Tang officials and troops, he threatened to go to Xuzhou in advance, but actually entered Shangshan (now east of Shangxian County, Shaanxi) via Lantian Pass.During the retreat, Huang Chao threw off Tang Zhuibing by throwing away gold, silver and jewels along the way, and turned to the Henan area. Although the Peasant Army was defeated in Chang'an, its vitality still remained.However, the weakness of the peasant army trapped in a corner of Chang'an and having no base has become increasingly prominent.In May of the third year of Zhonghe (883), Huang Chao sent Xiao general Meng Kai to attack Caizhou (now Runan, Henan) in order to obtain supplies for the peasant army.Meng Kai was the one who withheld the request for help because of jealousy of Zhu Wen.At that time, Caizhou Jiedu envoy appointed by the Tang court was Qin Zongquan.Qin Zongquan failed in the battle, so he simply surrendered to Huang Chao.It can be seen how chaotic the situation was at that time, the prestige of the Tang court was completely discredited, most of the feudal towns were nothing but grass, they only knew how to move with the wind and rely on the strong. After Qin Zongquan surrendered to Huang Chao, he joined forces with Meng Kai, the general of the peasant army, to attack Chenzhou (now Runan, Henan).Zhao Ji was the governor of Chenzhou in the Tang Dynasty. Zhao Ji, a native of Wanqiu, Chenzhou, was a general of the Zhongwu Army in the world, and he had accumulated meritorious service as the governor of Chenzhou.Zhao Ji was very far-sighted. He once predicted that if Huang Chao didn't die in Chang'an, he would definitely go east, and Chenzhou would bear the brunt of it.Therefore, he made preparations early, recruited soldiers and horses, stored food and grass, built fortifications, built the city and sparsed the moats, and forcibly moved the people within a radius of 60 miles of Chenzhou to the city.He also asked his younger brothers Zhao Chang and Zhao Yi, and his sons Zhao Lu and Zhao Lin to lead the army respectively to strengthen their combat readiness and guard Chenzhou. Meng Kai, the general of the Peasant Army, first moved his troops to Xiangcheng (now Shenqiu, Henan), preparing to attack Chenzhou.Zhao Ji, the governor of Chenzhou, had been on guard for a long time. He first sent a few weak soldiers to fight to show weakness to the peasant army, and then when Meng Kai was unprepared, he sent elite soldiers to attack with all his strength.Meng Kai was caught off guard, and the 10,000 troops under his command were wiped out, and Meng Kai himself was captured and killed. Meng Kai is Huang Chao's favorite general and an important leader of the peasant army.When Huang Chao heard that Meng Kai had died in battle, he was furious. He immediately gathered all his troops and attacked Chenzhou violently.The people of Chenzhou were very frightened. Zhao Ji tried his best to motivate the soldiers and civilians, and "several numbers of sharp soldiers opened the door to attack the thieves and break them" to boost morale.After Huang Chao failed to attack repeatedly, he became more angry and built fortifications on the outskirts of Chenzhou.The camp is built like a palace, and there are hundreds of official offices next to it, known as the "Eight Immortals Camp", ready to fight a protracted war. Huang Chao also ordered to reserve grain and grass. At that time, years of wars and raging wars made the people unable to produce, and the folk villages were short of food and short meals.Huang Chao's army couldn't find food everywhere, so the tragedy of cannibalism once again appeared.The peasant army built a huge stone mill, and threw the bodies of captured civilians, prisoners of war, and soldiers who died in battle into the stone mill one after another, ground them properly, and then cooked them for food, "a solar eclipse of thousands of people".The place where killing people are used as military rations is called "pound mill village". The governor of Chenzhou, Zhao Ji, was determined to die at this time. While holding on to the city, he sent people to break through and asked Li Keyong of Taiyuan and Zhu Wen of Bianzhou (now Kaifeng, Henan) for help. When Huang Chao was besieging Chenzhou, the Tang court continued to mobilize troops to completely encircle and suppress the peasant army.In July, Zhu Wen was appointed as the Xuanwu Jiedu envoy, and Jiadong recruited envoys.In September, Shi Pu, the envoy of Wuning Jiedu, was ordered to be the commander of the military and horse capital in the east.In December, Zhou Ji of Zhongwu Town, Shi Pu, Zhu Wen and others all led troops to rescue Chenzhou. In the first month of the fourth year of Zhonghe (884), Huang Chao's army was still powerful. Zhou Ji, Shi Pu and other rescuers were beaten to pieces by the peasant army.In February, Li Keyong led 50,000 Fan and Han soldiers out of Tianjing Pass, crossed the Yellow River from Puzhou and Shanzhou, and came to Chenzhou.In March, Zhu Wen captured Wazi Village of the Great Qi Army, and generals Li Tangbin and Wang Qianyu surrendered.At this time, Li Ke used Xu, Bian, Xu, and Yan to launch a full-scale offensive against the Qi army.In April, they captured Taikang (now Taikang, Henan Province), where the peasant army general Shangrang was stationed, and then attacked Xihua (now Henan Xihua), and the peasant army general Huang Siye was defeated. Seeing the military defeat, Huang Chao had to retreat to Guyangli to the north of Chenzhou, but still maintained the siege of Chenzhou. In May of the fourth year of Zhonghe (884), it rained suddenly and continuously. The water on the flat ground was three feet deep.Seeing that the general situation was over, Huang Chao had no choice but to abandon Chenzhou, which had been besieged for 300 days. The besieging of Chenzhou was Huang Chao's most serious mistake after quitting Chang'an.The peasant army not only lost the flexibility of the previous "guerrilla warfare", but also stuck in the vicinity of Chenzhou for a long time, fighting hundreds of battles, which made the peasant soldiers exhausted, and delayed the time, giving the Tang court the opportunity to dispatch troops and redeploy. Chance. After Huang Chao withdrew his troops, Li Keyong chased after him.Under the pursuit of Li Keyong, Huang Chao crossed the Bian River and attacked Zhu Wen in Bianzhou.Zhu Wen asked Li Keyong for help. Li Keyong defeated Huang Chao's main force at Wang Mandu in Zhongmoubei, Henan. Huang Chao's general Shang Rang led 10,000 people to surrender to Tang Wuning Jiedushi Shi Pu, and Huang Chao's other generals Li Di , Yang Neng, Huo Cun, Ge Congzhou, Zhang Guiba, Zhang Guihou and others surrendered to Zhu Wen.So far, the main force of the Peasant Army has lost all casualties.Huang Chao led the defeated generals to flee to the northeast, and Li Keyong chased them to Fengqiu (now Fengqiu, Henan).At this time, there was heavy rain again. Huang Chao only collected nearly a thousand scattered soldiers and rushed eastward to Yanzhou in the rain. On June 15th in the fourth year of Zhonghe (884), Shi Pu, the Jiedu envoy of Wuning, sent his general Li Shiyue to lead 10,000 troops, chasing after him with the surrendered general Shang Rang.After chasing to Xiaqiu (now Yanzhou, Shandong), Huang Chao fought the Tang army "to the death, and all of them were exhausted", and walked with his nephew Lin Yan to Xiangwang Village in Langhu Valley of Mount Tai (southwest of Laiwu, Shandong).At this time, Huang Chao was exhausted. There are different historical records about Huang Chao's ending: some historical books say that he committed suicide unwilling to be captured and humiliated; some historical books say that he asked his nephew Lin Yan to kill him;It can be deduced that the author is inclined to see that the general situation is over, and Lin Yan takes the opportunity to kill Huang Chao in order to get rich.Because Huang Chao's brothers and wives were killed at the same time, at the moment of life and death, even if Huang Chao was willing to die, his brothers would not die willingly.Afterwards, Lin Yan took the heads of Huang Chao and others and wanted to contribute to Shi Pu, the military governor of Wuning, but he met Shatuobo's wild army on the way. They killed Lin Yan and offered Lin Yan, Huang Chao and others' heads together. To Wuning Jiedu envoy Shi Pu. After Huang Chao's death, his nephew Huang Hao led the remaining 7,000 rebels to fight in the rivers and lakes, calling himself the "Wandering Army".Emperor Zhaozong broke through Liuyang (now Liuyang City, Hunan Province) and "wanted to occupy Hunan".Deng Jinsi, a local tyrant in Xiangyin (now west of Xiangyin County, Hunan Province), set up an ambush in the mountains. Huang Hao was attacked and killed. And Qin Zongquan, who had previously surrendered to Huang Chao, staged another good show of grabbing the title of emperor.Qin Zongquan, a native of Shangcai, Caizhou (now Henan), is famous for his brutality.After Huang Chao's death, Qin Zongquan also knew that it was impossible to return to the embrace of the Tang court, so he simply wanted to replace Huang Chao, so he occupied Caizhou and proclaimed himself emperor, and divided his troops into four places, burning, killing and looting wherever he went.Qin Zongquan's subordinates never carried military rations (nor did they have any), they only used vehicles to carry salt, and when they were hungry, they would plunder the common people and eat them at will.According to historical records, "From Guannei in the west, Qingqi in the east, Jianghuai in the south, and Weihua in the north, the rotten fish and birds are scattered, the human habitation is cut off, and the fields are covered by thorns and hazels."At that time, only Zhu Wenwen of Bianzhou and Zhao Ji of Chenzhou (who had married Zhu Wen at that time) guarded their respective cities and dared to confront Qin Zongquan.Zhu Wen took the opportunity to attack and defeated Qin Zongquan repeatedly.In the third year of Guangqi (887), Qin Zongquan attacked Bianzhou, and Zhu Wen defeated Qin Zongquan, making his power slightly weaker.Qin Zongquan's tyranny was unpopular, and most of his subordinates were followers of power. Seeing Qin Zongquan's defeat, they all abandoned the city and fled.Qin Zongquan later sent Guo Fan to Zhu Wen for his ministry, and was beheaded under Duliu in Chang'an. Qin Zongquan's capricious rebellious behaviors not only abounded in the troubled times of the late Tang Dynasty, but also existed throughout history in the Five Dynasties.In the troubled times, all justice and conscience are left behind, brothers kill each other, and friends turn against each other, which has become the darkest side of the troubled times. After Emperor Xizong heard the news of Huang Chao's defeat and death, he was overjoyed and held a grand capture ceremony in Daxuanlou.In addition to presenting Huang Chao's head, Shi Pu, the governor of Wuning, also had twenty or thirty concubines of Huang Chao.Seeing the beauty of these women, Xi Zong couldn't help feeling sorry for them, and asked: "You are all sons and daughters of honor, and you have received the grace of the country, how can you follow the thief?" The woman kneeling in the front replied: "The mad thief is vicious, and the country With millions of people, they lost their ancestral home and moved to Ba and Shu; now that your Majesty cannot refuse to blame a woman, where will you place the generals and ministers!" ("Zi Zhi Tong Jian Volume 256") Xi Zong originally wanted to be merciful and let these women go, but when he heard these righteous words, his face turned red, and he couldn't help but become angry from embarrassment, and ordered all these women to be beheaded. When they were about to be executed, the executioner pitied these women for their inability to control their own fate, and they were killed innocently, so they scrambled to give them medicinal wine to reduce the pain when they died.The women "wept and drank", and fell unconscious after drinking, and were killed in their sleep.Only the woman who fought back against Xi Zong face to face refused to drink medicinal wine or cry, and looked solemn when she was killed. After the defeat of Huang Chao, the Tang Dynasty has become the twilight of history, the sun is setting, and the breath is dying.After that, warlords in various feudal towns fought in a melee, and the flames broke out everywhere, and the people were in dire straits.For example, Shi Pu, the Jiedu envoy of Wuning who made great contributions in chasing Huang Chao at the end, fell out with Zhu Wen soon after, and the two began to fight for hegemony.Because the two sides fought continuously for years, the people in Xuzhou, Sizhou, and Haozhou were displaced and unable to engage in farming. In addition, floods occurred from time to time, and six or seven out of ten people died of illness and hunger.Shi Pu was unable to guarantee the needs of the war, so he was forced to ask Zhu and Wen for reconciliation.Zhu and Wen made peace on the condition that they evacuate the town of Xuzhou.After Shi Pu agreed, he was worried about being cheated and killed, so he still occupied Xuzhou and confronted Zhu Wen.In November of the first year of Jingfu (892), Zhang Fan and Zhang Jian, the governors of Haozhou and Sizhou, rebelled and returned to Zhu Wen.In February of the second year of Jingfu (893), under the pressure of Zhu Wen's army, Shi Pu asked Zhu Jin, the Jiedu envoy of Yanzhou, for help.In order to guard against Zhu Jin's reinforcements, Zhu Wen sent Huo Cun and 3,000 cavalry troops to Caozhou (now Cao County, Shandong).Zhu Jin led 20,000 troops to rescue Xuzhou. Huo Cun immediately launched an attack and joined forces with Zhu Youyu, the son of Zhu Wen, at the foot of Shifo Mountain near Xuzhou. They defeated Zhu Jin's army and Zhu Jin fled back to Yanzhou.The Xuzhou army fought again, but Huo Cun was defeated and died.Zhu Youyu besieged Pengcheng, and Shi Pu sent troops to challenge him many times, but Zhu Youyu closed his camp and refused to fight.When Zhu Jin fled at night, Zhu Youyu did not pursue him either.Zhu Yougong, Marquis of Duyu, thought that Zhu Youyu must have other plans, so he wrote to Zhu Wen.In order to prevent accidents, Zhu Wen ordered the commander of the capital to command Pang Shigu and Zhu Youyu to lead the troops, and asked Zhu Youyu to preside over the affairs of Xuzhou (now Xuchang, Henan) temporarily.Pang Shigu took the initiative to attack and captured the Shifoshan camp.Since then, the Xuzhou army dared not go out of the city to fight.In April, Zhu Wen's army had besieged Xuzhou for several months, but failed to capture it.Zhang Tao, Zhu Wen's coordinator, believed that the timing of the march was not well grasped, so it was difficult to work with all the troops.Adviser Jing Xiang believed that although the siege had taken several months and consumed a lot of human, financial and material resources, Shi Pu was exhausted from defending Xuzhou, and the capture of Xuzhou was just around the corner.Zhu Wen adopted Jingxiang's opinion and rushed to Xuzhou in person to urge Pang Shigu to conquer Pengcheng.Shi Pu and his family boarded the Swallow Tower and burned themselves to death.Since then, Xuzhou has been included in Zhu Wen's sphere of influence. Zhu Wen's attack on Shi Pu was just one of many melees.Huang Chao failed to destroy the Tang Dynasty with one hand, but the Tang Dynasty also collapsed after his failure, and China began to fall into another violent social turmoil in history.The so-called "thousands of warehouses and tens of thousands of boxes, half of which are still left after the Yellow Nest. Ever since Luo went down to station teachers and patrol soldiers into the village docks day and night", it is talking about this situation of scuffle. And Chang'an City, which Huang Chao once yearned for and nostalgia for, has once again become the main battlefield of disputes and killings.When everything settled down, there was nothing left of Chang'an's buildings, only the ruins and ruins still retained the majestic shadow of the past.This once inclusive city has been dismembered to pieces, and I don't know what order and morality are.As a result, when the founding emperor of the Song Dynasty, Zhao Kuangyin, looked westward at Chang'an when he chose the capital, he had to sigh deeply: This city, which is more famous than any other political center in history, has no possibility of becoming a capital after tens of thousands of killings. . The experience of ups and downs in Chang'an is a sad history.However, Chang'an is neither the beginning nor the end of Chinese history.The so-called "golden armor all over the city" reappeared at the end of the Ming Dynasty.On the first day of the first lunar month in 1644 AD, Li Zicheng, another well-known leader of the peasant uprising, proclaimed himself king in Xi'an (Chang'an), and his country name was Dashun, which was changed to Yongchang.Li Zicheng himself also changed his name to Li Zi "Sheng" (meaning bright and prosperous), and took the Qin Palace in Xi'an in the Ming Dynasty as the Xinshun Palace, and mobilized a large number of civilians to renovate Chang'an City, heighten and thicken the city walls, and deepen the trenches. Widened and even more magnificent than the original.At this time, it has been nearly 800 years since Huang Chao's "Golden Armor".Despite the separation of 800 years, the success and failure of the two have striking similarities.That's another story.