Chapter 22 Chapter 6: Dragon or Tiger or Empty
In August of the thirteenth year of Yizong Xiantong (872), Zhang Yichao, a hero who shook Hexi, died of illness in Chang'an, the capital.
They are all recorded as Zhang Yichao, and it can be speculated that Zhang Yichao was changed to Zhang Yichao after returning to justice.Hereby explain.
One year later, in July of the fourteenth year of Xiantong (873), Yizong died of illness, and Xizong came to the throne at the age of twelve.Eight years later, in the first year of Emperor Xizong Guangming (880), Huang Chao, the leader of the peasant army, attacked Chang'an.Thirty-five years later, in the fourth year of Emperor Ai Tianyou (907), Zhu Wen forced Ai Emperor, the last emperor of the Tang Dynasty, to abdicate.Thirty-eight years later, in the fourth year of Kaiping (910), Zhang Chengfeng, the grandson of Zhang Yichao's clan, established himself as the Jinshan Kingdom of the Western Han Dynasty, calling himself the Son of Heaven in White.
If Zhang Yichao is still alive, I don't know what kind of emotion he would feel!
Why are you talking about Zhang Yichao?Because he was Yizong's only pride in his dynasty.A nation without heroes is sad, and a nation without heroes is even more tragic.Zhang Yichao was a hero in the late Tang Dynasty.
In Xuanzong's reign, the famous general Ge Shuhan adopted the strategy of "step by step" to regain the land of the Yellow River that had been lost for many years in Tubo.In the battle with Geshuhan, Tubo was able to launch a counterattack at the beginning, but later it could only be exhausted and powerless to fight back.In the end, in the hands of Ge Shuhan, the Tang Dynasty won an all-round victory in the war against Tubo. "Geshu Song" is widely circulated in the Longyou area: "The Big Dipper is high, and Geshu carries a knife at night. Up to now, I have seen the herding horses, but I dare not pass Lintao." It fully reflects the people's trust and respect for Geshuhan. Praise.
However, during the Anshi Rebellion, the Tang court transferred a large number of frontier troops internally, and Ge Shuhan also died in the Anshi Rebellion.Taking advantage of the civil strife in the Tang Dynasty, Tubo began to move around again.In order to fight against Tubo, the Tang court established the post of Deputy Marshal of Hexi in the second year of Baoying (763) to command the remnants of the Tang army in Hexi, Beiting, and Anxi.The first Deputy Marshal of Hexi was Yang Zhilie. Under his command, the Tubo offensive was once contained.But in the first year of Yongtai (765), Yang Zhilie was killed by a rebel general, and the situation began to take a turn for the worse.In the second year of Yongtai (766), the Tibetans occupied Ganzhou and Suzhou, the important towns in Hexi.In the second year, Yang Xiuming, the successor deputy marshal of Hexi, died in battle.In this way, the Tang armies in Hexi, Anxi, and Beiting lost contact with each other and entered a situation where they were fighting on their own.Over the next ten years, Tang Jun's various fortresses in the Hexi Corridor were successively defeated by the Tubo Army due to isolation and helplessness.
Shazhou is located at the western end of the Hexi Corridor.From the fifth year of Dali (770), Shazhou was besieged by the Tubo army.At that time, all the Tang army fortresses to the east of Shazhou had been lost, so Shazhou City was in a state of isolation and helplessness.Zhou Ding, the governor of Shazhou, led the army and the people to stand firm, and at the same time asked for help from Uighur, the Tang court's ally in the Western Regions.However, reinforcements never arrived.Shazhou has been besieged for a long time, and the food and grass in the city are almost exhausted.Zhou Ding advocated burning the city walls and leading the army and civilians back to the Tang Dynasty.But his generals all disagreed, thinking that once the soldiers and civilians ran eastward, Shazhou would never be the land of the Tang Dynasty again.After a heated debate, in the end, it was known that Yan Chaohang, the envoy of the army and horses, killed Zhou Ding, and then continued to lead his troops to resist Tubo.
In order to solve the problem of grain and grass, Yan Chao posted a notice: "Leave one end of the silk, and collect a bucket of wheat." Use this method to collect grain and grass.In this way, Shazhou, a small city with only 40,000 to 50,000 people, persisted for eleven years. By the second year of Jianzhong (781), Shazhou City finally ran out of ammunition and food, and its mountains and waters were exhausted.In order to keep the people in the city safe, Yan Dynasty had no choice but to make an appointment with Qi Xin'er, the Tubo general who besieged the city, and surrendered to the Tubo army with the promise of the people of Shazhou City not to move out.So far, Shazhou, the last stronghold of the Tang Dynasty in Hexi, was broken by the Tubo army, completely losing control of the Hexi Corridor.The Beiting Protectorate was destroyed by the Tibetans in the sixth year of Zhenyuan (790), and the Anxi Protectorate was destroyed by the Tubo in the third year of Yuanhe (808), and the Tang Dynasty lost control of the Western Regions.
After the fall of Shazhou, the people of Shazhou were brutally oppressed by Tubo.The Han people were especially discriminated against. The Tubo people stipulated that the Han people in Hexi cities must bend down and bow their heads when walking on the street, and they were not allowed to look directly at the Tubo people.Yan Chao, who led Shazhou to resist Tubo's attack tenaciously before, was also assassinated by Tubo with the method of "putting poisonous boots".Under such circumstances, people's hearts miss the Tang Dynasty even more.
During the Kaicheng period (836), a mission from the Tang Dynasty went to the Western Regions, passing through Ganzhou, Liang, Gua, and Sha states. After hearing the news, the local people lined up to greet each other and asked the Tang envoy with tears, "Is the emperor still alive?" Do you want to trap the souls of the Tibetans?" "Zhang Huai Shen Bianwen" records that the envoys of the Tang Dynasty arrived in Shazhou and lamented that although Dunhuang "blocked the Han for a hundred years and fell to the west", but "the characters are weathered, and they are together in the hinterland".At this time, Hexi and the Western Regions have been occupied for decades, but the local people still regard themselves as the people of the Tang Dynasty, never forget the Tang Dynasty, and hope that one day they can return to the rule of the Tang Dynasty.
In the first year of Huichang (841) of Emperor Wuzong of Tang Dynasty, a large-scale famine occurred in Tubo.Some nobles attributed the natural disasters to Tubo's belief in Buddhism.After Tubo Zanpu Dharma came to the throne, he vigorously took measures to ban Buddhism: ordered the closure of all Buddhist temples in Tubo and burned Buddhist classics; forced all monks to return to the vulgar, and those who refused to return to the vulgar were forced to engage in occupations that violated Buddhist precepts such as butchers and hunters; Some eminent monks were also mercilessly killed.Therefore, people who believe in Buddhism in Tubo hate Xinzan Pu Dharma very much, and regard Dharma as the bull demon king descending to earth, and call him "Lang Dharma".Lang, in Tibetan, means cow.Dharma's ban on Buddha did not last long. In the second year of Huichang (842), he was stabbed to death by the Buddhist monk Lalong Beiji Dorje.
Bodhidharma had no children, but before he was assassinated, the princess was pregnant.The queen also pretended to be pregnant in order to fight for power.In the third year of Huichang (843), the princess gave birth to a son. In order to prevent the queen from snatching the child, people surrounded the child during the day and guarded it with many lights at night, so it was named Ousong, which means "light protection".Not to be outdone, the queen went outside and bought a beggar's child, coercing the courtiers to admit that it was her own, and named it Yongdan, which means "mother strong", which is what the mother insisted on.The two children were manipulated by different interest groups to compete for the Zanpu throne.The two sides refused to give in to each other and fought for many years.After the split of the royal family, the leading generals in Tubo also supported themselves and fought with each other.The Tubo Kingdom was in chaos for a while, and its power declined sharply.
However, after a period of recuperation, the Tang Dynasty recovered its national power. Seeing the chaos in Tubo, it seized the opportunity to recover the three states (Yuanzhou, Lezhou, Qinzhou) and the seven passes (Shimen, Yizang, Muxia, and Tesheng) that were trapped in Tubo. , Liupan, Shixia and Xiaoguan).A series of military victories in the Tang Dynasty greatly encouraged the people of Hexi.
Zhang Yichao is a hero of the Western Regions who emerged under such a background.Zhang Yichao was born in Dunhuang, Shazhou (now part of Gansu).The Zhang family was a state general and a big family in Shazhou.His father, Zhang Qianyi, was originally from Nanyang, and was an official to the Ministry of Industry in the Tang Dynasty.Brother Zhang Yichao's name was Zhang Yitan, who was also the father of the later famous Zhang Huaishen.Zhang Yichao has a sister, Zhang Meimei, who later became a nun, and her Dharma name was empty.The fourth nun statue of a nun in Cave 156 of the Mogao Grottoes in Dunhuang today is Zhang Meimei.
When Zhang Yichao was born, Shazhou had been ruled by Tubo for many years.Due to his personal experience of the brutal rule of the Tubo people, Zhang Yichao had great ambitions in his youth. , vowed to return to the country, with no doubts in his determination.”He admired the famous general Feng Changqing who was framed and killed by the eunuch Bian Lingcheng during the Anshi Rebellion, and once copied "Feng Changqing's Death Biao Wen" in his own hand.
Not long after the Tang court regained the three prefectures and seven passes, Tubo still feared that 5,000 cavalry would plunder the eight prefectures including Shan and Kuo in Hexi. , burned his house, and the red land was exhausted for five thousand miles."Not only did the people in Hexi indignate at the tyrannical behavior of Shangjiare, but even his subordinates were also resentful, "everyone wants to pursue it."At this time, Zhang Yichao had already begun to secretly make friends with heroes and conspire to revolt.
In the second year of Dazhong (848), Zhang Yichao saw that the time was ripe, and led the crowd to launch a vigorous uprising in Shazhou.He led his troops in armor and sharpened, and fought fiercely with the Tubo army in the city.The Han people in the city responded one after another, and everyone scrambled to fight the Tubo army.The Tubo army had not many troops in Shazhou City, and it was difficult to resist them by surprise, so they fled Shazhou in a hurry.
At this time, it has been nearly 70 years since "the spring breeze does not pass through Yumen Pass", and the Tang court knows nothing about Hexi.Zhang Yichao is completely capable of claiming the king according to the territory and dominating one side.However, after Zhang Yichao led the crowd to expel the Tubo defenders, he immediately sent envoys to Chang'an, the capital, to report victory to the Tang court.It can be seen from this that Zhang Yichao really has the heart of returning to Tang Dynasty, and he is not greedy for personal power.
The distance between Shazhou and Chang'an is thousands of miles, and Liangzhou and other places in the middle are still controlled by Tubo. It can be said that the road to the Tang Dynasty is not open at all.In order to ensure that the news was sent to Chang'an, Zhang Yichao sent a total of ten teams of messengers, each with the same documents.The messengers will go through the desert in different directions, bypass the Hexi cities controlled by the Tubo people, and then head for Chang'an.
This is a quite tragic story, its twists and turns are no less moving than any legend.After saying goodbye to Zhang Yichao and other Shazhou soldiers and civilians, the messengers bravely embarked on a difficult journey.They know very well that only a small part of them will have the chance to reach their destination, and most of them will pay the price with their lives, but they still have no hesitation, and no one turns back.
Many of the messengers were monks, among them was Wuzhen, an eminent monk from Dunhuang.This is mainly because Buddhism has a strong political, economic and social influence in the Western Regions, and it is more conducive to cover for monks to send letters.
Without exception, these ten teams of messengers entered the vast desert, ran in different directions, and each faced the test of narrow escape.This is a group of heroes who risked their lives, and most of them have not left their names.Nine of them either died under the pursuit of the Tubo army, or lost their way and were buried in the ruthless desert.Only the team heading northeast, led by the eminent monk Wuzhen from Dunhuang, finally arrived at Tiande City (now Urad Front Banner, Inner Mongolia) after going through untold hardships.The defense of the German army surprised Li Pi and was moved by these messengers who almost fell from the sky, and immediately escorted them to Chang'an with the greatest enthusiasm.With the assistance of Li Pi, Wuzhen and others arrived in Chang'an in the first month of the fourth year of Dazhong (850).At this time, two years had passed since Zhang Yichao started the uprising in Shazhou.
This dusty team of messengers moved all Chang'an people, and Chang'an officials and people rushed to the street to greet these heroes from afar with sincere cheers.
Since the Tang Dynasty completely lost Hexi in the second year of Jianzhong (781), the Hexi Corridor has become a hidden pain in the heart of the empire.No one would have imagined that in the Western Regions thousands of miles away, a hero named Zhang Yichao quietly emerged, quelling the flames of war and fulfilling the unattainable dream of the Tang court. What a surprise this is!After Tang Xuanzong heard the good news, he couldn't help but exclaimed happily: "It's a lie to be a general in Kansai." Wuzhen was later conferred the title of "Great Virtue of Lintan in the Capital" by the Tang Dynasty in recognition of his achievements.
With the story of Zhang Yichao and the ten teams of messengers, human beings can also have more confidence.There will always be heroes in history, and the extraordinary courage, will and belief of heroes, like water with a source, will never dry up.
After sending out the messenger, Zhang Yichao did not rest on his laurels, but "armoured soldiers, plowing and fighting", actively preparing for war, and gradually launched a plan to recover the cities in Hexi.Due to the continuous domestic political conspiracy and internal strife in Tubo, the rule in Hexi collapsed immediately when it encountered Zhang Yichao's strong challenge.By the fifth year of Dazhong (851), Zhang Yichao had recovered all the states and counties in the entire Hexi Corridor except Liangzhou, and the sound shook the Western Regions.
In August of the fifth year of Dazhong (851), Zhang Yichao sent messengers to Chang'an for the second time. Among them were his brother Zhang Yitan, Shazhou wealthy Li Mingda, Li Mingzhen (Zhang Yichao's son-in-law, who married Zhang Yichao's fourteenth daughter), Yaya Wu Anzheng Waited for 29 people, and presented the pictures of the eleven states in Hexi (Guazhou, Shazhou, Yizhou, Xizhou, Ganzhou, Suzhou, Lanzhou, Shanzhou, Hezhou, Minzhou, Kuozhou).So far, apart from Liangzhou, the Hexi region, which had been trapped in Tubo for nearly a hundred years, returned to the Tang Dynasty.
Since most of the states and counties in the Hexi Corridor are already under the control of Zhang Yi's Chaojun army, the trip of the messenger group to Chang'an this time was very smooth.After Tang Xuanzong received the good news, he issued an edict to praise the loyalty and meritorious service of Zhang Yichao and others. The edict said that Zhang Yichao "resisted the loyalty of loyal ministers and broke the long horns of Kunyi. The story of Dou Rong Hexi was seen in the heyday; The amazing soldiers taught by Li Ling are nothing more than righteous soldiers."Subsequently, the Tang court established the Guiyi Army in Shazhou, commanded Guasha and other eleven states, and granted Zhang Yichao the Jiedu Envoy of the Guiyi Army.
It is worth mentioning that Zhang Yitan, brother of Zhang Yichao, was kept in Chang'an as a hostage according to the usual practice, and was awarded the title of General of the Jinwu Guard.Later, when Zhang Yichao was old, he took the initiative to enter Beijing, which actually meant being a hostage.
In March of the second year of Xiantong (861), Zhang Yichao ordered his nephew Zhang Huaishen (son of Zhang Yitan) to lead 7,000 Tibetan and Han soldiers to recover Liangzhou, the last state trapped in Tubo.This was an unprecedentedly fierce battle, and there are many chapters in "Zhang Yichao Bianwen" describing this battle.When describing the battlefield, he said: "Divide the troops into two groups, and make peace in all directions. People hold white blades, and dashing cavalry vie for the first place. After a moment of peace, the fog spreads." Describe the bravery of the soldiers: "The Han family holds blades like frost and snow, and the barbarians ride the sky wide. Fleeing everywhere, the arrows in the center of the head accompany the long soil, and the blood splatters the corpses of the soldiers through the battle jacket." The description of the battle formation says: "Our army then formed a black cloud formation and rushed from all sides. Push your back and chase after him. But within fifty miles, there were killings and corpses everywhere." In the end, Zhang Huaishen won the battle.So far, the old places of He and Huang, which have been submerged for more than a hundred years, have all been recovered.
In the fourth year of Xiantong (863), the Tang Dynasty re-established the Liangzhou Jiedushi to command the six states of Liang, Tao, Xi, Shan, He, and Lin. The military town was restored again, and Zhang Yichao, the Jiedu envoy of Guiyi Army, was also in charge of Liangzhou Jiedu envoy.Since then, the Hexi Corridor has been unimpeded, and the road from Chang'an to Xiaoguan to the northwest has been completely opened up.There is a ballad in Hexi enthusiastically praising Zhang Yichao's heroic deeds, saying:
However, in the area under the control of the Guiyi Army, since Tubo has been under the jurisdiction for decades, a series of social problems left behind urgently need to be solved, which can be said to be a big mess.Faced with this complex and severe situation, Zhang Yichao first fully restored the Tang system in the area under his jurisdiction, abolished the tribal system, and rebuilt counties and townships; re-registered the population and land, compiled new household registration according to the Tang system, and formulated a new taxation system; Tang Dynasty clothing, the implementation of Sinicization.It soon made Dunhuang "weather the characters and join the mainland".These measures catered to the nostalgia for the homeland of the Tang Dynasty by the Han people in Shazhou and other places, and won the support and support of the Han people.Zhang Yichao adopts a policy of differential treatment for the ethnic minorities in the jurisdiction.Those who have been Sinicized are incorporated into the village and live together with the Han people.Those who were more Tubo-oriented partly inherited the Tubo system, still ruled in the form of tribes, and respected their customs.At the same time, official positions were granted to prominent figures of ethnic minorities to allow them to participate in the rule.These measures have also been welcomed by ethnic minorities.In this way, after Zhang Yichao's bleak management, the situation in the Hexi area has stabilized and production has been developed.
In the eighth year of Xiantong (867), Zhang Yichao's elder brother Zhang Yitan, who had been held hostage in Chang'an, died of illness. Zhang Yichao, who was already 69 years old, resolutely left Shazhou and "returned to the palace" and took the initiative to go to Chang'an as a hostage.This is the decision made by the Zhang Yichao brothers to show their loyalty to Datang.After Zhang Yichao entered the court, the court appointed him as the commander of the right Shenwu army, and gave him land and the first district in Xuanyangfang.He was also promoted to Situ.In August of the thirteenth year of Xiantong (872), Zhang Yichao died in the capital at the age of seventy-four, ending his extraordinary life as a hero.
After Zhang Yichao left the Guiyi Army, he appointed his nephew Zhang Huaishen to be in charge of the Hexi Guiyi Army affairs.However, after Zhang Yichao's death, the Tang court did not grant Zhang Huaishen Jiedu envoy, which meant that Zhang Huaishen was not recognized as Zhang Yichao's legal successor.The Tang court adopted this attitude because they were afraid that the Zhang family would suffer catastrophe like other feudal towns.
There should be many subtleties in the tense relationship between the two sides.Since Zhang Huaishen's father Zhang Yitan and uncle Zhang Yichao died as hostages in Chang'an, no key figures in the Zhang family have been held hostage in Chang'an.Zhang Huaishen had six sons, but he refused to send one son to Chang'an as a hostage. This is probably why the Tang Dynasty could not rest assured of him, which led to various open and secret fights between the two sides.
In fact, even if the Tang court did not grant Jiedu envoys, Zhang Huaishen was still the actual ruler of Hexi.At this time, the Tang court was in political chaos, with serious internal crises, and it was difficult for Bingfeng to take Hexi into account. It was actually a major mistake not to win over such meritorious officials as the Zhang family and the Hexi rich family, but to treat them blindly because of such a small problem as the proton.
For Zhang Huaishen, there is still a rather disadvantageous side without the recognition of the Tang court.At that time, at the time when great ethnic changes were taking place in the northwest region, many ethnic minority regimes such as Tubo, Uighur, Tuyuhun, Longjia, and Zhongyun were active around the Zhang Han regime centered on Shazhou. Facing the Guiyi Army poses a threat.The Tang court did not grant him the Jiedu envoy, expressing that he did not support him as a Jiedu envoy, so there must be some people in the Guiyi Army who peeped at the power, ready to move, and it was difficult for him to take care of both internal and external troubles.It can be said that the Tang court's delay in granting Zhang Huai-shen Jiedu envoy was the root cause of the turmoil in Hexi.
After that, the Uighurs in the Western Regions rebelled against Tang again and led troops to invade Suzhou, Jiuquan, and Xizhou.Zhang Huaishen led the army and people in Hexi to fight back bravely, captured the Uighur leader alive, captured more than a thousand soldiers, and played the court.The Tang court dispatched nine envoys, including Zuo Sanqi's regular attendant Li Zhongfu, and enshrined official Li Quanwei, to give Zhang Huaishen gold and silver vessels, Jinxiu Qiongzhen and other valuables. The Jiedu envoy Jingjie.However, Zhang Huaishen did not harbor resentment. Following Zhang Yichao, he tried his best to manage Hexi, repelling the invasion of Hexi by various ethnic groups many times, and his martial arts and martial arts were not inferior to Zhang Yichao.
Zhang Huaishen sent envoys to the Tang Dynasty many times, but all failed to do so.In the second year of Guangqi (887), Zhang Huaishen sent envoys to the Tang Dynasty for the third time to ask for envoys and envoys, but the Tang court still did not agree, which triggered a power struggle within the Guiyi Army.In October of the first year of Wende (888), the Tang court finally granted Zhang Huaishen the Guiyi Army Jiedu Envoy, but the contradictions within the Guiyi Army had intensified.In the first year of Dashun (890), Zhang Yichao's son-in-law and Shazhou Governor Suo Xun brazenly launched a mutiny.Zhang Huaishen, his wife, and six sons were all killed because of the elbow and armpit changes.
Zhang Huaiding, Zhang Huaiding's uncle and brother, succeeded him as Jiedushi.It's a pity that Zhang Huaiding fell seriously ill within a few days of being the Jiedu envoy.Before dying, Zhang Huaiding entrusted his orphan Zhang Chengfeng to Suo Xun.However, Suo Xun did not keep his promise to serve Zhang Chengfeng as the master, but set himself up as the Jiedu envoy of the Guiyi Army, and was quickly recognized by the Tang court.It can be seen that the conflict between Zhang Huaishen and the Tang court had reached a very deep level before.As for the various truths behind the Suo Xun mutiny, because there are few historical records in the Central Plains, it is not easy to speculate wildly, and readers can imagine for themselves.But one thing is certain, with Zhang Huaishen's reputation in Hexi, the forces behind Suoxun must be quite strong.
Zhang Yichao's fourteenth daughter, Li Shi (wife of Liangzhou Sima Li Mingzhen), was extremely dissatisfied with her brother-in-law Suo Xun's killing of Zhang Huaishen's family and seizing power in Hexi by force.The Li family supported Zhang Chengfeng as the Jiedu Envoy of the Guiyi Army, "Lai Taibao God, Gu En suppressed the death, honored the heirs, and then rectified the grandchildren."However, the three sons of the Li family served as governors of Gua, Sha, and Gan prefectures respectively, and held the real power of the Guiyi Army.In the end, the Li family didn't even do superficial articles, pushed out Zhang Chengfeng, and monopolized the power of the Guiyi Army.
The behavior of the Li family aroused the opposition of some big families in Hexi, so a coup against Li Fuzhang occurred in Shazhou.Zhang Chengfeng regained the real power of the Guiyi Army and served as the deputy envoy of the Guiyi Army Jiedu.However, the internal strife of the Guiyi Army provided an opportunity for the ethnic minorities operating around it. Ganzhou was captured by the Uighurs, and the Long family who occupied Suzhou no longer obeyed the orders of the Guiyi Army.Because Liangzhou was separated by Ganzhou and Suzhou, it was actually out of the control of the Guiyi Army.At this time, the jurisdiction of the Guiyi Army had shrunk to Guazhou and Shazhou.
In August of the third year of Guanghua (900), Emperor Zhaozong of Tang issued an edict to ratify the fait accompli. The edict said: "Before the system was established, the Deputy Envoy of Jiedu of the Yi Army, Quanzhi Bingma Liuhou, Doctor Yinqing Guanglu, and the inspector The son of the state sacrificed wine, supervised the censor, and Zhang Chengfeng of Shangzhu State was the regular attendant of the inspector Zuo Sanqi, and also served as the governor of Shazhou and the doctor of the censor. Abbot will wait for the emissary."
Until the reign of Tianfu, Zhang Chengfeng was still serving as the governor of Hexi.In the Tianyou period, Zhu Wen took the emperor to command the princes, and the lords competed in the Central Plains. The Tang Dynasty existed in name only.In the fourth year of Kaiping (910), Zhang Chengfeng saw the fall of the Tang Dynasty, so he established himself as the emperor in white, and established the name of Jinshan Kingdom in the Western Han Dynasty. "West" refers to the location of the country, taking China as the coordinate; "Han" refers to the attributes of the country's ethnicity; "Jinshan", also known as Jin'anshan, is located in the southwest of Dunhuang, which is the Altun Mountain at the junction of the three provinces of Gansu, Qinghai and New Zealand.It can also be inferred from the name of the country that the descendants of the Zhang family still do not forget that they are descendants of the Han nationality.
After Zhang Chengfeng established the Jinshan Kingdom, he was unwilling to sit and guard the two states of Guasha, and wanted to use force to restore the old frontiers when the Guiyi Army was prosperous.However, he forged ahead and wanted to regain the lost ground, but he was repeatedly defeated in the war.Years of wars have caused the economy of the Guasha area to wither, and many people's homes have been destroyed. "There are endless wailing and resentment" in the territory.It is impossible to restore the glory of the ancestors.
In the year when Jinshan Kingdom was established, the Uighurs attacked it many times in an attempt to kill Jinshan Kingdom in its infancy.Once, the defense line on the eastern border of Dunhuang was breached, and the Uighur army commander drove straight in, and set up camp in the east of Dunhuang city.The emperor of Jinshan Kingdom personally put on his armor and went into battle. The famous generals Yin Rengui, Song Zhongcheng, Zhang Sheren and others fought hard to drive the invading Uighurs back to Ganzhou.
A year later, the Uighurs aggressively attacked the Jinshan Kingdom. Due to years of wars and the weakening of their national strength, the Jinshan Kingdom had to form an alliance with the Uighurs: the Uighur Khan was the father, and the Jinshan Emperor was the son.From then on, Zhang Chengfeng was forced to cancel the title of "Western Han Jinshan Kingdom" and the titles of "White Emperor of Shengwen Shenwu" and "Son of Heaven". Dunhuang Kingdom.Zhang Chengfeng's surrender to the Uyghur completely lost his prestige in the Hexi area.
In the fourth year of Qianhua (914), Cao Rengui (later renamed Cao Yijin) of another big family in Shazhou, the Cao family, replaced Zhang Chengfeng, abolished Jinshan Kingdom, removed the title of Wang, and restored the title of Guiyi Army. Called Guiyi Army Jiedushi.Since then, the Guiyi Army regime has been in the hands of the Cao family.
Cao Rengui has extremely brilliant diplomatic skills and is very good at seeing stitches.After he appointed himself as the Jiedu Envoy of the Guiyi Army, he immediately sent envoys to Ganzhou to ask for a wife from the Uighur Khan.In the fourth year of Zhenming (918), Cao Rengui sent envoys to Houliang and received a gift.In the third year of Tongguang (925), Cao Rengui took advantage of the change of Uighur Khan in Ganzhou to carry out a conquest and make him submit.The newly established Uighur Khan married Cao Rengui's daughter and became Cao Rengui's son-in-law.
Due to Cao Rengui's proper handling of internal and external relations, the strength of the Guiyi Army at this time has recovered.In the second year of Changxing (931), Cao Rengui was known as "Linggong" and "King Tuoxi", and he returned to the Yi army to become an independent kingdom.Afterwards, Cao Rengui also married his daughter to Li Shengtian, King of Khotan.
In the second year of Qingtai (935), Cao Rengui died of illness, and his son Cao Yuande succeeded to the throne.Shazhou's envoys who entered the Central Plains were robbed in Ganzhou, and the relationship between the Guiyi Army and the Uighurs in Ganzhou broke down.In the fourth year of Tianfu (939), Cao Yuande died, and his younger brother Cao Yuanshen succeeded to the throne. Cao Rengui's wife (Princess Uighur) held the real power of the Guiyi Army and was called "the mother of the country".After that, Shazhou and Ganzhou Uighurs were repaired.
In the ninth year of Tianfu (944), Cao Yuanshen died, and his younger brother Cao Yuanzhong came to the throne.Cao Yuanzhong was the one who ruled the longest among the Jiedu envoys of the Guiyi Army, and it was also a period of relatively prosperous culture.Cao Yuanzhong actively developed the relationship with the surrounding ethnic groups, and kept in touch with the Later Jin, Later Han, Later Zhou and Northern Song Dynasties in the Central Plains, enabling the Guazhou area to survive and develop in the complex ethnic relations of the Five Dynasties and the early Song Dynasty.
In the seventh year of Kaibao (974), Cao Yuanzhong died, and his nephew Cao Yangong came to the throne.Nine years (976), Cao Yangong died, and his younger brother Cao Yanlu came to the throne.
After Cao Yuanzhong, the Guiyi Army regime began to gradually decline.During this period, the Uighur forces in the Shazhou area developed rapidly and became an important force to contend with the regime of the Guiyi Army, and contradictions also appeared within the Guiyi Army.In the fifth year of Xianping (1002), the Guiyi Army fought against the Ganzhou Uighurs again, which caused dissatisfaction among the people in Guasha.A mutiny broke out within the Guiyi Army, Cao Yanlu and his younger brother Yanrui were forced to commit suicide, and his son Cao Zongshou came to the throne.The Song court recognized Cao Zongshou.But at this time, the Guiyi Army had already begun to communicate with Liaotong.
In the third year of Jingde (1006), the Muslim Black Khan Dynasty destroyed the Buddhist Khotan Kingdom.When the news spread to the Shazhou area, the monks in the monastery were very frightened.Because at this time, the Guiyi Army regime was already vulnerable, and any external attack and internal turmoil would be enough to overthrow it.Under the threat of Islam's eastward advance, some monasteries in Mogao Grottoes gathered important scriptures, Buddha statues, banner paintings, etc., hid them in hidden caves, and closed the cave entrances.Afterwards, due to the successive deaths of the parties involved and the insiders, the secrets of the Buddhist scripture cave gradually became unknown and were lost in the long river of history.This is the origin of the Dunhuang "Scripture Cave" discovered by later generations.In the seventh year of Dazhong Xiangfu (1014), Cao Zongshou died, and his son Cao Xianshun came to the throne. In 1036, Xixia captured Shazhou, and the regime of Guiyi Army basically ended.