Chapter 38 Difficult to resist the rebels tired of fleeing for their lives
Huang Chao's soldiers invaded Chang'an, and the situation was critical.At this time, Emperor Xizong thought that the Tang army was quite powerful, and Prime Minister Wang Duo offered to ask for a fight, and he agreed without hesitation.But this Prime Minister is a waste who can only talk big.This person is particularly afraid of his wife, he is a "strict wife", but he still has a wicked heart, and always wants to find a few concubines to have a good time.So, taking advantage of the opportunity to conquer Huang Chao, he left the wife of the main house in the capital, and found a few beauties to hug him left and right.While he was having a good time, somehow the wife of the main house found out the news, knocked over the vinegar vat, and brought a few maidservants to the front line to interrogate him.When Wang Duo heard that his wife was coming, he was frightened to death, so he asked his staff to discuss: "Huang Chao is going north, and Madam is going south again, what should you do?" Seeing that he was so useless, the staff joked with him: "Madam Since you are so powerful, my lord might as well surrender to Huang Chao, so as to avoid Madam's attack." How can such a treasure as the commander-in-chief fight well, and he was soon defeated by Huang Chao.Then Huang Chao attacked Tongguan all the way like a broken bamboo.Those imperial troops led by eunuchs usually eat, drink, have fun, and neglect training. How can they be the opponents of Huang Chao's peasant army.Huang Chao's army quickly reached Chang'an City, and it was only a matter of time before they broke through Chang'an City.
Tang Xizong panicked when the peasant army approached the city.Seeing that the general situation was over, he ignored his ancestor's foundation and asked Tian Lingzi to select hundreds of soldiers from the Shence Army to protect him. He took four princes and eight favored concubines with him, and fled secretly from the west gate of Chang'an while taking advantage of the chaos. .At this time, Tang Xizong's advantage of being good at riding and shooting finally came in handy.He runs faster than a rabbit, "running all night long".But fortunately, he ran fast, because that afternoon, Huang Chao broke into Chang'an.
Xi Zong did not notify the officials of his escape, and many court officials did not have time to leave.So Huang Chao's army killed all these ministers.Prime Minister Lu Xie committed suicide by drinking medicine, and his body was dragged out of the coffin and displayed in pieces.Huang Chao's army also killed all the Tang clan who stayed in Chang'an, and burned, killed and looted, making Chang'an city terrified.In this regard, Wei Zhuang has a vivid description in his long poem "Qin Fu Yin":
The situation in Chang'an City is very miserable, and Tang Xizong's life is not easy.They fled in such a hurry that they didn't even have time to find the horse.On the way, they met more than a dozen cavalrymen from the Tang Dynasty. They shouted to the emperor: "Huang Chao was originally for the emperor to eliminate traitors. Now that the emperor is moving west, what hope do the elders in Guanzhong have? I hope that your majesty will return to Chang'an soon." Tian Lingzi listened to them. If the "treacherous ministers" came out, who else would there be besides himself, so he hurriedly ordered the guards to kill those soldiers.Fortunately, Huang Chao was so complacent when he invaded Chang'an that he didn't send troops to chase him.Tang Xizong ran to Xingyuan (now Hanzhong) in one breath, where he ordered the national soldiers and horse kings to recover the capital.However, the location of Xingyuan was remote, and the reserves of money and food were small. As the civil and military officials of the Tang Dynasty came one after another, Emperor Xizong's courtiers began to feel financial difficulties.Tian Lingzi took the opportunity to persuade Emperor Xizong to take refuge in Sichuan.
Sichuan was the traditional refuge of the emperors of the Tang Dynasty. Since Emperor Xuanzong of Tang Dynasty ran here during the Anshi Rebellion, the emperors all fell in love with this place. Afterwards, Emperor Daizong and Emperor Dezong of Tang Dynasty also came here to escape the military chaos.But Tian Lingzi let Xizong go here to better control him.Because Chen Jingxuan, the Jiedu envoy of Sichuan, that is, the guy who won this official position by playing games, is Tian Lingzi's confidant.Xi Zong was worrying about the hard life, and when he heard that Sichuan was rich in products, he agreed wholeheartedly.After going through untold hardships, Xi Zong and his party arrived in Chengdu, and finally found a place to stay.
It's just that although life in Chengdu is stable, it can't compare to the prosperity of Chang'an.Xizong lost so many fun things, so he had to drink and gamble with his concubines, and sometimes he would cry when thinking about his life in Chang'an.Tian Lingzi came to comfort him, saying that the emperor was wise, and the Huangchao bandit army would be wiped out soon.Make the emperor happy, so that he can take power calmly.Since his confidant was serving as Jiedu envoy here, Tian Lingzi felt that this was his sphere of influence, so he began to act recklessly.The property from various tributes was distributed to the army that followed him into Sichuan, but there was no reward for the Sichuan army that actually protected Emperor Xizong. This made the Sichuan army extremely dissatisfied. Some people gathered a crowd to raise troops, and immediately received a lot of response. Chen Jingxuan managed to suppress it. .Through this incident, the leading generals from all over the country saw that the emperor was fatuous, so why should they work for him, so they each made their own calculations and started to manage the autonomous territories.It laid the groundwork for the great split of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms.
However, Huang Chao's army lost the support of the general public due to wanton killing and plundering in Chang'an, and turned from victory to defeat.The advantage of the peasant army is its flexibility, but he stayed in Chang'an, and was soon surrounded by Qin Wang's army from all over the country, and he was in a passive situation.In September of the second year of Zhonghe (882), Zhu Wen, the most powerful general under Huang Chao, surrendered to the Tang Dynasty and became the main force to suppress the peasant army.Tang Xizong was overjoyed about this, thinking it was "a gift from God", and gave Zhu Wen the name Zhu Quanzhong.But Emperor Xizong did not expect that this Zhu "Quanzhong" was not loyal at all, and in the end he was the one who took away the country and society of the Tang Dynasty, but this is a later story.Shatuo nobleman Li Keyong also led his troops to help the court, defeated Huang Chao's army, and invaded Chang'an in April of the third year of Zhonghe (883), driving Huang Chao out.So, after Tang Xizong spent four years in exile in Sichuan, he finally returned to the dilapidated city of Chang'an.
It is said that Huang Chao's rebellion against the Tang Dynasty was completely forced by Tang Xizong's tyranny, but Tang Xizong did not reflect on his own mistakes. Instead, he put on the emperor's prestige to those women who were forced to become Huang Chao's concubines, and asked them: "You are all The sons and daughters of high-ranking officials have been honored by the state for generations, so why do you submit to the rebels?" At this time, a woman in charge replied, "The rebels are unstoppable. There are millions of troops in the imperial court. How can you get them?" The ancestral temple fell, and he fled to Bashu to take refuge. Now His Majesty blames us women for not being able to resist the bandit army, so where are we going to put those officials and generals!" The emperor was so choked by her that he could not speak. They were all tied to the street market and killed.The citizens of Chang'an sympathized with their experience and sent them drinks one after another.Many of them were crying and getting very drunk because of their grief and fear.Only the woman who talked back to the emperor neither cried bitterly nor drank, and looked solemn until she was executed.In such a comparison, the insight and integrity of the emperor of the Tang Dynasty is obviously not as good as that of a little girl.
However, Xi Zong had grown up a bit after fleeing, and was no longer a kid who only wanted to play.He began to be dissatisfied with Tian Lingzi's dictatorship, but although this "father" could coax him when he was playing, he would not give up any power when it came to his hands.In the end, because of the power struggle with General Wang Chongrong, Wang Chongrong joined forces with Li Ke to attack Chang'an, and Tian Lingzi once again hijacked Tang Xizong and fled.
The group fled to Fengxiang first, and Tian Lingzi wanted to go to Chengdu again, but Emperor Xizong had already sensed his monopoly, so he flatly refused.So he hijacked the emperor and ran to Baoji, and later to Xingyuan. At this time, the emperor refused to leave without saying anything, so he stayed there.Seeing that the emperor ran away again, all the court officials were completely disappointed in him and didn't bother to chase after him.Jiedu envoys from all over the country were also very dissatisfied with Tian Lingzi's monopoly, and many people targeted him.In October of the second year of Guangqi (886), Jiedu envoy Zhu Mei hijacked Xiang Wang Li Rong to Chang'an and made him a puppet emperor, which added new chaos to the already chaotic political situation.For a while, the old and new emperors began to compete for influence, and after all Tang Xizong was the "orthodox" place, and he was even better.Wang Chongrong and Li Keyong turned to support Tang Xizong, killed Xiang Wang Li Rong, and passed on to Xinghua, where Tang Xizong lived.
After a lot of trouble, Tian Lingzi was also demoted to Sichuan.Tang Xizong was about to return to Chang'an.But when he ran away, he was too hasty, and even lost all the tablets of the ancestors of the Tang Dynasty.Xizong felt that it was difficult to explain to his ancestors after returning, so he decided to send people to Chang'an to repair the Taimiao, remake the tablets, and temporarily stay in Fengxiang.At the beginning of February in the first year of Wende (888), Xi Zong fell seriously ill, so he ordered his car to return to the capital quickly.A month later, Xi Zong passed away at the age of 27.Although he escaped from the capital twice before his death, he was lucky enough to "end his life" in the Wude Hall in Chang'an Palace.The two emperors after him didn't have this luck, and they all died at the hands of his "loyal minister" Zhu Quanzhong.Twenty years after his death, Jiangshan Sheji of the Tang Dynasty was also replaced by Zhu Quanzhong, and the Back Liang was established. Since then, Chinese history has entered the period of Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms.