Chapter 43 4. General Soaring to the Sky

Let's talk about Wang Xianzhi after the separation. The envoy Song Wei still drove Wang Xianzhi unhurriedly, Wang Xianzhi couldn't stand him, he just wanted to be recruited, but the cat still refused to accept the surrender.According to the prime minister, Zheng Tian, ​​Wang Xianzhi begged for surrender seven times, but the cat put it aside. It was not easy for Wang Xianzhi to establish a relationship with Yang Fuguang, the eunuch who recruited the deputy envoy, and sent his deputy Shang Junchang to lead a delegation to negotiate in person, but was stopped by Song Wei's troops. "Captives" were captured on the battlefield.The imperial court didn't understand, so they killed Shang Junchang and his gang in a daze.At the beginning of 1878, Wang Xianzhi turned to Jingnan and invaded the outer city of Jiangling. He was defeated by Tang Zengyuanyu's army in Shenzhou.This time, it's true.

The rest of Wang Xianzhi's troops scattered across the Yangtze and Huaihe Rivers, some defected to Huangchao, some made their own way, and some surrendered to the imperial court, sowing a large number of seeds of troubled times. Relatively speaking, Huang Chao's life is easier.At the beginning of 1877, Huang Chao, who had returned to Shandong, was very active. First, he attacked Yunzhou, the capital of the Tianping Army, and killed the hapless Jiedu envoy Xue Chong.However, the Tang army in Shandong was still relatively strong. Huang Chao turned to Henan and joined forces with Shang Junchang's younger brother Shang Rang to guard Chaya Mountain (now west of Suiping County, Henan).

In July, Huang Chao cooperated with Wang Xianzhi for the last time, and joined forces to attack Songzhou. The two mice teamed up and surrounded the old cat Song Wei.During the siege of Songzhou, there was a major event worth mentioning: Two brothers came to join Huang Chao's command-this, is this an event?Well, because one of them became more famous later: Po Zhusan, the future Taizu of the Later Liang Dynasty, the first person in the history of the Five Dynasties, and he is 26 years old this year. But a cat is a cat after all, Song Wei gritted his teeth and defended the center of Songzhou to blossom, and Tang troops from all walks of life approached one after another.General Zhang Zimian of Youweiwei led the Zhongwu Army with 7,000 troops to help, and defeated the Cao army at the foot of Songzhou City, killing more than 2,000 people. Huang Chao and Wang Xianzhi withdrew their troops and withdrew.

In the following year, Shang Junchang was killed by Song Wei, Wang Xianzhi was defeated and killed Huang Mei, and Shang Rang led his remnant troops to join Huang Chao. Everyone promoted Huang Chao as the king, also known as "General Chongtian", changed his name to "Wang Ba", and set up an official subordinate. . This series of titles is very interesting. Establishing an independent national institution is of course a sign of opposition to the Tang Dynasty, but changing the name to "Wang Ba" is a sign of lack of confidence in the anti-Tang Dynasty. The titles of "emperor", "wang" and "ba" are all lower than the title of "emperor".For example, the monarchs in the Sixteen Kingdoms era were not qualified to be called "emperors", so they took a step back and called them "kings", such as "Da Zhao Tianwang", "Da Qin Tianwang" and so on.Huang Chao's "king and tyrant", Fan Wenlan said that he "could not seek the king, but he can also seek hegemony", with both ends, not determined to overthrow the ruling foundation of the Tang Dynasty, this statement is accurate.

Huang Chao and Shang Rang joined forces to become the queen, and once again broke through Puzhou and Yizhou. Tang assembled a large army to encircle and suppress Huang Chao.The price offered by the imperial court is: go to Yunzhou to disband the army, and I will be awarded the right guard general.Huang Chao's bottom line was the Jiedu envoy with military power, so he would naturally not agree. He turned around and went to Henan to attack Songzhou and Bianzhou. Over the past few years, Wang Xianzhi and Huang Chao have been migrating along the edge of the Central Plains like this, and it has become a habit.The wars over the years have greatly damaged the economy of the Central Plains, and it has been difficult to raise enough supplies in the countryside. Siege of the city can replenish supplies, but the casualties are heavy, and it may not be possible to capture them.Moreover, the Tang army has also mastered the law of action of the Cao army, and has laid a lot of nets in the Central Plains.Continuing to follow the old path can only lead to a dead end.

Huang Chao had to turn his eyes to the prosperous south. In 1878, at the end of March, Huang Chao led his troops across the Yangtze River, entered Jiangxi, and successively captured Qian, Ji, Rao, Xin and other states.In August, Huang Chao turned to attack Xuanzhou again, but due to Tang Xuanshe's observation, Wang Ning resisted tenaciously and failed.So he led his troops into the east of Zhejiang, and the soldiers pointed directly at Lin'an. On the outskirts of Lin'an, Huang Chao's vanguard was once ambushed by local miscellaneous troops, losing a leader and dozens of people.Small battles like this happen almost every day, so there is nothing surprising about it.It was only because Qian Poliu, a small officer who commanded this battle, was more promising later on, so this battle is eligible to be included in the history.

Qian Poliu led more than 20 brothers in ambush on the side of the narrow mountain road. Huang Chao's vanguard could only ride through alone. Ten people scared the enemy away. "New History of the Five Dynasties" said that his small army of more than 20 people "beheaded hundreds of levels", which seems a bit too exaggerated.However, Qian Poliu also knew that his capital was worthless, so he quickly moved his troops to the nearby "Babaili" (note: place name), and even greeted the old lady on the roadside. If the thief came after him, he would say "" The soldiers in Lin'an are stationed for eight hundred miles."

Cao Jun, who had suffered a loss, gathered a group of people to retaliate. When he heard that "Lin'an was stationed for eight hundred miles", he was shocked: We still have to suffer from dozens of people, let alone "eight hundred miles"?So the soldiers were rushed, and Lin'an was saved.Fighting in your own home, even the table and benches will help - the so-called "time is not as good as the place" is like this.History does not tell us whether the future Liang Taizu and King Wuyue will fight this time.That's the real Enter the Dragon. Gao Pian, the governor of the capital, was overjoyed when he heard the news of the victory. He summoned Qian Poliu and his boss Dong Chang in person, and gave them a big promotion—this became the promotion rank for these two tyrants in troubled times.

what's next?In a few years, the two of them will fight Liu Hanhong, the general under Wang Xianzhi, the Yuezhou observation envoy, and wipe out his whole family.In a few years, Dong Chang will proclaim himself emperor in a daze.Qian Poliu got rid of this old boss and comrade-in-arms who only knew how to roll dice, and she finally came out on top.He was named "King of Pengcheng County", "King of Yue" and "King of Wu" successively. When Zhu Wen proclaimed himself emperor, he was also named "King of Wuyue".He is the longest-serving country among the ten countries, ranking second, and the founder of Wuyue Kingdom: Qian.Today's Qiantang River is named after his surname.

Huang Chao's loss under Lin'an City was not great, but it caused an illusion, which made him give up the idea of ​​attacking Lin'an.He turned south and opened up mountain roads for 700 miles. In December, he captured Fuzhou and plundered surrounding cities. Huang Chao wrote letters to Cui, the Observation Envoy of East Zhejiang in the north, and Li Tiao, the Jiedu Envoy of Lingnan Dongdao in the south, hoping that they would petition the imperial court for peace on his behalf. Military Jiedushi.The two men were afraid that Huang Chao would attack them, so they both expressed their willingness to help, and begged the court for official positions on his behalf.The imperial court believed that the position of the Tianping Army was important, and was afraid that Huang Chao would become bigger after returning, so he disagreed.Prime Minister Lu brought a new price: to lead the government, to be a subordinate official of the crown prince of the fourth rank-this is simply a challenge to Huang Chao.

Huang Chao was still waiting for the court's reply, but the army of Zhenhai Jiedu envoy Gao Pian arrived first.Huang Chao's headquarters was fine, but the troops sent out to plunder suffered a great loss. Dozens of generals Qin Yan, Bi Shiduo, Li Hanzhi, Xu and others surrendered.Li Hanzhi is the unlucky guy who has no food to eat when he is a monk, and still has no food to eat when he is a beggar.But in a few years, he will also be a warlord, and he is eligible to participate in the Central Plains Hero Dragon War.Qin Yan and Bi Shiduo will cause unrest in Huainan, and Gao Pian will also die at their hands—one of the Ten Kingdoms, Huainan overlord Yang Xingmi's Wu Kingdom, they have indirect credit for the founding of the country.Xu also caused Yang Xingmi a lot of trouble. Of course, this is all many years later. Under the pressure of Gao Pian, Huang Chao led his troops to the south and marched towards Guangzhou.This time he simply made a statement to the imperial court, exiled himself to Lingnan, and begged the imperial court to appoint him as the Jiedu envoy of Guangzhou.In the end, what he received was a report from the fourth-rank "Leader" who was wrong with his head and mouth--Lao Huang was so angry that he scolded the prime ministers one by one. In September 1879, Huang Chao, who was furious, broke through Guangzhou in one day and captured Li Tiao, the Jiedu envoy.What happened next is not recorded in detail in Chinese history books, but it is said that Arab history books did record some. In this paragraph, let's quote historical data first! "Cambridge History of China's Sui and Tang Dynasties" said: "Huang Chao killed the brave Li Tiao, and ransacked Guangzhou in a rage, turning this large port into ruins. Some materials estimate that the dead were as high as 120,000, most of them They were foreign businessmen from Southeast Asia, India, Persia and the Arab world, and the total population of Guangzhou at that time was about 200,000. Many Chinese fled to Fujian. Assad, a famous Arab businessman from the port of Sirab at that time, described in detail the attack on Guangzhou The scene of barbaric destruction.” Huang Chao slaughtered a large number of Muslims, Jews, Christians, and Zoroastrians in Guangzhou, and plundered the treasures and various luxury goods sold by the merchants. Historians find it difficult to understand this. Although Huang Chao himself was a Confucian student, Confucianism does not extremely reject other religious ideas. Such a tragic massacre does not conform to the logic of Confucianism.Mr. Fan Wenlan said: "Many believers and businessmen are obvious exploiters. Huang Chao has his own reasons for killing businessmen and believers, but there may not be such a large number of foreigners in Guangzhou. If there are so many people, the people will suffer even more. , then Huang Chao's reason is even more sufficient." This can be regarded as an explanation, bearing the imprint of Xuanming's era.As far as this explanation itself is concerned, it can be regarded as a historical witness.