Chapter 29 Chapter 22: The Ninth Century

This century is a dark century, the country scuffles. All the war zones are on par with the four towns of Heshuo. At first, only a few succeeded, but later all of them achieved their goals.Those nameless but real independent kingdoms are constantly annexing and expanding each other.The area controlled by the central government is like a block of ice under the scorching sun. In the end, only the capital Chang'an (Xi'an, Shaanxi) remains. The power of eunuchs grew at the same time as the feudal towns, and finally China's second era of eunuchs appeared, and the Tang government was dying.

The deterioration of the separatist rule of a feudal town The hereditary situation of the feudal towns (war zones) originally had only four towns.Since Li Shi, the twelfth emperor of the Tang Dynasty in the last century (eighth), lost control, other Jiedu envoys (commanders) have worked hard to cultivate their own personal power, hoping to separate one side. Li Shi's grandson, Li Chun, ascended the throne in 805 of this century (9), determined to complete his grandfather's failed attempt to restore central authority.In 806, Liu Pi, the Jiedu Envoy of the Xichuan Theater (Chengdu, Sichuan) asked to concurrently serve as the Jiedu Envoy of the Dongchuan Theater (Zizhou, Santai, Sichuan) and the Shannan Xidao Theater (Xingyuan, Hanzhong, Shaanxi), but Li Chun refused. , Liu Pi immediately attacked Zizhou and forcibly took it over.In the same year, Han Quanyi, the Jiedu envoy of the Xiasui war zone (Xiazhou·North of Jingbian, Shaanxi), retired. In the following year (806), his nephew Yang Huilin planned to take over as Jiedu envoy, but Li Chun refused. The new Jiedushi.Next year (August 7), Li Chunzheng transferred Li Fengqi, the Jiedu envoy of the Zhenhai theater (Runzhou · Zhenjiang, Jiangsu), into the court, but Li Fengqi refused to accept the order.

Li Chun dealt with the three traitors with an iron fist, and the troops loyal to the central government fought separately.As a result, Liu Pi was captured and sent to Chang'an for execution.Yang Huilin was killed by her subordinates.Li Jingqi was defeated, captured alive by his subordinates, and surrendered to the Central Committee.Liu Pi was the first Jiedu envoy to be executed for rebelling against the central government in the fifty years after the Anshi Mutiny, which refreshed the whole country.In 814, Wu Shaoyang, the governor of Zhangyi War Zone (Caizhou · Henan Runan), died of illness. His son Wu Yuanji succeeded to the throne, but the central government refused to recognize it and ordered a crusade.After three years of fighting, Wu Yuanji was finally captured alive and sent to Chang'an for execution. This was the second Jiedu envoy who was executed for resisting the central government.A series of victories in purging Gangji shocked the four towns of Heshuo. They immediately canceled the hereditary inheritance and handed back the administrative wealth and power.One of the four towns, Li Shidao, the governor of the Pinglu theater (Yunzhou·Shandong Dongping), donated three prefectures to the central government.But he immediately regretted that he had lost too much land, so he changed his mind temporarily, and the central government attacked him again, and Li Shidao was killed by his subordinates.

Until now, the authority of the central government has reached its peak, and normal political order has been restored.However, this was just a flashback. In the next year (August 20) when the Pinglu theater was destroyed and the country was reunified, Li Chun was stabbed to death by an eunuch, and his son Li Heng succeeded him.Li Heng is a flamboyant young man, his father lost all the achievements of years of hard work in almost an instant.The three towns of Lulong (Beijing), Chengde (Zhengding, Hebei), and Weibo (Daming, Hebei) in the Heshuo area, when they found that the central government was corrupted, they first resumed their actual independent kingdoms, and other towns also gradually resumed separatism or The half-separatist regime is in its original state.

The war zone defies the central government, the commander defies the supreme commander.The commander himself is in danger of being resisted by his subordinates because he has lost the legitimate power to rule.In fact, this is also the case. There are continuous rebellions within the feudal towns, and the generals will suddenly attack the Jiedushi to support another general as Jiedushi, and expel or kill the old master.In order to prevent internal rebellion, Jiedushi adopted a policy of thoroughly obscuring the people. In the war zone under his jurisdiction, people's wedding and funeral banquets, as well as daily worship of gods and temples, were all prohibited.Relatives and friends are not allowed to have too many exchanges.Intellectuals all have the idea of ​​great unification, which has a negative impact on the form of separatism, so they have become targets of persecution, and schools have been closed.It also restricted external traffic and cut off business travel.The purpose of this is to isolate the theater, and everyone in the theater is also isolated. Isolation means that we cannot gather strength.As a result, the social economy, education and culture were completely destroyed.Especially the four towns of Heshuo!It has become a wilderness, no one in the society reads, the people are illiterate, commerce is dying, production is at a standstill, and the degree of dilapidation is even worse than that of the Five Hu and Nineteen Kingdoms in the era of great division.

However, the law of history is that pure coercion cannot stop mutiny.The resistance incidents within the feudal town - mainly the mutiny - continued to occur, which further expanded the scope of the melee. 2. The Second Eunuch Era in China In addition to the feudal towns, there were also eunuchs that contributed to the collapse of the Tang Dynasty. Since the first eunuch era in the second century, the influence of eunuchs was only an isolated phenomenon in the six hundred years.It was not until the last century (eighth) that there was a breakthrough. Gao Lishi, the first famous eunuch in the Tang Dynasty, was the personal attendant of Li Longji and his concubine Yang Yuhuan. Because he was too close to the magic wand of power, although Gao Lishi didn't like politics, his power still shocked the government and the public.Even the crown prince Li Heng called him "Second Brother", and the princess consort respectfully called him "Old Master".But it was the Anshi mutiny that really unveiled the imperial curtain of the eunuch era.After the Anshi Mutiny, the emperor was full of suspicion of the generals and only trusted the eunuchs.So he invented a system of supervising the army that has been used for almost a thousand years since then, and sent eunuchs to serve as the supervising army.Not only the war zone has a supervising army, but also military units that are two or three levels smaller than the theater have a supervising army.Two systems were formed in the armed forces, one was the traditional military system, and the other was the eunuch system that could directly reach the emperor's throne.Supervising the army's task, on the surface, is to help solve difficulties, but in fact it is to prevent mutiny.

Therefore, supervising the army is an authoritative position, and a report can make the commander's head fall.Gao Xianzhi, the first commander of the central government to crusade against Anlu Mountain, and Feng Changqing, the deputy commander, were both beheaded because they could not satisfy the blackmail of Bian Lingcheng, the eunuch who supervised the army, and Bian Lingcheng informed them of treason .The two died in 755 (eighth) of the last century, which was the end of the golden age and the year of the Anlushan Mutiny.But the most wonderful thing is that when An Lushan captured Tongguan and marched towards Chang'an, Bian Lingcheng was the first to surrender with the key to the palace.

Since eunuchs have such terrifying power, they naturally present a special appearance in the army.He selected all the strong and brave soldiers as his guards, and allocated the remaining old, weak and remnant soldiers to the commander.During the battle, if there was a slight victory, the eunuch immediately sent a flying horse to report to Chang'an, and the credit was entirely on his own.Once defeated, the guilt will be completely covered by the commander-in-chief.The emperors, like Liu Yilong, the emperor of the Southern Song Empire in the fifth century, liked to command by remote control.The order was issued from the deep palace and passed on to the eunuch, who then passed it on to the commander.In every battle, the eunuch galloped on the road like a crucian carp crossing the river, looking serious.

——Those who understand the military will never command by remote control. Those who command remotely must not understand the military, or have only a half-knowledge of the military.Therefore, once a government has remote command, it will be a disaster. The eunuch who supervised the army could not prevent the commander-in-chief from mutiny as expected, but only framed the commander-in-chief for mutiny, or forced the commander-in-chief to mutiny.The eunuch Liu Chengkai, the eunuch of the Zhaoyi War Zone (Luzhou·Shanxi Changzhi), often insulted the Jiedu envoy Liu Wu, and even planned to kidnap him.In the end, Liu Wu arrested Liu Chengkai and began to plan to leave the central government.Zhou Zhiguang, the governor of the Tonghua War Zone (Tongzhou·Dali, Shaanxi), simply killed Zhang Zhibin, the eunuch of the supervising army. Against you."

——Pu Gu Huai'en, one of the generals who extinguished the Anshi mutiny.In one family, forty-six people who died fighting for the country, their daughters also married to the Huidagger Khanate for the country's peace policy.But he offended the eunuch Luo Fengxian, and Luo Fengxian informed him of treason.After Pugu Huai'en found out, he didn't want to be Gao Xianzhi's second, so he had to rebel. Eunuchs were sent to sit in the army, known as "supervising the army".Eunuchs were sent to deliver the emperor's orders, called "Zhongshi" and "Imperial Envoys". Wherever the horseshoes of this kind of eunuchs go, that is, where disasters go.When Prime Minister Yuan Zhen was a junior official, he lived in a post hotel, and the eunuch Qiu Shiliang who came after him immediately drove him out and whipped him in the face with a horsewhip.The fourteenth emperor, Li Chun, was furious when he received the report—not the eunuchs, but Yuan Zhen, and demoted Yuan Zhen to Jiangling (Jiangling, Hubei).Cui Fa, the magistrate of Yulu County (Huxian County, Shaanxi Province), offended the eunuch who was acting fiercely on the street. The sixteenth emperor Li Zhan ordered Cui Fa to be arrested, and the eunuchs flocked to beat Cui Fa in the prison.When the four towns of Heshuo were attached to the central government in the middle of the last century (8th), one of the four towns, Chengde War Zone (Hengzhou Zhengding, Hebei), Jiedu envoy Li Baochen made great contributions to the conquest, and Li Yu sent eunuch Ma Chengqian to give condolences.On the eve of Ma Chengqian's return to Chang'an, Li Baochen personally came to the hotel to express his gratitude and gave a gift of 100 pieces of silk and satin.He Shuo was poor, and this is a very important gift, but Ma Chengqian thought it was too little, so he threw it to the side of the road and cursed away; Li Baochen was ashamed, and his subordinates reminded him: "We serve the battlefield, we are using It will still be like this when we are captured. Once the world is at peace, will we be able to survive?” So Li Baochen decided to leave the central government.

No one in the world can stop the eunuch's atrocities, because the emperor stubbornly supported him.Like the 11th Emperor Li Yu, whenever he ordered the eunuch to come back, he must check how many gifts he received. If the gift received was too little, he would be angry, not because he looked down on the eunuch, but because he looked down on him as an emperor. .So the eunuch's atrocities were not only public, but also legal.Anyone who cannot satisfy the eunuch will suddenly find himself involved in a huge case of "rebellion" at any time.Although the ministers kept suggesting to the emperor to restrain him, they were all rejected.Li Yu's great-grandson, Li Chun, never admitted that eunuchs framed ministers. He said: "How dare eunuchs frame ministers?" "Eunuchs are just domestic slaves. For convenience, they are sent to run around. If they break the law and discipline, getting rid of them is like pulling out a hair." It is true that eunuchs are the emperor's domestic slaves, but to others, they are demons.Moreover, once these house slaves take military power, house slaves are no longer house slaves.The first eunuch to hold military power was Li Fuguo, who was appointed by the tenth emperor Li Heng as the chief of staff (sima of the marching army of the Marshal of the World Army and Horses). Without his approval, no one could see the emperor.Then there was another eunuch, Yu Chaosi, whom Li Heng appointed as the "envoy to observe the appearance of the army, announce the consolation and disposition" - a general without the name of a general, who commanded the envoys of ten war zones to crusade in Ye County (Anyang, Henan) An Qingxu, the son of An Lushan, was defeated. In the 1980s and 1980s, after the mutiny in the original war zone (Jingchuan, Gansu Province), the twelfth emperor Li Shi became more suspicious of the generals, so he handed over the forbidden army (Left Shence Army and Right Shence Army) to the eunuchs Leading, the commanders (lieutenants) of the two armies are also served by eunuchs.This was an epoch-making measure. Since then, the Forbidden Army has been in the hands of eunuchs, and the situation has changed.The second era of eunuchs and the first era of eunuchs are divided here.The power of eunuchs came from the emperor in the first eunuch era.The power of the eunuchs in the second eunuch era came from the emperor in the early stage and from the imperial army they commanded in the later stage. When the eunuchs took over the military power, they still had respect for the emperor, so Li Chun could describe them as domestic slaves and vellus without shame.But as time accumulated, eunuchs changed after they were successfully deployed in the imperial army and cultivated an unshakable prestige.Li Chun was murdered by the eunuch Chen Hongzhi in 820 (9) of this century shortly after his boast. No one knew what weapon was used.Then, for the successor, a fight broke out among the eunuchs.Liang Shouqian, the commander of the Right Forbidden Army, Tu Tu Chengcui, the commander of the Left Forbidden Army, and Li Yun, the prince whom Tu Tu Chengcui planned to support, killed them all and replaced him with Prince Li Heng.This is a beginning, the successor emperor is not determined by the previous emperor, but by eunuchs.Even if the former emperor made the decision during his lifetime, he would have to be re-examined by the eunuch group after his death. So the era of domestic slaves and hairless hairs that Li Chun called has become the past.When the emperor was killed and erected, he couldn't help himself, and he couldn't even protect himself. This phenomenon became worse in the future.Let us try to make a brief list of the encounters of the emperors after the middle of the Tang Dynasty, so that we can understand. The Three Friends - The struggle of two political blocs In the cracks between feudal towns and eunuchs, crony struggles appeared in the central government of the Tang Dynasty, which made the lifeline of the Tang Dynasty unbroken. After the 1920s of this century, senior officials of the central government split into two political groups, one called the "Li Party" and the other called the "Niu Party".Important figures in the Li Party include Li Deyu, Li Shen, and Zheng Po; important figures in the Niu Party include Li Fengji, Niu Sengru, and Li Zonghe.Pay attention to their composition: Li Dang is mostly a scholar-bureaucrat from a family, born in a noble family.Niu Dang is a doctor from a poor family, born in the common people. As far back as 808, when Li Deyu's father, Li Jifu, was prime minister, the government held a special examination (virtuous and upright Fangzheng spoke out and exhorted the subjects). At that time, there were profound criticisms of the government.Li Jifu became angry from embarrassment, thinking it was an attack on himself.As a result, all officials below the chief examiner were demoted, and Niu and Li were unable to be promoted during Li Jifu's time in power.This matter should have ended here, but Li Deyu thought that the insult his father had suffered was too great, and the punishment of Niu and Li was too light, so he was determined to continue to fight.Thirteen years later, in 1821, a scandal occurred in the imperial examination.Li Zonghe (Niu Dang) and Li Shen (Li Dang) both asked the chief examiner, but after the results were released, Li Zonghe's request came true, while Li Shen's request fell through.Li Deyu seized this opportunity, joined hands with Li Shen to report to the emperor, and the examiner and Li Zongmin were all relegated.Li Deyu's practice of avenging his father has prompted senior government officials to divide into two camps, which are incompatible with each other.In 822, Li Fengji (Niu Dang) became prime minister and expelled Li Deyu (Li Dang) from Chang'an.In 823, the fifteenth emperor, Li Heng, found that only Niu Sengru (Niu Dang) had never been bribed among all the civil and military officials, so he personally selected him as prime minister.Li Deyu (Li Dang) misunderstood that it was recommended by Li Fengji (Niu Dang), and hated the two even more.In the first month of 825, Niu Sengru (Niu Dang) was disappointed by the licentiousness of Li Zhan, the newly ascended sixteenth emperor, and voluntarily resigned.Li Fengji (Niu Dang) was also forced to resign and became a local official.In 829, Prime Minister Pei Du strongly recommended the talent of Li Deyu (Li Dang), and Li Deyu entered the court as prime minister.And Li Zonghe (Niu Dang) was also appointed prime minister with the help of eunuchs.The giants of the two parties are fighting each other.But Li Zonghe (Niu Dang) obviously had the upper hand because of the support of the eunuchs, and within a few months, he pushed Li Deyu and his party members out of the central government.Appoint Li Deyu as Jiedu Envoy of Yicheng Theater (Hua County, Henan Province), and later as Jiedu Envoy of Xichuan Theater (Chengdu, Sichuan); recall Niu Sengru (Niu Dang) to serve as Prime Minister again. When Li Deyu was the envoy of Xichuan Jiedu, the chief general of Weizhou (Lixian County, Sichuan Province) of the Tubo Kingdom surrendered the city. Earth's counterattack plan.However, in order to attack Li Deyu, Li Zongmin and Niu Sengru declared: "China's reconciliation with Tubo is only based on 'faith' and 'sincerity'. It is nothing to get a Victoria state. If you lose faith and sincerity, you cannot establish a country." Li Deyu was ordered to withdraw Victoria, return the general.On the border, the Tubo Kingdom tortured the surrendered generals, their family members and entourage about a thousand people to death, in order to suppress internal rebellion and ridicule Chinese officials.The decision to surrender generals aroused public outrage.In 832, Niu Sengru was forced to resign, and Li Deyu was conscripted into the court. After Li Deyu entered the court, there was a good opportunity to reconcile the two politician groups.Du Zong, the mayor of Chang'an (Jing Zhaoyin), who was a Niu party, suggested to Li Zongmin (Niu party): Li Zongmin recommended Li Deyu as the chief examiner of the imperial examination (Zhi Gongju), but Li Zongmin disagreed.Du Bao made the next best suggestion: Li Zongmin recommended Li Deyu as the imperial censor, and the imperial censor was called "the gate official" at that time (when all the officials were congratulated, he was led by the imperial censor, and his status was equal to that of the prime minister), and Li Zongmin reluctantly agreed .Du Zong went to inform Li Deyu, and Li Deyu shed tears in gratitude.But Li Zongmin didn't have such a great mind and insight, so he changed his mind the next day.Li Deyu felt that he was being teased, and his hatred deepened.The opportunity for reconciliation is gone forever. Next year (August 33), the seventeenth emperor Li Ang appointed Li Deyu as prime minister, and Li Deyu and the new imperial historian Zheng Bao jointly fought back.Li Zongmin failed and was demoted from Chang'an.But the eunuchs didn't like Li Deyu's aloof attitude.In 834, the emperor recalled Li Zongmin to Chang'an as prime minister, and relegated Li Deyu.In 835, Li Zongmin rescued his comrades for the factory, offended the emperor, and was demoted from Chang'an again.After repeated failures, Li Deyu realized the importance of eunuchs, and began to follow the example of Niu Dang and colluded with eunuchs.Therefore, in 840, under the guidance of eunuchs, he was recalled to Chang'an again to serve as prime minister.It just so happened that Liu Congjian, the governor of the Zhaoyi War Zone (Luzhou · Changzhi, Shanxi), died of illness. His son Liu Zhen planned to follow the example of the four towns of Heshuo and take over by himself.Li Deyu persisted in the crusade, but Liu Zhen was defeated and killed.Li Deyu then claimed that Niu Sengru and Li Zongmin had written letters to Liu Zhen. Although these letters could not be forwarded, they were because Liu Zhen burned them after reading them.What is especially exciting is that a captured rebel official is willing to come forward to confirm the fact.The deputy mayor of Luoyang (Henan Shaoyin) also reported that when the news of Liu Zhen's failure reached Luoyang, Niu Sengru sighed (at that time Niu Sengru was demoted to Luoyang to work). This is Li Deyu's most diabolical move, attempting to massacre his opponents by means of "framing for rebellion".Fortunately, Niu Dang had the help of eunuchs, and Niu Sengru was only demoted to remote areas.And Li Deyu's days are numbered.In 846, the nineteenth new emperor Li Chen came to the throne. He hated Li Deyu when he was a prince, so he also relegated Li Deyu. The important figures of the two political groups have all been purged from the central government, and they all died in demotion soon after.Clique struggle lasted 26 years from 821 to 846.From the simple outline of the forms of struggle described above, it can be seen that the central government has been in turmoil and chaos in the past twenty-six years. Almost every year there will be a wave of "slamming" and "slamming away".When Li Dang came to power, all Li Dang members were transferred back, while Niu Dang members were expelled.The same is true when the Niu Party is in power.Like maggots, they have no political ideals, only personal grievances, can't see the future, only see the real interests in front of them.Individual inspections, such as Li Deyu's ability and Niu Sengru's morality, all make people respect.However, as soon as parties are involved, they immediately lose their rationality. The basic motivation for the struggle between the two politician groups, Niu and Li, is personal grievances.The cause of personal grievances is internal strife among the ruling class.In the ruling class, officials from aristocratic families who felt that they had suffered grievances gathered under the banner of Li Deyu and Zheng Tan, and rejected officials from civilian backgrounds.Officials of civilian background also gathered under the banners of Niu Sengru and Li Zongmin to counterattack. The good times of the family family, with the end of the era of the great division, are bleak.The imperial examination system allowed some civilians whom they despised to infiltrate the ruling class, threatening their way out.The old vested interest groups feel great fear and loathing for the newcomers who force their way in to get a share of the pie.So he struggled hard, accusing the officials of Jinshi background as "frivolous" and "frivolous" with one voice, and used them to attack the emerging civilian forces.In order to completely cut off the opportunity for civilians to participate in politics, Li Deyu once advocated the suspension of examinations.He put forward the reason to Li Yan, the eighteenth emperor, saying: "Government officials must appoint children from aristocratic families, because they have been familiar with official life since childhood. They are relatively familiar with government regulations and systems. They have the necessary skills for officials without special training. Etiquette and demeanor. Officials of civilian origin, even though they are very talented, don’t know anything about these.” Fortunately, Li Yan was not as ridiculous as Li Deyu, so the examination system was maintained. ——It should be noted that although Li Deyu hated the examination system and deliberately flaunted that he was not from a Jinshi background, he was strongly envious in his heart.Only Du Zong, the think tank of the Niu Party, has insight into the secret of this sour grape, so he suggested that Li Deyu be the examiner, in an attempt to integrate the aristocratic family and the poor family into one in Li Deyu.It's a pity that Li Zongmin doesn't have such wisdom. The crony struggle lasted for 26 years, and this was the last counterattack of the remnants of the family family.When the next century (10) entered the era of small divisions, cruel and protracted melees were all judged by military merit, and the barrenness of the land prompted the collapse of the big family.The family family has just disappeared from Chinese history. Mutiny in the Southeast Region The disasters of feudal towns are limited to the north, the disasters of Tubo are limited to the west, and the disasters of eunuch cronies are limited to the central government.If you draw a line from Xuzhou (Xuzhou, Jiangsu) to Dingling (Jiangling, Hubei), you can find that the southeastern region, which occupies half of the country, has always remained stable at the beginning of the ninth century.The Guanzhong area (central part of Shaanxi Province), where the central government is located, was no longer self-sufficient due to the destruction of the irrigation system by the Tubo Corps, and had always relied on grain transportation from the southeast.The stability of the southeast is the guarantee for the existence of the central government. However, the southeastern region cannot be isolated from chaos for a long time, just like a blood cancer patient, half of his body cannot be healthy alone.After the 1950s, mutinies broke out one after another in various theaters in the southeast: (The events listed in this table are not complete, and there are some omissions, such as the Zhaoyi Army Rebellion in 1875, General Liu Guang who was expelled from the Jiedu Envoy with a high award, and he himself stayed behind, etc., so this table can be regarded as a general view- -editor) The official said: Jiedushi is the commander of the first-level theater.The Observer is the theater administrator.The economic envoy is the low-level theater commander. The cause of the mutiny is the same as the commander's obscurity and greed.People who serve as commanders often rely not on talent but on flattery and huge bribes.Flattery can have itself, and bribes mostly come from usury loans from merchants.At that time, people called this type of commanders "debt commanders". The first thing they did after they took office was to embezzle in order to repay the loan.The second thing is to continue to embezzle in order to keep the position with continued bribery.There are many methods of corruption, and the main one is to rely on unjust imprisonment. For example, Cai Jing, the Jiedu envoy of the Lingnan West Road War Zone in the table, among the tortures he used in order to extort money, there is a kind of "cannon fire" in the 18th century BC.None of the world's most savage pirates are at it when it comes to ransom. The most influential mutiny occurred in Guizhou (Guilin, Guangxi).In this century (9th), the Nanzhao Kingdom broke with China because it could not bear the harassment of the border officials of the Tang government. It captured Jiaozhou (Hanoi, Vietnam) twice, and the central government ordered troops from all theaters of the country to help.Among them, 2,000 troops sent by the Wuning Theater (Xuzhou·Jiangsu Xuzhou) entered Guizhou in the spring of 19863 in the 1960s.What the government announced is a three-year period, and they will be transferred back immediately after the expiration.In the winter of 1965, when the three-year period expired, the war zone officials issued an order from afar to extend it for another period, stating that it would never be extended again. They had to stay in a barren land 3,000 kilometers away for another three years.In 1868, the second period was over, and when everyone was happily preparing to return home, the theater officials issued a second order from afar, to last for another year.And whether it will be extended after one year, no one can answer for sure.Their appeals to the war zone are like hitting a rock.Homesick soldiers may not be able to go back in ten or twenty years, except for mutiny.So they decided to go back by themselves, elected a low-level officer in charge of food and fodder management, Pang Xun, as the leader, broke through the armory, obtained weapons, and then marched eastward.Destroy all resistance along the way, with overwhelming force.The central government was greatly shocked. On the one hand, it issued an amnesty and allowed them to return to their hometowns; on the other hand, it ordered the local governments along the way to take care and protect them.Pang Xun and this group of fighters who were forced to rebel were not fools. They knew that once they returned to Xuzhou to disband, they would be followed by arrests and massacres.So after arriving in Xuzhou, they immediately attacked the city.The city wall soon fell, and Yin Kan, the general manager of the battalion (Dubiya), Du Zhang, the training commander (coach envoy), and Xu Xingjian, the combat commander (envoy of soldiers and horses), who insisted on postponement, were all caught and cut open.Jiedu envoy Cui Yanzeng, known for his strictness, was also executed after being imprisoned for some days. The government mobilized a large army to attack, but they were unable to win. In the end, Pang Xun was defeated only by the Shatuo soldiers surrounded by Li Guochang, the governor (inspector) of Yuzhou (Yuxian County, Hebei Province).The mutiny lasted only one year and five months, which is not a long time, but during the year and five months, there were bloody battles almost every day, and more than 100,000 people were killed or injured on both sides.Most of the Yangtze River Basin and the area south of the Yellow River are dilapidated.Pang Xun dared to challenge the central government with 2,000 people, and he continued to win, which showed that the government army had lost its ability to fight under the leadership of the corrupt debt commander.Assuming that there is no intervention of the Shatuo Corps, no one would dare to predict its development. Shatuo is a branch of the Turkic nationality, settled in the east of Pulei County (southeast of Qitai, Xinjiang).In the middle of the last century (eighth), after China lost the Western Regions (Xinjiang and eastern Central Asia), it was attached to the Tubo Kingdom and became the vanguard of invading China.But because they were too brave and good at fighting, they aroused fear in Tubo and planned to move them south.The Shatuo tribe got the news that in the 1900s of this century (9) they turned to the east and surrendered to China.The Tang government placed them near Lingzhou (Lingwu, Ningxia).In the 1930s, it attacked the royal court of the Khanate.After that, he moved eastward year by year and helped the Tang government to establish meritorious service many times. The Tang government appointed its chief Li Guochang as the governor (inspector) of Weizhou. The Pang Xun mutiny was suppressed under high pressure, but the government's victory was only a prelude to the next bigger defeat. Five biggest peasant riots It was the peasants who made the Tang government suffer the next bigger defeat. China traded frequently with foreign countries, and wealth was concentrated in commercial cities.The appearance of prosperity in the society did not stimulate the development of industry, but made the peasants more exploited.The social phenomenon at that time was that it was not easy for pure businessmen to gain a foothold, and they had to combine with officials, or businessmen concurrently served as officials, or officials concurrently operated businesses. It was difficult to distinguish between officials and businessmen.The astonishing extravagance and the astonishing bribes that must be paid by the officials in power have given them an uninterrupted need for large quantities of foreign jewels, such as agates and emeralds.The huge sum of money to buy these jewels is all due to unjust imprisonment.An example is enough to make it clear that when the peasants weave silk and satin, the official does not need to pay for it. He only needs to arrest the peasant and put him in prison and charge him with treason.After the peasant has handed over all his products, he will naturally be rehabilitated or pardoned.Silk fabrics, which accounted for the bulk of China's exports, did not bring wealth to farmers, but disasters.This is just one end. The slaughter of wars, the burning and looting of rebels, and the heavy legal taxation have made the rural areas generally and completely bankrupt, which is terrible.We use two poems by two poets of the Tang Dynasty as illustrations: Dai Shulun: "Female Plowing Fields" Ruyanren's Nest (the end of the next month) is a bamboo, and the second daughter of someone's family is planting new valleys.No one is better than a plow without an ox, and he cuts the ground with a knife and turns it into mud.He said that his poor mother was old, and his elder brother joined the army without marrying his wife.Last year, the cattle stockpiled for disaster relief was empty, and the silk was cut to buy knives in the city.The turban hides the face and fears recognition, and uses the body to represent whoever is the same.The sisters are suffering together, seeing no passers-by but seeing the soil.Dredge the ridges and ridges to prevent disordered seedlings, rectify the ditches and wait for the rain.The sun is returning to Nangang at noon, and the poor chao pheasant is disturbed and flew away.The flowers in the east and west houses are exhausted, and we cherish Yu Fang's tears stained on his clothes. (塍, paddy field soil ridge.) Yuan Jie: Poor Women's Ci Who knows that a poor husband has a family that worries about his wife.Please listen to his words, can you not feel sad.It's better to hold the middle child than to go down the mountain.The place in front of the court is empty and turned into a trail for officials.When I go out to look at the mountains and rivers, I am lost in my heart when I look back.When I see the Palace Master, I will kneel down and cry to him. (口, the youngest son of a deer. Qi, the road.) The first one tells that the only elder brother of the two young girls was conscripted into the army, their father died early, their mother was sick in bed, and there was no one to plow the fields, so they had to use humans instead of oxen and knives instead of plows.We can vaguely see two little girls squatting under the scorching sun, crying while cutting the hard soil with a knife.The second poem describes a peasant woman, holding a baby whose fate is not as good as that of chickens and dogs, waiting for the appearance of the "mansion master" (landlord official), begging for mercy. For thousands of years, readers will shed tears for them, and can see the eyes of fear and despair on their lonely and withered cheeks.But the ruling group at the time was indifferent.In the constant mutiny and civil uprising, we thought that the government would definitely learn from it and conduct a thorough review in order to seek reform.But on the contrary, the government believes that it is not the government that should be taught a lesson but the people, and the people must accept the bloody fact that any act of rebellion, rebellion and treason must be severely punished. After Pang Xun's mutiny, floods, droughts and natural disasters occurred in the Central Plains year after year, thousands of miles of barren land, no grain harvested, starved zombies fell everywhere (the two little girls who chopped the ground with knives, we can't believe that we can escape this barren grass bad luck).However, the extravagance of the emperor and the greed and violence of officials have only intensified.The people cry out to the officials like they cry out to pigs.Farmer representatives in Shanzhou (Sanmenxia, ​​Henan Province) met Cui Luo, the chief executive (observation envoy), and reported the severe drought and asked for a tax reduction.Cui Luo was furious, pointed to a tree in the courtyard and said, "Look at its green leaves, what kind of drought is there?" He beat the representative (the peasant woman who was holding her beloved son and hoping to get the mercy of the "mansion master"). , I hope her "master" is more merciful than Cui Luo).What is particularly shocking is that when the locusts covered the sky and spread westward from the Central Plains to Guanzhong (central part of Shaanxi Province), the mayor of Chang'an (Jing Zhaoyin) wrote a memorial to the emperor: "After the locusts fly to Gyeonggi, refuse Eating the crops in the field, they all hugged the thorn trees and starved to death automatically." The prime minister immediately led all the civil and military officials to the hall to pay homage and praise the emperor's wisdom and holiness. In this century (9) 874, farmers in Changyuan (Henan Changyuan) belonging to Huazhou (Huaxian County, Henan Province) set off a riot and elected Wang Xianzhi, a native of Puzhou (Shandong Juancheng), as the leader.Next year (August 75), farmers in Yuanju County (Heze, Shandong) under Caozhou (Dingtao, Shandong) launched a riot in response and elected Huang Chao, a native of the county, as the leader.Wang Xianzhi used to sell private salt, while Huang Chao was a high-level intellectual who went to the capital Chang'an to take the Jinshi examination.The imperial examinations in the Tang Dynasty were almost all decided off the court.At first, the power was in the hands of princesses and princes, and scholars could compete with articles, so short stories were produced.After the Anshi mutiny in the eighth century of the last century, the power was in the hands of the eunuchs, and the scholars could only be named on the list by flattery and humiliation that destroyed their self-esteem.People with a little talent and personality are unwilling to bow their knees to eunuchs, and Huang Chao is one of them.He could not adapt to the prevailing political form, so he had no choice but to return home.But he was most impressed by the corruption of the central government. This was the largest peasant uprising after the Yellow Turbans in the second century. Within a few months, two huge mass forces were assembled, amounting to 300,000 people.When Pang Xun was defeated.The remaining subordinates who hid and fled also joined the ranks at this time. They are all experienced soldiers, so these two rabble of hungry people were quickly trained to become a powerful force.They were luckier than the Yellow Turbans, who were always just a mob because they didn't have Pang Xun as their forerunner.They plundered cities and plundered land, humiliated and massacred landlords, wealthy businessmen and government officials mercilessly, in return for the persecution they suffered on a daily basis.However, intellectuals engaged in education are given special preferential treatment and protection.In 1878, Wang Xianzhi died in battle, and the two forces merged, led by Huang Chao.Huang Chao understood the importance of the southeast region to the central government. It would be useless to capture Chang'an without destroying the grain warehouses. The failure of Anlu Mountain in the eighth century was a lesson from the past.So he crossed the Yellow River from Huazhou (Huaxian County, Henan Province) and went south, crossed the great plain of the Huaihe River Basin, and crossed the Yangtze River with ease. We will not describe the route of Huangchao's advance.But only two additions are made: First, the revenge and sabotage policy of the Huangchao Peasant Corps will continue to be implemented in Jiangnan.After the capture of Guangzhou (Guangzhou, Guangdong), only Western expatriates (mostly Arabs), because they were all wealthy businessmen, were massacred with 120,000 people at one time.However, since 880 when we crossed the Yangtze River northward from Caishiji (southwest of Ma'anshan, Anhui) and turned back to the Central Plains, we immediately changed and adopted a policy of appeasement.So when they entered Luoyang, the market transactions remained the same, and women and children were not disturbed.Second, the Huangchao Peasant Corps swept across the south of the Yangtze River like the autumn wind sweeping the fallen leaves in two years—878 and 879. It did not rely purely on military offensives, but mainly on exciting political appeals and the support of local poor peasants. response.So wherever we go, there is new input of power.The path of the army is like a snowball, getting bigger and bigger.When the capital Chang'an was captured, they were welcomed by the citizens. The ragged clothes and joyful expressions of the welcoming people moved the Huangchao peasant corps, distributed gold, silver and satin to them, and announced the abolition of the tyranny of the Tang government. However, this earth-shattering uprising finally failed.黄巢于八八○年进入长安后，即坐上宝座，称大齐帝国皇帝。但他的对手并没有消灭，唐王朝第二十一任皇帝李儇逃到成都（四川成都），再度向沙陀兵团乞援。在庞勋兵变中立下大功的李国昌的儿子李克用，出兵勤王。新建立的大齐帝国的将领，也不断发生叛变。最重要的一位叛将是朱温，当他宣布投降时，唐政府大喜过望，立即任命他当宣武战区（汴州·河南开封）节度使，作为报酬。八八三年，黄巢在沙陀和勤王军夹攻下，不得不放弃长安，向东撤退。八八四年，部队溃散，在朱温的反噬追击之下，黄巢逃亡到狼虎谷（山东莱芜），自杀身死。 失败的原因是革命精神的消失，契机发生在黄巢称帝的错误决策。黄巢在当皇帝之前和当皇帝之后，好像是截然不同的两个人。称帝前战无不胜，攻无不取，称帝后则困守长安孤城，一筹莫展。在中国特有的宫廷制度下，黄巢从当皇帝的那一天开始，就陷入千万争宠的宦官与宫女之手，与宫门外世界，完全隔绝。创业时代跟干部们那种亲密相依的无间感情，化为乌有。干部们在猎得官位后，也沉湎于他们过去所痛恨所反对的纸醉金迷生活。所以一切政治措施，几乎把唐王朝的腐败制度全部继承下来，像“监军”即是，黄巢也派出他的监军。朱温所以叛变，就是因为不堪监军的压制，他的一切申诉，都被截留，无法到达黄巢面前，于是他把监军斩首，向唐王朝投降。 大暴动历时十一年，表面上虽然平息，但政府的残余基础，已被掘空。本世纪（九）最后二十年间，呈现出来的是下列局面： 一全国农村彻底破坏，一向称为中国心脏的中原地区，几乎成为沙漠。一直是文化政治巨城，繁华盖世的洛阳——它以牡丹花和美女闻名，现在（已是第三次）只剩下三五贫苦人家，局处在瓦砾之中。举目所及，昼不见炊烟，夜不见灯火。 二所有战区，无一例外地都脱离了中央，自行割据，互相攻战更烈。皇帝命令出不了首都长安，宰相和宦官，分别跟战区司令官勾结，各人寻找各人的利害关系，作为在小朝廷中内斗的后台。 三中原居民大批向南逃亡，跟第三、第四世纪三国时代和大分裂时代向南逃亡的情形一样，他们成群结队；组成武装团体，逃出战祸频仍的故乡，沿途转斗，向南流浪。他们一直进抵到五岭山脉一带，在蛮荒丛山中定居下来，垦田求生。跟第三、第四世纪先迁到的中原居民混合，使“客家人”的实力大为增加。最初，他们还期待着等到局势好转，再回故土，但局势一直恶化。他们一直住到二十世纪，仍保持当时中原使用的古老言语——客家话。 六残余烛火上的内斗 唐王朝的灭亡，迫在眉睫。 黄巢虽死，而中原战争不但不熄，反而更炽。黄巢向东撤退时，宣武战区（汴州·河南开封）节度使朱温，不能抵挡，他向沙陀兵团求救。那时李克用已被擢升为河东战区（山西太原）节度使，亲自率军赴援。击败黄巢后，朱温在开封（河南开封）用盛大的酒筵劳军。李克用喝醉了，对朱温出言侮辱。朱温下令关闭城门，纵兵击杀。李克用血战逃脱，但所率入城的将土，全都罹难。从此两个战区结下仇恨，展开长达四十年之久（八八四—九二三）的战斗。 蔡州（河南汝南）州长秦宗权最先投降黄巢，黄巢失败后，自己就在蔡州当起皇帝来。他的部队行军，一向不带粮秣（也没有粮秣可带），只用车辆载着盐和人的尸体，饥饿时就割肉烹食。朱温经过数年苦战，才把秦宗权击败，占领蔡州。又一口气并吞了感化战区（徐州·江苏徐州）、天平战区（郓州·山东东平）、宣义战区（滑州·河南滑县）、泰宁战区（兖州·山东兖州）。李克用也并吞了卢龙战区（幽州·北京）。其他每一个藩镇也都在疯狂扩张，全中国变成一片血海。暴力决定一切，黑暗不见天日。 在首都长安的唐王朝中央政府，并不为这种严重的瓦解局势所动，仍坚定地继续它的宦官时代。被黄巢驱逐到成都（四川成都）的皇帝李儇，于黄巢东撤后回到长安。宦官田令孜以陆军大元帅（十军观军容使）兼禁军总司令（左右神策军中尉）的身份，掌握政府大权，凶暴而且专横。李克用跟河中战区（河中府·山西永济）节度使王重荣，联合行动，要求罢黜田今孜。李儇拒绝，两个司令官即行起兵，进攻长安。李儇第二次逃走，逃到凤翔（陕西凤翔）。幸而两个司令官不为己甚，撤回军队，李儇才再回到首都。明年（八八六），静难战区（(分阝)州·陕西彬县）节度使朱玫、凤翔战区（陕西凤翔）节度使李昌符（去年曾经收留李假），又联合起来，要求撤换田令孜，李儇在田今孜手中已身不由主，他只有再度拒绝，两个司令官也起兵进攻长安，李儇第三次逃走，逃向兴元（陕西汉中）。朱玫进入长安后，立另一位亲王当皇帝。但朱玫的部下叛变，朱玫被杀。李昌符表示继续效忠中央，一场混乱才勉强结束。李儇再回到首都，回来后不久，即行暴卒。 李儇死后，新任陆军大元帅杨复恭和左禁军司令官刘季述，迎立李儇的弟弟李晔亲王即位。李晔那年二十二岁，跟一连串花花大少的那些前任皇帝一样，聪明轻浮，具有富贵太久的人逞能和任性的特质。杨复恭比田令孜更凶暴专横，连李晔舅父王囗全家跟他的宾客，都被屠杀。李晔打算杀他，杨复恭逃出长安，联合龙剑（龙州·四川平武）、武定（洋州·陕西洋县）、山南西道（兴元·陕西汉中）三个战区的节度使叛变——三个节度使都是杨复恭的义子。这给凤翔战区节度使李茂贞一个好机会，他声言拥护中央政府，讨伐叛徒。于击败杨复恭后；吞并三个战区。 李晔和宰相韦昭度力谋振作，企图限制宦官权力，宦官再度勾结藩镇反击。八九五年，静难战区、凤翔战区、镇国战区（华州·陕西华县）联合突袭长安，逮捕韦昭度。李晔一再下令保护，结果仍把韦昭度处决。事情发展到这个地步，中央政府的崩溃已不能挽救。但李晔继续挣扎，改变方式，命亲王们组织警卫部队，以牵制宦官的禁军。宦官们大为愤怒，而且各藩镇也不允许皇帝拥有真正能作战的自卫武力。八九六年，即三镇杀宰相韦昭度的次年，凤翔战区节度使李茂贞再进攻长安，李晔逃走。他本想逃奔太原李克用的，在经过华州时，却被镇国战区节度使韩建留住。韩建是李茂贞的同党，他隆重地迎奉李晔，然后，把所有亲王，只除了李晔的儿子，有数百人之多，全部屠杀，这些皇子皇孙爬到屋顶上向李晔呼救，李晔只有垂泪。 seven east west world 八○○年。罗马教皇李奥三世加冕法兰克国王查理曼为“罗马帝国奥古斯都”，史学家称查理曼帝国。 八二七年（太和公主下嫁回纥可汗后第六年），不列颠七小国中的威塞克斯王国，消灭其他六国，建英格兰王国。 八四○年（黠戛斯部落攻入回纥汗国王庭，回纥汗国瓦解），查理曼帝国皇帝忠实路易逝世，长子罗塞尔嗣位。次子路易、幼子查理争位。 八四三年（石雄迎太和公主回国），罗塞尔、路易、查理三弟兄和解，订《凡尔登条约》，分割帝国为三：罗塞尔据中部，称罗塞尔王国。路易据东部，称东法兰克王国。查理据西部，称西法兰克王国。 八六二年（庞勋兵变前六年），东欧俄罗斯平原斯拉夫游牧部落，迎立北蛮瓦伦吉安部落酋长罗瑞克当酋长，俄国自此才在历史上出现。 八七O年（庞勋兵变失败的次年），罗塞尔王国子嗣绝，东西法兰克王国签订《茂森条约》瓜分。 八七四年（农民大暴动爆发，拥王仙芝当领袖），北蛮人建冰岛王国。 八八二年（黄巢在长安称帝第三年），俄罗斯酋长罗瑞克的儿子伊戈，建基辅公国。俄国自是始有国家组织。 八八七年（李晔即位前一年），日本设“关白”官位，较宰相为尊，仅低于天皇，一切奏议，必先呈准关自裁可。这个制度历时九八一年才被废止。 八九二年（宦官杨复恭逃出长安的次年），新罗王国大将甄萱起兵独立，不久，建后百济王国，跟新罗王国平分朝鲜半岛。