Chapter 50 Wolf Tiger Valley

On December 11th of the first year of Guangming, in order to make the people of Chang'an give up their hearts to the Li Tang Dynasty, Huang Chao ordered the massacre of all the members of the Li Tang clan who were stranded in Chang'an who were too late to escape. Not even the baby was spared. On the thirteenth, Huang Chao became emperor in the Hanyuan Hall of Daming Palace. The country was named "Daqi" and the Yuan was changed to "Jintong". A so-called "peasant revolutionary regime" was thus established. But it's a pity that in the end, Huang Chao still didn't kill Li Tang Dynasty, but his own head was knocked off instead.

At the same time that Huang Chao proclaimed himself emperor, Xizong Li Xuan and his exiled court fled all the way to Xingyuan (now Hanzhong City, Shaanxi).After the panic had just settled, Emperor Xizong hastily issued an edict ordering all Taoists to send troops to recover the capital.A few days later, the King Qin's divisions from the nearby roads came to gather one after another, but Xingyuan's supplies and food were extremely scarce, and he couldn't afford to support so many troops, nor could he sustain the expenses of the exiled court for a long time.Finally, under the persuasion of Tian Lingzi and others, Emperor Xizong had no choice but to follow Xuanzong's escape route into Shu, and arrived in Chengdu on January 28 of the following year.

In the days that followed, Emperor Xizong repeatedly issued edicts, ordering Gao Pian, a hero who was in Huainan at the time, to conquer Huang Chao. Emperor Xizong had high hopes for Gao Pian.He believed that since Gao Pian, who was good at fighting, was able to pacify Annan and repel Nanzhao, he must now have the ability to restore Chang'an. However, Emperor Xizong did not expect that Gao Pian at this time was no longer the Gao Pian who was loyal to the court and eager to make meritorious deeds.Today, Gao Pian holds multiple important positions such as Huainan Jiedu envoy, salt and iron transport envoy, and Dongmian Dutong.Youdao is that the seat determines the thinking, the butt determines the head, Gao Pian is most concerned about how to maintain his own vested interests, not the safety of the community at all.Therefore, after receiving Xi Zong's edict, Gao Pian kept using various excuses to avoid sending troops.

Prime Minister Wang Duo expected Gao Pian to have a different intention, so he repeatedly asked Emperor Xizong to go to the army in person.In the first month of the second year of Zhonghe (882 A.D.), Emperor Xizong appointed Wang Duo as the commander-in-chief. The horse conquered the yellow nest.At the same time, Emperor Xizong dismissed Gao Pian from his position as the governor of the east, and soon removed him from the position of salt and iron transfer envoy.Gao Pian was furious and stopped paying taxes from then on, openly breaking with the central government. Emperor Xizong was extremely annoyed by Gao Pian's rebellion, but there was nothing he could do.

Because, since Huang Chao swept the world and entered Chang'an, the Tang Empire has gradually fallen into disintegration.Today, not only Gao Pian is fighting against the central government in Huainan, but also rebellious beacons have been ignited in all directions of the empire, such as Zhedong, Weibo, Jingnan (where the government is now Jiangling County, Hubei), Yongzhou (now Nanning City, Guangxi), There were turmoil in Pinglu (now Qingzhou City, Shandong Province), Huaizhou (now Qinyang City, Henan Province) and other feudal towns and counties. Even Xichuan, where Xizong is currently located, had a mutiny just broke out not long ago.In addition, in the past few years, Li Keyong, who ruled Xinzhou and Daizhou (now part of Shanxi), has never stopped harassing the four borders, and has the potential to dominate the north...

In short, all signs indicate that at this moment, Li Tang, who is in exile in Xichuan, has less and less control over the local area, and the collapse of the empire is only a matter of time. After Wang Duo went to the front line in person, various officials and troops began to gather in the Gyeonggi area from various directions.Huang Chao's power gradually shrank, and only Chang'an, Hetong and Huazhou (now part of Shaanxi) remained.However, after more than half a year, although Wang Duo led various armies to form an encirclement circle around Chang'an, he could only engage in a tug-of-war with Huang Chao, without any breakthrough.It wasn't until September of this year that the surrender of one of Huang Chao's fierce generals gave Xizong's court a glimmer of hope to calm down Huang Chao.

The person who betrayed Huang Chao at a critical moment was Zhu Wen. Zhu Wen was born in a small valley in Dangshan, Songzhou (now Dangshan County, Anhui) in the sixth year of Dazhong (852 AD).Like all the founding emperors in history, this future Emperor Taizu of the Later Liang Dynasty was born with a mythical halo.According to the "Old History of the Five Dynasties", on the day he was born, his thatched hut suddenly glowed red, and the neighbors were shocked, thinking it was on fire, and rushed to fight the fire.But when I ran to the front of the house, I found that the Zhu family was fine, and nothing happened. The only difference was that there was a loud cry of a baby coming from inside.

All the neighbors were amazed, and they all said that this child is absolutely extraordinary, and there will be some fortune in the future. The miracle of Zhu Wen's birth was exactly the same as that of Zhu Chongba who was born in Fengyang, Anhui 500 years later.Whether it is a coincidence or a conscious "reference", we don't know, but it is not difficult to see that the Chinese people's imagination is really poor, and even making up a myth for the emperor will crash. Although Zhu Wen was born with a miracle, his family was not very good when he was a child. His father died long ago, and his widowed mother was unable to support the three brothers, so he had to send the youngest Zhu Wen to a man named Liu Chong in a neighboring county. adopted.

Perhaps it was because his father died early and he was not disciplined since he was a child, so Zhu Wen became violent and aggressive when he grew up. He didn't want to do anything to make a living.His adoptive father, Liu Chong, was angry with him for being lazy, and beat him with a stick every now and then. In the adoptive father's house, the only person who loves Zhu Wen is Liu Chong's old mother.The old woman often warned her family members: "Zhu San is not an ordinary person, you should treat him kindly." The family members were very dismissive and asked her why.The old woman said: "He was sleeping soundly once, and I suddenly saw him turn into a red snake." The implication is that Zhu Wen has the image of the emperor.

When the family heard this, they all sneered. Even Zhu San, who is so delicious and lazy, can be the emperor?Go dreaming! No one would believe what the old woman said, so naturally no one would give Zhu Wen a good look.But Zhu Wen didn't take it seriously, and continued to live his life as a gangster, neither farming nor doing business, and he didn't want to study and take exams. In this way, Zhu Wen was in his twenties.When almost everyone around him was completely desperate for this rascal, Zhu Wen's era had come. During the Qianfu period, peasant uprisings were raging everywhere, and Huang Chao also galloped across Caozhou (now Dingtao County, Shandong). Zhu Wen immediately defected to Huang Chao's command, and because of his bravery in combat, he soon became the leader of the army.

In the next few years, Zhu Wen followed Huang Chao in the South and North Wars, made many military exploits, and quickly grew into an independent general.After Huang Chao conquered Chang'an, he ordered Zhu Wen to lead his troops to garrison the Dongwei Bridge.Soon, Zhu Wen designed to recruit Zhuge Shuang, the Tang general, to make another great contribution, and was immediately appointed by Huang Chao as the defense envoy of Tongzhou. Tongzhou is the main barrier of the Huang Chao regime in the east of Chang'an.Huang Chao handed over such a strategic importance to Zhu Wen, which shows his appreciation and trust in him.However, at this time, Zhu Wen had keenly foreseen the impending fall of the Huang Chao regime.Afterwards, Zhu Wen resolutely beheaded the eunuch who was sent by Huang Chao to supervise the army, and the whole city surrendered to the Li Tang court. Zhu Wen's surrender was tantamount to cutting off one of Huang Chao's arms, and at the same time pushed the impoverished Huang Chao regime further into a desperate situation. Emperor Xizong was overjoyed to learn that Huang Chaoxiao had turned Zhu Wen against him. He immediately appointed him as the Jiedu envoy of Tonghua, and soon changed him to be the general of Youjinwu and the deputy envoy of Hezhong camp recruiting, and named him "Quanzhong". At this moment, Emperor Xizong of course would not have expected that in just twenty years, this Zhu Quanzhong would become the terminator of the empire and single-handedly overthrow the 300-year-old Tang Dynasty. In December of the second year of Zhonghe, Hezhong Jiedu envoy Wang Chongrong exchanged "Yanmen Jiedu envoy" and successfully recruited the brave Li Keyong.Xi Zong was overjoyed, and immediately named Li Keyong "the commander of the camp in the northeast", and ordered him to go all out to conquer Huang Chao.In February of the third year of Zhonghe (883 A.D.), Li Keyong led his troops into the siege of Huazhou and conquered it in March. So far, Tongzhou and Huazhou have fallen one after another, and the gate of Chang'an has been opened. Huangchao, who is trapped in the isolated city, has fallen into a desperate situation with no food inside and no reinforcements outside.On the eighth day of April, Li Keyong took the lead in attacking Chang'an from Guangtai Gate.Huang Chao was defeated in battle, so he had to burn the palace and break out from the direction of Lantian. After the restoration of Chang'an, Li Keyong was promoted to Jiedu envoy of Hedong, and Zhu Quanzhong was promoted to Jiedu envoy of Xuanwu (Government Bianzhou).Emperor Xizong then ordered them to join forces with Zhongwu Jiedu envoy Zhou Ji and Wuning Jiedu envoy Shi Pu to wipe out the rest of Huangchao. In May, Huang Chao led the rest of his troops to Caizhou (now Runan County, Henan Province) and sent troops to attack the city.Qin Zongquan, the guard general of the Tang Dynasty, was defeated and surrendered to Huangchao.In the next year, Huang Chao and Qin Zongquan joined forces, regained their military power, and plundered the Central Plains again.Zhu Quanzhong, Zhou Ji and Shi Pu tried their best to encircle and suppress them, but they were still unable to win. In February of the fourth year of Zhonghe (884 A.D.), seeing that Zhu Wen and others had basically lost both sides in the fight with Huang Chao, Li Keyong took it calmly and led his army across the Yellow River to the south. He smashed the Yellow Chao army and killed more than 10,000 people.Huang Chao's army collapsed in one fell swoop, Shang Rang led his troops to surrender to Shi Pu, and the other generals surrendered to Zhu Quanzhong. Huang Chao left Yanzhou east with less than a thousand remnants.Li Keyong chased after him all the way, until he got to Huang Chao's hometown Yuanju. After running non-stop for more than two hundred miles, the men and horses were extremely exhausted, and only a few hundred cavalry could keep up. In addition, the food and grass were exhausted, so Li Keyong had to lead his troops back to Bianzhou, camped outside the city, and prepared to do something. Chase after a rest. On May 14th of the fourth year of Zhonghe, when Li Keyong entered Bianzhou City with his unparalleled Shatuo army, Zhu Quanzhong, the envoy of the Xuanwu Festival, suddenly had several thoughts in his heart. Thought 1: This Shatuo native Li Keyong really lived up to his reputation, and he was really good at fighting. Thought 2: He took the lead in regaining Chang'an, and now he is taking the limelight when he breaks the Huangchao. If he destroys the Huangchao with his own hands, then he will become the number one hero of the empire. Tuo Jun, when the time comes, who else in the world can compete with Li Keyong? Thought 3: If Li Keyong really got to that point, why should I, Zhu Quanzhong, compete with him? Thought 4: In today's world, if there is Zhu Quanzhong, there cannot be Li Keyong—either you die or I die. Thought 5: Don’t think about anything else, just act first. On the same day, Zhu Quanzhong sent a warm invitation to Li Keyong, insisting on inviting him to live in the high-end hotel in Shangyuanyi, and then held a sumptuous banquet.During the dinner, Zhu Quanzhong not only treated Li Ke with great courtesy, but also had a very humble attitude.After Li Ke drank three glasses of wine, his haughty expression surfaced, and his words were overbearing, and he didn't pay attention to Zhu Quanzhong at all.While Zhu Quanzhong kept persuading him to drink with a lost smile, he winked at the general Yang Yanhong beside him. Li Keyong and his entourage were so drunk that no one noticed that Yang Yanhong quietly left the banquet early. The banquet didn't end until dusk, and Li Keyong was already drunk. As soon as the left and right sides helped him up, there were earth-shattering shouts of killing around him. Suddenly, Zhu Quanzhong's army flooded in like a tide.At that moment, all the soldiers woke up from the wine, but Li Keyong was still unconscious.While resisting with all their strength, the soldiers woke up Li Keyong with cold water. It took Li Keyong a long time to understand his situation after waking up from the dream.He greeted all eighteen generations of Zhu Quanzhong's ancestors in his heart, then grabbed his bow and arrow and jumped up.Although he was still a little top-heavy, the arrows he shot one after another hit the hearts of several Xuanwu soldiers impartially. At this time, Xuanwu soldiers began to set fire on all sides, and the flames and smoke surrounded them in an instant.The soldiers on the left and right embraced Li Keyong and climbed over the courtyard wall, desperately fighting a bloody path, and broke out in the hail of guns and arrows.They finally fled to the south gate of Bianzhou, and the soldiers used ropes to let Li Ke down the city wall, and finally let him escape the catastrophe.However, the more than 300 soldiers who followed him into the city that day were all killed in battle... Li Keyong and Zhu Quanzhong forged a blood feud in this way. From this moment on, the grievances and resentments between them will accompany the precarious Datang Empire through the last twenty years, and will continue to their descendants, and finally evolve into the successive years between countries in the early years of the Five Dynasties. Conquest and brutal slaughter.In the second year of Kaiping in the Later Liang Dynasty (AD 908), when Li Keyong was dying, he gave his son Li Cunxu three arrows, and at the same time told Li Cunxu the names of his three most unforgettable enemies, telling him that he must take revenge, otherwise he would die. Do not rest in peace. The first name of these three enemies is Zhu Quanzhong. In the summer of the fourth year of Zhonghe (884 A.D.), Huang Chao had been running desperately, while Tang general Li Shiyue and Huang Chao's surrendered general Shang Rang had been chasing after him desperately.On June 15th, Li Shiyue and monk Rang finally caught up with Huang Chao in Xiaqiu (now Yanzhou, Shandong) and dealt him the last fatal blow. In this final battle, the remnants of Huang Chao died, scattered and almost wiped out.On June 17, Huang Chao took his family and fled into Langhu Valley (now southwest of Laiwu City, Shandong). Wolf and Tiger Valley, the name sounds a bit sinister. Yes, this is the place where Huang Chao, a generation of heroes, ends. When Huang Chao rode his horse into this luxuriant valley with exhaustion all over his body, there was silence all around, as if he could only hear his own heartbeat.At this moment, Huang Chao didn't notice that his nephew Lin Yan had quietly followed behind him. A gust of cold mountain wind suddenly pierced Huang Chao's neck.He shivered subconsciously.Suddenly, there was a strange feeling in his back.Huang Chao suddenly turned his head. A cold knife light, a ferocious face. This was the last scene Huang Chao saw in this world. Lin Yan cut off Huang Chao's head neatly, and at the same time beheaded a dozen other people including his brother, wife, and children.After chopping off one by one, Lin Yan took the big bunch of heads and walked on the road of abandoning darkness and turning to light. But as soon as he walked out of the wolf and tiger valley, he bumped into the Shatuo army chasing them head-on. Before Lin Yan could say a word of loyalty to Li Tang, the Shatuo soldiers chopped off Lin Yan's head with a click, added him to the string of heads, and rode back to the camp to ask for credit. On the dusty road, Huang Chao's head and Lin Yan's head kept shaking with the violent ups and downs of the horse's back. Sometimes they bump into each other fiercely, and sometimes they look at each other coldly... From the rise of troops in June 875 AD to the defeat in June 884 AD, the Huangchao Uprising lasted for nine years. In these nine years, he moved to most of China, captured the eastern and western capitals of the Tang Dynasty, established the Daqi regime, reached the pinnacle of his life, and at the same time pushed the Li Tang Dynasty into the abyss of eternal doom. After my flowers bloom, a hundred flowers will kill. In a sense, Huang Chao did it.He indeed watered his ambitions and dreams with the blood of countless people, and paved his way to the pinnacle of power with the bones of countless people, thus making himself a veritable "flower of destruction". Fortunately for the precarious Datang Empire, this flower of destruction was uprooted after a brief bloom.However, the real misfortune is that he is not the last flower of destruction. People will soon discover that it was after the defeat of Huangchao that the scenes became more tragic and the melee battles of larger and larger scales were frequently staged in the last years of the ninth century; After withering, hundreds of thousands of flowers of destruction competed to bloom on the land of the Tang Empire. A yellow nest staggered and fell in a pool of blood and dust, while more yellow nests were galloping ferociously under the bloody sky at the end of the Tang Dynasty...