In 868, Pang Xun led 800 soldiers from Guilin to fight all the way, traversing thousands of miles, annihilating more than 100,000 Tang troops and almost destroying the Tang Dynasty. Unfortunately, Pang Xun's strategic vision was not good, and he did not adopt the advice of the strategists to attack Chang'an, otherwise the Tang Dynasty would end prematurely. Even so, the Tang Dynasty was also seriously injured, and its demise entered the countdown, and Pang Xun revolted, becoming the penultimate straw that crushed the Tang Dynasty. Historical theory: "Tang died in the Yellow Nest and the disaster was based on Guilin".
In 762, as the Anshi Rebellion was coming to an end, and the servant Huai'en was in his hands, Emperor Li Yu of the Tang Dynasty made a mistake by not sweeping away the rebellion, but instead adopted a policy of appeasement and ceded the Territory of Hebei in exchange for their submission. In this way, the moderation made it even more arrogant and contemptuous of the imperial court, and the Tang Dynasty fell into a situation of chaos, and the Sheng Tang was gone forever.
Jiedu made each other attack and kill each other, and the surrounding nomadic cavalry often attacked, which caused headaches for the Tang Dynasty. Nanzhao, a local government located on the Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau, also rose up to challenge the majesty of the Tang Dynasty. During the reign of Emperor Xuanzong, the Tang Dynasty sent 100,000 troops to attack Yunnan, only to be ambushed by The Nanzhao soldiers, losing more than half of the 100,000 troops. Today, the Tang Dynasty is declining, and Nanzhao naturally does not pay attention to it.
Nanzhao sent troops to harass, the southwest frontier of the Tang Dynasty was in a hurry, and Tang Yizong was very helpless, so he had to transfer troops from Lianghuai to strengthen the southwest garrison. The Tang Dynasty mobilized 800 troops from Xuzhou and stationed them in Guilin, the capital of Guangxi Province, to guard against the invasion of Nanzhao. The soldiers of the two Huai dynasties were brave and good at fighting, daring to fight in blood and hand-to-hand combat, and were a strong force against Nanzhao. Unfortunately, the imperial court did not believe what it said, and these 800 soldiers and horses indirectly destroyed the Tang Dynasty.
When the Xuzhou soldiers went out on the expedition, the imperial court promised that they would be able to return home after 3 years, and the imperial court would send another army to replace them. Far from home, life and death are uncertain, and there are wives and children at home who need to be raised, these 800 soldiers obey orders although they do not want to go on an expedition. Because, they believed in the imperial court, after 3 years, they could go home and reunite and live a happy and happy life.
In 865, the date of garrisoning Guilin was full, and 800 heroes requested to return to Xuzhou. The imperial court, citing the urgency of military affairs at the border, hoped that they would serve for another year and endure it for a while. In 866, the soldiers again asked to return to their hometown in Xuzhou, but the imperial court still refused, on the grounds that the funds were insufficient and could not be promoted for the time being. In 867 and 868, the soldiers continued to write jointly, and the imperial court still said "no money."
Deceiving again and again, 800 soldiers lost trust in the court. Since the imperial court does not give it home, let's go home by ourselves. In 868, 800 soldiers revolted in Guilin, killing the officials who defended the city, and then electing Pang Xun, the official in charge of grain and grass, as the leader, and killed all the way from Guilin to Xuzhou to reunite with his family. Guilin to Xuzhou, the road is close to 3,000 miles, these 800 heroes are also fighting.
After the Pang Xun uprising, they had no intention of breaking with the imperial court, they just wanted to go home. At this time, Tang Yizong was in power, he was dimwitted and incompetent, and he made repeated mistakes in dealing with the Pang Xun issue, resulting in the situation being out of control. The 800 soldiers needed to go home, they needed to feel safe, and if the court could forgive their sins, this was the end of the matter.
Pang Xun wrote to the imperial court, asking for pardons for 800 soldiers and to organize them into a battalion, rather than demobilization, otherwise the people would be insecure. Tang Yizong was very angry with the 800 soldiers who dared to call the imperial court, and he refused Pang Xun's request and ordered the towns along the way to intercept and destroy this army. However, the moderation makes them all hope to protect themselves, more is better than less, and there is no excessive obstruction along the way.
Pang Xun went all the way, recruiting poor peasants along the way, and the army reached more than 7,000 people. When they arrived in Suzhou, the Tang general Yuanmi led 3,000 elite troops to attack, pang Xun pretended to withdraw, lured the Tang army to pursue, and beheaded Yuanmi along the Bian River, and all the Tang troops were killed. Since then, the rebel army has gained momentum and more and more participants, and there are more than 30,000 people when they arrive in Xuzhou.
Next, Pang Xun connected and captured Xuzhou, Sizhou, Haozhou, Chuzhou, Hezhou and other places, with a force of more than 200,000 people, and the momentum was very huge. At this time, the strategist suggested that Pang Xun take the opportunity of the mobilization of the Tang army to directly expedition to Chang'an, make a long-distance attack, and settle the battle. Unfortunately, Pang Xun did not have the courage, he only wanted to become a thrifty envoy, hoping that the imperial court would recognize his status, and did not have the ambition to win the Central Plains.
Tang Yizong was terrified, and he hurriedly dispatched troops from all over the country to gather 250,000 troops to encircle and suppress Pang Xun's rebel army. Among them, the right JinWuwei general Kang Chengxun led 90,000 troops as the main force, the Shenwu general Wang Yanquan led 50,000 to attack the north of Xuzhou, and the Yulin general Dai Keshi led 40,000 troops to attack the south of Xuzhou. The rest of the towns also sent troops one after another, gathering more than 200,000 Tang troops near Xuzhou.
The Tang army was huge and crowded, but they did not subordinate themselves to each other and did not cooperate well. Dai Shike attacked first, he wanted to grab the first merit, but he was ambushed by Pang Xun, and the Tang army was killed by more than 30,000 people, and Dai Shike was killed in the battle. Wang Yanquan sent reinforcements from Shouzhou, Pang Xun had already taken precautions, and the Tang army was ambushed in the middle of the way and fled in a panic. After that, Wang Yanquan trapped Shouzhou, found various excuses to refuse to send troops, and sat and watched the situation.
Connecting to win, Pang Xun was carried away by the victory, he thought that he was the first in the world, and the generals of the Tang Army were vulnerable. However, Pang Xun ignored the existence of a special force, that is, the 3,000 Shatuo cavalry transferred from outside sai, and they were in the Kang Cheng training camp at this time. Pang Xun originally thought that Kang Chengxun was easy to defeat, and when the main force fought, he did not guard against the Shatuo cavalry, and the result was bad luck.
200,000 rebel troops and 90,000 Tang troops fought, the battlefield was full of sand, and the killing did not distinguish between victory and defeat for half a day. At this time, Zhu Xie Chixin (Li Keyong's father) led 3,000 Shatuo cavalry to detour and attack from behind the rebel army. The Shatuo cavalry shot while sprinting, and when they entered the battle, they took out their machetes to fight, and the battle situation took a sharp turn.
The rebel army, mostly peasants and inexperienced in battle, was quickly defeated by the dash of Shatuo's cavalry, and the rebel army was beheaded by tens of thousands of people. Kang Chengxun took advantage of the victory to pursue, with shatuo cavalry as the vanguard, Pang Xun was defeated in successive battles, fell into the water in Suzhou and died, and the uprising was declared a failure. In the Battle of Suzhou, the Shatuo cavalry once again played the role of a stable Qiankun, and tens of thousands of rebel soldiers fell into a desperate situation and committed suicide by throwing themselves into the water.
Although the Pang Xun uprising failed, the Tang Dynasty was also seriously injured. When Wang Xianzhi and Huang Chao rebelled, Pang Xun's old troops were the main force. Later, Huang Chaobu destroyed Zhu Wen of the Tang Dynasty and established the "Great Liang". Zhu Evil's son Li Keyong was a fierce enemy of Zhu Wen, and the two often fought. Later, Li Keyong's son Li Cunxun destroyed "Da Liang" and changed the name of the country to Tang, which was called "Later Tang" in history.
Bibliography: New Book of Tang