From the first year of Guangming to the fourth year (the first year to the fourth year of the Great Qi Jintong, 880 to 883 AD), the Tang army united with Shatuo, Dangxiang, and Xianbei mercenaries to carry out a series of military operations on the periphery of Chang'an.
Due to the siege of the Tang army, coupled with the landlords and gentry around Chang'an, they have formed villages to protect themselves, implemented strong walls and cleared the wilderness, and trapped the internal and external difficulties of the Daqi group in Chang'an, which has fallen into the verge of economic bankruptcy. All the passages to Chang'an were cut off by the Tang army, and soon there was a food shortage in the city, the rats and birds were eaten, people began to eat grass roots, tree bark, and even the tragedy of "people eating people" occurred.
In 882 (the 3rd year of Qi Jintong and the 3rd year of Tang Zhonghe), Huang Chaoai cut off his food and salary to Zhu Wen because of the unfavorable battle, and connected 10 stamps to Huang Chao for help in half a month. When Meng Kai, the left servant in charge of military affairs of the Great Qi regime, was demolishing the east wall and making up for the west wall, taking care of one thing and losing the other, and was anxious, he was also powerless for Zhu Wen's 10 emergency stamps, and he became more and more anxious when he was urged, so he severely reprimanded Zhu Wen, reprimanding him for repeatedly asking for food and pay in an attempt to support the army and self-respect, but he refused to fight hard for Daqi. Zhu Wen is one of the best fierce generals under the command of Huang Chao, if it were not for his desperate fight with the Tang army in the past few years, and won several big victories, it is really hard to say whether Huang Chao, Shang Rang, and Meng Kai can still stay in Chang'an City and give orders! Perhaps he had already been expelled from Chang'an by the Tang army, which had launched a large-scale counterattack, and Meng Kai, who was urged to speak unscrupulously, actually said that Zhu Wen asked for money and food in order to raise soldiers for self-respect, and he had a heart of disobedience, which was really wronged Lao Zhu.
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At that time, Tang Xizong had already commanded the Tang army in Chengdu to launch a large-scale counteroffensive in various feudal towns, and also borrowed the cavalry of Shatuo, Dangxiang, Xianbei and other tribes to help suppress it. Zhu Wen begged for food and salary, and was insulted and framed by Meng Kai, and in a fit of anger, he led his troops to surrender to Wang Chongrong, the envoy of Hedong Jiedu of the Tang Dynasty, in September of that year. Zhu Wen was a heavy general of Huangchao, fought bravely, repeatedly defeated the Tang army, and had long been famous, and his surrender was undoubtedly a major loss for Daqi. Tang Xizong, who was far away in Chengdu, was overjoyed when he heard the news, and gave Zhu Wen the name "Quanzhong". Tang Xizong never dreamed that Zhu Quanzhong was the person who completely swept the Tang Dynasty into the garbage heap of history, not Huang Chao.
In the spring of the third year of Zhonghe of the Tang Dynasty (883), the Tang army led by Li Keyong, the chief of Shatuohao, had already gathered under the city of Chang'an, besieging the city to the ground, and the Huangchao army, which had barely competed militarily earlier, could no longer hold on. In the battle of Tongzhou (now Dali, Weinan, Shaanxi), the Tang army suffered a heavy defeat to the Great Qi army, captured countless people, and the Qi army suffered heavy casualties, ambushed the corpse for 30 miles, and the blood flowed like a river. In the Battle of Tongzhou, Zhao Zhang, Huangchao's right-hand general, was killed by the Tang army, tens of thousands of soldiers were captured by the Tang army, and the strongholds on the periphery of Chang'an were wiped out one by one, and the losses were extremely huge.
Huang Chao, the emperor of the Great Qi Dynasty who had been enjoying himself in the old palace of the Tang Dynasty in Chang'an City for two years, finally began to count the number of surprises a day, and was restless in sleep, under the continuous pressure and oppression of Li Keyong, Tuoba Sigong and other feudal towns, Huang Chao withdrew from Chang'an on the night of April 8, entered Shangluo Mountain from Lantian Pass, and thus entered the Central Plains. The Huang Chao army deliberately abandoned a large amount of property along the way, luring the pursuing Tang army to scramble for grabbing, so they successfully broke through the siege and retreated. At that time, the Huangchao Army still had 150,000 horses, and the capital to make a comeback.
This year, Huangchao's fierce rival, Li Keyong (Zhu Xie, surnamed Li by the Tang Dynasty) was just 28 years old, the youngest of the generals of the Tang Dynasty, and the cavalry was also the most powerful, with outstanding achievements, and became the absolute main force in suppressing the Huangchao Uprising. Li Keyong was the founder of the Later Tang Dynasty, and decades later was posthumously named the Taizu of the Later Tang Dynasty by his son (adopted son) Li Siyuan (Later Tang Mingzong). He is also one of the pioneers of the five generations.
After Huang Chao moved to the Central Plains, he waved his army to conquer Caizhou, and Tang Jiedu defeated and surrendered Qin Zongquan, and his momentum grew again. Subsequently, the Huang Chao army took advantage of the situation to attack Chenzhou (present-day Huaiyang, Henan). Zhao Li, the assassin of Chenzhou, was a capable official, he had already prepared, strengthened the city defenses, cleared the wilderness, and led the defenders to resist stubbornly. Huang Chao's appointed left servant Meng Kai led more than 10,000 elite soldiers as the vanguard, preparing to take the lead in launching a surprise attack, but was attacked by Zhao Li's troops in Xiangcheng, and Meng Kai was captured and beheaded by Tang Junsheng.
Huang Chao was furious when he learned that his henchman Meng Kai was captured and killed by the Tang army, and in June of that year, he joined forces with Qin Zongquan to besiege Chenzhou, and he would not give up until he took Chenzhou. The Chao army was besieged for a long time, and the lack of food divided the troops to plunder everywhere, because the people in the four realms of Chenzhou had already fled, and Zhao Li implemented the strong wall to clear the wilderness, and could not grab food, the Chao army actually fed on human flesh. This statement is by no means groundless or fabricated by later generations, as evidenced by history:
"When there is no accumulation among the people, thieves plunder people for food, and they are born in the mill (a big stone mill used for grinding rice and flour), and eat it from the bones, and the place where the grain is given is called 'Chung Mo Village'." "Information Governance Guide"
Using human flesh to feed the army, the Huang Chaojun committed a great crime that is beyond words. Lu Xun said that Chinese history is full of the word "cannibalism", although it is too straightforward, but what he said is true. The siege of Chenzhou lasted for almost a year, the two sides went back and forth, the battle was extremely hard, the Tang army stubbornly defended, and the Huangchao army lost troops and generals, but it could not be overcome for a long time.
In the long period of more than 300 days, the Tang court mobilized people from all walks of life and slowly moved closer to Chenzhou. Huang Chao old general, the new Xuanwu Army Festival envoy Zhu Quanzhong (Zhu Wen) is very active, he received a letter of help from Zhao Li, the assassin of Chenzhou, immediately led the headquarters of the troops and horses to aid Chenzhou, on the way also invited the loyal army festival envoy Zhou Qi, probation army festival envoy Shi Pu to go to the aid together. Because the power of Huangchao is still strong, the soldiers of the three towns cannot face it hard, and can only launch sneak attacks and harassment from time to time on the periphery, and cannot break the siege of Chenzhou.
In February 884, Li Keyong led 50,000 Shatuo iron cavalry southward to reinforce the Tang army, and the standoff between the two armies in the Central Plains was immediately broken. In March, Zhu Quanzhong led his troops to conquer Wazizhai, the base camp of Huangchao, and killed tens of thousands of Chao troops. Li Keyong also organized the Tang army of all roads in the Central Plains, and attacked the Shang Rang army entrenched in Taikang, and the Shang Rang army was defeated and fled.
Huang Chao saw that the Tang army was gathering more and more, and its strength was getting stronger, and Li Ke's fighting power of the Fan and Han coalition forces was fierce, and Zhu Wen, the "old comrade-in-arms" who fought side by side in the past, turned his face ruthlessly, killed his comrades mercilessly, and felt that he was invincible, so he withdrew from the siege of Chenzhou and retreated. After the Chao army withdrew from the siege, it marched to the northeast, threatening Zhu Quanzhong's loyal army base camp Bianzhou (Kaifeng), and slaughtering the city after attacking Wei's clan to vent his anger, Shang Rang led 500 cavalry to attack Daliang (now northwest of Kaifeng). Zhu Wen saw that the Huangchao soldiers were pressing the border, and hurriedly asked Li Keyong for help. Li Ke led the Shatuo iron cavalry to catch up, Wang Mandu on the bank of the Yellow River caught up with the main force of the Huangchao army, and attacked it while it was halfway crossing, the Shatuo soldiers were known for their bravery, and the momentum was even more unforgiving, Li Ke used the wave of the army to fight, and the Shatuo cavalry smashed into the Huangchao army and slashed and killed, broke the nest army, killed more than 10,000 people, drowned countless people, and the main force of the Huangchao was completely destroyed and defeated......
[Picture from the Internet]