Source: Mangzi said
In December of the first year of Guangming (880), Huang Chao captured Chang'an, and on December 13, Huang Chao proclaimed himself emperor in Chang'an and established the Daqi regime. After Huangchao occupied Chang'an, Tang Xizong, who had fled to Shu (present-day Sichuan), issued an edict to the Tang army Qin Wang to counterattack Chang'an, and promised that all land conquered by anyone would be recognized. Under the "institutional incentive" of the Tang Dynasty, all Tang troops gathered in Guanzhong, coupled with the serious internal rogue ideology of the Huangchao Righteous Army, Huang Chao himself lacked long-term strategic vision, and the situation of the Huangchao Righteous Army became more and more difficult.
In September of the second year of Zhonghe (882), the Tang army Wang Chongrong's troops surrounded Zhu Wen, the general of the Huangchao account, Zhu Wen weighed the pros and cons, and led more than 30,000 people to surrender to the Tang army. After Zhu Wen surrendered to the Tang army, the strength of the Huangchao Rebellion was seriously weakened, and the Tang armies from all walks of life also stepped up their counterattack on Chang'an. In February of the fourth year of Zhonghe (884), Huang Chao led 150,000 righteous troops from Guanzhong to Henan, which happened to be Zhu Wen's defense area. In the face of his former comrades-in-arms, Zhu Wen was not polite at all, defeated the rebels many times, and even killed more than 10,000 rebels in Wazibao, and stained the "letter of surrender" he handed over to the Tang Dynasty with the blood of his former comrades. Under the inspiration of Zhu Wen, the rest of the Tang army also burst with the will to fight, successively defeated Shang Rang (one of the leaders of the rebel army with Huang Chao) in Taikang, killed more than 10,000 rebels, and broke the fierce general Huang Ye under the command of Huang Chao in Xihua, and the rebel army suffered heavy casualties.
A series of fiascos made Huang Chao very angry, and he directed all his anger on Zhu Wen, the former right-hand general, it was precisely because Zhu Wen was familiar with the tactics of the rebel army that the rebel army failed one after another. So Huang Chao decided to concentrate the last main force of 100,000 people to attack Bianzhou, and vowed to kill Zhu Wen, a "traitor". Soon after, Huang Chao captured the Wei clan, which was a stone's throw away from Bianzhou. When Zhu Wen heard that Huang Chao had led a large army to attack, he immediately panicked. At that time, there were no more than 10,000 defenders in Bianzhou City, once Huang Chao attacked Bianzhou, Bianzhou would be difficult to protect, and if he fell into the hands of Huang Chao, he would have to be skinned and cramped.
In order to defend Bianzhou, and even more so to save his life, Zhu Wen ordered the soldiers to strengthen the city defense of Bianzhou on the one hand, and asked for help everywhere on the other. Seeing that the Huangchao army was approaching Bianzhou, at the critical moment, the Hedong (now Shanxi) Jiedu envoy and the king of Jin, Li Keyong, promised to send troops to aid Zhu Wen, and Zhu Wen suddenly felt a sense of survival. In May of that year, after Huang Chao broke through Wei's family, he was ready to cross the Bianshui to attack Bianzhou, Huang Chao took Wang Mandu west of Bianzhou and north of Zhongmu as a breakthrough, when the heavy rain was pouring and the water was surging, which limited the speed of the Huang Chao rebels crossing the river for a time, so that Huang Chao stayed in Wang Mandu for a long time, and indirectly bought time for Zhu Wen to defend Bianzhou.
After the weather was a little better, Huang Chao organized the army to cross the river again, and the army crossed half of the critical moment, Li Keyong led 30,000 Hedong elite cavalry to Wang Mandu in time, Zhu Wen saw Li Keyong arrive, and also led the Xuanwu army in Bianzhou City out of the city to fight, Zhu Wen and Li Keyong cooperated tacitly, in Wang Mandu broke the Yellow Nest, Huang Chao's fierce generals Li Zhou and Yang Jingbiao were immediately beheaded, the righteous army suffered tens of thousands of casualties, Huang Chao led the remnants to flee to the city overnight, and entered the injustice. Huang Chao's fierce generals Li Yan, Yang Neng, Huo Cun, Ge Congzhou, Zhang Guiba, Zhang Guihou, etc., as well as tens of thousands of elite rebels, all surrendered to Zhu Wen, Zhu Wen had the blessing of these fierce generals and elite soldiers, and rose rapidly and became a force comparable to Li Keyong. Soon after, Shang Rang, one of the leaders of the rebel army, led more than 10,000 people to surrender to the Tang army, and Huangchao's power declined even more.
The battle of Wang Mandu can be described as the biggest "Waterloo" in Huang Chao's life, just one month after the battle of Wang Mandu, on June 15, the fourth year of Zhonghe (884), Huang Chao was cornered under the blow of the Tang army, and finally committed suicide, and the Huang Chao uprising completely failed. The battle of Wang Mandu is also the only cooperation between the two protagonists of the late Tang Dynasty, Zhu Wen and Li Keyong, which is the "honeymoon period" of the two life and death enemies, and the two joined forces to end the Yellow Nest and inadvertently opened a new era (Five Dynasties). In this battle, Zhu Wen, who was originally on the weakest side, became the biggest winner because he was good at borrowing strength (Zhu Wen incorporated the essence of the Huangchao Rebels and grabbed the biggest battle results). As the strongest Li Keyong, because of his righteousness, he invisibly created a deadly enemy for himself and almost buried his Hedong foundation.