"5,000 Years of China"
Chapter Seven: The Five Dynasties of the Sui and Tang Dynasties
Chapter 19: The Yellow Nest Uprising
Huang Chao was the leader of the rebel army at the end of the Tang Dynasty. "Wait until the autumn comes on September 8, and I will kill a hundred flowers after the flowers bloom." The incense of the sky penetrated Chang'an, and the city was full of golden armor. "This is The Poem of the Yellow Nest Singing Chrysanthemum.
Yellow Nest (network picture)
"A Young Man Named Huang Chao"
When Huang Chao was young, he went to the capital to take the exam, but after several examinations, he did not pass the exam, and when he saw the corruption of the imperial court, he was very angry in his heart, so he indignantly wrote a poem about chrysanthemums.
This poem is closely linked to the fate of Huang Chao.
At the end of the Tang Dynasty, after the chaos of the feudal towns, the monopoly of eunuchs, and the dispute between friends and parties, the government became more and more chaotic. Although Tang Xuanzong was relatively clear-cut, he failed to change this situation. After Emperor Xuanzong's death, the next to succeed him was Emperor Yizong of Tang and Emperor Yizong of Tang, and at this time the family was on the verge of collapse.
The most bitter is still the common people. Years of natural disasters, coupled with the exploitation of bureaucrats and landlords, caused the people to flee everywhere, and finally a large-scale peasant uprising broke out.
In 874, the year of Emperor Tang's succession, Wang Xianzhi, a salt merchant leader in Puzhou (in present-day Fan County, Henan), gathered thousands of peasants and revolted at Changyuan (in present-day Henan). Huang Chao, who also sold private salt, also brought some horses to follow the uprising. The victims everywhere usually hated the emperor and corrupt officials and joined the ranks of the rebel army. In this way, the insurrection ranks grew rapidly.
When the imperial court found out, it ordered the generals everywhere to suppress the rebel army. However, every time the troops were sent, they lost the battle, so someone proposed that Wang Xianzhi be summoned down. Wang Xianzhi was obsessed and prepared to accept the offer. This matter was known to Huang Chao, and he hurried to find Wang Xianzhi and said angrily: "When we made a great oath, we must sweep away those bad people in the world who harm the country and the people." Now things have not yet succeeded, but you want to become an official, how can you be worthy of these brothers! ”
Wang Xianzhi was scolded by Huang Chao and was not good at publicly surrendering. The two men quarreled, and each led his troops apart. Wang Xianzhi went south, Huang Chao went north, and there was no more meeting. Soon, Wang Xianzhi was surrounded by officials and troops, fought a big defeat, and he himself was killed in the battle, leaving only Huang Chao's men and horses, rushing and beating everywhere. From the Yellow River to the Yangtze River, then to the Pearl River, and finally turned around and killed back in the Central Plains, reuniting with Wang Xianzhi's remaining rebel army. At this time, everyone pushed Huang Chao as the king and called him the Great General of the Sky.
Network illustration
The Fall of the Tang Dynasty
After that, Huang Chao began to learn to be like the imperial court, but also to give subordinates officials and manage the internal affairs of the rebel army. Since then, the rebel army has taken the form of organization.
In 880, Huang Chao led an army of 600,000 and marched into Tongguan. Not long after, the rebel army captured Tongguan, and Emperor Tang and the eunuch leader Tian Ling fled to Chengdu with their concubines. The Tang Officials, who were too late to flee, all left the city and surrendered.
In this way, Huang Chao became emperor in Chang'an, and the national name was Daqi. Chang'an became the world of the uprising, and Huang Chao finally realized his wish.
Although the new regime was established, it was not stable. The places that Huang Chao can control are not small, only a few small places in Chang'an and its vicinity. The Huangchao rebel army fought a long-term mobile war, and the places originally laid down were not guarded by troops. As soon as the rebels left, the lands returned to the control of the previous regime.
After Emperor Tang fled to Chengdu, he did not stop there, and he quickly gathered his army to surround Chang'an. Hundreds of thousands of rebel troops were crowded in Chang'an City, and as the days went on, they ran out of food. At a moment of serious difficulty for the rebel army, a general under Huang Chao named Zhu Wen surrendered to the Tang Dynasty.
At the same time, Emperor Tang brought in the cavalry of Li Keyong, the chief of the Shatuo clan. Li Keyong led the Shatuo cavalry and fought with the Tang army and defeated the rebel army.
Huang Chao saw that the situation was unfavorable and withdrew from Chang'an. Along the way, he always lost battles, and finally retreated to the Taishan Wolf and Tiger Valley, where he committed suicide in defeat. Soon, the Tang Dynasty's nearly 300-year rule came to an end.
Historical Archives
Emperors of the Tang Dynasty loved cockfighting
Cockfighting (network image)
There are cockfighting games in the spring and autumn. In the Tang Dynasty, Tang Xuanzong was particularly fond of cockfighting, setting up a chicken workshop in the palace, raising more than 1,000 cocks, and sending 500 people to raise taming, and even the Huaqing Palace also had a cockfighting hall. Under his influence, men, women and children in the capital like to fight cocks, and there are even people who have become rich because they are good at raising fighting cocks. There is a folk proverb that says: "Children do not need to read, and cockfighting is better than reading." After that, Emperor Jingzong of Tang, Emperor Wenzong, Emperor Xuanzong, Emperor Yizong, emperor Xuanzong and other emperors also became fans of cockfighting. The custom of cockfighting has always influenced the Southern Tang Dynasty for five generations.