【Hezhou Massacre】
One hundred and thirty people, including Hezhou's anti-Yu official Shi Tong, jointly filed a petition to impeachment, revealing a shocking tragedy to the world: the Hezhou tragedy.
At the beginning, the bandits were still looting in Wujiang County. Two intelligence officers truthfully reported the movements of the bandits to Cui Yong, the governor of Hezhou. Cui Yong actually said that the two men were spreading rumors to cause trouble and spread panic, and had them put in shackles. Shackled and put into prison. They sent people to investigate again and found that Xu Thief was already ten miles away from the state and soon arrived at the city.
Cui Yong then announced the surrender of the whole city. He drank with the leader of the bandit army on the Drum Tower and made a verbal agreement: kill the people in the city as you like, take the property as you like, rob the women as you like, as long as you don't steal the territory.
Cui Yong ordered the soldiers to disarm, hand over their weapons, and let Xu thieves handle them. There was an officer named Shi Qiong who hesitated a little while taking off his armor. He took off his armor a step too late. Cui Yong gave it to Xu Thief and had his head chopped off on the spot.
More than 800 disarmed soldiers were tied up behind their backs and then massacred.
The Xu thieves massacred more than a thousand people in Hezhou.
Cui Yong, the governor of Hezhou, committed an unpardonable crime.
Yizong of the Tang Dynasty ordered that Shi Qiong and the descendants of the killed soldiers and soldiers should be treated kindly; Cui Yong granted death and his descendants were exiled to Kangzhou as prisoners. All other official relatives in the family were demoted and exiled.
When the Xu thieves were wreaking havoc, there was no shortage of loyal ministers and good generals.
Du Xun was specifically named and praised in the edict of Emperor Yizong of the Tang Dynasty, "the lonely fortress won the whole, and a special award was given"; Xin Xun was not mentioned in the edict and the draft, because Xin Xun's work was temporarily appointed by Du Xun. Xin Chen's heroic deeds were not known until Du Xin reported the truth to the court before it was recognized by the court.
Regarding Du Xun, we can mention two more words:
His great-grandfather is Du Hope, who was instrumental in pacifying Tubo; his grandfather is Du You, prime minister of the Dezong Dynasty, who rose to the rank of Duke of Qi; his father is Du Shifang, censor Zhongcheng; the prime minister Du Tai mentioned above is his brother, and Du Tai He was also the prince-in-law, and he married Princess Qiyang (the eleventh daughter of Emperor Xianzong). It was precisely because he married the princess that his father, Du Shi, was so upright that he took the initiative to resign.
Du Shifang had a younger brother named Du Congyu, who was the uncle of Du Tuo and Du Xin. This uncle may not be very famous, but he had a son, who was the cousin of Du Tuo and Du Xin. His name is Du Mu.
Let's talk about Xin Chan. Xin Chan was appointed as the governor of Lingnan West Road and died in office. The deeds of the old hero in his last few years will also be mentioned later.
Xin Tan was indisputably selected into the "Biography of Loyalty and Righteousness" and became a model of loyal ministers and righteous men in the late Tang Dynasty.
Shatuo Chief Zhu Xiechixin, in addition to being given an official title and a generous reward, he also received an honor: he was given a national surname and a given name. From then on, Zhu Xie Chixin had a nice and pleasant name, Li Guochang.
Although the Pang Xun Rebellion in Xuzhou was short-lived for less than a year and a half, it was of great significance. It laid the foundation for the future "Huangchao Uprising". Therefore, "New Book of Tang" summed up the reasons for the demise of the Tang Dynasty by saying, "The Tang Dynasty fell in Huang Chao, and the disaster is based in Guilin."
The troubles in Guilin also originated from the troubles in Nanzhao, and they are inextricably linked with Nanzhao. It was precisely because Nanzhao invaded Annan that Xu soldiers entered Guilin to guard the border.
After Pang Xun's rebellion was put down, the imperial court received another urgent military information: Nanzhao invaded the border area.
The second "Nanzhao War" began.
[The Second "Nanzhao War"]
Shilong firmly sat on the throne of the king, but did not give up his coveting of the Tang Dynasty's territory. This time, he chose Chengdu as his target of attack.
At this time, only three years had passed since the end of the Annan War.
The person who quickly promoted this war was Li Shiwang, a feudal official in the Tang Empire.
Li Shiwang first deceived the emperor, divided Sichuan, established the "Dingbian Army", and served as the first Dingbian Army Jiedushi, and then wanted to provoke a war between the two countries to gain military merit.
Li Shiwang quickly seized the opportunity. During the previous "Annan War", local officials of the Tang Dynasty detained a Nanzhao winter envoy.
The envoy sent by Nanzhao to celebrate the winter was of high rank and was its chief prime minister Dong Cheng. Dong Cheng led a 19-member delegation to visit Chang'an via Chengdu to ease relations between the two countries. Li Fu, then the governor of Xichuan, had a bad time with them.
Because Dong Cheng, the prime minister of Nanzhao, believed that Nanzhao had "established an independent country" and had equal diplomatic relations with the Tang Dynasty; while Li Fu insisted on using the vassal ceremony, saying that Nanzhao's "independence" was illegal and would not be obtained. admittedly.
The two sides had a heated argument about the state system, and neither one was willing to give in easily.
Negotiations were fruitless.
Faced with the arrogance of the "Southern Independence" elements, Li Fu, the military governor of Xichuan, was furious and said, "You barbarians have no etiquette and no education. It is simply unreasonable!" Then he ordered the warriors to beat them half to death. Then he was put in handcuffs and shackles, thrown into prison, and detained indefinitely.
"We convince people with reason."
Soon after, Li Fu was transferred to another place. The newly arrived military governor Liu Tong discovered that there were such a group of political prisoners in the prison, so he hurriedly reported to the court for instructions from the central government.
The imperial court was shocked and hurriedly issued an edict to take Dong Cheng and his party to Chang'an. They generously rewarded and comforted them, "convinced them with reason", and then respectfully sent them back home.
After Dong Cheng returned to China, Shilong sent another "Thanksgiving Mission" to thank Datang for releasing Dong Cheng, deepening the friendship between the two countries and eliminating misunderstandings between the two countries.
When the envoys of Xie En passed through the territory under the jurisdiction of the border army, Li Shiwang actually killed them all. "There is no misunderstanding, we just convince people with reason."
Ironically, the Xichuan soldiers resented Li Shiwang's decentralization of power and hoped to use Nanzhao's hand to kill people, so they privately instigated Nanzhao to invade their homeland.
Datang seemed to be standing on the border between the two countries, "Hit me, you hit me."
So the war broke out smoothly.
Nanzhao mobilized troops in October, entered the country in November, and captured Jiazhou (Leshan City, Sichuan Province) in December.
But the instigator of this war, Li Shiwang, sensed the danger in advance, escaped from his shell before the war started, and was transferred back to the capital. The imperial court sent Dou Pang to replace him.
Rats and weasels have a nest, one nest is worse than the other.
Dou Pang was even more greedy and cruel than Li Shiwang. Li and Dou went on and on, boiling the resentment of the people in Xichuan and making the region extremely poor, leaving the region empty and weak, creating excellent conditions for foreign invasion.
Jiazhou is of great importance because it is located on the north bank of the Dadu River and is an important stronghold in the natural moat of the Dadu River. Dou Pang quickly led his army to fight for it.
At this time, Shilong sent envoys to request peace talks.
Dou Pang breathed a long sigh of relief. As a small barbarian country, no matter how much noise it makes, it is nothing more than asking for a small advantage. It is just a so-called "war to force peace" trick. What new tricks can it create? Why don't you send someone to apologize to my superior country, pretend to be a grandson, mention conditions, and beg for favors and rewards?
Dou Pang ordered an honor guard to be set up to show these barbarians the majesty of the Celestial Empire.
Just as the old man was taking official steps, straightening his back, and preparing to reprimand the foreign countries for their rudeness and rudeness in an official tone, Nanzhao's army suddenly launched thousands of boats, scrambling to cross the river.
It turned out that Nanzhao was playing a delaying tactic, delaying time under the guise of "seeking peace" to buy precious time for the army to cross the river.
Dou Pang took it off for fun. The arrogant and arrogant aura just now was gone, and he saw a tide of enemy troops coming towards him. This was the most dangerous moment he had ever seen in his life. He was immediately frightened out of his wits, and his first reaction was to commit suicide and die for his country.
To be fair, no matter how hateful Dou Pang was, at the moment of his defeat, his instinctive reaction was to commit suicide and die for his country, and not to be a prisoner and be humiliated. This can be regarded as having some backbone, and it is better than kneeling, kowtowing, and begging.
The general beside him rescued Dou Pang, who was about to hang himself from a beam, "Commander, the fighting has just begun, why are you in a hurry? Fight first, and then we'll see what happens."
The two armies fought fiercely for a day.
That night, Dou Pang's mind finally opened up. He abandoned the soldiers of the three armies and fled the battlefield alone under the cover of night.
The generals discussed: "We have few soldiers and the enemy has many. If we wait until dawn to start the decisive battle, our army will definitely suffer. It is better for us to rob the camp at night and cause chaos to the enemy. In this way, we can retreat safely and preserve the strength of the country." "
As a result, the Tang army launched a counterattack at night and broke into the Nanzhao military camp, shooting arrows in all directions. As expected, the Nanzhao army was in chaos. They didn't know the reality of the Tang army and did not dare to counterattack rashly. The soldiers of the Tang army were able to retreat safely.
Although this part of the fresh force was retained, Lizhou in the west and Yazhou in the northwest (today's Ya'an City, Sichuan Province) were captured by Nanzhao. These two places are also on the north bank of the Dadu River. At this point, the natural danger of the Dadu River no longer exists.
The remnants of the defeated troops of the Tang Dynasty burned, killed and looted everywhere, providing border residents with a vivid education lesson on "Japanese Entering the Village" in advance.
After the Nanzhao invading army entered the city, they found that the entire city had been looted. Fortunately, there was no large-scale or organized resistance, and the Nanzhao invading army marched unimpeded towards their next target, Chengdu Prefecture.
Although Shilong was ambitious, he was not a master of great talent and strategy. He was "unruly" and did not take advantage of the victory to advance quickly. Instead, he was greedy for petty profits and looted seriously, which seriously delayed the pace of the attack and gave Datang enough breathing space. .
When the people heard about Nanzhao's invasion, they took refuge in Chengdu. As a result, Chengdu was so overcrowded that each person only had space as big as a straw mat. Drinking water has also become a problem. People must go to Mahachi (southeast corner of Chengdu) to collect mud. After it settles, they can drink the clearer upper layer.
Xichuan Jiedushi Lu Dan actively deployed and was ready for a tough battle. He also sent a deputy envoy to the Nanzhao camp to issue an invitation for peace talks.
Nanzhao's reply: "The speed of our advance depends entirely on your sincerity. (My behavior is only based on Yahuai)" It was sour, formal, and a threat hidden in the fabric.
Nanzhao continued to march and advanced to the northern border of Dingbian Army, which was very close to Chengdu.
Xichuan Jiedushi Lu Dan sent his deputy envoy to the Nanzhao camp to seek peace. As a result, Nanzhao detained the envoy and did not make any response.
The matter was urgent, so Lu Dan hurriedly reported to the court and requested that an imperial envoy be sent to Nanzhao to seek peace and avoid war.
The imperial court sent a branch to the imperial envoys to negotiate peace with the ministers.
Nanzhao still gave the Tang Dynasty face, warmly entertained the imperial ministers and peace envoys, and temporarily stopped advancing. When Chengdu got a precious breather, it stepped up the repair of its defenses.
On the eleventh day of the first month of the eleventh year of Xiantong (870), Nanzhao continued to advance and captured Shuangliu (Shuangliu County, Sichuan Province), which was already east of the Minjiang River. The city of Chengdu was already exposed to the enemy and was almost undefendable.
Lu Dan sent his deputy envoy to the Nanzhao camp.
This time, the Nanzhao army handed the envoy a document saying: "After the reconciliation, this will be the etiquette when our emperor meets your Jiedu envoy."
When I unfolded the document and took a look, I saw that the arrogance and rudeness were vivid on the paper. They also sent people to carry colorful tents to the gate of Chengdu, threatening to decorate the Shu King's Hall to welcome their emperor. Nanzhao's intention was very clear, let Tang Dynasty cede Chengdu Prefecture and cede Xichuan.
Cession of territory is obviously beyond Lu Dan's authority.
Lu Dan was in a dilemma.
In fact, Nanzhao put forward such harsh conditions to convey an attitude to Lu Dan: "I don't intend to negotiate at all. Son of a bitch, let your horse come over!"
Nanzhao's army came to the city. The battle to defend Chengdu City is inevitable.
