Seizing illegal salt and arresting salt dealers, an aboveboard law enforcement operation forced Wang Xianzhi to a dead end. With the support of Shang Junchang, Wang Xianzhi gathered his younger brothers and spread "hero posts", also called "green forest posts" and "jianghu posts", which is equivalent to posting a message in Moments today announcing that he is going to do something. .
As the leader and eldest brother of Puzhou's "Salt Gang", Wang Xianzhi also had his own private armed forces and was quite popular in Tao'er. He soon gathered three thousand desperadoes.
Wang Xianzhi calls himself "the general of Tianbu Jingjun and the leader of all the powerful people in the country". The first half of the sentence has a strong rustic flavor. Anyone who wants to whitewash the riot as a peasant uprising will usually use terms such as "the land is equalized and the grain is exempted." , at a time when land annexation was serious, exorbitant taxes and miscellaneous taxes were numerous, and class conflicts were intense, shouting this slogan was a blow to the feudal dynasty. It was very lethal and cost-free. Just shout the slogan. The second half of the sentence is a clown's obscenity, which is almost equivalent to the meaning of "the general marshal of the world's soldiers and horses", "the supreme military commander of the universe", and "the leader of the galaxy".
Wang Xianzhi first attacked Changyuan County. Then, he set his sights on his hometown-Puzhou.
Puzhou was under the jurisdiction of the Tianping Army at that time, and the Jiedushi of the Tianping Army sent troops to suppress it. At this time, the elite of the Tianping Army had already followed Gao Pian to fight in Shu, leaving behind a group of old, weak, sick and disabled, who were no match for Wang Xianzhi's thieves and were defeated miserably by the thieves. .
In an instant, Wang Xianzhi became famous, and idle people and gangsters from society flocked to the place. The grand scene was comparable to that of their elder Pang Xun. .
Huang Chao, a native of Yuengju (in today's Heze City, Shandong Province), was also a private salt dealer, the leader of the local salt gang, and close buddies with Wang Xianzhi.
Unlike other people in society, Huang Chao had read two lines of Chinese calligraphy and had also participated in the imperial examination. He had the glorious reputation of "failed to pass every test". The hooligans are not to be feared, but the hooligans are literate. Huang Chao is a cultured gangster.
The government's anti-smuggling operation also left Huang Chao with no way out. Wang Xianzhi's violent resistance to the law became a guiding light on Huang Chao's life, illuminating the way forward for this lost lamb.
Huang Chao was not in a hurry to join forces with Wang Xianzhi. Instead, he led his own troops to attack Caozhou and responded to Wang Xianzhi's call with practical actions.
His move also directly established his position as second in the rebel army.
The rebel army quickly captured Puzhou, Caozhou and Yunzhou. At this point, the entire territory under the jurisdiction of the Tianping Army fell into the hands of the thieves.
In autumn, there was another locust plague. The endless locusts spread from east to west, covering the sky and the sun. Wherever they passed, the ground was red for thousands of miles.
Yang Zhizhi, the mayor of Chang'an, the capital, reported the locust plague to the court, saying that after the locusts flew to Chang'an, they did not eat the crops and died holding thorns (the locusts entered the capital, did not eat the crops, and died holding thorns). So all the civil and military officials came to the court to congratulate him. The emperor was also very happy, and the emperor and his ministers were happy together.
Yang Zhizhi was a victim in the "medical trouble case". Because of his "friendship" with the upright Liu Zhan, he was ostracized by the "Baoyan Party" and was demoted from the imperial court. He went to Lingnan for a public trip. The new leader ascended the throne, the "Baoyan Party" lost power, and those who had been wronged and wronged were reactivated. Only then did Yang Zhizhi return to Chang'an.
However, after experiencing the dark political struggle, he learned to flatter others and flatter others. He is famous throughout the country for being good at flattery, and his courage to flatter will always be recorded in history.
To the east is the Shandong area, where Wang Xianzhi and Huang Chao are having trouble. Now, the locusts coming from the east will annihilate themselves when they reach the emperor's feet. Isn't this a good sign? It shows that people like Wang Huang will also perish on their own.
Yang Zhizhi eats wire to pull a fence - he is really good at weaving!
One really dares to make it up, and the other really dares to believe it.
Like locusts, the insurgent army swarmed around to commit crimes, ranging from hundreds to more than a thousand people, attacking nearly twenty states and even spreading to the Huainan region.
The imperial court issued an edict, ordering the military governors and eunuchs of the Huainan, Zhongwu, Xuanwu, Yicheng, and Tianping armies to actively suppress the attack, or to recruit Huairou.
A big stick in one hand and sweet dates in the other, this is the court's regular way of dealing with civil uprisings.
Song Wei, the military envoy of the Pinglu Army in Qingzhou, reported to the court and suggested that the officers and soldiers should not fight independently, but should have dedicated personnel responsible for unified deployment and actions, concentrate their forces, annihilate the main force, capture the thieves and capture the king. As soon as the person who led the trouble died, everything was solved.
Therefore, the imperial court appointed Song Wei as the commander-in-chief of suppressing bandits in each war zone (the Daoists went to camp to recruit bandit envoys), and also allocated 3,000 forbidden troops and 500 cavalry. All war zones south of the Yellow River that suppressed the rebels were all under Song Wei's command.
Song Wei was a ruthless character. He rushed to support the Chengdu war and defeated many with less, winning consecutive battles. However, his superiors were jealous and took away his military power and forced him to retreat to the second line and stand aside. Now, he is sitting in Shandong and has taken the initiative to serve as the commander-in-chief of suppressing bandits.
Wang Xianzhi led his main force and was attacking Yizhou (now Linyi City, Shandong Province).
Song Wei was worthy of being an outstanding general who was accustomed to fighting. He went south from Qingzhou to rescue Yizhou, and encountered Wang Xianzhi's army under the city of Yizhou.
Song Wei was able to defeat many of Nanzhao's regular troops with less, so it was no problem to defeat Wang Xianzhi's rabble.
The rebels were defeated and suffered heavy casualties. Wang Xianzhi fled in disgrace.
Song Wei hurriedly reported to the court to claim credit: "Wang Xianzhi is dead, and the thieves have been defeated." At the same time, he ordered the special corps of each war zone to be disbanded on the spot, and everyone returned to their homes and looked for their mothers, while he led his troops back to the Qingzhou headquarters.
Song Wei mistakenly believed that Wang Xianzhi died in the rebel army, and was blindly optimistic. He disbanded the coalition forces and unilaterally declared the end of the war.
Just as civil and military officials came to the court to celebrate and celebrate with each other, various states and counties reported one after another, saying that the bandit leader Wang Xianzhi was still alive, and thieves were plundering the cities, counties, and counties as usual.
The good omen of locusts clinging to thorns and dying was ruthlessly slapped in the face.
As a result, the various regiments that had just been repatriated were recruited again. According to historical records, these officers and soldiers who were sent back and recalled were very angry and wanted to launch a mutiny.
But in the ensuing pursuit and encirclement, Song Wei pursued but did not attack, surrounded but did not suppress, and always kept a distance of thirty miles from Wang Xianzhi (sneaking up the thief and watching the entire army), with the intention of intimidating and driving away.
Wang Xianzhi was able to lead his remnants to escape for the second time.
The history books called Song Wei an old bastard (Shi Wei is old and dark).
In fact, Song Wei is not an old fool, on the contrary, he is very shrewd.
[It’s easy to ask God but hard to send God away]
Pang Xun's "unauthorized return" was the largest mutiny in the late Tang Dynasty, but it was not the only one.
Just the year before last (874), the Probationary Army Task Force went to Shuofang War Zone (today's Ningxia) as usual to participate in the autumn border defense. Halfway there, they caught up with Nanzhao's invasion of Xichuan, so the imperial court ordered them to change their plan and go south for reinforcements. Before they could leave, As soon as they reached Chengdu, Nanzhao was repulsed, so the court ordered them to carry out their original plan - to go to Shuofang.
But these Xuzhou soldiers once again carried forward the glorious tradition of "returning without permission" and planned to disobey orders and return to their hometown in Xuzhou. The mutiny was unsuccessful and was promptly stopped by the accompanying eunuchs and commanders, who beheaded the eight leaders and stabilized the morale of the army.
Last year (875), 69 people including Wang Ying, the garrison commander of the Zhenhai Navy, mutinied due to unfair rewards and punishments. This mutiny quickly swept across Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Fujian, and was known as the "Wang Ying Mutiny" in history. It's also huge.
And just this year (876), the Tianping Army who supported Yizhou was also dissatisfied with the imperial court's transfer order and launched a mutiny, "returning without permission" to the Yunzhou headquarters.
Yizhou is right under Song Wei's nose. The Tianping army who returned without authorization returned to Yunzhou, and the court ordered that they would not be held accountable.
The task force groups in each theater are not fuel-efficient lamps. They can't come and go at a moment's notice unless there is a reward that is enough to make them excited. Even if they come, they may not really work hard. Rather than killing the enemy, they are more willing to disturb the people, smashing, smashing, looting and burning in the name of suppressing bandits and suppressing the bandits. "They have no skills to defend the enemy but are good at disturbing the people" is their true portrayal.
If the rewards are insufficient, or if the rewards and punishments are uneven, or if they are tired of dispatching, they will start a mutiny. It ranges from returning home without permission, to expelling or killing the officer at the most severe level.
Arrogance is difficult to control.
This is the first issue Song Wei considers. Since my own troops and horses are enough to quell the thieves, I don't need to use their help.
The second concern is that they are worried that neighboring war zones will take advantage of the situation and encroach on their own territory on the pretext of ordering reinforcements.
In the late Tang Dynasty, such dirty and dirty things abounded.
The above two points can be summarized as Song Wei's worry and distrust of his own people. Especially his experience in Chengdu strengthened his belief that "one's own people are always more dangerous than the enemy."
The third concern is to make the bandits self-respecting.
When the birds are gone, the good bows are hidden; when the cunning rabbits are dead, the running dogs are cooked; when the enemy's country is destroyed, the advisers are dead.
Twice in succession, when he was about to catch all the thieves, Song Wei issued an urgent military order: Stop the pursuit! Sit back and watch the Wanghuangcao thief escape. Openly indulging the enemy.
The lieutenant didn't understand why he did this. Song Wei revealed the secret in one word, and used the recent "Pang Xun Rebellion" as a vivid example, saying that Kang Chengxun wiped out Pang Xun and was immediately demoted. How did you know that we would not become the second Kang Chengxun?
The "Pang Xun Rebellion" and the rush to aid Chengdu both left an indelible psychological shadow on Song Wei. As for the area of psychological shadow, only the person concerned can find out the area.
Furthermore, banditry in Shandong, Henan, and Jiangsu has been around for a long time. The prefectures and counties are powerless to bring peace, and the Jiedu envoys are helpless. Why do you, Song Wei, eradicate it completely with just one move? What is your relationship with these thieves? Do you dare to say that you have no collusion with them?
Words are a stumbling block, clothes are a hairy thing.
Years of experience in officialdom told Song Wei that anything good in the forest would be destroyed by the wind. Maybe you are not really excellent, but are a foil to your peers, but your brilliance makes your peers feel embarrassed. They will be willing to hide in your shadow, move their lips, and spray shit all over you.
The fourth concern is that whether Wang Xianzhi is really dead or not, it doesn't matter.
Before Wang Xianzhi's uprising, the bandits in Shandong and Henan had suffered a lot from Song Wei. After the official uprising, they narrowly escaped death under Yizhou City, and were later hunted down all the way. The words "Song Wei" can scare the likes of Wang and Huang to death, so they will definitely not dare to stay in this area.
As a Jiedushi envoy, it is enough to be able to suppress the ground and keep a place clean. Do you still want to fight for peace in the world on your own?
With these four considerations in mind, Song Weicai openly indulged the enemy twice. And claiming credit is not the main reason.
Just as Song Wei thought, his famous name scared Wang Xianzhi away. Wang Xianzhi gathered the remaining defeated troops, withdrew from Shandong and turned to invade Henan.
