Wang Xianzhi and Huang Chao moved from Shandong to Henan, and the disaster moved westward, directly threatening the eastern capital Luoyang. Chang'an was horrified, and they hurriedly mobilized their troops to form a solid line of defense to defend Luoyang and Chang'an.
Wang Xianzhi and Huang Chao have accumulated valuable struggle experience in their lucky escapes again and again, and will play a vital role in the future.
Wang Xianzhi attacked Zhengzhou but failed. So the group of thieves broke into pieces, and ants gathered in Henan, burning, killing and looting, so that "all living people were wiped out."
The disaster of Wang Huang is worse than that of locusts. Wherever the locusts have passed, no crops have been harvested; where the yellow grass thieves have passed, no one has survived. This is also the reason why I have always been reluctant to call them "rebels". I really don't understand where their "righteousness" is reflected. However, many people are accustomed to calling all riots against the imperial court "peasant uprisings", so they also called this civil uprising the "Wang Xianzhi and Huang Chao Uprising."
We should remain in awe of history. Seeking truth from facts is the greatest respect for history. Blindly following the crowd and following what others say is not a correct attitude.
Therefore, I insist on calling this uprising in the late Tang Dynasty a "people's rebellion", which is objective and fair, just like calling the mutiny in Guizhou "Pang Xun's Rebellion" or "Pang Xun's Mutiny" instead of "Pang Xun's Uprising". In the previous and following articles, for convenience of narration or slippage, they may also be called "rebels", but this does not mean that I affirm them.
The officers and soldiers from all walks of life were prepared to defend and defend, but with little effect.
Firstly, the bandit army was erratic, looting in all directions, and dispersed when they saw the imperial army, and did not join forces with the official army; secondly, even if the official army captured Wang Xianzhi's main force, Wang Xianzhi would "spend money to eliminate the disaster" and put them away. The plundered loot was discarded on both sides of the road, and the imperial troops would scramble to snatch the property, while the bandits took the opportunity to escape.
It has to be said that Wang Xianzhi and Huang Chao grew up rapidly and understood the weaknesses of the vassal soldiers in the late Tang Dynasty very well. Pretending to surrender and delay troops, spending money to eliminate disasters... these little tricks are played with great proficiency.
Wang Xianzhi and Huang Chao roamed around Henan, Anhui, and Hubei, with the main strategic goal of beating, smashing, looting, and burning. They just took one vote and left. Just like all the peasant uprisings before and after, they had a strong color of guerrilla warfare.
Among the peasant uprisings throughout the ages, Wang Xianzhi and Huang Chao have obviously had the best luck. Because when they were hunting rabbits in the grass, they actually shot two fat rabbits - Wang Luo, the governor of Ruzhou, and Pei Xie, the governor of Qizhou.
In the armed struggle with the imperial court, "executing the governor" and "killing the governor" can only be regarded as minor episodes, nothing to make a fuss about.
The fat of these two rabbits lies in their interpersonal relationships: Wang Luo, the governor of Ruzhou, was the cousin of Wang Duo, the prime minister of the dynasty; Pei Xie, the governor of Qizhou, was a student of Wang Duo, and Pei Xie was the examiner of the imperial examination that year. This is Wang Duo, and the teacher-student relationship is very close.
Capturing them alive, especially Wang Luo, would be tantamount to holding the lifeline of Prime Minister Wang Duo.
If these two people could take the overall situation into consideration, sacrifice their lives for righteousness, regard death as home, denounce the rudeness of Wang Huang's traitors, and then die heroically, history may be significantly rewritten: Prime Minister Wang Duo, who is the enemy of the country and the family, will firmly become The "main war faction", everyone in the court was united, and Wang Xianzhi and Huang Chao were quickly suppressed...
It's a pity that Wang Lu and Pei Xie are both weak-minded.
After they were captured, their first reaction was to beg for mercy from the thieves. Pei Xi, in particular, took the initiative to help Wang Xianzhi draft a memorial to recruit officials.
Prime Minister Wang Duo also abandoned his official position for personal reasons and vigorously advocated the policy of peaceful recruitment in the court.
At that time, most of the courtiers were still in the war camp and believed that Wang Huang and others were just thieves and a group of hungry people in Henan and Shandong. Their strength could not be compared with Pang Xun. The main force of Pang Xun was Xuzhou Wuning Army, Silver Knife Army, etc. The regular army is intertwined with the garrison in Xuzhou and has certain military qualities and social foundation.
The late emperor refused to pardon Pang Xun and eradicated Pang Xun's rebels within a year. If Pang Xun can be wiped out, why can't Wang Huang and others do the same? If Wang Xianzhi and Huang Chao were pardoned today for the serious crime of rebellion and given an official position, wouldn't it be equivalent to encouraging the people to rebel?
However, in this atmosphere of all-out war, the imperial court finally adopted a compromise attitude of recruiting security.
This is because the Wang Duo Group should cooperate internally and externally. Within the court, Wang Duo was actively operating, and outside the court, Wang Lu and Pei Xie were cooperating in building momentum.
Don’t underestimate Comrade Wang Duo’s political energy.
Comrade Wang Duo came from a family of officials. His father Wang Yan, grandfather Wang Shu, great-grandfather Wang Sheng, great-grandfather Wang Jing, and Tianzu Wang Man were all officials. Of course, their official positions ranged from big to small.
His uncle Wang Bo was the prime minister; his uncle Wang Qi was the prime minister; his cousin Wang Gui was the governor of Tongzhou; and his other cousin was the well-known Wang Shi who pacified Annan, pacified Qiu Fu, and massacred Qiu Fu. That dear fellow from the Silver Sword Army.
Don’t worry, some people may have objections to the Wang Duo family lineage. Let’s answer your questions and compare them with three authoritative history books:
"Old Book of Tang Dynasty": "Bozi style, brother Yan, Qi"; "Yan...Ziduo, shackles"; "Qi...Zigui"; "Yidi Duo Zai Zhongshu"; "Brother Gui style... ".
"New Tang Book": "Bo... and his younger brothers Yan and Qi are both famous"; "Qi Zigui, Shi"; "Yan... Ziduo, Xie...". The genealogy list of the prime ministers in the same book also records that Wang Shi and Wang Lu were the sons of Wang Qi, and Wang Duo was the son of Wang Yan.
"Zi Zhi Tong Jian": "Shi, Qi's son"; "Shackles, Duo's father and brother".
Okay, I have made a brief summary for you about the genealogy of the Wang Duo family. Let's do a simple sorting. The order of eldest and youngest of Wang Duo's parents is: Wang Bo>Wang Yan>Wang Qi. There is no conflict in this point.
The controversial part is whose son Wang Shi and Wang Shao are.
Nowadays, the entries on many well-known domestic search engines are not comprehensive enough, not rigorous enough, and even contradictory. One of the reasons is that they sometimes draw from the "Old Book of Tang" and sometimes use the "Zi Zhi Tong Jian" as the standard.
It doesn't matter who Wang Shi's biological father is or who Wang Luo's biological father is.
Once again, I reiterate the historical outlook and orientation of this book: anything that does not affect the historical process does not need to be studied in detail. But - I will try my best to list the contradictions and doubts for everyone, and seek common ground while reserving differences.
In this way, it will also appear that I am very knowledgeable.
By the way, Wang Shi and the great poet Du Mu were promoted to Jinshi in the same year (the second year of Taihe, 828). There were a total of 22 people in the same batch, and they all obtained official positions.
To sum up, the Wang Duo family has one family and three ministers, similar to Yuan Shao who had "four generations and three princes" during the Three Kingdoms period. He has "many family members and old officials". They have high positions and prominent status, and have a certain say in the court.
One more thing to mention, Wang Shi's "slaughter of the Silver Sword Army" was quite controversial. Later, the court also attributed the cause of the "Pang Xun Rebellion" to Wang Shi's arbitrary and rough handling of the Silver Sword Army. But even so, Wang Shi only transferred him back to the central government, appointed him to a sinecure position, and retired in old age, without explicitly criticizing or convicting him. On the one hand, Wang Shi himself had the credit for pacifying Annan and suppressing Qiu Fu. On the other hand, it was also because of the huge power of his family.
In addition to family power, Wang Duo himself also served as an examiner and recruited a large number of talents for the country. Of course, he also cultivated party members for himself. Among the students he admitted, in addition to the just-mentioned Pei Xie, there was also the previously mentioned Wei Baoheng. However, Wei Baoheng was a villain who repaid kindness with hatred. After becoming the consort, he excluded his mentor Wang Duo from the court. As mentioned in detail above, No need to spend more words here.
Wang Duo now occupies the high position of prime minister again, and the reason why he was able to re-enter the court and serve as prime minister was thanks to several recommendations from another fellow sufferer - Zheng Tian. Zheng Tian was also squeezed out by the "Baoyan Party". At the beginning of Tang Xizong's accession to the throne, the "Baoyan Party" was liquidated and reactivated to enter the imperial court. With Zheng Tian's strong recommendation, Wang Duo, who was also persecuted by the "Baoyan Party", came forward.
At that time, Zheng Tian was the deputy minister of defense (minister of war). In the following year (877), he was given the title of "Tongping Zhangshi" and became prime minister. Therefore, some data directly say that "Prime Minister Zheng Tian recommended Wang Duo several times", which is not very rigorous.
But in any case, the relationship between Wang Duo and Zheng Tian is not ordinary. They are both revolutionary comrades who were decentralized at the same time, and they also had the kindness of knowing each other. They helped their brothers at critical moments.
Family power, teacher-student alliance, official connections...Wang Duo was truly a pivotal figure in the political arena of the late Tang Dynasty.
Therefore, although there were many voices in the court opposing the recruitment, Wang Duo was still able to overcome all opinions and make the court make the decision to recruit.
Imperial edict: Wang Xianzhi and others were exempted from the crime of treason, and Wang Xianzhi was appointed as Zuo Shence's military commander and supervisory censor.
At first glance, it sounds bluffing, such a long title! Don't worry, analyze slowly: Zuo Shencejun, affiliated to the Central Forbidden Army; Yaya, the camp manager; supervisory censor, administrative prosecutor, seventh or eighth rank.
When the news of the imperial court's recruitment came, Wang Huangcao celebrated with joy, "Hey - we men have finally made their mark! Oops, from now on we will also be national civil servants! Right, Director Liu, Director Sun, huh? Li director……"
Soon, the imperial eunuch brought the appointment certificate to Qizhou City.
Wang Lu and Pei Xie, who had been helping the tiger, finally breathed a sigh of relief, and their heads on their necks were finally saved! A banquet was held in Qizhou City to congratulate the two eldest brothers Wang Xianzhi and Huang Chao.
Wang Xianzhi held the letter of appointment in her hand. She held it in her hand for fear of dropping it, held it on her head for fear of dropping it, held it in her arms for fear of losing it, and held it in her mouth for fear of it melting. She was very careful, holding this beloved child like a sacrifice. Worshiped like ancestors.
"Oh, look at how this is written, every word is so beautiful, every word is so...even though I don't know a few words, and I don't know what they mean, anyway, I really like it..."
At the banquet, Wang Xianzhi was overjoyed when he achieved his goal. He was a little forgetful, shaking his legs and sifting chaff and humming a ditty.
Wang Luo and Pei Xie tried their best to flatter him, and they had a toast with Wang Xianzhi and called him brothers.
None of them had noticed that Huang Chao, the second-largest man in the grass army, was drinking wine with a gloomy face, which seemed out of tune with the surrounding atmosphere.
