The imperial court hurriedly set up its defense lines and quickly received reports from each line of defense.
The first was Luoyang, the eastern capital: Ruzhou recruited 500 new soldiers. When they passed by Luoyang, the eastern capital, they set fire to Anximen (the northeast gate of Luoyang City), looted the market, and left through Changxia Gate (the southeast gate of Luoyang). Tribute to Liu Hanhong.
Report from the Anshui Defense Line: Internal strife broke out between the Guangyao Army and the Zhongwu Army in Xuzhou. Xue Neng, the military commander of the Zhongwu Army, was killed. Qi Kerang, the military commander of the Taining Army, led his troops back to Yanzhou. The rest of the theater task forces were thrown into chaos. Scattered... water, this most important barrier is self-defeating.
Tang Xizong was at a loss. Douluo, the prime minister of the current dynasty, suggested that Huang Chao should be quickly awarded the title of "Jidu Envoy of the Tianping Army".
Prime Minister Lu Xie firmly opposed it, saying that Huang Chao was greedy. Even if he was given the talisman of Jiedushi, it would not stop him from smashing, looting, and burning. It would also shake our army's determination to suppress bandits and damage morale. It was better to urgently mobilize all war zones to guard Sizhou. , to prevent the Cao army from crossing the Huaihe River north, and then let Gao Pian attack the Cao army from behind.
Tang Xizong followed Lu Xie's suggestion. Because there is another strong general in Sizhou who can eliminate harm for the country. He is the strong general who previously teamed up with Liu Jurong to defeat the Cao Army and almost annihilated the Cao Army - Cao Quanzhu.
In the Battle of Xiangyang, Cao Quanju was about to wipe out the Cao Cao army, but the imperial court changed the commander before the battle, depriving Cao Quanju of his command right in time. Now that the bandits were unstoppable, they urgently appointed Cao Quanhui as the military envoy of the Tianping Army and the deputy commander-in-chief of the Zhengdong Front Army in suppressing bandits (deputy commander-in-chief of the east).
Song Wei was right when he said that when you are no longer needed, you are treated like a grandson.
Cao Quanzhu, who had just been deprived of his military power without reason, immediately became the deputy commander-in-chief of the Zhengdong Front.
However, as the deputy commander-in-chief of the front army, Cao Quanzhu only had 6,000 troops in his hands. What he had to face was the so-called 150,000-strong army led by Huang Chao.
Cao Quanyu was both civil and military, his loyalty and bravery were praiseworthy, and he could defeat more with less every time. However, the disparity between the enemy and ourselves was too great. Cao Quanzhu won every small battle, but lost the entire big battle. If you want to kill a thief, you can't save him. Cao Quanyu retreated to Sizhou City.
Sizhou is a heroic city. At that time, Xin Tan stayed here for ten months. Even when the surrounding areas were completely occupied and he was isolated and helpless, he was still like an unyielding nail, firmly nailed into the heart of the enemy, and wrote a tragic story in the "Pang Xun Rebellion". Heroic chapter.
Now, Cao Quanju retreated to Sizhou, bathed in the spirit of heroism, and inspired by the justice of being loyal to the emperor and serving the country. As the deputy commander-in-chief of the Zhengdong Front, he asked the northern theaters to step up the dispatch of reinforcements and coordinate defense. At the same time, he asked Gao Pian, the Jiedushi envoy of the Huainan Army, who was standing still for help.
With the reputation of the tall and handsome commander, supplemented by my meager strength, Cao Quanzhen, we will jointly counterattack, and we will surely kill the thieves under the walls of Sizhou City! Tall and handsome, the time has come to make contributions.
However, the heroic Sizhou City still stood alone, with no reinforcements in sight. All war zones stood aside and watched, and Gao Pian also watched the fire from across the bank.
If there were no secret agreements or dirty treasonous clauses between Gao Pian and Huang Chao, then at least they had reached some kind of tacit understanding.
Huang Chao circled Gao Pian's territory and attacked Sizhou City calmly without worrying about being attacked from the front or back. But Gao Pian just sat back and watched the Cao army slip away from under his nose.
In the end, Cao Quan was outnumbered. Sizhou fell.
The previous important pass, Lushui, had long been destroyed without any attack and had almost become an undefended area. So the Cao army calmly crossed the Huaihe River and captured Shenzhou, Yingzhou, Songzhou, Xuzhou, Yanzhou and other places.
After Huang Chao crossed the Huaihe River, his strategic thinking began to become clear. He held meetings and worked hard to create a persona that was close to the people. He no longer burned, killed and looted, but only recruited young men to replenish his troops. He also distributed an announcement to the commanders of each theater, claiming: "You'd better stay at your posts and don't offend our military authority! I will first go to Luoyang, the eastern capital, and then enter Chang'an to question the guilty king and petition for the people. It is none of your business. .”
The Cao Army's sphere of influence extended to Jiangsu, Anhui, Henan, and Shandong. At this time, Huang Chao's ambition was no longer satisfied with returning home in glory, but to aspire to Chang'an.
Most of the war zones that received Huang Chao's documents chose a wait-and-see attitude and wait and see what happens. Gao Pian has been obedient, so what can we do?
For the first time, the Cao Cao Army posed a substantial threat to the core area of the Tang Empire, shocking the whole country. Quan Yutian Lingzi, who had been bullying the subordinates and concealing the superiors, also felt that he had lost control of the entire chess game, so he passed the blame to Prime Minister Lu Xie.
Prime Minister Lu has two major political assets, one is Li Tian Lingzi, and the other is Gao Pian. Previously, Huang Chao was seeking recruitment in Guangzhou, and he only asked for the position of security captain. This was Lu Xie's active operation, and his intention was to deliberately anger Huang Chao and make the recruitment fail. Because he believed that Gao Pian would wipe out Huang Chao in one fell swoop, Lu Xie vigorously recommended Gao Pian. , advocated using force to counter the rebellion.
Unexpectedly, Gao Pian raised the bandits to be too self-respecting, which led to today's disaster. So Tian Lingzi, who was behind the scenes, decisively sacrificed Lu Xie and passed the responsibility for the defeat to Lu Xie. Lu Xie was forced to take the blame and resign, and retired as prime minister.
Emperor Xizong of the Tang Dynasty convened the prime ministers to discuss countermeasures. Prime Minister Cui Hang suggested that troops from various theaters within the pass (west of Tongguan) be mobilized, together with the central imperial army, to jointly guard Tongguan. Tongguan is the east gate of Chang'an. As long as Tongguan is there, Chang'an can sit back and relax.
A few days later, Emperor Xizong of the Tang Dynasty was discussing matters with his ministers in the Yanying Hall. He was so frightened that he burst into tears and said, "My dear friends, who has a good strategy to defeat the enemy?"
The great eunuch Tian Lingzi stepped forward and volunteered, saying that he was willing to lead the imperial army to garrison Tongguan.
Emperor Xizong of the Tang Dynasty looked worried, "Are the Imperial Guards useful? I'm afraid they will die in vain."
Tian Lingzi is playing hard to get and is telling the truth. He couldn't bear to go to the front line to fight. What he wanted was the emperor's words, so he quickly used the past to satirize the present and said: "In the past, during the Anshi Rebellion, Emperor Xuanzong came to Shu!"
Prime Minister Cui Hang added fuel to the fire and continued to scare the emperor, "There were only 50,000 people in Anlu Mountain at that time, but Huang Chao now has 600,000 troops! They are not the same. Run away."
Douluo added fuel to the fire, "Yes, back then, Ge Shuhan's 180,000-strong army could not defend Tongguan. Now, who in the court can compare with Ge Shuhan? Fortunately, for the sake of the empire, Eunuch Tian prepared the plan in advance There are careful arrangements, and the commanders of Shu are all the confidants of the imperial court. Compared with Emperor Xuanzong, our situation is much better."
Xizong of the Tang Dynasty looked around with disappointment and said, "My dear friends, we in the Tang Dynasty have always treated you well! How can we let you down? We should repay the kindness of the emperor when we eat the king's salary. Now the thieves are invading and endangering the country, but you don't want to help. You are in danger of saving the world, but you only want to persuade me to run away?"
All civil and military officials lowered their heads, but no one said a word.
Some people remain silent out of guilt, but the silence of Quan Gaotian Lingzi and others is a silent demonstration, answering the emperor with practical actions: there is no other way but to escape.
In the huge Yanying Hall, the only sound was the sobs of Emperor Xizong of the Tang Dynasty.
Anxiety, fear, grief and anger, helplessness...
After a long time, Tang Xizong swallowed his tears, raised his hand and pointed at Tian Lingzi, "You can guard Tongguan for me for the time being!"
After the meeting ended that day, Tang Xizong personally inspected the Central Forbidden Army, summoned the three generals of the Shence Army, and personally granted them temporary official positions. He appointed Tian Lingzi as the commander-in-chief and the eunuch Yang Fugong as the deputy commander-in-chief, and went to Tongguan to deploy defenses. .
It doesn't matter whether Tongguan can block Huang Chao. Even if the Tang Empire could defend Tongguan, it could not defend its own territory.
At the critical moment, the prime ministers of the country actually reached an agreement on the issue of escape. Even the emperor's most trusted person and godfather, the eunuch Tian Lingzi, advised him to flee to Shu for refuge. The Tang Empire had begun to rot from the very core and could no longer be saved.
When Tian Lingzi persuaded Emperor Xizong to take refuge in Shu, it was really not for the sake of the emperor's own life, let alone for the sake of the country and the country of the Tang Dynasty. What Tian Lingzi wants to do is what many people have wanted to do throughout the ages - to coerce the emperor to order the princes.
