[The prime ministers are at odds]
The war in Chang'an fell into a stalemate. Although many vassal towns were stationed around Chang'an, there was little substantial progress. Most of them looked at Chang'an not with eager eyes, but with affection.
At that time, one of the most popular activities among the people was civil rebellion, and the most popular activity among the army was mutiny.
Zhaoyi's army, which was stationed in the river allied with Wang Chongrong, mutinied suddenly, killed Gao Xun, the Jiedushi envoy, and then withdrew its troops and returned to the town. Gao Xun, who had just regained Huazhou for the empire, did not die under the enemy's gun, but died under the butcher's knife of his own people.
The Zhaoyi Mutiny weakened the power of the Eastern Route Army.
A mutiny also occurred in the Fengxiang Corps stationed in Xingping. Marching Sima Li Changyan led his troops to abandon the Xingping garrison, turned back and besieged the Fengxiang headquarters. Zheng Tian, the commander-in-chief of the coalition forces and the envoy of Fengxiang Jiedushi, came to the city in person to have a dialogue with him.
Li Changyan's rebels forced Zheng Tian to hand over military power.
Zheng Tian was filled with grief and anger, and lamented: "That's fine. As long as you can eliminate the Huangchao rebels for the country, you will have made a great contribution." So he handed over power to Li Changyan and defected to Chengdu.
The Fengxiang Mutiny was the mildest of all the mutinies in the late Tang Dynasty. There was no bloodshed, and no Jiedu envoys were killed. However, its impact is the worst and most shameful. Because Zheng Tian was not only the military governor of Fengxiang, but also the commander-in-chief of the coalition forces that regained the capital this time.
Li Changyan's Fengxiang Mutiny not only weakened the power of the Western Route Army, but also drove away the commander-in-chief and announced the substantial disbandment of the coalition forces.
Emperor Xizong of the Tang Dynasty never forgot that Huainan still had a fresh army. He firmly believed that as long as Huainan Gao Pian took action, the grass army would immediately be reduced to powder.
Before Huang Chao captured Guangzhou, Gao Pian had drawn up a massive siege plan, but it was rejected by the court. In anger, Shangshu cursed the court for being dim.
Although Gao Pian was furious and had no regard for the monarch and his ministers, his insults were not groundless.
There was indeed a struggle for power and profit among the core decision-makers of the imperial court, and the reason why Huang Chao was able to grow bigger step by step was largely due to the infighting within the imperial court.
When the Cao army rose, Prime Minister Lu Xie recommended Song Wei. However, Song Wei's repeated victories aroused the dissatisfaction of Prime Minister Wang Duo. Because of Wang Hao's capture, Lu Xie, the "main war faction", and Wang Duo, the "main peace faction", fought openly and secretly. "Dengzhou asked for surrender." Become the climax of the struggle.
As mentioned in detail above, the first round of the contest ended temporarily with Wang Duo's victory. Wang Duo personally took command, Song Wei and others were dismissed, and Lu Xie was also left out.
When Huang Chao was entrenched in Guangzhou and asked for recruitment, Lu Xie saw an opportunity for a comeback and launched a second round of competition.
At that time, Prime Minister Zheng Wei advocated accepting Huang Chao's conditions on the grounds that the country was weak and could not quell the bandits for the time being. At the same time, Zheng Tian pointed out that the reason why the thieves were so powerful was due to years of disasters and the people suffering from famine. When the weather is good and the hungry people disperse naturally, the thieves can disintegrate on their own. Then is the best time to conquer. This is called no war. And conquer the enemy's soldiers.
Zheng Tian's ideas were exactly the same as those of the time when he put down the "Qiu Fu Rebellion" and "Pang Xun Rebellion". He planned to draw fuel from under the cauldron.
Most people in the DPRK supported Zheng Tian.
In this way, there will be a rather strange ending: Wang Duo, the prime minister of the "main war faction", won, and Zheng Tian, the prime minister of the "main peace faction", also won. Only Lu Xie was in the most embarrassing situation and became the most frustrated person, and his status in the court would plummet.
Lu Xie came up with a clever trick that killed two birds with one stone, both to disintegrate the peace faction and to suppress the war faction. So he first roped in Yu Cong, the former prime minister and prince-in-law, and warned that the prosperous and prosperous Guangzhou area supported half of the country's fiscal revenue and should not fall into the hands of thieves.
After that, Lu Xie actively licked Kikuta Lingzi, sought internal support, and strongly recommended Gao Pian.
With Tian Lingzi's support, it means there is a final result. Although the vast majority of courtiers supported Zheng Tian's suggestion, the court still adopted Lu Xie's suggestion.
The final decision was to grant Huang Chao the position of security captain. Just like the award given to Monkey King Bi Mawen.
Zheng Tian was helpless and said to Lu Xie: "The fate of the country is actually in the hands of three or four of us. The thieves have hundreds of thousands of people and are rampant in the world, and Gao Pian is playing with the bandits and is unable to move forward, but you will The fate of the empire is all bet on Gao Pian. Once Gao Pian doesn't do what you want, I really don't know where the Emperor's Holy Emperor should escape!"
Lu Xie was very unhappy, possessed by Gang Jing, and started arguing with him, "Are you kidding me, Gao Pian can't beat Huang Chao?"
Said Cao Cao Cao Cao has arrived. It happened that a memorial from Gao Pian arrived, to the effect that before fighting the internal situation, one must first stabilize the external situation. It was suggested that Nanzhao should be stabilized first and the previous promise of peace be fulfilled.
Of course Lu Xie wanted to endorse Gao Pian, and strongly suggested that the court should stop pushing back and forth. Since the marriage had been agreed, it should be timely to marry a princess to prevent Nanzhao from raising weapons again, and we could concentrate on dealing with the thieves.
The marriage with Nanzhao is a matter left over from history. Gao Pian defeated Nanzhao in Xichuan and built the outer city of Chengdu. He sent the great monk Jingxian to visit Nanzhao and promised to marry a princess in exchange for peace between the two countries. As a result, Nanzhao no longer harassed the Tang Dynasty border, but the marriage issue has been put on hold.
During this period, Shilong, the leader of Nanzhao, died, and his son Longshun came to the throne. Longshun never forgot his promise of marriage and sent people to urge him many times.
There are many people in the DPRK who hold opposing views, such as Cui Anqian and Zheng Tian. Cui Anqian even called the leader of Nanzhao "a humble servant".
Their reasons are very good and undermine the prestige of the country.
First of all, Nanzhao is just a small barbarian state, and its territory is just a Yunnan county. Marrying a Tang princess is just a toad wanting to eat swan meat.
Secondly, strictly speaking, this marriage was not authorized by the imperial court. It was a local military governor who was good at making decisions and sent a monk. It was just nonsense.
Of course, there are supporters, such as Gao Pian, because he is the instigator, and Lu Xie, because he and Gao Pian are comrades in the trenches and have a community of political interests.
With the support of Arita Lingzi, Lu Xie tried his best to promote the marriage with Nanzhao, and quoted Gao Pian's memorials to coax and intimidate.
"How can we start a war with Nanzhao again if we haven't dealt with the Huangchao Cao bandits yet?"
Zheng Tian disapproved and said, "Even if we start a war, so what?"
"Hmph!" Lu Xie curled his lips, "Although the Southern Barbarians are not as wealthy as the Celestial Empire, they should not be underestimated. In the past twenty years, they captured Annan and the Yongguan area twice, went deep into central Guizhou once, and invaded Xichuan twice. Don’t you know that you are suffering from war?”
Zheng Tian nodded, "That's why. You only know one, but don't know the other. As the saying goes, if you injure the enemy a thousand, you will lose eight hundred. The Southern Barbarians resorted to military warfare and fought for more than ten years, and they themselves were mired in the quagmire of war. The national power has been hollowed out. The conscription has been extended to those under 15 years old, and women have to farm for military use. If Nanzhao itself is not protected, how can it still have the ability to attack the Tang Dynasty?"
Lu Xie said again: "No, no. You are too naive. The reason why Nanzhao has not launched an attack is because there is still a glimmer of hope for Datang. Now, if the hope is completely shattered, can you guarantee that they will not Are you too anxious to jump over the wall?"
Zheng Tian still disagreed, "In a local vassal town, the governor of Xichuan sent a monk to marry off the princess of the Tang Dynasty. Isn't this a joke? Gao Pian is a seller seeking glory! A minister actually sold his master's daughter. This It is treacherous in itself!”
Lu Xie was anxious, "What do you know? This is called an expedient measure!"
"An expedient measure? Why don't you send your daughter over as an expedient?"
"I'll send your uncle over temporarily."
"Your uncle."
"Your uncle!"
Lu Xie and Zheng Tian were cousins, aunts and cousins. Therefore, you cannot scold your mother or grandma when you scold your uncle.
The two prime ministers became red-faced, and their arguments turned into scolding. In the end, Lu Xie walked out in anger.
Lu Xie was really angry. He was too excited and shook his sleeves too much. He threw an inkstone on the table to the ground and broke it. There is also a theory that it was Lu who picked up the inkstone and smashed it against Zheng Tian.
When the news came, Tang Xizong was very angry. The prime ministers were arguing, their faces were red and their necks were thick, they were swearing at each other, and they even seemed to be throwing bricks at each other? How dignified! So they were all dismissed from their posts, dismissed as guests of the prince, and divided into divisions in the eastern capital.
Of course, the dismissal of the prime minister is just a gesture of the emperor. It is to declare to all officials that everyone should be civilized and observe etiquette in the future and build a harmonious society. Half a year later, Lu Xie was promoted to prime minister again because he knelt down and licked Tian Lingzi, while Zheng Tian was sent to Fengxiang and became the military governor of Fengxiang.
