【Hundred Regiments Battle】
Li Keyong sent his cronies Kang Junli and others to lead a death squad, which secretly sneaked into Chang'an every night and carried out terrorist attacks under the cover of darkness. Assassinations, arson... and always escape without losing a single soldier. This made people in Chang'an City even more panicked.
On April 5, Li Keyong personally led the cavalry to attack Chang'an City from Guangtai Gate.
Huang Chao knew that the situation was over, so he set fire to the palace and led the remaining troops to break out and escape.
Chang'an is restored!
The battle to regain Chang'an was very fierce, and Li Ke took the lead, and the battle was the most brutal and exciting.
There were more than a hundred regiments directly involved in the battle, a "mowing version" of the Hundred Regiment Battle.
For the specific plot of the battle, please refer to Yang Fuguang's victory memorial afterwards.
I have to say that this memorial by Yang Fuguang is so wonderful and heartfelt. Although it is an official document sent to the emperor, it is like a martial arts novel, which makes people fascinated. When translated into vernacular, the charm is lost. I have excerpted part of the original text. , appreciate together:
"Li Keyong's general strategy was passed down from the gods, and he was loyal from heaven... Killing thieves is nothing more than a sword, and he leads the battle with his own body. He is a great talent, and he is named a flying general... On the 8th of this month... he led the brave heroes and neatly decorated the golden leather. , making a noise and about to shake the tiles, whining and being angry and wanting to swallow sand. With a wide array of spears and spears, the troops attacked from Mao to Shen, and the murderers were defeated...the swords were not used indiscriminately, and the arrows were in vain. (Thieves) disciples The life of the blade is delayed, and it is used as a drinking vessel."
In the memorial, Wang Chongrong, Li Keyong and other generals were commended by name, and the two men had the greatest credit. Wang Chongrong's credit was to open the gate of Chang'an, while Li Keyong entered the gate of Chang'an first, and clearly pointed out that Li Keyong was the first to defeat the enemy.
Also attached are the commanders of the 32 regiments that followed Li Keyong in the first batch to invade Chang'an, and the 70 regiments that followed in the second batch. Among them are Yang Shouzong (adopted son of Yang Fugong), Yang Shouliang (adopted son of Yang Fuguang), Gu Yanlang and others.
Chengdu received the good news, and hundreds of officials came to the court to congratulate him.
Emperor Xizong of the Tang Dynasty was overjoyed. Wang Chongrong, Li Keyong, Zhu Wen, Yang Fuguang, etc. all received great awards.
The next month (June), Comrade Yang Fuguang unfortunately fell ill and died at the age of 42.
When the Tang Dynasty was in crisis, the eunuch Yang Fuguang served his country loyally. He successively instigated Zhou Qi and Zhu Wen to rebel, established the "Eight Zhongwu Capitals", and made great achievements in pacifying the Huangchao bandits. Dedicate yourself to death. When the bad news came, the whole army mourned for several days.
Yang Fuguang is gone, but his spirit of loyalty and bravery is still there. "Most of those who have made meritorious service in defeating thieves after his death are former generals who were members of Fuguang's subordinates." ("Old Book of Tang·Biography of Yang Fuguang")
To this day, many people still insist that this eunuch extended the life of the Tang Dynasty for another twenty years. Some people say that if he had lived for a few more years, the Tang Dynasty might still be alive for a few more years, and could even rewrite history. , to avoid the situation of "Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms"...
Yang Fuguang's sudden death was a tragedy for the Tang Dynasty.
[Loyal Minister’s Flaws]
Yang Fuguang's contribution to the Tang Dynasty is obvious to all. However, no one is perfect. Yang Fuguang is not a saint. There is also a less glorious side in his life trajectory.
That was during Huang Chao's "Northern Expedition". Huang Chao went north and attacked Jiangling. Wang Duo abandoned the city and fled. Yang Fuguang, the eunuch who oversaw the army, appointed Song Hao, the general of the Zhongwu Army, as acting military governor, and Duan Yanmo, the general of the Taining Army, as his deputy.
Yang Fuguang was partial in personnel scheduling. Because he has been the supervisor of the Zhongwu Army for many years, he has a profound revolutionary fighting friendship with the Zhongwu Army officers and soldiers, and treats the Zhongwu Army officers and soldiers as cordially as family members.
Liu Jurong and Cao Quanzhu successfully ambushed the Cao army. When they were left with remaining health, Liu Jurong maliciously hung up and released water. Only Cao Quanzhu led his troops to cross the river to pursue them. As mentioned earlier, at this moment, the imperial court urgently deprived Cao Quanzhu of his military power and pursued him. The operation was suspended. The person who succeeded Cao Quanju as the envoy was Duan Yanmo, the general of Taining Army.
In other words, on the Jingnan front line, Duan Yanmo was the court's favorite reserve cadre. If nothing else, he should act as the military governor.
However, Yang Fuguang took advantage of his power and asked Song Hao, a soldier of his Zhongwu Army, to overtake the car at a curve. Therefore, Yang Fuguang had special care for Song Hao.
However, Song Hao, the commander-in-chief of the Zhongwu Army, was not very polite to Yang Fuguang after he became a full-time official. In Song Hao's view, although Yang Fuguang was his old officer and leader, at this time and at the other time, the two were now on equal terms.
He was directly promoted from the commander of the regiment to the commander of the military region. This speed made Song Hao motion sickness and made him feel elated. The official power and airs he had witnessed for many years could finally be displayed. He also becomes shy, puts his hands behind his back, and hums when being lectured. When the villain succeeds, the poor suddenly become rich. Drink water and forget the man who dug the well.
Song Hao's appearance as a nouveau riche angered his deputy, Duan Yanmo.
Both of them were originally regiment leaders (capital generals), and the organization valued Duan Yanmo more and planned to cultivate him vigorously. Duan Yanmo also believed that it was certain that he would be in charge of Jingnan, and he would just wait for the organization to go through the process. The first one to swell was actually Duan Yanmo.
Unexpectedly, the personnel transfer encountered a secret operation, and Song Hao was the latecomer.
Song Hao was "not polite" to his old leaders who were favored for promotion, let alone his old colleague and now subordinate Duan Yanmo. What's more, Song Hao was somewhat vindictive in his attitude towards Duan Yanmo.
Duan Yanmo was often so angry that he gritted his teeth.
Yang Fuguang was very deep in the city, and he saw all this and remembered it in his heart.
Song Hao had an order that strictly prohibited soldiers from cutting down locust willow trees. However, one of Duan Yanmo's soldiers violated the ban. Song Hao followed the law and hit the soldier on the back with his stick.
After Duan Yanmo got the news, he became furious. It depends on the owner to beat a dog. You are not hitting his back, you are clearly hitting me in the face!
Seeing that the heat was coming, Yang Fuguang added fuel to the fire and said leisurely, "I can't bear this kind of thing even as an eunuch. Are you still a man? Why don't you kill him?"
That makes sense.
Since he had the secret support of Grand Eunuch Yang, Duan Yanmo took his trusted warriors and rushed directly into Song Hao's house, killing Song Hao and his two sons.
Yang Fuguang reported to the court as a supervisor of the army, saying that Song Hao was greedy and unkind after he took office. He offended the public and was killed by the rebels.
The dignified military commander was killed, and the incident was covered up in a muddle.
However, the imperial court was not a three-year-old child. It knew there must be something fishy and did not let Duan Yanmo directly replace Song Hao. However, due to the situation, it did not dare to go into details. Therefore, the imperial court reached a tacit agreement with Yang Fuguang: not to hold you accountable. Even if you are responsible, I will not meet your requirements, so just take care of yourself.
After that, Huang Chao entered Chang'an, Xizong was lucky to be in Shu, and the situation was turbulent. Yang Fuguang took the opportunity to help Duan Yanmo become the military governor of Jingnan.
Duan Yanmo repaid his kindness and gave Yang Fuguang hundreds of taels of gold as a thank you. Much more sensible than Song Hao.
Instigating murder is a stain on Yang Fuguang's life.
In fact, I originally didn’t want to include this matter, but after some struggle, I came up with the above description.
With shadows, characters become more three-dimensional. Yang Fuguang's image has also become fuller, making him look more like a real person with flesh and blood. He is a man, not a god.
He may not be perfect, but that doesn't stop him from being a hero.
