Chengdu is an important city in the southwest of the empire, the heart of the Xichuan War Zone, and an important fortress for the Tang Empire to resist the invasion of Nanzhao and other barbarians. In the decades before this, it was surrounded twice by the menacing Nanzhao invading army. . Nanzhao claimed to have an army of 200,000, and the emperor personally marched there, but failed to conquer it, which shows how strong the city of Chengdu is.
Later, under the governance of Cui Anqian and Gao Pian, the city of Chengdu repaired its fortifications, and its defense force became stronger than when it resisted Nanzhao. Gao Pian, in particular, built dozens of miles of outer city, which aroused the suspicion of the court, thinking that Gao Pian wanted to establish a separatist regime in Xichuan.
Although Gao Pian's construction of the outer city of Chengdu caused a political crisis for himself, it is undeniable that it was under Gao Pian's leadership that Chengdu's defense capabilities were unprecedentedly improved.
Wang Jian believed that it would be difficult to conquer Chengdu in a short time with the few troops he had, so he planned to stop fighting and enter a stage of recuperation.
Zhou Xiang and others unanimously opposed it and suggested that he attack Qiongzhou instead, because Qiongzhou has complete fortifications and sufficient food and grass, but the defenders are sparse and easy to capture, and then grow insignificantly.
What is outstanding about Wang Jian is that he always maintains a clear mind with independent thinking and opinions. Many warlords with military background tend to go to two extremes, either headstrong or indecisive.
Wang Jian attaches great importance to the opinions of Zhou Xiang and other counselors, but attaching importance does not mean accepting them without thinking. He said: "I have been in the military for a long time, and I have discovered a pattern, that is, if the commander-in-chief does not rely on the emperor's prestige, the military morale will easily weaken."
After being exposed to too many mutinies, Wang Jian finally concluded this truth, that is, "the name is justified", everything must follow a legal principle, and it is more important to mobilize the troops and mobilize the troops with a name.
Therefore, Wang Jian asked Zhou Xiang to draft a memorial, and Shangshu exposed Chen Jingxuan's crimes, requested the court to send another highly respected senior official to replace Chen Jingxuan, and expressed his willingness to serve as the vanguard of the crusade against Chen Jingxuan.
Later, Gu Yanlang of Dongchuan also cooperated with Shangshu to support Wang Jian and demanded Chen Jingxuan's dismissal to stabilize the two rivers.
The two memorials were delivered to the new emperor Tang Zhaozong one after another. This was the breakthrough for Tang Zhaozong to eradicate Tian Gong's party as mentioned above.
Therefore, Emperor Zhaozong of the Tang Dynasty followed the trend and appointed Prime Minister Wei Zhaodu as the governor of Xichuan, and transferred Chen Jingxuan back to the central government.
When the news came, Chen Jingxuan and Tian Lingzi certainly refused to obey the imperial edict. Following the edict is death, but resisting the edict still has a glimmer of hope. So the two brothers actively prepared for the war and were ready for the battle.
Tian Gong resisted the decree and openly rebelled against the imperial court, so Emperor Zhaozong appointed Wei Zhaodu as the commander-in-chief of the bandit suppression (camping and recruiting envoys), Yang Shouliang, the military envoy of Shannan West Road, as the deputy commander-in-chief of bandit suppression, and Gu Yanlang, the military governor of Dongchuan Province, as the combat commander. Chief of Staff (Sima of the Marching Army), the four prefectures of Qiong, Shu, Li, and Ya were designated as the Yongping Army. Wang Jian served as the Jiedushi of the Yongping Army and the commander-in-chief of the bandit suppression (the commander of all armies in the marching camp).
This is a wonderful move by Wang Jian!
Zhou Xiang and other counselors only focused on studying military affairs, but ignored politics. In the past, the soldiers worked hard for Wang Jian, but now, everyone fights for the emperor. To obey Wang Jian is to obey the emperor. Any behavior that violates Wang Jian's orders is treason. Any beating, smashing, looting, and burning of Xichuan is a just military action and justice for heaven. Everyone can confidently go to Xichuan to grab money, food, and women.
At the same time, Zhaozong issued an edict to remove Chen Jingxuan from all official positions and titles.
With the support of the central court and the military support of Yang Shouliang and others, Wang Jian's military operation against Xichuan progressed smoothly and he won many battles.
Chen Jingxuan sent general Yang Ru to reinforce Qiongzhou. Yang Ru went to the city to watch the battle. He was shocked by the military appearance and morale of Wang Jian's team. He couldn't help but shook his head and sighed: "The Tang Dynasty has exhausted its strength. Look at Wang Jian leading the troops, strict but not cruel. It seems that he can A hero who protects the people of the world!" Wang Jian then led his troops to surrender en masse.
Wang Jian adopted Yang Ru as his adopted son and gave him the descendant of "Zong". From then on, Yang Ru had a new name, Wang Zongru.
After capturing Qiongzhou, Wang Jian led his troops back to the front line in Chengdu, joined forces with Commander-in-Chief Wei Zhaodu, and continued to maintain the siege. Wang Jian's attitude towards Wei Zhaodu was very cautious and respectful, and he could pretend to be a grandson.
Chen Jingxuan, who was at the end of his rope, recruited civilians aggressively, forcibly recruiting soldiers and laborers, and stipulated that each family must have one man. During the day, he dug trenches, cut down bamboo trees, and carried stones. At night, he climbed the city walls and patrolled with bangs, without a moment's rest. .
In addition to forced labor recruitment, Chen Jingxuan also plundered the people's wealth and established a "Recruitment and Supervision Yuan". Its main job was to arrest the rich, torture them, interrogate them about the amount of their property, and then force military pay quotas. If there was anything concealed or hidden, then Serve with severe punishment. Robbery.
The poor contribute their efforts and the rich contribute their money. The people of Xichuan were unhappy and hated the brothers Chen Jingxuan and Tian Lingzi more and more.
Mutinies occurred one after another in the prefectures and counties under the jurisdiction of Xichuan, such as Jianzhou, Zizhou, Shuzhou, Jiazhou, Rongzhou, Yazhou, etc. Most of them were generals who held officials hostage, and some folk heroes held officials hostage and then surrendered to Wang Jian.
Under Wang Jian's strategy of "producing famous troops", the mutiny was no longer shameful, but glorious. In fact, if it were more hypocritical, the mutiny could not be called a mutiny, but an uprising or surrender.
Mao Xiang, the governor of Qiongzhou, was a close confidant of Tian Lingzi and was deeply favored by Tian Lingzi. In the dilemma of having no reinforcements outside and no food inside, Mao Xiang knew that the fall of the city was inevitable, so he said to his subordinates: "I am deeply cultivated and loved by Tian Lingzi, so I am willing to defend the city to the death for him. But why should others follow me?" Suffering the same siege? Hey... take my head and surrender to Wang Jian."
After explaining the funeral affairs, Mao Xiang took a bath and changed clothes, and died generously. His men took the heads of himself and his two sons and surrendered to Wang Jianxian City.
At the surrender ceremony, the people, officials, and disarmed soldiers of Qiongzhou all expressed their gratitude to Mao Xiang and burst into tears.
Chengdu's city defense was impregnable. Wei Zhaodu, Wang Jian and others led more than 100,000 people, and it took three years but still could not be conquered.
After three years of siege, food was scarce in Chengdu, and the streets and alleys were full of abandoned children and babies.
So someone started smuggling food. They sneaked into the imperial army's camp and smuggled grain into the city. These grain smugglers were basically civilians in Chengdu and were not professionally trained agents, so they were easily caught by the imperial army's patrols.
The patrol reported the situation to Commander-in-Chief Wei Zhaodu and asked for instructions on how to deal with it.
Wei Zhaodu was kind-hearted and said: "How can we not save the hungry people in the city?" He ordered that all the grain smugglers be released and they were not allowed to be prosecuted for the crime of "funding the enemy".
Some were also captured by patrols in the city and reported to Commander-in-Chief Chen Jingxuan. Chen Jingxuan also chose to be tolerant and kind. Faced with the food smuggling, Chen Jingxuan showed shame and said: "It's my fault that caused the people to suffer so much. I hate that I can't save their lives. Since they can save themselves, it's the best. From now on, you guys Stop making things difficult for them.”
The top leaders of both the enemy and our side have stated that food smuggling is legal, so more and more people are joining this business.
But even so, the food that can be trafficked into the city every day is only a few buckets. Vendors use small bamboo tubes as containers for dividing grains. The length of the small bamboo tube is about 5 cents and the diameter is 1.5 inches. The price of such a small tube of rice is more than 100 yuan.
I did a rough calculation and found that a tube of rice is about 26.168 grams. 26 grams costs more than 100 yuan, which is comparable to the sky-high price of Huang Chao's evacuation from Chang'an.
The city of Chengdu was full of people starved to death, and corpses piled up like mountains. As a result, the tragedy of cannibalism inevitably took place. Officials use a high-pressure attitude to strictly prohibit murder and cannibalism, and kill murderers without mercy, but they still cannot prevent the tragedy of cannibalism from happening.
Officials replaced beheadings with more cruel and inhumane torture methods, such as beheading in the waist and splitting diagonally (from left shoulder to right hip). People died from such torture every day, but it still did not stop people from cannibalism.
In the end, the officials despaired. Seeing that the city of Chengdu had become a living hell, the only way to save it seemed to be surrender.
Chen Jingxuan also had zero tolerance for officials who wavered. He arrested their entire family and tortured and killed them with all kinds of torture.
Xu Geng, the governor of Meizhou, was kind and generous and could not bear to kill the people indiscriminately. Tian Lingzi threatened him in a strange way, "You are not willing to kill anyone, do you have second thoughts?" Xu Geng had no choice but to bite the bullet, kidnapped the prisoners of the imperial army, took them to the market, and beheaded them.
The Tang Dynasty could not afford the huge cost of the three-year siege, so the civil and military officials of the DPRK and China unanimously proposed to end the "War between Sichuan and Sichuan".
Emperor Zhaozong reluctantly issued an armistice edict, which restored all Chen Jingxuan's official positions and titles, and ordered Dongchuan Gu Yanlang and Yongping Wang Jian to return their troops to their respective towns.
After receiving the edict, Wang Jian was heartbroken and wanted to tear it into pieces. "With my head tied to the waistband of my trousers, I endured three years of hunger, thirst, hardship, scorching heat and cold. I was almost done, but fell short? I am working hard on the front line, and I am a corrupt scholar." Stab in the back!" He pointed at the sky and the ground and cursed.
The counselor Zhou Xiang was overjoyed, "My lord, this is a God-given opportunity! This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for you to break the earth and become king!"
