The Tang Dynasty and the Five Dynasties were recognized as one of the chaotic periods, and the few years when Zhaozong first came to the throne were the most chaotic period in this chaotic period.
The lack of historical data is one of the reasons for this "chaos", which has caused considerable trouble to later generations of scholars. Various historical events are like a mess, making it impossible for people to start.
Of course, chaos is just an illusion on the surface. There must be an internal logic that becomes the golden key to unravel the chaos. Once you master it, all chaos will be solved.
Let this book give you the golden key: Zhaozong's rule.
Zhaozong wanted to revitalize the Tang Dynasty. He saw the two main stubborn diseases that caused the decline of the Tang Dynasty: eunuchs and vassal towns. Therefore, Zhaozong took the right medicine and eagerly started from two aspects: eradicating the eunuchs and attacking the feudal towns. He had to be hard on both hands.
This is the main thread and the main line of the story during this historical period. All events are based on the extension and derivation of the country-governing idea of "eliminating eunuchs internally and cutting down vassal towns externally". They intersect with each other and become intertwined, creating the appearance of a mess.
This book will focus on this golden key and interpret that troubled time from shallow to deep. This is what makes this book valuable.
The operation to eradicate the eunuchs has begun. However, the road to reducing the vassal state is full of thorns and bumps. Especially after Xuanzong, the imperial court no longer has the ability to use force to reduce the vassal state. Since Xuanzong, the court's basic idea of reducing vassal vassals is to drive the tiger away and reap the benefits.
At first glance, it sounds like a good deal with no capital and huge profits, but in reality it is just a pipe dream. Not many of these vassal towns are fuel-efficient. They have risen to high positions by relying on various machinations and tricks and armed mutiny. The obedient babies and wimps have been eliminated by the fittest in the process. How could a fool slip through the cracks?
If you want to snatch meat from the wolf's mouth in the dangerous jungle of the feudal town, you must wait for a perfect opportunity and kill it with one strike.
After Zhaozong ascended the throne, he immediately began to attack the eunuchs. By attacking Tian Lingzi, he gained some strength and consolidated the imperial power. During this period, he was also peeping at the feudal towns all over the world, waiting for that opportunity.
[Hedong Li Keyong]
In the struggle to eradicate the hypocrite Li You, Li Keyong's attitude was crucial, and Li Keyong naturally became the focus of competition between the two sides.
Li Keyong seized the opportunity, carried out political blackmail, raised prices and reaped huge benefits.
In his letters to and from the imperial court, Li Ke possessed Xianglin's wife, complaining endlessly about the "Shangyuanyi Incident" and threatening to send troops to retaliate against Zhu Wen. The fixed sentence pattern has almost become Li Keyong's signature, appearing at the end of every letter.
The imperial court understood Li Keyong's true intentions, so it continued to promote him and write blank political checks, hoping that he could endorse the Xizong court.
The "Shangyuanyi Incident" must be talked about every day, every month, and every year. Never forget the "Shangyuanyi Incident". The "Shangyuanyi Incident" can be solved as soon as it is grasped.
Li Keyong's biggest gain from this blackmail was to successfully divide the Zhaoyi Army into two, and then annex them one by one, expanding his sphere of influence to the east of the Taihang Mountains. At the same time, taking advantage of the death of Zhuge Shuang in Heyang, he extended his sphere of influence into the Heyang area. The story about Li Keyong's control of the Heyang area will be wonderfully presented later.
At this time, although the emperor was still there, the warlords in the feudal towns had entered the actual "Warring States Period", and the reasons for annexation and criticism became increasingly far-fetched. It’s best to be able to speak justly and have a famous teacher. If not, it doesn’t matter. Take life and death lightly and do it if you don’t accept it.
"Li Xuan proclaimed himself emperor" seems to be the dividing line of an era. From now on, warlords in feudal towns will appear like a revolving lantern, with all kinds of clowns appearing.
The following article will only review the more important (historical process) feudal towns to varying degrees to recount their ins and outs, while more feudal towns will be briefly mentioned or omitted directly. Please don't be surprised if the Jiedushi's reputation appears later in the article. It's not a clerical error.
Li Keyong and Zhu Wen's jurisdiction were not bordering each other, so sending troops to attack Zhu Wen would be harmful to Li Keyong but not beneficial at all.
First of all, the army went on an expedition and fought across borders, while Zhu Wen waited for work and fought at home. If Zhu Wen chose to avoid the enemy's edge, fortify the walls and clear the country, close the city and defend, dragging the war into a stalemate of a war of attrition, it would be very detrimental to Li Keyong who was working hard on the expedition.
Secondly, when a large army goes out to fight, the rear will be empty. Surrounded by powerful enemies, they are all watching. Even if Zhu Wen is destroyed, there is no guarantee that the mantis will not catch the cicada or the oriole behind him.
Finally, even if Zhu Wen is eliminated and his base is safe, Li Keyong will not be able to enjoy the dividends of the war. Food, money, and people can all be taken away, but the land cannot be taken away. Zhu Wen's territory will be encroached and divided by neighboring vassals, and Li Keyong is equivalent to taking chestnuts from the fire to make wedding clothes for others.
Li Keyong was not a fool, his wife Liu was smarter and wiser, so using the "Shangyuanyi Incident" as an excuse and threatening to send troops was just Li Keyong's exclusive means of safeguarding his rights.
The reason why the imperial court took the bait was because of three problems:
First, the mastermind of the "Shangyuanyi Incident" was the Xizong court, Zhu Wen was the scapegoat, and the three parties had a tacit understanding;
Secondly, the court really needed Li Keyong’s support;
Thirdly, the imperial court did not want to see Zhu Wen destroyed.
Although Huang Chao died, his remaining forces, under the leadership of Qin Zongquan, continued to cause trouble in the Central Plains with great momentum, even worse than Huang Chao. Zhu Wen's jurisdiction just curbed the extension of Qin Zongquan's power to Chang'an. Thanks to geopolitics, Zhu Wen has become Chang'an's periphery, to put it harshly, a watchdog, and now is not the time to eat dog meat.
Therefore, it is said that Li Keyong took the "Shangyuanyi Incident" as Jiang Taigong's bait, and the court took the bait only if it was willing.
Li Keyong became the biggest winner of "Li Yuan's usurpation of power".
While Li Keyong was encroaching on the Zhaoyi Army, Zhu Wen was also actively expanding his sphere of influence.
[Zhu Wen’s expansion]
Zhu Wen is unfortunate and lucky at the same time.
Bianzhou is located in the land of four wars, where military strategists must fight for it, but it lacks dangerous passes. It is an unprotected piece of fat meat, surrounded by hungry wolves drooling.
To the south is the ambitious Cai thief Qin Zongquan. Qin Zongquan was originally a young general in the Zhongwu Army. He took advantage of the "Xuzhou Mutiny" to occupy Caizhou. He was erratic in the "anti-pornography and mowing the grass" war. He sometimes surrendered to the Qi Dynasty and sometimes to the Tang Dynasty. He played political speculation to the extreme and was popular at both ends.
After Huang Chao's death, Qin Zongquan responded with strength and did not hesitate to make the whole world an enemy. He took up the banner of the "Huang Qi regime" and sent troops to invade everywhere:
Chen Yan was sent to rebel in Jianghuai, Qin Xian was in chaos in Jiangnan, Qin Gao captured Xiangyang, Tangzhou, and Dengzhou, Sun Ru captured Meng, Luo, Shaanxi, and Guo, Zhang Yuan captured Ru and Zheng, Lutang attacked Bian and Song Dynasty, and his younger brother Qin Zongyan invaded. Jingnan.
At the same time, Qin Zongquan faced the same problem as Huang Chao, food shortage. And its solution is also in the same vein as Huang Chao, cannibalism. People were pickled into bacon to provide military rations (eating people to store and salting corpses).
Stretching from Guanfu (now central Shaanxi Province) in the west, to Qingqi and Qi (now Shandong Province) in the east, to the Yangtze River in the south, and to Wei and Hua (now northern Henan Province) in the north, the vast Central Plains land was deeply poisoned. Wherever Cai Thief went, he looked up and saw that the land was deserted for thousands of miles (the fish rotted and the birds scattered, and there was no human habitation).
To the east of Tongguan, many counties and counties were captured, and only two places were barely saved: Chenzhou Zhao Yan and Bianzhou Zhu Wen.
Chenzhou is located only a hundred miles north of Caizhou. It is as small as a pellet and as dangerous as eggs. Chenzhou was almost the target of the Cai thieves. It was able to be saved not only because of the bravery and loyalty of Zhao Yan, his son and his brothers, but also because of the generous help of Zhu Wen of Bianzhou.
Chenzhou and Bianzhou are close to each other, and they are both the meat of Cai Zeibei's mouth. The lips are dead, the teeth are cold, the teeth are gone, and the lips are sunken. Therefore, Zhu Wen poured out all his money to help Chenzhou Zhao Ji without any reservation or asking for anything in return.
In fact, Zhu Wen had a clear understanding of the interdependent relationship between Bian and Chen since he was in town. In the famous "Three Hundred Days in Chenzhou", although Zhu Wen had only a small number of soldiers, he was the most dedicated among all the people who aided Chen Fan. .
Now, the strength of Cai's thief Qin Zongquan is more than ten times that of Zhu Wen, but Zhu Wen has no intention of shrinking, and has repeatedly won by surprise, winning with less, and the more he fights, the braver he becomes.
Zhao Yan's family has a prosperous family and has been a loyal military general for generations. Zhu Wen was born into a poor peasant for eight generations and had a "grass thieves" background. However, among the warlords in the world, only Zhu Wen was able to lend a helping hand to Zhao Yan regardless of reward or cost.
A friend in need is a friend indeed.
Zhao Yan was moved and went to the court to report Zhu Wen's touching deeds. He also applied to build a shrine for Comrade Zhu Wen in Chenzhou City so that the people of Chenzhou could remember Zhu Wen's kindness from generation to generation. If the memorial had a title, it should be called "In Memory of Zhu Wen".
The imperial court recognized Zhu Wen's approach very much and issued a call to "learn from Comrade Zhu Wen". If all the feudal towns could do this, wouldn't the world be peaceful?
Of course, Zhu Wen must show his integrity and say, "Serve the people."
Zhao Ji still felt that the establishment of a living temple could not show the gratitude of the people of Chenzhou. In order to further thank Zhu Wen and bring the relationship between Chen and Bian closer, Zhao Yan and Zhu Wen became their sons and daughters, and they will always be friends with Qin and Jin Dynasties. Zhao Yan's second son, Zhao Lin, married Zhu Wen's daughter.
Zhao Ergongzi and Zhu Qianjin successfully joined hands and became a famous political marriage in the late Tang Dynasty. It marked the establishment of an unbreakable military and political alliance between Chen and Bian.
In addition, one more thing needs to be mentioned. The second son of Zhao, who later changed his name to Zhao Yan, was active in the political arena of Houliang as the prince-in-law, and made indelible contributions to the destruction of Houliang. This will be discussed in detail later.
After a short period of expansion and expansion, the Cai thief Qin Zongquan, as the "Successor of Huang Chao", assumed the title of emperor and called himself the "Emperor of Da Qi", hoping to continue Huang Chao's Huang Qi regime.
The "post-Huangchao era" has officially arrived.
