[National hero Zhang Yichao]
After losing control of Shu, another situation occurred in the northwest of the empire.
The first thing that came to Li Siyuan was a piece of good news: Liangzhou generals and the people jointly petitioned to support Comrade Sun Chao as the military envoy. In other words, Liangzhou (today's Wuwei City, Gansu Province), the strategic center of the world and the national vassal guard, returned to the central government!
Li Siyuan was confused and asked in shock: "Who is Sun Chao?"
Only then did the people around him tell him the whole story of Liangzhou:
It would be a long story to ask Sun Chao of Liangzhou, so let’s keep it short. Datang had an important neighbor in the west - Tubo. Tubo had a huge influence on the western border of Datang. After the "Anshi Rebellion", the Tang Dynasty declined and gradually lost control of the northwest territory. Tubo took this opportunity to devour and encroach on the Hexi region including Shazhou, Liangzhou, Guazhou, Lanzhou, etc.
Tubo implemented high-pressure slavery and cruel exploitation on the people here. The people in the occupied areas hoped day and night that the Tang Dynasty King would regain his homeland. According to historical records, whenever an envoy from the Tang Dynasty passed through this place, the common people would line the streets to greet them, weeping, crying to the envoys of their motherland about the tragic experience of the "subjugated slaves", and asked the envoys: "Does the emperor still want to trap the lives of Tibetan people?"
The envoys saw that these people were dressed in Tang Dynasty clothes, but their accents had changed slightly. After questioning, they found out that they were the descendants of refugees who fell to Tubo during the "Anshi Rebellion", the "Second Generation" and "The Third Generation". ".
Decades have passed and several generations have passed away. The people here still care about the Tang Dynasty and still sing "Heart of China". Although they have never seen what "The Tang Dynasty" looks like, they have passed it down orally from generation to generation. , "We are Chinese! The Emperor of the Tang Dynasty is our emperor! The motherland will not abandon us."
In this situation, the song "Chinese Heart" lingers in my ears.
The cohesion of the Chinese people has existed since ancient times.
By the time of Emperor Wuzong and Emperor Xianzong of the Tang Dynasty, the Tang Dynasty's national fortunes had bottomed out, with the "Resurgence of Huichang" and the "Government of Dazhong", while Tubo's national power declined sharply due to the combined effects of political turmoil and natural disasters. As one thing went down, the other went up, and the Tang Dynasty also began to use troops against Tubo to regain its lost territory.
The series of victories of the Tang army greatly inspired the Hexi people's enthusiasm to resist the Tibetan tyranny. Wang Shibei set the Central Plains Day, and he never forgot to tell Naiwen during family sacrifices.
In the second year of Dazhong (848), a hero named Zhang Yichao united many forces against Tubo, launched an uprising in Shazhou, expelled the Tibetan army, and gained control of Shazhou. He then sent envoys to contact the Tang Dynasty court. Report the local situation and request the central government to send troops for support.
Tang Xuanzong highly praised Zhang Yichao's feat, immediately promoted him to the position of sandbank defense envoy, and encouraged him to continue fighting against Tibet and regain lost territory.
Zhang Yichao lived up to expectations and used Shazhou as his base to recapture ten states including Gua, Gansu, Su, and Lanzhou in one fell swoop, and recovered a large area of territory including today's Xinjiang, Gansu, and Qinghai. In the fifth year of Dazhong (851), envoys were sent to present the eleven states' atlas. Since then, the Hexi region, which had been trapped in Tubo's New Year greetings for a long time, returned to the embrace of the Tang Dynasty.
Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty set up the Guiyi Army in Shazhou, under the jurisdiction of the eleven prefectures mentioned above. Zhang Yichao was appointed as the governor of the Guiyi Army, and he was granted the title of Duke of Nanyang County, 2,000 households in the city, and 300 households (already super king-level treatment). There are other gifts that do not need to be detailed.
In short, Zhang Yichao was a national hero who regained Hexi in the late Tang Dynasty.
The Tubo forces were compressed into Liangzhou, and Liangzhou guarded the "Hexi Corridor" and strangled the Tang Dynasty's narrow neck in and out of the Western Regions. Without pulling out of Liangzhou, the Shazhou Rebel Army would not be able to effectively contact the imperial court, and the imperial court would not be able to effectively manage the Western Regions.
As a result, Zhang Yichao began a bloody battle against Liangzhou that lasted for three years, and finally regained Liangzhou in the second year of Xiantong, Yizong of Tang Dynasty (861).
Subsequently, the Tang Dynasty established the Liangzhou Jiedu Envoy, which administered six states and was led by Comrade Zhang Yichao.
However, the Tang Dynasty did not make effective use of the Hexi Corridor, because after the Tang Dynasty experienced a brief rebound from Wuzong and Xuanzong, there was another enema in the Yizong Dynasty. The subsequent historical stories of Xizong, Zhaozong, and Emperor Ai are as described above in a million words What is said is so tragic.
On the one hand, Zhang Yichao relied on self-reliance and worked hard to develop the domestic economy and restore production. On the other hand, he also strengthened military training to resist Tibetan counterattacks at all times.
Near the Hexi Corridor, in addition to Tubo, there are Dangxiang in the east, Uighurs in the north, and the remnants of Tuyuhun in the southwest... They all once surrendered to Tubo, and they often attacked the Guiyi Army and Liangzhou alone or together. Zhang Yichao was not afraid. Without the support of the Tang Dynasty, he led the people of Hexi to resist bravely and defend the fruits of victory.
Zhang Yichao once defeated Tuyuhun, pursued for more than a thousand miles, captured three of his prime ministers alive, and beheaded them all, which greatly shocked the Tuyuhun tribe;
He also took the initiative to attack the Uighurs and the remnants of Tubo who were entrenched in Yizhou (now Hami, Xinjiang) with more than a thousand troops, and returned with a great victory.
The two great victories greatly enhanced Zhang Yichao's regional prestige, making tribes such as the Uighurs and Tuguhun no longer dare to have any evil thoughts, and all ethnic minority tribes expressed their allegiance.
Zhang Yichao followed the imperial court's basic national policy of being restrained and gentle, and attracted a large number of foreign people to strengthen our country's prestige. The soldiers of the ethnic minority groups who surrendered also actively submitted their names and competed to make meritorious service to the Tang Dynasty.
For example, Zhang Yichao appointed the Uighur general Pu Gujun to regain Xizhou and other cities, and then led his troops to attack Tubo. This battle directly defeated Tubo and caused Tubo to die quickly.
Therefore, this book starts from the end of the Xuanzong Dynasty, focusing on Yizong, Xizong, Zhaozong, and Aidi, the last four emperors of the Tang Dynasty. The most frequent foreign forces are Nanzhao and Khitan, which once had close relations with the Tang Dynasty and Tubo He rarely appears, and the only time he appears is when he tells the story of Nanzhao, where he plays a minor role as a soy sauce man.
The reason why such a large, powerful and long-established old neighbor has been ignored by us is not because I can avoid it, but because of the gift of the national hero Comrade Zhang Yichao, who pushed Tubo from the top to the bottom.
In the eighth year of Xiantong (867), Zhang Yichao's brother Zhang Yitan, who stayed in Chang'an as a hostage, died. 69-year-old Zhang Yichao returned to the court and came to Chang'an to continue to be a hostage.
Sorry, that's not a nice word to say about hostages. It was the imperial court that appointed Zhang Yichao as General of the Central Forbidden Army, promoted him to Situ, and rewarded him with a luxurious villa in Chang'an city.
After Zhang Yichao returned to the court, Zhang Yitan's son was promoted to stay in the army and guard Guiyi Army and Liangzhou.
In the thirteenth year of Xiantong (872), Zhang Yichao died of illness in the capital Chang'an. Posthumous gift to Taibao.
Next year (873) Yizong died and Xizong ascended the throne, followed immediately by the "Wang Xianzhi and Huang Chao Uprising" (874).
As the Tang Dynasty declined, the connection between Liangzhou and other places and the Central Plains Dynasty was gradually interrupted.
