History of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms

Chapter 35 Qizhou Recruits
Wang Xianzhi and Huang Chao moved from Shandong to Henan, and the disaster moved westward, directly threatening the eastern capital Luoyang. Chang'an was terrified and quickly dispatched troops to form a solid defense line to protect Luoyang and Chang'an.

Wang Xianzhi and Huang Chao accumulated valuable experience in struggle during their repeated escapes, and this experience will play a crucial role in the future.

Wang Xianzhi attacked Zhengzhou but failed. So the bandits broke up into smaller groups and gathered in Henan, burning, killing and looting, until "almost all the people were gone."

The disaster caused by Wang Huang was worse than that caused by locusts. Wherever locusts passed, crops were destroyed; wherever Wang Huang passed, no one was alive. This is why I have always been reluctant to call them "rebels". I really don't understand where their "righteousness" is reflected. However, many people are accustomed to calling all riots against the court "peasant uprisings", so they also call this civil uprising "Wang Xianzhi and Huang Chao Uprising".

We should maintain awe for history. Seeking truth from facts is the greatest respect for history. Blindly following the crowd is not a correct attitude.

Therefore, I insist on calling this riot at the end of the Tang Dynasty a "civil uprising" to be objective and fair, just like calling the mutiny in Guizhou the "Pang Xun Rebellion" or "Pang Xun Mutiny" rather than the "Pang Xun Uprising". For the sake of narrative convenience or slip of the hand in the previous and later texts, they may also be called "rebels", but this does not mean that I affirm them.

The government troops from all directions were on high alert and defended the city with all their might, but to little avail.

Firstly, the bandit army was erratic and scattered when looting. When they saw the imperial army, they would scatter and would not fight against the government troops. Secondly, even if the government troops captured Wang Xianzhi's main force, Wang Xianzhi would "spend money to avoid disaster" and discard the looted spoils on both sides of the road. The imperial army would then scramble to snatch the property, and the bandit army would take the opportunity to slip away.

It must be said that Wang Xianzhi and Huang Chao grew rapidly and grasped the weaknesses of the various vassal garrisons in the late Tang Dynasty very well. They were very good at using tricks such as feigning surrender to delay the war and spending money to avoid disasters.

Wang Xianzhi and Huang Chao roamed around Henan, Anhui and Hubei, with looting, smashing and burning as their main strategic goals. They would do whatever they wanted and then leave. Like all the peasant uprisings before and after, their actions were heavily guerrilla-like.

Among all the peasant uprisings throughout history, Wang Xianzhi and Huang Chao were obviously the luckiest, because when they were hunting rabbits, they actually caught two fat rabbits: Wang Liao, the governor of Ruzhou, and Pei Wei, the governor of Qizhou.

In the armed struggle with the imperial court, "capturing the governor" and "killing the governor" can only be regarded as minor episodes and nothing to be surprised about.

The reason these two rabbits got rich was because of their interpersonal relationships: Wang Liao, the governor of Ruzhou, was the cousin of the prime minister of the time, Wang Duo; Pei Wei, the governor of Qizhou, was Wang Duo's student. Wang Duo was the chief examiner when Pei Wei passed the imperial examination, and the teacher-student relationship was very close.

Capturing the two of them alive, especially Wang Liao, would be equivalent to holding the life of Prime Minister Wang Duo.

If these two could consider the overall situation, sacrifice their lives for the sake of righteousness, and face death with equanimity, denounce the treasonous behavior of Wang and Huang, and then die bravely, history might have been rewritten in a major way: Prime Minister Wang Duo, who bore the hatred of the country and the family, firmly became a "war faction", the court was united, and Wang Xianzhi and Huang Chao were quickly suppressed...

It’s a pity that Wang Liao and Pei Wei are both spineless.

After they were captured, their first reaction was to beg for mercy from the bandits. Especially Pei Wei, who took the initiative to help Wang Xianzhi draft a petition for amnesty and seeking an official position.

Prime Minister Wang Duo also put personal interests above public interest and vigorously advocated a policy of peaceful recruitment in the court.

At that time, most court officials were in favor of war, believing that Wang and Huang were just bandits and a group of hungry people from Henan and Shandong. Their strength could never be compared with Pang Xun. Pang Xun's main force was regular troops such as the Xuzhou Wuning Army and the Silver Knife Army, and they had complex ties with the garrisons in the Xuzhou area, and possessed a certain level of military literacy and social foundation.

The previous emperor refused to pardon Pang Xun, and within a year, Pang Xun's rebels were wiped out. If Pang Xun could be wiped out, why can't Wang Xianzhi and Huang Chao be eliminated? If we pardon Wang Xianzhi and Huang Chao's crimes of treason today and give them official positions, wouldn't it be the same as encouraging the people to rebel?
However, in this atmosphere where everyone was in favor of war, the imperial court finally adopted an attitude of compromise and appeasement.

This is because Wang Duo's group cooperated with the outside world. Wang Duo actively operated inside the court, and Wang Liao and Pei Wei cooperated with the outside world to create momentum.

Don't underestimate the political energy of Comrade Wang Duo.

Comrade Wang Duo came from a family of officials. His father Wang Yan, grandfather Wang Shu, great-grandfather Wang Sheng, great-great-grandfather Wang Jin, and great-grandfather Wang Man were all officials, and of course they held different levels of official positions.

His uncle Wang Bo was prime minister; his uncle Wang Qi was prime minister; his cousin Wang Gui was the governor of Tongzhou; and his other cousin was the well-known Wang Shi, the one who pacified Annan, pacified Qiu Fu, and massacred the Silver Knife Army.

Don’t worry. Some people may have objections to Wang Duo’s family lineage. Let’s answer your questions and compare them with three authoritative history books:

"Old Book of Tang": "Bo's son is Shi, and his brothers are Yan and Qi"; "Yan... his sons are Duo and Liao"; "Qi... his son is Gui"; "his brother Duo is in the Secretariat"; "Gui's brother Shi..."

The New Book of Tang states: "Bo... and his brothers Yan and Qi are all famous"; "Qi's sons are Gui and Shi"; "Yan's sons are Duo and Liao...". The same book also states in the table of prime ministers that Wang Shi and Wang Liao are sons of Wang Qi, and Wang Duo is the son of Wang Yan.

"Zizhi Tongjian" says: "Shi is the son of Qi"; "Liao is the cousin of Duo". Well, I have made a brief summary of the lineage of Wang Duo's family. Let's do a simple sorting. The order of seniority of Wang Duo's father is: Wang Bo> Wang Yan> Wang Qi, there is no conflict in this.

The controversial issue is whose sons Wang Shi and Wang Liao are.

At present, the entries on many well-known search engines in China are not comprehensive, rigorous, or even contradictory. One of the reasons is that they sometimes use the "Old Book of Tang" as the basis, and sometimes use the "Zizhi Tongjian" as the standard.

It doesn’t matter who Wang Shi’s biological father is or who Wang Liao’s biological father is.

I would like to reiterate the historical perspective and orientation of this book: there is no need to study in detail anything that does not affect the course of history. However, I will try my best to list the contradictions and doubts for you, so as to seek common ground while reserving differences.

This will also make me look knowledgeable.

By the way, Wang Shi and the great poet Du Mu passed the imperial examination in the same year (the second year of Taihe, 828). There were 22 people in the same batch, and both of them became officials.

In summary, Wang Duo's family has three prime ministers, which is similar to Yuan Shao's "three prime ministers in four generations" in the Three Kingdoms period. There are many former officials in the family, who are in high positions and have prominent status, and have a certain say in the court.

One more thing to mention is that Wang Shi's "massacre of the Silver Knife Army" was quite controversial. Later, the court attributed the cause of the "Pang Xun Rebellion" to Wang Shi's arbitrary and rude handling of the Silver Knife Army. But even so, Wang Shi was only transferred back to the central government, appointed to an idle position, and took care of him until his death, without explicitly criticizing or punishing him. On the one hand, Wang Shi himself had the merit of pacifying Annan and suppressing Qiu Fu, and on the other hand, it was also because of the huge power of his family.

In addition to family influence, Wang Duo himself had also served as the chief examiner, admitted a large number of talents for the country, and of course cultivated his own party. Among the students he admitted, in addition to Pei Wei mentioned above, there was also Wei Baoheng mentioned earlier, but Wei Baoheng was a villain who repaid kindness with enmity. After becoming the son-in-law of the emperor, he expelled his mentor Wang Duo from the court. This has been discussed in detail in the previous article, so there is no need to spend more words here.

Wang Duo now holds the high position of prime minister, and the reason why he was able to re-enter the court and serve as prime minister is thanks to the repeated recommendations of another fellow sufferer, Zheng Ting. Zheng Ting was also ostracized by the "Baoyan Party". When Emperor Xizong of the Tang Dynasty first ascended the throne, he liquidated the "Baoyan Party" and was able to be re-employed and enter the court. With Zheng Ting's strong recommendation, Wang Duo, who was also persecuted by the "Baoyan Party", finally had a chance to come to the fore.

At that time, Zheng Ting was the Deputy Minister of National Defense (Military Assistant Minister), and he was given the title of "Tong Ping Zhang Shi" the following year (877), becoming the Prime Minister. Therefore, some sources directly say that "Prime Minister Zheng Ting recommended Wang Duo several times", which is not very rigorous.

But no matter what, the relationship between Wang Duo and Zheng Ting was not ordinary. They were revolutionary comrades who were sent down at the same time, and Zheng Ting was grateful to Wang Duo for his help. Wang Duo helped his brother at a critical moment.

Family influence, teacher-student alliance, official connections... Wang Duo can truly be considered an influential figure in the political arena at the end of the Tang Dynasty.

Therefore, although there were voices opposing the amnesty in the court, Wang Duo was still able to overcome all objections and make the court make the decision to accept the amnesty.

The imperial edict exempted Wang Xianzhi and others from the crime of plotting treason, and appointed Wang Xianzhi as the left Shence Army Yaya and Supervisory Censor.

It sounds intimidating at first, such a long title! Don't worry, let's analyze it slowly: Zuo Shen Ce Army, affiliated to the Central Imperial Army; Ya Ya, the camp management officer; Supervisory Censor, administrative prosecutor, seventh or eighth rank.

When the news of the imperial court's offer of amnesty came, Wang Huangcao was overjoyed, "Hey - I've finally made it! Hey, I'll be a civil servant in the future! Right, Director Liu, Director Sun, huh? Director Li..."

Soon, the imperial eunuch brought the appointment letter to Qizhou City.

Wang Liao and Pei Wei, who had been accomplices to the evil, finally breathed a sigh of relief. Their heads were finally saved! A banquet was held in Qizhou City to congratulate Wang Xianzhi and Huang Chao, the two elder brothers.

Wang Xianzhi held the letter of authorization in his hands. He was afraid of dropping it, afraid of falling if he held it on his head, afraid of losing it if he put it in his arms, and afraid of melting it if he held it in his mouth. He held this precious treasure with great care, worshipping it like an ancestor.

"Oh, look at the handwriting, every word is so beautiful, every word is so... Although I don't know a few of the characters, and I don't know what they mean, anyway, I like them so sincerely..."

At the banquet, Wang Xianzhi was so happy that he almost lost himself in the feast, shaking his legs and humming a little tune.

Wang Liao and Pei Wei did their utmost to flatter Wang Xianzhi, drinking and chatting with him, treating him like brothers.

None of them noticed that Huang Chao, the second-in-command of the Cao army, was drinking alone with a gloomy face, which seemed out of place with the surrounding atmosphere.

(End of this chapter)