History of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms

Chapter 50: The Huang Qi Regime
【Entering Chang'an】

Huang Chao captured Tongguan and his momentum was greatly boosted. He led his troops westward and entered the undefended Huazhou, leaving his generals to garrison there, and then continued to march towards Chang'an.

When the news of the fall of Tongguan came, Emperor Xizong of Tang immediately issued an edict: appointing Huang Chao as the governor of Tianping.

My dear Lord Chao, haven't you always wanted to be the governor of Ping? Go ahead. I will grant you that.

Negotiation is the process of exchanging bargaining chips between the two parties. And Tongguan was the last bargaining chip of the Tang Empire. After Tongguan was lost, what else could Emperor Xizong of Tang use to negotiate with Huang Chao?
Tianping Jiedu? Too cheap, the starting price is "Prince".

"Your Majesty, please flee west to Shu. It's too late!"

Tian Lingzi secretly dispatched 500 Shen Ce troops to protect Emperor Xizong of Tang and escape from Jin Guang Gate. Emperor Xizong fled in a hurry, taking only a few concubines and four princes with him. There was no time to deal with the government's documents, archives, and books, and no notice was given to the civil and military officials.

The civil and military officials were still waiting in the court for the emperor to come to court, but they waited and waited in vain. Instead of the emperor, they received a bolt from the blue: the Cao army was already at the gates of the city.

Chang'an was in a state of panic. The former prime minister Lu Xie, who had foresight, committed suicide by taking poison last night; civil and military officials either chased the emperor westward or hid everywhere; the soldiers in the city mutinied, broke into the treasury, and robbed gold, silver, and silk; the citizens of Chang'an also took advantage of the situation and rushed into the treasury to rob...

The capital of the Tang Empire, one of the world's most prosperous metropolises, instantly fell into chaos.

At noon, Chai Cun, the vanguard officer of the Cao army, led his troops into the undefended city of Chang'an.

General Zhang Zhifang of the Left Imperial Guards led dozens of military officers out of the city to Bashang, east of Chang'an, to welcome Huang Chao.

Huang Chao rode in a rare gold double sedan made of pure gold; the guards around him all had their hair loose, tied with red turbans, dressed in brocade clothes, and held weapons in their hands; there was an endless stream of armored cavalry; the baggage convoy was connected end to end, stretching as far as the eye could see.

The residents of Chang'an all gathered on both sides of the road, vying to see the true appearance of the legendary "General Chongtian".

Shang Rang, the second-in-command of the Cao army, paid great attention to political propaganda and worked hard to build the Cao army into a benevolent and righteous army and establish a good image for the Cao army. He kept promoting along the way: "Huang Wang (referring to Huang Chao) raised the righteous army all for the people, unlike the emperor of the Tang Dynasty surnamed Li who did not care for the people! Everyone can live and work in peace and contentment, don't be afraid!"

Not only did the Cao army stop burning, killing and looting, but they also took out money and gave large amounts of alms to the poor people in Chang'an City. Through practical actions, they packaged Huang Chao into an image of a benevolent monarch who loved his people like his own children and had the world in his heart.

The residents of Chang'an were overjoyed and told each other that the Tang emperor had been lying to them. The Cao army was not a vicious bandit, but much better than the Tang emperor!

Huang Chao was very proud of himself, silently reciting his masterpiece:

When autumn comes on September th, when my flowers bloom, a hundred flowers will be killed.

The incense soars through Chang'an, and the city is full of golden armor.

Chang'an, here I come.

It has been more than five years since I started the rebellion. During these five years, I, Huang Chao, have been armed to the teeth, leading the troops, escaping death many times, resisting the temptation of sugar-coated bullets many times, and fighting in most parts of China... There is no suffering in vain, no pain in vain. Chang'an, Chang'an, do you recognize me?

Huang Chao issued an order: arrest all members of the royal family in Chang'an and slaughter them all, even babies! The Li Tang royal family must be eradicated.

After that, Huang Chao couldn't wait to ascend the throne and proclaim himself emperor in Hanyuan Hall.

The Cao army drew temporary patterns on black silk to make a dragon robe (the embroidered dragon robe worn by the emperor should have been "embroidered" with dragons, but Huang Chao "painted" the dragon), used hundreds of war drums as orchestral instruments, and used swords, spears, swords and halberds instead of golden melons, axes and axe kicks... In short, the entire coronation ceremony was filled with cottage temperament from beginning to end, from inside to outside, and exuded a strong but not simple rural atmosphere. As soon as he ascended the throne, the ministers could not wait to give Huang Chao the title of emperor: Chengtian Yingyun Qisheng Ruiwen Xuanwu Emperor.

Huang Chao announced a general amnesty for the whole nation;
All officials above the third rank of the former Tang government were dismissed; those below the fourth rank were retained in their respective posts and continued to be employed as before;

The country was renamed "Qi". Huang Chao did not have any title in the previous dynasty, unlike Liu Bang, King of Han, Cao Pi, King of Wei, Sima Yan, King of Jin, Yang Jian, Duke of Sui, Li Yuan, Duke of Tang... So the country was named after the place name of their hometown. Shandong people liked Da Qi very much.

The reign title was changed to "Jintong", which means "gold" and "rule". It was no longer "Wangba".

Huang Chao explained the mystery of the reign title in a very meaningful way:
This year is the first year of the Guangming Period of the Tang Dynasty. The character "Guang" was written as "Guang" at that time, with a yellow under "Guang". It is estimated that the original intention of the Tang Dynasty was to add a cover to "Huang" to suppress Huang Chao. Cao Jun really played a word game with them, saying that "Guang" means "Tang" without "Ugly" and adding "Huang", which indicates that the surname Huang will hollow out the internal organs of the Tang Dynasty and take over the magpie's nest; Ming means the sun and the moon, so the implication of "Guangming" is that the surname Huang will replace the Tang Dynasty and raise the sun and moon of the Huang family. Huang Chao ascended the throne and called himself the Son of Heaven, this is the will of heaven!
He named Huang Chao's wife, Cao, as empress;
At the same time, the founding heroes of the "Great Qi" were conferred titles, among which Shang Rang held the highest official position, which was undisputed. In addition, the officials who surrendered from the Tang Dynasty were also rewarded according to their merits, without burning bridges after crossing the river.

The list of awards is too long to list them all here.

No matter from which angle you look at it, Huang Chao's "Great Qi" regime is a pseudo-regime, but I cannot call it the "pseudo-Qi regime" because "pseudo-Qi" has a specific meaning in history, so I will call it "Huang Qi" in the rest of this book.

From the long list of founding heroes, we can also roughly sort out the different factions within the Huang Qi regime, which is related to the future fate of the Huang Qi regime:

The Followers of the Dragon Clan: Huang Chao's direct line, old subordinates who had always followed Huang Chao. Some were former subordinates of Wang Xianzhi who switched to Huang Chao after the "Wang-Huang separation", such as Shang Rang, and some joined Huang Chao halfway, such as Zhu Wen.

The surrendered officials: former Tang Dynasty officials who surrendered to the Cao army voluntarily or passively before Huang Chao entered Chang'an;

The old ministers faction: the old Tang officials who surrendered after Huang Chao entered Chang'an, mainly represented by the "Wedding at Bashang".

Generally speaking, these are the three major factions.

The factions within the "Conglong Faction" are even more complicated, and are basically divided according to seniority.

In order to balance the various factions, Huang Chao also did some things in the founding ceremony of the country to reward the emperor.

For example, among the “Four Founding Prime Ministers”, two were from the “Dragon Followers” ​​faction (Shang Rang and Zhao Zhang), one was from the “Surrenderers” faction (Cui Qiu), and one was from the “Old Ministers” faction (Yang Xigu).

Similar balancing was done for other core positions, which also shows Huang Chao's overall thinking and awareness of the overall situation. To be fair, Huang Chao was not a man of great talent, nor was he a drunkard. At least in terms of ranking, he could be compared with Wu Yong, the "wise man" in "Water Margin".

In order to establish an image of being open to all and to demonstrate the broad-mindedness of the Huang Qi regime, Huang Chao showed special favor to the "old ministers", which caused great dissatisfaction among the "dragon followers".

In their view, the "old ministers" were fighting stubbornly and would not cry until they saw the coffin. With the enemy at the gates, they had no other choice but to surrender in order to save their lives. They had no loyalty to our Huang Qi regime and had not done anything meritorious. So why did they hold high positions and continue to bully the people?

Huang Chao was helpless and could only hold a private meeting with these "dragon followers" and teach these uneducated rough people earnestly. Isn't this just for show and to win people's hearts? They are just used as vases. If we kill these elites and celebrities, wouldn't it give people something to talk about and use as a handle? It's unsightly!

The "Follow the Dragon" faction refused to give in. "Brothers have followed you for five or six years. We have been through blood on the blade, had our heads hung on our belts, and have been in and out of piles of corpses. We finally seized the throne, but you are still trampled under the feet of these powerful people, and you are shitting on our necks? Huang Chao, are you worthy of your brothers who have been through life and death with you?"

It is difficult to offend the public anger. However, Huang Chao was unable to control the "Follow the Dragon Faction".

Soon, the "Dragon Followers Faction" launched a bloody political purge against the "Old Ministers Faction".

(End of this chapter)