History of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms

Chapter 67 Hundred Regiments Battle
【Hundred Regiments Campaign】

Li Keyong sent his trusted confidant Kang Junli and others to lead the death squad, sneaking into Chang'an City every night and carrying out terrorist attacks under the cover of darkness. Assassinations, arson... and they were able to escape unscathed every time without losing a single soldier, making the people of Chang'an City even more panicked.

On April 4, Li Keyong personally led the cavalry and attacked Chang'an City from Guangtai Gate.

Huang Chao knew that the situation was hopeless, so he set fire to the imperial palace and escaped with the remaining troops.

Chang'an was liberated!
The battle to recapture Chang'an was extremely fierce. Li Keyong led the charge and fought the most brutally and excitingly.

There were more than one hundred regiments directly involved in the battle, a "grass-cutting" version of the Hundred Regiments Campaign.

For the specific details of the battle, please refer to Yang Fuguang’s subsequent victory report.

I have to say that Yang Fuguang's memorial is so wonderful and hearty. Although it is a formal document reported to the emperor, it is like a martial arts novel, which makes people intoxicated. If it is translated into vernacular, the charm is lost. I excerpted some of the original text for you to appreciate together:
"Li Keyong was a general with divine tactics and a man of great loyalty and loyalty... He killed the bandits with his own hands and led the charge into battle. He was a man of great talent and earned the name of Flying General... On the eighth day of this month... He led the brave and brave men, all in uniform, with their weapons in full gear. Their shouts were like shaking tiles, their roars were like swallowing sand. They spread out their spears and halberds and attacked from both sides. From dawn to dusk, the bandits were greatly defeated... Their spears were not wielded carelessly, and their arrows were never missed. (The bandits) were only prolonging their lives, waiting to be used as drinking vessels."

In the memorial, Wang Chongrong and Li Keyong were praised by name, and the two had the greatest contributions. Wang Chongrong's contribution was to open the gate of Chang'an, while Li Keyong was the first to enter the gate of Chang'an. It was clearly pointed out that Li Keyong was the first to defeat the enemy.

The commanders of the 32 regiments that followed Li Keyong into Chang'an in the first batch and the 70 regiments that followed in the second batch were also included, including Yang Shouzong (adopted son of Yang Fugong), Yang Shouliang (adopted son of Yang Fuguang), Gu Yanlang and others.

Chengdu received the good news and all officials came to the court to congratulate.

Emperor Xizong of Tang was very happy, and Wang Chongrong, Li Keyong, Zhu Wen, Yang Fuguang and others were all given great titles and rewards.

The following month (June), Comrade Yang Fuguang unfortunately fell ill and died at the age of 6.

When the Tang Dynasty was in turmoil, the eunuch Yang Fuguang was loyal to the country. He successively instigated Zhou Ji and Zhu Wen to rebel, formed the "Eight Loyal and Martial Commanders", and made great contributions to suppressing the Huang Chao bandit. He worked hard until his death. When the bad news came, the whole army cried for several days.

Yang Fuguang is gone, but his spirit of loyalty and bravery remains. "Most of those who made contributions to suppressing the bandits after his death were former generals and disciples of Yang Fuguang." (Old Book of Tang, Biography of Yang Fuguang)
To this day, many people still insist that this eunuch extended the life of the Tang Dynasty for 20 years. Some people also say that if he could live a few more years, the Tang Dynasty might have survived for several more years, and even rewritten history to avoid the situation of the "Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms"...

Yang Fuguang’s sudden death was a misfortune for the Tang Dynasty.

[The flaws of loyal ministers]

Yang Fuguang's contribution to the Tang Dynasty is obvious to all. However, no one is perfect. Yang Fuguang is not a saint, and there are also some not-so-glorious sides to his life trajectory.

That was during the period of Huang Chao's "Northern Expedition". Huang Chao went north and attacked Jiangling, and Wang Duo abandoned the city and fled. The eunuch Yang Fuguang, the military supervisor, appointed Song Hao, the commander of the Zhongwu Army, as the acting governor, and Duan Yanmo, the commander of the Taining Army, as his deputy.

Yang Fuguang was biased in personnel arrangements because he had been the military supervisor of the Zhongwu Army for many years and had a deep revolutionary fighting friendship with the soldiers of the Zhongwu Army, and he treated them as kindly as his own family.

Liu Jurong and Cao Quanzheng successfully ambushed the Cao army. When Liu Jurong was at low health, he left the army and Cao Quanzheng led his troops across the river to pursue them. As mentioned above, the imperial court urgently deprived Cao Quanzheng of his military power and the pursuit was forced to stop. The person who replaced Cao Quanzheng as the commander of the Taining army was Duan Yanmo.

In other words, on the Jingnan front, Duan Yanmo was the reserve cadre favored by the court. If nothing unexpected happened, he should be the acting governor.

However, Yang Fuguang used his power to allow his Zhongwu Army soldier Song Hao to overtake him. Therefore, Yang Fuguang took special care of Song Hao.

However, after Song Hao was promoted to a regular officer, he was not very courteous to Yang Fuguang. In Song Hao's view, although Yang Fuguang was his old superior and leader, the situation had changed and the two were now on an equal footing.

Being promoted directly from a regiment commander to a military district commander, this speed made Song Hao feel carsick and flattered. He felt that he could finally display the power and airs of officials that he had witnessed for many years. He would also puff out his chest, put his hands behind his back, and hum and haw when he was being lectured. When villains succeed, the poor suddenly become rich. When one drinks the water, he forgets the well-digger. Song Hao's upstart face angered his deputy, Duan Yanmo.

The two were both originally group leaders (both would be), and the organization valued Duan Yanmo more and planned to train him vigorously. Duan Yanmo also believed that his position in Jingnan was a foregone conclusion, and he was just waiting for the organization to go through the process. Duan Yanmo was actually the first to become arrogant.

Unexpectedly, the personnel transfer was manipulated behind the scenes, and Song Hao came from behind and took the lead.

Song Hao was not polite to his old boss who had promoted him, let alone his old colleague and current subordinate Duan Yanmo. Moreover, Song Hao's attitude towards Duan Yanmo was somewhat retaliatory.

Duan Yanmo was often so angry that he gritted his teeth.

Yang Fuguang was a very shrewd man. He saw all of this and kept it in mind.

Song Hao had an order that strictly prohibited soldiers from cutting down locust and willow trees. However, a soldier under Duan Yanmo's command violated the order. Song Hao followed the law and beat the soldier on the back with a stick.

Duan Yanmo was furious after hearing the news. He said, "When beating a dog, you have to look at the owner. You are not hitting his back, you are clearly hitting me in the face!"
Seeing that the situation was getting tense, Yang Fuguang added fuel to the fire and said calmly, "I, a eunuch, can't stand this kind of thing. Are you still a man? Why don't you kill him?"

That makes sense.

Since he had the secret support of Eunuch Yang, Duan Yanmo took his trusted warriors and rushed directly into Song Hao's mansion, killing Song Hao and his two sons.

Yang Fuguang submitted a memorial to the court in his capacity as military supervisor, stating that Song Hao had been corrupt, violent and inhumane since taking office, which had angered the people and led to his death by the rebels.

The murder of a military district commander was covered up in a muddled way.

However, the imperial court was no naive person and knew that there must be something fishy going on. It did not let Duan Yanmo directly replace Song Hao, but due to the situation, it did not dare to investigate further. So the imperial court reached a tacit understanding with Yang Fuguang: they would not hold you accountable, nor would they meet your demands. You could do whatever you want.

After that, Huang Chao entered Chang'an, and Emperor Xizong fled to Shu. The situation was turbulent, and Yang Fuguang took the opportunity to promote Duan Yanmo to the position of Jiedushi of Jingnan.

Duan Yanmo was grateful and gave Yang Fuguang hundreds of taels of gold as a token of thanks. He was much more sensible than Song Hao.

Instigating murder is a stain on Yang Fuguang’s life.

In fact, I didn’t want to include this incident at first, but after much struggle I came up with the above description.

The shadows make the characters more three-dimensional. Yang Fuguang's image is also fuller, making him look more like a real person with flesh and blood. He is a human being, not a god.

He may not be perfect, but that doesn't stop him from being a hero.

Thanks to my three old friends "Feitian Shenlongzhan", "feitian", and "Book Friends 15123051918540" for their recommendation votes, and thank you friends for your continued support!

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(End of this chapter)