History of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms

Chapter 69 Wolf and Tiger Valley

【Wolf and Tiger Valley】

The Cao army built a magnificent palace five miles north of Chenzhou and named it "Emperor of the Great Qi". It served as the imperial palace of the "Emperor of the Great Qi" and housed hundreds of civil and military officials. It was like the temporary office of the Huang Qi government in exile, thus demonstrating their determination to fight a protracted war.

What is even more shocking is the "Chongmozhai" under the city of Chenzhou, which is also the most controversial place in Huang Chao's history.

It is clearly written in black and white in the official history that Huang Chao built hundreds of giant stone mortars outside the city of Chenzhou, put living people into them, crushed them like garlic, and then used them as military rations.

The affirmative side believes that this is ironclad evidence of Huang Chao's cannibalism, and that it is clearly recorded in the Old Book of Tang, the New Book of Tang, and the Zizhi Tongjian, which are all solid and irrefutable. The opposing side believes that it is difficult to operate and is not in line with common sense, and that it is a slander against Huang Chao's group and questions the authoritative history books.

Let us put aside our disputes, maintain common ground while reserving differences, take a long-term view, and make a comprehensive analysis, and we will find that the two views are not actually contradictory.

At that time, Cao's army was facing a serious food shortage. Cannibalism was not a phenomenon that only appeared under the city of Chenzhou, nor was it an original practice of Huang Chao's group. Huang Chao's gang had already included living people in their menu when they were in Chang'an, so it is credible that Cao's army ate people under the city of Chenzhou.

The key point is that "Chongmozhai" is obviously not a food processing line for the Cao army. It is a torture device whose main function is to intimidate the soldiers and civilians of Chenzhou.

Fighting a protracted war in Chenzhou was a major strategic mistake made by Huang Chao.

Zhao Dun was very foresighted. He created a "food-free zone" with a radius of 60 miles for Huang Chao, which was undoubtedly a further blow to the Cao army, which was already short of food.

In order to replenish military rations, Huang Chao could only extend his claws to the surrounding areas, plundering dozens of states including Xu, Deng, Ru, Bian, Tang, Meng, Zheng, Cao, Yan, Pu, and Xu. The Cao army's strength was thus seriously dispersed, providing an opportunity for the government army to defeat them one by one.

Zhao Dun sent people to seek help from neighboring vassal states and appeal to the imperial court for help.

The imperial court then ordered the dispatch of troops from the three towns of Xuzhou Zhongwu Army (Zhou Ji), Bianzhou Xuanwu Army (Zhu Wen), and Xuzhou Ganhua Army (Shi Pu) to support the battle in Chenzhou.

Zhou Ji came to power through the "Xuzhou Mutiny", and then the main force of his army was annexed by Yang Fuguang, who formed the "Eight Zhongwu Commanders". After Yang Fuguang's death, the "Eight Zhongwu Commanders" fled and each pursued their own career. Caizhou under his rule was first separated and promoted to Fengguo Army, and then turned against Qi. Therefore, Zhou Ji could mobilize very few troops;
Zhu Wen had just arrived in the town and had only a few hundred men under his command;

Shi Pu came to power by launching the "Xuzhou Mutiny" right after the "Xuzhou Mutiny". He had the largest number of troops, but had to travel the longest distance.

Therefore, the imperial court's appointment letter is very interesting: Pu was appointed as the commander-in-chief of the Zhengdong Front Army (the commander-in-chief of the eastern army). Without profit, who would be willing to help others clean up their own mess without a high position and generous salary?
The coalition forces of the three towns won repeated battles in the periphery, but due to the disparity in troop strength, they were unable to inflict a fatal blow to the main force of the Cao army and were unable to approach Chenzhou.

After Chenzhou had been under siege for nearly half a year, the imperial court issued an edict in February of the fourth year of Zhonghe (884) to recruit Li Keyong, the Shatuo leader.

Li Keyong led an army of 50,000 from Taiyuan and joined forces with the troops from the three towns in Ruzhou.

The Shatuo cavalry was the last trump card of the Tang Dynasty, and it was also a trump card that had been proven to be effective time and time again.

Li Keyong lived up to everyone's expectations of him. He broke the deadlock in one fell swoop and advanced towards Chenzhou with a devastating force.

In April, Huang Chao was forced to lift the siege of Chenzhou and fled north with his troops.

In May, the main force of the Cao army approached Bianzhou and massacred the people of Weishi (now Weishi County, Henan Province). Xuanwu army generals Zhu Zhen and Pang Shigu fought hard and repelled Shang Rang's first wave of attacks. Zhu Wen urgently returned to Bianzhou and asked Li Keyong for help.

Taking advantage of their numerical advantage, Cao's army reserved a portion of its troops to confront Zhu Wen across the Bian River, while the main force followed the Bian River to the northwest, preparing to secretly pass through Chencang upstream, detour to the back of Bianzhou and surround Zhu Wen.

Bianzhou is in danger, Zhu Wen is in danger.

At the critical moment, Li Keyong arrived in time and caught up with Cao's army crossing the river at Wangmandu (the crossing of the Bianhe River). Seizing the opportunity, Li Keyong attacked the bandits halfway across the river, killing more than 10,000 people, and the remaining Cao's army immediately collapsed and fled in all directions.

Huang Chao's roundabout plan failed, and he had to abandon Bianzhou and continue fleeing northward.

This was the famous "Battle of Wangmandu", during which Huang Chao's main force suffered heavy losses. The second-in-command, Shang Rang, surrendered to Shi Pu, the leader of the Xuzhou Ganhua Army; the rest of the generals surrendered to Zhu Wen, the leader of the Bianzhou Xuanwu Army.

House seemingly endless rain.

Huang Chao wanted to advance step by step, but unexpectedly a rainstorm destroyed all his temporary camps.

Li Keyong was Huang Chao's enemy in his past life and his rival in this life. The Shatuo cavalry held on to Huang Chao and chased him relentlessly, hacking and killing him all the way, vowing to destroy Huang Chao.

When Huang Chao fled to Shandong, he gathered the remnants of his army and found that only about a thousand of them were left. With these thousand men, he continued to flee eastward and entered Yanzhou. Li Keyong was brave and good at fighting. He led the Shatuo cavalry, who never rested and pursued Huang Chao all the way to Yuanju, Huang Chao's hometown. He captured Huang Chao's youngest son and a group of concubines, and seized the fake yellow robes, fake ceremonial guards and countless baggage of the Huang Qi regime.

At this time, there were only a few hundred cavalrymen who could keep up with Li Keyong's pace. They were exhausted both physically and mentally and had reached their limit. More importantly, the food and fodder they carried with them had been used up.

Li Keyong, who was at the end of his strength, decided to stop the pursuit and return to reorganize his troops.

After Li Keyong left, Huang Chao just breathed a sigh of relief, but then he received another piece of bad news: Shang Rang, who had defected to the enemy, led more than 10,000 Xuzhou reformed troops to hunt him down.

Huang Chao was already like a frightened bird, and in a hurry he fled to the Langhu Valley to the southeast of Mount Tai (in today's Jinan City, Shandong Province).

Wolf and Tiger Valley has complex terrain and is sparsely populated. It is home to many wild animals such as jackals, tigers, and leopards. It is an undeveloped pristine ecological scenic area with beautiful scenery and sweet air.

Shang Rang's defection to the enemy made Huang Chao lose the last bit of trust in the people around him, and he slaughtered the generals who were not related to him by blood. Now, he was surrounded by only his wife, children, brothers, nephews and other "own people".

Huang Chao was desperate. He gathered his family and arranged his funeral. He asked his nephew Lin Yan to take his head to ask for credit and reward. Since he was going to die anyway, he should not let outsiders get the credit for suppressing the bandits.

Lin Yan couldn't bring himself to do it, so he knelt on the ground and cried bitterly, expressing his loyalty to His Majesty and to the Great Qi, and vowed to fight the Tang Dynasty to the end.

Huang Chao waved his hands and said, "Forget it, forget it..." He drew his sword and committed suicide.

Several of his brothers, such as Huang Kui and Huang Ye, also committed suicide by cutting their own throats.

Lin Yan cried bitterly and kowtowed to the bodies of several people. After that, he swung his sword and killed Huang Chao's wife and children. He cut off their heads, put them in a wooden box, and set off for Xuzhou, intending to present them to Shi Pu, the governor of Xuzhou Ganhua Army, according to Huang Chao's will.

Before they walked out of the mountains, they met Li Shiyue and Shang Rang, generals of the Ganhua Army who came to search the mountains.

Lin Yan fell to his knees and told the whole story.

Li Shiyue sat upright on a tall horse, glanced at Lin Yan on the ground, smiled coldly, and asked in a sinister voice: "What, do you still want to be a hero?"

Afterwards, Li Shiyue killed Lin Yan, put his head in a wooden box, and sent it back to Xuzhou.

Shi Pu immediately sent the heads of Huang Chao and others to Chengdu to report his merit and ask for reward.

Emperor Xizong of Tang was very happy. He first had the heads of Huang Chao and others hung high on the city gate for public display. He also held a prisoner reception ceremony at the south gate of Chengdu's outer city, and wanted to personally interrogate Huang Chao's concubines.

More than twenty pale-faced young women were kneeling downstairs, almost all of them were shaking and crying, looking very pitiful.

Emperor Xizong of Tang, facing south and back to north, looked at them and scolded them, "You have received the grace of the country for generations, why did you lose your chastity and follow the thieves?"

The woman kneeling in the front showed no fear and answered with emotion: "The country mobilized hundreds of thousands of royal troops and still couldn't stop the enemy. What can a weak woman like me do?"

This one sentence choked Emperor Xizong of Tang to the point that he was speechless.

The woman continued to ask, "The bandits were rampant, the government was incompetent, the emperor was forced to flee to Shu, and even the royal ancestral tombs were dug up. Your Majesty put the blame on us weak women for not being able to resist the bandits, and asked us why we couldn't resist the bandits. Well, we admit that we lost our virginity and followed the bandits, and our crime should be put to death. Then how should the civil and military officials of the court be dealt with?"

Emperor Xizong of Tang was stunned and could not speak for a long time. The atmosphere was very awkward.

Finally, Emperor Xizong of Tang flicked his sleeves, stood up, and said, "Kill them all!" Then he turned around and left.

The soldiers escorted them to the execution ground. The people of Chengdu spontaneously offered them wine and food along the way, and urged them to drink more so that they would not feel the pain when they were drunk.

Most of the women fainted or became paralyzed due to excessive fright, and some cried and drank frantically. But the woman who angrily confronted Emperor Xizong neither drank nor cried. She held her head high and was dignified and righteous, and her expression remained unchanged until her death.

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(End of this chapter)