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Chapter 399: Huang Chao's demise and Zhu Wen's rise (History of the Tang Dynasty)

As a traitor, Huang Chao was the target of rejection and criticism by traditional literati in ancient times.

Should we not severely criticize such traitors, but instead boast about their achievements and encourage more people to follow their example and rebel?

In addition, Huang Chao was extremely cruel to the noble families and officials, which further aroused the disgust of traditional scholars.

The noble families are all families of great virtue that have accumulated reputation for generations. Their ancestors have produced great sages and famous people, either this famous minister or that famous general. Even if there are unfilial descendants in their family, they should not be treated like this when considering their ancestors.

But this man Huang Chao dared to be so cruel. He must be nailed to the pillar of shame and made infamous, never to be able to turn over a new leaf!

Moreover, these people were also worried that someone would copy Huang Chao's methods to deal with them, so they had to make Huang Chao's crimes as evil as possible to prevent others from imitating him.

Li Nian continued, "The records in the history books also contradict this. The previous records show that Huang Chao's army ate people and used a hundred giant pestles to grind and kill thousands of people for food every day. This shows that Huang Chao's army was extremely short of food, so there must not be many horses, sheep and other livestock in the army. If they were to the point of cannibalism, the horses might be able to stay, but there shouldn't be too many sheep left!"

"However, it is later recorded that 'In February of the fourth year of Zhonghe, Li Keyong led the Shanxi troops eastward from the Shaanxi-Jihe River to join the various garrisons in Guandong to defend Ruzhou. Quanzhong attacked the bandits in Wazibao and killed more than 10,000 people. The troops defeated Shang Rang in Taikang, also killing 10,000 people. They also captured tens of thousands of weapons, armor, horses and sheep. They also defeated Huang Ye in Xihua, and Ye fled at night.'"

"'Tens of thousands of horses, sheep and weapons were captured', which means that Huang Chao's army still had some horses and sheep. Could it be that Huang Chao's army would rather keep the sheep and not eat them than eat humans? They even wanted to grind humans into pieces and eat them. It's possible that all the people Huang Chao's army recruited were cannibals!"

"Whether Huang Chao's army was cannibalistic or not, Huang Chao's situation was hopeless after he withdrew from Chang'an. Although he could occasionally win a few battles, he was always on a downward spiral and his defeat was only a matter of time."

"Finally, on June 15th of the fourth year of Zhonghe, Huang Chao came to an end. He was not captured, but seeing that he had been defeated in many battles and the situation was irreversible, he took the initiative to tell his nephew Lin Yan: 'I want to punish the treacherous ministers of the country and cleanse the court. If I don't retreat after the success, it will be a mistake. If you take my head and present it to the emperor, you can get rich and honor, but don't let others benefit.' After saying this, he committed suicide. Lin Yan cut off his head according to Huang Chao's words. So far, Huang Chao came to an end."

Upon hearing that Huang Chao ended his life by committing suicide, the First Emperor and others were silent for a while. It is undeniable that Huang Chao was a traitor and not a good person, but he had a huge impact on the Tang Dynasty and even China.

If Huang Chao had not massacred so many noble families and burst this cancer that was parasitic on the trunk of China, it would be hard to say what China would have become in the future.

Wang Jian suddenly had an idea and asked, "What would happen to future generations if there was no Huang Chao?"

Li Nian said: "The aristocratic family system will continue for a while, but it will eventually be destroyed. It is difficult for it to continue to exist. Without this Huang Chao, there will be another Huang Chao!"

Wang Jian curiously asked, "Why?"

Li Nian glanced at Wang Jian and replied calmly, "Because 'kings, dukes, generals and ministers are all of different species'!"

Hearing this, the expressions of Qin Shi Huang and others changed slightly. This was indeed a good answer. The existence of aristocratic families made kings, princes, generals and ministers seem to have a kind of aura. But ever since Chen Sheng said "Are kings, princes, generals and ministers of different races?", the idea that kings, princes, generals and ministers have no kind of aura had been planted in the hearts of the Chinese people.

"China is different from other civilizations. Since ancient times, China has had the spirit of self-improvement, fearlessness of difficulties, and courage to resist and fight. Even if Huang Chao did not appear in the Tang Dynasty, the aristocratic families would continue, but they would become more and more arrogant and treat ordinary people less as human beings. When people can't stand it anymore, another Huang Chao will naturally appear and put an end to it."

This is the advantage of Chinese culture in this regard. Unlike some places, the kings, princes, generals and ministers are really arrogant, and the people there actually agree with it themselves.

"Not only will the common people not allow the aristocratic family system to continue, the royal family will not allow it either. The royal family is the one that is most threatened by the existence of the aristocratic family. Therefore, no matter who is in the royal family, they will suppress the aristocratic family, even if the royal family was originally one of the aristocratic families!"

"Another reason is that the great unification is deeply rooted in the hearts of the Chinese people! If people like Huang Chao did not appear, and the royal family did not suppress them, allowing the aristocratic families to continue to exist, what do you think the final development would be like, Your Majesty and the gentlemen?"

Qin Shi Huang and others followed the hypothesis given by Li Nian and thought about it. If the people did not resist the aristocratic families, and the royal family did not suppress them, and the aristocratic families continued to exist, what would become of them?
This question is quite interesting!
But Li Nian has already said that "great unification is deeply rooted in the hearts of the Chinese people", which means that if the aristocratic family power continues, it will cause the country to be divided and split.

After pondering for a while, the First Emperor said: "There are many aristocratic families in the world, but only one family can become the royal family. If they cannot gain the world, they will gain the local areas. They will take root in the local areas and turn them into a country within a country, just like the world of Zhou was divided into many vassal states!"

This is the final result of the evolution of the aristocratic families. In name, it is still one country, but in reality, the whole world has been divided up by the aristocratic families. This county belongs to the Cui family, that county belongs to the Lu family, and another county belongs to the Wang family...

Everyone sets rules, guards their own territory, does not infringe on each other's interests, and jointly maintains this kind of clan politics.

After hearing what the First Emperor said, the others also quickly figured it out, but this situation would not happen in China, because Li Nian had already given the answer: great unification is deeply rooted in the hearts of the Chinese people, and the Chinese people would not allow the practice of dividing the country into private plots for various families.

Under the idea of ​​great unification, there will definitely be people who would not think of dividing the world up and letting everyone guard their own piece of land, but would think of eliminating other aristocratic families and bringing the fragments of the divided world together again.

Wang Wan asked, "In later generations, if the country had been ruled by aristocratic families, would it have become like this?"

Li Nian nodded and said, "Yes, that country does not have the great unification ideology of our China, nor does it have the saying 'Are kings, princes, generals and ministers of different species?' The aristocratic families are deeply rooted, and this is still the case in modern times. Each aristocratic family in the country has its own place of governance, and the entire country is divided by the aristocratic families. Although the president of this country is nominally the leader of the country, in reality it is difficult for him to command the local aristocratic families!"

Wouldn't that be a country within a country? The key problem is very difficult to solve. Fortunately, China did not go down this path. Chen Sheng was punished with great credit, Huang Chao was punished with great credit, and emperors such as Qin Shi Huang and Emperor Gaozu of Han who maintained the great unity also had to be punished with great credit.

Otherwise, even if China had not split into many countries like Europe, it would have become that Boling Province belonged to the Cui family, and that Fanyang Province belonged to the Lu family... Everywhere you look, the whole country is divided among aristocratic families.

With just a little thought, everyone realized the huge dangers involved. Feng Quji sighed, "I never thought that if the aristocratic families became powerful, the harm would be so far-reaching and terrifying!"

Li Nian said: "But in China, they cannot achieve such a success. This is exactly why China is superior to other countries and nations. Your Majesty has also made great contributions in this!" Although Qin Shi Huang did not show Li Nian's praise on the surface, he was quite pleased in his heart.

"Although Huang Chao died, his influence on the Tang Dynasty has not ended. After experiencing the uprisings of Wang Xianzhi and Huang Chao, the Tang Dynasty became more difficult. The prestige of the court was reduced again, and the strength of the local vassal states increased again."

This is also an inevitable result!

When Huang Chao's army was at its most powerful, it took away the capital Chang'an, and the prestige of the Tang court was completely destroyed. The Tang court could not deal with it on its own, so it had to use the military governors of the vassal states. Using the military governors would allow them to accumulate great merit and fame, thus exacerbating the situation where the military governors were strong and the central government was weak.

"For example, Li Keyong, who later founded the Later Tang Dynasty, accumulated great merit by defeating Huang Chao. Li Keyong was not a member of the Tang Dynasty. His original surname was Zhuye, and he was a Shatuo. Because his ancestors had been loyal to the Tang Dynasty since the time of Emperor Taizong, he was given the surname 'Li'."

"The surname bestowed upon Li Keyong's family was not an ordinary surname, but was recorded in the family tree by the Li Tang. That is to say, although he had nothing to do with the Li Tang in terms of blood relationship, he was already considered a member of the Li Tang in terms of legal principles."

"So, even if Li Keyong had conflicts with the Tang court, he believed that this was an internal conflict of their Li Tang and had nothing to do with outsiders. This is also why his son Li Cunxu still used 'Tang' as the country's name after the fall of the Tang Dynasty."

"Huang Chao was forced to commit suicide because of Li Keyong's defeat. Huang Chao's retreat from Chang'an was also caused by Li Keyong's defeat. He fought with Huang Chao many times and Huang Chao was defeated repeatedly. He could be called Huang Chao's nemesis. He was also named 'Prince of Longxi' by the Tang court for his merit in defeating Huang Chao!"

"Li Keyong can be said to be one of the two people who benefited the most from Huang Chao's rebellion. As for the other person, his name is 'Zhu Wen'. He has a closer relationship with Huang Chao than Li Keyong, because he was originally a general under Huang Chao and had made great contributions to Huang Chao."

"But in the second year of Zhonghe, Zhu Wen saw that Huang Chao's army was doomed to fail, so he surrendered to the Tang court, transformed himself into a general of the Tang army, and turned his horse around to fight Huang Chao."

"Li Keyong and Zhu Wen had a great influence on the Tang court. The Tang dynasty ended in Zhu Wen's hands, and both of them were related to Huang Chao."

Upon hearing that the Tang Dynasty ended at the hands of Zhu Wen, the First Emperor and others were suddenly cheered up. After all, the Tang Dynasty had reached its end and would be completely destroyed.

"Although Zhu Wen also received great merit in suppressing Huang Chao, he was able to be promoted quickly in the Tang court and gain power after Huang Chao's death. He suppressed Caizhou, pacified Yunzhou and Yanzhou, and defeated Li Maozhen in Fengxiang many times, making many contributions."

"But the most important thing is not that Zhu Wen made many contributions, but that the Tang court gave Zhu Wen the opportunity to get close to the Tang emperor. Of course, if Zhu Wen had been given the opportunity, he would not have been able to seize it."

Upon hearing that Zhu Wen was approaching the Tang Emperor, the First Emperor and others immediately guessed how things would develop next. The past experience of Wei Wu was there, and they could control the emperor in their hands, whether by holding the emperor hostage to control his disobedience, or by forcing the emperor to abdicate and take the throne themselves.

But they were more curious about how Zhu Wen got close to the Emperor of the Tang Dynasty and controlled him. Generally speaking, the emperor would be wary of such generals and prohibit them from bringing their troops to the court.

Meng Tian thought of Yuan Shao's advice to He Jin, inviting Dong Zhuo, the scourge of the Han Dynasty, to the court, and he said, "Could it be that someone is imitating Yuan Benchu's old deeds?"

Meng Tian just thought about this and asked casually. He didn't think it would be as he thought. Unexpectedly, Li Nian nodded and said, "Somewhat similar!"

Li Nian smiled and said, "I have already told Your Majesty and the other gentlemen about the shortcomings of the late Tang Dynasty. One of them was the great power of the eunuchs! At that time, Emperor Xizong of Tang had died, and his brother Li Ye ascended the throne. Li Ye was a decent emperor. Although the Tang Dynasty fell, it was not at the hands of a foolish monarch, but because the situation had reached a point where it was impossible for it not to fall."

The fall of the Tang Dynasty and the fall of the Han Dynasty have something in common. It was not because the last monarch committed rebellion, but because the throne was already a hot potato when it was passed to them, and they were unable to revive it after taking it.

"During his reign, Li Ye was committed to revitalizing the Tang Dynasty. He fought against separatist forces and joined forces with other vassal states to attack Li Keyong and Li Maozhen. However, he was also forced to flee the capital, becoming one of the "six times the capital was captured and the emperor fled nine times" of the Tang Dynasty."

"Not only did Li Ye want to fight against separatist regimes and take back the power of the central government, he also suppressed the power of eunuchs and successfully eliminated the power of eunuch Yang Fugong. But in the third year of Guanghua, eunuch Liu Jishu and others imprisoned Emperor Zhaozong of Tang and made Crown Prince Li Yu the emperor!"

"This coup was suppressed by Prime Minister Cui Yin and the imperial guard Sun Dezhao in the first month of the following year, and Li Ye was restored to the throne. However, this coup caused Li Ye to lose all his power as an emperor, and also increased the power of Prime Minister Cui Yin, who also had close contacts with Zhu Wen."

"This kind of close relationship between important officials in the court and generals in the outer court was very common in the late Tang Dynasty. If there was no support from the vassal states in the outer court, how could one be a safe official in the court?"

"Although Cui Yin and his men suppressed the coup in the third year of Guanghua and executed the eunuch Liu Jishu and others, Liu Jishu was not the only eunuch. If Cui Yin wanted to kill them, these eunuchs would certainly not sit still and do nothing."

When Meng Tian heard this, he looked strange and said, "Isn't this just like the Ten Eunuchs and General He Jin at the end of the Han Dynasty, except that the Han emperor at that time was more powerful than the Tang emperor."

Li Nian smiled and said, "So history is a cycle. As long as history is long enough, no matter how strange things are, they can be found in history. Cui Yin used Zhu Wen as an external aid, while Han Quanhui and other eunuchs used Fengxiang Li Maozhen, Bining Wang Xingyu and others as external aid. In order to kill Han Quanhui and others, Cui Yin forged an imperial edict to order Zhu Wen to lead his army into the pass!"

This is indeed the development, just like Yuan Shao's suggestion to let Dong Zhuo enter the capital. But these people didn't think about the fact that it is easy to let Zhu Wen lead his army here, but it is difficult to let Zhu Wen lead his army away.

Of course, it is also possible that they have thought of this result but do not care, or that they want this result to happen. Only when the world is more chaotic can they gain greater benefits.

"After receiving Cui Yin's forged edict, Zhu Wen quickly led 70,000 troops to the outskirts of Chang'an. Upon learning that Zhu Wen was coming with his army, Han Quanhui and others kidnapped Li Ye and fled to Fengxiang to seek the protection of Qi Wang Li Maozhen in order to save their own lives."

"But Zhu Wen came. How could he leave so easily? He led his troops directly to Fengxiang and demanded the return of Li Ye."

(End of this chapter)