Back then, Huang Chao's scientific examinations repeatedly failed the list, if he was an ordinary person and a civil servant, he would have to find another suitable job. But Huang Chao is not an ordinary person in his eyes, he is pretentious and his heart is higher than the sky. If I live, I have to be an official, and I have to be a high-ranking official. But like this, the scientific examination always fails the list, not to mention that being a high-ranking official is out of reach, and even being a village official without grade is probably not an easy task, right? So his final choice was: since the road of official career does not work, then take the road of getting rich overnight - selling illicit salt. In short, to live is to do a vigorous career.

As we all know, the Tang Dynasty practiced a monopoly system of salt industry. Trafficking in illicit salt is a crime, and it is a capital offense in the same sentence as drug smuggling today. But Huang Chao would rather risk losing his head than spend his life doing nothing - this is Huang Chao's character!

Since joining Wang Xianzhi's rebel army in 875 AD, Huang Chao was pleasantly surprised to find that his life was already two heavens of ice and fire compared to the past, and it turned out that armed revolution was my strength. Now four years have passed, and my Huangchao has become a generation of heroes with hundreds of thousands of troops, which has impressed the world. However, the experience of the salt seller often lingers with him. As soon as I think of it, I have palpitations, what is the life of a person!

The god of fate finally handed me an olive branch, so that that the days that were not lived by people came to an end forever, and they were gone forever. I am the pride of the true heavens! "Wowhaha, wowhahahaha!" Huang Chao couldn't hold back, and looked up to the sky and let out bursts of wild laughter.

Since Huang Chao led the army from the north to the developed coastal areas, looking at so many wealthy businessmen comfortably making money every day, his tears and saliva couldn't stop flowing out at the same time. Because of the touching scene. He couldn't help but think of his sad past as a salt seller. Not to mention being frightened countless times in vain, in the end, the dream of getting rich overnight was just a "pillow of yellow sorghum". Come to think of it. Huang Chao suddenly gave birth to indescribable jealousy and anger. He kept chanting hysterically in his heart: When autumn comes on September 8, I will kill a hundred flowers after they bloom. Kill, kill, kill!

Huang Chao has always acted decisively. If you have the idea of killing, you will immediately put it into practice. As a result, a bloody storm was set off on the land of the South China Sea!

In the rebel army of Huangchao, there is no shortage of military wizards, and there is no shortage of butchers who kill people without blinking. Among them is such a GI, who has both, but his IQ and character are very different. In the South China Sea region at that time, his name was like plague, earthquake, tornado...... It's enough to cause panic in society, and it's enough to make all naughty kids stop crying at once. His name is Juwen!

It's terrible to have no culture, and taking a name is also the same as "swine fever".

Zhu Wen was born in Dangshan, Songzhou, in 850 AD. 's father died at an early age, and his mother took Zhu Wen and his eldest brother Zhu Quanyu and second brother Zhu to work as servants in a family named Liu Chong, and only the eldest brother Zhu Quanyu was loyal and honest among the three brothers. According to the "History of the Old Five Dynasties": "(Zhu Wen and his brother Zhu Cun) are brave and powerful, and Wen is especially fierce. …… Don't do anything to make a living, with courage and conceit, many people hate it. ”

Zhu Wen, who has lacked nutrition since he was a child, is as powerful as an ox in adulthood, which is incredible. In addition, he also has the skill of stealing chickens and dogs. And using this technology, the first step towards the realization of "noble ideals" was taken. What are his "lofty ideals"? I can't tell, I'm sure he can't tell. In short, it is to be "a man and a man, and dominate the world!" ”

For this reason, Zhu Wen used the technique of jumping beams to collect scrap iron, and smashed a large iron pot handed down by his ancestors, and asked a well-known blacksmith to customize a large knife three meters long and weighing about 30 catties. The tip of the knife is slightly longer. It's a bit like the "Green Dragon Glaive Knife" made up by Luo Guanzhong in "Romance of the Three Kingdoms".

The long weapons of the Tang Dynasty were generally spears, horse lances, Mo knives, Fang Tian halberds and the like, but Zhu Wen only preferred large knives, and he felt that only this thing was handy. Up to now. This long-handled broadsword is rare, and its widespread military application was after the Song Dynasty. As far as I know. At that time, only Helian Duo and Zhu Wen were using this kind of knife. It fully embodies Zhu Wen's advanced thinking and creativity in weapons reform.

Don't think that Zhu Wen is holding a big knife and slashing blindly, his attainments in martial arts should not be underestimated. See? The scene of Cheng biting gold practicing "three and a half axes" appeared again. But I saw Zhu Wen riding on a wooden horse (long bench), simulating actual combat. The thirty-pound broadsword was wielded easily in his hand. After practicing for a while, Zhu Wen's face was not red and he was not panting, and he asked Zhu Cun: "Second brother, how is it?" ”

Zhu Cun slapped his face and praised: "The third brother's martial arts are really superb, like a typhoon, whirring, I can't even see your figure, hehe." ”

"Oh, really?" Zhu Wen was quite proud when he heard this, so he gave this knife a nice name: Shadowless Knife. With the courage of ten thousand people, he did not do his job properly and did evil in the township. The people within a radius of nearly a hundred miles were deeply affected, and seeing him was like hiding from the plague god.

One of Zhu Wen's most striking characteristics is that he is inconsistent (suitable for being an actor), but his will is firm. This is far from all he is, and in the next thirty years we will see his cunning, hypocrisy, narrow-mindedness, viciousness, meanness, cruelty, and immorality...... In short, all the ugliness of the world is condensed into one in him, and then blooms like poppies...... Let the world open their eyes and breathtaking!

There is a famous saying: opportunities are reserved only for those who are prepared, and the day has finally come. When Huangchao's rebels were thriving in Shandong, Zhu Wen keenly smelled a huge "business opportunity". He picked up the shadowless knife and left with his second brother Zhu Cuntou without looking back, and threw himself into the ranks of the grass army. Along the way, Zhu Wen had never been so happy, and sang a song that he learned from nowhere:

Sleepless tonight,

I really miss you.

O my beauty!

Where are you?

Don't play hide and seek,

Brother can't afford to hurt.

What a stunner in my heart!

Brother is willing to go to heaven and earth for you,

Although he died nine times, he did not regret it.

In the ranks of the grass army, Zhu Wenqi was not as eye-catching as his shadowless sword. He knew that he especially needed to kill, and he needed military merit. This is the bargaining chip in the game of life; This is the cornerstone of the road to glory.

So he looked forward to war. As soon as he was in the line of fire, he played with his life, and he refused to give up when his eyes were red. Even in the days of bloodbathing Quanzhou and Guangzhou. He will not be merciful because the other party is an unarmed ordinary person. When Zhu Wen was tired of killing and sat down to rest, he found out. I didn't see my second brother for a few days. Busy asking his comrades on the same team, a teammate told him: "Zhu Zheng hung up when he attacked Guangzhou." ”

"What, hanging?" As soon as he heard the news, Zhu Wen seemed to have been struck by lightning, and only after a half-bang did he cry. Although he is inhumane, he still has a deep affection for his family. After crying for a day, he wiped a handful of tears, and then used the shadowless knife to find the people to "take revenge".

Shortly thereafter, Zhu Wen was promoted to captain for his merits (according to the military system of the Tang Dynasty. Every fifty people are a team, and the team leader is called the team. ）。 I don't know how many people the captain of the grass army controls, and it is estimated that he is only a small leader. But for Zhu Wen, it means a lot. Because it was the first time to be an official, I improved.

Zhu Wen, who has never been an official, has been addicted to it since he became the captain! Although in charge of only a few dozen people (quite with the platoon commander of a modern army. But he firmly believes that he still has a lot of room for appreciation. You can definitely get ahead! Of course, Zhu Wen at that time was far from ambitious enough to compete with Huang Chao.

Take Huang Chao as an example, he has not come to the step of wanting to be the emperor, and the word "eight" has not yet been skimmed.

Right? He doesn't want to be the emperor and rebel for what? I didn't see the anti-poem he inscribed: "The heavenly incense array penetrates Chang'an." The city is full of golden armor. "What?

Hehe, I'm going to say you're a nerd, have you ever heard of "Poetry and Words"? But whoever composes poetry. Ambition always has to be expressed. When he expressed his ambitions, he had not yet experienced setbacks and failures.

Last year (878). Huang Chao's predecessor and guide, Wang Xianzhi, was beheaded by the famous general Zeng Yuanyu. Then, he also suffered enough of the famous general Gao Yu in Huainan. was beaten by one of his subordinates, Zhang Lan. Almost, his head and Wang Xianzhi's head hung side by side on the tower of Chang'an City.

These terrible pictures, Huang Chao still remembers and remembers vividly. The road of revolution is long and arduous, and God knows how many Zeng Yuanyu, Gao Piao, and Zhang Ling will emerge one after another. In this case, do you say that he still dares to have the idea of becoming an emperor? That's why he repeatedly asked the court for the official position of the envoy of moderation.

After Wang Xianzhi was defeated, Huang Chao surrendered to Tang Tianping's army in Shandong for a time, but because the official position given to him was the general of the right guard (from Sanpin) and not the envoy of Jiedu, he failed his wish and rebelled. In this way, it inadvertently played a role in paralyzing the Tang army, so that Huang Chao picked up the advantage and got out of the predicament.

After Huang Chao went south to occupy Fuzhou, he felt that he had bargaining chips with the imperial court again, so he lost no time in writing to Cui Xuan, the observation envoy of Tang Zhedong, and Li Yuan, the envoy of the Lingnan Eastern Jiedu (also the envoy of the Guangzhou Jiedu), asking them to ask the imperial court for the Tianping Jiedu envoy on their behalf. After being rejected by the imperial court, Huang Chaoleng did not give up, simply threw off the intermediary, wrote a handwritten letter and directly asked the imperial court for the Guangzhou Jiedu envoy, but to no avail.

After using force to occupy Guangzhou, Huang Chao was ecstatic, and the Guangzhou he had always dreamed of had finally arrived. At this time, he already had a guide to action in his heart - to take the three towns of Heshuo as an example, take root in Guangzhou for development, and become the richest festival envoy in the country. This idea of his can also be corroborated by the fact that he asked Li Zhen to draft the above table and ask the imperial court to formally appoint him. Although Huang Chao's political vision is not unique, it is also impressive: he was born in a cloth cloth, and he also knew that in those years, the official positions of Shenma were all floating clouds, and only the temperance envoy was a real benefit. As stated in the "Old Tang Book": "(Huangchao) wants to occupy the land of the South China Sea, and it will always be a nest." ”

However, man is not as good as heaven! Due to the plague in Lingnan in the spring and summer, in the past few months, nearly 80,000 people of more than 200,000 troops in Huangchao have been infected with the epidemic and died. His subordinates persuaded him to leave this place of death and go north to the Central Plains. One day in November 879, Huang Chao led his army to leave Guangzhou unwillingly.

Before leaving, the grass army held a special summit, mainly to discuss the march route. The meeting was attended by Huang Chao, Shang Rang, Huang Ye, Meng Kai, Zhao Zhang and other leading figures. The meeting decided: take the waterway, enter the Xiangjiang River from the Xijiang River to the north, and compete with the government army in the Central Plains!

Just when Huangchao and they were having a meeting, the Datang Central Government in Chang'an also held an emergency meeting in the Taiji Palace Political Affairs Hall. In addition to Li Yi, the Son of Heaven, who attended the meeting, there were also prime ministers Wang Duo, Lu Xi, and Dou Lu Peng, Tian Lingzi, the envoy of the Guan Army and the lieutenant of the Protector Army, Wang Chucun, the general of Jinwu and the patrol envoy (commander of the Beijing garrison), and Zhang Chengfan, the squire of the military department, and other important ministers in Beijing.

The atrocities of the Guangzhou Massacre shocked the government and the public, and the ministers unanimously said that the extremist organization Huangchao must be severely cracked down on and will not be tolerated! Li Yi's face showed a rare solemnity, if in the past, when he played polo, the ministers advised him to pay more attention to national affairs, he did not think so. When he made a card and threw a lot of money, the ministers advised him to save money, and he said confidently: "I have money, so I am so willful." ”

Now, Li Yi is like a different person, and he is not interested in playing at all, which is the result of Comrade Huang Chao's hard work! At the meeting, Prime Minister Wang Duo said to Li Yi, the Son of Heaven: "The minister has been in the phase for a long time, and he can't ignore His Majesty's worries. I am very ashamed, and I am willing to go out to supervise the generals and suppress the rebels. ”

Wang Duo's fearless spirit of volunteering and daring to take responsibility made Li Yi very pleased. After discussion, Wang Duo was appointed as the envoy of Jingnan Jiedu, and the southern camp recruited Dutong (commander of the Southern Theater), and led all the troops to the south to suppress the grass army.

Wang Duo stationed troops in Jiangling (now Jingzhou City, Hubei), and after he arrived, he went to the imperial court and recommended Li Department, the envoy of Taining Jiedu, as his deputy, as the deputy commander of the recruiting capital, the Hunan observer envoy, and served as the vanguard, stationed troops in Tanzhou (now Changsha City, Hunan). A battle to encircle and suppress Huangchao is about to start in the midst of intensive planning.

Who is the Li family? Listen, he is the great-grandson of the famous Tang Dynasty general Li Sheng. After the famous general, it must be very popular, right? It's a pity that the history books say that he "has no eloquence, but no courage." "So, Li is just a trickster? Later facts proved that Wang Duo was loyal, but his eyesight to recognize people and talents was really not very good!

In December of the sixth year of Qianfu (879), Huang Chao led more than 100,000 troops to set off from the Xijiang River in Guangzhou, with thousands of rafts, stretching for dozens of miles, driving westward into the Guijiang River, and then going north along the river, arriving at the city of Tanzhou along the Xiangjiang River.

The deputy commander and vanguard general Li Department in Tanzhou City did not have time to rectify the troops and horses to go south, but let the grass army come to the door. By this time, he was already scared to pee. On the same day, the city was broken, and Li was smeared with oil on the soles of his feet and fled. (To be continued......)