Tian Lingzi asked Chen Jingxuan to come to Chang'an to serve in the Zuo Shen Ce Army, and promoted him to the general of Zuo Jin Wuwei within a few years. When Huang Chao was about to invade Jingshi, Tian Lingzi began to pave the way for the escape to Shudi.

He recommended Chen Jingxuan and his trusted three generals Yang Shili, Niu Miao, and Luo Yuangao as candidates for the Xichuan Jiedu envoy. Although the situation has already burned their eyebrows, Xi Zong still prepared a selection exam for them very seriously.

The way to take the exam is to play polo, and the winner can get the position of Nishikawa Setsudo. Chen Jingxuan not only makes a good cake, but also plays polo.

won the competition and qualified, so as a matter of course, he became the envoy of the Nishikawa Festival, replacing Cui Anqian, who was in office at the time. Of course, in order to encourage officials to strengthen physical exercise, Tang Xizong ordered,

Whoever competes, regardless of winning or losing, everyone has an official to do, so Ren Yang Shili became the envoy of the Dongchuan Festival, and Niu Miao became the envoy of the Shannan West Road Festival.

At the end of 885, Tian Lingzi had a dispute with Wang Chongrong because of the benefits of the salt pond, Tian Lingzi was defeated, because he knew that his actions had aroused public indignation, and he could not continue to abuse power, so he resigned from the post of lieutenant of the Shence Army, appointed himself as the supervisor of the Xichuan Army, and took refuge with his brother Chen Jingxuan.

In the spring of 887, Emperor Xizong, who had returned to Beijing again, issued an edict to strip Tian Lingzi of all his titles and exiled him to Duanzhou. However, due to Tian Lingzi's protection under Chen Jingxuan's protection, the edict was reduced to a dead letter.

In the winter of the same year, Wang Jian occupied Langzhou without authorization, and Chen Jingxuan sensed that Gu Yanlang and Wang Jian might join forces against him. asked Tian Lingzi to write a letter to summon Wang Jian to come over and work together.

After Wang Jian received the letter, he left his family with Gu Yanlang and went to Chengdu alone. When you reach Lutou Pass. Chen Jingxuan's staff Li Yi warned him to be careful of Wang Jian, and Chen Jingxuan regretted it.

I want to stop it, but it's easy to ask God to send God. Wang Jian ignored him, went straight to Chengdu, and defeated Chen Jingxuan's troops on the way, captured Hanzhou, handed it over to Gu Yanlang's brother Gu Yanhui, and then attacked Chengdu with Gu Yanlang, but failed to conquer it.

The eunuchs of the Xi sect mediated, but neither Chen Jingxuan nor Wang Jian accepted it.

In this way, the matter dragged on until the Zhaozong Dynasty.

Zhaozong happened to have not found the target yet, and saw that someone took the initiative to send it to the door. Daxi, Chen Jingxuan, if you are unlucky, it will be you. So he ordered a crusade against Nishikawa.

On December 24 of the first year of Wende (888), Zhaozong appointed Wei Zhaodu as the envoy of the camp and led the troops to the expedition, and ordered Yang Shouliang, the envoy of Shannan West Daojiedu,

Dongchuan Jiedu made Gu Yanlang help to discuss, and at the same time set up a new Yongping army. With Wang Jian as the envoy of the festival, all the armies of the battalion were commanded. On the 25th, an edict was issued to deprive Chen Jingxuan of his official title,

The campaign against Xichuan began. Yang Shouliang and Gu Yanlang each occupy a territory. I also have to leave people to take care of the house, so I can't draw a lot of soldiers and horses.

And Wei Zhaodu, who led the troops, was a literati. did not practice military equipment, and although the forbidden army was quite numerous. But there is no real combat experience, and the training is insufficient. It was purely a rabble, so Wang Jian became the main force of this crusade.

However, since Wang Jian has been granted the fief and recognition of the imperial court, he is not in a hurry to fight with Chen Jingxuan, and he is expanding his forces while winning people's hearts. At that time, the local tyrants in Mianzhu each had their own troops to protect themselves, most of them were tens of thousands, and some of them were more than a thousand people.

Gather these people under your command. These local tyrants have a certain appeal in the local area, and with their help, Wang Jian's strength and momentum have greatly increased.

After several years of conquest, except for Chengdu, the entire Xichuan has been basically in the hands of Wang Jian.

At this time, Zhaozong was forced to recall Xichuan's army because of his defeat in the battle with Li Keyong. However, Wang Jian did not follow Wei Zhaodu back to Chang'an, but stayed in Xichuan, and at the same time cut off ties with the Tang Dynasty and became an independent kingdom.

At the same time as the crusade against Xichuan, Hedong Jiedu made Li Keyong defeated by the combined forces of Zhu Wen, Li Congwei, and Helian Duo, which was great news for Zhaozong. In private, Zhaozong has never had a good impression of Li Keyong,

Li Keyong was born in Shatuo, not my race, and although he helped the government eliminate the Yellow Nest, he also came to the city and forced the Emperor to go into exile again, and Zhaozong himself suffered with the Emperor.

Yu Gong, among the forces that posed the greatest threat to the imperial court at that time, Li Keyong's Shatuo army was the most powerful, and Li Keyong occupied Hedong, which was a great threat to Guanzhong and Beihe. Zhaozong wanted to cut the domain, and Li Keyong was the preferred target.

However, at the beginning, this could only be done by himself, Li Keyong was strong at that time, but the imperial court was outnumbered, and he could not compete with it at all.

It's like when you are sleepy, someone else brings you a pillow, at this time, Zhu Wen, Li Congwei, and Helian Duo wrote a book, saying that if Li Ke is not eliminated, it will eventually be a national disaster, so he will continue to attack Li Keyong. After Zhaozong received the chapter, he couldn't help but be overjoyed, killing Li Keyong is good, even if he can't kill it, it is not bad to have a situation of losing both the feudal towns.

However, Zhaozong was still a little uneasy, after all, Li Keyong had made great achievements for the imperial court in the Huangchao Uprising, and it was unreasonable to take advantage of the new defeat of others to crusade against him.

More importantly, it is still unknown whether the armies of Zhu Wen, Li Congwei, and Helian Duo can defeat Li Keyong again. In case Rick wins,

You will be in a very disadvantageous position. Zhaozong was difficult to decide, so he convened a meeting in front of the palace and asked the officials of the three provinces and the fourth rank of the imperial history platform to discuss the matter, but he did not expect that in addition to the consent of Prime Minister Zhang Jun,

The vast majority of ministers are firmly opposed. Zhaozong himself totaled for a long time, the bet of victory was too tempting, and in Li Ke's defeat, the two defeats between the feudal towns, Li Ke's victory, there are two of the three results that he can accept,

The proportion is still quite large. At this time, Zhang Jun accepted Zhu Wen's bribe and insisted on sending troops, so the result of the discussion was that most of them obeyed the authority and conscripted Li Keyong. Zhaozong appointed Zhang Jun as the camp capital to solicit, and appointed several jiedu envoys as envoys.

A loose crusade was formed and began to march east of the river with Li Keyong.

Li Keyong believed that the Central Forbidden Army led by Zhang Jun was nothing more than a rabble, and there was nothing to worry about; Although Zhu Wen is strong, due to the many enemies around Xuanwu,

Can't let go of the hands and feet to attack. not yet a significant threat to oneself; Only the army led by Li Congwei and Helianduo is his real opponent.

So, he sent a small number of men to deal with Zhang Jun and Zhu Wen. He led the main force to resist Li Congwei and Helianduo. Zhang Jun led the Central Forbidden Army,

rushed forward desperately as if he was about to be reincarnated. While rushing back, he said to himself: I have to hurry up and strive to occupy more territory for the imperial court and come back, in case I am caught up in front by other festival envoys.

It didn't matter if he rushed this time, he rushed directly in front of Li Cunxiao, the first fierce general in Hedong. Although Li Cunxiao does not have many troops, as soon as the master makes a move, he knows if there is one.

He tricked it a few times, and Zhang Jun's striker fell into his ambush, and then made a few more hits. Zhang Jun's forward officer was captured alive.

Before he could do anything, Zhang Jun's army was crippled. Zhu Wenjun also made no progress, and suffered several defeats in a row. Although Li Congwei and Helian Duo started smoothly,

But when Li Keyong led the main force to arrive, it was difficult to resist, defeated again and again, and fled in embarrassment, and even Li Congwei's son and Helian Duo's son-in-law became prisoners of Li Keyong's prison. After defeating Lee Converse and Helianduo,

Li Keyong led the army back to deal with Zhang Jun. With such an easy touch, Zhang Junjun's army was shattered, and the Battle of Hedong came to an end.

The Battle of Xichuan and the Battle of Hedong were two wars of feudal reduction after Zhaozong's accession to the throne. But the result was very different from what was originally envisioned:

Although the Battle of Xichuan eliminated Tian Lingzi, it lost Xichuan forever, allowing Wang Jian to establish an independent kingdom there; Although the Battle of Hedong did weaken Li Keyong.

But he slew 8,000 enemies and lost 10,000 of his own losses. The Central Forbidden Army, which he had worked so hard to create, was also crippled. Instead, let Zhu Wen sit and reap the benefits of the fisherman,

Li Keyong was weakened and removed from the threat to his territory. It also increased his prestige, allowing Zhu Wen to concentrate on destroying the surrounding feudal towns, and from then on, Zhu Wen's strength grew day by day, and Zhaozong indirectly helped Zhu Wen become the overlord of the Central Plains.

After working hard for most of the day, dying so many people, and spending so much money, Zhaozong finally found out that he was making wedding dresses for others, and Zhaozong could only cry bitterly:

The pleasure is theirs, and as for myself, there is nothing. He was annoyed by his own error of judgment, frustrated that all his efforts had been in vain, and saddened by the loss of the forbidden army that he had worked so hard to build.

Fearing the threat of force in the feudal town. But all negative emotions must be controlled, because another fire has burned to the eyebrows, and this burning fire comes from the eunuchs.

The eunuch problem has always been a stubborn problem that plagued politics in the late Tang Dynasty, and the leader of the eunuchs at this time was Yang Fugong, who supported Zhaozong's accession to the throne. Yang Fugong is the adopted son of the privy envoy Yang Xuanji, the cousin of the powerful minister Yang Fuguang introduced above, and his family has been a powerful eunuch for generations. After Huang Chao attacked the Beijing Division, Xi Zong was held hostage by Tian Lingzi and fled to Chengdu in a hurry. After that, Tian Lingzi was in power, and Yang Fugong said that he was sick and retired to Lantian. After Tian Lingzi lost power, Yang Fugong returned to serve as a privy envoy. After Emperor Xizong returned to Beijing, Yang Fugong served as the lieutenant of the Zuo Shence Army, the envoy of the Twelve Weiguan Army of the Sixth Army, and was awarded the title of Duke of Wei and given the title of "Loyal Hero of Qisheng Dingguo". In the second year of Guangqi (886), Zhu Mei, Li Changfu and court officials supported Li Xuan, the king of Xiang, as emperor. Under the maneuver of Yang Fugong, his adopted son Yang Shouliang led the army to crusade against Zhu Mei with Wang Chongrong and Li Keyong. The Zhu Mei Group quickly collapsed internally. Zhu Mei was finally beheaded by his subordinate Wang Xingyu. Li Xuan was killed by Wang Chongrong. Since then, within the imperial court, Yang Fugong's family has been dominant.

After Yang Fugong established Zhaozong, he thought that he was the eldest in heaven, he was the second, and the emperor could only rank third, although he did not have the second child himself. If it weren't for his standing and public opinion, there would be no Zhaozong's monarch in the world, so he was very arrogant and arrogant. But Zhaozong was not a Xizong, he was already twenty-two years old when he ascended the throne, and he had his own independent ideas, so he did not rely on Yang Fugong like his brother Tang Xizong relied on Tian Lingzi. Whenever he thought that Shunzong, Xianzong, and Jingzong all died at the hands of eunuchs, and that Muzong, Jingzong, Wenzong, Wuzong, Xuanzong, and even his father and brother Yizong and Yizong were all established by eunuchs, he was like sitting on pins and needles, and he was uneasy. Zhaozong deeply felt that this generation would not be eliminated, not to mention that the Tang Dynasty was hopeless, and even his own life was in danger. In order to live, to live with dignity, Zhaozong said secretly: "Yang Fugong, take your life." ”

Once, Zhaozong's uncle Wang Bi asked to be appointed as the envoy of Jiedu, and Zhaozong asked Yang Fugong if he could be appointed, and Yang Fugong said to Zhaozong: "Lü Chan and Lü Lu have corrupted the Han Dynasty; Wu Sansi corrupted the Tang Dynasty.

Relatives must not be used as feudal officials, otherwise, after he has a territory, he must not listen to the command of the imperial court. ”

Therefore, Wang Bi failed to become a festival envoy. Later, Yang Fugong was worried that Wang Bi would compete with him for power, so he first offered to let Wang Bi serve as the envoy of the Qiannan Festival.

Then, on his way to his post, he sent his cronies to sink the boat on which Wang Bi was riding, and in this way, Wang Bi's family was all buried in the belly of the fish. Afterwards, he told the emperor that Wang Bi had been shipwrecked.

Soon, Zhaozong learned of the true cause of Wang Bi's death and was even more determined to eradicate it.

In order to consolidate his political power, Yang Fugong planted a wide range of party members, recognized many civil and military officials as his godsons, and sent them to various places to serve as assassins and control local power, known as "Langjun of the Outer House". He also took six hundred eunuchs as godsons and sent them to various places as overseers.

Firmly control the army. In order to get rid of Yang Fugong, Zhaozong planned to woo Yang Fugong's godsons, sow discord between the two sides, and bring them down from within.

Yang Fugong has a godson named Yang Shouli, whose real name is Hu Hongli, who is brave and brave, and the officers and soldiers are very afraid of him. Zhaozong used a plot to divide the relationship between Yang Fugong and Yang Shouli,

Let the two of them attack each other in order to take the opportunity to get rid of Yang Fugong. Once, Zhaozong said to Yang Fugong: "Your son named Shouli, I want him to serve as a guard in the palace,

Bring him here. Yang Fugong didn't know what the plan was, and he happily thought that he could install his own people next to the emperor again, so he quickly led Yang Shouli into the palace, and Zhaozong immediately named him to lead the six armies, and gave him the surname Li, and gave him the name Shunjie, and he was very favored.

Yang Shouli really took the bait, in order to win the emperor's favor, he began to compete for power with his father-in-law Yang Fugong, and he often reported to the emperor to expose Yang Fugong's various illegal acts.

After Zhaozong encircled Yang Shouli, he no longer pretended to be Yang Fugong. One day, Zhaozong and the prime ministers were discussing the rebellion in the domain town in Yeonyeongjeon.

Yang Fugong had something to meet the emperor, so he asked the sedan chair man to carry himself to the top of the main hall until the emperor got off the sedan chair. Prime Minister Kong Wei was very angry about this,

Then he said to Zhaozong: "Your Majesty has rebels around you, let alone those places where the whip is out of reach? Zhaozong pretended to be surprised when he heard this, and hurriedly asked who it was. Kong Wei pointed at Yang Fugong and said, "It's Yang Fugong!" ”

Yang Fugong hurriedly said to Zhaozong: "How can the minister be a person who betrays His Majesty!" Kong Wei said: "Yang Fugong is just one of your minions, and he actually came to the main hall in a sedan chair. Moreover, he also formed a wide range of henchmen and recognized his godson everywhere, these people are either in charge of the forbidden army or are envoys of moderation, isn't this obviously going to rebel? Yang Fugong hurriedly defended: "I adopted the strong man in order to win the hearts of the people and better assist the emperor." "At this time,

Zhaozong said sharply: "You said that these are all to win people's hearts and think about the country, so why don't they have the surname Li and the surname Yang?" Yang Fugong's face was red and he was speechless. (To be continued......)