At this time, seeing that the victory was approaching, the Xizong Group added another fire, and Yang Fugong passed on the pass, "There are those who have won Zhu Mei's head,

Reward it with appeasement. Zhu Mei's general Wang Xingyu has been defeated repeatedly, and he was already very discouraged about the future.

Hurriedly summoned his subordinates and said: "We lost the battle, and it will be a death to go back, it is better to rush back to kill Zhu Mei first, and then welcome the emperor back to Chang'an, so that not only can we avoid the death penalty, but also make a difficult time, isn't this a good thing!" ”

Everyone was very happy to hear it, and praised Wang Xingyu for being smart, and the matter was settled, and Wang Xingyu led the army back to Chang'an.

Zhu Mei has always acted authoritarianly, and when she saw that Wang Xingyu came back with the army without authorization, she was immediately furious and shouted: "If you return to Beijing without an edict, will you not be able to rebel?" ”

Wang Xingyu sneered: "I don't rebel, I came back this time specifically to kill the thief." Saying that, he waved his hand, and before Zhu Mei could react, he ordered someone to capture Zhu Mei, and then beheaded him to show the public.

and slaughtered hundreds of his henchmen. Seeing that the situation was not good, the pseudo-prime ministers Zheng Changtu, Pei Che and others hurriedly fled to the river with more than 200 court officials and Li Xi to join Wang Chongrong. Wang Chongrong is also welcome,

First, he coaxed and deceived these people into the city, and then immediately lowered his face, beheaded Li Xi on the spot, and half killed these court officials, and then passed on the head and sacrificed the prisoners to Xi Zong Xingyuan.

Xizong was very happy, and rewarded his merits, and named Li Maozhen as the envoy of the Wuding Festival, and Wang Xingyu as the envoy of the Jingnan Festival.

He also issued an edict to deprive Tian Lingzi of all his official titles and exiled him to Duanzhou, but Tian Lingzi was on the territory of his brother Chen Jingxuan.

Of course, this will cannot be done. In March of the third year of Guangqi, Xizong traveled from Xingyuan to Fengxiang, and beheaded the pseudo-prime ministers Xiao Yu, Zheng Changtu, and Pei Che.

In fact, Xiao Yu was not canonized by him. But he was also killed, mainly because he resented him for not being edicted when he fled.

At this time, it seems that the matter has come to an end, and I didn't think that Fengxiang Jie Du made Li Changfu because he had sent troops with Zhu Mei to hunt down and kill Xizong a while ago.

For fear that Xizong would find him to settle accounts after returning to Chang'an, he took the name of the ruined palace in the capital. I want the Emperor to stay in Fengxiang.

Xi Zong didn't dare to offend him, so he had to stay first. I didn't expect that this stay would give birth to many things, which will be discussed later.

The consequences of this chaos are clear. First of all, the status of the Emperor as a domestic political idol has been weakened.

can only be at the mercy of others like a puppet. And the eunuch group, which originally represented the highest organ of power in the central government,

Although on the surface, after the fall of Tian Lingzi, his leadership was replaced by Yang Fugong, and he was still able to control the central government. But it is undeniable that

The political status of the eunuch clique as the representative of the central power in the country has been greatly reduced, and in particular, the ability to restrain the power of the local feudal towns has disappeared.

Even in the face of difficulties such as Li Changfu's weakness, it was powerless to resist, which also marked the complete defeat of the central authorities in the power struggle with the local feudal towns in the last years of the Tang Dynasty.

And the local forces represented by the feudal towns became the biggest winners after this great turmoil, and in the short time left of the Tang Dynasty, they could completely ignore the existence of regulatory departments and be within the empire's territory.

Large-scale mergers and acquisitions, survival of the fittest. The natural survival rules of the jungle are vividly interpreted here.

So, at this time, which feudal towns in the Tang Empire are the most likely to become the final winners in this bloody struggle?

After the collapse of the Huangchao Group, the local forces in Datang presented a typical political situation of one super and many powers.

As mentioned earlier, Duoqiang refers to Zhu Wen based in Bianzhou, Li Keyong based in Jinyang, Wang Chongrong based in Hezhong, Shi Pu based in Xuzhou, Qin Zongquan based in Caizhou, Zhu Xuan and others based in Yunzhou.

But on top of that. There is also a super, this super feudal town is Gao Yu, which has eight states in Huainan.

Gao Biao has mentioned many times before that when Huang Chao was powerful, the government of Xizong had high hopes for him, and successively appointed him as the envoy of the Zhenhai Navy, the envoy of Jingnan Jiedu and the envoy of salt and iron, and the envoy of Huainan Jiedu and the envoy of salt and iron.

He also has the title of "Tongzhongshu Menxia Pingzhangshi", making him a general and a general, and becoming the number one powerful domain in the Tang Dynasty. But when Gao Biao saw that the power of Huangchao continued to grow,

On the one hand, for the purpose of preserving his own strength, and on the other hand, because he felt that the Li Tang Dynasty was crumbling, it gradually became divided.

So from beginning to end, he has always held the attitude of sitting on the mountain and watching the tiger fight, and even if the sky is dark outside the jurisdiction, he has never sent a single soldier.

Originally, Gao Biao relied on his own strong strength to gain greater political chips in this chaos, or simply wanted to get rid of the control of the Xizong government.

Become a third-party force between the Tang government and Huangchao, and adopt this wait-and-see attitude, this starting point is still right. But

During the years of the hard battle between Datang and Huangchao, Gao Biao did not use this precious opportunity to expand his power, but always remained in a wait-and-see state, and was too conservative in his actions.

So much so that after the Huangchao Rebellion was completely quelled, not only did he get any benefits from it,

On the contrary, because of his lack of achievements and the public condemnation of the Xizong group, his prestige in the eyes of the major feudal towns in China was sharply reduced. In this case,

Gao Biao couldn't help but be a little disheartened, and he became more and more reluctant to make progress in his career, hiding at home all day long to engage in feudal superstitious activities, and handing over all the military and political power to the hands of the beloved general Lu Yongzhi.

Lu Yongzhi is a native of Poyang, born in a family that has been in business for generations, and has a very cunning personality.

When he was young, he went to Jiuhua Mountain to learn some Taoism, and then he was recommended by Gao Biao's subordinate general Yu Gongchu and joined Gao Biao's disciples.

Relying on the ability to pretend to be a god and a ghost, he is deeply valued by Gao Yu. In the later period, Gao Biao became more and more obsessed with the way of immortals due to his lack of progress in his career, and delusionally thought that he could live forever.

is psychologically close to pathology, so the belief in Lu Yongzhi has basically reached the level of superstition.

For example, once Lu Yongzhi built a wooden crane in the court, which contained a mechanism, and when a person rode on it, the two wings of the wooden crane would flapp. Lu Yongzhi smoked on the side.

Tell Gao Biao to put on his Taoist clothes and ride up, as a "fairy go". This is a very funny scene in the eyes of outsiders, but it makes Gao Biao happy.

After Lu Yongzhi gained power, his style of life began to corrupt and degenerate, and he took hundreds of concubines.

There are more than 20 banquets per month. If the expenditure is insufficient, it will be harsh on the people or withhold the finances. and recruit those who dare to die,

formed an army of about 20,000 people, and as a result, his power expanded dramatically, and he began to bully his colleagues again, which naturally caused strong dissatisfaction among Gao Yu's old department.

Shortly thereafter. Gao Biao heard that Qin Zongquan was going to send troops to attack Yangzhou, so he sent the general Bi Shiduo to Gaoyou.

Bi Shiduo was originally a general of Huangchao, and he often shuddered when he saw Lu Yong's dictatorship and killing.

and had a personal grudge with Lu Yongzhi because of the woman's sex, so he had the idea of striking first, so soon after sending troops,

took his subordinates to lead his troops back to Yangzhou in the name of killing Lu Yongzhi. April of the third year of Guangqi. Bi Shiduo and Lu Yongzhi led their troops to fight fiercely in Yangzhou, and the battle was stalemate.

Bi Shiduo invited Xuanzhou Assassin Shi Qin Yan to help in the battle. On April 21, Bi Shiduo and Qin Yan's allied army entered Yangzhou City.

Lü Yongzhi led his troops to escape, and Gao Biao was put under house arrest for Bi Shiduo, and was later killed by Qin Yan's order.

Because of his own mistakes again and again, he finally ended in a tragedy, although it is not a pity, but it is enough to make people take warning.

Subsequently, Yang Xingmi, the assassin of Luzhou, sent troops to Yangzhou at the invitation of Lu Yongzhi. drove away Qin Yan, claimed to be Huainan Liuhou, and gradually became a strong town on the dominant side,

The state of Wu in the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms was established on this basis, and this is a matter for the future, so let's not talk about it.

At the same time that Gao Yu, who represented the power of the old feudal town, was gradually going downhill, a large number of emerging feudal town forces represented by Zhu Wen and Li Keyong were booming.

Rising in the political arena of the last years of the Tang Dynasty with a new attitude, it injected new chaotic elements into this era.

But before they officially dominated the Central Plains, there was still a local force that rushed ahead of them to take the lead in making a big move.

But the leader of this force was not the Jiedu envoy of the Tang Dynasty, but the remnant of Huangchao, Qin Zongquan.

Qin Zongquan was originally a general of the loyal army. In the first year of Guangming, Huang Chao led the army to cross the Huai River to the north and enter the Central Plains.

The Zhongwu Army made Xue Neng transfer Cai Zongquan to defend Caizhou. In September of that year, Zhou Qi, the general of the Zhongwu Army, took advantage of the Xuzhou rebellion to kill Xue Neng, the envoy of Jiedu, and claimed to be the queen. And Qin Zongquan took the opportunity to mobilize the Caizhou army in the name of rescuing the disaster.

Chase away the history of thorns. At that time, this was the kind of system, and the imperial court had no choice, so in November, the imperial court officially announced Zhou Qi as the envoy of the loyal army.

Qin Zongquan is the assassin of Caizhou. Caizhou is the largest state under the jurisdiction of the Zhongwu Army, and Qin Zongquan is powerful, and he does not listen to Zhou Qi's command, and Zhou Qi is helpless.

In May of the first year of Zhonghe, Qin Zongquan was promoted to a defensive envoy by Yang Fuguang for sending troops to Yang Fuguang to recover Dengzhou.

Then the imperial court gave Caizhou the army as the Fengguo army, and Qin Zongquan became the envoy of the festival. Since then, Qin's power has gradually expanded, with tens of thousands of soldiers.

Later, after Huangchao withdrew from Chang'an, he sent troops to attack Caizhou, and Qin Zongquan surrendered to the state, and then besieged Chenzhou with Huangchao.

After the defeat of Huangchao, Qin Zongquan relied on his own strength and thought that the time had come to dominate one side and even annex the four seas.

Taking advantage of the opportunity for the officers and soldiers to return to their own towns, they attacked in all directions, and successively sent his brother Qin Zongyan to attack Jingnan;

His general Chen Yan attacked Jianghuai; Sun Ru captured Luoyang, Shaanxi, Meng, and Yu Prefectures; Zhang Hui captured Ru and Deng Erzhou; Qin He fell into the three states of Xiang, Tang and Deng, and in a short period of time,

Qin Zongquan conquered more than 20 prefectures in the four directions, and its jurisdiction started from Weizhou (now Ji County, Henan) in the north, Jianghuai in the south, Qi and Qing in the east (now Yidu, Shandong), and Luoyang in the west, so far it dominates the Central Plains.

Qin Zongquan saw that the time was ripe, so in February of the first year of Guangqi, he proclaimed himself emperor in Caizhou, placed hundreds of officials, and still took Daqi as the country name to show that he inherited the tradition of Huangchao.

Qin Zongquan, like Huang Chao, is a demon king who kills people without blinking, so it makes sense for Qin Zongquan to inherit the mantle of Huang Chao.

History said: "The slaughtered people were burnt in the county." West to Guannei, east and Qing, Qi, south out of Jianghuai, north to Wei, slippery, fish rotten birds scattered, people cut off, thorn hazel covers the wilderness. "You can see the cruelty of the means. Even more hateful,

It was Qin Zongquan and his accomplices who inherited and carried forward the human flesh factory of Huangchao, and at the same time creatively invented a new method of cannibalism, that is, "pickling corpses".

It is to kill people, cruelly pickle people's corpses with salt, load them into dozens of carts, and march with the army.

When the army started to eat, the soldiers used knives to cut the meat on the corpse and eat it directly, and eat it as they starved, which was worse than Huangchao's behavior of eating people without spitting out bones, which was simply inferior to beasts.

Originally, the government of Emperor Xi had the intention of recruiting Qin Zongquan, but after Qin Zongquan openly proclaimed himself emperor,

The contradictions between the two sides became irreconcilable, and Emperor Xizong immediately ordered the probation of the military festival to make Shi Pu the commander of the soldiers and horses in Caizhou on all sides.

Moderate all kinds of soldiers and horses to quell the rebellion of Qin Zongquan. Previously, Shi Pu had accidentally obtained the head of Huang Chao and presented it to the court because of his subordinates, so when discussing the merit of destroying Huang Chao, Shi Pu ranked first.

And because of this, he was added to the inspection school Situ and Tongping Zhangshi, and re-entered the inspection school Taiwei and Zhongshu Order, and was named the king of Julu County. But at this time, he,

After becoming famous, he became dull, and in the process of conquering Qin Zongquan, he could not make great achievements. At the same time, another powerful vassal in the Central Plains, the Xuanwu Army made Zhu Wen,

But in this battle against Cai Zongquan, he forged ahead and played a triumphant song, which opened the prelude to his domination of the world.

Thank you for the orange road brother for the message, the five generations do not have the Three Kingdoms fever, but it does not mean that there are fewer heroes in the five generations, there are both scheming strategists like Jing Xiang, and there are fierce generals like Li Cunxiao, who are the best in ancient and modern times.

And such a major character, such as Zhu Wen's talent is by no means inferior to Cao Cao, and Li Keyong's military genius is also obvious to all, needless to say, Li Cunmiao,

In the early days, he was a figure who could be called Li Shimin, Yelu Abaoji was eloquent, Shi Jingjiao was a thief and a traitor, Chai Rong and Zhao Kuangyin were also very famous figures in history.

Therefore, there are not as many heroes as the Three Kingdoms in the Five Dynasties, which is a very debatable thing, I think the main reason is that Luo Guanzhong did not write the Three Kingdoms when he wrote the Five Dynasties.

When Zhu Wen first served as the envoy of the Xuanwu Army, although he rightfully became a prince in the Tang Empire,

But the situation was not very favorable for him. The Xuanwu Army governed the four prefectures of Bian, Song, Hao and Ying, and governed the city of Kaifeng in Bianzhou.

This military town is located in the heart of the Central Plains, surrounded by strong feudal clans, with Le Yanzhen's Wei Bo army in the north, Zhu Xuan's Tianping army in the east, Qi Kerang's Taining army, Shi Pu's probation army, Wang Chongrong's Hezhong army in the west, and Zhou Qi's loyal army in the south.

These are all famous military towns in China, in addition, they are surrounded by more than a dozen military towns of all sizes, and they are in the place of four wars, which is very unfavorable to Zhu Wen's foreign annexation and expansion. moreover

Soon after Zhu Wen took office, he formed a mortal enmity with Li Keyong, another major feudal town in China, and he had to always guard against threats from Hedong. In the face of this unfavorable competitive situation,

Zhu Wen does not wait or rely on, does not complain about the sky, does not complain to his superiors, spit out bitterness, and asks for policies, but he bends his head and leads his small team to survive and develop.

Be brave in innovation, be aggressive, vigorously carry forward the entrepreneurial spirit of daring to fight, take territory by force, and find the market with a sword.

Finally made himself stand out in the cruel political competition of the late Tang Dynasty and became the first person to eat crabs.

The first challenge that Zhu Wen took on was Qin Zongquan, a remnant party from Huangchao. After the death of Huang Chao, the power of Qin Zongquan was blazing,

Conquered dozens of states in the Quartet, dominating the Central Plains and Jianghuai, and was in the limelight for a while.

Qin Zongquan's sphere of influence was close to Zhu Wen's Bianzhou, and in this case, a fierce battle between the two sides was inevitable. (To be continued......)