subvert the late Tang Dynasty

Before dawn the next day, that is, the fifth day of the twelfth lunar month in the first year of Guangming, Zhu Wenwen and Huang Ying continued westward with Xu Huaiyu and other 300 guards. They rushed to Chang'an before Huang Chao captured Chang'an.

On the same day, Huang Chao's army drove nearly 20 troops from Huazhou to Chang'an with the new "Guanzhong scholar" Zhao Zhang as the forerunner.

Let's say that the civil and military ministers in Chang'an City are like ants on a hot pot, but they can't do anything about it. Tian Lingzi was whimsical and ordered people to temporarily recruit [-] recruits in the Chang'an City Square, and let them go out of the city and go east, with the intention of resisting the enemy. Huang Chao's army.

Most of these 5000 people are children from rich families who have lived in Chang'an for a long time. Where have they been on the battlefield?It's just that he was forced to have no choice but to bite the bullet and go out of the city to the east. The [-] troops had just left the city for [-] miles and arrived at the Dongwei Bridge, where they ran into Qi Kerang's defeated army who had returned from Tongguan.

The defeated army fled for their lives suffering from hunger and hunger all the way. Seeing these recruits all well-dressed and rosy-faced, they were furious. What credit do these guys have to eat well and dress well! The court is unfair!"

"That's right, the court is unfair. We fought bloody battles outside, but we didn't have any supplies. These boys are living happily with good food and drink!"

"What I'm talking about is, why don't you all turn against each other! Steal his mother!"

These people were really hungry, as long as one person yelled "Snatch his mother", the rest of them echoed one after another, and immediately rushed towards the newly recruited new army, killing indiscriminately.

Where have these recruits seen such a scene? Although there were 5000 troops, they were rushed away by this group of defeated troops, fled around, and threw food all over the place.

The defeated army occupied the Dongwei Bridge, buried pots and cooked food on the spot, and let's eat a full meal first.

The Dongwei Bridge was only thirty miles away from Chang'an, and those new troops fled back to Chang'an City.They thought they had encountered Huang Chao's men pretending to be officers, so they reported that the bandits had occupied the Dongwei Bridge, pretending to be officers.

At this moment, there was an uproar in Chang'an City, and the streets were full of people running around. Since Chang'an City hadn't fought any battles for many years, most people didn't know how to avoid the war, and most of them closed their doors and shivered at home.

Li Xuan had just retired from the early court, and all the civil and military officials heard the news that the defeated army had returned to the city not far from the palace gate. Hearing that the bandit army had occupied the Dongwei Bridge, they hurriedly dispersed and fled for their lives.

When Tian Lingzi received the news, he hurriedly gathered five hundred elite soldiers from the Shence Battalion, and his confidant general came to see Li Xuan crying. Li Xuan was shocked and said, "Father, what happened?"

Tian Lingzi cried: "Your Majesty, the bandit army has already entered the city. If you don't leave, it will be too late. Your Majesty is a body of gold. How can he fall into the hands of the bandit army? This old slave will escort His Majesty out of the city for a while."

Li Xuan panicked and said: "Then, let's pack up our things quickly and get ready to drive. You hurry up and order someone to notify the concubines, princes and others..."

Tian Lingzi said anxiously: "Where did you come to do this in such a hurry? If it's too late, I'm afraid it will be too late." He couldn't help but order people to surround Li Xuan and go out.The few concubines who heard the movement saw that the emperor was going out of the palace, and the smart ones hurried to follow, while the stupid ones tried their best to block the emperor's car, and were dragged aside by Tian Lingzi's order, and just fell on the ground and cried loudly.

In the six princes' mansion (the residence of the princes of Li Tang's clan), only Fu Wang, Mu Wang, Ze Wang, and Shou Wang accompanied the four people. The others did not know the news of the emperor's departure from Beijing, let alone other civil and military officials.

Surrounded by more than 500 soldiers from the Shence Battalion, Li Xuan and several concubines left the Golden Light Gate, and rushed westward without stopping.Fortunately, Li Xuan often played polo. He was good at equestrian skills and in good health. He didn't feel too tired after running all the way.But his concubines couldn't stand it anymore, even though they were making a carriage, they were still being bumped badly, everyone was crying and ordering the escorts to walk slowly, but how could anyone care about them?

The city of Chang'an, which was usually drunk with money and money, was in chaos at this time, crying for father and mother, and the city became even more chaotic after the people in the city heard the news that Emperor Li Xuan had escaped from the city.Some soldiers even broke the big locks of the treasury and robbed the gold and silver property in the treasury.When the people in the city heard the news, they all came over to loot. For a while, no one cared about it. Struggles and looting happened from time to time, and many people lost their lives in the scramble for property.

In troubled times, human life is worthless, as the saying goes: It is better to be a dog of peace than to be a person in troubled times!That's the reason.

In the chaotic flow of people, there was a middle-aged scribe holding a few old books and strenuously moving forward. After finally taking a few steps forward, he was pushed back by the flow of people.There is a young girl behind the middle-aged scribe. The girl is about eighteen or nineteen years old, and her appearance is somewhat similar to that of the middle-aged scribe.

In the chaos, the middle-aged scribe kept holding those old books in his arms, afraid of losing them, he squeezed for a long time and finally got out of the crowd and came to the door of the hotel where he was staying.While patting the closed door of the hotel, he said excitedly: "Sister, what's going on today, why are there so many people on the street?"

He finished talking for a long time but he didn't hear the voice of the little girl behind him. He looked behind him, but where was his sister?Can't help but panic, want to go back to search, but see more than [-] people in the street?But where to look for it?I couldn't help feeling sad, and wept loudly.

At this time, the door of the hotel opened with a "squeak". Seeing him, the owner asked puzzledly, "Wei Xiucai, why are you still in Chang'an? I thought you had escaped from the city! I heard that Huang Chao was going to enter the capital soon." Most of the people in the city are running for their lives, why don't you leave?"

Wei Xiucai's name was Wei Zhuang, and he said with a mournful face, "I took my sister to the street to buy books, but accidentally got separated from her, what should I do?"

The shopkeeper sighed, "Chang'an is a mess now, where can you find it? Why don't you come in first and make plans."

Wei Zhuang turned his head and looked at the densely packed crowd. Where is the shadow of his sister?With a long sigh, he entered the hotel.Seeing that the shopkeeper closed the shop door smoothly, he closed the door again, and asked suspiciously, "Why did the shopkeeper close us? Are you not doing business today?"

The shopkeeper smiled wryly and said, "The street is in such a mess. What business do you want to do? If you can get away with it, it's not bad. Am I the only old man left without looking after the house? My son and daughter-in-law have all fled out of the city."

Wei Zhuang said: "Then why don't you go together, old man?"

The shopkeeper said sadly: "I'm old and I can't bear the pain of the long distance, so I stayed here to keep the family business. Wei Xiucai, I advise you to go out of the city to escape. I see if you take the exam this year. I hope, I heard that even the emperor has escaped!"

Wei Zhuang felt a chill in his heart. He had been studying for decades in order to be named on the gold list, to be able to stand out, and to be able to realize the revenge in his heart.He was born in a scholarly family, a descendant of Prime Minister Wei Jiansu in the early Tang Dynasty. In recent years, his family has declined, but he is not considered poor.

Last year, his father died of illness, and he had to go to Beijing to take the exam again. He was a little worried about leaving his sister alone in his hometown, so he brought his sister to Chang'an.I don't want to be separated from my sister, how can I not make him feel sad?Wei Zhuang said: "Now my sister is lost, how can I escape alone? Or wait, when the city is peaceful, I will go find her and go out of the city together."

The shopkeeper sighed: "Alright, Wei Xiucai can rest assured to stay here, my old man also has someone to talk to."

Who would have thought that Wei Zhuang lived in the city for more than a year, and here he witnessed the catastrophe in Chang'an, and wrote the longest narrative poem "Qin Fu Yin" in all Tang poetry, which laid the foundation for his later life. The important position in the Tang poetry world, this is a later story.

However, Zhu Wen and others did not stop all the way, and finally caught up with Huang Chao's team at sunset. At this time, Huang Chao's team had already arrived in Lantian County. After Lantian, it was the last barrier to the southeast of Chang'an.

At this time, Zhao Zhang, who was a vanguard, had already reached the Dongwei Bridge outside Chang'an City, and Zhao Zhang was about to rush to attack.But at this time, it was the defeated army who had returned from Tongguan who was guarding the Dongwei Bridge. They robbed the officers and soldiers of food and clothes, so they did not dare to enter Chang'an City. Surrendered, took refuge in Zhao Zhang, and promised to take the crime and make meritorious deeds to help the rebel army take Chang'an City.

At this time, even the emperor ran away from the city of Chang'an, and other soldiers and civilians rushed to snatch the treasures in the treasury and fled for their lives. They didn't want to defend the city, but they were attacked by Zhao Zhang's general Chai Cun and the newly surrendered troops. He rushed into Chang'an City with all his destructive power.Chai Cun obeyed Huang Chao's order, and after entering the city, he did not show any respect to the people, and took the initiative to comfort the people and surrender the defenders in the city.

Most of the civil and military officials in Chang'an City are hiding at home, waiting for an unknown fate, how dare they go out?General Zhang Zhifang of Jinwu saw that the situation was over, so he simply led his troops to surrender to the rebels.

Seeing that General Jin Wu had surrendered, the defenders in the city followed suit.

Zhao Zhang was very happy to see that even a senior general like Zhang Zhifang had surrendered, and he went up to comfort him personally, saying: "General Zhang abandoned the dark and turned to the bright, which shows that the general is not as pedantic as others. As for the destruction of your family, ha ha!" These words are obviously an exaggeration, but they are secretly reminding him not to act rashly, or I will ruin your family.

Zhang Zhifang has been in the officialdom for a long time, and he can be regarded as an old fritter in the officialdom. How can he not understand the meaning of Zhao Zhang's words?Most of the reason why he surrendered was because his family members were all in Chang'an City. If it wasn't for the safety of his family, he wouldn't mind being a martyr who resisted to the death.

Seeing something in Zhao Zhang's words, he bowed his head and said, "General Zhao is serious. Although Zhang is not a big man, he is also a man of his word. He will not do things that do not keep his word and go back on his word."

Seeing that Zhang Zhifang was a smart man, Zhao Zhang nodded and said, "Huang Wang's hundreds of thousands of troops are still in Bashang, it's getting late today, how about General Zhang going to Bashang to welcome Huang Wang into the city tomorrow morning? "

Although Zhao Zhang spoke in a deliberative tone, of course Zhang Zhifang knew that he couldn't tolerate his refusal. He sighed in his heart. It seemed that he should be convicted of treason and seeking glory.