The peasant war in the late Tang Dynasty was a revolutionary riot in which peasant rebels ruined the Tang Dynasty. It started in the 13th year of Dazhong (859) and ended in the 4th year of Zhonghe (884) when the Huang Chao Uprising failed. It lasted for 25 years and swept across Shandong, Henan, Anhui, Jiangxi, Jiangsu, Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, Hubei, Shaanxi and other 12 provinces.

In the late Tang Dynasty, the centralized power declined, and the local buffer forces rose. There was a long-term struggle between centralization and decentralization between the Tang Dynasty and local provinces. Imperial eunuchs were autocratic, political corruption, and wars in local buffer regions continued. But whether it is the rule of the central government or the rule of the separatist forces in the buffer regions, it is also very dark. Local buffer regions colluded with court eunuchs and ministers, forming different political factions, and the political situation was turbulent and chaotic, which deepened the suffering of the people. At the end of the Tang Dynasty, the society was riddled with holes and the people were dying. Only by rising up and resisting can there be hope of survival, and a nationwide revolutionary storm is coming.

In the 13th year of Dazhong (859), a peasant uprising led by Qiu Fu broke out in eastern Zhejiang, and in the 9th year of Xian Tong (868), an uprising broke out in Pang Xun, Guangxi. Although these two uprisings were suppressed by the Tang Dynasty, they opened the prelude to a larger peasant war and laid the foundation stone for the peasant uprising led by Huang Chao at the end of the Tang Dynasty.

In the first year of Ganfu (874), Wang Xianzhi rallied in Shandong Changyuan. The following year, Huang Chao led an uprising in unjust imprisonment (now southwest of Heze City, Shandong Province). Wang Xianzhi claimed to be a general, commander-in-chief of domestic giants, and Huang Chao claimed to be a Pacific general. This shows that compared with previous peasant wars, the peasant war led by Wang Xianzhi and Huang Chao made a step forward. From the beginning, he put forward the slogan of changing the status quo and overthrowing the Tang Dynasty.

After the uprising broke out, the rebel forces flourished and quickly spread to more than 10 States, and then developed to Huainan area. The ruling clique of the Tang Dynasty was frightened and quickly mobilized troops to suppress the peasant uprising. Except for the imperial army directly controlled by the Tang Dynasty, our local government was in line with the interests of the central government of the Tang Dynasty when suppressing the peasant uprising. Therefore, the ruling clique in the Tang Dynasty was consistent in suppressing the uprising and was far superior in military strength. At that time, there were only tens of thousands of insurgents led by Huang Chao, who were compressed by Tang Jun in Cao (now Cao County, Shandong Province) and Pu (now Pu County, Shandong Province). The situation is against the rebels. So Wang Xianzhi and Huang Chao decided to jump out of the encirclement and divide their troops into Yimeng Mountain area. Then the insurgents entered Henan, and even Yangzhai (now Yuzhou City, Henan Province) and Tancheng (now jia county City, Henan Province) advanced towards Ruzhou. In September of the third year of Ganfu (876), the rebels conquered Ruzhou in one fell swoop, killed General Dong of the Tang Dynasty, and seized the chains of the secretariat king. The soldiers attacked Luoyang, Tang Dou, and dealt a heavy blow to Tang Jun. After the rebels conquered Ruzhou, they entered Anhui in the south, and successively conquered Ying (now Zhongxiang County, Hubei Province), Fu (now Northwest Tianmen County, Hubei Province), Lu (now Jiujiang City, Jiangxi Province) and Qi (now Qichun City, Hubei Province), and fought for thousands of miles, completely defeating the enemy's encirclement and blockade. In a short period of three years, the rebel army won the victory of jumping out of the grass shop, entering Henan, pretending to attack Luoyang and sending troops south to Anhui and Hubei, getting rid of the enemy's heavy encirclement and preserving and expanding the revolutionary force.

The military repression of the rebel army in the Tang Dynasty failed, so the strategy of military repression was changed to surrender. Wang Duo, the prime minister, urged Wang Xianzhi to surrender and persuaded him to surrender through his younger brother Wang Tie. Wang Tie was captured by the rebels in the battle of Ruzhou. He was appointed as the left strategist, in charge of state affairs, and followed it. However, Wang Xianzhi's betrayal of the peasant rebels was criticized by the rebel soldiers. Huang Chao angrily accused Wang Xianzhi: "When we vowed to overthrow the Tang Dynasty, the rebels were invincible. Now you go to the imperial court to be an official alone, what should you do with more than 5 thousand brothers? " Hurt Wang Xianzhi in a rage. Wang Xianzhi saw the public's anger, so he gave up his official position in the Tang Dynasty. From then on, Wang Xianzhi and Huang Chao fought separately. Wang Xianzhi continued to fight in Hubei. In the fourth year of Ganfu (877), he conquered Ezhou (now Wuhan, Hubei Province) in February, Suizhou in September and Xiangyang (now Xiangfan, Hubei Province) in the west. This winter, a businessman and others were sent to the Tang court to ask for the official seal, but they were caught and killed by General Tang. The split of the rebel army gave Tang Jun the opportunity to concentrate on attacking Wang Xianzhi. Wang Xianzhi is outnumbered. In February of the fifth year of Ganfu (878), Huangmei in Hubei was surrounded by Tang Jun and Wang Xianzhi was killed. The rebels suffered a major setback.

After the division of Hubei, Huang Chao led the troops into Shandong, and in the spring of the fourth year of Ganfu (877), he conquered Yun (now the northwest of Dongping County, Shandong Province) and Yi (now Linyi City, Shandong Province). The ranks have grown to tens of thousands, and the revolutionary forces have spread to Shandong and Henan. After Wang Xianzhi's death, Jean Jean and other foreign ministries joined forces with Huang Chao, and the number of insurgents grew to 65,438+10,000. Two insurgents * * * supported Huang Chao as the leader and continued to fight under the unified leadership of Huang Chao. In order to wipe out the rebels as soon as possible, the Tang Dynasty assembled heavy troops in Luoyang, leaving no one in the south of the Yangtze River. Huang Chao took evasive tactics, temporarily abandoned the plan to capture Luoyang and marched into the south of the Yangtze River.

In March of the fifth year of Ganfu (878), hundreds of thousands of uprising troops crossed and marched on the Yangtze River, connecting Jiangxi Qian (now Ganzhou City, Jiangxi Province), Ji (now Ji 'an City, Jiangxi Province), Rao (now Boyang County, Jiangxi Province) and Xin (now Shangrao County, Jiangxi Province). In June, she county (now she county, Anhui province) and Chi (now Guichi, Anhui province) were captured. In August, it captured Yuezhou, Zhejiang (now Shaoxing, Zhejiang). 10, Huang Chao led troops to fill mountains and valleys, and opened a road in the mountainous areas of Fujian and Zhejiang. 12 conquered Fuzhou. After that, he moved to Guangdong, captured Guangzhou in September in the sixth year of Ganfu (879), and captured our envoy Li Tiao alive. The rulers of the Tang Dynasty were unable to send troops south to wipe out the rebels, and turned from attacking to defending, while the peasant rebels took the initiative on the battlefield.

After resting in Guangzhou for two months, the insurgents marched north. Began the Northern Expedition to overthrow the Tang Dynasty. In November of the sixth year of Ganfu (879), Huang Chao led his troops into Tanzhou (now Changsha City, Hunan Province). The rebel army bravely attacked the city, and the defender Li escaped. 654.38+ Wan Shoujun fled, and the first battle was Tanzhou. Huang Chao intended to enter Guanzhong from Hubei and take Tang Dou Chang 'an (now Xi 'an, Shaanxi Province) directly, but was ambushed by Tang generals Cao Quanqi and Liu Jurong in Jingmen, which caused heavy losses. He had to lead the army eastward and attack Ezhou again in December. The first year of Guangming (880). Huang Chao concentrated superior forces in Xinzhou, Jiangxi Province, defeated Gao Pian, the main force of the Tang Dynasty, and killed Zhang Qian. The Yangtze River defense line collapsed in the Tang Dynasty, which accelerated the process of the Northern Expedition to seize Chang 'an. Since then, the insurgents have set off from Xinzhou, passed through Anhui and Hubei, and inserted into Henan. In November, Luoyang, the east capital, was attacked and Liu, the east capital, was forced to surrender. The rebels marched westward from Luoyang, pointing to Tongguan, the east gate of Chang 'an. At the same time, Tang Xizong mobilized the imperial army in Beijing and our Commissioner in Shanhaiguan Pass to refuse to keep Tongguan Pass, and at the same time prepared to flee to Sichuan, waiting for an opportunity to make a comeback. In December, Huang Chao led an army to attack the key points, drums were loud, ShaSheng was everywhere, Tang Jun was frightened, and Tang generals Ji Kerang and Zhang fled. Tang Xizong fled to Sichuan. After six years of bloody fighting, the rebels finally conquered Chang 'an, the political and military center of the Tang Dynasty. Huang Chao established Daqi peasant regime in Chang 'an, suppressed bureaucrats and nobles, and consolidated political power.

Tang Xizong, who fled to Sichuan, assembled remnants from all over the country, planned to fight back against the rebel army, appointed Zheng Yi to attack the rebel army, and once attacked Chang 'an, but was immediately beaten back by the Qi army, and the rebel army won the victory against the encirclement and suppression. In the second year of Zhonghe (882), Nozong appointed Wang Duo to lead an army to surround Chang 'an, and colluded with Li Keyong, a noble of Shatuo, to fight back against the rebels. Huang Chao led the army to resist, but at the critical moment, General Zhu Wen of Daqi defected to the Tang Dynasty, which seriously weakened the rebel forces. Under the joint attack of Tang Jun and Shatuo Army, the insurgents suffered heavy losses and had to withdraw from Chang 'an and enter Shandong via Henan. In June of the fourth year of neutralization (884), Huang Chao fought Tang Jiangpu in Laiwu. Unfortunately, the heroic sacrifice ended the vigorous peasant war in the late Tang Dynasty.

In the peasant war in the late Tang Dynasty, the rebels adopted the policy of mobile warfare, which showed great superiority. Cao Pu entered Henan first, then Hubei, then avoided the enemy's main force and strode south to the Yangtze River. This is a unique strategy and tactics in the peasant war in the late Tang Dynasty, and a pioneering work in the history of ancient peasant war in China. Mobile warfare not only preserves its own strength, but also becomes stronger with the support of people everywhere. In large-scale mobile warfare, Huang Chao's army fled around with Tang Jun, which made it impossible for the Tang Dynasty to take care of Luoyang, Huainan and Jiangnan, and created conditions for the rebels to attack Chang 'an.

It is precisely because of the correct use of the early strategy and tactics of the rebel army that it won the victory of capturing Chang 'an. However, mobile operations are prone to the idea of roving bandits and have not established a solid base. Even after the capture of Chang 'an, it was not consolidated. This enabled Tang Jun to reoccupy the areas affected by the insurgents and gradually narrow the encirclement. After Huang Chao captured Chang 'an, there was no strategy of "chasing the enemy", which gave the residual forces of the landlord class headed by Tang Xizong a breathing space, enabled the enemy to rally and fight back against the rebels, resulting in the loss of political power. Dividing the rebels is another way for the enemy to attack. The capitulation activities of Wang Xianzhi and Zhu Wen brought great losses to the revolutionary cause and played a role that foreign enemies could not play. These bloody lessons are the lessons left by the peasant war in the late Tang Dynasty.