At the end of the Tang Dynasty , the central power was out of control, and the various warlords in charge of local military power began to disobey the imperial orders. They privately expanded their armies, levied taxes, and formed powerful local forces. Not only did the various vassals and towns attack each other, but they also repeatedly invaded the central court. The once prosperous Tang Dynasty gradually sank into such chaos.
However, after the feudal towns of the Tang Dynasty established their own political power, a famous rebellious minister who had invaded the imperial city several times began to raise the banner of "loyalty to the emperor" and chose to honor the Tang Dynasty as Zhengshuo. And he is the King of Qin Li Maozhen who " once stood up the sword for the turbulent Tang Dynasty and made great contributions, but later became a promoter of the downfall of the Tang Dynasty".
Perhaps you may ask, "King of Qin" is the title of Li Shimin, one emperor through the ages. Who is this King of Qin, Li Maozhen?
In fact, Li Maozhen, whose original name was Song Wentong, came from a poor family in his early years. At first, he only served as a municipal patrol officer in the Boye Army in his hometown in Hebei Province. Due to his low position and power, he was often humiliated by the town officials. But Song Wentong has a significant advantage, that is, he is willing to fight hard on the battlefield. Relying on this, Li Maozhen made many meritorious deeds in battles and was gradually promoted to a junior officer in the military academy.
In 880 AD, Tang Xizong, the 18th emperor of the Tang Dynasty, fled Chengdu when the uprising leader Huang Chao led an army to capture Chang'an.
Chang'an was in danger, and the Boye Army of Song Wentong's army was ordered to support Chang'an. Huang Chao's army suffered a major defeat, and Song Wentong also became famous for his military exploits. He was promoted by Emperor Xizong of the Tang Dynasty to the commander of the Shence Army, and was responsible for protecting the emperor. In addition, in order to express his appreciation and encouragement for Song Wentong's behavior of "loyalty to the emperor and patriotism" despite the chaos, Emperor Xizong of the Tang Dynasty also named Song Wentong Li Maozhen, with the courtesy name Zhengchen.
A few years later, the situation in Chang'an gradually stabilized. Tang Xizong, who had "moved" to Chengdu for several years, planned to return to Chang'an again. Unexpectedly, he was ambushed by rebels on the way back. Emperor Xizong of the Tang Dynasty ordered a hunt, and Li Maozhen was ordered to leave. In just two months, Li Maozhen defeated the rebels without a fight and successfully killed the opponent's leader as a warning to others. Seeing that Li Maozhen was so capable, Emperor Xizong of the Tang Dynasty was very pleased. From then on, he placed high hopes on Li Maozhen. He not only named him Fengxiang and Longyou Jiedushi, but also named him the king of Longxi County.
However, after the "Huangchao Rebellion", the Tang Empire had already become fragmented, and the powerful vassal forces gradually began to rule the roost, and it was no longer a matter of taking a stand against the Tang Dynasty.
At the same time, the high salary and high salary granted to Li Maozhen by the imperial court also gave him the capital to separatist power. However, Li Maozhen, who grew up tall and prosperous, aroused the jealousy of his colleagues. Tian Lingzi, who was also the leader of the Emperor's Guards, also began to murder Li Maozhen under the advice of his subordinates.
However, what is very dramatic is that when Tian Lingzi saw Li Maozhen, he thought that Li Maozhen was extraordinary and would definitely do something in the future. So after admiring him, he not only did not kill him, but also adopted Li Maozhen as his adopted son.
With Tian Lingzi’s support, Li Maozhen’s path to hegemony went more smoothly. In addition, Li Maozhen was located in Guanzhong, Guanzhong, and the area under his jurisdiction was located in Fengxiang Town, not far from the capital (which is today's Baoji City). For the Tang court, this place was not only a powerful city in the world, but also an important national barrier. Its status and strength were of no small importance. In addition, Fengxiang Town is at the foot of the emperor, which is an excellent position for to attack when advancing and to defend when retreating. Because of this relationship, Li Maozhen became more and more valued by the court, and with the border guards specially selected by the court, his strength gradually increased.
From then on, Li Maozhen regarded Fengxiang as his base, and used his unique well salt manufacturing license to open up the Hexi Corridor and connect the Western Region , so as to attract business (gu) and run with all his strength. However, driven by his growing ambitions, Li Maozhen was no longer satisfied with the existing base and began to look for opportunities to expand his territory.
At this time, Tang Xizong, who had a "harmonious" relationship with Li Maozhen, had already passed away. Tang Xizong's brother (Tang Zhaozong) succeeded to the throne under the planning of the eunuch Yang Fugong.
However, Yang Fugong was soon relieved of military power by Tang Zhaozong and expelled from the court because of his arrogance based on his merits. Seeing that he had no place in the court, Yang Fugong turned around and took refuge in Hanzhong Jiedushi Yang Shouliang and began to openly participate in the rebellion. After Li Maozhen heard about it, he asked the troops to suppress it. However, the new emperor Tang Zhaozong was restrained by the eunuchs and failed to issue an edict. In anger, Li Maozhen sent troops to suppress, capture and kill Yang Fugong, and took back the land of Hanzhong as his own.
Li Maozhen tasted the sweetness of this experience of deploying troops to win. Since then, Li Maozhen used his troops everywhere and successively captured Fengzhou, Yangzhou, Shaanxi, and Jingyuan, Gansu. His own power also became stronger with the expansion of his territory.
However, Fengxiang, as Li Maozhen's main base, is close to the capital Chang'an. If Li Maozhen had taken action to "force the palace", the capital would have been within easy reach. Based on this, Li Maozhen became more and more arrogant and domineering. Not only did he start to interfere in government affairs, but he also often criticized the emperor's decisions. Some ministers in the court also valued Li Maozhen's rights and chose to rely on him. This made Li Maozhen even more arrogant and often used disrespectful words in his speech. Tang Zhaozong, who had just succeeded to the throne, was very angry about this and wanted to transfer Li Maozhen away from Fengxiang.
However, Li Maozhen not only refused to accept Tang Zhaozong's dispatch, but also wrote a letter to ridicule Tang Zhaozong, saying: "Your Majesty, you are the emperor, but you are unable to protect your uncle; you respect the nine states, but you cannot kill eunuchs like Yang Fugong. The military situation is volatile, and I am really worried about the people near the capital." One day something will happen to you; will worry about you. If one day you need to flee the capital again, where will you go? "
This extremely ironic memorial made Tang Zhaozong extremely angry, and he resolutely ordered Prime Minister Du Rangneng to send troops to attack. Faced with Du Rangneng's advice that " it is not advisable to have grudges with the big warlords who are close at hand", Tang Zhaozong was so angry that he would not listen!
However, the Imperial Court's imperial army was few and far between, so there was no match for Li Maozhen. Therefore, this war aimed at conquering Li Maozhen ended in a disastrous defeat before it even started.
However, facing Tang Zhaozong's "rude" attack on her, Li Maozhen became even more furious. So, he led the troops into Chang'an and forced Tang Zhaozong to kill the leading prime minister Du rangneng . At this moment, Tang Zhaozong burst into tears and regretted it.
However, since ancient times, emperors have made no mistakes. If someone must be responsible for the mistakes, it must be the minister himself. Therefore, Du Rangneng had already expected this outcome. He took the initiative to stand up and chose to use his life to resolve this disaster.
However, killing the leading prime minister can save you for a while, but how can you save your whole life? Is this not the only one of Li Maozhen's unruly acts?
Sure enough, not long after Du Ranneng was forced to be killed, Li Maozhen was dissatisfied with Tang Zhaozong's recruitment of troops, so he attacked Chang'an again, forcing Tang Zhaozong to flee Huazhou. At the same time, Li Maozhen went straight in, even though the soldiers looted Chang'an City wantonly and burned many palaces to the ground. In the end, under the internal and external dealings of Han Jian, the governor of Huazhou, Li Maozhen was named Prince Qi by Emperor Zhaozong of the Tang Dynasty as a sign of appeasement. At this time, Li Maozhen seemed to have become the actual person in power of the imperial court.
At the same time, Tang Zhaozong, who returned to Chang'an, was saddened to find that the former capital had long been reduced to ruins.
However, it seems that fate has never been attached to this puppet emperor, not even giving him time to stabilize his emotions. Soon, a eunuch named Han Quanjie united with a group of eunuchs to control Tang Zhaozong, intending to "hijack the emperor to order the princes." Poor Tang Zhaozong, this is equivalent to "coming out of the tiger's mouth and into the wolf pack again", which can be described as embarrassing and humiliating.
While Li Maozhen's ambitions were gradually expanding, the struggle for power among warlords in various places also intensified.The prestige of Zhu Wen, who served as the governor of the river, also increased along with the scope of his influence. Under his coercion, Tang Zhaozong was coerced by Han Quanhui and others and fled to Fengxiang Town, where Li Maozhen was located.
Li Maozhen originally thought that this was a drama in which he "hijacked the emperor to control the princes", but Zhu Wen chased him all the way and directly besieged Li Maozhen, Tang Zhaozong and others, together with the people in the city, in Fengxiang City. From winter to spring, the urban area where Li Maozhen was located was surrounded by water. Eventually, food and grass were exhausted. Thousands of people died of starvation and freezing. Cannibalism also occurred from time to time. As the emperor, Tang Zhaozong could only survive on bean and wheat porridge every day. He was so hungry that he almost lost the strength to speak.
The stalemate reached the end. Li Maozhen knew that he could not hold on, so he killed more than 20 eunuchs headed by Han Quanhui and handed over the "chip" in his hand - Tang Zhaozong to Zhu Wen, who then withdrew his troops.
In this battle, almost half of Li Maozhen's troops were lost, and most of the territory under his jurisdiction was recaptured by Zhu Wen and other warlords who took advantage of the situation. At this time, Li Maozhen was like a male bird with broken wings, no longer as arrogant as before.
In the following decades, Li Maozhen was suppressed by several major warlords, and his base area gradually shrank, so that the territory of the original forty or fifty states was reduced to only seven states in the end, becoming a very small independent kingdom. However, when other warlords began to establish political power and privately became emperors, Li Maozhen did not "complicit".
Is Li Maozhen really noble? Doesn't he have any yearning for the emperor's position?
In fact, Li Maozhen was just worried that the big tree attracting wind would happen again, but in his heart he longed to be the emperor more than anyone else. Therefore, although there are only seven states left in Li Maozhen's base area, "although the sparrow is small, it has all the internal organs." The "Prince Qi Mansion" he set up is almost equivalent to a palace with emperor specifications. Although he did not officially claim to be emperor, the etiquette system in the mansion was just like that of an emperor. Not only that, he also specifically called his wife "Queen". It can be said that Li Maozhen has already secretly become addicted to the "emperor" in his own territory.
However, when the rising star- Tang Zhuangzong Li Cunxu destroyed the power of the major warlords, Li Maozhen was afraid of being liquidated by Tang Zhuangzong, so he chose to surrender to Tang Zhuangzong. Naturally, Emperor Zhuangzong of the Tang Dynasty did not need to argue with an old man, so in order to show his "fraternity" to the old officials of the Tang Dynasty, he specially named Li Maozhen the "King of Qin" . However, Li Maozhen did not enjoy too much of the glory of "King of Qin". He passed away soon after being awarded the title, at the age of sixty-nine.
As the saying goes: Power is the root of evil, and sexual immorality is not a pure person.
In his life, Li Maozhen prospered in troubled times, flourished in divisions, but suffered humiliation at the hands of heroes from all over the world. He had been in Fengxiang for decades, powerful and murderous, but when powerful officials from all over the country proclaimed themselves emperor, he chose to honor Tang as Zhengshuo. However, in the historical corridor where heroes emerged in troubled times, Li Maozhen was just a passing guest in a hurry.
