Huang Chao, as the leader of the peasant uprising in the late Tang Dynasty, cut off the lifeblood of the Tang Dynasty, but he only served as emperor for four years before he was defeated and died. So, why did Tang Xizong kill these dozens of concubines?

Huangchao, as the leader of the peasant uprising in the late Tang Dynasty, although cut off the lifeline of the Tang Dynasty , he only served as emperor for four years and was defeated to death. After his death, Emperor Xizong of the Tang Dynasty captured all his dozens of concubines and executed them in a disgraceful way, which is really regrettable. So, why did Tang Xizong kill these dozens of concubines?

Portrait of the Huang Chao Uprising

The short-lived emperor Huang Chao

"When autumn comes on the eighth day of the ninth month, I will kill all the flowers after they bloom. The array of soaring incense penetrates Chang'an, and the city is filled with golden armor."

In 880 AD, Huang Chao successfully achieved In accordance with the great ambitions contained in the "Fu Ju of the Emperor Bu Di Hou" written at the beginning of the uprising, he entered the city of Chang'an, changed the country's name to "Da Qi ", and established himself as emperor. In line with the concept of "The Yellow King raised his army for the common people" , Huang Chao began to massacre Tang Dynasty clan nobles and officials in Chang'an City, and deprived the rich of all their property.

Portrait of the Huang Chao Uprising

But human nature cannot withstand the test of desire. Huang Chaojun did not fulfill his previous promise to the people to "rob the poor and give to the rich", but instead put all the money of the rich into his own pockets For their own greed and enjoyment, even the wives and daughters of the rich were taken into the harem as concubines by Huang Chao, so that the whole city was in ruins, without any trace of the former splendor and prosperity. As described in "The Song of the Women of Qin":

"All the embroidery hubs in Huaxuan were sold out, and not half of the wealthy families in the first class were left. Foxes and rabbits roamed the Hanyuan Hall , and the calyx building was full of thorns. The prosperity of the past was all buried. , It is desolate and unexplained. The inner treasury was burnt to ashes, and the bones of the prince were trampled on the street! "

Huang Chao's portrait

Huang Chao's move made the scholar-bureaucrats hate him to the core and wanted to kill him. But Huang Chao turned a deaf ear to him. After taking the position of emperor, he indulged in the pleasure of the harem, leaving important affairs of the country to his subordinates. Huang Chao's subordinates were all just like him, who could only attack the country but not defend it. As for the civil servants who knew how to govern the country, they had long been offended by Huang Chao and were incompatible with each other, and would not assist him at all.

Huang Chao Portrait

With the connivance of the superiors, after Huang Chao's army robbed all the rich, they also began to ruthlessly attack innocent civilians, burning, killing, looting and committing all kinds of evil, causing Huang Chao's army and people to lose heart. What makes the situation even more serious is that one of Huang Chao's ambitious generals Zhu Wen chose to rebel against . Zhu Wen rebelled and cooperated with Tang Xizong inside and outside , forcing Huang Chao, who lost his main force, to leave Chang'an and flee...

Zhu Wen's portrait

Huang Chao was defeated and killed, and dozens of concubines were captured

and The difference during the uprising was that wherever Huang Chaojun went this time, no people lined the streets to greet him , but the people scattered and fled. Without people, it means there are not enough logistical supplies. Seeing that they were gradually being cut off from food and grass, Huang Chaojun couldn't care so much anymore, and simply started to grab food from the people. In the end, when the people's food was all eaten up, they treated the people as food.

Zhu Wen, who was once welcomed by the common people

according to statistics, during this period, Huang Chaojun killed as many as 00,000 people. It seemed that he had transformed from an insurrectionary army that had done harm to the people to a veritable army. Man-eating demon. In the end, Huang Chao was defeated Langhu Valley , and his head was hung in Chang'an City for public display . After the people learned of Huang Chao's death, they went out to celebrate one after another, which shows the depth of people's hatred for Huang Chao in the later period.

After Huang Chao was killed, dozens of concubines he had looted from the people were naturally captured by the victor Tang Xizong.Emperor Xizong of the Tang Dynasty did not directly incorporate these dozens of concubines into his harem, but first summoned them for interrogation and said : "You and Cao are all honorable sons and daughters, and they have been favored by the country in this life. How can they be thieves?"

Tang Xizong's Portrait

These women who were forced into Huangchao's harem had no choice but to do so, and Tang Xizong even condescended and righteously accused and questioned them: "You are all women with status and relatives of the emperor, and you have been favored by the country for generations. Why commit yourself to the national traitor ?" Tang Xizong's condescending attitude not only showed no sympathy for the victims, but was also extremely mocking. In his view, even if these women were helpless, they should sacrifice themselves for the country rather than obey, in order to be considered as "chaste and martyred women", otherwise they would all be traitors to the country.

Portrait of Tang Xizong

As soon as Tang Xizong said this, the women were angry. You know, when Huang Chao attacked the capital, he was Tang Xizong who ran the fastest with oil on his feet. Even later generations also jokingly called Tang Xizong "" Escape from the Emperor" . So, who has the right to criticize these women when he ignores the people in the city?

A woman knew that she would not be able to escape the death penalty, so she took the initiative to stand up and said with righteous indignation:

"The thieves are ruthless and rebellious. The country, with millions of people, has lost its ancestral home and moved to Ba and Shu. Now Your Majesty blames a woman for not being able to reject the thieves." , Where do you put the ministers and generals! "

Portraits of Women in the Tang Dynasty

The person who failed to resist the bandits and lost his country was clearly Tang Xizong himself, but he did not blame those ministers who had neglected their duties, but instead blamed a group of weak women. It is really It's unreasonable. Tang Xizong was stunned by this woman until he was speechless and blushing. In his incompetent rage, he ordered these innocent women to be killed in the vegetable market.

The way they were executed was despicable

The executioners who were accustomed to killing in the execution ground were all moved and sympathized with them after hearing what happened to these girls. In order to make these girls less scared during the execution, the executioner also prepared a bowl of white wine for each of them, hoping to execute them in a drunken and delirious state.

Portraits of Women in the Tang Dynasty

So, these girls drank and cried. Only the concubine who humiliated Tang Xizong did not drink or cry. She went to her death calmly, with a solemn expression. In the end, all these dozens of concubines died under the executioner's knife. This shows how shameful and ridiculous it was for Tang Xizong to use a group of innocent women to operate on a group of innocent women to cover up his faults. As for the tragic endings of these dozens of women, it is enough to demonstrate the involuntary and humble powerlessness of ancient women.

Peasant uprisings in the late Tang Dynasty

And facts have proved that Tang Xizong was indeed an incompetent emperor. Under his rule in the late Tang Dynasty, completely fell into corruption. People's lives became increasingly difficult and official exploitation became increasingly serious. Because favored treacherous ministers and appointed villains , Tang Xizong eventually became the emperor who "hijacked the emperor to order the princes", completely pushing the Tang Dynasty into a deeper abyss, until it fell apart and fell apart.

Map of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period

In the end, Zhu Wen, Huang Chao's rebel general, once again took advantage of the rebellion to rebel against the Tang Dynasty and completely ended the surviving Tang Dynasty with his own hands, thus opening the prologue chapter of Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms .