Volume 200 Biographies 150: Zhu Ci, Huang Chao, Qin Zongchuan

朱泚黃巢秦宗權

Zhu Ci, Huang Chao, and Qin Zongquan.

朱泚，幽州昌平人。曾祖利，贊善大夫，贈禮部尚書。祖思明，太子洗馬，贈太子太師。父懷珪，天寶初，事范陽節度使裴寬為衙前，授折沖將軍。及安祿山、史思明叛，累為管兵將。寶應中，李懷仙歸順，奏為薊州刺史、平盧軍留後、柳城軍使。大曆元年卒，累贈左僕射。祖、父之贈，皆以泚故也。

Zhu Ci was a native of Changping in Youzhou. His great-grandfather Li had served as director of the crown prince's household; after death he was posthumously honored as Minister of Rites. His grandfather Siming had been groom of the heir apparent and was later posthumously honored as Grand Preceptor of the Heir Apparent. His father Huai Gui, in the early Tianbao years, served under Fan-Yang military commissioner Pei Kuan as a yamen attendant and was appointed a general of the Zhechong army. When An Lushan and Shi Siming rose in rebellion, he served repeatedly as a commander of garrison troops. During the Baoying reign, after Li Huaixian submitted to the court, Huai Gui was recommended as prefect of Ji, acting commissioner of the Pinglu army, and commander of the Liucheng garrison. He died in 766 and was posthumously promoted in stages to Left Vice Director of the Department of State Affairs. The posthumous honors granted to his grandfather and father were all owing to Zhu Ci's position.

泚以父資從軍，幼壯偉，腰帶十圍，騎射武藝亦不出人。外若寬和，中頗殘忍。然輕財好施，每征戰所得賞物，輒分與麾下將士，以是為眾所推，故得濟其凶謀。初隸李懷仙為部將，改經略副使。朱希彩既殺李懷仙，自為節度，以泚宗姓，甚委信之。希彩為政苛酷，人不堪命。

Zhu Ci entered the army through his father's standing. In his youth he was powerfully built, with a waist belt ten arm-spans around, and his horsemanship, archery, and martial skills were second to none. Outwardly he seemed mild and affable, but inwardly he was quite cruel. Yet he was generous with money and fond of giving. Whenever he received rewards from campaigning, he would at once share them among the officers and men under his command. For this he won the troops' esteem and was thus able to carry out his treacherous schemes. At first he served under Li Huaixian as a divisional commander, and was later made deputy commissioner for frontier administration. After Zhu Xicai killed Li Huaixian and made himself military commissioner, he placed great trust in Zhu Ci because they shared the Zhu clan name. Xicai's rule was harsh and cruel, and the people could not endure it.

大曆七年秋，希彩為其下所殺，倉卒之際，未有所從。泚營在城北，弟滔，主衙內兵，亦得眾心。滔變詐多端，潛使百餘人於眾中大言曰：「節度使非城北朱副使莫可。」眾既無從，因共推泚。泚遂權知留後，遣使奉表京師。十月，拜檢校左散騎常侍、兼御史中丞、幽州盧龍節度等使、幽州長史、兼御史大夫。其年，泚上表令弟滔率兵二千五百人赴京西防秋。代宗嘉之，手詔褒美。

In the autumn of 772, Xicai was killed by his own men. In the sudden crisis, no leader had yet emerged. Zhu Ci's camp lay north of the city. His younger brother Tao commanded the inner-garrison troops and likewise won the soldiers' loyalty. Tao was shrewd and full of shifting schemes. He secretly sent more than a hundred men to shout among the troops: "No one but Vice Commissioner Zhu north of the city is fit to be military commissioner." With no other candidate at hand, the men jointly acclaimed Zhu Ci. Zhu Ci thereupon assumed acting command as military commissioner and sent envoys to present a memorial to the capital. In the tenth month he was appointed acting Left Regular Attendant of the Scattered Riders, concurrently Censor-in-Chief, military commissioner of Youzhou and Lulong, chief administrator of Youzhou, and concurrently Grand Censor. That same year Zhu Ci memorialized the throne, asking that his younger brother Tao lead twenty-five hundred troops to the western capital for autumn defense. Emperor Daizong commended this and issued a personal edict in praise.

九年，就加檢校戶部尚書，賜實封百戶。幽州及河北諸鎮，自天寶末便為逆亂之地，李懷仙、朱希彩與連境三節度，名雖向順，未嘗朝謁。至是泚率先上表，請自領步騎三千人入覲，詔修甲第以待之。九月，泚至京師，代宗禦內殿引見，賜御馬兩匹、戰馬十匹、金銀錦彩甚厚。又以器物十床、馬四十匹、絹二萬匹、衣一千七百襲賜其將士，宴犒之盛，近時未有。泚又上表，請留京師，從之。因授其弟滔兼御史大夫、幽州節度留後。仍以河陽永平軍防秋兵，郭子儀統之；決勝軍楊猷兵，李抱玉統之；淮西鳳翔兵，馬璘統之；汴宋、淄青兵，俾泚統焉。

In the ninth year he was further appointed acting Minister of Revenue and granted a substantive fief of one hundred households. Youzhou and the other Hebei circuits had been hotbeds of rebellion since the late Tianbao years. Li Huaixian, Zhu Xicai, and the three neighboring military commissioners had submitted in name only and had never once presented themselves at court. Now Zhu Ci was the first to memorialize, asking to lead three thousand foot and horse troops in person to attend court. The emperor ordered a fine mansion prepared to receive him. In the ninth month Zhu Ci reached the capital. Daizong received him in audience in the inner palace and bestowed two imperial horses, ten war horses, and lavish gifts of gold, silver, and brocades. He also gave his officers and men ten sets of utensils, forty horses, twenty thousand bolts of silk, and seventeen hundred suits of clothing. The scale of the feast and rewards was unprecedented in recent memory. Zhu Ci memorialized again, asking to remain at the capital, and the request was granted. His younger brother Tao was then appointed concurrently Grand Censor and acting military commissioner of Youzhou. The autumn-defense troops of the Heyang and Yongping armies remained under Guo Ziyi's command; the troops of Yang You's Juesheng army were commanded by Li Baoyu; the Huai-Xi and Fengxiang troops were commanded by Ma Lin; and the Bian-Song and Zi-Qing troops were placed under Zhu Ci's command.

十一年八月，加拜同平章事。尋令出鎮奉天行營，復賜金銀繒彩並內庫弓箭以寵之。十二年，加檢校司空，代李抱玉為隴右節度使，權知河西、澤潞行營兵馬事。

In the eighth month of the eleventh year he was further appointed associate grand councilor. Soon afterward he was ordered out to command the Fengtian field headquarters, and was again showered with gold, silver, silks, and bows and arrows from the inner treasury as marks of imperial favor. In the twelfth year he was further appointed acting Minister of Works, replacing Li Baoyu as military commissioner of Longyou and placed in charge of the Hexi and Zelu field armies.

德宗嗣位，加太子太師、鳳翔尹，實封至三百戶。建中元年，涇州將劉文喜阻兵為亂，加泚四鎮北庭行軍、涇原節度使，與諸軍討之。涇州平，加泚中書令，還鎮鳳翔，而以舒王讓遙領涇原節度。二年，加泚太尉。朱滔將反叛，陰使人與泚計議，以帛書納蠟丸中，置髮髻間。河東節度馬燧搜獲之，以聞，並送帛書及所遣使。泚惶懼，頓首乞歸罪有司。上勉之曰：「千里不同謀，非卿之過。」三年四月，以張鎰代泚為鳳翔隴右節度留後，留泚京師，加實封至一千戶，與一子正員官，其幽州盧龍節度、太尉、中書令並如故。

When Dezong succeeded to the throne, Zhu Ci was made Grand Preceptor of the Heir Apparent and prefect of Fengxiang, and his substantive fief was increased to three hundred households. In the first year of Jianzhong, Jingzhou general Liu Wenxi mutinied and rebelled. Zhu Ci was made commander of the Four Garrisons and Beiting campaign and military commissioner of Jingyuan, and led the allied armies against him. After Jingzhou was pacified, Zhu Ci was made Grand Secretariat Director and returned to garrison Fengxiang, while Prince Shu Li Rang was given nominal command of Jingyuan. In the second year Zhu Ci was made Grand Preceptor. Zhu Tao was plotting rebellion and secretly sent a messenger to consult with Zhu Ci, concealing a silk letter inside a wax pellet hidden in the messenger's hair bun. Hedong military commissioner Ma Sui seized the messenger, reported to the throne, and forwarded both the silk letter and the envoy. Zhu Ci was terrified and prostrated himself, begging to surrender himself to the authorities for judgment. The emperor reassured him: "You were a thousand li apart and did not plot together—this is not your fault." In the fourth month of the third year Zhang Yi replaced Zhu Ci as acting military commissioner of Fengxiang and Longyou. Zhu Ci was kept at the capital, his substantive fief was raised to one thousand households, and one of his sons was given a regular official post; his titles as military commissioner of Youzhou and Lulong, Grand Preceptor, and Grand Secretariat Director remained unchanged.

四年十月，涇原兵叛，鑾駕幸奉天。叛卒等以泚嘗統涇州，知其失權廢居，怏怏思亂。群寇無帥，幸泚政寬，乃相與謀曰：「朱太尉久囚空宅，若迎而為主，事必濟矣！」姚令言乃率百餘騎迎泚于晉昌里第。泚乘馬擁從北向，燭炬星羅，觀者萬計，入居含元殿。明日，移處白華殿，但稱太尉。朝官有謁泚者，悉勸奉迎鑾駕，既不合泚意，皆逡巡而退。源休至，遂屏人移時，言多悖逆。又盛陳成敗，稱述符命，勸其僭偽，泚甚悅之。又李忠臣、張光晟繼至，咸以官閑積憤，樂於禍亂。鳳翔涇原大將張廷芝、段誠諫以潰卒三千餘自襄城而至。賊泚自謂眾望所集，僭竊之心，自此而定。乃以源休為京兆尹、判度支，李忠臣為皇城使。須秀實久失兵柄，故推心委之。遂發銳師三千，言奉迎乘輿，實陰有逆謀。秀實與劉海賓謀誅泚，且虞叛卒之震驚法駕，乃潛為賊符，追所發兵。至六日，兵及駱驛而回。因與海賓同入見泚，為陳逆順之理，而海賓於靴中取匕首，為其所覺，遂不得前。秀實知不可以義動，遽奪源休象笏，挺而擊泚，仍大呼曰：「反虜萬段！」泚舉臂衛首，秀實格拉之，忷々然。李忠臣馳肋泚，泚素多力，才破其面，逆徒噪集，秀實、海賓遂並見害。

In the tenth month of the fourth year the Jingyuan troops mutinied, and the emperor fled to Fengtian. The mutineers knew that Zhu Ci had once commanded Jingzhou and that he now lived in forced retirement, stripped of power and brooding over his grievances. The rebels had no leader, and Zhu Ci's reputation for leniency gave them hope. They plotted together: "Grand Preceptor Zhu has long been confined in an empty mansion—if we welcome him as our leader, we are sure to succeed!" Yao Lingyan then led more than a hundred horsemen to fetch Zhu Ci from his residence in Jinchang Ward. Zhu Ci rode northward with a great escort, torches blazing like a field of stars and tens of thousands looking on. He entered and took up residence in the Hanyuan Hall. The next day he moved to the Baihua Hall and was addressed only as Grand Preceptor. Court officials who came to see Zhu Ci all urged him to welcome the emperor back. This did not suit his plans, and they all withdrew in hesitation. When Yuan Xiu arrived, he dismissed the attendants and spoke at length, his words for the most part treasonous. He also expounded at length on success and failure, cited omens and heavenly mandates, and urged Zhu Ci to usurp the throne. Zhu Ci was greatly pleased. Li Zhongchen and Zhang Guangcheng also arrived in turn. All of them, idle in office and nursing old resentments, welcomed the chaos. The Fengxiang and Jingyuan generals Zhang Tingzhi and Duan Chengjian arrived from Xiangcheng with more than three thousand routed troops. The rebel Zhu Ci believed himself the focus of universal acclaim, and from that moment his resolve to seize the throne was fixed. He appointed Yuan Xiu metropolitan prefect of Jingzhao and controller of the treasury, and Li Zhongchen commissioner of the imperial city. Yan Shishi had long been stripped of military command, and Zhu Ci therefore placed full trust in him. He then dispatched three thousand elite troops, claiming they were to welcome the emperor, but in fact plotting treason. Yan Shishi and Liu Haibin plotted to assassinate Zhu Ci. Fearing the mutineers might alarm the emperor, Shishi secretly forged a rebel tally and recalled the dispatched troops. By the sixth day the troops had reached Luoyi Post and turned back. Shishi and Haibin then went in together to see Zhu Ci and argued the rights of loyalty and treason. Haibin drew a dagger from his boot, but Zhu Ci detected it and he could not strike. Knowing he could not sway Zhu Ci by argument, Shishi snatched Yuan Xiu's ivory tablet and struck Zhu Ci with it, shouting, "Traitor! May you be cut to ten thousand pieces!" Zhu Ci raised his arm to shield his head. Shishi seized him and they grappled furiously. Li Zhongchen rushed to Zhu Ci's aid. Zhu Ci had always been exceptionally strong and had only just bloodied Shishi's face when the rebels swarmed in. Shishi and Haibin were both killed.

十日，泚自領兵侵逼奉天，竊威儀輦輅，闐溢道途，蟻聚之眾軍勢頗盛；以姚令言為元帥，張光晟為副。以李忠臣為京兆尹、皇城留守，居中書省。尋以蔣鎮為門下侍郎，李子平為諫議大夫兼平章事。泚軍合於城下，渾瑊、韓遊瑰禦之，泚眾大敗，死者萬計。泚收軍於奉天東三里下營，大修攻具。明日，泚又分兵營於乾陵下瞰，城內大震。

On the tenth day Zhu Ci personally led his army against Fengtian, usurping imperial regalia and carriages. The roads were choked with men, and his swarm of troops made a formidable host; Yao Lingyan was made commander-in-chief and Zhang Guangcheng his deputy. Li Zhongchen was made metropolitan prefect of Jingzhao and commissioner in charge of the imperial city, with his office in the Secretariat. Soon Jiang Zhen was made Vice Director of the Chancellery and Li Ziping Remonstrance Grandee and associate grand councilor. Zhu Ci's army massed below the city. Hun Jian and Han Yougui defended it, and Zhu Ci's forces were routed with tens of thousands dead. Zhu Ci withdrew three li east of Fengtian and encamped, throwing himself into building siege engines. The next day Zhu Ci sent detachments to camp below Qianling and overlook the city, throwing the defenders into great alarm.

十一月三日，杜希全與泚眾戰于漠穀，官軍不利，自是泚益驕大。王師乘城而戰，人百其勇，賊多敗恤。或出野戰，官軍又獲利焉。泚乃大驅百姓填塹，夜攻城，城中設奇以應之，賊乃退縮。西明寺僧法堅有巧思，為泚造雲梯。十五日辰時，梯臨城東北隅，城內震駭。渾瑊使侯仲莊設大坑，為地道陷之。又縱火焚其梯，東風起，吹我軍，眾頗危。俄而風回，吹賊軍，瑊益薪潑油，萬鼓齊震，風吹俱熾，須臾雲梯與凶黨同為灰燼。城中三門悉出兵，王師又捷，其夜兵復出攻，泚眾敗績。李懷光以五萬人來援，自河北至，泚眾惶駭，因而大潰，長圍遂解焉。眾庶以懷光三日不至，城則危矣。

On the third day of the eleventh month Du Xiquan fought Zhu Ci's troops at Mogu Valley. The imperial army fared badly, and from then on Zhu Ci grew ever more arrogant. The imperial troops fought from the walls, each man fighting with redoubled courage, and the rebels suffered repeated defeats. When they sallied out for field battle, the imperial army again gained the upper hand. Zhu Ci then drove masses of civilians to fill the moat and attacked the city by night. The defenders met him with counter-stratagems, and the rebels fell back. The monk Fajian of Ximing Temple, a man of ingenious mind, built a siege tower for Zhu Ci. At the fifth watch on the fifteenth day the tower reached the northeast corner of the wall, throwing the city into terror. Hun Jian had Hou Zhongzhuang dig a great pit and a tunnel to undermine it. They also set fire to the tower. An east wind rose and blew toward the imperial troops, putting them in grave danger. Soon the wind shifted and blew toward the rebels. Jian piled on fuel and oil, ten thousand drums thundered together, and the flames leaped up. In a moment the siege tower and the rebels upon it were reduced to ash. Imperial troops sallied from all three gates and won another victory. That night they attacked again, and Zhu Ci's forces were routed. Li Huai Guang arrived from Hebei with fifty thousand reinforcements. Zhu Ci's army panicked, broke, and fled, and the long siege was lifted. The people believed that if Huai Guang did not arrive within three days, the city would be lost.

三十日夜，泚走至京城。時姚令言於城中造戰格拋樓，每坊團結，人心大異。泚自奉天回，乃悉令去之，曰：「攻戰吾自有計。」前此每三五日，即使人偽自城外來，周走號令曰：「奉天已破！」百姓聞之，莫不飲泣，道路闃寂。時有入臺省吏人，不過十數輩，郎官六七人，而亦令依常年舉選，初有數十人陳狀，旬日亦皆摒退。泚自號其宅曰潛龍宮，悉移內庫珍貨瑰寶以實之。識者曰：「《易》稱『潛龍勿用』，此敗徵也。」無幾，百姓剽奪其珍寶，泚不能禁止。

On the night of the thirtieth Zhu Ci fled back to the capital. Yao Lingyan was building fighting towers and catapult platforms in the city and organizing each ward into militia units, and morale among the people shifted sharply. When Zhu Ci returned from Fengtian he ordered them all dismantled, saying, "I have my own plans for assault." Every few days he had men pretend to arrive from outside the city, running through the streets shouting, "Fengtian has fallen!" The people wept at the news, and the streets fell silent and deserted. Only a dozen or so clerks and six or seven court gentlemen still attended the Censorate and Secretariat, yet Zhu Ci still ordered the regular civil-service selection to proceed. Several dozen men submitted petitions at first, but within ten days all were turned away. Zhu Ci named his residence the Palace of the Hidden Dragon and filled it with treasures from the inner treasury. The knowing said, "The Book of Changes says, 'The hidden dragon—do not act.' This is an omen of defeat." Before long the people looted his treasures, and Zhu Ci could not stop them.

明年正月一日，泚改偽國號曰漢，稱天皇元年。二月，李懷光既圖叛逆，遣使與泚通和。鑾駕幸梁、洋，自此衣冠之潛匿者，出受偽官十七八焉。懷光初與泚往復通好甚密，以錢谷金帛互相饋遺。泚與書，事之如兄，約云：「削平關中，當割據山河，永為鄰國。」及懷光決計背叛，逼乘輿遷幸，泚乃下偽詔書，待懷光以臣禮，仍徵兵馬。懷光既為所賣，慚怒憤恥，遂領眾遁歸河中。

On the first day of the first month of the new year Zhu Ci changed his rebel state name to Han and proclaimed the first year of the Heavenly Sovereign. In the second month, after Li Huai Guang had turned rebel, he sent envoys to negotiate an alliance with Zhu Ci. The emperor fled to Liang and Yang. From then on, seven or eight out of ten officials who had been in hiding came forward to accept posts under the rebel regime. At first Huai Guang and Zhu Ci maintained a close correspondence, exchanging money, grain, gold, and silks as gifts. Zhu Ci wrote to him as to an elder brother and pledged: "When we have pacified Guanzhong, we shall divide the realm between us and remain neighboring states forever. Once Li Huai Guang had made up his mind to rebel and forced the emperor to flee the capital, Zhu Ci issued a forged imperial edict addressing Huai Guang as a loyal subject and calling up his armies. Betrayed and consumed by shame and fury, Li Huai Guang withdrew with his army to Hezhong.

三月，李晟、駱元光、尚可孤之眾，悉於城東累敗泚眾。四月，泚使韓旻、宋歸朝、張庭芝等寇武功，渾瑊以眾及吐蕃論莽羅大敗歸朝，殺逆党萬餘人于武亭川。

In the third month, east of the city, the armies of Li Sheng, Luo Yuanguang, and Shang Ke'gu inflicted a series of defeats on Zhu Ci's forces. In the fourth month Zhu Ci dispatched Han Min, Song Guichao, and Zhang Tingzhi against Wugong. Hun Jian, reinforced by the Tibetan chieftain Lun Mangluo, routed Song Guichao's column and slaughtered more than ten thousand rebels at Wuting Stream.

五月，泚又使仇敬忠寇藍田，尚可孤擊之，大破泚眾，擒敬忠斬之。李晟、駱元光、尚可孤遂悉師齊進，晟屯光泰門，逆徒拒官軍，王師累捷。二十八日，官軍入苑，收復京師，逆黨大潰。

In the fifth month Zhu Ci sent Qiu Jingzhong against Lantian. Shang Ke'gu struck back, shattered the rebel army, captured Jingzhong, and executed him. Li Sheng, Luo Yuanguang, and Shang Ke'gu then marched in full strength. Li Sheng took position at Guangtai Gate. Though the rebels stood firm against the imperial columns, the government armies won victory after victory. On the twenty-eighth the imperial forces entered the palace grounds, retook the capital, and the rebel host collapsed in flight.

泚與姚令言、張庭芝、源休、李子平、朱遂以數千人西走，其餘黨或奔竄，或來降。泚眾緣路潰散，乃奔涇州，才百餘騎。田希鑒閉門登陴，泚令謂鑒曰：「我與爾節度，何故背恩？」希鑒乃使人自城上擲泚所送旌節于外，續又投火焚之。泚遂過數里，息於逆旅。泚將梁庭芬入涇州說田希鑒曰：「公比日殺馮河清背叛，今雖歸順，國家必不能久容，公他日不免受禍。何如開門納朱公，與共成大事！」希鑒以為然。庭芬乃追及泚言之，泚大悅，使庭芬卻往涇州。庭芬請授己尚書、平章事，泚不從。梁庭芬既求宰相不得，不復往涇州，從泚至甯州彭原縣西城屯，復與泚心腹朱惟孝共射泚。泚走，墜故窖中。泚左右韓旻、薛綸、高幽嵓、武震、朱進卿、董希芝共斬泚，使宋膺傳首以獻。泚死時年四十三。姚令言投涇州，源休、李子平走鳳翔，尋並斬獲。宋歸朝之敗武功，降于李懷光，送興元斬之。唯不獲朱遂，傳為野人所殺，或云與泚婿偽金吾將軍馬悅潛走党項部落，數月得達幽州。

Zhu Ci fled west with Yao Lingyan, Zhang Tingzhi, Yuan Xiu, Li Ziping, and Zhu Su and a few thousand men, while the rest of the rebels either scattered or surrendered. Zhu Ci's force melted away along the road until he reached Jing Prefecture with barely a hundred riders left. Tian Xijian barred the gates and manned the walls. Zhu Ci sent a messenger to demand: "I made you military governor—why have you turned against me? Xijian had his men hurl the banner of command and commission Zhu Ci had bestowed on him down from the ramparts, then set them ablaze. Zhu Ci rode on a few li further and stopped to rest at a roadside inn. Zhu Ci's officer Liang Tingfen entered Jing Prefecture and urged Tian Xijian: "You killed Feng Heqing for turning rebel. Even if you have submitted now, the court will never trust you for long. Sooner or later disaster will find you. Better to open the gates, welcome Lord Zhu, and join him in a great undertaking! Xijian agreed. Tingfen rode after Zhu Ci with the news. Delighted, Zhu Ci sent him back to Jing Prefecture. Tingfen asked to be made Minister and Grand Councilor. Zhu Ci refused. Denied the chancellorship, Liang Tingfen abandoned the mission to Jing Prefecture and stayed with Zhu Ci as far as the western camp at Pengyuan in Ning Prefecture, where he and Zhu Ci's trusted follower Zhu Weixiao opened fire on him together. Zhu Ci bolted and tumbled into an abandoned pit. Han Min, Xue Lun, Gao Youyan, Wu Zhen, Zhu Jinqing, and Dong Xizhi, Zhu Ci's own followers, cut off his head and dispatched Song Ying to present it to the court. Zhu Ci was forty-three at his death. Yao Lingyan fled toward Jing Prefecture; Yuan Xiu and Li Ziping fled to Fengxiang. All were soon captured and executed. After his defeat at Wugong, Song Guichao surrendered to Li Huai Guang and was sent to Xingyuan for execution. Only Zhu Su escaped capture. Some said hill tribes killed him; others said he fled in secret with Zhu Ci's son-in-law, the rebel Jinwu General Ma Yue, into Tangut country and reached You Prefecture months later.

泚之僭逆，宦豎朱重曜頗親密用事，泚每呼之為兄。時賊中以臘月大雨，偽星官謂泚曰：「當以宗中年長者禳其災變。」泚乃毒殺重曜，而以王禮葬焉。及京師平，亦出其屍而斬之。姚令言自有傳。

During his rebellion Zhu Ci relied heavily on the eunuch Zhu Chongyao, whom he affectionately addressed as "Brother." That winter the rebel camp was lashed by unseasonable rains in the twelfth month. A sham court astronomer told Zhu Ci that the omen could be averted only by sacrificing the eldest member of the imperial clan. Zhu Ci poisoned Chongyao to death, then buried him with the honors due a prince. After the capital was restored, Chongyao's body was dug up and decapitated as well. Yao Lingyan is treated in a separate biography.

黃巢，曹州冤句人，本以販鹽為事。乾符中，仍歲凶荒，人饑為盜，河南尤甚。初，里人王仙芝、尚君長聚盜，起于濮陽，攻剽城邑，陷曹、濮及鄆州。先有謠言云：「金色蛤蟆爭努眼，翻卻曹州天下反。」及仙芝盜起，時議畏之。左金吾衛上將軍齊克讓為兗州節度使，以本軍討仙芝。仙芝懼，引眾曆陳、許、襄、鄧，無少長皆虜之，眾號三十萬。三年七月，陷江陵。十月，又遣將徐君莒陷洪州。時仙芝表請符節，不允。以神策統軍使宋威為荊南節度招討使，中使楊復光為監軍。復光遣判官吳彥宏諭以朝廷釋罪，別加官爵，仙芝乃令尚君長、蔡溫球、楚彥威相次詣闕請罪，且求恩命。時宋威害復光之功，並擒送闕，敕於狗脊嶺斬之。賊怒，悉精銳擊官軍，威軍大敗，復光收其餘眾以統之。朝廷以王鐸代為招討。五年八月，收復亳州，斬仙芝首獻于闕下。

Huang Chao came from Yuanqu in Cao Prefecture and had begun as a salt smuggler. Under the Qianfu reign famine followed famine, and hunger drove men to banditry—nowhere more fiercely than in Henan. It began when Wang Xianzhi and Shang Junchang, men of the same district, raised a band of outlaws at Puyang, raided towns and cities, and seized Cao, Pu, and Yan. A prophecy had already circulated: "Golden toads bulging their eyes—topple Cao Prefecture and the realm will rise in revolt. When Xianzhi's uprising broke out, public alarm was immediate. Qi Kerang, senior general of the Left Jinwu Guard, was appointed military governor of Yan Prefecture and marched against Xianzhi with his own troops. Fearing defeat, Xianzhi swept through Chen, Xu, Xiang, and Deng, seizing every soul he could find, young or old, until his host was said to reach three hundred thousand. In the seventh month of the third year they took Jiangling. In the tenth month he sent Xu Junju to seize Hong Prefecture. Xianzhi then petitioned the throne for an official commission and military seal. The court refused. Song Wei, commander of the Shence Army, was named Jingnan military governor and chief pacification commissioner, with the eunuch Yang Fuguang as army monitor. Fuguang sent his aide Wu Yanhong to offer amnesty and promotion if they submitted. Xianzhi dispatched Shang Junchang, Cai Wenqiu, and Chu Yanwei in turn to the capital to confess their crimes and sue for favor. Song Wei, eager to steal Fuguang's credit, seized the envoys and sent them to the capital. An imperial order had them executed at Gouji Ridge. Enraged, the rebels threw their best troops against the government forces, shattered Wei's army, and Fuguang was left to gather the survivors under his own command. The court replaced Wei with Wang Duo as pacification commissioner. In the eighth month of the fifth year the government retook Bozhou, struck off Xianzhi's head, and sent it to the throne.

先是，君長弟讓以兄奉使見誅，率部眾入嵖岈山。黃巢、黃揆昆仲八人，率盜數千依讓。月餘，眾至數萬。陷汝州，虜刺史王鐐，又掠關東。官軍加討，屢為所敗，其眾十餘萬。尚讓乃與群盜推巢為王，號沖天大將軍，仍署官屬，籓鎮不能制。時天下承平日久，人不知兵。僖宗以幼主臨朝，號令出於臣下。南衙北司，迭相矛盾，以至九流濁亂，時多朋黨，小人才勝，君子道消，賢豪忌憤，退之草澤。既一朝有變，天下離心。巢之起也，人士從而附之。或巢馳檄四方，章奏論列，皆指目朝政之弊，蓋士不逞者之辭也。巢徒党既盛，與仙芝為形援。及仙芝敗，東攻亳州不下，乃襲破沂州據之。仙芝餘黨悉附焉。

Earlier, when Junchang's younger brother Shang Rang saw his brother executed on a peace mission, he withdrew with his followers into the Chaya Mountains. Huang Chao, Huang Kui, and six other brothers—eight Huang brothers in all—brought several thousand outlaws to Rang's banner. Within little more than a month their numbers swelled to tens of thousands. They stormed Ruzhou, captured its prefect Wang Liao, and swept through the lands east of the Hangu Pass. Government troops pressed the pursuit but suffered defeat after defeat, while the rebel host passed one hundred thousand. Shang Rang and the other chieftains then proclaimed Huang Chao their king under the title Grand General Who Storms Heaven, set up a full roster of offices, and left the regional governors powerless to stop them. The empire had known peace so long that war itself had been forgotten. Emperor Xizong was a boy on the throne, and real power lay with the ministers around him. The civil officials of the outer court and the eunuchs of the inner palace feuded without end until every level of government ran foul. Faction ruled the day: small men rose, gentlemen fell silent, and the able and upright, bitter and despairing, withdrew to the countryside. When crisis struck at last, the people's loyalty to the throne dissolved overnight. As Huang Chao's rebellion gathered force, educated men flocked to his cause. His proclamations and petitions, circulated far and wide, denounced every corruption of the present reign—language that drew heavily on the grievances of failed scholars and displaced gentlemen. Huang Chao's movement grew strong enough to coordinate with Xianzhi as a second front. After Xianzhi's fall, Huang Chao marched east against Bozhou but failed to take it; he then swung around, seized Yizhou by surprise, and held it. Every remnant of Xianzhi's band rallied to Huang Chao.

時王鐸雖銜招討之權，緩於攻取。時高駢鎮淮南，表請招討賊，許之，議加都統。巢乃渡淮，偽降於駢。駢遣將張璘率兵受降於天長鎮。巢擒璘殺之，因虜其眾。尋南陷湖、湘，遂據交、廣。托越州觀察使崔璆奏乞天平軍節度，朝議不允。又乞除官，時宰臣鄭畋與樞密使楊復恭奏，欲請授同正員將軍。盧攜駁其議，請授率府率，如其不受，請以高駢討之。及巢見詔，大詬執政，又自表乞安南都護、廣州節度，亦不允。然巢以士眾烏合，欲據南海之地，永為窠穴，坐邀朝命。

Wang Duo held the title of pacification commissioner but moved too slowly to strike. Gao Pian, military governor of Huainan, petitioned to lead the campaign against the rebels. The court agreed and debated granting him the rank of supreme commander. Huang Chao crossed the Huai River and offered Gao Pian a false surrender. Gao Pian sent Zhang Lin with an army to receive the surrender at Tianchang. Huang Chao seized Zhang Lin, killed him, and absorbed his soldiers. He then overran Hunan and the Xiang basin, and pushed on to seize the far south around Jiaozhi and Guangzhou. Working through Cui Qiu, commissioner of Yuezhou, he petitioned for appointment as military governor of the Tianping Army. The court refused. He petitioned again for office. Grand Councilor Zheng Tian and Privy Councilor Yang Fugong recommended making him a general of the fourth rank with full salary. Lu Xie objected, proposing instead the hollow post of director of the imperial guard bureau—and if Huang Chao rejected that, dispatching Gao Pian to destroy him. When Huang Chao read the edict he cursed the ministers in fury and petitioned on his own for the posts of Protector-General of Annam and military governor of Guangzhou. The court again refused. Yet his army was a loose confederation of adventurers, and he hoped to carve out a permanent base in the southern seas while bargaining with the throne for recognition.

是歲自春及夏，其眾大疫，死者十三四。眾勸請北歸，以圖大利。巢不得已，廣明元年，北逾五嶺，犯湖、湘、江、浙，進逼廣陵，高駢閉門自固，所過鎮戍，望風降賊。九月，渡淮。十一月十七日，陷洛陽，留守劉允章率分司官迎之。繼攻陝、虢，逼潼關，陷華州，留將奮鈐守之。河中節度使李都詐進表於賊。朝廷以田令孜率神策、博野等軍十萬守潼關。時禁軍皆長安富族，世籍兩軍，豐給厚賜，高車大馬，以事權豪，自少迄長，不知戰陣。初聞科集，父子聚哭，憚於出征。各于兩市出值萬計，傭雇負販屠沽及病坊窮人，以為戰士，操刀載戟，不知钅敫銳。復任宦官為將帥，驅以守關。關之左有谷，可通行人，平時捉稅，禁人出入，謂之禁穀。及賊至，官軍但守潼關，不防禁谷，以為穀既官禁，賊無得而逾也。尚讓、林言率前鋒由禁谷而入，夾攻潼關。官軍大潰，博野都徑還京師，燔掠西市。

That year, from spring into summer, plague swept his camp and killed three or four men in every ten. His followers pressed him to march north again while fortune still favored them. Huang Chao had little choice. In the first year of the Guangming era he crossed the Five Ridges northward, ravaged Hunan, the Yangzi delta, and Zhejiang, and bore down on Guangling. Gao Pian barricaded himself and would not fight; every garrison along the route surrendered at the first sight of rebel banners. In the ninth month he crossed the Huai River. On the seventeenth of the eleventh month he entered Luoyang, where the acting prefect Liu Yunzhang and the secondary capital officials went out to welcome him. He pushed on against Shan and Guo, threatened Tong Pass, took Hua Prefecture, and left Fen Qian to hold it. Li Du, military governor of Hezhong, sent in a memorial that only pretended loyalty while secretly siding with the rebels. The court put Tian Lingzi at the head of one hundred thousand men from the Shence, Boye, and other armies to defend Tong Pass. The palace armies were drawn from Chang'an's rich families, hereditary members of the two guard corps, lavishly paid and richly equipped with fine carriages and tall horses as they waited on the great houses—they had never seen battle from boyhood to manhood. When the draft was announced, fathers and sons wept together, terrified of marching to war. Families spent fortunes in the markets to hire porters, peddlers, butchers, tavern hands, and beggars from the charity halls to stand in their place—men who could grip a blade or carry a halberd but could not tell a sharp edge from a blunt one. Eunuch officers were put in command again and driven forward to hold the pass. To the left of the pass lay a trail through a gorge where travelers were normally taxed and barred from crossing. It was known as Forbidden Gorge. When the rebels came up, the government army held Tong Pass alone and left Forbidden Gorge unguarded, assuming that because the route was officially closed the enemy could never use it. Shang Rang and Lin Yan led the advance guard through Forbidden Gorge and struck the pass from front and rear. The imperial line collapsed. The Boye troops turned straight for the capital and looted and burned the western market district.

十二月三日，僖宗夜自開遠門出，趨駱谷，諸王官屬相次奔命。觀軍容使田令孜、王若儔收合禁軍扈從。四日，賊至昭應，金吾大將軍張直方率在京兩班迎賊灞上。五日，賊陷京師。

On the third of the twelfth month Emperor Xizong slipped out by night through Kaiyuan Gate and fled toward Luogu Pass, with princes and officials streaming after him in panic. The army commissioners Tian Lingzi and Wang Ruochou rallied the palace guard to escort the flight. On the fourth the rebels reached Zhaoying. Zhang Zhifang, chief of the Jinwu Guard, led the full corps of capital officials out to Bashang to welcome them. On the fifth the rebels took Chang'an.

時巢眾累年為盜，行伍不勝其富，遇窮民于路，爭行施遺。既入春明門，坊市聚觀，尚讓慰曉市人曰：「黃王為生靈，不似李家不恤汝輩，但各安家。」巢賊眾競投物遺人。十三日，賊巢僭位，國號大齊，年稱金統，仍御樓宣赦，且陳符命曰：「唐帝知朕起義，改元廣明，以文字言之，唐已無天分矣。『唐』去『醜』、『口』而安『黃』，天意令黃在唐下，乃黃家日月也。土德生金，予以金王，宜改年為金統。」賊搜訪舊宰相不獲，以前浙東觀察使崔璆、楊希古、尚讓、趙章為四相，孟楷、蓋洪為左右軍中尉，費傳古為樞密使，王璠為京兆尹，許建、朱實、劉塘為軍庫使，朱溫、張言、彭攢、季逵為諸衛大將軍、四面游奕使。又選驍勇形體魁梧者五百人，曰功臣。令其甥林言為軍使，比之控鶴。

Huang Chao's men had grown rich from years of plunder, and their ranks overflowed with loot. On the road they vied with one another to press gifts on every poor passerby they met. Once they passed Chunming Gate, crowds lined the streets to watch. Shang Rang called out reassurance to the townspeople: "King Huang comes for the people's sake, not like the House of Li, who never cared for you. Go home and live in peace. Huang Chao's soldiers showered the crowd with gifts. On the thirteenth Huang Chao declared himself emperor. His dynasty was called Great Qi, his reign era Golden Rule. From the palace tower he proclaimed a general amnesty and announced heaven's verdict: "The Tang emperor knew of my righteous uprising when he changed the era to Guangming. Read the characters rightly, and Tang has lost the Mandate of Heaven. Strip away the components for "ugly" and "mouth" from the character for Tang, and "yellow" stands whole beneath it—heaven means the Huang clan to inherit the sun and moon of empire. Earth begets metal; I reign by the power of metal. The era should therefore be called Golden Rule. Unable to find former chief ministers, the rebels named Cui Qiu, once commissioner of Zhedong, together with Yang Xigu, Shang Rang, and Zhao Zhang as the four chancellors. Meng Kai and Gai Hong became left and right army commissioners; Fei Chuangu, privy councilor; Wang Fan, metropolitan governor of Jingzhao; Xu Jian, Zhu Shi, and Liu Tang, directors of the military stores; and Zhu Wen, Zhang Yan, Peng Zan, and Ji Kui grand generals of the guard corps and commissioners of mobile patrols on all four sides. They further chose five hundred of the fiercest and tallest warriors and styled them the Meritorious Guard. Huang Chao appointed his nephew Lin Yan to command them, on the model of the Tang dynasty's Crane Controlling Guard.

中和元年二月，尚讓寇鳳翔，鄭畋出師禦之，大敗賊于龍尾坡，畋乃馳檄告喻天下籓鎮。四月，涇原行軍唐弘夫之師屯渭北，河中王重榮之師屯沙苑，易定王處存之師屯渭橋，鄜延拓拔思恭之師屯武功，鳳翔鄭畋之師屯盩至。六月，邠寧朱玫之師屯興平，忠武之師三千屯武功。是歲諸侯勤王之師，四面俱會。十二月，宰相王鐸率荊、襄之師自行在至，鄭畋帳下小校竇玫者，驍勇無敵，每夜率敢死之士百人，直入京師，放火燔諸門，斬級而還，賊人悚駭。

In the second month of the first year of Zhonghe (881), Shang Rang raided Fengxiang. Zheng Tian took the field against him and routed the rebel army at Longwei Slope, then dispatched urgent proclamations calling upon the empire's regional commanders to rise in the dynasty's defense. In the fourth month, Tang Hongfu's Jingyuan expeditionary force camped north of the Wei River; Wang Chongrong's Hezhong army at Shayuan; Wang Chucun's Yiding army at Weiqiao; Tuoba Sigong's Yan-Yan army at Wugong; and Zheng Tian's Fengxiang army at Zhouzhi. In the sixth month, Zhu Mei's Binning force took position at Xingping, while three thousand Zhongwu troops encamped at Wugong. That year the relief armies of the regional lords converged upon the capital from every quarter. In the twelfth month, Chancellor Wang Duo arrived from the court's temporary seat at Xiang with the armies of Jing and Xiang. Among Zheng Tian's officers was the junior commander Dou Mei, a warrior without peer: every night he led a hundred volunteers deep into the capital, torched the gate towers, beheaded the enemy, and withdrew before dawn, leaving the rebels shaken with fear.

時京畿百姓皆砦于山谷，累年廢耕耘，賊坐空城，賦輸無入，穀食騰踴，米斗三十千。官軍皆執山砦百姓，鬻于賊為食，人獲數十萬。朝士皆往來同、華，或以賣餅為業，因奔於河中。宰相崔沆、豆盧瓚扈從不及，匿之別墅，所由搜索嚴急，乃微行入永甯里張直方之家。朝貴怙直方之豪，多依之。既而或告賊云：「直方謀反，納亡命。」賊攻其第，直方族誅，沆、瓚數百人皆遇害。自是賊始酷虐，族滅居人。遣使傳命召故相駙馬都尉于琮於其第。琮曰：「吾唐室大臣，不可佐黃家草昧，加之老疾。」賊怒，令誅之。廣德公主並賊號咷而謂曰：「予即天子女，不宜復存，可與相公俱死。」是日並遇害。

By then the people of the capital districts had fled into the hills and built stockades; fields lay untilled for years. The rebels held an empty city with no revenue coming in, and grain prices soared until a single peck of rice sold for thirty thousand cash. Imperial troops rounded up civilians from the mountain refuges and sold them to the rebels for provisions; the number of people thus taken reached into the hundreds of thousands. Court officials shuttled between Tongzhou and Huazhou, some earning their bread by selling flatcakes, until at last they escaped across to Hezhong. The chancellors Cui Hang and Doulu Zan had fallen behind the imperial procession and concealed themselves in country villas. When the search grew relentless, they slipped through the streets in disguise and took shelter in the house of Zhang Zhifang in Yongning Ward. High officials at court leaned on Zhang Zhifang's wealth and influence, and many made their refuge under his roof. Before long someone informed the rebels: "Zhang Zhifang is plotting rebellion and sheltering outlaws. The rebels stormed his mansion. Zhang Zhifang's entire clan was put to the sword, and Cui Hang, Doulu Zan, and several hundred others perished with them. From that day the rebels' rule turned savage; they began to wipe out entire households of the city's people. They dispatched messengers with orders summoning the former chancellor and imperial son-in-law, Yu Cong, Chief Commandant of the imperial guard, to appear at his own mansion. Yu Cong replied: "I am a minister of the Tang dynasty. I will not serve the Huang clan in their hour of raw ambition—and besides, I am old and infirm. The rebels flew into a rage and ordered his execution. Princess Guangde came forward wailing and cried out: "I am a daughter of the Son of Heaven. I cannot outlive this shame—let me die with my husband the Chancellor. That same day they were both killed.

二年，王處存合忠武之師，敗賊將尚讓，乘勝入京師，賊遁去。處存不為備，是夜復為賊寇襲，官軍不利。賊怒坊市百姓迎王師，乃下令洗城，丈夫丁壯，殺戮殆盡，流血成渠。九月，賊將同州刺史朱溫降重榮。十一月，李克用率代北之師，自夏陽渡河，屯沙苑。

In the second year (882), Wang Chucun joined forces with the Zhongwu army, defeated the rebel commander Shang Rang, and pressed the advantage into the capital. The rebels withdrew. Wang Chucun failed to secure his gains. That very night the rebels counterattacked, and the imperial army suffered a sharp reverse. Enraged that the townspeople had welcomed the imperial troops, the rebels ordered a massacre of the city. Every able-bodied man they could find was cut down until blood flowed in the streets like irrigation ditches. In the ninth month, the rebel commander Zhu Wen, military governor of Tongzhou, defected to Wang Chongrong. In the eleventh month, Li Keyong led his army from the northern frontier, crossed the Yellow River at Xiayang, and encamped at Shayuan.

三年正月，敗黃揆于沙苑，進營乾坑。二月，賊將林言、趙章、尚讓率眾十萬援華州。克用合河中、易定、忠武之師，戰于梁田坡，大敗賊軍，俘斬數萬，乘勝攻華州，塹柵以環之。克用騎軍在渭北，令薛志勤、康君立每夜突入京師，燔積聚，俘級而旋。黃揆棄華州，官軍收城。四月八日，克用合忠武騎將龐從遇賊于渭南，決戰三捷，大敗賊軍。十日夜，賊巢散走。詰旦，克用由光泰門入，收京師。巢賊出藍田、七盤路，東走關東。天下兵馬都監押楊復光露布獻捷於行在，陳破賊事狀曰：

In the first month of the third year (883), he routed Huang Kui at Shayuan and pushed forward to encamp at Gan Pit. In the second month, the rebel generals Lin Yan, Zhao Zhang, and Shang Rang marched one hundred thousand men to relieve the siege of Huazhou. Li Keyong united the forces of Hezhong, Yiding, and Zhongwu and met the enemy at Liangtian Slope, where he shattered the rebel army and killed or captured tens of thousands. Pressing the attack on Huazhou, he ringed the city with trenches and stockades. With his cavalry north of the Wei, Li Keyong sent Xue Zhiqin and Kang Junli on nightly raids into the capital to burn grain stores, take heads, and withdraw before dawn. Huang Kui abandoned Huazhou, and the imperial army reoccupied the city. On the eighth day of the fourth month, Li Keyong joined the Zhongwu cavalry commander Pang Cong and met the rebels at Weinan. Three pitched battles brought a crushing victory. On the night of the tenth, Huang Chao's forces broke and fled in disorder. At dawn the following morning, Li Keyong entered the capital through Guangtai Gate and took possession of the city. Huang Chao's remnant army escaped by the Lantian and Qipan roads and fled east into the lands beyond the passes. Yang Fuguang, commissioner and overall military inspector, submitted a victory dispatch to the court in exile, reporting the defeat of the rebels in these terms:

頃者妖興霧市，盜嘯叢祠，而岳牧籓侯，備盜不謹。謂大同之運，常可容奸；謂無事之秋，縱其長惡。賊首黃巢，因得充盈窟穴，蔓延萑蒲，驅我蒸黎，徇其凶逆。展鉏鶴以成鋒刃，殺耕牛以恣燔砲，魑魅晝行，虺蜴夜噬。自南海失守，湖外喪師，養虎災深，馴梟逆大，物無不害，惡靡不為，豺狼貽朝市之憂，瘡磐及腹心之痛。遂至毒流萬姓，盜汙兩京。衣冠銜塗炭之悲，郡邑起丘墟之歎。萬方共怒，十道齊攻，伏九廟之威靈，殄積年之凶醜。

Of late, sorcery has stirred in the marketplaces and outlaws have roared from every roadside shrine, while the provincial governors and frontier lords failed to keep proper watch against brigandage. They assumed that under the Mandate of Great Unity treachery could always find room; they assumed that in untroubled times they could indulge wickedness and let it grow unchecked. Thus the rebel chieftain Huang Chao filled his dens to overflowing, spread like weeds through the marshes, drove our people before him, and pressed his violent revolt upon the realm. He turned farming tools into weapons, butchered draft oxen to fuel his siege engines; demons walked abroad in daylight and poisonous serpents fed under cover of night. After the fall of the southern coast and the ruin of our armies in the lake districts, the disaster of raising a tiger deepened and the folly of domesticating an owl bore its bitter fruit. Nothing was spared, no cruelty left undone; wolves and jackals haunted the capital's markets, and the wound festered to the empire's very core. At last poison ran through the lives of common people, and the bandits defiled both imperial capitals. Scholars and officials wore the grief of ashes and cinders; town after town echoed with the lament of rubble and empty streets. All under heaven burned with a common wrath; ten circuits struck as one, invoking the majesty of the imperial ancestors to destroy a villainy years in the making.

河中節度使王重榮神資壯烈，天付機謀，誓立功名，志安家國。至於屯田待敵，率士當沖，收百姓十萬餘家，降賊党三萬餘眾。法當持重，功遂晚成，久稽原野之刑，未快雷霆之怒。自收同、華，逼近京師，夕烽高照于國門，遊騎俯臨於灞岸。既知四隅斷絕，百計奔沖，如窮鳥觸籠，似飛蛾赴燭。

Wang Chongrong, military governor of Hezhong, was endowed with heroic courage and Heaven-given cunning. He swore to win glory in battle and set his heart on restoring the realm. He held his ground in the open country, met the enemy head-on, sheltered more than one hundred thousand civilian households, and accepted the surrender of over thirty thousand rebel followers. Strategy demanded patience, and so his triumph came late; too long the reckoning on the battlefield was deferred, and Heaven's wrath had not yet been fully spent. Once Tongzhou and Huazhou were recovered and the army drew near the capital, signal fires blazed each evening at the city gates and scouting horsemen ranged the banks of the Ba River. Finding every escape closed, the rebels tried every desperate stratagem, like birds beating against a cage or moths hurling themselves into flame.

雁門節度使李克用神傳將略，天付忠貞，機謀與武藝皆優，臣節共本心相稱。殺賊無非手刃，入陣率以身先，可謂雄才，得名飛將。自統本軍南下，與臣同力前驅，雖在寢餐，不忘寇孽。

Li Keyong, military governor of Yanmen, was born to the art of command and entrusted by Heaven with unwavering loyalty. His cunning and his sword arm were alike unmatched, and his devotion to the throne was the equal of his courage. He killed rebels with his own blade and always led the charge himself—a true hero, worthy of the title Flying General. From the day he marched south at the head of his own army, he fought alongside me in the vanguard; even at meals and in sleep he never forgot the enemy.

今月八日，遣衙隊前鋒楊守宗、河中騎將白志遷、橫野軍使滿存、躡雲都將丁行存、朝邑鎮將康師貞、忠武黃頭軍使龐從等三十都，隨李克用自光泰門先入京師，力摧凶寇。又遣河中將劉讓、王環、冀君武、孫珙，忠武將喬從遇，鄭滑將韓從威，荊南將申屠悰，滄州將賈滔，易定將張仲慶，壽州將張行方，天德將顧彥朗，左神策弩手甄君楚、公孫佐，橫沖軍使楊守亮，躡雲都將高周彝，忠順都將胡真，絳州監軍毛宣伯、聶弘裕等七十都繼進。賊尚為堅陣，來抗官軍。雁門李克用率勵驍雄，整齊金革，叫噪而聲將動瓦，喑嗚而氣欲吞沙，寬列戈矛，密張羅網。於是麾軍背擊，分騎橫沖，日明而劍躍飛輪，風急而旗開走電。使賊如浪，便可塞流；使賊如山，亦須折角。蹂踐則橫屍入地，騰淩則積血成塵，不煩即墨之牛，若駕昆陽之象。楊守宗等齊驅直入，合勢夾攻，從卯至申，群凶大潰。自望春宮前蹙殺，至昇陽殿下攻圍，戈不濫揮，矢無虛發。其賊一時奔走，南入商山，徒延漏刃之生，佇作飲頭之器。

On the eighth of this month I sent forward thirty commands under Yang Shouzong of the yamen guard, Bai Zhixian of the Hezhong cavalry, Man Cun of the Hengye army, Ding Xingcun of the Nieyun command, Kang Shizhen of Chaoyi, Pang Cong of the Zhongwu Yellow Head army, and others. Following Li Keyong through Guangtai Gate, they were first into the capital and broke the rebel line. Seventy more commands followed in succession: the Hezhong generals Liu Rang, Wang Huan, Ji Junwu, and Sun Gong; Qiao Congyu of Zhongwu; Han Congwei of Zheng-Hua; Shentu Cong of Jingnan; Jia Tao of Cangzhou; Zhang Zhongqing of Yiding; Zhang Xingfang of Shouzhou; Gu Yanlang of Tiande; the Left Divine Stratagem crossbowmen Zhen Junchu and Gongsun Zuo; Yang Shouliang of the Hengchong army; Gao Zhouyi of the Nieyun command; Hu Zhen of Zhongshun; and the Jiangzhou commissioners Mao Xuanbo and Nie Hongyu. The rebels still held their ground in tight formation and came out to meet the imperial army. Li Keyong of Yanmen roused his fiercest warriors and dressed the ranks in gleaming armor. Their battle cries shook the rooftops; their war chants seemed to swallow the desert wind. Spears and halberds spread wide; the net of encirclement drew tight. Then he wheeled his army to strike from the rear and sent cavalry to charge from the flanks. In the brightening sun swords flashed like spinning wheels; in the rising wind banners unfurled like lightning across the field. Had the enemy been a flood, it would have been dammed and turned back; had they been a mountain, its ridges would still have been shattered. Where the charge passed, bodies piled upon the ground; where the horses leapt, blood turned the dust to mud—as though the oxen of Jimo and the elephant hosts of Kunyang had ridden to war together. Yang Shouzong and the rest drove straight into the enemy line, converging from both flanks. From dawn until mid-afternoon the rebel host broke completely. From the slaughter before Wangchun Palace to the encirclement below Shengyang Hall, every spear stroke fell true and every arrow found its mark. The rebels broke and ran south into the Shang Mountains, buying only a few hours beneath the sword, destined soon to furnish drinking cups from their skulls.

自收平京闕，二面皆立大功，若破敵摧凶，李克用實居其首。其餘將佐，同效驅馳。兼臣所部領萬餘人，數歲櫛風沐雨。既茲平蕩，並錄以聞。

In the recovery and pacification of the capital, great deeds were done on every front; but in breaking the enemy and crushing the rebels, Li Keyong stood first among them all. The other commanders and their officers fought with equal zeal. Together with the ten thousand men under my own command, we had endured years of wind and rain in the field. Now that order is restored, I report these deeds for the record.

五月，巢賊先鋒將孟楷攻蔡州，節度使秦宗權以兵逆戰，為賊所敗。攻城急，宗權乃稱臣於賊。遂攻陳、許，營于溵水。陳州刺史趙犨迎戰，敗賊前鋒，生擒孟楷，斬之。黃巢素寵楷，悲惜之。乃悉眾攻陳州，營於城北五里，為宮闕之制，曰八仙營。於是自唐、鄧、許、汝、孟、洛、鄭、汴、曹、濮、徐、兗數十州，畢罹其毒。賊圍陳郡百日，關東仍歲無耕稼，人餓倚牆壁間，賊俘人而食，日殺數千。賊有舂磨砦，為巨碓數百，生納人於臼碎之，合骨而食，其流毒若是。

In the fifth month, Huang Chao's vanguard commander Meng Kai attacked Caizhou. The military governor Qin Zongquan marched out to meet him and was defeated. As the siege tightened, Qin Zongquan submitted and declared himself a vassal of the rebels. He then turned against Chen and Xu and encamped on the banks of the Yin River. Zhao Chao, prefect of Chenzhou, gave battle, routed the rebel vanguard, captured Meng Kai alive, and executed him. Huang Chao had long favored Meng Kai and mourned his death deeply. He then gathered his full strength against Chenzhou, pitching camp five li north of the walls in a compound built like an imperial palace—a fortress they called the Eight Immortals Camp. From that point dozens of prefectures—Tang, Deng, Xu, Ru, Meng, Luo, Zheng, Bian, Cao, Pu, Xu, and Yan among them—alike fell victim to their ravages. The rebels besieged Chenzhou for a hundred days. East of the passes fields went unplanted year after year; the starving collapsed against city walls. The rebels took captives for food and slaughtered several thousand people each day. The rebels maintained "grinding camps" fitted with hundreds of giant mortars into which living captives were thrown and pulverized, then consumed bones and all. Such was the depth of their cruelty.

趙犨求援於太原。四年二月，李克用率山西諸軍，由蒲、陝濟河，會關東諸侯，赴援陳州。三月，諸侯之師復集。四月，官軍敗賊于太康，俘斬萬計，拔其四壁。又敗賊將黃鄴于西華，拔其壁。巢賊大恐，收軍營于故陽里，官軍進攻之。五月，大雨震雷，平地水深三尺，壞賊壘，賊自離散，復聚于尉氏，逼中牟。翌日，營汴水北。是日，復大雨震電，溝塍漲流。賊分寇汴州，李克用自鄭州引軍襲擊，大敗之，獲賊將李用、楊景。殘眾保胙縣、冤句，官軍追討，賊無所保。其將李讜、楊能、霍存、葛從周、張歸厚、張歸霸各率部下降于大梁，尚讓率部下萬人歸時薄。賊自相猜間，相殺于營中，所殘者千人，中夜遁去。克用追擊至濟陰而還。賊散於兗、鄆界。黃巢入泰山，徐帥時薄遣將張友與尚讓之眾掩捕之。至狼虎穀，巢將林言斬巢及二弟鄴、揆等七人首，並妻子皆送徐州。是月賊平。

Zhao Chao sent to Taiyuan for relief. In the second month of the fourth year (884), Li Keyong led the armies of Shanxi, crossed the Yellow River from Pu and Shan, joined the lords of the eastern passes, and marched to the relief of Chenzhou. In the third month the allied armies gathered once more. In the fourth month the imperial army routed the rebels at Taikang, killing and capturing them by the tens of thousands and taking all four of their fortified camps. They defeated the rebel commander Huang Ye at Xihua and stormed his encampment. Huang Chao's forces were seized with terror. They pulled back to encamp at old Yangli, and the imperial army pressed the attack. In the fifth month torrential rains and thunder flooded the plain to a depth of three feet, wrecking the rebel fortifications. The army scattered, then regrouped at Weishi and threatened Zhongmou. The following day they encamped north of the Bian River. That same day another storm broke, and ditches and field embankments burst into rushing flood. The rebels split off a force to raid Bianzhou. Li Keyong marched from Zhengzhou, fell upon them by surprise, and won a great victory, capturing the rebel generals Li Yong and Yang Jing. The survivors held out at Zuoxian and Yuanju, but the imperial army hunted them down until they had nowhere left to hide. The commanders Li Dan, Yang Neng, Huo Cun, Ge Congzhou, Zhang Guihou, and Zhang Guiba each surrendered their units to Daliang; Shang Rang brought ten thousand of his men over to Shi Pu. Suspicion turned the rebel camps inward; they fell upon one another until only a thousand remained, and at midnight they broke and fled. Li Keyong pursued them as far as Jiyin, then withdrew. The remnant rebels scattered along the border of Yan and Yun. Huang Chao fled into Mount Tai. Shi Pu, military governor of Xuzhou, sent the general Zhang You with Shang Rang's troops to trap and seize him. At Langhu Valley, Huang Chao's officer Lin Yan struck off the heads of Chao, his two brothers Ye and Kui, and five others—seven in all—and sent them with their wives and children to Xuzhou. That month the rebellion was brought to an end.

秦宗權

Qin Zongquan

中和三年，巢賊走關東，宗權逆戰不利，因與合從為盜。巢賊既誅，宗權復熾，僭稱帝號，補署官吏。遣其將秦彥亂江淮，秦賢亂江南，秦誥陷襄陽，孫儒陷孟、洛、陝、虢至於長安，張眰陷汝、鄭，盧塘攻汴州。賊首皆慓銳慘毒，所至屠殘人物，燔燒郡邑。西至關內，東極青、齊，南出江淮，北至衛滑，魚爛鳥散，人煙斷絕，荊榛蔽野。賊既乏食，啖人為儲，軍士四出，則鹽屍而從。關東郡邑，多被攻陷。唯趙犨兄弟守陳州，朱溫保汴州，城門之外，為賊疆場。汴帥與兗、鄆合勢，屢敗賊軍，凶勢日削。

In the third year of Zhonghe (883), when Huang Chao's forces fled east beyond the passes, Qin Zongquan fought them and met defeat; he then threw in his lot with the rebels. After Huang Chao's death Qin Zongquan rose up more violent than before: he declared himself emperor and installed a full roster of officials. He sent his generals on campaigns of ruin: Qin Yan ravaged the Jiang-Huai region; Qin Xian laid waste to Jiangnan; Qin Gao took Xiangyang; Sun Ru seized Meng, Luo, Shan, Guo, and pushed as far as Chang'an; Zhang Zhi overran Ru and Zheng; and Lu Tang attacked Bianzhou. Every rebel leader was ruthless and savage; wherever they marched they butchered the populace and put towns to the torch. From the western heartland to the farthest reaches of Qing and Qi, from the Jiang-Huai south to Wei and Hua north, the land lay in ruin: populations vanished, hearth fires went dark, and wild thorns choked the abandoned fields. When provisions ran short the rebels fed on human flesh laid up as rations; when columns marched out, they carried salted corpses in their train. City after city east of the passes fell to their assault. Only the Zhao brothers held out at Chenzhou, and Zhu Wen held Bianzhou; beyond their city gates lay nothing but rebel territory. The military governor of Bian, allied with Yan and Yun, repeatedly defeated the rebel armies, and their power daily declined.

龍紀元年二月，其愛將申叢執宗權，撾折其足，送於汴。朱溫出師迎勞，接之以禮。謂之曰：「下官屢以天子命達于公，如前年中翻然改圖，與下官同力勤王，則豈有今日之事乎？」宗權曰：「僕若不死，公何以興？天以僕霸公也。」略無懼色，乃檻送京師。昭宗御延喜樓受俘，京兆尹孫揆以組練礫之，徇於兩市。宗權檻中引頸謂揆曰：「尚書明鑒，宗權豈反者耶！但輸忠不效耳。」眾大笑。與妻趙氏俱斬于獨柳之下。

In the second month of the first year of Longji (889), his favorite general Shen Cong seized Qin Zongquan, beat his legs until they broke, and sent him to Bianzhou. Zhu Wen marched out to receive him with ceremony and courtesy. Zhu Wen said to him: "I have carried the emperor's orders to you again and again. Had you, as in the year before last, turned back to join me in serving the throne, we would not be here today. Qin Zongquan replied: "If I did not die, how could you rise? Heaven used me to make you great." He showed not a trace of fear and was sent to the capital in a prisoner cart. Emperor Zhaozong received the prisoner at Yanxi Tower. Sun Kui, metropolitan prefect of Jingzhao, had him pelted with stones bound in cord and paraded through both markets of the capital. From his cage Qin Zongquan craned his neck toward Sun Kui and cried: "Minister, judge clearly—I am no rebel! I only failed in my loyal service. The crowd roared with laughter. He and his wife Lady Zhao were beheaded below Duliuyu.

【評論】

Commentary

史臣曰：我唐之受命也，置器于安，千年惟永，百蠻響化，萬國來王。但否泰之無恆，故夷險之不一。三百算祀，二十帝王。雖時有竊邑叛君之臣。乘危徼幸之輩，莫不才興兵革，即就誅夷。其間沸騰，大盜三發，安祿山、朱泚、黃巢是也。

The historian writes: When the Tang received Heaven's mandate, the vessel of state was set in peace; the realm was to endure a thousand years, the hundred barbarians were to be transformed, and ten thousand kingdoms were to pay homage. Yet fortune and misfortune know no constancy, and safety and danger do not abide in one place. Three hundred years of reckoned reign, twenty emperors. Though from time to time there were men who seized territories and turned against their sovereigns, and opportunists who seized on crisis for private gain, none failed to take up arms only to be swiftly put to death. Among them three great rebels boiled up in succession: An Lushan, Zhu Ci, and Huang Chao.

夫謀危社稷，將害君親，轘裂瀦宮，未塞其罪，故不俟于多談也。然盜之所起，必有其來，且無問于天時，宜決之於人事。

Men who threatened the altars of state and would harm emperor and kin, who laid waste to the palace itself—their crimes admit no measure of punishment and need no lengthy debate. Yet wherever rebellion arises it has its causes; leaving aside the workings of Heaven, the answer lies in what men do.

祿山母為巫者，身是牙郎，偶緣微立邊功，遂至大加寵用，總知馬牧，特委兵權。愛天子之獨尊，與國忠之相忌，故不能以義制事，以禮制心，遂稱向闕之兵，以期非望之福，此所以為亂也！

Lushan's mother was a shaman and he himself a petty broker; by chance he won minor merit on the frontier and was showered with favor, given charge of the horse herds and entrusted with military authority. He resented the emperor's sole supremacy and feuded with Yang Guozhong; he could not govern his conduct by righteousness or his heart by ritual. He marched on the capital in the name of loyalty while reaching for fortune beyond his due—that is why he rebelled.

朱泚家本漁陽，性惟凶狡，耳習聞於篡奪，心本之于忠貞。暨弟為亂階，身留京邑，小不如意，別懷異圖。但樂荒雞之鳴，唯幸和鑾之動，緣幽帥之嘗因亂得，謂神器之可以徼求。

Zhu Ci's family came from Yuyang; his nature was fierce and cunning; his ears were filled with tales of usurpation, yet his heart was rooted in loyalty to the throne. When his brother became the stepping-stone to rebellion and he remained at the capital, the smallest grievance bred treason in his mind. He rejoiced at every rumor of unrest and prayed for the emperor's flight; because the Youzhou commanders had once won power through rebellion, he believed the throne itself could be seized by force.

黃巢亹茸微人，萑蒲賤類，因饑饉之歲，躡王、尚之蹤，志在奪攘，謀非遠大。一旦長驅江表，徑入關中，見五輅之蒙塵，謂寶命之在我。

Huang Chao was a nobody from the marshes and wastes; in years of famine he followed Wang Xianzhi and Shang Rang, bent on plunder rather than any grand design. When he swept through the south and drove straight into Guanzhong, seeing the imperial carriages in the dust, he believed the Mandate of Heaven was his.

必若玄宗采九齡之語，行三令之威，不然使祿山名位不高，委任得所，則群黎未必陷於塗炭，萬乘未必越於岷，峨。

Had Xuanzong heeded Zhang Jiuling and wielded the full authority of command—or had he kept Lushan's rank modest and his trust rightly placed—the people would not have been cast into ruin, and the emperor would not have fled beyond Min and E.

德宗能含垢匿瑕，不佳兵尚勇，不然則取李承之言，不委希烈伐叛，不然則取公輔之諫，早令朱泚就行，如此則未必有涇原之亂兵，未必有奉天之危急！

Had Dezong borne insult without rash war—or heeded Li Cheng and not entrusted Li Xilie with the campaign—or taken his ministers' advice and sent Zhu Ci away in time—there might have been no Jingyuan mutiny and no desperate flight to Fengtian.

僖宗能知人疾苦，惠彼困窮，不然則從鄭畋之謀，赦群偷之罪，如此則黃巢不必能犯順，鑾禦未必須省方。

Had Xizong understood the people's suffering and aided the destitute—or followed Zheng Tian and pardoned the rebel ranks—Huang Chao might never have marched on the capital, and the emperor might never have fled the realm.

蓋差之毫釐，失之千里。蛇螫不能斷腕，蟻穴所以壞堤。後之帝王，足為殷鑒！

A hair's breadth of error, and the loss is a thousand li. A serpent's bite will not make a man cut off his wrist; yet an anthill is enough to breach a dike. Let later emperors take this as a warning carved in bronze.

史朝義、秦宗權乘彼亂離，肆行暴虐，虔劉我郡邑，僭竊我衣裳，終雖滅亡，為害斯甚，茲亦沴氣之餘也。

Shi Chaoyi and Qin Zongquan exploited the chaos to run wild in cruelty, slaughtering our towns and donning our imperial robes; though they perished in the end, the harm they did was immense—another residue of the age's malignant air.

贊曰：天地否閉，反逆亂常。祿山犯闕，朱泚稱皇。賊巢陵突，群豎披攘。征其所以，存乎慢藏！

The appraisal runs: When heaven and earth fall out of harmony, rebels overturn the natural order. Lushan stormed the palace; Zhu Ci declared himself emperor. Huang Chao swept the realm; his rabble was broken and scattered. Seek the root of their rise, and it lies in contempt for what the storehouse holds dear.

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