History of Tang: The beginning and end of the pacification of the town of Pinglu Domain
preface
On the barren loess, all we see is a layer of fog that buries the truth, and the beam of light cannot penetrate. But after peeling back the layers of fog, we will see a whole new history.
cause
Li Shidao's confrontation with the Tang Dynasty: In 818, Tang Xianzong pacified several feudal towns, but Pinglu Li Shidao did not submit to the imperial court.
▲Li Shidao
outcome
Emperor Xianzong of Tang pacified Pinglu: In 819, Li Shidao was killed and Pinglu returned to the imperial court.
▲ Tang Xianzong
disposal
1. Pinglu
During the Tang Dynasty, the feudal towns were seriously divided, especially after the Anshi Rebellion, the power of the feudal towns was gradually strengthened, and in the later period, there were even frequent rebellions in the feudal towns, forcing the emperor out of Chang'an.
However, in the many histories of the Tang Dynasty, he was not blindly bullied by the forces of the clan towns, and there were also emperors who successfully recovered the various clan towns, he was Tang Xianzong.
Under the leadership of Tang Xianzong, all the feudal towns in various places were submitted to the imperial court, but among them, Pinglu did not choose to submit, but Pinglu Jiedushi was against the imperial court, and on the surface it seemed to obey the imperial court's arrangements, but did not do so behind his back.
The emperor naturally could also see it, so the emperor decided to send troops to conquer Pinglu, but at this time there was a new problem in front of Tang Xianzong, that is, if the army was sent to conquest, then the court's opponent Huaixi Jiedushi was likely to unite with Pinglu Jiedushi.
At that time, the military strength of the imperial court was also insufficient, and it was easy to have a situation of failure, which would greatly reduce the majesty of the Tang Dynasty, so Tang Xianzong thought of peacefully solving the problem, and it was best not to use force.
▲ Huaixi Jiedushi envoy
2. Li Shidao's rebellion
However, after Huaixi was recaptured, Tang Xianzong had another layer of confidence in Pinglu, and at this time the emperor still decided to adopt a huairou policy, and it was best not to start a war.
So the first lobby began, and the imperial court sent an official Zhang Su, hoping to persuade Pinglu Jiedu to make Li Shidao submit to the imperial court. At this time, Li Shidao was also troubled by many troubles, on the one hand, he was worried that after the surrender, the imperial court would settle the account after the autumn; on the other hand, he was worried that if he did not return, he would fight each other.
If a fight really broke out, Pinglu would not necessarily be able to win the battle against the imperial court. Moreover, for the sake of his own rights, Li Shidao even sent people to assassinate the prime minister Wu Yuanheng, and with this article, he did not necessarily have good fruit to eat after returning to the imperial court.
▲ Wu Yuanheng
Moreover, he had also launched a rebellion in Luoyang, so remembering what he had done, Li Shidao felt unforgivable, and at this time he was also thinking about how to choose in the end.
The first lobbying was naturally unsuccessful, and the emperor decided to send someone to Pinglu again to persuade Li Shidao. At this time, Li Shidao remembered what he had done and felt that the emperor would definitely not bypass him, so he decided to rebel, and this time in the face of the people sent by the imperial court, Li Shidao was no longer kind to receive, but instead sent troops to line up.
Li Shidao's move was to demonstrate to the imperial court, and this time the officials who came to lobby were not stupid, and naturally saw Li Shidao's thoughts, so he returned to Chang'an and told Tang Xianzong about Li Shidao's actions and thoughts.
At this time, Tang Xianzong found that Pinglu still needed to use force, and Li Shidao did not listen to persuasion at all, so the idea of a peaceful solution still failed.
Subsequently, Tang Xianzong listed Li Shidao's evil deeds and mistakes one by one, and this time the emperor decided to send troops to fight, and he certainly could not spare Pinglu.
▲ Tang Dynasty fan town
3. Abandon the dark and cast the light
Seeing that the emperor was so careful, the civil and military officials naturally could not drag their feet, so they also decided to recruit Li Shidao.
In order to be able to successfully defeat Li Shidao, Tang Xianzong specially sent Li Guangyan and others to surround Li Shidao from five directions, including west, south, and north.
It has to be said that the power of the Tang Dynasty army is strong, and after a few rounds, Li Shidao's team was scattered by the Tang Army, which led to the demoralization of Li Shidao's soldiers.
▲ Pingding Pinglu
Because fighting a war requires money, at this time Li Shidao let his men collect money from the merchants, but he did not expect that this subordinate treated the merchants with generosity, never took the opportunity to rob money, but was friendly to people, which made Li Shidao dissatisfied.
Other of Li Shidao's subordinates took the opportunity to say that this person was buying people's hearts and minds and should be eradicated to prevent future troubles. Li Shidao thought about it and felt very right, after all, if such a person surrendered and rebelled, he would be a threat to Li Shidao.
As a result, the wind leaked out, and the thing that Li Shidao was most worried about happened, and his men believed that Li Shidao was forcing people to die by doing this, so everyone decided to betray Li Shidao.
The people who betrayed Li Shidao began to attack Li Shidao's mansion in the middle of the night, and when they entered Li Shidao's mansion, they began to look for Li Shidao, and finally found it under the bed.
Li Shidao did not die at the hands of the imperial court, but at the hands of his own people. As soon as Li Shidao died, Pinglu returned to the imperial court and became a member of the imperial court.
▲Pinglu Fan Town
brief summary
After the town of Pinglu was pacified, the imperial court divided it into three, and Pinglu's power was also weakened.
【References】
1. Old Book of Tang
2. General History of China