釋氏稽古略 3.288

3.288

時東昌路濮（音卜）州人王仙芝。始聚眾數千人起於長垣。二年黃巢亦聚眾千餘人應王仙芝。巢少時與仙芝皆以販私鹽為事。巢善騎射喜任俠粗涉書傳。屢舉進士不第。遂為盜與仙芝攻剽州縣橫行山東。民之困於重斂也爭歸之。數月之間眾至數萬。乾符五年。招討使曾元裕大破王仙芝於黃梅追斬仙芝。黃巢方攻亳州。仙芝餘黨尚讓者帥其餘眾歸巢。推巢為主。號衝天大將軍。稱王霸元年署官屬陷福建。乾符六年冬巢來襄陽。十一月山南東道節度使與江西招討使曹全晸（時正切）合兵。屯荊門以拒之。戰敗北至江陵俘斬其什七八。巢與尚讓收餘眾渡江東走。巢勢復振。轉掠饒信池宣歙杭等十五州。眾至二十萬。廣明元年十一月巢陷東都（洛陽也）。十二月壬午巢兵攻潼關。關上兵皆潰。中官田令孜奉帝自金光門出。惟福穆澤壽四王及妃嬪數人從行。百官皆莫之知。巢入長安。帝幸興元乃入蜀。庚寅巢殺唐宗室在長安者。壬辰巢即皇帝位。國號大齊。稱金統元年。中和二年。巢所署同州防禦使朱溫屢請巢益兵以捍河中。不報。溫見巢兵勢日蹙知其將亡。親將胡真謝瞳勸溫歸國。九月溫殺其監軍嚴實舉州降。諸道行營都統王鐸承制以溫為同華節度使。未幾賜名全忠。河中留後王重榮行營都監楊復光東面宣慰使王徽諸道行營都統王鐸議討賊。復光曰。雁門李僕射（克用也）驍勇有強兵召之來賊不足平也。時王鐸在河中。乃以墨勅召李克用。十一月克用將沙陀（始見懿宗感通九年）萬七千人趣河中。中和三年三月。克用進軍渭橋與巢軍戰於渭南。賊兵大敗奔走。四月克用自光泰門入京師。巢力戰不勝焚宮室遁去。克用時年二十八歲。破巢復長安功第一。詔以克用為河東節度使。中和四年春二月巢走圍陳州。李克用率汴徐𫋴之軍以救之。五月巢引兵東北趣汴州。克用追及巢於中牟奮擊大破之。巢將尚讓帥其眾降克用。克用追至冤句（巢居之邑）糧盡乃還汴州營於城外。朱全忠固請入城館於上原驛。全忠置酒克用乘酒語頗侵之。全忠不平發兵圍驛而攻之。克用縋城得出。六月武寧將李師悅等追巢至瑕丘敗之。巢眾殆盡走至狼虎谷巢甥林言斬巢兄弟妻子首以降。巢始起於乾符二年至中和四年七月滅（唐書）。

At that time, Wang Xianzhi, a man of Pu Prefecture in Dongchang Circuit, first gathered a crowd of several thousand men and rose in revolt in Changyuan. In the second year, Huang Chao also gathered a crowd of over a thousand men to respond to Wang Xianzhi. In their youth, both Chao and Xianzhi had engaged in the illicit salt trade. Chao was skilled at mounted archery, liked knight-errantry, and dabbled in historical records. He repeatedly sat for the jinshi examination without passing, and thereupon became an outlaw, joining Xianzhi in attacking and pillaging prefectures and counties, running rampant in Shandong. Because the people were distressed by heavy taxation, they vied to submit to him; within a few months, his host reached tens of thousands. In the fifth year of Qianfu, the Pacification Commissioner Zeng Yuanyu heavily defeated Wang Xianzhi at Huangmei, pursuing and beheading Xianzhi. Huang Chao was just then attacking Bo Prefecture. A remnant confederate of Xianzhi, Shang Rang, led the remainder of his host to submit to Chao, acclaiming Chao as leader with the title 'Heaven-Soaring Generalissimo,' proclaiming the first year of Wangba, appointing officials and subordinates, and capturing Fujian. In the winter of the sixth year of Qianfu, Chao came to Xiangyang. In the eleventh month, the military commissioner of the Eastern Shannan Circuit combined forces with the Jiangxi Pacification Commissioner Cao Quanzheng, stationing troops at Jingmen to resist him; they fought, and [Chao] fled north to Jiangling, where seven or eight out of ten of his men were captured or beheaded. Chao and Shang Rang gathered the remnants of their host, crossed the Yangtze River, and fled eastward. Chao's power revived; turning to plunder, he ravaged fifteen prefectures including Rao, Xin, Chi, Xuan, She, and Hang, his host reaching two hundred thousand. In the eleventh month of the first year of Guangming, Chao captured the Eastern Capital (Luoyang). In the twelfth month, on the renwu day, Chao's troops attacked Tong Pass; the troops defending the pass all collapsed. The eunuch Tian Lingzi escorted the Emperor out through the Jinguang Gate, accompanied only by the four princes of Fu, Mu, Ze, and Shou, and several imperial consorts; none of the civil and military officials knew of it. Chao entered Chang'an. The Emperor went to Xingyuan and then entered Shu. On the gengyin day, Chao slaughtered members of the Tang imperial house who were in Chang'an. On the renchen day, Chao ascended the imperial throne, naming his state the Great Qi and proclaiming the first year of Jintong. In the second year of Zhonghe, Zhu Wen, who had been appointed by Chao as the defense commissioner of Tong Prefecture, repeatedly requested Chao to send additional troops to guard Hezhong, but received no response. Seeing that the strength of Chao's forces was diminishing daily and knowing that his downfall was imminent, Wen was urged by his personal generals Hu Zhen and Xie Tong to return his allegiance to the dynasty. In the ninth month, Wen killed his army supervisor Yan Shi and surrendered his entire prefecture. Wang Duo, Commander-in-Chief of the Expeditionary Armies of the Various Circuits, acting on imperial authority, appointed Wen as the military commissioner of Tonghua; before long, he was bestowed the name Quanzhong. Wang Chongrong, the retain-behind commissioner of Hezhong, Yang Fuguang, the expeditionary army supervisor, Wang Hui, the pacification commissioner of the East, and Wang Duo, the commander-in-chief of the expeditionary armies of the various circuits, deliberated on suppressing the rebels. Fuguang said, 'Vice Director Li of Yanmen (Keyong) is valiant and possesses strong troops; if we summon him, the bandits will be easy to quell.' At that time, Wang Duo was in Hezhong, so he summoned Li Keyong with an ink-brushed imperial decree. In the eleventh month, Keyong led seventeen thousand Shatuo troops (first seen in the ninth year of Yizong's Xiantong) and hastened to Hezhong. In the third month of the third year of Zhonghe, Keyong advanced his army to the Wei Bridge and engaged Chao's forces south of the Wei River; the rebel army was heavily defeated and fled. In the fourth month, Keyong entered the capital via the Guangtai Gate. Chao fought hard but could not prevail; setting fire to the palaces, he fled. Keyong was twenty-eight years old at the time; his merit in crushing Chao and restoring Chang'an was foremost. An imperial edict appointed Keyong as the military commissioner of Hedong. In the spring of the fourth year of Zhonghe, in the second month, Chao fled and besieged Chen Prefecture. Li Keyong led the armies of Bian, Xu, and other prefectures to rescue it. In the fifth month, Chao led his troops northeast toward Bian Prefecture; Keyong caught up with Chao at Zhongmu and launched a fierce attack, heavily defeating him. Chao's general Shang Rang led his host to surrender to Keyong. Keyong pursued him as far as Wanju (the district where Chao had lived); running out of grain, he returned to Bian Prefecture and encamped outside the city walls. Zhu Quanzhong firmly invited him to enter the city and lodge at the Shangyuan Relay Station. Quanzhong set out wine; Keyong, taking advantage of the wine, spoke quite insolently to him. Quanzhong was offended, mobilized troops to surround the relay station, and attacked it; Keyong was let down the city wall by rope and managed to escape. In the sixth month, the Wuning general Li Shiyue and others pursued Chao to Xiaqiu and defeated him; Chao's host was nearly wiped out, and he fled to the Langhu Valley. Chao's nephew Lin Yan beheaded Chao, his brothers, wives, and children, and presented their heads in surrender. Chao first arose in the second year of Qianfu and was extinguished in the seventh month of the fourth year of Zhonghe (Old Book of Tang).