Li Shimin faked his death? Then I will be powerful enough to conquer the world!

In Chang'an in the first year of Jianzhong, the autumn wind blew dead leaves across the eaves of the Taiji Hall, and the copper bells on the eaves made intermittent whimpers in the wind, which was very much like the atmosphere of the capital at the moment.

The mottled parts of the palace walls were covered with moss, and the vermilion paint that was once used to show majesty had peeled off in large chunks, revealing the gray bricks and stones underneath - this was the imperial city of the Tang Dynasty that once attracted all nations to pay tribute, but now it was left in a desolate state.

Inside the hall, all the civil and military officials stood with their heads bowed, their purple robes and jade belts unable to hide their fatigue, and the dust on the soles of their boots seemed to still carry the smell of gunpowder from the wars between the feudal states.

Since the An-Shi Rebellion, the imperial court had long lost control over the local areas. The military governors had their own troops and withheld taxes. Even the food and wages in the capital were often cut off. The so-called "government orders cannot leave Chang'an" had long been a known helplessness to both the court and the people.

In this dead silence, there was a sound of dragging footsteps outside the hall.

A figure staggered into the hall. Everyone looked up and saw that the person was wearing a tattered linen shirt, covered in patches, revealing dark skin in places. The hems of his trousers were torn and stained with dirt and dust.

His hair was dry and yellow like grass, tied haphazardly behind his head with a hemp rope. His face was covered with wrinkles and weather frost, but his eyes were the only thing that shone surprisingly brightly in the dim hall, as if burning with an eternal fire.

The old man's eyes slowly swept over the people in the hall, his cracked lips slightly raised, revealing a bloodshot smile.

He cleared his already hoarse throat. His voice was not loud, but it exploded in the hall like a stone thrown into a calm lake: "The Anxi army has not surrendered, nor has it died. Anxi still belongs to the Tang Dynasty!"

This short sentence made all the civil and military officials in the court freeze in an instant.

Anxi, that name that was so distant and almost forgotten, now opened up everyone's dusty memories.

"You...what did you say?"

The Minister of Revenue asked in a trembling voice, his eyes full of disbelief.

The old man raised his hand, his bony fingers pointing westward, as if he could penetrate the palace walls and see the Gobi Desert thousands of miles away. "I am the grain officer for the Anxi Army. The Tibetans besieged us for three years. When our water supply was cut off, we drank snowwater. When we ran out of fodder, we boiled the leather from our armor. Soldiers died in droves, yet not a single one of us surrendered."

"Last month, the general sent someone to break out. After three months of marching and crossing three snow-capped mountains, we finally returned to Chang'an. The four Anxi towns, Qiuci, Yutian, Shule, and Yanqi, are still in our hands! The flag flying over the city walls is still the flag of the Great Tang Dynasty!"

As soon as he finished speaking, a burst of suppressed sobs suddenly broke out in the Tai Chi Hall.

Some people covered their faces with their hands, tears streaming from between their fingers; some people held onto the pillars of the palace, their bodies trembling uncontrollably; even the usually majestic prime minister had red eyes and turned his head away to wipe his eyes.

Now, the dynasty is declining and the feudal lords are fighting for power. They can only survive in the city of Chang'an. Even the news of an isolated army can make them lose their composure.

The old man looked at the scene before him, tears welling in his cloudy eyes. He slowly knelt down and kowtowed in the direction of the dragon throne: "As long as the Anxi Army survives, we will defend the Western Regions for the Tang Dynasty, waiting for Your Majesty to send troops, for the Central Plains to be stabilized, and for the Tang Dynasty's flag to be raised all over Hexi again!"

"Your Majesty, Chang'an is closer than the sun!"

However, the Anxi Army's perseverance ultimately failed to reverse the decline of the Tang Dynasty.

Time flies, and in the blink of an eye it is the first year of Qianfu, nearly a hundred years have passed since the first year of Jianzhong.

During these hundred years, the Tang Dynasty was like a huge ship drifting in a storm, and the eunuchs' power became increasingly serious. From Li Fuguo during the reign of Emperor Suzong to Qiu Shiliang and Tian Lingzi later, the eunuchs were even able to depose and enthrone emperors, and the court was filled with chaos.

The separatist rule of the feudal lords reached its peak. Jiedushi such as Zhu Wen and Li Keyong had hundreds of thousands of troops and attacked each other, causing unrest in the Central Plains. Coupled with years of famine, the Yellow River burst its banks, and locust plagues, the people had no harvest and could only sell their children. Refugees were everywhere, and people's livelihood was in extreme poverty.

Although Chang'an City is still the capital, it has long lost its former prosperity.

Most of the shops on Zhuque Street were closed, and the occasional pedestrian passing by was pale and thin, walking hurriedly. In the wine shops of Pingkangfang, the literati who used to recite poetry and write couplets were gone, leaving only a few down-and-out scholars, sighing over a pot of cheap rice wine.

One of them was a young man, wearing a washed-out blue shirt, with a thin face and a look of unyielding pride. He was Huang Chao, who had taken the imperial examinations several times but failed each time.

This time, he failed the exam again. Standing in front of the gate of Chang'an, looking at the towering yet dilapidated city walls, his heart was filled with resentment and unwillingness.

As the night deepened, Huang Chao came to the Qujiang Lake alone.

The surface of the pond had long lost the grand scene of "Drinking at the Qujiang River" during the Kaiyuan period. Dead branches and fallen leaves floated on the water, and the willow trees on the bank were withered and sparse. In the moonlight, he took out a pen from his bosom and wrote furiously on a broken wall.

With limited ink, I wrote down four lines of poetry: "Wait till autumn arrives on September 8th, when my flower blooms, all other flowers will die. The fragrance will soar through Chang'an, and the whole city will be covered in golden armor."

After finishing, he stared at the poem on the wall for a long time, then resolutely turned around and left Chang'an. He knew that the path to the imperial examination was a dead end, so he decided to find another way, a way to change this troubled world.

In the second year of Qianfu, Wang Xianzhi started an uprising in Puzhou and led refugees to capture Caozhou, Puzhou and other places with great momentum.

When Huang Chao heard the news, he immediately summoned thousands of refugees from his hometown to respond to Wang Xianzhi.

Although he was born a scholar, he had outstanding military talents, fought bravely, and knew how to appease the people. He soon became an important general in the rebel army.

He led his soldiers to fight in Henan, Shandong and other places. Every time he captured a city, he opened the granary to provide relief to the refugees. The people joined the rebel army one after another, and the team quickly grew to tens of thousands of people.

However, the rebels were not united.

Under the temptation of the court's amnesty, Wang Xianzhi wavered for a while and wanted to accept the official position of "Left Shence Army Yaya" and give up the uprising.

Huang Chao was furious when he learned of this and confronted Wang Xianzhi, "We rebelled against the Tang Dynasty to save the people of the world from disaster. Now you are accepting the amnesty. Have you forgotten those brothers who followed us through thick and thin, and those people who were oppressed to death by the government?"

Wang Xianzhi was speechless after being asked this question. Although he finally refused the amnesty, a rift arose between him and Huang Chao.

Soon after, the two men split up and fought separately. Huang Chao led a force to fight in the south, while Wang Xianzhi continued to fight in the Central Plains.

In the fifth year of Qianfu, Wang Xianzhi fought a decisive battle with the Tang army in Huangmei and was unfortunately killed in the battle. The rebel army was leaderless and fell into chaos.

At this time, Huang Chao was attacking Qianzhou. After learning the news, he immediately led his troops north and gathered the remnants of Wang Xianzhi.

With the recommendation of everyone, Huang Chao became the new leader of the uprising army, known as the "General Chongtian".

He reorganized the army and formulated the strategy of "avoiding the strong and attacking the weak". He avoided the main force of the Tang army and led the army south, crossed the Yangtze River, captured Qianzhou, Jizhou, Raozhou and other places, and then moved to western Zhejiang and Fujian, and even captured Guangzhou.

In Guangzhou, Huang Chao issued a manifesto, denouncing the crimes of the eunuchs' autocracy and the corruption of officials in the Tang Dynasty, and proposed "banning provincial governors from accumulating property and executing county magistrates who commit corruption", which won widespread support from the people.

In the first year of Guangming, Huang Chao believed that the time was ripe and led a large army to the north. Starting from Guilin, he went north along the Xiangjiang River and captured Tanzhou. He then broke through the Tang army's Yangtze River defense line and captured Ezhou, Raozhou, Xinzhou and other places.

The Tang army was defeated one after another, and the rebel army advanced all the way to Chang'an.

In December of the same year, Huang Chao led the rebel army to capture Tongguan, and the Tang army guarding the pass fled.

When the news reached Chang'an, Emperor Xizong of Tang was terrified. Under the escort of the eunuch Tian Lingzi, he secretly fled Chang'an with a few concubines and ministers and fled to Chengdu.

Huang Chao led the rebel army into Chang'an in a mighty force, and the people lined the streets to welcome him.

He rode a tall horse, wearing golden armor, followed by hundreds of thousands of rebels, just as he wrote on the wall of Chang'an that year: "The whole city is covered with golden armor."

After entering Chang'an, Huang Chao ascended the throne in Hanyuan Hall and established the "Da Qi" regime with the reign title "Jintong".

He ordered the execution of all officials above the third rank.

The streets of heaven are full of the bones of nobles.

However, after the rebels gained a foothold in Chang'an, they gradually lost their way.

The generals began to indulge in pleasure, the soldiers' discipline was lax, and even plundered the people. Although Huang Chao was aware of this, he was unable to stop it, and the fighting power of the uprising army gradually declined.

At the same time, Emperor Xizong of Tang, who had fled to Chengdu, mobilized troops from various vassal states to encircle and suppress the rebels.

Zhu Wen was originally a general under Huang Chao, but surrendered to the Tang Dynasty at a critical moment. He was named "General of the Left Jinwu Guard" and given the name "Quanzhong" by Emperor Xizong of Tang.

Zhu Wen led the Tang army in a fierce battle with Huang Chao. The rebel army suffered repeated defeats and gradually fell into despair.

In the third year of Zhonghe, Huang Chao was forced to lead the rebel army out of Chang'an and fight in Henan, Shandong and other places.

In the fourth year of Zhonghe, Huang Chao was surrounded by Tang troops in Langhu Valley of Mount Tai. With nowhere else to go, he drew his sword and committed suicide.

At this point, although the Huang Chao Uprising, which lasted for ten years, failed, it dealt the crumbling Tang Dynasty the heaviest blow - the rebels fought across most of China, captured Chang'an, shook the foundation of the Tang Dynasty's rule, and made the already divided vassal states even more unscrupulous, laying the groundwork for the eventual demise of the Tang Dynasty.

After the Huang Chao Uprising, the Tang Dynasty's rule was in name only.

The feudal lords attacked each other and fought for territory. Chang'an was captured many times and the emperor was forced to flee the capital again and again. It is recorded in history that "the capital was destroyed six times and the emperor fled nine times."

In the first year of the Guangqi reign, the eunuch Tian Lingzi competed with the governor of Hezhong, Wang Chongrong, for the profits from salt. Wang Chongrong, in conjunction with the governor of Hedong, Li Keyong, led an army to attack Chang'an. Emperor Xizong of Tang fled again, and Chang'an was looted by the rebels, with the palaces burned down.

In the first year of Wende, Emperor Xizong of Tang died of illness, and Emperor Zhaozong of Tang ascended the throne. He tried to revive the government, but was sidelined by the local military governors and was controlled by military governors such as Zhu Wen and Li Maozhen, like a puppet.

In the first year of Tianfu, Li Maozhen led his army to capture Chang'an, and Emperor Zhaozong of Tang was abducted to Fengxiang.

In the third year of Tianfu, Zhu Wen defeated Li Maozhen and brought Emperor Zhaozong of Tang back to Chang'an. He then moved him to Luoyang and sent people to kill him, and established Emperor Aizong of Tang as a puppet emperor.

Although the Tang Dynasty had declined to such an extent, it still had an awe-inspiring character.

Those opponents who once humiliated the Tang Dynasty eventually paid a heavy price.

After the Anshi Rebellion, Tubo took the opportunity to capture Hexi and Longyou, and even captured Chang'an in the first year of Guangde, and supported Li Chenghong as a puppet emperor.

However, Tubo was plagued by internal conflicts, with nobles fighting against each other. In addition, the country was constantly fighting with the Tang Dynasty and the Uighurs, and its national strength gradually declined.

Later, the Tubo general Lun Kongre launched a rebellion and fought a long-term war with Shang Bibi, which led to the disintegration of Tubo.

In the second year of Dazhong, Lun Kongre was defeated by another Tibetan general, Tuoba Huaiguang. His head was cut off and sent to Chang'an.

Emperor Xuanzong of Tang ordered that Lun Kongre's head be hung on the streets of Chang'an to comfort the Tang soldiers and civilians who died in the Tubo invasion.

The Uighurs were once a strong enemy of the Tang Dynasty. During the An-Shi Rebellion, the Uighurs sent troops to help the Tang Dynasty suppress the rebellion, but they took this opportunity to extort money and property from the Tang Dynasty and even looted the city of Chang'an.

Later, internal strife broke out in the Uighurs, and the Kyrgyz took the opportunity to attack the Uighurs. The Uighur Khanate was destroyed, and some Uighurs moved westward and established regimes such as the Ganzhou Uighurs and the Xizhou Uighurs.

In the first year of Tianfu, the Ganzhou Uighur Khan Wujie Khan led his army to invade the Tang Dynasty, but was defeated by the Tang general Li Sizhao. Wujie Khan was killed and his head was also sent to Chang'an and hung for public display.

The Nanzhao Kingdom also violated the border many times. Since the reign of Emperor Xuanzong of Tang, Nanzhao had been at war and at peace with the Tang Dynasty. It repeatedly captured Yaozhou, Xizhou and other places of the Tang Dynasty, posing a huge threat to the southwestern border of the Tang Dynasty.

In the later period of the Nanzhao Kingdom, the rulers were licentious and immoral, and the people complained bitterly. In addition, the long-term wars with the Tang Dynasty and Tubo exhausted the national strength.

In the second year of Tianfu, Zheng Maisi, a powerful official of the Nanzhao Kingdom, launched a coup, killed the Nanzhao King Longshun, and then killed more than 800 members of the Nanzhao royal family, destroyed the Nanzhao Kingdom, and established the Dachanghe Kingdom.

The ancestral temples and royal tombs of the Nanzhao Kingdom were also ordered to be demolished by Zheng Maisi, and completely disappeared in the dust of history.

The Tang Dynasty was like an old lion. Even on the verge of death, it would not tolerate provocation from its opponents.

Even in its final years, people still supported the Tang Dynasty. After Zhu Wen took control of Emperor Aizong of Tang, he attempted to usurp the throne, but was opposed by both the government and the people.

Many ministers would rather be exiled or killed than to follow Zhu Wen; although the people suffered from the war, they still missed the prosperity of the Tang Dynasty, and the saying "The Tang Dynasty's reign has not yet ended" was circulated among the people.

In the fourth year of Tianyou, Zhu Wen could no longer bear it and forced Emperor Aizong of Tang to abdicate, establishing the Later Liang regime. The Tang Dynasty officially perished.

Emperor Aizong of Tang was deposed as King of Jiyin and was soon killed by Zhu Wen's men.

But even after its demise, the Tang Dynasty still left behind an immortal legend.

Its strength is not only reflected in its vast territory and prosperous economy, but also in its cultural confidence and spiritual character.

If the emperors of the Tang Dynasty were heroic rulers, then Emperor Taizong of Tang, Li Shimin, during the "Zhenguan Reign", humbly accepted advice, appointed talented people, and created a prosperous era in which all nations came to pay tribute. During the Kaiyuan period, Emperor Xuanzong of Tang, Li Longji, worked hard to govern the country and pushed the prosperity of the Tang Dynasty to its peak, which is known in history as the "Kaiyuan Prosperity".

If the military generals of the Tang Dynasty were considered to be fierce generals, then Li Jing destroyed the Eastern Turks in the north and defeated the Tuyuhun in the west, making great military achievements. Guo Ziyi quelled the Anshi Rebellion and recovered Chang'an and Luoyang, and was praised as a hero who "rebuilt the Tang Dynasty."

If the women of the Tang Dynasty were role models, then Wu Zetian broke tradition and became the only female emperor in Chinese history, demonstrating extraordinary political talent; women such as Princess Taiping and Shangguan Wan'er also left their mark on the political stage. They were magnanimous, confident, graceful and elegant, breaking the shackles of traditional ethics on women.

If the poets of the Tang Dynasty are the benchmarks, then Li Bai's unrestrained and free-spirited "When life is happy, you should enjoy it to the fullest, and don't let the golden cup face the moon in vain", Du Fu's concern for the country and the people "I wish I had thousands of mansions to shelter all the poor people in the world", and Wang Wei's majestic and magnificent "A lone smoke rises straight in the desert, the setting sun is round in the long river" have all become immortal classics in the history of Chinese literature.

The Tang Dynasty was so powerful that later generations felt that it should not decline, and even that it was impossible for it to decline.

Its strength stems from its open and inclusive mind - it accepted cultures from all over the world and absorbed foreign technologies, making Chang'an the most prosperous international metropolis in the world at that time.

Its strength comes from the spirit of respecting literature and advocating martial arts - scholars can write poems, military generals can ride horses and kill enemies, the emperor and his subjects are of one mind, and the people live in peace and happiness.

However, it was precisely this strength that made the Tang Dynasty gradually become arrogant and complacent. In the later years of Emperor Xuanzong of Tang, he indulged in pleasure and neglected state affairs, which eventually triggered the Anshi Rebellion, which became the turning point of the Tang Dynasty's decline.

Some people say that the Tang Dynasty was defeated by itself.

Indeed, the eunuchs' autocracy, the separatist rule of the feudal lords, and the corruption of officials were all internal problems of the Tang Dynasty, which ultimately led to the demise of the dynasty.

But even so, the Tang Dynasty still showed tenacious vitality in its last years - the Anxi Army held the Western Regions for fifteen years, the Huang Chao Uprising shook the foundation of the Tang Dynasty's rule, and those opponents who humiliated the Tang Dynasty were eventually avenged.

Every dynasty will perish, including the Tang Dynasty, but the Tang Dynasty is really as Mr. Qi said.

The Tang Dynasty never cared.

(Complete the book!)