Zhang Xun

Zhang Xun

Zhang Xun (November 24, 708-757) was born in Hedong, Puzhou (now Yongji, Shanxi). He was a famous official in the middle of Tang Dynasty.

At the end of the Kaiyuan period of Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty, Zhang Xunzhong was a Jinshi, and successively served as Prince Tongshi Sheren, Qinghe County Magistrate and Zhenyuan County Magistrate. During the an Shi rebellion, troops were set up to guard yongqiu and resist the rebels. In the second year of Zhide (757), Yin Ziqi, the head of the Anqing Xu faction, led his troops to invade Suiyang, a barrier between the Yangtze River and the Huaihe River. Zhang Xun and Xu Yuan defended Suiyang without food and grass inside and reinforcements outside. They fought for more than 400 times, causing heavy losses to the rebels. It effectively prevented the rebels from committing crimes in the south, covered the Yangtze River and Huaihe River, and guaranteed the security of the southeast of the Tang Dynasty. Finally, he was captured and killed because of the exhaustion of food and grass and the death of soldiers. Later, he was presented to the governor of Yangzhou and Deng Guogong.

In 848, Zhang Xun painted a statue in Lingyan Pavilion. In the Qing Dynasty, it was able to offer sacrifices to emperors of all dynasties.

Life of the characters

Early experience

Zhang Xun was born in the second year of Jinglong (708) of emperor Zhongzong of Tang Dynasty. He was well read since childhood and knew the art of war. When he was young, he was ambitious and did not care about details. He made friends with people with lofty ideals or generous elders, but hated to associate with vulgar people. At the end of the Kaiyuan period of Emperor Xuanzong of Tang Dynasty (741), Zhang Xunzhong became a Jinshi. At this time, his brother Zhang Xiao was already in the position of censor, and both of them were famous. Later, Zhang Xun served as the magistrate of Qinghe (now Qinghe, Hebei Province) as the crown prince. During his term of office, he had excellent achievements, integrity and loyalty. He was generous and generous in helping those who came to rely on him because of difficulties. After his term of office ended, Zhang Xun was recalled to Chang'an. At that time, when Yang Guozhong was in power, someone advised him to take refuge in Yang Guozhong, and he would certainly be reused. However, he refused and said, "this is a strange thing of the country. You can't be a Beijing official." So he was transferred to Zhenyuan County (now Luyi County in Henan Province) to be the magistrate again. At that time, there were many local tyrants and evil gentry in Zhenyuan County. Among them, the most rampant official was South China Jin, who bullied the people from time to time. There was a local ballad that "Jin Nankou, Ming Fu Shou". Soon after Zhang Xun took office, he took South China gold rope and executed him according to law. The rest of his party was pardoned, and all these people turned their back on the evil. Zhang Xun's political style is simple and popular.

Yongqiu resist the enemy

In the winter of the 14th year of Emperor Xuanzong of Tang Dynasty (755), an Shi rebellion broke out. A few months later, Anlu mountain captured Luoyang, the eastern capital, and called it emperor. Its name was "Dayan". Because the Tang Dynasty had been in peace for a long time, and Anlu mountain had been against it for a long time, some prefects and county magistrates were frightened by the momentum of the Yan army. In the 15th year of Tianbao, general Zhang Tonghuan of Yan army captured song, Cao and other prefectures. Yang Wanshi, the Taishou of Qiao County (now Bo County in Anhui Province), surrendered to Yan army, and Zhenyuan County was under the jurisdiction of Qiao County. Yang Wanshi descended to the enemy's rear, forced Zhang Xun to become a long history, and ordered him to meet the Yan army to the West. Zhang Xun was very angry when he learned about it. He led the officials and people to cry in the temple of emperor Xuanyuan of Zhenyuan. Then he set out to fight against the Yan army, and more than a thousand people responded. At this time, Emperor Xuanzong appointed Li Zhi, king of Wu, as the prefect of Lingchang (today's Huaxian East in Henan Province). He knew the soldiers and horses, and united them to fight against Anlu mountain. Shan Fu (now Shanxian County in Shandong Province) Wei Jia Ben, the son of Shi Xuan, who was assassinated by Langzhou, led the officers and soldiers first, called Wu Wangbing, to launch a counterattack against Songzhou. Zhang Tonghuan lost Xiangyi (now suixian County, Henan Province) and was killed by dunqiu Ling Lu Kai. After that, Jia Ben led his troops to yongqiu (now Qixian County, Henan Province) and joined Zhang Xun, with a total of more than 2000 soldiers. At this time, Linghu tide, the magistrate of yongqiu County, had led the whole county to the Yan army. The Yan army appointed Linghu Chao as its general and led his troops to the east to help Xiangyi. Linghu Chao defeated the Huaiyang army in Xiangyi, captured more than 100 officers and soldiers, and imprisoned them in yongqiu, ready to kill them. Linghu tide first went to see Yan Army General Li tingwang, Huaiyang soldiers captured the opportunity to kill the guards, yongqiu city suddenly chaos. Jia Ben and Zhang Xun were able to take advantage of the chaos to invade yongqiu and make HuChao abandon the city and escape. In February of the reign of emperor suzong of the Tang Dynasty to deyuanzai (756), Ling HuChao led the Yan army 15000 to recapture yongqiu, and there were no more than 3000 Tang troops in yongqiu. When Jia Ben went out to fight, he was defeated and died because of the great disparity of forces. Zhang Xun Chi fought decisively on horseback. He was wounded countless times, but he still fought hard to retreat from the enemy. After returning to the city, the soldiers pushed Zhang Xun as the main general. From then on, Zhang Xun also led Jia Ben's troops, claiming to be the vanguard envoy of Li Zhi, the king of Wu. Under the command of Zhang Xun, he repelled the Yan army's many charges, killing nearly ten thousand people in total, and the Tang soldiers also killed and injured more than one thousand people. Facing the resistance of the Tang army, he had no choice but to retreat. Li Zhiwen, the king of Wu, recommended Zhang Xun as the general manager of the Wei Xun yuan. In March of the same year, Linghu Chao, together with Yan generals Li huaixian, Yang Chaozong and Xie Yuantong, led more than 40000 soldiers to the city in an attempt to capture yongqiu city. At this time, there were about 2000 garrisons in yongqiu City, while there were 40000 opponents. The soldiers and the people in the city were greatly afraid. Therefore, Zhang Xun analyzed to all the officers and men: "the enemy knows the emptiness and reality of the city, and he has a light heart. If you don't want to go out today, you will be shocked and break down. If you take it, you will surely be broken. " After hearing this, the soldiers were greatly encouraged. Therefore, Zhang Xun sent 1000 people to be responsible for guarding the city, personally led 1000 people, divided into teams, and suddenly killed out of the city. Zhang Xun took the lead and went straight to the Yan army. Although the enemy troops were numerous, they were suddenly terrified and in great disorder, and the Yan army retreated. On the next day, the Yan army gathered again to attack the city. Around the city, a hundred stone cannons (catapults) were set up to bombard the city. All the towers and the low walls on the city were destroyed. Zhang Xun set up a wooden fence on the city to resist the attack of Yan army. The soldiers of the Yan army climbed out of the city one after another. Zhang Xun poured oil on a bunch of wormwood and burned it. The soldiers of the Yan army were afraid of being burned and did not dare to climb the city. Zhang Xun sometimes made a surprise attack on the city when the Yan army relaxed, and sometimes made a sneak attack on the enemy camp in the dead of night. In this way, Zhang Xun took the lead, ate with his armor, and fought with his wounds. He stayed in yongqiu for more than 60 days and experienced more than 300 battles. Ling Hu Chao saw that he could not take down yongqiu in a short time, so he had to withdraw his troops. When Zhang Xun learned that the Yan army was going to retreat, he led his troops to pursue after the victory. As expected, he made a great success. He captured more than 2000 rebels and almost captured Linghu Chao alive. The morale of yongqiu garrison was greatly boosted. Lin HuChao was very angry because he was defeated by the retreat, so he turned back and besieged Zhang Xun again. Linghu Chao and Zhang Xun were originally the magistrate of neighboring counties, and they were familiar with each other. Knowing that it was not easy for him to take down yongqiu, he wanted to lure Zhang Xun down. Linghu tide in the city as usual meet Zhang Xun mutual greetings, and take the opportunity to persuade in the city, said: "the world thing to carry on, foot stick to the dangerous city, who do you want to do?" Zhang Xun replied, "I promise myself to be loyal all my life. What's the point of loyalty today?" After listening to Linghu tide, he left in shame. By may, Zhang Xun and Linghu Chao had been locked up for more than 40 days. Linghu tide for a long time to attack, and add soldiers and generals. By this time, Chang'an had been lost and Tang Xuanzong had fled to Sichuan. As yongqiu had lost contact with the outside world, Zhang Xun did not know about this. Linghu tide took the opportunity to send a letter to surrender Zhang Xun, saying that the overall situation is irreparable, it is better to surrender early. After receiving the letter, Zhang Xun told the generals about the situation. Six generals wavered and demanded to surrender to the Yan army. The six believed that there was a great disparity between our forces and the enemy and that the situation was not good. Since the emperor's life and death were unknown, it was better to surrender as soon as possible. All of them were officials in Kaifu and tejin, and had considerable influence in the army. If six people want to surrender, the morale of the army will be shaken. So Zhang Xun pretended to promise that he would discuss it tomorrow. The next day, Zhang Xun placed a portrait of the emperor in the hall, led the soldiers to worship, and then announced the plan of six people to join the enemy. The whole army felt that their country was broken and their families were destroyed, so they were indignant and accused the six of their shameless acts. Zhang Xun took the six men to the front, accused them of unfaithfulness and disturbing the morale of the army, and immediately beheaded them. This has strengthened the morale of the army. Yongqiu was besieged for a long time, and the city was increasingly short of food. At this time, there were just hundreds of grain carriers for the Yan army. They had just stopped by the river, but they still had no grain to unload. When Zhang Xun found this situation in the city, he concentrated his troops to the south of the city at night, pretending to go to war. When Linghu Chao saw that the patrol troops were concentrated in the south of the city, he also transferred the troops to the south of the city to resist the patrol troops. After Zhang Xunzhi's Yan army was completely transferred to the south of the city, he sent warriors to the river quietly to take more than a thousand grains from the Yan army's grain ship, and then set fire to burn up the rest of the grain. Zhang Xunzhi stole the enemy's food, which made Hu Chao furious and ordered him to attack with all his strength. In recent days, in order to resist the attack of the Yan army, the yongqiu garrison soon shot all the prepared arrows. At this critical moment, Zhang Xun ordered the soldiers to put on the Scarecrows they had prepared in advance, tie them up with ropes, and slowly put them down from the city. Yan army vaguely saw hundreds of soldiers dressed in black climbing down the wall along the rope to report Linghu tide. Ling Hu Chao decided that Zhang Xun had sent troops to attack the city, so he ordered the soldiers to shoot the Tang army. For a time, the soldiers of Yan army fought to shoot until the sky turned white. Until daybreak, Yan Jun found that the walls were full of grass people. The grass man was full of arrows. During the day, they got hundreds of thousands of enemy arrows, which solved the problem of lack of arrows in the army. for several days after that, as in the previous night, grass people appeared on the wall. The soldiers of Linghu tide all laughed at Zhang Xun for repeating his old trick. So all the arrows didn't shoot. Gradually, the besieged Yan Army thought it was common for Zhang Xun to let the grass man down in the night, so they were no longer on guard. A few days later, Zhang Xun selected five hundred warriors and put them down at night. The soldiers of the Yan Army thought that the draftsman was still hanging from the city this time, and they were not on guard. Taking advantage of the enemy, the five hundred warriors suddenly killed the camp of Linghu tide. Yan army suddenly chaos, self collision trample, do not distinguish between ourselves and the enemy. Linghu tide ordered to gather people and horses, but in a hurry, it was no longer enough to organize resistance, and was killed by the Tang army. Linghu Chao's horse had been running away for more than ten miles before he could hold his ground. soon

Chinese PinYin : Zhang Xun