黄巢的一生行迹（820-884）
黄巢，曹州冤句（今山东菏泽）人，唐末农民起义领袖。出身盐商家庭，屡试不第，遂以贩盐为业。乾符二年率众起义，转战南北，广明元年攻入长安，建大齐政权。后兵败退至泰山狼虎谷，兵败自刎。其《菊花》诗流传千古。
菏泽（820） · 菏泽少时
唐宪宗元和十五年（820年），黄巢出生于曹州冤句（今山东菏泽），其家以贩盐为业，家境尚可。黄巢自幼聪慧，善骑射，粗通笔墨。少年时他便展现出不同寻常的抱负和才干，对当时的社会不公深为不满。
长安（845） · 科场失意
唐武宗会昌五年前后，黄巢前往长安应进士试，但屡试不第。他在长安亲眼目睹了晚唐政治的腐败和社会的贫富悬殊，内心极为愤慨。科场的失意使他对唐王朝彻底失望，回到家乡后以贩盐为业。
菏泽（875） · 举兵起义
唐僖宗乾符二年，王仙芝在长垣起义，黄巢在冤句聚众数千人响应。黄巢以贩盐时积累的组织能力，迅速扩大了起义队伍。他提出了"平均"的口号，深得贫苦百姓拥护，队伍很快发展到数万人。
广州（879） · 举兵起义
唐僖宗乾符六年，黄巢率军南下，攻占广州。在广州，他发布文告声讨唐朝暴政，号召天下共讨之。然而南方水土不服，军中疫病流行，士兵死亡甚众，黄巢被迫率军北返。
洛阳（880） · 举兵起义
唐僖宗广明元年，黄巢率北返大军攻占东都洛阳。洛阳为唐朝陪都，黄巢在此休整数日，整顿军备，随后挥师西进直取长安。洛阳百姓初闻义军至，多有恐慌，但黄巢严令军纪，禁止劫掠。
长安（880） · 攻入长安
唐僖宗广明元年十二月，黄巢率六十万大军攻入长安，唐僖宗仓皇出逃。黄巢在长安即皇帝位，国号大齐，建元金统。他试图建立一个新政权，但因缺乏治国经验和人才，加之唐朝残余势力的反扑，局势很快恶化。
长安（882） · 攻入长安
唐僖宗中和二年，唐朝各路勤王军队围攻长安，黄巢军在城中粮尽援绝，形势急转直下。大将朱温叛降唐朝，给了黄巢致命一击。黄巢被迫率残部退出长安，一路向东溃退。
泰安（884） · 兵败身亡
唐僖宗中和四年，黄巢兵败退至泰山狼虎谷（今山东莱芜），兵尽粮绝。据传黄巢在此自刎而亡（一说为其甥林言所杀），享年六十五岁。轰轰烈烈的黄巢起义就此落幕，但它沉重打击了唐王朝的根基，加速了唐朝的灭亡。
The Life Journey of Huang Chao, the Chrysanthemum Rebel
Huang Chao (820-884), salt-merchant's son of Caozhou, failed the examinations twice and swore on chrysanthemums: 'when I come in the eighth month, the whole city in golden armor.' Leader of the greatest rebellion of the late Tang, he took Chang'an in 880 and named his dynasty Qi — then lost everything to famine, betrayal and the Wolf-Tiger Valley.
Timeline of the Journey
- 820 · 菏泽 — Born to a salt-trading family in Yuanju of Caozhou; quick, horseman and bowman, brushwork passable — and ambitions far past either.
- 845 · 长安 — Failed jinshi in Chang'an; the examinations closed, the salt-smuggling roads opened. 'The west wind fills the courtyard, the house cold with coreopsis.'
- 875 · 菏泽 — When Wang Xianzhi rose at Changyuan, Huang Chao raised thousands in Yuanju overnight, his salt networks becoming regiments — 'if I were the blue-lord of another day.'
- 879 · 广州 — Down to the sea and Guangzhou: manifesto against the court's misrule, epidemic in his southern army — turn north again with the whole coast behind him.
- 880 · 洛阳 — The eastern capital taken, discipline held for a moment; then west by the hundred thousand — Luoyang behind, Chang'an ahead.
- 880 · 长安 — December 880: the emperor fled, Huang Chao entered, mounted the throne of Great Qi with the Golden Unity reign — the salt clerk as Son of Heaven.
- 882 · 长安 — The relief armies closed in, grain gone, Zhu Wen defected with his whole command — the last winter in the burning capital, then retreat east.
- 884 · 泰安 — Run to ground in the Wolf-Tiger Valley below Mount Tai; by the histories his own blade, by others his nephew's — the chrysanthemum rebel, sixty-five.
'When the autumn festival comes on the eighth month, my flowers will bloom and every other flower die.' Whether poet or destroyer, Huang Chao wrote it and the Tang never outlived him by much.
