Rebellions of Zhu Ci, Li Huaiguang, and Li Xilie
On November 2, 783, soldiers from Jingyuan Circuit, at Chang'an to be deployed to the battlefield to the east, rebelled when they became angry that they were not only not given rewards that they believed they deserved, but were being fed a vegetarian diet, mutinied. They attacked the palace, and Emperor Dezong fled with his family to Xianyang (咸陽, in modern Xianyang, Shaanxi), and then to Fengtian (奉天, in modern Xianyang). The soldiers supported Zhu Tao's brother Zhu Ci — who had previously been a major general and who had been the military governor of Jingyuan Circuit at one point but who was removed from his command due to Zhu Tao's rebellion — as their leader. Zhu Ci soon declared himself emperor of a new state of Qin. Many Tang officials surrendered to Zhu and served in his administration, although many fled to Fengtian to join Emperor Dezong.
Zhu Ci personally led an army and put Fengtian under siege for more than a month, and the small city nearly fell. Meanwhile, Li Huaiguang, hearing of what had happened at Chang'an, marched his army from Weibo as quickly as possible toward Fengtian. Zhu, hearing of Li's impending arrival, first attacked Fengtian even more severely but still could not capture it, and with Li arriving, Zhu withdrew back to Chang'an on December 18.
However, in the aftermaths of Li's saving him, Emperor Dezong offended Li by refusing to meet him, but instead ordering him to rendezvous with several other generals — Li Sheng (who had also marched toward Fengtian), Li Jianhui (李建徽), and Yang Huiyuan (楊惠元) — to recapture Chang'an. (This was at Lu Qi's suggestion, as Lu knew that Li Huaiguang despised him and, if he were allowed to meet the emperor, would surely accuse him and his associates Zhao Zan (趙贊) and Bai Zhizhen (白志貞) of crimes.) Li Huaiguang became disaffected, but submitted petitions demanding the dismissals of Lu and his associates. As a result, Lu, Bai, and Zhao were exiled.
At Lu Zhi's suggestion, on January 27, 784 (Chinese New Year), Emperor Dezong issued a pardon blaming himself for provoking the rebellions and pardoning all of the warlords and their soldiers, with the only exception of Zhu Ci personally, and further exempting the soldiers involved in the campaign against Zhu Ci from taxes. Upon receiving the pardons, Wang Wujun, Tian Yue, and Li Na renounced their princely titles and reclaimed allegiance to Tang; in turn, Emperor Dezong made them military governors of their own circuits. However, Li Xilie reacted by declaring himself the emperor of a new state of Chu, while Zhu Tao headed south, attempting to join Zhu Ci. When Tian refused to join him, he attacked Weibo, but was unable to immediately capture it. With Tian Yue subsequently assassinated and succeeded by his cousin Tian Xu, Zhu Tao initially attempted to persuade Tian Xu to join him, but Tian eventually reentered an alliance with Wang and Li Baozhen and resisted Zhu Tao. Wang and Li Baozhen soon arrived and defeated Zhu Tao, forcing him to flee back to Lulong.
Meanwhile, though, Li Huaiguang, disaffected from Emperor Dezong, was in secret negotiations with Zhu Ci (who had changed his state's name to Han by this point) to enter an alliance with Zhu. Zhu promised to honor Li Huaiguang as an elder brother and divide the Guanzhong region with him, with each ruling a state as its emperor. On March 20, Li Huaiguang declared his rebellion and alliance with Zhu. Emperor Dezong fled from Fengtian to Liang Prefecture (梁州, in modern Hanzhong, Shaanxi). Several key officers under Li Huaiguang — including Han Yougui (韓遊瓌), Dai Xiuyan (戴休顏), Luo Yuanguang (駱元光), and Shang Kegu (尚可孤) — however, refused to follow Li Huaiguang and instead accepted commands from Li Sheng, whom Emperor Dezong made the commander of Tang forces in the region. With Li Huaiguang weakened, Zhu no longer treated him with respect but instead as a subordinate. In anger and fear, Li Huaiguang withdrew from the region and headed back to his base at Hezhong (河中, in modern Yuncheng, Shaanxi).
Li Sheng soon prepared for a final attack on Chang'an, and he launched his attack on June 12. On June 20, with Li Sheng having entered the city, Zhu Ci fled toward Tufan. He was soon killed in flight by his own soldiers, ending his state of Han. On August 3, Emperor Dezong returned to Chang'an. When he sent emissaries to persuade Li Huaiguang to again pledge allegiance to him, Li Huaiguang was initially receptive, but when Emperor Dezong's further emissary, the official Kong Chaofu (孔巢父), arrived at Hezhong, Li Huaiguang's soldiers, believing that Kong was showing disrespect to Li Huaiguang, killed Kong, apparently with Li Huaiguang's implicit approval, and Li Huaiguang continued to resist Tang forces. By fall 785, however, with Tang forces under Ma Sui and Hun Zhen converging on Hezhong, Li Huaiguang committed suicide, and his army resubmitted to Tang.
Meanwhile, Li Xilie's continued attempts to expand were being repeatedly rebuffed by Tang generals. In summer 786, with Li Xilie being ill, his general Chen Xianqi had him poisoned, slaughtered his family, and then resubmitted to Tang authority. (While Chen was soon thereafter himself assassinated by Wu Shaocheng, Wu continued to pledge allegiance to Tang.) Nominally, the realm was again entirely under Emperor Dezong's rule.
Read more about this topic: Emperor Dezong Of Tang