Zhu Ci made it a priority to capture Fengtian to extinguish the hopes of Emperor Dezong's being restored. He left Li Zhongchen and Qiu Jingzhong () in charge of Chang'an, and personally led his army, assisted by Yao Lingyan and Zhang Guangsheng, to Fengtian. He put Fengtian under siege, and despite the efforts of the Tang generals Hang Yougui () and
Hun Jian in fighting off the Qin siege, Fengtian was soon in a desperate state, with its food supplies cut off. Tang resistance forces were then harassing the Qin forces left at Chang'an, and in response, Zhu intensified his siege of Fengtian. However, after Fengtian was under siege for more than a month, Li Huaiguang, who had been fighting Wang Wujun and Tian Yue to the east but immediately headed toward Chang'an upon hearing of Emperor Dezong's plight, arrived with his elite
Shuofang Army. On December 18, with Li Huaiguang not quite yet at Fengtian but having defeated Qin forces at Liquan (醴泉, in modern Xianyang), Zhu, fearful that he would be defeated by Li Huaiguang, lifted Fengtian's siege and returned to Chang'an. He would not threaten Fengtian again, although he tried to keep the morale of his forces in check at Chang'an by periodically spreading rumors that Fengtian had fallen. By this point, however, it was said that he controlled little more than Chang'an itself. It was the consensus at the time that if Li Huaiguang had arrived three days later than he actually did, Fengtian would have fallen. On January 27, 784, apparently trying to change his fortune, Zhu changed the name of his state to Han. At Yuan Xiu's suggestion, he slaughtered a large number of Emperor Dezong's imperial clan and other relatives, but he refused suggestions to force Tang officials into serving him and to destroy the Tang imperial temples. Meanwhile, Emperor Dezong, believing that he needed to pacify all of the other warlords who had turned against him, issued a general pardon that included even Zhu Tao, although Zhu Ci was excluded from the general pardon. (In response, Wang Wujun, Li Na, and Tian Yue all gave up independent princely titles they had claimed for themselves and nominally submitted to Tang rule again, although neither Zhu Tao nor another military governor who had rebelled,
Li Xilie, did so, and Li Xilie soon declared himself emperor of his own state of Chu.) Meanwhile, though, Tang efforts to recapture Chang'an soon fell victim to infighting—as Li Huaiguang, who had saved Emperor Dezong, was angered when Emperor Dezong refused to meet him and instead ordered him to attack Chang'an immediately, along with
Li Sheng and several other generals. (Emperor Dezong had done so at Lu Qi's suggestion—as Lu feared that if Emperor Dezong met Li Huaiguang, given Li Huaiguang's achievements, Emperor Dezong would accept Li Huaiguang's opinion that Lu and his associates Zhao Zan () and Bai Zhizhen () were responsible for the calamity.) Li Huaiguang sent repeated accusations to Emperor Dezong, forcing him to demote Lu, Zhao, and Bai, but even after the demotions had occurred, only slowly advanced toward Chang'an. Zhu, seeing that Li Huaiguang was disaffected, sent secret messengers to Li Huaiguang, offering to honor Li Huaiguang as an older brother, with both of them serving as emperors of their own independent realms. Li Huaiguang thus turned against Emperor Dezong—seizing the armies of the generals Li Jianhui () and Yang Huiyuan (), and publicly declaring that he was now in peaceful relations with Zhu and that Emperor Dezong should flee. Emperor Dezong, fearing the consequences of a joint attack by Li Huaiguang and Zhu, fled to Xingyuan (興元, in modern
Hanzhong,
Shaanxi). In light of Emperor Dezong's flight, a number of Tang officials who had previously refused to submit to Zhu, including the former chancellor
Qiao Lin, came out of hiding and joined Zhu's administration. Meanwhile, though, after Li Huaiguang publicly broke with Emperor Dezong, many of Li Huaiguang's subordinates rose against him, weakening his army substantially. Zhu then turned against Li Huaiguang as well—no longer honoring him as an older brother, but treating him as a subject. Li Huaiguang, in anger and in fear that Li Sheng would attack him, withdrew from the Chang'an region entirely, taking up position at Hezhong (河中, in modern
Yuncheng,
Shanxi). Zhu also tried to turn Li Sheng's allegiance by treating the family members of not only Li Sheng but his soldiers who remained at Chang'an well, but Li Sheng rejected his overtures. Soon, Hun Jian arrived as well, and he and Li Sheng prepared an assault on Chang'an. When Tufan forces, whom Emperor Dezong had sought help from, arrived as well, however, Zhu was able to persuade them to depart by bribing them. On June 12, 784, Li Sheng declared that the assault against Chang'an would be starting, and advanced into Chang'an's vicinity. On June 18, the Han generals Zhang Tingzhi () and Li Xiqian (李希倩, Li Xilie's brother) tried to preempt Li Sheng by attacking him, and Li Sheng defeated them. Zhang Guangsheng, who had been in secret contact with Li Sheng, then persuaded Zhu to flee Chang'an. Zhu did so on June 20, and Li Sheng entered Chang'an, reclaiming it for Tang. Zhu decided to flee to Tufan. On the way, when he went past Jing Prefecture (the capital of Jingyuan Circuit), Tian Xijian (), a general who had submitted to Zhu who was in control of Jingyuan Circuit, turned against him and refused to welcome him. Zhu, in anger, attacked Jing Prefecture but could not capture it. The Jingyuan soldiers in Zhu's army killed Yao Lingyan and surrendered to Tian. Zhu, with only his Lulong troops continuing with him, continued to flee. When he reached Pengyuan (彭原, in modern
Qingyang,
Gansu), his subordinate Liang Tingfen () suddenly hit him with an arrow, causing him to fall into a ditch. Han Min then beheaded Zhu and surrendered to Tang forces. == Notes ==