In the last years of the Yuan Dynasty, among the leaders of the rebel army who resisted the Yuan army, the most famous were Zhu Yuanzhang, Chen Youyu, and Zhang Shicheng. In fact, none of them were the real main force against the Yuan Army, and there was another person who fought to the death with the Yuan Army, he was the leader of the Northern Red Turban Army, Liu Futong.
The name Liu Futong can be said to be nameless, but on the merits of destroying the Yuan army and overthrowing the Yuan Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang had to stand aside in front of Liu Futong.
Liu Futong was born in a family of great wealth, his family is rich, cheerful, ambitious, generous and generous, and has a reputation in the local area. Liu Futong was a former inspector, and he enforced the law impartially, spoke out in righteousness, and was very popular with the people. It was only at the end of the Yuan Dynasty that the world was in chaos, and corrupt officials and corrupt officials oppressed the people, and even rich and noble families like Liu Futong could not avoid suffering.
The minister of Chincha, Jia Lu, blackmailed the Liu family in the name of repairing the river, and demanded the Liu family's treasured beast, but after failing, he used his power to retaliate against the Liu family, changing the river without authorization and destroying the Liu family's ancestral home. Liu Futong had long been dissatisfied with the Yuan Dynasty's brutal rule over the people, and now he had added a family vendetta, and he was determined to rebel and destroy the Yuan Dynasty.
Liu Futong was not a reckless person, he found Han Shantong, did a lot of preparatory work, accumulated strength through the establishment of the White Lotus Sect, and publicized the tyranny of the foreign rulers of the Yuan Dynasty in public opinion. In April of the eleventh year of Zhengzheng (1351), Liu Futong and Han Shantong felt that the time had come, and decided to revolt by blood. However, on the eve of the uprising, the news leaked, the officers and soldiers broke through and searched, Liu Futong fled to Yingzhou, but Han Shantong was arrested and killed.
Liu Futong led an uprising in Yingzhou with a sad mood, and they conquered the city of Yingzhou and ignited the beacon of rebellion against the rule of the Yuan Dynasty. Due to the unpopular rule of the Yuan Dynasty, Liu Futong's uprising was echoed by the world, and people and Haojie from all over the world came to rely on it. In just a few months, Liu Futong's rebel army occupied southern Henan, with a number of 200,000.
Liu Futong's rebel army was not just a ragtag group, under his leadership, this armed force called the Red Turban Army fought against 300,000 elite Yuan troops with the courage of not fearing death. Liu Futong put death and the next life, as a pioneer, the soldiers fought bravely to kill the enemy, and even defeated the elite of the 300,000 yuan army with less victory, and killed the commander Hes Huchi, the general Gong Buban, and even Timur was defeated at his hands.
Liu Futong took advantage of the victory to pursue, but was betrayed by traitors, and the Han landlord Li Siqi colluded with the Yuan army to sneak up on the rebels from behind. The rebels suffered heavy losses, but Liu Futong was not in danger, he led a large army to retreat to Mizhou, and after the repair was completed, he fought a decisive battle with the Yuan army, once again beheading the commander of the Yuan army, and defeating the Yuan army.
After this battle, Liu Futong established his own position, he took Han Shantong's descendant Han Lin'er, established him as emperor, and established the capital of Haozhou, with the state name "Song". Liu Futong raised the banner of restoring the Han regime in China, rebel armies from all over the country came to rely on it, and the Song state's sphere of influence occupied most of the Central Plains.
Judging from Liu Futong's series of actions after the founding of the people's republic, he is by no means a mediocre lord. On the one hand, Liu Futong led troops to attack Anfeng, Luzhou and other rich places, and the army marched south, on the other hand, he formed the Western Route Army, which went out of Tongguan and conquered Shaanzhou. Liu Futong's purpose was clear: he wanted to take Shaanxi, a military stronghold, gain Qin soldiers and warhorses, and pose a great threat to the rule of the Yuan Dynasty from the west.
Liu Futong was only one step away from success, because his Western Route Army captured Shaanzhou and also captured Kun, Han and other places. Unfortunately, Liu Futong's opponent was also not simple, he was the last famous general of the Yuan Dynasty, Tsakhan Timur, after he learned of the fall of Shaanzhou, he personally led a large army to attack Liu Futong's Western Route Army. The Western Route Army general Li Wu and others led an army to confront Timur Tsakhan for several months, but they were finally defeated by outnumbered.
Liu Futong's Western Route Army suffered heavy losses, but he took advantage of the Northern Expedition of the Red Turban Army in Shandong to march north, conquered Bieliang, and moved the capital here. After the capture of Bieliang, the Song regime reached its peak, stretching from Shandong in the east to Gansu in the west, bordering Bashu and Jingchu in the south, and Liaoyang in the north, and a large area was ruled by the Song regime.
However, the biggest problems of the rebel army often occurred after the peak of power. Continuous victories have caused a sense of pride and complacency within the rebel army, some generals do not want to forge ahead, willing to degenerate, and some generals despise the enemy and advance in battle. What the rebels did not know was that their opponent, Tsakhan Timur, had integrated the forces of the Yuan Dynasty and was preparing to suppress the territory and eliminate the rebel army that posed the greatest threat to the Yuan court.
On the other hand, the rebel army, the three major armies of the Northern Expedition all had problems, the remnants of the Western Route Army retreated into Ningxia, the Middle Route Army attacked Shangdu and fought east all the way to Goryeo, and the leader of the Shandong rebel army, Mao Gui, was killed by his men, and the internal chaos fell into cannibalism. In this way, Liu Futong, who sits in Bieliang, has become a lone soldier.
In fact, Liu Futong was not without reinforcements, Chen Youyi, Zhu Yuanzhang, Zhang Shicheng and others were all strong and strong, but they were fighting for power in the south, annexing land, and expanding their own power, and none of them were willing to go north to support Liu Futong. After all, watching the Yuan Army and the Northern Red Turban Army lose both is the most beneficial choice for them.
Liu Futong led the remaining forces to hold on to Bieliang, and after several months of fierce fighting between the two armies, the grain and grass in the city were exhausted, and the Yuan army broke through the door. Liu Futong led hundreds of elite horsemen to escort Han Lin'er to seize the gate and flee, defeating Anfeng. And it was in this place of Anfeng that Liu Futong held out alone for four years.
In the end, it was not the Yuan army that defeated Liu Futong, but Zhang Shicheng, who was also a rebel army, who took advantage of Liu Futong's weakening power and sent his troops to raid Anfeng with Lü Zhen.
As for Liu Futong's ending, there are two records, one saying that he died in Zhang Shicheng's attack on Anfeng, and the other saying that he and Han Lin'er were taken to the Zongyang Palace in Chuzhou by Zhu Yuanzhang, and two years later by Liao Yongzhong, a general of Zhu Yuanzhang's army, who drowned in Guazhou.
Liu Futong's life was magnificent, he raised the banner of rebellion against the tyranny of the Yuan Dynasty, and fought against the Yuan army in the north for a full decade. In the past ten years, Liu Futong has won and lost, but there is no doubt that he gave the Yuan army a heavy blow, and even gave Zhu Yuanzhang and others the opportunity to recuperate. From this point of view, Zhu Yuanzhang should be grateful to Liu Futong, and his world has a credit for Liu Futong.