The things of the world are always moving and moving, and blessings and misfortunes are interdependent. Specific to the ancient Chinese history of more than 2,000 years, it is also a living drama that cures chaos and rises and replaces, and reciprocates.
If the world inherits peace for a long time, it is easy to abolish the discipline, and once the beast that has lost its faith and restraint is out of the cage, it will trigger a great change like the earth falling apart.
Qin unified the world
Since Qin Shi Huang unified the world and inaugurated the imperial era, there have been five large-scale peasant uprisings. They were the Dazexiang Uprising of Chen Sheng and Wu Guang at the end of the Qin Dynasty, the Yellow Turban Uprising of the Eastern Han Dynasty led by Zhang Jiao, the Huangchao Uprising at the end of the Tang Dynasty, the Li Zicheng Uprising at the end of the Ming Dynasty, and the Taiping Rebellion led by Hong Xiuquan during the Xianfeng period of the Qing Dynasty.
The enormous energy mobilized by these five-headed beasts basically destroyed the social order of their time, destroyed the foundation of the empire, and even came close to completing the change of dynasty.
Chen Sheng Wu Guang
Let's first look at the specific situation of these five benevolent brothers.
These two men were pawns requisitioned by the Qin imperial court, and they also belonged to the Qin army formation sequence, because they failed to complete the set tasks on time and were afraid of being sanctioned by qin law, and had to take risks.
However, Chen Shengqi was not a pure poor peasant. According to the "History of Chen Shijia", Chen Sheng was a descendant of the nobles of the State of Chen in the Spring and Autumn Period. Before the uprising, Chen Sheng's position was to escort the pawns of the Tun Commander, according to the Qin Dynasty military merit system, the Tun Commander corresponds to the 5th rank of Knighthood - Dafu, rank 200 stones.
Osawa Township Uprising Route
Therefore, Chen Sheng is a typical deserter, and the Military Law of the Qin Army in treating deserters can be imagined. Therefore, Chen Sheng Wu Guang had no choice, by the mission failure to launch an uprising, anyway, the big deal is a death, it is better to take this irreversible opportunity, jump out of the comfort zone, change part-time work into entrepreneurship, "the prince will be phased, Ning has a kind of hu"!
It can be seen that Chen Sheng, a benevolent brother, should also have the habit of reading celebrity biographies, and 80% of them were also like Liu Ji and Xiang Yuan, who had seen the scene of Qin Shi Huang's ox fork on the tour. Working for a lifetime, that does not exist, when you are the boss, you are mighty, this opportunity is not coming.
Open horns
Zhang Jiaohong Xiuquan
Besides, Zhang Jiao, a benevolent brother, has always shown people with mysterious colors, and without some spells to set off the atmosphere, he is embarrassed to come out and let people see. The appearance of his gods and gods is the same as that of "the young son of the Father" and the "younger brother" of Jesus' eldest brother, Hong Xiuquan.
Of course, Zhang Jiao and Hong Xiuquan are both literate and literate, but they cannot get the opportunity for class mobility normally through the secular system, and then enter the mainstream circle. A sentence "repeatedly tried", and not willing to live under the people for a long time, then also support the stall to start a business.
Yellow Turban Uprising
Therefore, these two benevolent brothers, unlike Chen Sheng and Wu Guang, used religious indigenization to do things in an ingenious way, Taiping Dao, Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, like not?
In the isolated and underdeveloped areas, through brainwashing transmission, the backward and ignorant rabble-rousers have been condensed into tigers and wolves, stirring up the world's unrest.
Huang Chao Li Zicheng
The only thing they had in common was that they had occupied the capital, changed their names, and called them emperors. They were already infinitely close to changing dynasties, experiencing a big scene of King's Landing in the world, but they were defeated, and finally they were all driven out of the capital and returned to their original form, dying on the way to escape.
One of them has also tried and failed, and then hates the government and hates society; the other is a postman, and as a result, he was unfortunately laid off and unemployed.
Yellow Nest
The above-mentioned five benevolent brothers raised the flag and rebelled vigorously, but each had their own unfortunate encounters. The so-called rise and fall is also bold, and its death is also sudden. Because of the catalysis of various reasons, after years of struggle to reach the peak, they did not expect to perish but how quickly, what is the root cause?
To paraphrase Tolstoy, happy families are always similar, but unhappy families have their own misfortunes. But these five benevolent brothers who rose up in the process of their entrepreneurship, the beginning of success is different, but the reason for the failure is basically the same, they all made a fatal mistake.
The ancients firmly believed: Those who achieve great things must have the time, place, and people, and all three are indispensable.
The five uprisings all have a heavenly time, such as the last years of the Qin, Eastern Han, Tang, Ming, and Qing Empires, the imperial court has no way, natural disasters and man-made disasters are continuous, and the people are not happy, this is the most fundamental natural time.
They also once occupied the mountainous terrain during the ascendancy. For example, Chen Sheng once captured Chen County, pressed into the key area of Xingyang, and threatened Guanzhong; Zhang Jiao's Yellow Turban Army expanded from Jizhou to seven prefectures and twenty-eight counties in just one month, frightening emperor Hanling.
Emperor Hanling
The same Huang Chao and Li Zicheng were also full of momentum, breaking through the capital divisions of the Tang and Daming respectively, and calling them lonely in the south; Hong Xiuquan's Taiping Army took the important town of Nanjing in East China in one fell swoop, and also openly fought against the Qing court.
They had all taken advantage of the heavens and the time, and once occupied the geographical advantage, but they only had less or lost the people who could support them to sit in the country and the country for a long time, and then they lost the existing heavens and places in vain.
Rise up
Note that when these five people first rose up, they also had people who could support them to fight the world, and the growing team was the important people at that time. The question is, can fighting the world and ruling the world be the same group of people?
Later, while attacking the city, with the expansion of the territory and the increase of the ruling population, the requirements for the ability to govern became higher and higher than the ability to destroy, and where were the people with this ability to turn decay into magic?
Lee Zi-cheng
In the various departments of the former government, especially the prefectures, counties and counties, those grass-roots officials. To win their support, or even to include them in their own ranks and enrich themselves in every grassroots political power, then great things can be accomplished.
Different social bases have spawned different governance structures, losing the social foundation, Huang Chao and Li Zicheng can't play, Zhang Jiao and Hong Xiuquan can't play, not to mention Chen Sheng Wuguang, who was called king early, can't eat hot tofu in a hurry?
The Yellow Nest Uprising Route
Unfortunately, these five benevolent brothers did not think so. How did they do it?
Chen Sheng, who roared and called the king, suddenly became the target of everyone. It also failed to unite with the old ministries of the Six Kingdoms, whose social influence was still there at that time, to expand the situation of the uprising and thus disperse the Qin army.1 As a result, the isolated and helpless Zhang Chu regime became the main target of the Qin army's Zhang Handan clique, and it was quickly defeated in only half a year.
Zhang Jiao, like Hong Xiuquan, quickly gathered the congregations through the theocratic system, but this system played a counterproductive role in later urban governance.
Not all would accept these teachings, and most non-congregations were excluded, even seen as heretics, and forced to defect to the rebels.
As a result, this extreme religious model, which can neither actively adjust itself to secular society nor widely supported, will eventually be eliminated.
Qing Dynasty Military Aircraft Department
Huang Chao and Li Zicheng were once infinitely close to the great goal of changing dynasties, but they both failed. The reason is that it neglects to fight for the former bureaucrats at all levels of the dynasty who still hold the city power. Underestimating them too much, thinking that the overall situation had been decided, they whipped the officials, even slaughtered the city, and plundered the wealth and treasury, and it was precisely this humiliation and contempt that eventually cost Huang Chao Li Zicheng his life.
Having said all this, whether it is the nobles of the Six Kingdoms, Liu Bei, Cao Cao, Zhu Wen, Li Keyong, and even Wu Sangui, Zuo Zongtang and Zeng Guofan, they are also heroic Haojie, aspiring talents, why not participate in or respond to the call of those five benevolent brothers?
Taiping heavenly kingdom
At first, they were not the targets of the dictatorship of the rebel army, and then they slowly became the opponents and even nemeses of these five benevolent brothers. The fundamental reason is that the insurgents have never been recognized by mainstream social values, not only have they not been recognized, but they have even been resisted.
In the process of dynastic empire change, the smooth transformation of people and people is crucial. Unfortunately, these five brightest stars in the history of China's peasant uprisings clearly lack such abilities, or they fail to seize this fleeting opportunity.
Zeng Guofan and Zuo Zongtang
History has no if, how many dynastic empires rise and fall, in the vast river of history like flowers blossoming and falling cycle. However, those heroes who rose up, regardless of success or failure, are still worthy of respect by future generations.