From July to September of the eighteenth year of Zhenguan, Li Shimin personally went out to Goguryeo. The Tang army was like a bamboo, and captured 10 cities such as Gaimu in a row. However, because Li Shimin was too stable and did not adopt the advice of the ministers, the Tang army had to withdraw due to the cold weather and the inability of grain and grass to arrive in time. This battle caused a crisis in the "Rule of Zhenguan" and the "First Empress of China", but this person was not Wu Zetian, but another person named Chen Shuozhen.
Chen Shuozhen was a native of Zitong Town, Chun'an County, Hangzhou, Zhejiang. She has had both her parents died since she was a child, and she and her sister are dependent on each other. Later, Mi'e Mei was adopted by the neighbor, and Chen Shuozhen went to someone else's house to help, so that he could eat a full meal. Qingxi County, Zhejiang Province, is rich in products, so the taxes levied by the imperial court are also very large, and the burden on the local people is very heavy.
One year, Qingxi County experienced a flood that had not been encountered in a hundred years, and the imperial court not only did not open a warehouse to release grain, but also levied taxes. The people were displaced and had to sell their children for money to pay taxes. Chen Shuo really couldn't bear to see his neighbors starving, so he quietly opened the owner's granary to help the villagers. When the owner found out, he tied it up and beat him all over the body. The villagers knew that Chen Shuozhen was beaten because of them, so they rushed into the owner's firewood room that night and worked together to rescue her.
In order to escape the pursuit of officers and soldiers, Chen Shuozhen fled to The Shipwreck Mountain. There is also a title here - "Iron Walled Mountain", surrounded by iron walls, there are ten natural gates. Chen Shuozhen dressed up as a Daogu and healed his wounds here. During this period, she believed that only by overthrowing the rule of the imperial court could the people live a good life. She used Taoism and secret religions to develop the masses as a force for the uprising.
Chen Shuozhen spread the news among the people that when he was covering the ship mountain, Taishang Laojun accepted himself as a disciple and taught some spells. Now she was the Nine Heavenly Divine Daughters, mastering the Qimen Hidden Armor Technique, and showing everyone her spells. The townspeople hoped that Chen Shuo would benefit the township after becoming a true immortal, so they believed in the statement that she had been promoted to immortality.
At this time, someone informed the government that Chen Shuo's true immortality was false and that it was true that she had a bad heart, and the government arrested her. Fortunately, the villagers raised funds everywhere and opened up the relationship, and she was released. Chen Shuozhen felt that his behavior had already struck the grass and snake, and if he did not revolt now, I was afraid that he would not have a chance. Coupled with the fact that her brother-in-law Zhang Shuyin had actively publicized her becoming an immortal in the early stages, and now had a certain number of believers, Chen Shuozhen decided to revolt.
In early October of the fourth year of Yonghui, Chen Shuo truly declared an uprising, established a political power modeled on the Tang Dynasty, and appointed Zhang Shuyin as a servant to take charge of various affairs, and himself was called "Emperor Wenjia". Many women in Chinese history have seen the peasant uprising, but only Chen Shuozhen was both the leader of the uprising and the emperor, 37 years before Wu Zetian became emperor.
Chen Shuozhen's uprising won the wide support of the people in eastern Zhejiang, and the strength of the rebel army grew in a short period of time. She and Zhang Shuyin divided into two routes, her brother-in-law led the troops to attack Tonglu at night, and she herself took two thousand soldiers and horses to capture the Muzhou administrative center and Yu Qian. They quickly conquered various places, shocking the government and the opposition, and the rebel army also grew to tens of thousands, and the imperial court immediately sent soldiers and horses to suppress the rebel army.
When Chen Shuozhen's troops attacked Shezhou, because their soldiers were not professionally trained and their combat weapons were very backward, Shezhou could not be attacked for a long time. Chen Shuozhen had to withdraw his troops and change the original method of concentrating troops and change it to a split attack. She ordered Tong Wenbao, a Qingxi man, to lead 4,000 troops to sneak up on Wuzhou, but the troops met with the Tang army and had to attack Wuzhou.
At that time, the assassin of Wuzhou was Cui Yixuan, who had experienced hundreds of battles, and after consulting with his subordinate Cui Xuanqi, he ordered him to serve as a vanguard officer and lead a large army to follow. After Chen Shuozhen heard that Tong Wenbao was blocked by the Tang army, he brought the main army to reinforcements. When the two armies were at a stalemate, one night, a meteor fell on Chen Shuozhen's tent. Cui Yixuan took the opportunity to create public opinion that this was a sign of Chen Shuozhen's fall of the star, which disturbed the morale of the rebel army and caused the morale of the rebel army to drop greatly.
The two armies fought in the Battle of Xiahuai, where the rebels were defeated, thousands of people were killed, and then tens of thousands of people surrendered. In November, reinforcements from Yang Governor Shi Fang Renyu arrived at Wuzhou and fought with Cui Yixuan against the rebels. Most of the rebels were killed and more than 10,000 were captured. Chen Shuozhen and Zhang Shuyin were captured by the Tang army in battle, and they bravely fought.
Chen Shuozhen, the first empress in Chinese history, was only an emperor for more than a month before she died on the battlefield at the age of 33.