In the middle school textbooks, the texts about Chen Sheng's Wuguang uprising have been memorized by many people. This uprising was the first large-scale peasant uprising in Chinese history, which fundamentally shook the foundation of the Qin Dynasty and made the peasants a force that later emperors and subjects did not dare to underestimate.
But the uprising succeeded quickly and failed very quickly. After Chen Shengbing's defeat, he was killed on the way back to Chen County, and Wu Guang's fate was worse than That of Chen Sheng, and there were many opinions about his death.
From the unveiling of the pole to the defeat and death of the soldiers, it was only half a year
Qin Shi Huang's fainting and brutality must be known to everyone: in order to build the Great Wall, 300,000 troops were recruited and hundreds of thousands of militiamen were recruited; 700,000 prisoners were mobilized to build the Afang Palace; when Qin II arrived, he began to recruit hundreds of thousands of prisoners and peasants to build imperial tombs; coupled with the heavy tax pressure that made people breathless, the royal families that remained in the Six Kingdoms of spring and autumn had long had the intention of repeatedly breaking through and waiting for only an opportunity.
Chen Sheng, Wu Guang, rose up and responded with a hundred responses, and the anti-Qin fire immediately swept across the country. The rebel army received the support of the vast number of peasants, and after the capture of Daze Township, the ranks grew stronger and stronger, and Chen Sheng's ambitions of Wu Guang were even more inflated, targeting Chen County. Since there had always been anti-Qin forces in Chen County, and the strength of the rebel army was stronger, it did not take too much effort to break through Chen County.
In less than a month, the rebel army so smoothly took a number of county towns. This also made Chen Sheng Wu Guang feel that success in winning the world was just around the corner. However, although they have leadership ability, they still do not have enough foresight and foresight about the operation and the future direction of the situation, nor do they have enough foresight, and the troops are defeated very quickly.
One of the tasks of the rebel army was to take the granary of the Qin Dynasty, Ao Cang in Xingyang County, which was the key place for the Qin Dynasty to reserve grain. However, the large army led by Wu Guang fought here for a full 4 months and failed to conquer it, and the morale of the soldiers was no longer there, and the people were panicked.
During these four months, the rebel army sent by Chen Sheng approached Xianyang step by step, which made Qin II panic and immediately sent the general Zhang Handan to gather a large army to fight back against the rebel army. The harems of the Six Kingdoms of Spring and Autumn all occupied their own territory and claimed the throne, and no one was willing to lend a helping hand to the rebel army.
In the face of the approaching of Zhang Handan's army, the rebels besieging Xingyang felt that Wu Guang had done nothing for so long and should immediately change their strategy and resist Zhang Handan's army first. However, due to Wu Guang's inability to reach unity with his subordinates at this critical moment, the general Tian Zang falsely claimed to have received Chen Sheng's order to kill Wu Guang immediately, so he directly cut off Wu Guang's head.
Wu Guang died tragically, but Xingyang's rebel army still failed to stop the crushing of Zhang Handan's army, and when the Qin army approached Chen County, the main force left in Chen County was no longer able to return to heaven, the rebel army scattered and fled, and Chen Sheng was also killed by the coachman on the way to escape. So far, from the uprising to the defeat, it has only been half a year.
Why did Tian Zang kill Wu Guang under the pretext of Chen Sheng's order and get a reward?
Tian Zang killed Wu Guang, and in order to rationalize his own behavior, he actually said that he was using Chen Sheng's life under the guise of Chen Sheng, which is worth pondering deeply. This shows that Tian Zang believed that this order could be obeyed by the public before he started, and that chen sheng would also approve it, otherwise he would not have taken such a big risk to kill the brother of the head of the rebel army.
Tian Zang( who had cut off Wu Guang's first rank was "dedicated to King Chen", and Chen Sheng not only did not blame him for killing his rebel siblings, but also made him a general and made him Ling Yin. This operation also made the generals within the rebel army feel cold, and accelerated the defeat of the rebel army.
From Chen Sheng's reward for Tian Zang, it is not difficult to see that Chen Sheng did not show surprise or regret for Wu Guang's killing. Therefore, Tian Zang's use of Chen Sheng's order to kill Wu Guang may not be an excuse, but it is true.
Chen Sheng claimed that the queen was arrogant and arrogant, and used new cronies to kill her comrades who had lived and died together in the past, which had already caused dissatisfaction within the rebel army.
And although Wu Guang joined him in establishing a rebel army, Chen Sheng claimed that the queen's mentality had changed, and she had always been afraid that Chen Sheng's struggle for power and profit would threaten her. In addition, Wu Guang's continuous attack on Xingyang in April was fruitless, and Zhang Handan's army was threatening to reach a unified and concentrate its forces against the Qin army, so it was in a hurry that it had to order Wu Guang to be killed.
Why did Tian Zang kill Wu Guang?
Sima Qian wrote in the "Records of History" that the evaluation of Wu Guang, "The false king (Wu Guang) is proud and does not know the power of the army" This evaluation came from Tian Zang's mouth. Sima Qian in the Chronicle of History. In "Chen Shijia", his own evaluation of Wu Guang uses positive words, "Wu Guangsu loves people, and soldiers are mostly brave."
In the description of Chen Sheng's personality, he called the queen proud and was very arbitrary. But there is no expression of Wu Guang's arrogance. From this, we can speculate about Wu Guang's personality, he is not as arrogant and arrogant as Chen Sheng, and although his combat talent is average, there should be no flaw in his personality, at least he can win the love of his subordinates more than Chen Sheng.
Tian Zang's statement that "the false king (Wu Guang) is proud" is not worth believing, his brutal killing of Wu Guang is more obvious of his personality, and he is more likely to find a reasonable reason for killing Wu Guang. After Wu Guang was killed, the hearts of the generals in the army were even more scattered, reflecting from the side that everyone was more dissatisfied and regretful about Wu Guang's death.
Wu Guang was killed, and another theory is that Tian Zang, as a subordinate of Wu Guang, had the intention of usurping the throne and plotting rebellion. Coupled with the fact that Wu Guang could not attack Xingyang for a long time, Tian Zang was even more dissatisfied with this leader. Therefore, due to the lack of unity of opinion on the battle, and Chen Sheng's hatred of Wu Guang, he killed Wu Guang.
And he also got Chen Sheng's reuse as he wished. Chu Lingyin (equivalent to prime minister) who became a general and rebel army. Judging from this statement, Tian Zang's intention to kill Wu Guang also made sense.
brief summary:
Wu Guang was not able to die on the battlefield, but was brutally killed by his subordinates. Chen Sheng was even more depressed and was assassinated by the coachman on the way to escape. Chen Sheng, who once said "Gou rich and noble, don't forget each other", abandoned his former comrade-in-arms after he gained the throne. However, the phrase that inspired many students, "Yan Que An Zhi Hong Hu Zhi Zhao", took Chen Shengbing's defeat and desert escape as a commentary.
Chen Sheng and Wu Guang revolted to overthrow the brutal rule of the Qin Dynasty, but they also followed the path of the Qin Dynasty, which also showed their limitations. The ideal is very full but the reality is very bone, and if you want to achieve a great cause, you need not only the courage to unveil the pole, but also a firm and calm mentality, far-sighted thinking and insight into the future direction.
Therefore, perhaps there may be no Chen Sheng Wu Guang to rise up, and there will be others who will do the same. History is bound to develop in this direction, and Chen Sheng and Wu Guang seized the opportunity at a special moment, so they left their names in history. And their lack of foresight has made them a flash in the pan in history.