There are many powerful legions in Chinese history, such as the Qin Army, the Yue Family Army, the Beifu Army, the Qi Family Army, etc., but there is also such a forgotten army in history, the Qihuo Army. It's a miserable army.
Beggar Army, as the name suggests, means begging for life in a troubled world. When wars are frequent and other armies are fighting for their country and honor, they are just trying to survive. During that Period of the Wuhu Rebellion, the Beggars were an armed group of Han chinese displaced people active in the north and south of the Yellow River.
Beggars
The Beggars Army is neither an official nor a civil society organization. It is both official and spontaneous. It is made up of a large number of homeless, self-reliant displaced people. It is also the most united, the most extensive and the longest-lasting team among the displaced people. It is also a unique product of this historical period.
After the end of the Three Kingdoms War, after only a few decades of calm, China ushered in the darkest history, known as the "Five Hu Chaohua".
The Western Jin Dynasty had the Rebellion of the Eight Kings, and the people of the Central Plains were miserable and ravaged by war. The internal strength of the Han nationality was gradually consumed, while the Hu people were watching from the sidelines, waiting for the opportunity. In the last year of the Western Jin Dynasty, there was a famine in Hezhou, the Hu tribe intervened, and Liu Yuan of the Xiongnu established himself as a king to rebel and plundered hezhou. Famine coupled with military unrest, the outcome can be imagined, and the state soon fell.
Five nonsense
Sima Teng, who was then the assassin of the prefecture, had no choice but to abandon the prefecture and flee to the Central Plains. All the officials have run away, but the common people have lived here for generations, and if they leave here, they are displaced people. But in the face of the ravages of the Hu people, the common people had to flee. At that time, the Hu people were cruel and violent, entering the city to kill men and rob women. People are displaced.
In desperation, the generals Tian Zhen, Li Yun and Bo Sheng organized the displaced people to follow Sima Teng to Jizhou. This was the earliest beggar army. The goal of the beggars is simple, that is, to survive.
They do this with two benefits:
The first is to integrate the displaced people, so that they rely on each other, which increases the survival rate of the displaced people.
Second, a large number of displaced people have mixed together to form a strong armed force.
Displaced people do not have fixed property and shelter, but only to survive. Such a unit has no worries when it comes to fighting, so they are brave, fierce, strong, tenacious, and have become a powerful military force.
There are homeless people in the beggar army, as well as downcast nobles and high-ranking officials who have lost their position, no matter what their previous status is, after joining the beggar army, they are all people who are begging for food and survival, and they are all people who survive in the chaotic world. There were six major exiles at that time. These six unprecedented population movements have also produced a large number of refugees.
At that time, the Rebellion of the Eight Kings intensified, the war in various places was unbearable, the drought was serious, coupled with the deepening of the Wuhu Chaohua, the Hu people took pleasure in killing people, and the Han women were raped as military food, burning and looting. In this case, in order to survive, in order to beg for food, the begging army can only run between the major warlords and heroes, and survive in the cracks.
Displaced people are bound to be ostracized wherever they go, because food is scarce everywhere, so conflicts are everywhere. In order to prevent the displaced people from looting, various localities have organized armed precautions. And when displaced people are attacked, they must defend themselves. As a result, armed conflicts have escalated, and more people have joined the ranks of displaced persons. This also exacerbated the social unrest of the time.
The goal of the Beggars has always been to survive. In the face of the major warlords, the beggar army must plunder the grain on the one hand, and on the other hand, it must prevent it from being plundered. In order to beg for food, the Beggars relied on Sima Yue, Wang Jun, Gou Xi, Liu Kun and others, and even Shi Le, Murong Xi and other Hu people.
Later, the beggar army defected to Ran Min, and thus began a legendary journey. The national contradictions became more and more serious, and the beggar army also became stronger during this period, and a strong sense of nationality and great patriotic feelings prompted them to burst into amazing combat effectiveness.
Ran Min , literally Yong Zeng , nicknamed Thorn Slave. Son of Ran Liang, Marquis of Xihua. Decisive and sharp, known for bravery. Ran Min is a controversial person in history, both the nominal Shi clan and the Han Chinese, and even a supporter of the Beggar Army.
Ran Min
However, no matter how Ran Min viewed and used the Beggar Army, no matter what ran Min's relationship was with Li Nong, the leader of the Beggar Army, at that time, Ran Min was the only hope of the Beggar Army, the only person that the Beggar Army and even all the Han people north of the Yangtze River could support; and the Beggar Army was the most solid backing that Ran Min could rely on.
Ran Min, with the help of Li Nong, the leader of the Beggars Army, defeated Shi Chong, killed Shi Zun, and Jie Shi Jian, and achieved famous feats and was favored by the Beggars Army.
Later, Ran Min established himself as emperor with the support of the Beggar Army, killed Shi Hu's descendants, and issued the "Order to Kill Hu". The Hu people could kill as much as they could, and the Han people at that time responded one after another, and in a short time, the Hu people were killed more than 200,000 times, and the corpses were all over the field, and the blood flowed like a river. Subsequently, with Ran Min's southern expedition to the north, the Beggars Army won more with less and showed extremely strong combat effectiveness, and the Han people also ushered in a brief period of glory.
However, after Ran Min was defeated and killed in the battle with Murong Ke, the Qihuo army also suffered heavy losses. However, this army composed of displaced people did not succumb to this, and the Xianbei Murong clan dominated the Central Plains, and the Qihuo army was still active in the Central Plains, indomitably fighting against the Hu people. Even in the last year of the Eastern Jin Dynasty, more than a hundred years after Sima Teng led the crowd to beg for food, there were still descendants of the beggar army who refused to bend their knees and were active in the Luoyang area. The Beggars have been active for 113 years.
This is a miserable army with no backing, no support, no food, only the desire to survive.