The Dazexiang Uprising led by Chen Sheng and Wu Guang at the end of qin; After Wang Mang's usurpation of the Han Dynasty, the Great Uprising of Green Forest and Chimei occurred; The Yellow Turban Rebellion at the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty; The famous Wagang peasant revolt at the end of the Sui Dynasty, the peasant revolt led by Dou Jiande in Hebei, and the peasant revolt led by Du Fuwei and Fu Gongrui of Jianghuai; The Huangchao Rebellion at the end of the Tang Dynasty; In the last years of the Northern Song Dynasty, the peasant revolt led by Song Jiang and Fang La; Zhong Xiang and Yang Xiang revolted in the early years of the Southern Song Dynasty; The peasant revolt of Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong at the end of the Ming Dynasty; The Taiping Rebellion at the end of the Qing Dynasty.
If we look at it in this way, almost all the peasant uprisings in history have ended in failure, and only a very small number of people, such as Liu Bang, Liu Xiu, and Zhu Yuanzhang, have succeeded. Is there providence in the darkness, or is there some objective reason?
First of all, it has to be said that the quality of illiterate peasants is still somewhat inferior; they will not really command wars, they will not select qualified personnel, and they will not even make normal personnel arrangements.
For example, when Chen Sheng and Wu Guang rebelled, he sent Wu Guang to lead 200,000 troops to attack Xingyang, but he could not take it down, and he also lost a lot of troops. Chen Sheng couldn't see it at all, his friend Wu Guang was not the material for leading soldiers at all, and asking him to complete this arduous task was simply to send people's heads. As a result, the Qin army general Zhang Handan, with only a hundred thousand temporarily armed prisoners, defeated him and then completely eliminated Chen Sheng's entire team.
Therefore, the generals of the regular army still have a stronger military quality than the peasants who rise up.
And Yue Fei, who suppressed the uprising of Zhong Xiang and Yang Mi, let alone Yue Fei. The peasant rebel army not only did not understand the specific tactics, but generally did not engage in strategic management, like the Chimei Army, did not know that it should occupy a favorable territory first, but went to occupy a City of Chang'an that did not eat and drink, and finally lost to hunger, in contrast, Liu Xiu, who had read books, knew very well about strategic management, and the territory he occupied was all important grain production areas, and with food, he naturally had the confidence to fight.
Secondly, the discipline and psychological quality of the peasant army are also obviously inferior to those of the professional regular army, and as soon as they encounter a relatively cruel and fierce battle, the psychological defense line immediately collapses.
For example, the Wagang Army, at first fought several major victories, but later lost the battle, it was immediately unwilling to insist, and all surrendered to the Sui Dynasty. There was also Li Zicheng's million peasant army, and when it encountered the well-trained Eight Banner Army, it was also a touch of collapse, and it did not dare to love war at all. On the other hand, the psychological quality of the regular army is much stronger, and the Yue family army insists on fighting to the last person.
Moreover, most of the leaders of the peasant uprisings are not veterans of politics, do not win the hearts and minds of the people, and do not select truly loyal and talented subordinates, so there will often be infighting, rebellion and other situations.
For example, the earliest Chen Sheng, as soon as he became the leader, had no one in sight, which led to the split of the team. Zhai Rang, the leader of the Wagang Army, did not look at people, and even let the ill-intentioned Li Mi take his place, and as a result, he was killed by Qi'en's revenge, and Li Mi himself had no talent at all, and finally had to bury Wagang Zhai. On the other hand, Liu Xiu is very good at attracting people's hearts and knowing talents, so everyone is willing to work with him.
The leaders of the peasant army were not good at all, that is, most of them were narrow-minded, and their ambitions were rampant, and they often persecuted their subordinates.
For example, Huang Chao treated his subordinates cruelly, which led to the rebellion of the fierce general Zhu Wen, and later became an important force in the encirclement and suppression of Huang Chao. Hong Xiuquan of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom was also like this, his suspicions were too heavy, first he killed the most talented subordinate Yang Xiuqing, and then he suspected Shi Dakai, causing him to flee in a negative way, and later he was crowned king in large numbers, just to let his subordinates contain each other and not endanger their own power, and as a result, no one within the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom obeyed anyone and conspired with each other.
Li Zicheng did the same, and even killed the talented subordinate Li Yan, and since then there has been one less person who has made an idea.
Finally, most of the leaders of the peasant rebel army were short-sighted and had no long-term strategic vision at all.
For example, Huang Chao, as soon as he entered Chang'an City, saw the mountains of treasures in the treasury, immediately could not move his feet, forgot to take advantage of the victory to pursue, and finally killed himself. There is also Hong Xiuquan, after entering the city of Nanjing, he also did not want to make progress, and the world began to enjoy before it arrived, building a palace and recruiting beautiful women. Li Zicheng's achievements were even more absurd, for the sake of the beauty Chen Yuanyuan, he forgot that he still had to win over Wu Sangui, not only harming himself, but also harming the world.
And the real politicians, however, even their own daughters are willing to send people and relatives, such as the emperor of the Han Dynasty, who has sent princesses to the Xiongnu Shan Yu many times, in exchange for the stability of the country and the stability of the people.