"The prince will have a kind of Xiangning" Accompanied by this deafening shout, Chen Sheng and Wu Guang beheaded the escorted lieutenants and rose up in Daze Township, setting off the first large-scale peasant uprising in Chinese history. This uprising opened the curtain of armed opposition to the tyranny of the Qin Dynasty and ignited the spark of resistance to the tyranny of the Qin Dynasty. In addition, this uprising also completely shook the foundation of the Qin Dynasty's rule, paved the way for the subsequent uprisings of Liu Bang and Xiang Yu, and laid the foundation for the masses.
But this uprising dominated by peasants was like fireworks being put into the sky, leaving it in a brilliant moment and then vanished, and the vigorous Chen Sheng and Wu Guang uprisings were suppressed by the Qin Dynasty, which is suffocating. So in the process of the uprising, what mistakes led to the uprising being suppressed so quickly? Was it the lack of strength or the fate of the Qin Dynasty should not be extinct? The following is a close reading of "Historical Records: Chen She's Family" to give you an in-depth analysis of the various reasons behind Chen She's uprising.
In 221 B.C., the Qin Dynasty "fulfilled the supremacy and ruled the Liuhe" and ruled the world. Yingzheng, who ascended the throne of God, established a complete set of feudal centralized power system from top to bottom, and since then "the sea is a county, and the laws are unified". At the same time, weights and measures, wheels, writing, etc. were also unified to facilitate circulation and management, and the first centralized feudal state in Chinese history has stood majestically in the east of the world. Since then, the first emperor "the heart of a single husband, increasingly arrogant", the first emperor began to travel one by one, the north to conquer the Xiongnu, the south to invade the hundred Yue, levy 700,000 prisoners to establish the Afang Palace and the Lishan Tomb. In order to strengthen and consolidate the ruling power, the Great Wall was built. Although the construction of the Great Wall and the expansion of the territory have safeguarded the dignity of the country to a certain extent and are conducive to domestic stability, because the project has been protracted and consumed a lot of people's financial resources, the people are overwhelmed, and the contradictions with the ruling class are gradually increasing.
In 210 BC, the first emperor Yingzheng died, and the sons Fusu and Meng Tian were given to die, and Zhao Gao and Li Si supported Hu Hai as emperor for their own selfish interests, called Qin II. If the first emperor planted the seeds of chaos, then Hu Hai let this kind of seed take root and sprout quickly. During his reign, "all political affairs are decided by the high", and the line of restoration was pursued, and the contradictions between the peasants and the rulers became more acute. By the end of the second century, a social crisis was formed, "the ministers thought it was slanderous, the officials held the Lu to tolerate it, and the heads of the Guizhou were terrified".
Zhao Gao (stills)
In 209 B.C., 900 people from Luzuo were sent to Yuyang, Chen Sheng and Wu Guang were the tun chiefs, and they happened to encounter heavy rain when they went to Daze Township, according to the Qin law, they were cut off if they were delayed, and Chen Sheng and Wu Guang had to launch an uprising in order to make a living. In order to smoothly revolt, Chen Sheng, Wu Guang and others made the following preparations:
- If you want to achieve great things, you must first establish your prestige, and Chen Sheng originally said to others in the fields, "Don't forget each other's wealth," but no one believed it, let alone rebelled? The most urgent task at the moment was to let Chen Sheng establish his prestige, and he first conspired with Wu Guang to win Wu Guang's consent, and then the two of them created a series of mysterious incidents in order to ensure the smooth progress of the matter.
The diviner knew what he meant, and said: "Everything is done in one step, and there is merit." "Chen Sheng, Wu Guangxi, read the ghost, and said: "This teaches me to be the first to threaten the ears." Naidan Shubo said "Chen Shengwang", put it in the belly of the fish. Pawn buys fish to cook, gets the book in the belly of the fish, and is fixed as a strange thing - "Historical Records: Chen Shijia"
They stuffed strips of cloth with "Da Chuxing, King Chen Sheng" into the belly of the fish, and asked the soldiers to buy and eat them, and when they saw the strips of cloth, they made everyone believe that this was a divine arrangement. At this time, some people had already begun to talk behind their backs, wondering if the Chen Sheng written on the cloth would be Chen Sheng next to them.
- Hiding in the ancestral hall at night, the bonfire fox chirped, and they observed the crowd after "placing the book in the belly of the fish", although it produced a certain effect, but they felt that the strength was not enough. So at night, Wu Guang took refuge in the ancestral hall and lit a bonfire, imitating the voice of a fox and shouting "Da Chuxing, King Chen Sheng", and everyone was afraid when they heard this strange sound. The next day, more people began to talk and believe in Chen Sheng, who was shrouded in a layer of mystery.
- Killing the county lieutenant ignited the passion of the soldiers, and angering the county lieutenant, the county lieutenant whipped Chen Sheng to arouse public anger, and Chen Sheng took the opportunity to kill the county lieutenant, which stimulated the nerves of the onlookers. Immediately afterwards, he made a speech to arouse the atmosphere, and put forward the remark that "the prince will have a kind of peace", and at this moment the crowd was excited and the morale was high. The rebel army quickly captured Jixian County, and the common people from all over the country picked up hoes to "chop wood for soldiers and unveil poles for flags" in response to the call and joined the anti-Qin team. The uprising was carried out very successfully, and in the blink of an eye, Chen Sheng had tens of thousands of people, six or seven hundred chariots, and shotguns for artillery, and became a powerful army. Ordinary people all over the country also responded to the call, beheaded the local county order, and launched an uprising.
Zhang Han (stills)
Qin II, who was relieved, ordered Zhang Han to lead the prisoner corps to meet the battle, and after defeating the Zhou-Wen coalition army, he continued to beat the Wu-Guang coalition army, and then threw all the main forces to Chen County, the political center of the Zhang Chu regime, and Chen Sheng, who was defeated and retreated, was killed by his coachman Zhuang Jia, ending his life. The Chen She's uprising was completely suppressed, and the first peasant uprising failed.
After more than six months from the uprising to the suppression, Chen Sheng's failure was mainly due to the following two reasons: (1) forgetting his achievements and forgetting his original achievements in the early days of the uprising, and forgetting the purpose of his original uprising after making few achievements; (2) violating the oath of "not forgetting each other's wealth", squeezing out Wu Guang and appointing a group of people with no talent and no virtue;
The author believes that the root cause of the failure of the Chen Sheng uprising is not only the above two points, but also the following three points that led to the complete failure of the uprising through a careful reading of the "Historical Records of the Chen Shi Family":
- After winning several battles in the early stage of the uprising, Chen Sheng's thinking underwent a tremendous change, as can be seen from the fact that he was crowned king and founded the country, and he appointed ministers. Chen Sheng, who lasted only six months from the uprising to his demise, proclaimed himself king, built palaces and set up ministers, and did not listen to the advice of his subordinates to elect the crown prince of the previous dynasty as king in order to win the support of the masses, revealing his short-sightedness and addiction to power. He did not play a role in leading by example, prompting his Wenchen generals to have dissenting feelings towards him, and in the end, Chen Sheng's side had reached the point where no one was available.
- Squeezing out virtuous ministers and getting close to villains; after Chen Sheng became king, he appointed his "confidants", and there were many villains and careerists among them.
When King Chen heard it, he was summoned and returned. Entering the palace, seeing the curtain of the palace house, the guest said: "Partner! Involved in the king Shen Shen!" Chu people said that there are many partners, so the world spreads it, and the partner is the king, starting from Chen She. The entry and exit of guests are becoming more and more comfortable, and the old feelings of the king are spoken. - "Historical Records: Chen Shi's Family"
Chen Sheng established a "monitoring group" to supervise his generals, and put his henchmen Hu Wu and Zhu Fang to manage the "supervision group", and summarized the information to report to Chen Sheng.
Hu Hai (stills)
Wu Guang's death was also a major stain on Chen Sheng, and the "false king" Wu Guang was fighting in the east and the west, and repeatedly made military exploits. Chen Sheng, who enjoyed wealth at home, was worried that Wu Guang's strength would endanger his position, so after Tian Zang killed Wu Guang, Chen Sheng chose to acquiesce.
Today, Wang Jiao is arrogant, he doesn't know the power of the army, he can't be calculated, he can't be punished, and he is afraid of defeat. "Because of the order of the Prime Minister and the King of Jiao, Uncle Wu was punished, and his head was dedicated to King Chen. King Chen's envoy gave Tian Zang Chu Ling Yin Yin and made him a general. - "Historical Records: Chen Shi's Family"
Wu Guang was born and died with Chen Sheng, and Chen Sheng turned a blind eye after being killed by Tian Zang, which completely chilled the hearts of all the soldiers.
- Chen Sheng's uprising was relatively sudden, but it developed rapidly, and the main forces of the Qin army were in Shuofang and Lingnan, and they did not have time to return to defense, so the rebel army in the early stage achieved relatively large results. However, Chen Sheng had no correct understanding of the current situation, and was carried away by the short-term victory, and made a strategy and tactics to give the Qin State the final blow. From this strategy, Chen Sheng is too eager for quick success. In terms of choosing generals, the Western Expedition chose the fake king Wu Guang, and Wu Guang's overall tactical literacy was okay to deal with the local army, but it was still difficult to encounter the main force of the Qin army. When he went west to Xingyang, he didn't take another half step forward in the face of Li You. The Western Expeditionary Army was trapped here, and Chen Sheng, in order to realize the strategic intention of conquering Guanzhong as soon as possible, ordered Zhou Wen to lead another Western Expeditionary Army to destroy Qin, but was hanged and beaten by Zhang Han's army of prisoners, and Zhou Wen was also killed in battle.
Chen Sheng and Wu Guang raised their arms and shouted, broke the ruler's saying that "wealth is in the sky", and told the world with actions that this battle was bloody, and although it was defeated in the end, it was still glorious.
On the other hand, Chen Sheng's defeat, the author believes that he was defeated because he did not have a correct value, he didn't know why he was fighting from the beginning, what he wanted was to survive, and the slogans put forward at that time were all to confuse everyone, so when he achieved a preliminary victory, he was quickly paralyzed by sugar-coated shells.
Moreover, Chen Sheng himself does not have the ability to be a politician, and he lacks strategic development, knowledge and employment, and grasp of the overall situation.