Behind these cruel words, there is a magnificent history. In those turbulent times, peasant uprisings were raging, attacking the authority of the rulers. Xu Shouhui, as the leader of the Southern Red Turban Army, was supposed to be a hero who promoted this change, but he ended up so miserable. Is he a savior who is enshrined as the "reincarnation of Maitreya Buddha", or is he a pawn to be used? Chen Youliang, a once loyal subordinate, for what reason did he assassinate Xu Shouhui? In this power struggle, who finally had the last laugh?
The rise of the troubled hero Xu Shouhui
In the first year of Tianshun (1328), the rule of the Yuan dynasty was already decaying. In the area south of the Yangtze River, taxes and levies are heavy, coupled with the corruption of officials, and the people are not able to make a living. Under this heavy oppression, the discontent of the masses is gradually accumulating.
Moments of crisis are often the moments when heroes are born. In this year, a monk named Peng Yingyu began to spread Mingjiao in the Jiangnan area. Peng Yingyu claimed that she had been instructed by Maitreya Buddha to save the people in the world and overthrow the ruling class. His words were like wildfires that burned throughout the south of the Yangtze River, and many oppressed peasants joined him.
Peng Yingyu was a shrewd and capable man, and he soon realized that words alone were not enough to truly unite these peasant armies. He needed a symbolic leader to unify people's beliefs and actions. So, Peng Yingyu found a cloth dealer Xu Shouhui in Jiangxi, because Xu Shouhui is heroic, humble, and deeply loved by the people, Peng Yingyu decided to let Xu Shouhui play the role of this leading figure.
Xu Shouhui was originally a businessman, and he had no experience in commanding an army. But Peng Yingyu cleverly used Xu's prestige among the people, claiming that Xu was the reincarnation of Maitreya Buddha to save the common people. Peng Yingyu personally put on the vestments of Maitreya Buddha for Xu Shouhui and made him the leader of Mingjiao.
With the addition of the "reincarnation of Maitreya Buddha", Xu Shouhui has a very high authority and majesty in the hearts of the people. Suddenly, tens of thousands of farmers responded to the call and joined the Red Turban Army under Xu Shouhui.
At first, the Red Turban Army was not very capable of fighting, and often lost in battles with the official army of the Yuan Dynasty. In order to boost morale, Peng Yingyu spread a superstition: as long as you draw a magic talisman on your body, you can be invulnerable on the battlefield. Many simple peasants were convinced that they were extremely brave on the battlefield, which also allowed the Red Turban Army to gradually accumulate a lot of combat experience.
In the seventh year of Tianshun (1334), the Red Turban Army broke through Huguang and other places, and Xu Shouhui established the "Tianwan" dynasty in Xishui and was crowned emperor. Under Xu Shouhui, Peng Yingyu, Ni Wenjun and others were in charge of military and political power. As a result, the divisions and contradictions of the ruling class began to be exposed.
Chen Youliang's conspiracy and betrayal
Chen Youliang was born poor and was bullied since he was a child. However, he was intellectually brilliant and studious since he was a child, and worked as a clerk in the county government. Although he is at the end of the world, he has great ambitions for the world. A fortune teller passed by his house, saw the feng shui treasure of the ancestral tomb of the Chen family, and asserted that the Chen family must have a rich and noble person. When Chen Youliang heard this, his ambition was even firmer.
In the eighth year of Tianshun (1335), Chen Youliang met the generals under Xu Shouhui by chance, and he was accepted as the Red Turban Army by holding Buddha feet. Chen Youliang was brave and wise, and soon showed his prominence in the army, was appreciated by Ni Wenjun, and was appointed as the guard general of Huangzhou.
Ni Wenjun is a clever villain, and he regards Chen Youliang as a confidant, but in fact, he has different intentions. He secretly plotted to seize power, trying to be the master of his second son and usurp the throne. However, Ni Wenjun's cunning has long been known to Chen Youliang.
Ni Wenjun and his family cronies took refuge in Chen Youliang and begged for his protection. Chen Youliang pretended to be submissive and treated him with great courtesy. After Ni Wenjun's family settled down, Chen Youliang ordered them to be wiped out, all of them were killed, and Ni Wenjun's head was dedicated to Xu Shouhui to show his loyalty.
As soon as this move came out, Chen Youliang's prestige increased sharply, and he was appointed prime minister, in charge of the government and military power. Since then, he has been unable to return, and he has been plotting every step of the way, plotting to usurp the throne.
Chen Youliang first cut military salaries and displaced the soldiers. Then he secretly ordered his cronies to levy heavy taxes, exploit the people, and finance military supplies. also secretly threatened that Xu Shouhui was a hypocrite, harming the innocent and ruining lives.
Xu Shouhui has always trusted Chen Youliang and turned a blind eye to his actions. Until the sixteenth year of Yuan Zhizheng (1356), Chen Youliang took Xu Shouhui to go out to conquer, and suddenly rushed to the capital of Tianwan.
Although the soldiers defending the city bravely resisted, they could not resist the siege of Chen Youliang's many cronies after all. The city was soon captured, and Xu Shouhui fled in a hurry. Chen Youliang ordered someone to set fire to the temple and tricked Xu Shouhui into coming to put out the fire.
When Xu Shouhui saw the ferocity of the fire, he hurried to arrive, but unexpectedly, Chen Youliang was tricky. Chen Youliang had already ambushed soldiers in the temple, and as soon as he saw Xu Shouhui coming, he immediately surrounded and arrested. Xu Shouhui had no way out, so he had to lie on the ground and beg for mercy, wailing and screaming.
A thrilling scene of soldiers approaching the city
In the winter of the sixteenth year of Yuan Zhizheng (1356), Chen Youliang came to Huangzhou, the capital of Tianwan. The defenders of the city were impregnable and refused to surrender. The siege was a stalemate.
Chen Youliang is a ploy, wanting to trick Xu Shouhui out of the city. He ordered his cronies to smuggle several truckloads of dry firewood, hollow out a Buddhist temple in Huangzhou City, and hide hundreds of Chen's henchmen and soldiers. He also set up ambushes to guard the gates of the city, and secretly ordered his men to set fire to them.
Overnight, black smoke billowed and burned, lighting up the night sky throughout Huangzhou. Xu Shouhui was resting in the imperial tent, and was shocked when he saw this scene, so he hurriedly put on his horse and ordered the guards to go to fight the fire.
When Xu Shouhui and his entourage rushed to the Buddhist temple, they saw that the fire in the temple was soaring, and the flame tongue was as high as several zhang, and the monks were tired and panicked. Xu Shouhui was overjoyed when he saw this, and ordered Congwei to stir up the bell and call the nearby people to come to put out the fire. For a time, the incense case smoked everywhere, and the bells were endless.
It was winter, the weather was cold and the ground was freezing, Xu Shouhui ordered to carry the water tank from Weijin Temple in order to put out the fire before it spread. Hearing a loud "bang", dozens of Chen's soldiers with halberds suddenly rushed out of the temple and rushed straight to Xu Shouhui's camp! "Shouhui thief, don't kill you and retreat today! Chen Jun roared angrily, in front of and behind the wall, arrows rained like a rain, and none of the guards guarding the camp were spared.
Xu Shouhui was shocked and made a mess. He saw that the soldiers in the temple were pouring out in a steady stream, and he knew that something was going on. had to dismount in a hurry and beg for mercy on the ground: "Friendship brother, don't hurt people, what's wronged, it's better to be clear." ＂
Chen Bing turned a blind eye, swarmed up, and kicked and beat him one after another. Xu Shouhui was torn off his dragon robe on the spot, and his hands were tied behind his back. Chen Youliang had a calm face, stepped forward slowly, and coldly reprimanded: "Xu Shouhui, you hypocrite, you are a traitor, and your sin is unforgivable!" Today is your time of death! ＂
Xu Shouhui shouted when he heard this: "Friendship brother, the crime of the younger brother deserves death!" But you and I are like brothers, why is that?! Chen Youliang sneered and was silent.
The short-lived reign of the new dynasty
Although Chen Youliang seized the world, he did not shrink himself. His arrogance, coupled with his brutality and cruelty, soon drove the old people away.
Chen Youliang punished Xu Shouhui, and then ascended the throne by himself, with the country name "Dahan" and the year name "Yongping". He granted amnesty and appeased the displaced people in order to win the hearts and minds of the people. However, the henchmen of the old Red Turbans were oppressed and slaughtered. The soldiers who once followed Xu Shouhui were all silent, for fear that the Chen family would kill and kill.
The peasant uprising originally took over the world and saved the people from fire and water. However, after Chen Youliang came to power, he still spared no effort to exploit the people. He ordered people to extort extortion and extort taxes, which was far greater than the old system of the Yuan Dynasty. All of a sudden, people were struggling to make ends meet, and displaced people were everywhere.
What's more, Chen Youliang actually ordered tens of thousands of displaced people to be killed near Suzhou in southern Anhui Province to solve the dilemma of food shortage. Such atrocities caused public resentment to boil over and cause an uproar.
Not only that, in order to consolidate his dominance, Chen Youliang also set up a literary prison, framed good people, and killed wantonly. He suspected that someone in the court had set up another crown prince, so he arrested dozens of ministers, including Gu Tingzhen and Qian Jue, and razed the three clans.
Although Chen Youliang commanded the world, his foundation was unstable. With the increasing tyranny, the displaced people in Jiangsu and Zhejiang continued to drift away from Germany, and there was an endless stream of protesters. Among them, the first is Zhu Yuanzhang, the founding emperor of the Ming Dynasty.
Zhu Yuanzhang was originally a tiger cavalry general of Xu Shouhui's Red Turban Army, brave and good at fighting. and Chen Youliang's rebellion, he temporarily hesitated because his troops were too thin. Later, when he learned that the Chen clan was ravaging the people, he did not hesitate and supported the army to fight back.
Zhu Yuanzhang's elite department is accustomed to robbing homes and houses, although he was unknown at first, he soon gained great prestige. At the time, there was a poem that praised: "A captain is a tiger, and the good things in his life have never stopped." Zhu Yuanzhang is a blood bush master, and the white mao salt is sorrowful. ＂
Chen Youliang was shocked when he heard the news, and hurriedly sent the general Zhao Shilu to crusade against Zhu Yuanzhang. However, Zhao Shilu was finally captured by Zhu Yuanzhang and surrendered. Zhu Yuanzhang won this good general, and his troops increased greatly, especially his arrogance.
Zhu Yuanzhang counterattacked Chen Youliang and finally built the foundation of the Ming Dynasty
Zhu Yuanzhang was Chen Youliang's department at the beginning, but later saw his tyranny and indignation. In the eighteenth year of Yuan Zhizheng (1358), Zhu Yuanzhang rose up in Changshu, with more than 100,000 troops, and smashed Huangzhou.
At that time, the Chen regime had gradually declined, the government and the opposition were separated from Germany, and the peasants in Jiangsu and Zhejiang were hurt by the peasants, and the displaced people were everywhere. Zhu Yuanzhang's tiger riders are good at fighting, brave and brave, and they travel in Funing, Yixing, Wuxian and other places, recruiting troops and horses. Chen was shocked when he heard this, and hurriedly sent more than 70 generals including Zhao Shilu to attack.
Before Zhao Shilu's army was halfway there, he was raided by Zhu Yuanzhang's army. Zhu Yuanzhang personally led 5,000 elite horsemen to set fire to the city, like a mad tiger. Zhao Shilu was unable to return to the sky, and finally captured Zhu Yuanzhang alive and surrendered the city. Zhao's generals Hu Shouchang and others also followed suit. Zhu Yuanzhang was overjoyed by Zhao Shilu, and was immediately named Wu Dingbo to guard Jiangyin. Since then, Zhu Yuanzhang's prestige has been greatly enhanced, and there are many generals.
Chen Youliang knew that the general trend was going, but he was afraid. He first ordered people to repair the city and stick to Huangzhou. Then he sent envoys to and from the land of the exiles, trying to appease them, in order to survive. But Zhu Yuanzhang is as sharp as a tiger and invincible. Chen had no way to escape, so he had to personally lead a large army on an expedition and go straight to Jiankang.
However, Chen's army and horses went on an expedition to Laoton, and the road was far away. Zhu Yuanzhang divided his troops into two routes, attacked Huangzhou all the way, and ordered Zhang Fulin and Chang Yuchun to suppress Chen's army.
Chen Youliang's army was not in time for Jiankang, and it had already been attacked by each other. Chen's soldiers were in chaos and lost their teachers one after another. Chen Youliang had nothing to do, so he had to send his own general, Chen Shiying, to lead the army to defend him.
Chen Shiying is Chen's confidant, brave and brave, and was once appreciated by Zhu Yuanzhang. Unexpectedly, Zhu Yuanzhang countered the plan and sent someone to hook Lu Shiying to take refuge. Lu Shiying was bribed with two intentions, and Zhu Yuanzhang took the opportunity to contain Chen Youliang.
end
Lu Shiying was overwhelmed and led the army to surrender under Zhu Yuanzhang. Chen Youliang was furious when he heard the news, and was about to recruit in person, but he was outflanked by Zhu Yuanzhang's army and finally captured. Zhu Yuanzhang angrily reprimanded: "You husband, bear my high hopes and usurp the throne, your sin is unforgivable!" Chen Youliang yelled for mercy and was locked in a prison car.