Speaking of Fang Guozhen, his fame is far less than that of Chen Youyu, Zhang Shicheng, Zhu Yuanzhang, Ming Yuzhen and other people who rebelled at the end of the Yuan, but this person was the first anti-Yuan Israeli army leader at the end of the Ming Dynasty, and then he divided eastern Zhejiang for nearly twenty years, wandered around the forces of all sides, and finally got his death under Zhu Yuanzhang's anger, which is really a figure that cannot be ignored.
Statue of Fang Guozhen
The earliest anti-Meta leader
The Fang Guozhen family has been selling salt for generations, and at that time, the people of eastern Zhejiang did not care about life, "The emperor of tiangao is far away, and the people are few and more public; they fight three times a day, how can they not treat each other?" The ballad of "is secretly circulating.
Fang Guozhen's embarkation on the road of uprising is inevitable and accidental. In the eighth year of the Yuan Dynasty (1348), Fang Guozhen had a fellow villager who could not survive and entered the sea as a bandit, and the imperial court could not be pacified, and Fang Guozhen realized that "the chaos in the world began from this point on". Just as his enemies sued him for banditry, he killed the enemy family and fled to the sea with his brothers, and in less than a month, he gathered thousands of people to start robbing the Yuan Dynasty's maritime imperial grain, officially starting the anti-Yuan road.
His uprising was three years before the Red Turban Rebellion of Han Shantong Liu Futong and four years before Zhu Yuanzhang's father-in-law Guo Zixingyi.
Peasant revolt at the end of the Yuan Dynasty
The "sea spirit" who knows the rules of survival
Fang Guozhen's behavior after the first righteousness and anti-Yuan has only four words in the eyes of traditional historians - repeated and untrustworthy. Especially in his attitude towards the Yuan Dynasty, he was capricious between resistance and solicitation, and he changed his face very quickly.
In fact, his repetition, everything is for survival.
In the ninth year of Zhengzheng (1349), Duo'er Only Ban, a member of the Zhejiang Provincial Government, led 30,000 water troops to capture Fang Guozhen, but the army was defeated, and Duo'er Only Ban was captured. Fang Guozhen forced him to petition the imperial court and made him a lieutenant.
In the tenth year of Zhengzheng (1350), Fang Guozhen attacked Wenzhou and rebelled against the Yuan again.
In the eleventh year of Zhengzheng (1351), the Defeat of the Yuan Dynasty once again brought him down.
In the twelfth year of Zhizheng (1352), the rebellion resumed.
In the fourteenth year of Zhizheng (1354), Fang Guozhen attacked Taizhou, and his power grew, accepting the imperial court's offer.
After accepting the imperial court's invitation, he attacked Zhang Shicheng, and fought seven battles and seven victories, until Zhang Shicheng was also recruited by the imperial court.
In the midst of repeated rebellions and solicitations, Fang Guozhen's power became more and more powerful, and officials participated in politics in the provinces, and according to the lands of Qingyuan, Wenzhou, and Taizhou, it can be said that he was well versed in the laws of survival.
However, it is precisely because he is too focused on survival that he is too small, short-sighted, and lacks the ambition of wang hegemony.
Schematic diagram of the division of various forces at the end of the Yuan Dynasty
In the fifteenth year of Zhizheng (1355), in addition to Zhu Yuanzhang, Chen Youyu, Zhang Shicheng, etc., Fang Guozhen could also be regarded as a powerful rebel army.
At this time, some strategists advised him to take the initiative to attack with "a thousand boats and hundreds of thousands of people" to achieve hegemony.
However, he refused, believing that "although the imperial court has no way, it can still prolong the years; although Haojie rises together, his wisdom is equally opposed", "to protect the border and the people, to the emergence of the real people, Si Wuzhiye".
His ambition was simply to divide one side to protect the people and wait for the Ming Lord to appear. Of course, we can think that he has no lofty ambitions, but we have to say that compared to the outcome of Zhang Shicheng Chen Youyu and others, in the end his choice is wise.
In the first month of the nineteenth year of Zhengzheng (1359), Fang Guozhen used Zhu Yuanzhang's great power to send envoys to surrender, but Zhu Yuanzhang believed that he was still "yin and holding both ends", only false words and no actual expressions (not completely dependent on submission, let alone entering the Capital Face Of Saint Xie'en), warning him that "blessings are based on sincerity, misfortune is born of repetition, and Kui Huan and Gongsun can learn from the past." ”
However, at this time, Fang Guozhen could not see that Zhu Yuanzhang was the "real person" and the Ming Lord he expected, and he did not want to completely accept the land and submit, and he also wanted to occupy eastern Zhejiang, and even more wanted to fight with the Yuan Dynasty and Zhang Shicheng to resist Zhu Yuanzhang.
In the end, Zhu Yuanzhang's army was dispatched, and the generals surrendered one after another, and Fang Guozhen, who fled to the sea, had to beg for surrender with a letter. Zhu Yuanzhang replied with a rare and generous reply: "I should take Ru's sincerity as my sincerity, and I should not be too much in the past, so don't doubt yourself." Urging Fang Guozhen to enter Beijing immediately.
Fang Guozhen could only enter Beijing, and when Zhu Yuanzhang received him, he said, "If it is not too late!" ", blame him for coming a little late. Blame is blamed, Zhu Yuanzhang still gave him the Guangxi Province of Zuo Cheng, only to lead Feng Lu did not have to go to the post.
In the seventh year of Hongwu, Fang Guozhen died of illness in Jingshi.
Compared with the heroes who were killed in the Hongwu Dynasty, Fang Guozhen was undoubtedly much luckier. So much so that during the Qing Dynasty, the historians could not believe it, "The first chaos of the national treasures, repeatedly without faith, but they actually died of good death." ”
Being able to die safely under the eyes of the murderous Ming Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang is indeed a survival master among the forces of all sides, worthy of the name of "sea spirit".