In the last years of the Yuan Dynasty, dark politics, racial oppression, and economic collapse led to a nationwide popular uprising.
The first action of this popular uprising came from Fang Guozhen, a native of Taizhou, in the eighth year of Yuan Zhizheng in 1348 AD. And three years later, because of the harassment of Zhihe, Han Shantong, Liu Futong, and Li.
Second, Xu Shouhui and others also responded and joined the wave of change.
Let's travel through time and space together to witness the great changes in history and the power of the people.
In the last years of the Yuan Dynasty, there were numerous civil uprisings, large and small. The earliest popular uprising began with the rebellion of Zhu Guangqing, a native of Zengcheng, Guangzhou, and then Fang Guozhen engaged in looting along the coast of Zhejiang, and was unable to take care of it.
In order to calm the situation, ** sent Dazhi Timur to recruit people, and Fang Guozhen's brothers were recruited to surrender, but soon rebelled. Fang Guozhen's power became stronger and stronger, and his official position became higher and higher, and he eventually became an independent force.
At the same time, the White Lotus Cult also rose up in civil society.
Han Shantong and Liu Futong and others organized the White Lotus Society in the early years of Zhizheng, declaring that the world would be in chaos, Maitreya Buddha would come into the world, and the Ming Lord should come out, and the people were subordinated one after another. They took advantage of the superstitious psychology of the masses to create rumors and launch an uprising, which was so great that it once trampled on the land of present-day northern Anhui and southern Henan, gathering 100,000 people.
Although Han Shantong was captured by the county officials to rectify the law, Liu Futong and others still continued to raise troops, broke through Yingzhou, occupied Zhu Gao, and divided their troops to attack many counties, laying a solid foundation.
3) Sesame Li led eight people from the same party, including Zhao Junyong and Peng Erlang, to raise troops in response to Liu Futong, conquered Xuzhou in one fell swoop, recruited tens of thousands of soldiers, and took advantage of the victory to capture Suhong Fengpei Prefecture.
When the Yuan Dynasty heard of the expansion of the civil uprising, it transferred two Huai Yanding 5,000 people ** Xuzhou, and sent the Privy Council Minister Yue Kuochaer to reinforce Balchi, but they were all defeated by Li Bing. The Yuan Dynasty once again sent Gongbu Ban, the political minister of Pingzhang, to wait for tens of thousands of Han troops and Mongolian soldiers to attack Liu Futong, but was ambushed by Liu Futong, and the officers and soldiers were defeated and retreated for 300 miles, and Gong Buban was killed.
Then he sent the imperial historian to Timur and Wei Wang Kuanche to crusade against Liu Futong, but the whole army was scattered, Wei Wang was captured, and Timur fled with his life, and the military resources were piled up, all of which were owned by Liu Futong.
This was the summer of the twelfth year of the Crown. Timur was also the younger brother of the prime minister, and when Timur saw that Timur's army was defeated first, he invited himself to go to the conquest. In September of the twelfth year of Zhizheng, the generals fought with their troops, recovered Xuzhou, and killed Sesame Li.
4) Zhao Junyong and Peng Erlang led the remnants of Sesame Li to flee to Haozhou and defect to Guo Zixing. Guo Zixing is a native of Dingyuan, his father Guo Gong, originally from Caozhou, and sells divination for a living.
Guo Gongke traveled to Dingyuan, saying that good luck and bad luck are often in the middle, and he has a lot of appeal in the local area. The rich man in the city had a blind woman and had no place to return, and Guo Gong married her, and since then he has become richer and richer.
Guo Gong has three sons, and Zixing is second. Zixing is a good guest. In the Zhizheng period, there was a great chaos in the Huaishui area, Liu Futong raised troops, and the people responded.
In the spring of 1352 AD, Guo Zixing gathered thousands of strong men and raided Haozhou. He revolted with Sun Deya and four others and proclaimed himself marshal. Soon, Sesame Li died, and Zhao Junyong, Peng Erlang and others defected to Haozhou, and their power became greater.
Tokhtar defeated the Sesame Li in Xuzhou, and then increased his troops to defeat Liu Futong. Liu Futong and his officers and soldiers fought in the Henan and Anhui areas for many years, and there were victories and defeats. In February of the fifteenth year of Zheng, Liu Futong found Han Lin'er, the son of Han Shantong, in Dangshan and proclaimed him the emperor, called "King Xiaoming".
They built their capital in Bozhou, the country name was Song, and the Yuan Dragon and Phoenix were changed. Liu Futong's mother Yang was respected as the empress dowager, Du Zundao and Sheng Wenyu were prime ministers, and Liu Futong and Luo Wensu were in charge of Pingzhang political affairs.
They also demolished the timber of the Taiqing Palace and built the palace. Soon, Liu Futong killed Du Zundao and became the prime minister himself. Liu Futong rebelled from the 11th year of Zhizheng to the establishment of power in the 15th year of Zhizheng and became an independent regime.
At the same time, in the eleventh year of Zheng, Xu Shouhui and Liu Futong and Li.
Second, Guo Zixing and others revolted at the same time. Xu Shouhui is a native of Luotian, Hubei, who sells cloth as a business, and travels between Qi and Huang.
Because of his majestic appearance and red light, he was regarded as the master by the disciples of the demon monk Peng Yingyu and sent troops to cause trouble. Xu Shouhui proclaimed himself the emperor, the country name was Tianwan, with Qizhou as the national capital, and the Yuan Dynasty was established.
His men wrapped their heads in red scarves, the same as the Red Turban Army in Ru Ying's area. Xu Shouhui's general, Meng Haima, raised troops to capture Xiangyang and Jingmen in response to Xu Shouhui, and his power grew rapidly.
In the spring of the twelfth year of Zhizheng, Meng Haima captured Hanyang, Wuchang, Anlu and other places, and the whole family of Anlu prefect committed suicide, and the counties along the river in Hubei were all overwhelmed. Xu Shouhui's general, Zhao Pusheng, carried his warships down the river and attacked Jiangxi, but Li Huang, the governor of Jiangzhou, refused to fight, and the city fell to death.
After Zhao Pusheng captured Jiangzhou, he captured Nankang. In March of the twelfth year of Zhizheng, Yuan, Rui, Rao, and Xin Prefectures in Jiangxi were trapped. In the west, Meng Haima captured Gui, Xia, and Fang Prefectures in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River, and advanced straight to Kuizhou in Sichuan.
The Jiangnan area was shaken, and the local people responded one after another.
Xu Shouhui's army was defeated and fled into Huangmei Mountain, and the official army then broke through Wuchang Zhulu and Junfang Prefectures, capturing more than 400 officials of Tianwan. Taking advantage of the collapse of the enemy army, the imperial court ordered all the armies to return to the court.
At the same time, Zhang Shicheng rose to prominence in the Jiangsu and Zhejiang regions of the lower reaches of the Yangtze River, and his army was challenged by Fang Guozhen, who first raised troops in Taizhou, and Zhang Shicheng, who later raised troops in Gaoyou.
Zhang Shicheng, a native of Baijuchang, made a living by driving a boat to sell smuggled salt when he was young, although he was light and wealthy, but he was furious by the ** of the local tycoons, so he led his brothers and the strong man Li Boyi and other eighteen people, killed Qiu Yi who bullied him, and destroyed the rich family, taking advantage of the chaos in the world, pulling up the banner and raising troops to rebel.
The Yanding people suffered greatly from tax service, and came to defect one after another, and elected Zhang Shicheng as the leader, and he led the army to capture Taizhou and Gaoyou, and killed Li Qi of Zhizhou. Zhang Shicheng defeated the Yuan army many times, proclaimed himself King Cheng, the country name Zhou, and Jianyuan Tianyou.
In the fourteenth year, he attacked Yangzhou, defeated the provincial prime minister Dazhi Timur, entered the Tianchang counties, and cut off the canal grain route. In September of the same year, the imperial court ordered the prime minister to get rid of the general system and Zhulu to crusade against Zhang Shicheng.
Tokhtar defeated Zhang Shicheng in Gaoyou, and broke his army in Tianchang Liuhe. At that time, the Yuan army was known as one million, and the banner was thousands of miles, Zhang Shicheng was terrified, thinking that he was about to be destroyed.
However, the situation in the court and China suddenly changed, and Emperor Yuan Shun listened to Hama's slander and relieved Tokhtar of his military power.
Zhang Shicheng rose again, to the fifteenth year, Zhang Shicheng sent his younger brother Zhang Shide from Tongzhou to cross the river to attack Changshu, Kunshan, Jiading, Chongming and other places, they surrendered Zhang Shicheng one after another.
In February of the sixteenth year, Zhang Shicheng captured Pingjiang, Changzhou, and Huzhou, and moved the capital to Pingjiang from Gaoyou, renamed Pingjiang as Longping Mansion, set up the Provincial Yuan Baisi, and appointed the warlock Li Xingsu as the prime minister, and his younger brother Zhang Shide as the political affairs of Pingzhang.
At that time, Wuzhong's Qian Gu armor battle was piled up, and all of them belonged to Zhang Shicheng.
Ming Yuzhen, a native of Suizhou, Hubei, has a bold personality and is deeply admired by the villagers. In the eleventh year of Zheng, Jianghuai was in turmoil, and he and his fathers and sons gathered more than 1,000 people, stationed in Qingshan, and built a walled city to defend themselves.
Soon, Xu Shouhui proclaimed himself emperor in Qizhou and sent people to recruit Ming Yuzhen. Xu Shouhui promised that if Ming Yuzhen was attached, he could share the wealth, otherwise he would slaughter Ming Yuzhen's subordinates.
In desperation, Ming Yuzhen had no choice but to lead his subordinates to join Xu Shouhui and became a general under Xu Shouhui. In the process of fighting the Yuan army, Ming Yuzhen unfortunately fell into a stray arrow and was blind in one eye, so he was called "Ming Blind".
He often led an army to fight in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River, with fifty fighting boats, plundering grain from between the rivers and gorges, and penetrating deep into Kuizhou. Later, Xu Shouhui established the capital in Hanyang and possessed the middle stream of the Yangtze River, so he ordered Ming Yuzhen to go up the river and attack Sichuan.
In the seventeenth year of Zheng, Ming Yuzhen led his troops to attack Chongqing. At that time, the Yuan Dynasty guards were at odds with Ha Ma Bald, and the place had no defense, Ming Yuzhen conquered Chongqing in one go, and the finishers fled, and Ha Ma was captured.
The fathers and elders in Chongqing had long been bullied by the Mongols, and when they learned of Ming Yuzhen's arrival, they welcomed him into the city with fragrant flowers. After Chongqing was conquered by Ming Yuzhen, nearby prefectures and counties also came to surrender.
In the eighteenth year of Zheng (1358 AD), the complete ones reorganized their armies and ** Chongqing, but they were defeated by Ming Yuzhen again. As a result, Ming Yuzhen took advantage of the victory to pursue, captured Chengdu, and completely occupied the counties in the Liangchuan region.
At this time, Ming Yuzhen still nominally belonged to Xu Shouhui, but in fact he had formed his own army and became the king of Shuzhong.
Chen Youliang followed his uncle Chen Puwen to participate in the uprising of Xu Shouhui and Ni Wenjun, and served as a bookkeeper under Ni Wenjun at first, and was promoted to marshal by virtue of his military exploits. Ni Wenjun used his authority and defected after an unsuccessful attempt to kill Xu Shouhui.
Chen Youliang seized the opportunity, attacked and killed Ni Wenjun, annexed his army, and proclaimed himself the political minister of Pingzhang. In the eighteenth year of Zheng, Chen Youliang captured Huangzhou and attacked Anqing with Zhao Pusheng, Zhu Zong and others.
Anqing is an important military stronghold in Jiangbei, and the garrison general Yu Que is known for his honesty and integrity. Chen Youliang led an army to attack Anqing, and after fierce fighting, Yu Que held on for six years, and finally fell into the city.
Chen Youliang continued to move south and captured Longxing (Nanchang), Xinzhou and other places. Xu Shouhui wanted to move the capital to Anqing, but Chen Youliang did not obey. Chen Youliang is a man who guesses and has the right to skill, and he is more domineering than Ni Wenjun.
In the nineteenth year of Zheng, Xu Shouhui led his troops eastward, but was kidnapped by Chen Youliang on the way, killed all his entourage, and imprisoned him. Chen Youliang proclaimed himself king of Han, moved the capital to Jiangzhou, and killed Xu Shouhui the following year, establishing himself as emperor of the Han Dynasty.
At that time, Chen Youliang controlled Huguang, Jiangxi and other places, and became the most powerful force in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River. Ming Yuzhen heard that Chen Youliang had rebelled in Sichuan, so he sent troops to blockade the Three Gorges, cut off contact with Chen Youliang, and established himself as the king of Longshu.
In the twenty-second year of Zheng, Ming Yuzhen was officially proclaimed emperor in Chongqing, with the country name Daxia and the establishment of the Yuan Tiantong. Ming Yuzhen is thrifty and studious, good at courtesy and virtuous corporal, once hired the hermit Liu Zhen as a military advisor, and compared himself to Liu Bei to get Zhuge Liang.
He imitated Zhou Li, established the system of six officials, and appointed Dai Shou as the tomb zai.
Change the prefect to Taishou, and the governor to the history of thorns. A one-tithes tax system was introduced, and forced labor was abolished. The retro ethos prevails here. In the turbulent times, he was returned to the hearts of the people in Shuzhong.
Xu Shouhui's army in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River was divided into two forces, Ming Yuzhen (Xia) in the upper reaches and Chen Youliang (Han) in the lower reaches. The expansion and collapse of Liu Futong's power Liu Futong supported Han Lin'er as the emperor in the fifteenth year of Zhizheng, called him the king of Xiaoming, and established the capital in Bozhou, Liu Futong proclaimed himself prime minister, and Han Lin'er was just a puppet.
The work of quelling the unrest south of the Yellow River was the responsibility of the Pingzhang political affairs of Henan Province. In the winter of that year, Badulu defeated Liu Futong in Taikang, and then besieged Bozhou.
Liu Futong was unable to support, so he fled south to Anfeng with Han Lin'er, using Anfeng as a base. Soon after, Liu Futong's power was restored, and his generals were dispatched to attack separately, launching a large-scale guerrilla strategy.
At that time, the troops were divided into three routes: the general Mao Gui was sent to the northeast to attack Shandong; Dispatch generals Guan Duo, Po Toufan, and Sha Liu.
Second, Uncle Feng, Wang Shicheng and others attacked Jin and Hebei in the north. Guan Duo is a native of Chong'an, brave and resourceful, Liu Futong often thinks that he is a pioneer in battles, and he is indomitable, so he has the nickname of "Mr. Guan".
Then send the generals Bai Buxin, Dadao Ao, Li Xixi, etc., to attack Guanshan. These armies all adopted the method of avoiding the real and making up for the false, attacked in all directions, and developed very rapidly. Liu Futong himself led his troops to attack the central states of Henan, intending to seize the Central Plains.
At this time, Liu Futong's army spread like the Yellow River breach, spreading everywhere and breaking out on all sides, making it from Guanzhong in the west, Qilu in the east, and Hebei and Liaodong in the north, forming a great chaos.
Mao Gui of the East Road, fought bravely, invaded Shandong in the fifteenth year of Zhizheng, and even captured Laizhou, Yidu, Juzhou and other places. In July of that year, Wanhu Tianfeng, a righteous citizen guarding the Yellow River, suddenly rebelled, took refuge in Mao Gui, and captured Jining, making Mao Gui's army prosperous.
In the eighteenth year of Zheng, Mao Gui captured Jinan and killed Dong Boxiao, the general of the Yuan Dynasty, while Tian Feng captured Dongping and Dongchang. Mao Gui was talented and strategic, and after occupying Jinan, he captured many prefectures and counties in Shandong.
He also set up 360 tuntians in the Laizhou area, each of which was 30 miles apart. Hundreds of carts were manufactured to transport grain and straw back and forth. Determine the amount of land tax to be paid in 2 out of 10.
After Mao Gui occupied Jinan, he did not stay, took advantage of the victory to advance northward, broke the momentum of bamboo, and fell into many places, approaching the capital, the imperial court was shaken, and the capital was moved. Fortunately, Liu Hara did not spend time to break Mao Gui, Mao Gui returned to Jinan, and the Beijing division turned the corner.
In the autumn of the eighteenth year, Wang Xin surrendered to Mao Gui, and Mao Gui occupied Shandong. Bai Buxin, Dadao Ao, Li Xixi broke into the Guanzhong, captured Shangzhou, for a time the Guanzhong was in turmoil, Chakhan Timur and Li Siqi raised troops in the Central Plains, repeatedly broke the chaotic army, the soldiers were very sharp, Aratna lost the Li to ask for help in Chakhan Timur, Chakhan Timur led the army into the aid of Guanzhong, and the chaotic soldiers were defeated.
The edict took Chahan Timur as the Zuo Cheng of Shaanxi Province, Bai Buxin defeated Qin Long, attacked Fengxiang, Chahan Timur led the iron cavalry to chase, attacked inside and outside, and then defeated the white soldiers, Bai Buxin, Li Xixi died in Shu.
Mr. Guan crossed the Yellow River and entered Zelu, and his footprints were all over the Fenshui Basin. Chakhan Timur made meritorious service in Shaanxi to break the enemy, and was ordered to be transferred to Shanxi to quell the rebellion, and sent Hu Linchi, Guan Bao and others to defeat Mr. Guan and Pan and others, and divided troops to guard Taihang Mountain to prevent him from returning.
Chakhan Timur was in the position of the right man of Shaanxi Xingtai and the privy council of Henan Xingxing, and was ordered to defend Guan, Shaanxi, Jin, and Hebei. In the battle with Mr. Guan, Chakhan Timur was victorious, then moved to the northeast, and did not return to Liaoyang until the nineteenth year.
During this period, Chakhan Timur, together with Potou Pan, Sha Liu Er, and others, invaded the territory of Goryeo, successfully captured Kaesong, the eastern capital of Goryeo, and captured the king of Goryeo. However, Mr. Guan and Sha Liu Er and others failed because of the beauty scheme and were killed by the Koreans.
Chakhan Timur and Potou Pan later surrendered to the Yuan generals Polo Timur and Xuande, respectively. Liu Futong moved to the north and south of the Great River, successfully captured the old capital of the Northern Song Dynasty, Bianliang, and established a new capital here.
However, the general of the Yuan Dynasty, Chakhan Timur, dispatched the ** Zhulu army, land and water, to crusade against Liu Futong. Liu Futong was trapped from May to August of the 19th year of Zhizheng, and the city was exhausted, Liu Futong and Han Lin'er broke through and fled, and then fled back to Anfeng.
Chakhan Timur successfully overcame Bianliang, his prestige was greatly enhanced, and he was appointed as the political minister of Pingzhang in Henan. In Shandong, Zhao Junyong, Peng Erlang and others killed each other, and Chakhan Timur joined the Zhulu army and continued the eastward crusade.
In the summer of the twentieth year of Zhizheng, Chakhan Timur led his army to attack Dongping, successfully defeated Tian Feng, and beheaded more than 10,000 people. Tian Feng couldn't resist and surrendered with Wang Shicheng.
Chakhan Timur seized the opportunity and led his army to attack and successfully recaptured Jinan. At this time, many cities in Shandong had been recovered, and only Yidu City was left unconquered. One day, while inspecting the camp, Chakhan Timur unexpectedly came to Tian Feng's camp.
However, Tian Feng and Wang Shicheng suddenly rebelled and stabbed Chakhan Timur to death. Although Timur of Chakhan was killed, his son Kokor Timur succeeded him.
On the one hand, he captured and executed Tian Feng and Wang Shicheng, and on the other hand, he commanded the army to fight bravely, and finally conquered Yidu City, capturing more than 200 people including Chen Yutou.
In this way, Shandong was finally pacified, and the time was in the winter of the twenty-first year of Zhizheng.
The Central Plains army led by Liu Futong was wiped out, and the cities they occupied were recovered by the Yuan Dynasty one by one, and it seemed that the Yuan Dynasty was recovering its vitality. However, the coup d'état and infighting between the DPRK and China turned the tide and instead provided an opportunity for Zhu Yuanzhang's success.