In March of the 11th year of Yuan Zhizheng (1351), heavy rains caused the rivers in the Jianghuai land to rise gradually, and people were panicked.What people worry about is their own livelihood and life. In the past ten years, the Huanghuai River Basin has suffered either floods or famines. In such an environment, Han Shantong, the owner of Bailu Village in Yingzhou area, could not see the future, and he was quite depressed because of his great ambitions.Han Shantong's ancestral home was originally Luancheng, Zhaozhou. Because his grandfather was a propagator of the White Lotus Sect, he was influenced by the White Lotus Sect since he was a child. He was full of rebellion in his bones and was often dissatisfied with reality.When he grew up, Han Shantong still gathered people under the name of White Lotus Sect and recruited many disciples. People in Henan and Jianghuai areas worshiped him very much and trusted him.But Han Shantong does not want to be a small coach all his life, he has a more ambitious ideal.

Han Shantong thinks that he can make a career with his own ability, but his heart has been stirred by one thing, that is Fang Guozhen who rebelled against the court a few years ago.Fang Guozhen became king by the sea, and the officers and soldiers in Zhejiang Province couldn't help him, and his power grew stronger and stronger.Han Shantong's heart is very excited every time he thinks of this matter. It is an impulse: the impulse to prove himself, develop himself, and show his ability. This impulse gradually turned into action in Han Shantong. He always felt that this kind of world provided an opportunity to achieve a career.

Han Shantong thought for a long time, and decided to gather believers to rebel against the court.The White Lotus Sect is widely spread in this area. Apart from Han Shantong as the head, there are several other leaders. The first step of Han Shantong's plan is to call all the leaders together and ask for opinions. On this day, it was still cloudy and rainy. Bailuzhuang Mountain Village in Yingzhou area was usually peaceful and serene, but today it was a little different.Putting on coir raincoats and bamboo hats, two strangers hurried to the village and asked the owner where he was.The gatekeeper was about to lead someone to see the owner of the villa, when Han Shantong, the owner of the villa, walked over.Han Shantong is seven feet tall and wears a red cloth scarf, quite unrestrained.The owner personally welcomed the two visitors to the White Lotus Hall in the backyard.

There are already four guests seated in the White Lotus Hall. They are the leaders of the White Lotus Sect in various places: Liu Futong, Du Zundao, Luo Wensu, and Han Yaoer.Han Shantong hurriedly introduced to everyone: "My dear friends, these two are Brother Sheng Wenyu and Brother Wang Xianzhong from Yingshang County. They are the leaders of the White Lotus Sect in the county, and they are our own people." There is a little depression hidden, and it seems that something important is about to explode.Han Shantong sat on the owner's seat, thinking about something calmly, without saying a word.In fact, before the gathering, Han Shantong had already disclosed the discussion in a secret letter.

In the silence, Sheng Wenyu, who had just arrived, coughed softly, looked around, and finally said to Han Shantong: "Villa Master, there has been a lot of noise in the county recently, saying that the imperial court wants to repair the Yellow River." Everyone here was not surprised, but just looked at each other, as if they had heard about it. "Oh, it seems to be true, but I don't know when to start work?" Han Shantong said with a serious face. Sheng Wenyu quickly got up and replied: "Prime Minister Tuotuo ignored the objections. In April this year, hundreds of thousands of farmers in the Huanghuai area will be recruited to start repairing the Yellow River, and 150,000 Bianliang civilians will be sent. Open the river for 280 miles, and let the place where the Yellow River burst its embankment return to the old way."

"Nowadays, the common people are full of complaints. It can be said that the people are in dire straits. How can they care about repairing the Yellow River for the court? I think the Yuan Dynasty will soon be destroyed." The person who spoke was Liu Futong. For a long time, it is loved by everyone. Han Shantong said thoughtfully: "In today's world, it seems that you can only support yourself. It is impossible to count on the imperial court. Now if the imperial court wants to recruit people to build the Yellow River, it will only arouse the resentment and resentment of the people. According to me In my opinion, this is a good time to gather people to rebel against the imperial court."

All the leaders had thought carefully before, and under Han Shantong's instigation and persuasion, they responded one after another and elected Han Shantong as the leader. With the support of the leaders, Han Shantong tossed and turned, without sleep all night.Although he is well-known in the Jianghuai area in the name of the White Lotus Sect, it is not easy to rebel against the imperial court, and he knows in his heart that rebelling against the imperial court is a gamble on the future with his life. Once he fails, there is no possibility of a comeback. Things must be cautious, can only succeed and not fail.

In the early morning of the next day, Bailuzhuang was still filled with light water mist, and the near stream and far mountains were full of the freshness of spring.In the White Lotus Hall sat yesterday's leaders one by one. It was obvious that you couldn't sleep last night, and there were excitement and worries on your slightly tired faces.They were thinking about the same question, how to rebel against the imperial court and how to win. Han Shantong said to everyone: "My dear friends, please discuss the matter of rebelling against the imperial court today. I am afraid that the discussion yesterday has leaked out, so even if we do not rebel now, if someone informs the imperial court, we will not be able to escape the guilt. We should make up our minds to make a career." Han Shantong Still a little worried that the will of the leaders is not firm enough.

Liu Fu said: "It is necessary to oppose, but not for no reason, right? Since ancient times, the teacher has been famous. If you want to unite people, you have to come up with a good excuse." What excuse?There was a discussion in the hall. Liu Futong stood up and said in a loud voice: "The Song Dynasty fell only seventy years ago, and there were many survivors. Most of the Han people in the Jianghuai and Huanghuai areas refused to accept the rule of the Yuan Dynasty, and they have always been rebellious. It should be a popular move to capture the nearby counties first, and at the same time encourage the hundreds of thousands of civilians who built the Yellow River to rebel."

Han Shantong immediately walked towards Liu Futong, replied: "Okay", and smiled mysteriously at everyone: "Everyone wait a moment, let's see a treasure." Everyone in the hall didn't know what kind of medicine was sold in Zhuangzhu Han's gourd for a while. Han Shantong closed the door and carefully took out an old yellow cloth bag.Everyone still looked confused and held their breath, not knowing what kind of treasure Han Zhuangzhu wanted to show and how it had anything to do with the incident. "Everyone, come here." Han Shantong said while carefully opening the layers of cloth bags.Everyone came over, and after a while, they saw a small brocade box. Han Shantong said seriously: "Everyone is my good brother, and I don't have to hide my life experience. Please take a look at this family heirloom." Everyone looked at each other suspiciously. Look, I still don't know what Zhuang Zhu Han wants to explain.Han Shantong opened the brocade box and gently took out the contents, which turned out to be a jade seal.Han Shantong said: "Look at this jade seal, you can know my life experience."

Everyone carefully identified it, but it was difficult to tell what the printed text was.Du Zundao, who had been a minor official in the imperial court, studied for a long time, and said in shock: "This... this is the treasure of the emperor!" Everyone looked at it again, half-doubted, and they were all stunned, and all looked at Han Shantong. Han Shantong said solemnly: "To be honest, this is the jade seal of Song Huizong, the emperor of the Great Song Dynasty. It's a long story. In April of the second year of Jingkang, the Jin people captured Song Huizong, and the royal family fled. The jade seal was secretly entrusted to an attendant to be kept by his son among the people, and this son changed his name and surname to Han Ming. This jade seal has also been passed down from generation to generation, and it has been passed down to me for the ninth generation." Faced with this situation, everyone was suddenly speechless, not knowing if the jade seal was real or not.Han Shantong said solemnly: "My ancestors also passed down two other treasures - Huizong's paintings and the jade paperweight of the Neifu. Everyone, please follow me to watch." After several twists and turns, Han Shantong introduced these two treasures in a secret room. How and what, everyone gradually changed from being suspicious to believing. Back in the hall, everyone was still in disbelief, Han Shantong called someone to call his wife. Mrs. Han came in with a child in her arms. People don't know why.Han Shantong pointed to the child and said strangely: "I'm afraid you don't know who he is yet?" Liu Futong said: "Isn't this the son?" Everyone said: "Yes, it is the son?" Han Shantong said: "This is a child I adopted from the people. He is the prince of the Song Dynasty. I am the clan of the Song Dynasty." This is like a drama, everyone is suspicious, but unable to ask questions. Liu Futong said: "It turns out that the owner of the Han Zhuang is the imperial family of the Song Dynasty. He has the emperor's jade seal and adopted the emperor's grandson. It is time to restore the Song Dynasty. Now the time is ripe, and we should do our best to help restore the great achievements of the Song Dynasty." Lord, determined to take immediate action to plan a great cause, and a consensus was reached on the matter of rebellion. Liu Futong transformed himself into a merchant from Yingzhou, led several followers, and went to the banks of the Yellow River to mobilize migrant workers to rebel against the imperial court. At the same time, Han Shantong spread nursery rhymes along the banks of the Yellow River: "The stone man has one eye, instigating rebellion in the Yellow River."At this time, the river repair funds allocated by the Yuan Dynasty government were embezzled by the river repair officials. The river workers could not get their wages, and they couldn't even eat enough. They were full of resentment towards the court.Soon, farmers in Henan and Jianghuai areas knew about it. That night, the tired and hungry river workers on the banks of the Yellow River had fallen asleep.Liu Fu ordered his entourage to quietly walk to a port that was being repaired, and threw a heavy object into the place that the river worker was about to dig.This is a stone statue made by Han Shantong secretly. This stone statue has only one eye on its face.Only Han Shantong and Liu Futong knew about the stole of the stone statue, and the other leaders and followers were kept in the dark, because Han Shantong knew in his heart that among these people, Liu Futong was the most courageous and courageous, and he was the one who achieved great things. A few days later, when the river repair workers were digging, they dug a stone statue from the depths. This stone statue, as the rumors said, had one eye. All the river workers present were stunned. The stone statue was at a loss.The news of the unearthed stone statue also spread like wildfire among the nearby migrant workers, and more and more people gathered to watch.After a while, a middle-aged man came over, looked around the stone statue, and said after a while, "I wonder if you have heard of the nursery rhymes that have been circulated recently?" A river worker came out of the crowd and shouted: "The stone man One eye, stir up rebellion in the Yellow River!" The rest of the people were too embarrassed to speak.The middle-aged man said: "Exactly, it seems that this is a prophecy from the heavens, that King Ming will be born soon." After saying that, he left, leaving behind people who were discussing a lot.This middle-aged man is Liu Futong, who has secretly sent people to stir up rebellion among the crowd. Here in Bailuzhuang, Han Shantong gathered 3,000 people, killed white horses and black cattle, sacrificed to heaven and earth, declared that he was the ninth generation descendant of Song Huizong, and wanted to raise troops to restore the Song Dynasty, and Han Shantong was elected as King Ming.The people decided to revolt, and with the red scarf wrapped around their heads as a symbol, they publicized the rebellion everywhere.However, some people in the White Lotus Sect did not believe the life experience and rumors fabricated by Han Shantong, and leaked the secrets.Before the incident started, Bailuzhuang was surrounded by the county government officers and soldiers in the middle of the night, and Han Shantong was arrested.Liu Futong fled in a hurry with Han Shantong's wife and son Han Lin'er from the secret road. Leaving Bailuzhuang, Liu Futong had to revolt as soon as possible, otherwise he would only be captured and hunted down by the court.His first goal was to occupy Yingzhou. Liu Futong ordered Sheng Wenyu and other thousands of people to enter Yingzhou City to respond. He himself led the troops to attack the city outside the city.At the same time, Liu Futong sent people to the bank of the Yellow River to kill the supervisors and encourage the river workers to revolt. Before that, the people of the river workers were already unstable. After hearing the propaganda of these people, they all had the intention of rebelling.Within a few days, river workers joined Liu Futong's team one after another. They all wore red scarves, straw sandals, and armed with knives, guns and sticks. The Red Scarf Army soon grew to fifty or sixty thousand people.Liu Futong took advantage of the victory to attack, captured Zhugao Town, opened the government granary to help the people, Sheng Wenyu broke through the three cities of Luoshan, Zhenyang and Queshan in Henan, and the power and strength of the Red Scarf Army increased greatly. Although Han Shantong's uprising plan failed, it laid the foundation for Liu Futong's Red Scarf Army.The Red Scarf Army Uprising led by Liu Futong was an earlier and more influential branch of the peasant uprising at the end of the Yuan Dynasty. Since then, many rebels have rebelled against the imperial court under the banner of the "Red Scarf Army".