Chapter 53 third chapter

The Red Scarf Army is a typical peasant uprising army. They wrap their heads in red scarves, wear red clothes, and carry red flags on their shoulders, so they are called the Red Scarf Army, also known as the Red Army.And because most soldiers believed in the White Lotus Sect, they burned incense and worshiped Buddha, so they were also called Xiangjun.Han Shantong, the leader of the Bailian Society, took the lead in launching the attack, and Liu Futong succeeded in the uprising, and the Bailian congregations and other peasant armies all over the country raised troops to respond.In just a few months, the Red Turban Army controlled a large area of ​​land from the Huaihe River Basin in the east to the Han River Basin in the west, cutting the Yuan Empire into north and south sections like a sharp knife.

Zhu Yuanzhang defected to Guo Zixing's department of the Red Scarf Army.Guo Zixing was originally a rich man in Dingyuan, the leader of the local Bailian Society, and the peasant Sun Deya and others rebelled against the Yuan Dynasty and occupied Haozhou, with tens of thousands of followers.Zhu Yuanzhang had no long possessions, so he had to start as a pawn. One day, when Guo Zixing was inspecting the barracks, he saw a tall soldier standing at the front of the line. After asking his name, he learned that his name was Zhu Yuanzhang, and he learned about him from the captain. He fell in love with him secretly. The big soldier transferred him to the commander's mansion as an errand, and was promoted to be the tenth commander of the personal soldiers.

Zhu Yuanzhang cherished this rare opportunity very much. He was always ahead of the charge and endured hardships. He was resourceful and adaptable, and soon won a good reputation and was loved by the soldiers. All of this was seen by Guo Zixing, who soon gained his trust and respect, regarded Zhu Yuanzhang as his confidant, and personally presided over the marriage and married his adopted daughter Ma Shi to him.Even Zhu Yuanzhang himself didn't understand what was going on, and he had good luck in the blink of an eye and became the son-in-law of the Marshal's Mansion.A year later, he was promoted to Zhenfu and became an officer of the army.

Soon, he returned to his hometown to recruit thousands of soldiers and tens of thousands of militiamen. He placed his childhood partners Xu Da, Tang He, Zhou Dexing and others in key positions, reorganized and strengthened training, and established a disciplined, Belonging to his own new army. With a powerful direct armed force, Zhu Yuanzhang felt that he had a little capital and weight, so he didn't appear to be particularly inferior like in the past. At this time, Li Shanchang, a famous scholar from Chuzhou, came to the army to meet him.Zhu Yuanzhang knew his fame for a long time, so he asked humbly and sincerely: "Nowadays is chaos, wars and divisions everywhere, when will the world be peaceful?" What he thought about and yearned for in his heart was still that kind of peace. A farming society that is healthy, comfortable, and rich.Li Shanchang replied: "The troubled times at the end of the Qin Dynasty are similar to the current situation. But Han Gaozu became an emperor in five years as a commoner. Gong is from Haozhou, not far from Peidi, the hometown of Han Gaozu. Accept it. If you can follow the example of Emperor Gaozu of the Han Dynasty, the world will not be difficult to pacify." Zhu Yuanzhang heard it and applauded loudly.The discipline of the Yuan Dynasty was chaotic, and the world fell apart. Everyone fought against each other, and whoever had the ability could become the king and hegemony. Isn't it similar to the "playing the emperor" game in childhood?Li Shanchang's words awakened Zhu Yuanzhang's subconscious mind of changing dynasties and claiming hegemony.Only then did he have his own responsibilities and clear ambitions for the first time.Since then, he has always used Liu Bang, a fellow of civilian origin, as a model, and deliberately learned to imitate.

Two years later, Guo Zixing died of illness.With lofty ambitions, Zhu Yuanzhang did not hesitate to use all means to wipe out the forces of Guo Zixing's son and Guo Shuai's younger brother, and controlled his old troops under his own hands, becoming the powerful Marshal of the capital. Afterwards, Zhu Yuanzhang, who had a heavy army, began to take the initiative to attack all around, and soon occupied Yingtian, establishing a territory from Chuzhou in the west to Liyang in the east. As far as the general situation of the world was divided among the heroes at that time, Zhu Yuanzhang's base area was small and his military strength was not strong.But in terms of confrontation with the main force of the Yuan army, there are three separatist regimes in the middle, Zhang Shicheng to the east, Xu Shouhui to the west, and King Xiaoming, the main force of the Red Turban Army, to the north.They resisted the Yuan army's attack and defended Zhu Yuanzhang's territory. This objective environment and favorable conditions provided him with an opportunity to survive and develop in the cracks.

At the critical moment when the main force of the Red Scarf Army led by King Xiaoming was fighting the Yuan army in the north, and both sides were wounded, Zhu Yuanzhang benefited from it and continued to develop to the south and southeast, capturing all the strategic strongholds around Yingtian. , as a strong fortress and outpost for outward development. After conquering Huizhou, Confucian scholar Zhu Sheng offered three sentences to Zhu Yuanzhang: "Build walls high, accumulate grain widely, and become king slowly." It means that he should temporarily consolidate the rear, develop production, narrow the target, and slowly seek the world.Zhu Yuanzhang took it very seriously. On the one hand, he combined the combat force and the production force, and on the other hand, he separated the local armed forces from the regular troops, which not only expanded the productivity, but also strengthened the combat effectiveness. The main reason for "outstanding" and the ultimate victory.

Zhu Yuanzhang’s political strategy of “building walls high, accumulating grain widely, and becoming king slowly” until the 1960s and 1970s still influenced Mao Zedong, the supreme leader of the party, government, and army in China. He slightly changed those nine words , into "digging deep holes, accumulating grain widely, and not seeking hegemony". In Zhu Yuanzhang's military career, the most thrilling and decisive event was the Poyang Lake battle with Chen Youliang. After Xu Shouhui in the west murdered Chen Youliang for his troops, Chen Youliang took control of his old troops, including Jiangxi and Huguang. Among the heroes, he had the strongest army, the largest territory, and the greatest ambitions.Chen Youliang went down the river and had a clear advantage in "geographical advantage".The two armies met at Poyang Lake and fought hard for 36 days.Chen Youliang's Han army is said to be 600,000, and Zhu Yuanzhang's army is 200,000; the Han army's ships are tall, and they are deployed in a joint boat, while Zhu's army is all small boats, and their manpower and equipment are obviously at a disadvantage; Zhu Yuanzhang's only thing to rely on is "human harmony ", up and down as one, morale is high.

Relying on his power, Chen Youliang rushed forward and attacked fiercely; Zhu Yuanzhang saw that the opponent's iron chain ships were moving slowly, so he adopted flexible and maneuverable tactics to threaten the enemy with fire attacks.The two armies were in a stalemate, winning and losing each other, and both sides suffered heavy casualties.In order to boost morale, Zhu Yuanzhang was not afraid of danger many times, personally supervised the army to go deep into the enemy's position, and escaped from death several times. Fighting like this until the end, Chen Youliang ran out of food supplies, and internal discord broke out. Generals Zuo Jinwu and You Jinwu successively came to surrender, and Zhu Yuanzhang had a slight upper hand.But the Han army was still strong, and the fierce battle between the two armies continued.

However, a seemingly accidental event broke out suddenly, which not only determined the outcome of the war, but also determined Zhu Yuanzhang's standing out and becoming the number one among the heroes in the world. At the most intense moment of the battle, Chen Youliang, who was staying in the command ship, couldn't sit still any longer. He wanted to get out of the ship to find out the enemy's situation in order to make decisions and command operations.The subordinates kept blocking him, saying that the situation outside was dangerous and it was best not to go out.Chen Youliang is also a war-torn hero, how can he listen to the advice of his subordinates?However, just as his head was sticking out of the ship window, before he had time to look around, a stray arrow "swished" and hit his face.As soon as the commander died, the war took a turn for the worse, and the whole army was immediately defeated.

If Chen Youliang survived, the final outcome of the war would be unpredictable.Even if Zhu Yuanzhang wins by chance, he will lose his vitality. Chen Youliang's timely demise was certainly the beginning of decline for the Han army; but for Zhu Yuanzhang, it was a major turning point for him to reach the pinnacle of power. The god of destiny seemed to glance at Zhu Yuanzhang inadvertently, but the military and political situation in the world was greatly changed because of this.