Chapter 50 49 Daze Township Uprising

In order to resist the Huns and build the Great Wall, Qin Shihuang sent 300,000 troops and recruited hundreds of thousands of civilians; in order to develop the south, he mobilized 300,000 soldiers and civilians.He also used 700,000 prisoners to start the construction of a huge and luxurious Apang Palace (Apangyin eApang).When Emperor II ascended the throne, hundreds of thousands of prisoners and civilian husbands were recruited from all over the country to build the tomb of Qin Shihuang on a large scale.The tomb was very large and deep, and a large amount of copper was melted and poured down to cast the foundation, on which stone chambers, tomb passages and tombs were built.The second king also asked the craftsmen to dig the big tomb into the shape of rivers, lakes and seas, and filled it with mercury.Then Qin Shihuang was buried there.

After the burial, in order to prevent someone from stealing the grave in the future, the craftsmen were asked to install killing equipment in the tomb. In the end, all the craftsmen who made the grave were cruelly buried in the tomb passage of the village, and no one was allowed to come out. The big tomb was not completed, and the Second Emperor and Zhao Gao continued to build the Efang Palace.At that time, the population of China was only 20 million, and they were conscripted successively to build the Great Wall, guard the South of the Five Ridges, repair the Afang Palace, build large tombs, and other labor services. The total number of people was about two to three million, and it cost an unknown amount of manpower and financial resources. , forcing the people to complain.

In 209 BC, the magistrate of Yangcheng (now southeast of Dengfeng, Henan) sent two officers to escort 900 civilians to Yuyang (now southeast of Miyun, Beijing) to defend.The officer selected two large and capable men from among these strong men to be the head of the village, and asked them to manage the others.One of these two people is Chen Sheng, from Yangcheng, who is a long-term laborer for others; the other is Wu Guang, from Yangxia (now Taikang County, Henan Province), and a poor farmer. When Chen Sheng was young, he was a man of ambition.Together with other long-term workers, he farmed for the landlord. He often thought in his heart, I am young and strong, why do I spend so many years working for others? One day, I will also do something big.

Once, he was resting by the field with his friends, and said to them: "We will be rich in the future, don't forget our old friends!" Everyone laughed and said: "You work hard to cultivate the land for others, where did you get rich?" Chen Sheng sighed, and said to himself: "Oh, how can the sparrow understand Hongyan's ambition!" Chen Sheng and Wu Guang didn't know each other at first, but later they became civil husbands. They met together, sympathized with each other, and soon became friends.Fearing that they missed the date, they rushed north every day.

When we arrived in Daze Township (southeast of today's Suxian County, Anhui), it was raining heavily and the road was flooded, making it impossible to pass.They had no choice but to pitch camp and stay there, preparing to go on the road as soon as the sky cleared. The laws of the Qin Dynasty were very strict. If the civil servants who were recruited were late, they would be beheaded.Everyone looked at the non-stop rain, and they were as anxious as ants on a hot pot, not knowing what to do. Chen Sheng secretly discussed with Wu Guang: "There are still thousands of miles away from Yuyang, and we can't meet the deadline. Are we going to die in vain?"

Wu Guang said: "How can we do that? Let's desert and escape." Chen Sheng said: "If you desert and get caught, you will die, and if you rise up to rebel, you will die. It is the same death. It is better to rise up and rebel. It is better to die than to die. The common people eat the Qin Dynasty. I have suffered enough. I heard that the Second Emperor was a young son, and he would not be able to be the emperor. Fusu should be enthroned, and everyone sympathized with him; Everyone knows that he is a hero, but now we don't know whether he is dead or alive. If we use the name of Fusu and Xiang Yan to call on the world, people in Chu will definitely respond to us."

Wu Guang fully agreed with Chen Sheng's proposition.In order to make everyone believe them, they took advantage of most people's superstitious beliefs in ghosts and gods at that time, and came up with some strategies.They took a piece of white silk, wrote "Chen Shengwang" on it with cinnabar, and stuffed it into the belly of a fish netted by others.The soldiers bought the fish and went back, cut open the fish, and found the words on the silk, they were very surprised. In the middle of the night, Wu Guang sneaked to a dilapidated temple near the barracks again, lit a bonfire, pretended to be a fox and howled, and then shouted: "Da Chuxing, King Chen Sheng." Shocked and scared.

The next day, when everyone saw Chen Sheng, they all talked about these strange things behind their backs. In addition, Chen Sheng was usually kind to others, so they respected Chen Sheng even more. One day, two officers got drunk.Wu Guang ran to provoke the officers on purpose, and told them that they were late anyway, so let everyone break up and go back.The officer was really furious. He beat Wu Guang with his stick and threatened him with his sword.Wu Guang grabbed the sword and knocked down an officer.Chen Sheng also caught up and killed the other officer. Chen Sheng called the soldiers together and said: "A man can't die in vain, he must die in a well-known way. Princes, generals and ministers, is it predestined!"

Everyone shouted together: "Yes, we listen to you!" Chen Sheng asked the brothers to set up a platform and made a big banner.A large "Chu" is written on the flag.Everyone swears to the sky that they will work together to overthrow the Qin Dynasty.They publicly elected Chen Sheng and Wu Guang as leaders.Nine hundred heroes took Daze Township at once. When the nearby farmers heard the news, they all brought out food to comfort them, and young people came to the camp with hoes and iron rakes to join the army.There were too many people, and they had no swords, guns or flags, so they cut down many wooden sticks to make swords and guns, and peeled bamboo to make flagpoles.In this way, Chen Sheng and Wu Guang established the first peasant uprising army in history.Historically, this event was called "revealing the poles" (解, sound jie, means to raise).

The rebel army captured Chen County (now Huaiyang, Henan).Chen Sheng summoned the elders of Chen County to discuss.Everyone said: "The general avenged the people of the world and conquered the tyrannical state of Qin. For such a great contribution, he should be called king." Chen Sheng was supported and proclaimed king, and his country name was "Zhang Chu".