Chapter 42 second quarter

Mingjiao, also known as Muniism or Manichaeism, originated in the ancient Persian Sasanian Dynasty and was founded by the Persian Mani in the middle of the third century AD.Mani fully absorbed elements from the teachings of Buddhism, Christianity, and Zoroastrianism (Zoroastrianism), advocating the complete liberation of the soul from the body, thus emphasizing abstinence and vegetarianism, and also included Buddhist reincarnation and Syrian angels Say.The core of the doctrine can be simply summarized as "two sects and three realms": the second sect refers to light and darkness; the third realm refers to the beginning, middle and future (past, present and future). The present is dark, the future is bright, and the forces of light will surely overcome The forces of darkness have reached the Ming Realm.Mani himself insisted that he was the successor of Buddha, Zoroaster and Jesus, and a prophet of Allah.

Mingjiao was introduced to China in the Tang Dynasty, but it was not officially recognized and popularized legally. When Emperor Wuzong of Tang banned Buddhism, he also included Mingjiao in heretical sects to prohibit it.In the Northern Song Dynasty, the Zhao Dynasty still did not recognize the legal status of Mingjiao, and it was forbidden to believe in Mingjiao. Once believers were discovered by the government, they would be exiled, all property would be confiscated, half would be confiscated, and half would be rewarded to informers. Mingjiao could only be an underground religion. spread development.

At the end of the Northern Song Dynasty, Mingjiao in Zhejiang was introduced from Fujian, which had a wide influence at that time. In Wenzhou alone, there were more than 40 Mingjiao temples.The Mingjiao preachers at that time improved the original Mingjiao teachings. They no longer respected the foreign god Mani as their ancestors, but instead worshiped Zhang Jiao, the ancestor of the Taiping Tao, as their ancestors. They also worshiped the Buddhist "Diamond Sutra". Like Buddhists, Mingjiao believers do not eat meat, do not drink alcohol, advocate vegetarianism, do not serve gods, Buddhas, or ancestors, advocate thrift, have a simple burial when they die, and advocate solidarity and mutual assistance among believers.

Compared with Buddhism and Taoism, the audience of Mingjiao is more inclined to the lowest working people, and it reflects the economic will and political demands of the peasant class. Therefore, starting from the Song Dynasty, the peasant rebels of all dynasties like to use it as a religious banner to incite peasants to rebel. Follow through. Fang La was the first to raise this banner. Fang La is a native of Qingxi, Muzhou (now Chun'an County, Hangzhou City, Zhejiang Province). The local people call him Fang Shisan. He lives in Bangyuandong (located in a valley 70 kilometers northwest of Qingxi County). His family background is fairly good and he has a large lacquer garden In the past, there was no need to worry about food and clothing, but later because Zhao Ji sent Zhu Xi to conquer Huashigang, and because Bangyuan Cave was rich in lacquered bamboo and wood, Fang La, a small landlord, was squeezed by the Zaozhi Bureau.As the days became more and more difficult, Fang La, who believed in Mingjiao, gradually started to fight against the imperial court with his brothers and sisters.

In the sixth year of Zhenghe (1116 A.D.), another major flood occurred in the Qingxi area. Natural disasters and man-made disasters coupled with religious suppression made the peasants in Muzhou area more and more antagonistic to the imperial court.Fang La took advantage of this opportunity to run around preaching and organize a team to prepare for the uprising. In July of the second year of Xuanhe (AD 1120), Fang La's activities were noticed by the local big landlord and Bangyuanli Zhengfang Youchang, who arrested Fang Shisan and was about to send him to the official, but Fang La still escaped.After the big fish slipped through the net, Fang Youchang knew that he could not protect himself, so he fled his family to Qixian Village in She County (now Anhui).Fang La must avenge any grudge. In October, he led hundreds of believers to Qixian Village and killed more than 40 members of Fang Youchang's family.

Fang La's uprising was like a prairie fire in Muzhou and other places, and it was out of control. In just a few days, nearly 100,000 people joined the team.On November 1st, Fang La claimed to be the Holy Duke, took Fang Fei as the prime minister, and set up the official positions of generals at all levels. basic organization and leadership. After learning of the Fangla Uprising, Chen Guang, the magistrate of Qingxi County, immediately reported to Zhang Yuan, a prison on Liangzhe Road, and Zhang Yuan also reported to the court in time.But the news reached the handsome Prime Minister Wang Fu, who believed that the main focus of the court is to organize troops to conquer Liao, and he didn't take Qingxi's trivial matter to heart, and instead reprimanded Zhang Yuan for making troubles.

Zhang Yuan had no choice but to go to Muzhou to try to appease Fang La with Ye Juzhong, the governor of Muzhou who had just taken office. If appeasement failed, Muzhou officials had no choice but to suppress it by force.Chen Jian, the highest military officer in the Liangzhe region (the envoy of the Liangzhe Road System), sent 5,000 officers and soldiers, led by Cai Zun and Yan Tan, the soldiers and horses, to Qingxi to suppress the uprising army. Fang La had no troops and few equipment. , set up an ambush in Weiping Town, Xikeng (now the north bank of Xin'an River in the northwest of Chun'an County), and ate five thousand soldiers and horses from the government in one bite, killed Cai Zun and Yan Tan, and obtained a large amount of equipment.

After the victory in the first battle, Fang La worked hard and conquered Qingxi County on November 29. Chen Guang, the magistrate of the county, fled in a hurry.Fang La immediately led 20,000 troops to attack Muzhou. Zhang Huiyan, the magistrate of Muzhou, abandoned the city and fled. It was judged that Ye Juzhong was in danger, and he led more than 2,000 officers and soldiers to attack Fang La. After being repelled by Fang La, he insisted on defending Muzhou. weak.Fang La led an army to attack. On December 1st, Muzhou fell, and Ye Juzhong was beheaded by Fang La, who he tried to surrender half a month ago.

Muzhou fell, and the nearby counties were successively occupied by rebels. After Fangla occupied Muzhou, his target pointed at Shezhou (now Huizhou, Anhui Province), an important town on Jiangnan East Road adjacent to Muzhou.Zeng Xiaoyun attached great importance to Fangla's uprising. As soon as Fang La started an uprising in Muzhou, Zeng Xiaoyun actively organized troops to deploy troops in Shezhou to prevent Fangla from invading. However, the imperial court at this time had not yet fully realized the seriousness of the Fang La uprising. They believed that among the activities of the same period, the Song Jiang uprising near Kaifeng was more threatening to the empire.So they transferred the seasoned Zeng Xiaoyun to Qingzhou to suppress the Song Jiang uprising, while Shezhou used Mao Li, who had no qualifications and experience, to act as the agent of Zhizhou to preside over the overall situation of Shezhou. Guo Shizhong, known as the nickname of Yang Xiong, the Eight Heroes of Hanzhong, led his troops to Shezhou.

Fang La's army quickly rushed to Shezhou. Guo Shizhong, the "sick man", led his troops to the battle. Fang La was easily killed by Fang La. However, a civil uprising occurred in the city of Shezhou, and the city gate was opened to welcome the rebels.Mao Li, the deputy magistrate, was beheaded within two days of sitting in the top position, and Shezhou and nearby counties fell. After conquering Shezhou, Fang La turned around and headed towards Hangzhou. On December 29th, he arrived at the city of Hangzhou. Hangzhou is an important town in the southeast, and it is guarded by heavy soldiers from the imperial court. To eat Hangzhou, Fang La must prove that he has enough teeth.

Seeing the flood-like peasant uprising army coming, Zhao Ting, the prefect of Hangzhou, was so frightened that he almost peed his pants and ran away. The rebel army launched a fierce attack and quickly captured Hangzhou. After Fang La entered the city, he killed Chen Jian, the official envoy, and Zhao Yue, the official envoy. After the capture of Hangzhou, Fangla's army was divided into two groups. One was led by General Fang Qifo to the north with 60,000 troops and captured Chongde and Xiuzhou (now Jiaxing, Zhejiang); the other was led by Fang La himself to capture Wuzhou (now Jinhua, Zhejiang) in the south. , Quzhou (now Quxian, Zhejiang), Chuzhou and other places. Fang La was invincible wherever he went, and he was invincible. In just three months, Fang La captured more than 60 counties in six states, and his team expanded to nearly one million. This finally awakened the high-level leaders of the Northern Song Empire.The Fang La uprising has become the biggest civil strife since the founding of the empire. Compared with Song Jiang, Fang La's uprising seemed more organized, premeditated and strategic.Fang La gave an impassioned swearing-in speech at Bangyuan's swearing-in meeting. He pointed out that the people in the southeast are already overwhelmed by the imperial court.He even boldly judged that with the current administrative efficiency of the local officials of the empire, it will take at least half a year before they can organize troops to effectively suppress them. Fang La has half a year to lead his brothers to occupy the Jiangbiao and plan the river. And keep. Fang La's judgment was basically accurate, but what he didn't expect was that after the initial chaos, the imperial court organized an army of 150,000 people to go south to quell the chaos in a very short period of time. His opponent is Tong Guan, the number one man in the imperial military. On December 21st of the second year of Xuanhe (1120 A.D.), Zhao Ji appointed Tong Guan as Xuanfu envoy of Bing, Huai, Jing, and Zhejiang roads, Tan Zhen as envoy of Zhizhi, Wang Zhi as envoy of control, and Liu Yanqing as the capital. Command all the soldiers and horses, and let all the elite Han and Tibetan soldiers from the Six Routes of Shaanxi who had gathered in the capital to prepare for the Northern Expedition, a total of 150,000 soldiers and horses, all go south. Bing, Huang Di led the Yanyan soldiers, Ma Gong directly led the Qin Feng soldiers, Ji Jing led the Hedong soldiers, plus the first and seventh generals in the southeast, the local army, nearly 200,000 troops crusade against Fangla. At the beginning of Fang La's incident, he judged that the court would take at least half a year to dispatch the army to deal with him, but there are always deviations in the world. These army horses were really not prepared for him at the beginning. This is Fang La's misfortune, but it is also Tong Guan's misfortune. Zhao Ji gave Tong Guan full power to deal with the southeast military, gave him a royal pen, and acted cheaply. Tong Guan knew why the people in Jiangsu and Zhejiang turned against him. As soon as he arrived in Jiangsu and Zhejiang, he immediately used the imperial pen given to him by the emperor, issued an edict, and blamed Zhu Yu and his son for the crime of forcibly confiscating Hua Gangshi. At the same time, Zhu Mian and his son announced that Hua Shigang would be dismissed. Although this move could not make Fang La put down his butcher knife and turn around, it effectively prevented the flames of revolution from spreading. For the rest, you need to see each other on the battlefield. In the first month of the third year of Xuanhe, Tong Guan ordered the vanguard to occupy the two towns of Jiangning and Zhenjiang in front of the uprising army, avoiding the natural danger of Fang La's army defending the Yangtze River.Afterwards, Tong's army was divided into two groups, the east led by Wang Teng went south from Suzhou to Xiuzhou; the west led by Liu Zhen went south from Xuanzhou to Shezhou, and Tong Guan led the rest of the army to the rear. Wang Zhi led the army to Xiuzhou. The Seven Buddhas of Fang La's army were attacking Xiuzhou City. Xiuzhou defender Wang Ziwu led his troops to defend. After annihilating more than 10,000 enemies, Fang Qifo retreated to Hangzhou with 20,000 remnants. In February, Tong Guan's main force arrived in Hangzhou. There were more than 60,000 Fang La's main force and more than 20,000 Fang Qifo's main force in Hangzhou. The difference in strength between the two sides was not large. The two sides fought fiercely under the city of Hangzhou, and Fang La's army suffered nearly 20,000 casualties.On February 28, Tong Guan occupied Hangzhou, Fang La fled to Fuyang, and then fled back to his hometown to help Yuan. Tong Guan's army took advantage of the situation to recover Fuyang, Xincheng and Muzhou. While the war on the Eastern Front was victorious, Liu Zhen on the West Road also spread good news and captured Shezhou on March 13th. At the end of March, Liu Guangshi led the Yanyan soldiers, Zhang Sizheng led the Hedong soldiers, and Yao Pingzhong led the Jingyuan soldiers to continue to reinforce. On April 7th, Liu Guangshi's troops occupied Hengzhou, wiped out 2,300 enemies, and beheaded the leader Zheng Mowang; on the 17th, Liu Guangshi wiped out 4,000 enemies in Wuzhou, restored Wuzhou, and occupied Fangla. Qingxi County. Under the persecution of various armies, Fang La's space for activities became smaller and smaller, and finally retreated to his hometown of Bangyuan, hoping to use the favorable terrain of Bangyuan (here there are many mountains and complex terrain) to fight guerrilla warfare with the government forces. However, on the one hand, landlords big and small who suffered from the peasant uprising actively served as guides for the government army; On the contrary, it was their strengths (they were not used to it when they went to the northern plains), and the terrain of Bangyuan did not hinder Tong Guan's army much. After Fang La's army retreated to Bangyuan, they sent troops to garrison the fortresses entering the mountain. At first, the government army stormed the North Pass guarded by Fang La himself, but was repelled many times. Seeing that the battle situation was unfavorable, Liu Zhen's West Route Army took a slanted front and turned to attack Menling, where the terrain was the most dangerous.Menling has steep cliffs, dangerous paths and dangerous sides. One man guards the gate and ten thousand men cannot open it. Fang La thought that the government army would not be able to break through from here, so he only sent 600 soldiers to guard it. When Liu Zhen attacked Menling, the 600 guards who were not fully prepared were all wiped out, Menling fell, and Tong Guan's army entered Bangyuan. On April 24th, in Bangyuan, the east and west armies encircled and fought a fierce battle with Fangla's 200,000 army for a day. Both sides suffered heavy casualties, but in the end Fangla's army retreated.The government army occupied Bangyuan, and Fang La himself led the remnants to retreat to the cave in the northeast of Bangyuan. Cave warfare is a new task faced by the government forces, and it is obviously not suitable for large-scale military operations.After resting for a day, Tong Guan drew a death squad from the army, and the captain was Han Shizhong, who was still relatively low-level at the time. On April 26th, this death squad sneaked into Bangyuan Cave, captured the king first, and then launched an attack on Fang La's own lair, capturing Fang La, Fang Fei and other 36 leaders of the rebel army in one fell swoop. There is another version of the capture of Fang La. In the "History of Song Dynasty Huizong Benji", it was Xin Xingzong, the defense envoy of Zhongzhou at that time, who captured Fang La alive. The credit of Marshal Han. In fact, Han Shizhong was just a low-level military officer at that time, and he was four levels behind Xin Xingzong. He was probably a subordinate of the famous Northwest general Xin Xingzong at that time. Not contradictory. In real history, Fang La's life and death have nothing to do with the great monk Lu Zhishen who smashed down the temple gate on Wutai Mountain and pulled up willow trees in the vegetable garden. Fang La was taken to Tokyo, where he was executed in August. After capturing Fang La, Tong Guan's army continued to stay in the south of the Yangtze River for a period of time, successively suppressing the uprising teams of Lu Shinang, Qiu Daoren, Yu Dao'an and others who joined Fang La. Although the Fang La uprising failed, the fire it ignited was very fatal to the empire. Like dominoes, it promoted the development of the remaining plots and led to the abnormal death of the empire later. Compared with the Songjiang Uprising in the same period, it can only be regarded as pediatrics.