Chapter 4 Chapter Three Embark on the Journey

In the eleventh year of Zhizheng (AD 1351), the last straw that God gave to the Yuan Dynasty finally fell down, and the end of the Yuan Dynasty came. Our mystery has also been revealed. Now it seems that Tuotuo's insistence on controlling the Yellow River is good, but he doesn't understand the painstaking efforts of those who oppose it, and he also doesn't understand the extremely corrupt officials in the Yuan Dynasty.Now he is finally about to taste the bitter fruit. When the Yuan Dynasty ordered 170,000 laborers along the banks to repair the embankments, officials at all levels were also very excited. First of all, the wages allocated by the emperor for repairing the river can be deducted, and the rations of migrant workers can be deducted. Anyway, they don’t eat or drink. It's none of your business.This is a large amount of income, and the cost of the project can also be deducted. Anyway, the flood of the Yellow River will not drown officials like myself.

This is in charge of the river affairs, so no matter how the river affairs make money, it is actually simple. Since such a large project, there must be a corvee quota, find dozens of people, go to various villages, and take away men when they see them. Why?Do you want to build embankments?Bring money. No money?Take anything of value! Poor Tuotuo, a good theoretician, but not a practical one. The old trick came into play. When the migrant workers dug into Shandong, they dug out a stone man with one eye from the river, with one eye engraved on the back of the stone man, instigating rebellion in the Yellow River.The migrant workers suddenly discovered that these were the lyrics they had been singing on the construction site for several years.So people are moved.

This is really an old trick, it can be compiled into a computer program. Before the uprising, it is always necessary to engage in this kind of feudal superstition, but there is no way, people just follow it. What happened next seemed to be taken for granted. A few days later, Han Shantong and Liu Futong revolted in the place where Zhu Chongba begged for food (Yingzhou, today Fuyang, Anhui). Their uprising was not different from the previous uprisings, as usual To set up a religious organization, this time it is the White Lotus Sect. Of course, since he dared to revolt, his identity should be different. Therefore, Han Shantong, who may have been a poor peasant for eight generations, suddenly changed his surname to Zhao and became the royal family of the Song Dynasty. Liu Futong also became a general of Liu Guangshi descendants.

Their fate is similar to that of the peasant leaders who were the first to revolt in the past. It seems to be the fate of Chen Sheng and Wu Guang to revolt, be suppressed, and come later. Although their uprising forms are nothing new, this does not hinder their greatness and historical status. In the history books, it will be recorded forever: In 1351 AD, Han Shantong and Liu Futong were the first to raise the uprising against the feudalism of the Yuan Dynasty. The banner of domination. Since ancient times, it has been difficult to establish a dynasty, but it is relatively easy to destroy one. It is not without reason that the so-called walls are knocked down by everyone, and drums are broken by thousands of people.

In the Yuan Dynasty, a dynasty that divided people into four classes, the highest-ranked Mongols killed the lowest-ranked Southerners. The only punishment was to compensate a donkey. save.The thinking of the Mongolian nobles seems to be very strange. Even after they occupied China, they still seemed to regard themselves as guests.In their thinking, these southerners could only endure and endure their torture. But they are wrong, these slaves will rise up and rebel, when the anger and dissatisfaction exceeds the limit, when even surviving like a dog becomes a luxury, rebellion is the only way.To resist is to survive.

The fire finally started, and it was like a prairie fire. In just one year, dozens of riots broke out in the seemingly powerful Yuan Empire, and millions of people joined the rebel army. Even the invincible Mongolian cavalry was no longer as brave as it used to be, and was unable to save the crisis. .The Yuan Empire is like a rotten wall, if you kick it again, it will fall down. At this time, Zhu Chongba was still ringing the bell in the temple. Judging from all signs, he had no intention of joining the uprising army.Although he has a sworn hatred with the Yuan Dynasty, for an ordinary Zhu Chongba, an uprising is risky, and he will be beheaded if he is caught, which makes him have to think carefully.

In many books, Zhu Chongba was portrayed as a natural hero, so in such scripts, as soon as Zhu Chongba, a natural hero, heard about the uprising, he immediately went back to the temple to fuck the guy and defected to the rebel army. Showed his thoroughly revolutionary and so on. In my opinion, this is not the real Zhu Chongba. As a normal person, he would never be so rash in making a decision that might lose his head. If Zhu Chongba is really such a reckless person, he is not a real hero. The real Zhu Chongba is a fearful person. He has suffered a lot and has a deep hatred for Yuan, but he also knows that life is precious. Once he chooses to rebel, there is no turning back.

Knowing the difficulties and pains you may face, struggling in the fear of death, and still being able to overcome yourself, choosing this path is the real courage. I think such Zhu Chongba is the real hero, a hero who overcomes himself and is not afraid of death. Zhu Chongba's life in the temple was boring and regular, but this boring and regular life was disrupted by the raging fire of the uprising.Ironically, it was not the rebel army that disrupted all this, but the officials of the Yuan Dynasty. In the battle to suppress the rebel army, if you lose the battle, you will be punished by your superiors, but the task of suppressing the rebellion must be completed, so the officials of the Yuan Dynasty resolutely decided to use the common people to act, since the rebellion could not be defeated Army, then arrest those ordinary people who can be bullied, and kill them as rebels.

From this point of view, the corrupt officials of the Yuan Dynasty spared no effort to overthrow the rule of the Yuan Dynasty and made great contributions. At this time, the situation in front of Zhu Chongba was serious. If he did not go to the uprising, he would be arrested by an official as an insurgent and killed, and then he would be named Zhang San or Li Si.However, there is also a great risk in defecting to the rebel army. Once defeated by the Yuan army, his life will not be guaranteed. At this moment, a letter completely changed his fate. His childhood friend Tang He wrote him a letter. The content of the letter was that he became a thousand households of the rebel army. He hoped that Zhu Chongba would also join the rebel army and seek prosperity together. After reading it, Zhu Chongba did not move. Sensual, burned the letter.He was not yet mentally prepared to participate in the uprising.

However, at night, his senior brother told him that someone already knew about his reading of the rebel letter and was going to report him. Zhu Chongba was finally cornered. What followed was painful thinking and choices. Zhu Chongba had three paths in front of him: 1. Stay in the temple; 2. Escape; 3. Rebel. Zhu Chongba couldn't make up his mind either. He found a person and asked his opinion. This person was Zhou Dexing, and we will often mention him later. Zhou Dexing didn't seem to have any good ideas either. His suggestion to Zhu Chongba was to do some calculations (what kind of idea was this) and see which way was right.

The result of the fortune telling is that "the rules of divination and escape are unlucky, it is not auspicious to be in danger", which means that it is not auspicious to run away or stay here, and it may be okay to rebel. Zhu Chongba understands that he has no way out, he just wants to live an honest life, plant two acres of land, and honor his parents, but he can't do it. Parents are burdened with heavy land taxes and corvees, and every day is not hard work To live, but also to end up with a broken family.Hiding in the temple just wanted to make a living, but now he is being reported again, and he may lose his head. fed up. Then reverse it!Damn it! This is a real version of being forced to go to Liangshan, and it was also the only choice for poor peasants in the feudal era.Who doesn't cherish their own life?Who wants to fight?When they couldn't survive, those farmers were forced to use their own blood and lives to promote the development of feudal society until its demise. This is their destiny. So I think the peasant uprisings in Chinese history are indeed worthy of recognition. They may not be so kind, and they may have various plans of their own, but they really have no choice. In this way, Tang He became Zhu Chongba's first comrade-in-arms.In the days to come, he will accompany Zhu Chongba to complete this arduous road. However, Tang He would never have imagined that he would be the only one who would accompany him through this journey.