Please call me Your Majesty!

Chapter 152: So much like that man!
Throughout thousands of years of history, there have been only a handful of successful peasant uprisings.

If we have to name one person who was more successful in peasant uprisings during the feudal dynasty, it was actually only Zhu Yuanzhang.

Chen Sheng, Wu Guang, Zhang Jue, Huang Chao, and Li Zicheng.

The uprisings of these people all encountered more or less irreversible problems.

The first problem is that the rebels usually lack professional military training and have no organizational ability. Even if they are well-equipped, they are sometimes unable to fight against the regular and trained government troops.

This is Zhang Jue's weakness.

The Yellow Turban Rebellion broke out everywhere in a short period of time, and most states responded to Zhang Jue's call. In a short period of time, the Eastern Han court was plunged into a full-scale war. However, after Zhang Jue fired the first shot of the Yellow Turban Rebellion, it was suppressed within a year and fell into decline. After Zhang Jue's death, the rebellion fell into decline, lost its original intention, and was defeated by the court one by one.

The second issue that could not be overcome was military discipline.

After possessing the ability to bully the weak, the true nature of some people will be exposed. In the later period of the uprising, they were completely inhumane. They could not defeat the imperial court, so they began to point their butcher knives at the people and eventually lost the support of the people.

This is what Huang Chao did.

The third hurdle was leadership quality, whether he had foresight and the ability to govern the country. After achieving certain achievements, Li Zicheng became complacent, corrupt, and eventually, he indulged his generals in misbehavior and implemented bad policies, and soon lost the support of the people.

This shows how difficult it is to launch a peasant uprising.

Moreover, throughout the whole process, when facing war, you have to overcome many difficulties.

The first step is to defeat the imperial court. After you break it up, it will disperse power to the local governments, and the local governments will become more powerful.

In the second level, you have to fight your fellow rebels. Only by defeating them can you become the final winner among the rebels.

In the third level, you start to face the warlords who have been delegated power by the central court. Only by defeating the warlords can you have new space.

Throughout the dynasties, when facing rebellions by rebel forces, the central government would suppress them if it could win. If it could not win or could not control them, it would delegate power to the local governments. If the local governments became powerful enough, they would help the government fight the rebel forces.

The rebels are like being in a huge poison farm. They must kill all the enemies that stand in their way to successfully reap the fruits of victory. Otherwise, they will just be working for others.

Why Zhu Yuanzhang came to power in the most legitimate way.

Because he really fought his way to the top of the world by himself, he went through all the above processes.

Although there were many things about Lao Zhu that deserved criticism, such as killing meritorious officials and shielding his son, he was really flawless when it came to fighting wars.

He was the first person in ancient and modern times to fight in the Northern Expedition and the first person to unify the north from the south. This title has to be recognized.

At this time, Chu Shizhao, as a rebel, had to analyze the shortcomings of the Zhou Dynasty.

No one knows the Great Zhou Dynasty better than me.

But when he looked again, the Great Zhou Dynasty seemed to have been destroyed, just like a wild dog on the roadside kicked to death by various warlords. Chu Shizhao was immediately relieved.

[In June of the sixth year of Jiade, Ma Suan was unable to restrain the Five Barbarians and Seven Kingdoms established in the north, and the two sides were in a state of confrontation. In order to continue to expand his power, Ma Suan decided to go south to attack the remaining forces of the Great Zhou Dynasty.]

[In July of the same year, after gaining the trust of Ma Su'an, Lu Yi quietly returned to his hometown in Fanyang, raised an army to support the king, and supported the Zhou Dynasty.]

On the screen, Chu Shizhao's advancement speed was very slow.

The rebel army's advancement speed is generally very fast, and it can swallow up many places in one breath. However, after seeing the changing situation in the north, Chu Shizhao chose the decision of long-term confrontation.

After all, Chu Shizhao was not simulating a situation in which he came from the Zhou royal family. He had the guarantee of the old system and could quickly gain the support of most local people.

The rebel army is like a new leader to the local forces. If you fight too fast and take over too much territory in one go, it will be a question whether you can digest it.

Chu Shizhao’s goal is to conquer a place, operate it, and at least turn it into a base.

Moreover, Chu Shizhao's thinking is very clear.

The people he tried to win over were the grassroots people.

One of the mistakes Dong Zhuo made was that he mistakenly thought that the aristocratic families were targets that could be won over, and he chose the wrong people to build closer relationships with.

There was nothing wrong with his early operations if taken individually.

He corrected his origins as soon as possible and improved his relationship with Empress Dowager Dong. Then he rehabilitated the scholars who had suffered in the "Party and Faction Persecution". He not only restored the titles of Chen Fan and others and compensated their descendants, but also sent people to offer sacrifices to Chen Fan, Dou Wu and others.

Later, he appointed Zhou Bi from Hanyang as the Minister of Personnel, Wu Qiong from Runan as the Palace Attendant, and Xun Shuang from Yingchuan as the Minister of Works. These people were either from aristocratic families or scholars implicated in the Factions and Persecutions.

Dong Zhuo did not even pursue the matter of Yuan Shao's escape, and even appointed him as the prefect of Bohai.

Constantly show goodwill to the aristocratic families and scholar groups in order to achieve a cooperative situation.

Because Dong Zhuo's original intention was not to usurp the throne. He wanted to emulate Huo Guang and Yi Yin and become a powerful official.

In fact, if Dong Zhuo came from a high-class aristocratic family, perhaps others would have tolerated it.

But the problem is that you, Dong Zhuo, are a peasant, and originally an old official working for the Yuan family. After all this time, you still want to rebel against the Tiangang.

Dong Zhuo's attempts to win over these people were of no use; instead they only added fuel to the flames and strengthened their power and strength.

Dong Zhuo, who finally felt that he had been 'cheated', began to retaliate by humiliating those big families, acting like a lickspittle and a resentful person who said, 'I've been so good to you, why did you betray me?'

Subsequent practices became even more extreme, accelerating their own demise.

If Dong Zhuo had acted more extreme, constantly winning over those military men, improving the status of people like him who came from humble backgrounds, and allowing people of the same class to become powerful, perhaps his demise could have been delayed a little.

Chu Shizhao's current core force is the rebel army. Most of these people are of humble origins, so Chu Shizhao relies on his base to maintain stability.

It can be said that the group that is most capable of fighting and also the least capable of fighting is the farmers.

The reason why we say that a peasant can fight well is that once he has faith, he will fight for you with all his might. He can be truly fearless and brave enough to fight bravely in battle.

The reason why they say they cannot fight is that peasants have no core ideas and no beliefs, and it would be easy for them to become a farce and surrender without a fight.

What Chu Shizhao had to do was to make this peasant army, this rebel army think clearly about what they wanted to do and what they should do, instead of just living in a daze like zombies, with each day passing by.

[In August of the sixth year of Jiade, after Chu Shizhao's Qihuo Army became powerful, the local Jiedushi had already noticed the movements of this rebel army.]

【After leading the uprising army several times, Chu Shizhao had basically taken control of the Huizhou area.】

[However, food production has always been a problem for Chu Shizhao. Taiping and Wuhu, close to the south bank of the Yangtze River, are places where rice is produced in abundance. However, Chu Shizhao does not have warships to attack these cities.]

[At this time, Jiang Xing's White Sleeve Army was defeated by the government army. His remaining troops thought Chu Shizhao was a worthy person to join, so they took a few naval warships to join Chu Shizhao.]

[In September of the sixth year of Jiade, after obtaining more than a hundred warships, Chu Shizhao personally led his troops to break through the blockade of the local Jiedushi and arrived at Hezhou. Chu Shizhao arrived at Caishi on the opposite bank and led his troops to charge and capture Caishi, obtaining a large amount of food.]

[Originally, Chu Shizhao's rebel army was in an awkward situation of food shortage, and the soldiers wanted to transport the food and spoils back to their previous place to enjoy them slowly. ]

【Seeing this, Chu Shizhao decisively ordered his men to cut the boat's cables, allowing the boat to drift downstream, cutting off the retreat route.】

【The soldiers saw that there was no way to retreat, so they fought back with all their might and, under the leadership of Chu Shizhao, conquered Taiping.】

[In October of the sixth year of Jiade, Chu Shizhao rewarded the soldiers who had accompanied him according to their merits and promoted them to higher positions. Chu Shizhao also actively did ideological work, reiterated military discipline, and strictly prohibited looting. If any individual soldier violated the rules, he would be executed immediately.]

【Chu Shizhao made a request to his soldiers, that is - 'Don't demolish houses even if they freeze to death, don't plunder even if they starve to death.'】【Many people were confused by this, thinking that they should get their own spoils since they won the war, and that the wealth, food, and women in the captured cities should be divided among them.】

Chu Shizhao simply asked back, "If you were the people in the city today, your houses were occupied, your wealth was taken away, and your women were raped, would you sit back and watch such an army continue to stay here?"

[“If it were you, what would you do?”]

[After several words of persuasion from Chu Shizhao, these soldiers no longer had any objections and followed Chu Shizhao's orders, drawing a line and distance between themselves and the local people. They would rather sleep on the road than enter the houses to disrupt the people's livelihood and shake the military discipline.]

[This will make it easier for Chu Shizhao to start working on consolidating his base.]

[In December of the sixth year of Jiade, Chu Shizhao opened the Luyi Hall in Taiping County, aiming to improve the basic quality of the rebel army and train basic officers.]

[In January of the seventh year of Jiade, Chu Shizhao started with himself. He did not withhold the food and wages of every member of the rebel army, and he clearly distinguished between rewards and punishments, so that the soldiers had a guaranteed life and lived with dignity. As for the taxes in the area, Chu Shizhao made good arrangements and did not make things difficult for the people. This allowed the Huizhou area to resume production, and it looked like a paradise.]

In the picture, the military discipline of the Qihuo Army was only 60 points above the passing line at the beginning, and it was all thanks to Chu Shizhao's prestige that the military discipline was maintained on the surface.

After ensuring logistical support and doing ideological work, military discipline began to improve to 70 points. In addition, Chu Shizhao's rebel army had more or less fought their way out of a sea of ​​blood and seized the equipment of the government troops, making them more like the government troops than the government troops of the Great Zhou Dynasty.

[In February of the seventh year of Jiade, a man named Wang Shouyi heard about your deeds in the south, and in order to have a meal, he joined you.]

Okay.

The rebel army that Wang Shouyi had previously followed was a religious uprising based on Taoism. In order to survive, he converted to another religion.

Now, Chu Shizhao's beggar army is on the rise and performing excellently, and it has begun to attract those refugees and capable people scattered in the countryside.

[In March of the seventh year of Jiade, Chu Shizhao led his troops to Yingtian Prefecture, believing that the most important place in the south was Nanjing. Only by taking Nanjing could he truly gain a foothold in the south.]

[In April of the seventh year of Jiade, Chu Shizhao, who was at the peak of his power, was called a beggar thief by Lu Lie, the governor of Yingtian Prefecture.]

[“You call me a thief, but what did I steal?”]

Chu Shizhao was inspired by what he had said.

Are those farmers and people who can’t make a living considered thieves?
The reason why they were called thieves was simply that they, who were regarded as "peasants" by those in power, became disobedient and rebelled.

Those slaves rebelled, and so became thieves.

The principle of the survival of the fittest was vividly demonstrated in the feudal era of strict hierarchy.

In the eyes of these superiors, farmers should be farmers all their lives, and should be slaves who listen to them obediently. If they don’t listen, they should be thieves!

[In May of the seventh year of Jiade, Chu Shizhao led his army to attack Yingtian Prefecture. Due to Chu Shizhao's excellent reputation, the war went very smoothly. In order to resist the rebels and even expand his armaments, Lu Lie oppressed the people under his rule. As a result, after Chu Shizhao won the war, the local people lined the streets to welcome him.]

[When Chu Shizhao captured Nanjing, he did not continue to embarrass the local people. He strictly ordered his soldiers to observe military discipline and not to take anything from the people.]

[In June of the seventh year of Jiade, Chu Shizhao recruited talents from all over the world to further improve the quality of the rebel army.]

[He denounced the Zhou Dynasty for its numerous crimes and believed that its demise was inevitable and inevitable.]

【Internally, we should put the people first, integrate the military and civilians, and abandon regional concerns.】

[In September of the seventh year of Jiade, Ma Su'an suffered a military defeat in Chang'an. The Xiongnu broke through the city of Chang'an. Not long after, Fanyang also fell. Most of the north fell into the hands of the Xiongnu.]

[After Chang'an was captured, the Xiongnu once again massacred the people in the city, leaving few survivors.]

[After four turbulent events, Chang'an was hit by the witchcraft rebellion, Han Zui's destruction of the capital, Ma Su'an's massacre, and now it is being slaughtered by the Xiongnu after their invasion. Not even one out of ten houses remains.]

[When the Xiongnu entered the country, they never regarded the people of the Great Zhou Dynasty as their own people, but as outright slaves. They established a new system and regarded the people of the Great Zhou Dynasty as the lowest level of labor. In particular, if the Xiongnu killed people from the Great Zhou Dynasty, they would not be punished by law.]

[After the large-scale fall of the North, the Hu people began to completely suppress the living space of the northern people, which made the powerful nobles in the North choose to flee south for refuge.]

[It is called in history - 'The Migration of the Gentlemen to the South'. 】

[In order to avoid leaving anything for the Hu people, the scholars and officials set fire to the city and towns, causing more people to be displaced.]

[In November of the seventh year of Jiade, countless people in the north froze to death, and most of the food was burned. The people not only had to endure the cold, but also hunger. In just one year, the population in the north dropped by millions.]

[The people in the north suffered greatly, social order collapsed, and after the northern scholars moved south, the culture and economy also suffered serious damage.]

【Thieves and bandits rose up in large numbers, and there was a great famine in the north. People were cannibalistic, and died of starvation and plague. Only 12 or 13 of them were able to reach the destination.】

[The Xia people were in chaos, and no one was farming anymore.]

Chu Shizhao had actually thought about such a scene a long time ago, but when such a tragic situation really occurred, he clenched his fists, with grief and anger piling up in his heart, unable to express himself in words.

Moreover, it was not that Chu Shizhao was unwilling to rescue, but that he had no such opportunity at all. He had completely lost his roots in the north.

It's too late after all.

At the same time, Huan Yi and Li Fengning's expressions became solemn.

In fact, they didn't think about what a chaotic situation the Five Barbarians' Invasion of China was at the beginning.

It was not until now, when the scene of the Five Barbarians' Invasion of China was fully revealed, that they finally realized how horrible this thing was.

Now, after the Great Zhou Dynasty lost its only savior Chu Shizhao, Huan Yi felt more and more that this situation was difficult to move forward.

The other side.

Wang Ningjun, who lives in the rice-rich Jiangnan area, looked at 'Chu Quanji' on the screen and felt that this person looked like an old acquaintance she knew.

As Wang Shouyi's youngest daughter, she has always been dedicated to studying a person, his name is Chu Shizhao.

In almost every simulation, Wang Ningjun would ponder the deeper meaning of Chu Shizhao's every move. The more Wang Ningjun pondered, the more he realized the strength of this person.

After so many simulations, Wang Ningjun no longer wanted her father to rebel.

After several attempts, it was found that the people lived the happiest and most peaceful life during the reign of Chu Shizhao.

Instead of doing these weird things every day, it is better to find the right time and join Chu Shizhao. Maybe there will be another way out.

As a result, this time, Wang Ningjun persuaded her father to go north to the court and find Chu Shizhao to work for her. However, before they arrived in Chang'an, Chu Shizhao's whereabouts were unknown.

By now, her father had once again joined the rebels.

It really is reincarnation.

It's too difficult to evaluate.

However, during this simulation, Wang Ningjun smelled something wrong, because the leader of the Beggar Army, Chu Quanji, looked too much like that man.

The governing style and attitude towards doing things are that pure flavor.

It's just that Wang Ningjun has studied Chu Shizhao too many times. This is an extremely special personal style that does not seem like that of a traditional monarch, and he can never forget it.

(End of this chapter)