The Ming Dynasty: Starting with the border troops, it was overthrown and the Qing Dynasty was destro

Chapter 108 The Limitations of Peasant Uprisings

Seeing that things were hopeless in Shaanxi, Hun Tianhou, unwilling to surrender, led his men through Yanshui Pass and arrived in Shanxi.

The group had barely stepped into Shanxi territory and hadn't even taken two steps when they stumbled into Jiang Han's defense zone.

Several sentries were the first to spot this group, and they reported the information up the chain of command until it reached Jiang Han.

At this moment, Jiang Han was with Deng Yang, Li Zicheng and others, taking stock of the rich "victories" of the past few days.

Compared to the rebel armies in Shaanxi, the various rebel armies that entered Shanxi were doing remarkably well.

Since Wang Jiayin established his kingdom in Hequ and repelled several government sieges, his ambitions have become somewhat inflated.

As his forces grew, the issue of food became a huge burden on Wang Jiayin's mind.

With winter approaching, the government troops temporarily halted their large-scale suppression campaign, and he decided to implement a system of "feudal distribution."

Wang Jiayin distributed his various leaders among himself, euphemistically calling it "letting each leader use their abilities to expand the territory."

In reality, it meant letting them find their own food, instead of constantly relying on him, the king, for sustenance. Wang Jiayin also had to support his own loyal troops.

In this way, Gao Yingxiang, Ma Shouying, Zhang Xianzhong and others also carved out their own territories according to their respective strengths.

Among them, Gao Yingxiang, who was more powerful, chose the area around Xing County, which was relatively wealthy and had fewer government troops, as his sphere of activity.

Ma Shouying, Zhang Xianzhong, and others fled even further.

While Yang He was in Ningzhou trying to appease Shen Yikui, they secretly crossed the river back to Shaanxi. They traveled from Yijun and Hancheng to Pingyang Prefecture in Shanxi, roaming freely in the Lüliang Mountains.

In contrast, Li Zicheng was in a more awkward position, as he had brought only a small number of troops with him when he joined Wang Jiayin.

Most of them were remnants of Zhang Cunmeng's troops after they were scattered, totaling only seven or eight hundred people. Their swords were broken, their armor was tattered, and they had no food reserves.

Therefore, in this "fiefdom", he could only pick the nooks and crannies that others had left behind.

After much deliberation, Li Zicheng contacted Zhang Tianlin, who was also relatively weak and in a similar situation. The two forces joined together and operated in the mountainous area near Ningxiang.

Their idea was simple—although Ningxiang was a bit poor, it was close to Jiang Han, making it convenient to curry favor with him.

Jiang Han didn't mind at all, and would often take them along to "make a fortune".

Just a few days ago, Jiang Han planned a major operation, targeting the Fan family of Jiexiu, a wealthy family in Shanxi who were secretly colluding with the enemy outside the Great Wall.

Jiang Han instructed Li Zicheng to use the banner of "Chuang Jiang" (meaning "rebel general") and lead a squad of his infantrymen straight towards Zhangyuan Village in Jiexiu County.

Although the Fan family compound was surrounded by high walls and had many guards, it was no match for the fierce attack of the numerous bandits and was completely breached in less than half an hour.

Following Jiang Han's instructions, Li Zicheng then slaughtered the entire Fan family.

Then the group swept away all the wealth accumulated by the Fan family over generations and left.

This incident shocked the entire Fenzhou Prefecture, and Prefect Zhao Qiaosheng was filled with shock and anger.

The Fan family was a powerful clan under his rule, and a source of wealth for some officials in the court. Now, they've been wiped out by bandits?! This is outrageous!
Enraged, Zhao Qiaosheng immediately prepared generous gifts and went to the Yonghe Prince's Mansion in Fenzhou City to complain to Zhu Qiuzhu, who had inherited the title of Yonghe Prince.

Your Highness, please dispatch the guards of the Left Guard of Fenzhou to pursue and annihilate that audacious "rebel general".

(The Left and Right Guards of Fenzhou were originally the herdsmen guards of Prince Yonghe and Prince Fenyang. Later, in the fifth year of the Hongzhi reign, the Thousand-Household Guard was upgraded to the Central Guard and the Left and Right Guards were established, each with a Commander, Assistant Commander, and Vice Commander. Therefore, the Prince's Palace had considerable influence over the Fenzhou Guard.)
Zhu Qiuzhu had no intention of getting involved in local bandit suppression affairs; he only wanted to live a peaceful life as the Prince of Taiping.

However, after Zhao Qiaosheng's earnest persuasion, they finally reluctantly dispatched 1,800 guards from the Fenzhou Left Guard to suppress the bandits.

Upon receiving the news, Li Zicheng naturally wouldn't engage in a direct confrontation with these garrison soldiers.

He deliberately revealed his whereabouts, first feigning defeat in Xiaoyi, and then fleeing in a sorry state, luring the thousands of garrison soldiers who were eager to claim credit to the vicinity of Wenquan Town.

When the government troops chased them into a forest, a cannon suddenly fired, and Li Laowai, who had been lying in ambush, suddenly charged out from the forest in front of them.

The overzealous government troops were caught off guard, and their formation collapsed instantly.

In a moment of panic, the government troops fled in disarray and were pursued for dozens of miles. Fortunately, they encountered Deng Yang, the garrison commander of Kulong Pass, who was patrolling nearby. He managed to drive back the rebels and rescue the remaining government troops.

After robbing the wealthy households and annihilating the imperial guards, the bandit leaders and government generals returned home in high spirits to Jiang Han's garrison.

Just as the group was rubbing their hands together in the tent, ready to divide the spoils, a sentry rushed in to report:
"General, a group of men has arrived from the direction of Yanshui Pass. The leader calls himself Hun Tian Hou!"

Jiang Han frowned and asked in a deep voice:

"How many of the Hun Tian Hou are there? Have they started fighting yet?"

The sentry quickly shook his head:
"That group probably numbered seven or eight hundred. Seeing that we outnumbered them, they didn't dare to make a move."

"The sentries on the perimeter spotted them first. These guys were like headless flies, crashing headfirst into our defense zone."

"Commander Shao has surrounded them with his men and sent me back to ask the general what to do with them—kill them or let them go?"

Jiang Han didn't want to fight with Hun Tianhou and his gang, since they were all rebels, and there was no need for them to kill each other. Besides, Li Zicheng and Zhang Tianlin were still in the main tent, which wouldn't look good.

So he waved his hand and gave the order:
"Explain to Hun Tianhou that someone has occupied the area near Shilou Mountain. Tell them to develop elsewhere to avoid conflict."

However, Jiang Han didn't want to pay attention to him, but that Hun Tian Hou was the kind of person who would take advantage of the situation.

Upon hearing that the troops before him were righteous soldiers, he not only did not leave, but also sent someone to convey a message, saying that he wanted to befriend them so that they could rely on each other in the future to fight against the government troops.

Upon hearing the report, Jiang Han couldn't help but feel a headache coming on.

In front of Li Zicheng and Zhang Tianlin, he couldn't refuse outright, so he had no choice but to invite Hun Tianhou in.

Hun Tian Hou was quite bold; as soon as he entered the tent, he greeted everyone familiarly.

Even when facing military commanders like Deng Yang, he could remain calm and exchange a few words with them.

After exchanging greetings and revealing their bandit names, the group became acquainted with each other.

Jiang Han didn't mince words and went straight to the point, asking the celestial monkey:

"Why did you all come to Shanxi?"

Hun Tian Hou gave a wry smile:
"Oh, don't even mention it, Brother Shangshanhu. You don't know, I can't make a living in Shaanxi anymore."

"Ever since Jiang Han, the most capable fighter in Yan'an Prefecture, fled to Shanxi, the government troops have been able to free up their forces, and life has become much harder for small fry like us!"

He curled his lip, a hint of disdain on his face.
“A few days ago, even the most powerful Shen Yi Kui surrendered to the imperial court.”

"Once he took the lead, the other leaders in Shaanxi followed suit and surrendered."

“We brothers really don’t want to put up with the government’s bullying anymore, and we don’t believe the lies of those corrupt officials! So we have no choice but to come to Shanxi to see if we can find a way to survive.”

Jiang Han was somewhat surprised after hearing this. Why did Shen Yi Kui still surrender? Didn't he remind him back in Yan'an Prefecture?
After careful questioning, Jiang Han finally learned from the Hun Tian Hou how Shen Yi Kui was appeased.

As expected, Shen Yikui could not resist the temptation of being granted amnesty and surrendered to Yang He.

Jiang Han sighed and said with emotion:
"Perhaps this is the limitation of peasant uprisings."

"Without a guiding ideology and a long-term goal, it is difficult to achieve anything. Most people consider surrendering to the government as the best outcome."

His words, full of reflections from a hindsight perspective, left everyone in the tent looking at each other in bewilderment.

What is an ideological program?

What are the limitations?
So Jiang Han had no choice but to patiently explain to everyone in more straightforward terms:
"What I mean is, most of us are peasants who couldn't make a living or from border military backgrounds. We don't have much knowledge and haven't read many books."

"People initially rebelled probably just for a full meal, for survival."

"Once they win a few battles, occupy a piece of land, and have some money, food, and troops, they are easily satisfied and easily forget why they rebelled in the first place."

"Some people, upon hearing the promise of official positions from the imperial court, were tempted and considered surrendering on the spot."

"Some people, after becoming rich suddenly, can't control themselves. They only care about enjoying themselves and losing their edge, and they willingly degenerate."

Jiang Han paused for a moment, then continued his analysis:

"Therefore, our team, though seemingly large and powerful, is often unstable and lacks unity."

"Take Shen Yikui as an example. He has tens of thousands of soldiers under his command, but how many of them are truly his own people?"

"Yang He only put a little pressure on him, and then with a wave of his hand, Shen Yikui surrendered, completely forgetting why he had rebelled in the first place."

"This is what I mean by the limitations of peasant uprisings: they lack clear goals and a firm will to fight."

Although Jiang Han had tried his best to explain in plain language, most of the people present, except for a few who seemed to understand, were still somewhat confused and didn't quite get it.

Seeing the way these people seemed to understand but not quite, Jiang Han secretly made up his mind.

Taking advantage of this rare period of rest, it's time to strengthen ideological education within the military!
He wanted to start literacy classes in the military.

While it might not lead these roughnecks to make any big fuss, Jiang Han at least needed to make his core team understand what they were fighting for.

Jiang Han, coming from the future, naturally also wanted to build a revolutionary team.

But he also knew that in the late Ming Dynasty, such a team was almost impossible to find.

He alone could not possibly manage such a large project.

He could only learn from and draw on the advanced experiences of later generations, and try to make his army conform to those of later times.

Ideological education within the military is a crucial part of this process.

Right now, the first and most crucial ideological issue Jiang Han needs to resolve is...
He completely dispelled any remaining illusions his soldiers had about accepting amnesty and surrender!
(End of this chapter)