There have been many peasant uprisings in the past dynasties in China, from the Chen Sheng and Wu Guang uprisings at the end of the Qin Dynasty to the Yellow Turban Uprising at the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, the Huang Chao Uprising at the end of the Tang Dynasty and even the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom uprising.

However, most of them failed and few succeeded. The insurrectionists were all very powerful at the beginning and responded to every call, but they could not last for long. Why? Why was Zhu Yuanzhang able to overthrow the Yuan Dynasty with a peasant uprising? This starts with Liu Bowen’s theory of the “Nine Evils” of peasant uprisings.

Ming iron tile knife. The remaining length is 23 cm, and the blade width is 6 cm. The peasant army is poorly equipped and poorly trained, so it is inherently at a qualitative disadvantage.

This is also one of the required questions in the 6th “Chinese History Inter-School Elite Quiz Competition”. The original question is: Which of the following is not the “nine evils” Liu Bowen proposed to Zhu Yuanzhang about the peasant uprising? The possible answers are A, disrespect for Confucius and Mencius, B lack of training as scholars, C peasants’ laziness, and A, B and C are all possible answers.

However, Liu Bowen’s “Nine Evils” theory is mainly aimed at what Zhu Yuanzhang said, so naturally it is not Dare to say that farmers are lazy, so the answer is C farmers are lazy. It is said that because of Liu Bowen’s “Nine Evils” theory of peasant uprisings, Zhu Yuanzhang successfully established a peasant regime that was rare in Chinese history.

The so-called “nine evils”. The first evil is “disrespecting Confucius and Mencius, blaspheming the way of the saints, and corrupting the laws of nature and human relations.” The second evil is “attacking without restraint and acting like a bandit.” The three evils “fall and turn against each other at times, and they are suspicious of each other.” The four evils are “cannot be self-sufficient in food and wages, and do not know the art of war when facing battle.”

The five evils “rob people’s wives, daughters, and property; they only know how to take it from the people, but they don’t know how to support them.” Six evils: “The general is narrow-minded.” The seven evils are “the soldiers lack training, and fighting is like a gang fight”, and the eight evils are “gathering together when they win, and scattering like birds and beasts when they lose”. Nine Evils: “This rebel army and that rebel army are suspicious of each other and attack each other.”

It is said that after hearing this, Zhu Yuanzhang “changed his color immediately”. Seeing this, Liu Bowen decided to beat the snake and stick it with him. He concluded that “if the nine evils are not eradicated, even though they are called rebels, they are actually grass bandits and thieves.”

It is important to eliminate the “nine evils”. Let’s start with the first evil, “disrespecting Confucius and Mencius”, which means not paying attention to scholars. Since most peasant leaders are not intellectuals, traditional Chinese society values ​​scholars the most. The most obvious example is that the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom “disrespected Confucius and Mencius” and failed to win the support of traditional intellectuals such as Zeng Guofan, which ultimately led to failure.

The second evil “attacking without restraint and acting like rogue bandits” refers to the insurgent army’s greatest lack of strategic thinking. They only know that capturing a city is a city, and it is difficult to achieve success. The third evil, “when they surrender, when they rebel, and when they are suspicious of each other” refers to the lack of determination of the rebels.

The most obvious example in history was the Songjiang River in Liangshanbo, which was eventually recruited by the imperial court and was exhausted in the subsequent series of military operations. The fourth evil “cannot be self-sufficient in food and salary, and do not know the art of war when facing battle” and the fifth evil “rob the wives and daughters of others and only know how to take it from the people, but do not know how to support them” are similar in nature.

Most of the causes of peasant uprisings were economic difficulties. Therefore, it was difficult to maintain military discipline after the uprising. They only focused on looting and lost the support of the people, let alone bringing economic construction to the occupied areas.

Let’s talk about the sixth evil: “The general is narrow-minded.” Perhaps this is also the problem of kings in the past, fearing that their subordinates will outshine their masters. For example, Emperor Gengshi Liu Xuan, the leader of the rebel army in the Xinmang era, had Liu Yan killed because he was jealous of the reputation of brothers Liu Yan and Liu Xiu. The seventh evil is “Soldiers lack training, and fighting becomes like a gang fight.”

This is related to the background of the peasant army. They usually lack formal military training and often fight on their own. They cannot be compared with officers and soldiers who have received formal military training. The eighth evil is “gather together when you win, and scatter like birds and beasts when you lose.” Although the number of peasant rebels was large, most of them were forced by officials to rebel. They may gather because of the leader’s personal charisma, but if they encounter a military defeat, they often just want to save their lives and scatter like birds and beasts.

The final ninth evil, “Mutual suspicion and attacks between this rebel army and that rebel army” is actually more related to Zhu Yuanzhang’s situation at that time. At the end of the Yuan Dynasty, there were many heroes. In addition to Zhu Yuanzhang, there were Han Lin’er and Liu Futong from Bianliang, Chen Yuanliang from Wuchang, Gaoyou and Zhang Shicheng, Fang Guozhen from eastern Zhejiang, and Ming Yuzhen from Sichuan.

Why didn’t Zhu Yuanzhang choose to join forces with the heroes to overthrow the Yuan Dynasty? Should we choose to wipe out the heroes first and then gather the power of the whole country to expel Emperor Yuan? Because the Yuan Dynasty was far more powerful than the heroes, and it was difficult for the heroes to attack each other together, for example, Zhu Yuanzhang’s base was between Chen Yuanliang and Zhang Shicheng, and he was easily attacked.

In the end, Zhu Yuanzhang chose to destroy Chen Yuanliang first and then Zhang Shicheng. He then successfully eliminated the heroes and launched the great cause of northward expansion, expelled Emperor Yuan and successfully founded the Ming Dynasty.

Although Liu Bowen’s “Nine Evils” theory of peasant uprisings can be used as a reference, popular uprisings in the Qing Dynasty generally failed to succeed, and the failure of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom was the most disappointing. It can be seen that peasant uprisings are inherently limited. Even if there are previous successful experiences to rely on, it is still very difficult to succeed.

Source: bastillepost