The Qin Dynasty (221 BC to 207 BC) was the first unified dynasty developed from the Qin State during the Warring States Period. At the end of the Warring States Period, King Qin Yingzheng successively destroyed Han, Zhao, Wei, and Chu. , Yan, Qi and other vassal states, thus unifying the world. In 221 BC, Yingzheng proclaimed himself emperor, known as "Qin Shihuang" in history. In 210 BC, Qin Shihuang died of illness in a sand dune (now Guangzong County, Hebei Province) during a tour. His son Hu Hai ascended the throne and became the second emperor of Qin. Although the Qin Dynasty had a huge influence in history, it abused people's power and existed for only a dozen years. In 209 BC, Chen Sheng and Wu Guang cut down trees to become soldiers and rose up. The world responded. Liu Bang and Xiang Yu launched troops in the Jianghuai River to fight against Qin.
In 207 BC, the Qin Dynasty fell. From this, it is very obvious that at the end of the Qin Dynasty, Chen Sheng and Wu Guang could be said to be the first force to rebel. It was under the leadership and influence of Chen Sheng and Wu Guang that Liu Bang, Xiang Yu, and even the descendants of the Six Kingdoms of Shandong raised armies one after another, thus overthrowing the powerful Qin Dynasty. So, here comes the question. In the last years of the Qin Dynasty, what happened to Chen Sheng and Wu Guang, who took the lead in the uprising? In this regard, in the author's opinion, although the first person to eat crabs was very brave, neither Chen Sheng nor Wu Guang got a happy ending.
1
First of all, in July of the first year of Qin II (209 BC), the imperial court conscripted Lu Zuo Tun to garrison Yuyang, with Chen Sheng and Wu Guang as the commanders of the camp. Wu Guang, Chen Sheng and 900 other poor people, escorted by two Qin officials, rushed to Yuyang day and night. They traveled to Daze Township (now Suxian County, Anhui Province), but were blocked by heavy rain and could not arrive as scheduled. As we all know, after Shang Yang's reform, the Qin State formed relatively strict laws and regulations. It is true that this helped Qin defeat the six Shandong countries such as Korea, Wei, Zhao, Yan, Qi, and Chu. However, after the establishment of the Qin Dynasty, Qin Shihuang Yingzheng still adopted this model, which would undoubtedly arouse resistance from the people of the world. For Chen Sheng, Wu Guang and others, they knew that if they failed to arrive as scheduled, they would all be killed. Therefore, at the critical moment of life and death, Chen Sheng resolutely decided to plan an uprising. That night, Chen Sheng quietly consulted with Wu Guang. Although Wu Guang and Chen Sheng have known each other for a short time, they are already friends who talk about everything.
Wu Guang admired Chen Sheng's courage and felt that his idea was in line with the people of the time, and fully supported Chen Sheng's idea of ??an uprising. One night, Chen Sheng asked Wu Guang to lurk in an abandoned temple near the camp. In the middle of the night, he lit a bonfire next to the temple to pretend to be a will-o'-the-wisp, imitating the voice of a fox, and shouted loudly, "Great Chu is coming, King Chen Sheng!" ?The soldiers who were sleeping were awakened, very frightened and frightened. The next day, the soldiers whispered to each other and looked at Chen Sheng with fingers. In addition, Chen Sheng always treats his subordinates warmly and kindly, and associates Chen Sheng's image with the revival of the Chu Kingdom. Chen Sheng's prestige in the hearts of the soldiers is even higher. In this regard, in the author's opinion, although Chen Sheng and Wu Guang were making a fuss, judging from the actual effect, this undoubtedly laid a good foundation for the subsequent uprising.
Two
Wu Guang saw that the time was basically ripe, so he took advantage of the two officers escorting the soldiers to get drunk and deliberately threatened to run away to anger the generals escorting them to the border. As expected, the two drunken captains became furious and scolded and whipped Wu Guang, which caused dissatisfaction among the soldiers and they cheered him up. In this context, Wu Guang made a decisive decision, grabbed the sword of one general and killed him. Chen Sheng also took advantage of the situation and killed another general. There was no turning back when the bow was fired. Chen Sheng and Wu Guang gathered 900 soldiers together and shouted out the famous saying that has been passed down through the ages: "Princes, princes, and generals have the right to live in peace with each other!" ? So everyone, led by Chen Sheng and Wu Guang, bared their right arms as a sign, built an altar and swore an oath, and according to their prior plan, they falsely announced the uprising in the name of the prince Fusu and the Chu general Xiang Yan. In ancient history, uprisings, like wars, both focused on being famous.
Because Chen Sheng and Wu Guang were not well-known, in order to attract forces from all over the world, Chen Sheng and Wu Guang used the banner of Prince Fusu and the famous general Xiang Yan of Chu State, just like Liu Bei used the banner of helping the Han Dynasty in the late Eastern Han Dynasty. Helps gain more support. In the minds of the soldiers of the Qin Dynasty, Prince Fusu had a high prestige, while in the minds of the descendants of the Chu Kingdom, Xiang Yan was an out-and-out famous general.
From this point of view, Chen Sheng and Wu Guang took the names of Prince Fusu and Chu general Xiang Yan, which was actually a more appropriate choice, which meant that the two had carefully considered it.
Three
Less than a month after the Daze Township uprising, the rebel army already had six to seven hundred tanks, more than 1,000 cavalry, and tens of thousands of infantry. At the end of the Qin Dynasty, after Chen Sheng and Wu Guang's rebel army controlled a large area at the junction of today's Anhui and Henan, the rebel army decided to attack the strategically important Chen County. Chen used to be the capital of the Chu State in the late Warring States Period. Therefore, capturing this city would help the contest between the rebel army and the Qin Dynasty army, and also encourage more forces to resist the Qin Dynasty. After occupying Chendi, the rebel army used "Zhang Chu" as their slogan. Chen Sheng appointed Wu Guang as the false king, led his army to attack Xingyang in the west, ordered Wu Chen, Zhang Er, and Chen Yu to attack Zhao in the north, Deng Zong conquered Jiujiang in the south, and Zhou Shi captured Wei. In this regard, in the author's opinion, after just establishing a foothold, Chen Sheng divided his troops to expand the territory, which was indeed a relatively anxious choice.
In other words, the initial victory had gradually dazzled Chen Sheng and Wu Guang, and they even underestimated the powerful strength of the Qin Dynasty. For the Qin Dynasty, the main reason at the beginning was that the soldiers and horses were distributed in the border areas and other places, and they were unable to quickly concentrate their forces to eliminate the rebels. After the Qin Dynasty mobilized its forces, Chen Sheng and Wu Guang, whose forces were scattered, could understand the strength gap between themselves and the Qin Dynasty. Wu Guang led the rebel army to besiege Xingyang. Chen Sheng sent another general, Zhou Wen, to attack the Qin capital to the west. Although Zhou Wen's army continued to expand on the way to Xianyang, and when it arrived at Hangu Pass, it had thousands of military vehicles and hundreds of thousands of soldiers. However, Qin II ordered the young master Zhang Han to remove the hundreds of thousands of prisoners who had built the Lishan Tomb. and slaves formed an army to fight. The rebel army suffered successive setbacks, and Zhou Wen committed suicide.
Four
In the end, Chen Sheng, who wanted to become a fat man in one bite, had no choice but to accept the defeat. In the second year of Qin II (208 BC), Wu Guang led his troops to besiege Xingyang, but failed repeatedly and was killed by his general Tian Zang. In this regard, in the author's opinion, if Chen Sheng had not divided his troops to attack Xianyang, the capital of the Qin Dynasty, then it would obviously be a more rational move for Wu Guang to concentrate his forces to capture Xingyang, so that Wu Guang would not be defeated and killed by Tian Zang. . Of course, in the opinion of many historians, this is also because as the anti-Qin struggle unfolds, the weaknesses and contradictions within the rebel army are gradually exposed. On the one hand, for Chen Sheng himself, the continuous victories have fostered pride, he listened to slander, killed his old friends, and became increasingly alienated from the rebel soldiers.
On the other hand, the general is outside, and the emperor's orders are not accepted. What's more, Chen Sheng also lacks the means of the emperor. The generals sent by Chen Sheng to various places did not obey Chen Sheng's control and even killed each other in the struggle for power and gain. As for Wu Guang, he was obviously a victim of this struggle. In 208 BC, Tian Zang, the rebel general who besieged Xingyang, had a disagreement with Wu Guang and actually killed Wu Guang under the pretext of Chen Sheng's order. In this regard, in the author's opinion, the internal conflicts not only cost Wu Guang his life, but Chen Sheng was not spared in the end. In 208 BC, Chen Sheng was defeated by Qin general Zhang Han, and was eventually killed by the coachman Zhuang Jia and buried in Mangdang Mountain. After Liu Bang proclaimed himself emperor, he posthumously named Chen Sheng "King Chen Yin". Although Chen Sheng and Wu Guang were killed one after another, the spark they ignited still helped Liu Bang and Xiang Yu become powerful, and directly promoted the demise of the Qin Dynasty.