The Life of Characters in Zhang Shicheng's Works

In the first year of Zhi Zhi, Yuan Yingzong (132 1), Zhang Shicheng was born into a poor "court people" family in Baijuchang, Dongtai (now Dafeng, Yancheng). Subsequently, his three younger brothers Shiyi, Shide and Shixin were born one after another.

At the end of the Yuan Dynasty, the government was corrupt, and the finances could not make ends meet. In order to make up for the expanding government expenditure and military expenditure, the rulers issued a large number of salt guides and constantly raised the price of salt, and the salt industry became the most important source of income for the state finance. Although the price of salt is rising, the salt people in the southeast coast still live without food. Taizhou is located on the southeast coast. Every summer, it will be hit by a typhoon and the tide will flow backwards. When the sea receded, the fertile land turned into saline-alkali land, and the local farmers were miserable.

In order to support his family, Zhang Shicheng has been with the villagers since he was ten years old. He has been boating and transporting salt on Bai Juchang's official salt boat and subsidizing his family with the meager income earned by selling coolies. When he was a teenager, Zhang Shicheng "didn't have much muscle, and Ren Xia was very angry". He is not only strong, but also generous. Although his family is often too poor to open the pot, whenever the villagers encounter difficulties, he is always generous and responsive. Gradually, Zhang Shicheng established a high prestige among the local salt people. Due to the meagre income from transporting salt to the government, Zhang Shicheng and several daring villagers started the business of selling smuggled salt. While transporting salt to the government, they carried some salt with them and sold it to local rich households. Bai Juyi's rich people often threatened to report to the government, not only not giving Zhang Shicheng salt money, but also beating and scolding him. Zhang Shicheng and others had to submit to humiliation because of their humble status and illegal salt smuggling. There is a local salt policeman named Qiu Yi in Baijuchang, who is responsible for supervising salt people to go out to work and catching salt vendors. This Qiu Yi not only often deducts the labor income of the salt people in Baijuchang, but also the salt people pay tribute to him every month. If there are omissions, they will either fight or scold the salt people. Zhang Shicheng and salt people were not awed by his arrogance, so they had to submit to humiliation.

In the 13th year of Yuan Shundi (1353), Zhang Shicheng secretly contacted seventeen daring salt people and actively prepared for armed riots. Matter, in order to prevent the secret from leaking, Zhang Shicheng they chose the location of the uprising in the grass weir field near Baijuchang. One night, eighteen warm-blooded salt people took blood as an alliance at the Arctic Temple in Cao Yanchang, grabbed a pole carrying salt, sneaked into the home of Qiu Yi, a salt policeman, in the cold wind, and killed the bully who always harmed his neighbors. Subsequently, 18 people rushed into the homes of local rich households, opened warehouses, distributed food and money to local people, and then burned the houses with torches. At that time, the salt workers working in the saltworks were too hard and tired, so * * * elected Zhang Shicheng as the leader and captured Taizhou. Rich, the Gaoyou magistrate, surrendered them, but they soon defected, killed Zhao Lian, a politician from other provinces, captured Xinghua at the same time, and gathered in Desheng Lake (near Xinghua, Jiangsu), with more than 10,000 people. The Yuan court sent someone with a power of attorney for "ten thousand households", but Zhang Shicheng was too small to accept it. He killed Ricky by deception and occupied Gaoyou by sneak attack, claiming to be "King", with the title of "Big Week" and "God Bless". This year is the 13th year of Yuan Shundi Zheng Zhi (1353).

In September, 14th year of Yuan Dynasty (1354), the trees in Zhang Shicheng were very popular, and the Prime Minister of Yuan Dynasty led a million troops to attack and surrounded Gaoyou. At that time, Zhang Shicheng was scolded for the bad weather, so sad that his intestines were blue, and he even blamed himself for making trouble by slapping his mouth. Worst of all, he can't even surrender. He is determined to slaughter local soldiers and civilians after capturing Gaoyou to warn Jiangnan. People are not as good as days, and Tuotuo was calculated by the treacherous court official in the DPRK. Yuan Shundi dismissed him on the spot, sent him to Tubo, and poisoned him halfway. As for the "one-million-strong army", it was scattered and leaderless for a while, but Zhang Shicheng was finally able to escape, leading a group of people to escape Gaoyou as hooligans.

In February of the 16th year of Yuan Dynasty (1356), Zhang Shicheng captured Pingjiang (now Suzhou, Jiangsu Province), and later captured Huzhou, Songjiang and Changzhou (all belonging to Jiangsu Province). Pingjiang (Suzhou) was changed to Longping House, and Zhang Shicheng moved the capital from Gaoyou to this place. Take Chengtian Temple as the responsibility, sit cross-legged in the main hall and shoot three arrows on the beam as the symbol. This year, Zhu Yuanzhang also captured Qing Ji (now Nanjing, Jiangsu) and sent yang xian to convey his friendship to Zhang Shicheng. In his letter to Zhang Shicheng, Zhu Yuanzhang wrote: "In the past (the early years of the Eastern Han Dynasty), Yan State (now Tianshui, Gansu Province) was king, but now it is also king in Suzhou, and things are equal. I'm glad I took the first step. Being good neighbors and safeguarding their respective jurisdictions are virtues advocated by the ancients, and I admire them very much in my heart. I hope that we can exchange messengers in the future and not be confused by rumors, causing border disputes. " Zhang Shicheng received a letter from Zhu Yuanzhang, detained yang xian, and did not reply. Later, he sent a water army to attack Zhenjiang, and was defeated by Xu Da in Longtan. Zhu Yuanzhang immediately sent Xu Da and Tanghe to attack Changzhou. Zhang Shicheng sent troops to rescue, and suffered a crushing defeat, losing two soldiers, Zhang He and Tang. I just wrote a peace letter, demanding that the Ming army be given two million mangoku, five hundred and twenty gold and three hundred catties of platinum every year. Zhu Yuanzhang wrote back and ordered him to put Yang Xian back, as long as he sent five hundred mangoku grain every year. Zhang Shicheng didn't listen.

Previously, Zhang Shicheng captured Pingjiang (Suzhou) and then sent troops to attack Jiaxing (now Zhejiang). As a result, Yang, the garrison commander of the Yuan Dynasty and the commander of the Miao nationality, defeated Zhang Shicheng's army many times. So he sent Zhang Shide to bypass Hangzhou. Yang finished his work and returned to the army for rescue. Zhang Shide was defeated again and fled back. The following year, Zhu Yuanzhang sent Geng Bingwen to capture Changxing (Zhejiang), Xu Da captured Changzhou, Wu Liang captured Jiangyin (Zhejiang), and Zhang Shicheng's army was blocked to the west and south, and its power gradually declined. Soon, Xu Da led the troops to capture Yixing, and then attacked Changshu. Zhang Shide lost the battle and was captured alive by striker Zhao Desheng. Zhang Shide, nicknamed 96, is good at fighting and has strategy, which can please soldiers. He shot down all the western regions of Zhejiang. After Zhang Shide was arrested, Zhang Shicheng was very depressed. Zhu Yuanzhang wanted to stay in Zhang Shide and own Zhang Shicheng. Zhang Shide sent someone to secretly send a letter to Zhang Shicheng, telling him to surrender to the Yuan Dynasty. So Zhang Shicheng decided to surrender to the Yuan Army. The right Prime Minister of Jiangsu and Zhejiang, Da Zhi Tie Mu You, reported this matter to the court, and the Yuan court named Zhang Shicheng Qiu, and all his officials were appointed according to their ranks. After being escorted to Jinling (Nanjing), Zhang Shide went on a hunger strike and finally starved to death. Although Zhang Shicheng is no longer a king, it still has the same armed forces and land as before. Timur clashed with Yang Wan in Hangzhou and privately called Zhang Shicheng's army. Zhang Shicheng sent Shi Wenbing to sneak attack and killed Yang, so he occupied Hangzhou. Shun Di sent someone to ask Zhang Shicheng for food and gave him a dragon robe and royal wine. Zhang Shicheng sends 1 1 mangoku grain to most places from the sea, which is so much every year. In this way, Zhang Shicheng became more and more arrogant, making his subordinates sing praises and asking the Yuan court to make him king, but the Yuan court refused. In September of the 23rd year of Yuan Dynasty (1363), Zhang Shicheng established himself as the King of Wu and honored his mother, Cao Shi, as Wang Guifei. According to the status of the King, he set up a subordinate officer and built another mansion in the city. He made Zhang Shixin, his younger brother, the left prime minister of Zhejiang, and imprisoned Dazhi timur, who colluded with him to attack Yang Wan, in Jiaxing. If the Yuan court wanted food again, it wouldn't give it. There was a man who joined the army named Yu Siqi and Zhongfu, who was from Taizhou. He advised Zhang Shicheng: "In the past, we were thieves. Of course, we didn't have to deliver meals to most people. Now we are courtiers of the Yuan Dynasty. How can you not pay tribute to food? " Zhang Shicheng was furious and pushed the console table, only to fall to the ground. Seeing that he could not be persuaded, Yu Siqi pretended to be ill and ran away. At that time, the territory occupied by Zhang Shicheng reached Shaoxing in the south, Xuzhou in the north and Jingou in Jining. It occupies Runingfu (runan county, Henan), Yingzhou (Fuyang, Anhui), Haozhou (northeast of Fengyang, Anhui) and Sizhou (Xuyi, Jiangsu) in the west, with a journey of more than 2,000 miles and hundreds of thousands of armored soldiers in the east. His younger brother Zhang Shixin and son-in-law Pan are his confidants, Zuo Yi and Li Bosheng are his minions, Huang Jingfu, Cai and Ye Dexin, who joined the army, are his brains, and Chen Ji and You Cheng, bachelors of the Yuan Dynasty, are responsible for secretarial work. He also likes to attract guests and give away many chariots, horses, bedrooms and furniture. Those who live in Hangzhou and the local poor and helpless people are scrambling to take refuge in him.

After the occupation of Wudi (now southern Jiangsu), there was no war in this area for many years. As a result, with a large population and prosperous economy, Zhang Shicheng has gradually become arrogant and extravagant, unwilling to ask about government affairs. His younger brother Zhang Shixin and his son-in-law Pan are more greedy for money. Treasures and ancient calligraphy and paintings are piled up in the house, and I sing and dance every day to make myself happy. His generals also procrastinated and refused to obey orders. Whenever there is a battle, they pretend to be sick there, need a lot of farmland and houses, and raise senior officials before they are willing to send troops to fight. When I first arrived in the army, I brought a large number of maids, concubines and musical instruments to the front line to play the piano and sing, or recruited people who can talk. I don't care about the military when I gamble and play football. Lost the battle, lost territory, Zhang Shicheng didn't ask. Before long, let them lead the troops to fight. Zhu Yuanzhang's territory is next to Zhang Shicheng. Zhang Shicheng sent troops to attack Changzhou, Jiangyin, Jiande, Changxing and Zhuquan many times, but failed to win and had to return. Zhu Yuanzhang sent Shao Yong to attack Huzhou, Hu Dahai to attack Shaoxing and Chang Yuchun to attack Hangzhou, but none of them captured. Liao Yong 'an was captured by Zhang Shicheng, and Xie Zaixing defected and surrendered to Zhang Shicheng. It happened that Zhu Yuanzhang was at odds with Chen Youliang and was unable to manage Zhang Shicheng's affairs. Chen Youliang also sent someone to Zhang Shicheng to crusade against Zhu Yuanzhang, but Zhang Shicheng wanted to be a bystander, and clearly promised Chen Youliang, but in the end there was no action. When Zhu Yuanzhang captured Wuchang, destroyed Chen Youliang and led his troops back to Nanjing, he ordered Xu Da and others to plot to capture Huaidong, successively laid Taizhou and Tongzhou (Nantong, Jiangsu) and surrounded Gaoyou. Zhang Shicheng sent water troops from the upper reaches of the Yangtze River to rescue Gaoyou. Zhu Yuanzhang personally led the army to repel Zhang Shicheng's water army. Xu Da and others won Gaoyou, Huai 'an and Huaibei, all of which fell into the hands of the Ming army.

In the 26th year of Yuan Dynasty (1366), in September, Zhu Yuanzhang took Xu Da as the general and Chang Yuchun as the deputy general, led 200,000 elite soldiers and concentrated on destroying Zhang Shicheng. Lao Zhu made a lot of plans and ordered the second commander not to attack Suzhou first, but to attack Huzhou directly. "He was exhausted and lost his wings. When he moved to Suzhou, he took it!" It's hard to have such a great strategist. Second, according to the plan, Xu Da and others will send generals to Longjiang. Don't send Li Wenzhong to Hangzhou, send Hua Yunlong to Jiaxing to contain Zhang Shicheng's army. The generals will fight hard. In Huzhou area, Wu Dongbing was defeated. General Lv Zhen, Zhang Shicheng's adopted son nicknamed "Five Princes" and other brave generals all surrendered, and all his 60,000 chosen men surrendered. Li Bosheng, a "common" Zhang Shicheng in Huzhou City, wanted to commit suicide and was a "martyr", but he had to surrender because of his support.

By the end of the year, forced by Zhu Liangzu's army, Wu Xie, the commander of Hangzhou (the younger brother of rebel leader Xie Zaixing), was also forced to open the gate and surrender. In this way, Dongwu lost his right hand and Pingjiang (Suzhou) became an isolated city, facing the situation of being attacked on three sides.

At Pingjiang, the city was strong, and it was finally conquered in ten months.

Zhu Yuanzhang sent general Liao Yongzhong to "meet" Wang Xiaoming while sending troops to Zhang Shicheng. When he was in Guazhou, Liao Yongzhong went into the hut and hacked Han Liner to death. Then the ship sank and Shi Shiran came back to me. Since then, Zhu Yuanzhang no longer needs to play the name of "Dragon and Phoenix". At that time, many people in later generations thought that Zhu Yuanzhang instigated the killing of Han Liner, but some historical researchers thought that Liao Yongzhong was meddling, judging ugliness and showing his merits, and flattering others. Zhu Yuanzhang can put Han Liner under house arrest like a king or something, and there is no need to make such a small person without silver or silver. At that time, he was kind and didn't "frame" him like Ji Cheng of Sima's family, but it was estimated that he despised Liao Yongzhong very much.

In the twenty-seventh year of Yuan Dynasty (1367), in the first year of Emperor Wu, Zhu Yuanzhang was in no hurry when he saw that the besieged city could not last for three months. He sent the "highest instruction" from Tianfu: "If you want to be outside, don't defend yourself, you will learn from the ancient road. Now that the army is in a hurry, the general will act cheaply. "

Xu Da was very excited to receive the book. He was more careful and diligent.

Zhu Yuanzhang saw that Zhang Shicheng retreated to Pingjiang and was determined to win, but he was also afraid that too many people were killed in the siege. His original intention was to be trapped by the siege and let Lao Zhang finally surrender without spending money. At the same time, he constantly sent people to the Book City to compare Qian Miao and Dou Rong, and advised Lao Zhang to surrender voluntarily. Zhang Shicheng is stubborn and doesn't report.

In July of the 27th year (1367), Zhang Shicheng saw that the surplus grain in the city was gradually exhausted. He is kind-hearted and can't do the evil of killing people for food, so he led tens of thousands of pro-troops nicknamed "Ten Dragons" to break through. After leaving the city, I saw the soldiers of West Wu Jun on the left side of the city lined up neatly. I was afraid of making a mistake, so I turned the boat door and killed Chang Yuchun camp. This time, however, he met a malefic. Chang Yuchun was brave and resourceful, and fought bravely with Soochow soldiers. At the same time, he also commanded Wang Bi, a double-edged valiant soldier, to bypass Wu Dong soldiers from the side, trapping all more than 10,000 elite soldiers in Zhang Shicheng in a sand basin pool, killing three-tenths and drowning seven-tenths. Zhang Shicheng himself jumped into the water and almost drowned. Qin Bing risked his life to save him, shouldered him and fled back to the city.

Ten days later, Zhang Shicheng, who recovered, gritted his teeth and led the troops out of Xumen. In desperation, the Zhang Shicheng army was fierce and sharp, and Chang Yuchun's department was overwhelmed with positive volley. Such a good opportunity, Zhang Shicheng's younger brother Zhang Shixin stood on the head of the city, I don't know which nerve is broken. He shouted, "The sergeant is tired of playing, so he can stop playing." He immediately rang the golden bell and quit.

While Zhang Shicheng and others were in a daze, Chang Yuchun rallied and turned to attack Wu Dongbing. "Naturally, Zhang Shicheng dare not come back." .

The situation is so critical that Zhang Shixin, a unlucky man, has no worries. He always casually places banquets in the building, places silver chairs everywhere, drinks wine and eats delicious food with his cronies. Yes, he is a general, but he has no brains in strategy. The servant gave him a big peach, and Zhang Shixin ate it for a long time. He just opened his mouth and ate it. Suddenly, there was a huge gun in the city, which hit Zhang Shixin. Grandpa's head was smashed and peach juice was spilled.

After the defeat, Zhang Shicheng remained tenacious, commanding the military and civilians in the city to resist, killing many soldiers and horses of Xiwu. In October, Xu Da launched a general assault and besieged the city hundreds of ways. Finally, Wu Dong's army was exhausted and the city fell.

Zhang Shicheng heard the news of the collapse of the city in his mansion and said to his wife Liu, "What will you do if I die in defeat?" Liu's good wife calmly replied, "Don't worry, I will live up to you." After that, she gathered firewood downstairs in Jiyun, holding her two young sons, and went upstairs with the concubines in Zhang Shicheng. The building was set on fire before she hanged herself.

It's dusk. The great hero Zhang Shicheng is really at the end of his tether. He sat alone in the room for a long time, looking thoughtfully at the fire in Jiyun Building. Then, he threw a beam and hanged himself. Cho Se Ung, the old general of Zhang Shicheng, rushed forward to save him, crying and urging: "Hero of 1994, are you still afraid of losing your life?" Xu Da repeatedly sent Li Bosheng and Pan, the old generals of Zhang Shicheng, to surrender, but Zhang Shicheng closed his eyes and let Zhang Shicheng board the ship, which was sent to Yingtianfu by water. At the same time, Zhang Shicheng has been firmly lying on the boat on a hunger strike. On the night after being escorted to Tianfu, Zhang Shicheng hanged himself while others were unprepared, at the age of 47. When Qiang Bing won the victory, Zhang Shicheng was timid and missed the opportunity; When he was captured, his words were unyielding and he was a gentleman.