At the very beginning of this great uprising, the leader of the uprising asked everyone to only loot government offices, kill only dog officials and thieves to support the army, and not to harm ordinary people.
Because everyone is a miserable person, why should a miserable man suffer?
But as the ranks of the uprising continued to expand, the situation changed.
The number of rebels continues to increase, and there is a mixture of people from all three religions and nine schools. Anyone can infiltrate the ranks of the rebels.
Some of them just follow the crowd. Seeing everyone join in, they follow suit, thinking that if they don’t join, they will be left behind, and they don’t know what will happen to them then.
Some people just wanted to make a living, and after hearing the slogans of the rebels, saying that if they followed the rebels, they would have food to eat, they followed.
But some people are not like this. They see the dark side of the rebels. They find that the rebels can loot property openly, do whatever they want as long as they break through the city, and can bully those who used to be superior, so they join the rebels for this reason.
Some do it to resist, some do it to make a living, and some do it to make a fortune. Such an army is destined to fail to achieve great things.
But then again, do they really have the idea of achieving something big?
Once they obtained enough property and food, their enterprising spirit quickly declined, and many rebel soldiers and leaders became addicted to luxurious enjoyment and could not extricate themselves.
They killed officials, clerks, generals, wealthy businessmen, landlords and gentry and other upper-class people, took away their land, houses, money, women, and obtained wealth that they had never dreamed of before, and then quickly fell into decline. into enjoyment.
The rebel army also quickly completed the division between the upper class and the lower class. The upper class robbed the things belonging to the officials and rich people, and did not distribute them to the soldiers below. The soldiers looked jealous and could only rob ordinary people's things.
So ordinary people also began to suffer.
The family's only rations and copper coins were also taken away, bedding was also taken away, and even the door panels were removed and taken away. Some were robbed of their wives or daughters. They cried and screamed, never expecting to rebel. The rebels will also kill them.
During this process, the various factions of the rebel army also stabilized, and each had a relatively clear sphere of influence.
So in mid-July, when the Ezhou army and the Jiujiang army went south to prepare for the rebellion, the distribution range of the rebel army was already relatively fixed.
The most powerful one is Da Dao Han Wu. His subordinates have grown to more than 200,000, and he controls Yuanzhou, Junzhou and Longxing Prefecture.
He had the largest number of followers and the most capable rebel troops, and he himself was very combat-effective, so he had the highest reputation, occupied the largest area, and killed the most government officials.
Next is Zhang Xiaohu's forces who control the Jizhou and Nan'an armies. He has about 100,000 men and is further attacking in the direction of Guiyang with unabated momentum.
Although he is not as powerful as Han Wu, he is obviously more courageous. The rebel army he leads is one of the only two rebel armies still attacking Song Ting's forces.
Then there are Liu Laosan who controls the Linjiang Army and Qiao Tiegiang who controls Fuzhou. Each of them has 70,000 to 80,000 troops and each occupies a piece of territory.
These two people were already lying down and enjoying themselves. After obtaining the chassis, they allowed their men to massacre the wealthy households, landlords, gentry, officials, etc. in the state, plundered a large amount of land wealth, and became extremely rich. They lived in luxurious houses and enjoyed themselves as much as they wanted.
Their subordinates also acted recklessly in the two places, plundering the people, sweeping the countryside, and making a lot of money. They did not care about the wailing of the farmers. Those who were confused thought that they were official soldiers, not rebels.
Then came the Li Geng rebel army and the Wang Sheng rebel army, which respectively controlled part of Ganzhou's territory. The two men each had fifty or sixty thousand troops. They regarded each other as mortal enemies and were in fierce confrontation.
Finally, there is the rebel army that went south to Nanxiong Prefecture. The current situation is unclear, but at least it can be regarded as one of the two rebel armies that are still maintaining an offensive posture.
On the whole, the Jizhou Uprising has rapidly entered a period of burnout since the Song Dynasty was so corrupt that the rebels quickly won victory, quickly gained a large amount of wealth, and then quickly became corrupted.
Most people are pursuing enjoyment and feel that they have successfully revenged themselves and no longer need to continue to fight in all directions.
After being poor for too long, they suddenly gained countless money, land, and even fragrant women. Unable to withstand the excessive impact, they obviously could no longer control their depravity.
After all, they are not fighting for the cause of human liberation, they are just fighting to vent their evil anger and have enough to eat.
Now that they were not only disgusted but also had more food than they imagined, what else could they do?
Therefore, although a spy reported to Han Wu that two Song armies had begun to attack him, Han Wu still did not take it seriously.
He felt that the Song army was just like this and would only flee. As long as he led the army to attack directly, the Song army would collapse quickly and would be as cowardly and incompetent as the state capital Song armies he had faced before.
He finally understood that Song Guan and Song Jun were all the same thing. They looked fierce, but as long as they picked up swords and guns, everything would become completely different. Those cowardly and incompetent bastards would definitely be punished as they deserve. .
He didn't care, he cared more about the difficult decision he was facing at that time.
His subordinates flattered him and felt that he was the strongest among the rebel army and the best at fighting. He had killed countless corrupt officials in the Song Dynasty and avenged countless people, so he should get more glory and wealth. Obtain a higher status.
He should establish a name, and then unite all the current rebel forces, give unified orders, and launch an attack on Song Ting together, instead of the current situation where everyone is scattered.
So what name is more suitable for him?
Some suggested he become king.
Some people suggested that he keep a low profile and call himself a general, something like a mighty general.
Some people think that he has more than 200,000 followers and governs the three states. He can be a local emperor no matter what, so he might as well just proclaim himself emperor!
At that time, Han Wu really didn't expect that there would be an option to become emperor.
He was originally a street performer and swordsman. He relied on his family skills to travel around the world, made many friends, and was able to make a living. He couldn't believe that he had reached this stage today.
But the fact is that he has become the leader of a big force and cannot continue to be the mindless Dao Han Wu. This is no longer in line with his identity.
Han Wu was very excited about the title of emperor, but he knew that doing so might be too arrogant.
Not to mention what the people of the Song Dynasty thought of it, how did the leaders of the rebel army view this matter?
Although he is the most powerful, several other rebel leaders are not vegetarians and have some hard skills. In any case, it is still a bit too early to claim the throne now.
After thinking about it, Han Wu still refused to proclaim himself emperor, but he didn't want to be a general who didn't want to do anything, so he decided to proclaim himself king.
What title is more suitable for him?
He thought about it and felt that the title of Overlord suited him more. It was both domineering and king, and it was very consistent with his personality.
So he took up the banner of Overlord, reorganized his troops into the Overlord Army, and decided to use the title of Overlord to declare his existence to the entire Southern Song Dynasty and other uprising leaders.
Now that he has become an overlord, he cannot do certain things, cannot say certain things, and more importantly, many things are no longer worthy of him.
For example, the place where he lives now is a bit inconsistent with his identity.
So he decided to use the prefect's mansion in Nanchang City as a basis, make changes on this basis, and turn this mansion into his palace.
He needed a lot of building materials and construction workers, so he gave an order, and naturally someone helped him turn half of the residents of Nanchang City into laborers, for free.
Of course, he still ordered the person to take care of the food, and also allocated money for the workers to eat.
However, the money for the meal was embezzled by his subordinates, so in practice, the residents of Nanchang prepared their own meals to build a palace for Han Wu.
The reason for this is particularly good - they helped the poor people in Nanchang City get rid of the brutal rule of the Song Dynasty and allowed them to gain freedom. Therefore, they should be grateful to the Overlord Army and the Overlord.
