From beggar to emperor: I am not Zhu Yuanzhang

The camp of the Qin army in Shugang.

A messenger riding a dusty flying horse entered the camp. The messenger rolled over and rolled off the saddle, holding a secret message in his hand and ran straight to the Chinese army's tent, shouting as he ran:

Report! Urgent report from Caizhou six hundred miles——

Qin Zongheng opened the secret letter, frowned, and muttered: It's really disappointing.

Sun Ru, the deputy commander next to him, asked, "What are your instructions, Commander-in-Chief?"

Qin Zongheng shrugged and spread his hands: "Brother ordered us to return to Caizhou quickly. That bastard Zhu Wen came to stir up trouble again. Brother is a little unable to handle it."

Sun Ru asked tentatively: "Then what should we do?"

What else can I do? Go back. You must listen to your elder brother.

Qin Zongheng said angrily.

Sun Ru didn't say anything. He was feeling overwhelmed and a little restless. To be honest, he didn't want to go back. He finally got rid of Qin Zongquan and went to Yangzhou to work on his career. How could he give up halfway?

But Qin Zongheng sent people again and again to urge him to pack up his things quickly and prepare to withdraw his troops. Sun Ru had no choice but to pretend to be sick and use illness as an excuse to delay time. The repeated delays made Qin Zongheng angry, so he went to talk to Sun Ru personally.

Sun Ru prepared a banquet for Qin Zongheng to eat and drink. After the banquet reached its climax, Sun Ru took advantage of Qin Zongheng's drunkenness and drew his sword to kill him.

Sun Ru knew what it meant to kill Qin Zongheng, and Qin Zongquan would never let him go.

In order to save his life, Sun Ru cut off Qin Zongheng's head and sent it to Kaifeng. He dedicated it to Zhu Wen, the most powerful minister of the Tang Dynasty at that time. He paid tribute to Zhu Wen and formally surrendered to Zhu Wen.

Qin Zongquan's anger can be imagined.

This Sun Ru was from Caizhou (now Runan, Henan). In his early years, he was uneducated and had no skills. He bullied men and dominated women and ran rampant in the countryside. Although there is the word "Confucianism" in his name, he actually has nothing to do with Confucianism. He is a rogue and villain with a lot of evil. As an adult, Sun Ru joined the Zhongwu Army and got a position as a junior officer. It was really bad luck.

After the Huangchao Uprising broke out, Sun Ru, unwilling to be left alone, pulled up his troops and joined the rebel general Qin Zongquan as the capital general. Huang Chao's army marched westward to Tongguan, and Qin Zongquan sent Sun Ru to attack Luoyang, the eastern capital. Li Hanzhi, who stayed in the eastern capital, abandoned the city and fled. After Sun Ru broke the city, he set fire to the palaces in the eastern capital and massacred the officials and people of Luoyang.

The various Tang armies were no match for Sun Ru. They collapsed at the first touch and were invincible. Sun Ru defeated Zhuge Shuang, the Heyang Jiedu envoy who came to attack in the Battle of Luoshui, and then took advantage of the victory to attack Zhengzhou. At that time, Zhu Wen (also known as Zhu Quanzhong, named after Emperor Xizong of the Tang Dynasty), the Jiedu envoy of the Xuanwu Army who had returned to the imperial court from Huang Chao's army, was stationed in Zhongmou. He was afraid of Sun Ru's military front and did not dare to fight.

When Sun Ru saw that Zhu Wen was afraid of him, he became even more proud. He ordered his army to attack the city overnight and conquer Zhengzhou. The governor Li Fan ran away overnight. Then he made a comeback and defeated Zhuge Zhongfang, who had left behind in Heyang, at Heqiao (now on the Yellow River northeast of Luoyang, Henan), and the army entered the city of Heyang (now Mengzhou, Henan).

Zhu Wen followed him all the way to Heyin (now Mengjin, Henan) and confronted Sun Ru across the Yellow River. Zhu Wen was very afraid of Sun Ru's bravery and ferocity and did not dare to confront him head-on. He had to constantly send small groups of troops to harass Sun Ru, forcing Sun Ru to go on the defensive.

In this way, the two warlord leaders Sun Ru and Zhu Wen were at war with each other on both sides of the Yellow River, refusing to give in to each other. But not long after, Sun Ru received the news that his eldest brother Qin Zongquan had been defeated by Zhu Wen. Qin Zongquan retreated to Caizhou in embarrassment and could not be contacted.

Sun Ru was anxious and had no intention of guarding Heyang. The devil ordered the city of Heyang to be burned down, the residents in the city massacred, and their bodies thrown into the Yellow River.

Then the whole army set off and fled eastward.

Sun Ru and his troops finally ran to Caizhou and met up with his eldest brother Qin Zongquan. Although Qin Zongquan was repeatedly defeated by Zhu Wen at this time, his strength still existed. In order to solve the imminent food and military pay problems, Qin Zongquan set his sights not far away. Huainan, which was the granary and money bag of the Tang Dynasty, I don’t know how many people are interested in it.

In order to restore his strength as soon as possible, Qin Zongquan decided to send his most respected brother Qin Zongheng to lead troops to conquer Huainan, hoping to make a lot of money.

Qin Zongheng happily accepted the order and appointed himself as the commander-in-chief. With Sun Ru as the deputy commander and Liu Jianfeng as the forward, the army set off immediately and left Caizhou to attack Yangzhou.

This is where the scene at the beginning comes from.

Sun Ru is a very ambitious man. On the surface, he obeys the orders of the Qin brothers, but deep down he has his own plans. He is unwilling to depend on others for the rest of his life and is eager to establish his own grand cause. Moreover, Sun Ru's troops were very powerful in combat, which frightened the Tang army. They repeatedly won great victories, and their strength even surpassed that of the Qin brothers.

As a result, Sun Ru became more and more arrogant and no longer wanted to live in front of the Qin brothers for the rest of his life. He longed to build his own grand cause. There was no way out working for others. He had to be his own boss to become the final winner.

He once said this to someone in private: A man cannot fight thousands of miles and decide his own rewards and punishments, so why should he be willing to be subordinate to others? If he cannot be rich while alive, who will build a temple for you after you die?

Sun Ru had been waiting for an opportunity. When he drew his knife and stabbed Qin Zongheng, he firmly believed that his opportunity had come.

The reason why Sun Ru didn't want to return to Caizhou was because he fell in love with the treasure land of Yangzhou. After betraying Qin Zongquan, he curried favor with Zhu Wen, who controlled the real power of the Tang Dynasty; while he expanded his army and prepared for war, preparing to compete with Yang Xingmi for the hegemony of Huainan. During this period, Sun Ru was very active, attacking everywhere in the Huainan area, sneaking attacks on Gaoyou, expelling Zhang Shenjian, and after breaking the city, he looted and massacred the city according to the old rules, and razed Gaoyou to the ground.

Zhang Shenjian led the [-] defeated soldiers and fled into Yangzhou in embarrassment to join Yang Xingmi. After all, Zhang Shenjian was once a member of Bi Shiduo, and Yang Xingmi did not trust them in his heart. They were not of my race, so his heart must be different. Sun Ru heavily besieged the city, and the lonely city of Yangzhou was in turmoil. Zhang Shenjian led his troops to surrender at this time, and Yang Xingmi had to be cautious about this group of uninvited guests.

But having said that, after all, Zhang Shenjian was an ally in the same trench, and they dealt with Qin Yan and others together. Yang Xingmi had to express his feelings, so he arranged a banquet to welcome Zhang Shenjian.

In the winter of the third year of Emperor Guangqi's reign (887), Emperor Xizong of the Tang Dynasty, Yangzhou.

The offensive of Sun Ru's army outside the city became more and more fierce, but inside the city there was a strange scene of singing and dancing swallows. Red lights were hung high in the Jiedushi Yamen, wine and delicacies were enjoyed, singing and dancing took place, everyone was drunk while changing cups and changing cups with Shenjian...

The banquet quickly reached its climax, and the weird atmosphere was so intense that it was suffocating.

Zhang Shenjian and others were already drunk. Yang Xingmi winked at Lu Yongzhi who was next to him. Lu Shengun clapped his hands understandingly, and a large number of armored soldiers rushed out from behind the screen and dragged Zhang Shenjian and others out.

That night, seven hundred of Zhang Shenjian's men were secretly killed. Zhang Shenjian was also killed the next day. Yang Xingmi eliminated his potential threat with such a thunderbolt method.

But his situation did not improve because of the eradication of Zhang Shenjian, but instead worsened.