There were really many famous generals in the Chongzhen period, but almost none of them were used well, and the demise of the Ming Dynasty was really mourning its misfortune and hating it.
During the Chongzhen period, there was only one person who could be called the first good general, and this person was Cao Wenzhao; Cao Wenzhao served in the army in Liaodong in his early years, and experienced Xiong Tingbi and Sun Chengzong, and accumulated merits to rise to guerrilla. In the winter of 1629, Emperor Taiji besieged Beijing, and Cao Wenzhao followed Yuan Chonghuan into Guan Qinwang, where he had meritorious service in defending Beijing neutrally.
In 1630, Ma Shilong gave Cao Wenzhao the Shangfang Sword given to him by Zhu Youjian and ordered him to lead the generals Wang Chengyin, Zhang Shujia, and Dusi Zuo Liangyu to ambush the dead trees and Hongqiao in Yutian, and was promoted to counselor general because of his meritorious service in battle. He then moved from Dayuan Mountain to the vicinity of Zunhua, and then followed Ma Shilong and others to capture Da'an Castle and Catfish Pass.
Because of his merits in recovering the four cities, the imperial court gave him the title of governor of the capital. Later, because of the great change of the people in Shaanxi, Cao Wenzhao was made the deputy commander of Yansui East Road and led the Guanning army into the customs for conquest.
Cao Wenzhao first defeated Wang Jiayin, the leader of the rebels who was guarding Hequ, and promoted him to the position of commander-in-chief of Lintao. Later, he killed Dian Dianzi, Li Laochai, and his fellow party members, and fought in Huainingchuan, Heiyuquan, Fengjiagou, Mianhuyu, and other places, all of which achieved major victories. The Sweeping King was beheaded.
In March 1632, Cao Wenzhao fought a major battle with the peasant army at Xihao, beheaded a thousand ranks, and captured Du San and Yang Laochai. Later, under the leadership of the general Hong Chengzuo, the guanzhong rebellion was finally put down, and Inspector Yushi Fan Fuchun won a total of more than 36,600 first ranks in the previous battles in the chapter handed to the imperial court, cao Wenzhao's merit was the first, Zhang Jiamu was the second, and Wang Cheng'en and Yang Qi were second.
When Cao Wenzhao was in Shaanxi, he fought dozens of battles and made the most meritorious contributions, but Hong Chengzuo did not give him meritorious service. Inspector Yushi Wusheng was very serious about Wenzhao, and Fu Chu also wrote a report again, but the military department still suppressed his merits, and finally did not give Cao Wenzhao a reward for his merits.
At this time, the peasant army saw that Shaanxi's troops were strong, and most of them flowed into Shanxi, and their leaders Zijin Liang, Chaoshi Wang, Ji Guansuo, the Eight Kings, Cao Cao, Breaking Heaven, and Xingjia Harry respectively commanded the seven battalions. There are 10,000 people in each department, and 5,000 people in the small number, who are wantonly operating in Fenzhou, Taiyuan, Pingyang and other places.
Later, the imperial court ordered Cao Wenzhao to send troops to suppress the Shanxi peasant rebel army, Cao Wenzhao was famous in Shanxi, which made countless peasant rebel armies feel frightened, and the peasant army avoided Cao Wenzhao's main force in the case of repeated defeats, and most of them flowed north of the Yellow River. Emperor Zhu then ordered Wen zhao to move his troops to the crusade.
The peasant army had already defeated Deng Xuan's army in Lin County, and Cao Wenzhao led five battalions of troops to attack at night and defeated them. In July, he defeated Huaiqing's peasant army at Chailing Village, beheaded its leader, the Rolling Dragon, and pursued and killed Lao Hui at Lin Yuan.
When Cao Wenzhao was in Hongdong, he was at odds with Yushi Liu Ling, who was at home at home. By this time, Liu Lingyu came to inspect Henan. The army of Ma Fengyi, the chief tuguan of Sichuan Shishi, was defeated at Houjiazhuang, and it was only when Cao Wenzhao's horse arrived that he repelled the peasant army. After the battle, Cao Wenzhao had just been disarmed and rested, met with Liu Lingyu, and spoke without speculation.
Cao Wenzhao brushed up his clothes and reprimanded him in person. Liu Lingyu was annoyed, and took fengyi's defeat as Cao Wenzhao's crime. The bingbu thought that Cao Wenzhao had become proud after winning several battles, so he transferred him to Datong.
In July 1634, the Qing army entered the Kansai expedition to invade the Han Dynasty, and when it returned to the division, it casually entered the territory of Datong and captured the Victory Fort, and the general Li Quan committed suicide, so he besieged Huairen County, Jingping Fort, Yingzhou and other places. Cao Wenzhao and the governor Zhang Zongheng were stationed at Huairen first. In August, Huairen lifted the siege and moved his troops to Zhencheng to challenge the Qing army, but failed to return.
Later, most of the castles of Lingqiu and other tun soldiers fell, and the Qing army returned triumphantly. In November, the imperial court assessed the sins of the generals, and Cao Wenzhao, Zhang Zongheng, and Inspector Hu Zhan'en were convicted and sent to the guardhouse in the border areas. As soon as the order was issued, Wu Shengsheng, the governor of Shanxi, wrote a letter recommending Wenzhao Zhibing to be good at war, and requested that he be arranged to come to Shanxi. Therefore, the imperial court ordered him to be the chief military officer of the aid and suppression, and let him make meritorious atonement for his sins.
At this time, the disaster of war in Henan was particularly severe, and Zhu Youjian had already agreed with the opinion of the military department, and ordered Cao Wenzhao to lead his troops to Henan to urgently suppress the thieves. Wu Shengsheng again resisted and petitioned, asking Cao Wenzhao to first pacify the thieves in Shanxi and then march into Henan, but Zhu Youjian did not agree. However, Because Wu Shengsheng was kind to him, Cao Wenzhao finally took the road to Taiyuan and was retained by Wu Shengsheng.
So they went all the way, suppressing the Shanxi peasant rebel army and then going to suppress the Henan peasant rebel army, and finally the peasant armies led by King Gao Yingxiang and the Eighth King Zhang Xianzhong attacked Fengxiang and advanced to Fengyang and Longzhou, and Cao Wenzhao rushed from Hanzhong to the front. The peasant army rushed to the area of Jingning, Qin'an, Qingshui, and Qinzhou, with a strength of nearly 200,000 people.
Because Wenzhao's troop strength and Zhang Quanchang's and Zhang Waijia's combined strength were only 6,000 people, the disparity with the peasant army was too great, and he complained to the imperial court and did not receive any instructions. In the end, he was forced to meet the enemy, so Cao Wenzhao led three thousand men to march from Ningzhou and met the thieves at the town of Xiangtou in Zhenning. Chang Jiao took the lead in climbing the city wall, beheading five hundred people and pursuing the enemy for thirty miles.
But in the end, because they were outnumbered, they fought for several miles. In the end, he lost his strength and committed suicide by drawing his knife. More than twenty guerrilla generals died under the pacification. When Hong Chengzu heard this news, he beat his chest and wept bitterly, and Zhu Youjian also felt sorry for him, posthumously gave him the title of Crown Prince Taibao and Zuo Dudu, gave him a funeral ceremony, made his descendants hereditary command of the official position of you, and ordered Yousi to build a temple for him, which was paid tribute to him every spring and autumn.
Cao Wenzhao's loyalty and bravery are incomparable in the world, and he is known as the first of the good generals in the late Ming Dynasty. For his death, the peasant army celebrated each other. Later, even the Qianlong Emperor of the Qing Dynasty commented on Cao Wenzhao: Cao Wenzhao was fierce, practiced rongxing, generously taught, and brave and fierce. And pursue it as a faithful fruit.