Text/Kingdom Building
In Chinese history, there are not a few great generals who have killed a large number of captives, such as bai qi, a general of the Qin state in the Warring States period, who killed 450,000 prisoners of the Zhao state at one time, and won himself the titles of "human slaughter" and "killing god". The Western Han Fei general Li Guang killed 3,000 surrendered Xiongnu soldiers at one time, and was regarded as the number one opponent by the Xiongnu Shan Yu. When the Northern Song eunuch Tong Guan rebelled against fang la, he did not leave a single one of the tens of thousands of rebel soldiers captured....But this is not the most brutal, in the last year of the Ming Dynasty, a peasant rebel leader cut off the arms of 37,000 captured Ming army officers and soldiers at one time, and even said that he had opened heaven and did not take the lives of these people. The leader of this brutal peasant rebel army was Zhang Xianzhong, the founder of the Onishi regime.
It is said that in April 1644, Zhang Xianzhong took advantage of the gap between Ming officials and mutual suspicions to attack, and suddenly attacked Xichuan, capturing the important town of Chongqing in Sichuan. In this battle, Zhang Xianzhong not only captured important officials such as Zhu Changhao,the Rui King (the fifth son of the Wanli Emperor), Chen Shiqi, the governor of Sichuan, and Wang Xingjian, the prefect of Chongqing, but also captured more than 37,000 officers and soldiers of the Ming army. Zhang Xianzhong is a notoriously brutal man, and what good fate can the enemy who falls into his hands have, in one word: kill.
The first person killed by the Great Western Army was Chen Shiqi, the governor of Sichuan. When he was the governor of Sichuan, he was accused by the minister of not understanding the military and asked Long Wenguang to replace him. As a result, Long Wenguang did not take office in Sichuan for a long time, and he has been acting as an inspector. The Ming dynasty officials captured by Zhang Xianzhong after he attacked Chongqing counted him as the highest-ranking official, and naturally took him as the first to open the knife. After Chen Shiqi was taken to the execution ground, Zhang Xianzhong personally persuaded him to surrender, and Mr. Chen Lao was furious: "Is there a thief In the world, Yan Pingyuan (Yan Zhenqing)!" And scolded Zhang Xianzhong incessantly. Zhang Xianzhong was furious and asked the executioner to execute Chen Shiqi Lingchi one by one.
The next to be tortured were Wang Xingjian, the prefect of Chongqing, and Wang Xi of Zhixian county, Ba County. Both of them were from the jinshi, and they performed a great gift to Zhu Changhao, the king of Rui, who was tied to the side for execution, and then scolded Zhang Xianzhong. Zhang Xianzhong's face turned blue and he slashed the two in two.
When it was the turn of Zhu Changhao, the king of Rui, to execute, an unexpected situation occurred. The originally clear sky suddenly struck three thunderclaps, frightening the executioners to the ground. The counselor said to Zhang Xianzhong: "The heavens have changed, and it is not appropriate to execute." Zhang Xianzhong was a notorious anti-king, who cared about what the celestial phenomena changed, ordered the soldiers to fire cannons at the sky, and shouted loudly: "I kill people, and what is the matter with heaven." "Ordered the execution of Zhu Changhao, the King of Rui, and his family.
After killing the officials, Zhang Xianzhong ordered the soldiers to behead the captured Ming soldiers. The captured Ming army was as high as 37,000 people, many of whom were temporarily captured by the imperial court, and the officers and men of the Great Western Army below could not get their hands on it. Some generals suggested that Zhang Xianzhong take these prisoners for his own use. Zhang Xianzhong thought that the Ming army was unreliable and did not agree to the incorporation, but he also changed his mind and did not kill these people, as long as he left a right arm and let them go.
According to Zhang Xianzhong's meaning, letting these captured Ming troops leave a hand is to open heavenly grace. Poor 37,000 captured Ming troops, all of whom were cut off by the Great Western Army, had their right arms cut off and left to fend for themselves. In that environment, there was no food and no medicinal treatment, and very few survived. Zhang Xianzhong's deeds were more cruel than killing them with a knife.
According to the records of ye shi, the arms of the Ming army that were cut off were piled up like a hill, and the common people were too frightened to look at it, Zhang Xianzhong still drank wine and ate meat, talking and laughing freely, which showed its cruelty, which was not something that ordinary people could imagine. Zhang Xianzhong's brutality also brought serious consequences, the Southern Ming forces, Li Zicheng's rebel army and the Qing army were all enemies of him, Zhang Xianzhong was able to die on the battlefield, it was considered lucky, if it fell into the hands of the enemy and rushed to his reputation as a general Of Zhang, Ling Chi was considered to be a light punishment.